Great American Bash 1987: The Original Summer Blockbuster

And the king of the gimmick match.

Great American Bash 1987
Date: July 4. July 18, July 31, 1987
Locations: The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia, Memorial Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina, Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 13,500, 25,000, 20,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, Johnny Weaver, Bob Caudle

Now this is an interesting one. It wasn’t actually a PPV but the Bash was an annual one so I’m throwing it in there anyway. The Great American Bash was actually a tour and the PPV or tape you would get would be a single show or the final show of that tour. This however is a compilation of the three biggest shows from the tour. Keep that in mind as it’s certainly not on the same night. On this tour, WarGames debuted. Think it’ll be on the tape? Let’s get to it.

Also some of this is clipped but I’m just doing what’s on the tape. Full video with commentary for the full shows doesn’t exist as far as I know and if it does I’ve never heard of it or seen it.

We open with a highlight package of the tour and I love the old school feeling of the NWA. The lights, the fans being NUTS and the walks to the ring with the fans being able to reach across the aisle and touch each other makes this feel like it’s a blast to be at. You don’t get that anymore.

Dusty Rhodes/Road Warriors/Nikita Koloff/Paul Ellering vs. Four Horsemen/JJ Dillon

The Horsemen in this case are Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Luger and JJ Dillon. Flair’s music is epic as they crank the music WAY up. This is the Atlanta main event and it’s the debut of WarGames. For those of you uninitiated, WarGames is the mother of all gimmick matches. You have two teams of five and each team sends in a member. Those two fight for five minutes and there’s a coin toss.

The winning team gets to send in the third man to have a 2-1 advantage. That lasts two minutes and then the team that lost the toss gets to send in its second man to tie it at 2-2. That lasts two minutes then the team that won the toss sends in its third man. You alternate like that every two minutes until it’s 5-5 and then it’s first submission. No pins allowed.

Arn and Dusty start us off and remember this can’t end until all ten are in. There are two rings side by side with one huge cage over them if I didn’t mention that. They feel each other out a lot as they’re not entirely sure what to do here. Dusty walks on the second rope and then swings across the top of the cage to kick him in the ribs. Now they’re going and Dusty pounds away including a low blow which is perfectly legal.

There’s a DDT by Dusty and the crowd is red hot. Arn is cut open about two and a half minutes in so Dusty rakes it across the cage wall. Everyone hates everyone on the other team so this is a huge blood feud all around. Dusty sends him into the cage and has dominated the entire time. After a quick comeback by Arn Dusty gets his bad Figure Four on and then lets go of it because….well just because I guess.

The Horsemen win the toss (the faces literally never won the thing) and it’s Tully in next. The Horsemen beat him down but Dusty is booking so he knocks them both down with elbows. And scratch that as Tully gets in a knee shot and the double teaming begins. Tully puts on a Figure Four as they work over the knee. The clock seems to skip ahead a bit (no sign of clipping though) and Animal comes in to tie it up.

He starts launching Horsemen everywhere and sets Tully up for a slingshot which he rams three straight times. Shoulder block takes Tully down and Dusty destroys Anderson. I think Blanchard is busted and he gets double teamed a bit. Anderson looks dead. Animal is like screw that and rams him into the cage a few times. Flair is in to make it 3-2 and chops at Animal which doesn’t work. The number catch up with him as Anderson is back up quickly.

Sorry for a lot of play by play here but it’s the only thing you can do in matches like this one. Animal is busted. Dusty tries to fight back but he’s almost on his own. The fans are so loud that you can’t hear Tony and Jim. Dusty is bleeding and here comes Nikita. Flair grabs him as he comes in but the power of RUSSIA breaks up the Horsemen. The double ring thing here is very nice as they have room to move around. Animal sends Flair into the cage and he’s bleeding now. Dusty is gushing blood.

Nikita and Dusty work on the knee of Anderson but Nikita goes to get Tully stuck between the two rings and hits him between the ropes in a slingshot thing. Flair begs off Nikita and that doesn’t end well for the champ. A double dropkick puts Anderson down and here’s Lex. This is literally non-stop. Powerslam plants Koloff and Lex is dominating. There’s a spike piledriver to Nikita and then a second one just to kill him deader than dead. The Horsemen are in control but they’re starting to fall from exhaustion and blood loss.

Here’s Hawk and the fans erupt all over again. He destroys everything in sight and if you’re not bleeding already you will be now. Nikita’s neck is messed up and he can barely stand. JR is in Heaven with this much carnage. Flair gets a Figure Four on Dusty but it doesn’t count yet. The Horsemen only have JJ Dillon left and he’s a manger. He goes after Hawk and that’s just dumb.

Flair saves JJ’s life and they’re getting tired. Flair is bleeding a ton as if you expected anything else. JJ is taking a beating but Animal is getting triple teamed. Here’s Ellering to get us all tied up and now the match can end. Ellering has an LOD spiked pad on his arm. Dillon is bleeding BAD so Ellering JAMS THE SPIKE INTO HIS EYE. The LOD circles in on Dillon as the rest of the team runs interference. The Warriors spear his head into the cage and load up the Doomsday Device. JJ lands on his shoulder, legitimately hurting it. With Animal running interference, Hawk beats him half to death until he gives up to finally end this.

Rating: A+. This runs 26 minutes and there is literally no stopping in the whole thing. There isn’t some period where they chill because they’ve done enough. This is about brutality and violence and it works very well. There’s a ton of blood and JJ looks like he fell out of a building (for some reason in wrestling attire) at the end of it. It’s well worth seeing and still works today. Great match.

Barry Windham vs. Rick Steiner

Steiner doesn’t mean much yet and Scott was like a year and a half away. The title is pretty worthless too, making the European Title look great. I mean the Western States Heritage Title which Barry holds but this is non-title for some reason. This is also in Atlanta. This is clipped from the start and they have issues staying in the right ring. Steiner takes him down quickly and then kills him with a Steiner Line for two.

Barry gets beaten down pretty easily here as we’re waiting on the big hero comeback. He was on the verge of a big feud with Flair that had some of the best matches of the decade in just a few months. We get a really weird ending here as Rick suplexes him in from the apron but it’s more like a Jackhammer. Barry was supposed to shove him over for the rollup but Rick flips over on his own with Barry’s hands doing nothing and Barry gets the pin. Not enough shown to grade but it was nothing to see.

US Title: Nikita Koloff vs. Lex Luger

Koloff is champion and this is in a cage. This is actually in Greensboro in a show not on the main three stops of the tour so it’s a more minor show. We’ll be back here at least once more after this so it’s really a four show tape. Koloff has a neck brace after being destroyed in WarGames. The fans are all behind Nikita here and we clip this heavily. It goes from Luger looking like he’s carved out of granite to looking like he’s carved out of granite and being drenched in sweat.

Lex goes for the bad neck and drops a knee on it. He’s mostly still a rookie here, having only been in wrestling at all for less than two years. Off to a long chinlock which makes sense here and from what I can find, this is over 20 minutes into the match. This is No DQ, which I figured came with the cage rules but it needs to be added. Yeah the announcer says we’re at 25 minutes.

Nikita fights up but Luger snaps off a neckbreaker and takes off the brace. Wow a brace actually lasted almost half an hour. That has to be a record. Clothesline gets two but the piledriver is blocked, probably saving Nikita’s neck. Lex throws on a full nelson. Oh sweet blessed psychology how I love thee so. See, this is what I mean when I ask for psychology. Lex has worked on the neck presumably his entire time on offense. His finishing move, the Rack, primarily works on the ribs. What sense would it make to use that move on a guy with a bad neck? Lex is thinking here and using a hold that makes sense. I love that.

Nikita is barely conscious but he keeps kicking out. He gets in a single right hand and the place explodes. They slug it out but Koloff has nothing left. Luger chokes away on a rope and we hit thirty minutes. Back to the chinlock as this can’t go much longer. They slug it out again and Luger is reeling. Lex sends him into the corner but Nikita comes out with the Sickle (finisher) out of nowhere but there goes the referee. JJ throws in a chair and Lex whacks Koloff with it. Lex puts him in the Rack and the referee sees Koloff out cold and calls the match.

Rating: B-. This could have been a lot better with the full time but the 15 minutes or so we got was pretty good. This ended Nikita’s nearly year long reign with the belt so it was a pretty big deal. Good match here and it’s scary to think of how good Luger could have been if they hadn’t messed up with him so many times before giving him the world title. He could have been HUGE.

Steve Williams vs. Dick Murdoch

Texas death match, meaning last man standing for most intents and purposes. Murdoch is actually called Captain Redneck. Williams is the Brock Lesnar of his day, as a real All-American from Oklahoma and just ran through people. Magnum TA, recently able to walk again after his career ending car crash, is in Williams’ corner. Williams has a broken arm. This is also clipped and Murdoch hits him in the arm with a wrench. Williams is pretty much out of it and Murdoch taunts Magnum a lot.

This is in Atlanta as well. Williams starts firing back and JR sounds like he’s rubbing one out as he commentates. In a pretty weak ending, Murdoch goes up top but jumps into a shot with the cast for the knockout. Eddie Gilbert, Murdoch’s second, comes in as a distraction and Murdoch hits Williams with a chair. He hurt the arm in the first place. Oh so there was a reason for this.

Rating: D-. We got about 5 minutes out of 8 total here so it’s not like we missed much. This was bad overall as Murdoch was old and couldn’t do much anymore. Williams would join the Varsity Club next year which gave him something to do before he moved to Japan for the most part. Anyway, this was nothing but the little that was there was awful.

Freebirds vs. Paul Jones/Manny Fernandez/Ivan Koloff

The Birds are faces here which takes some getting used to. This is the original lineup too with Hayes, Gordy and Roberts. Hayes and Fernandez start us off and Fernandez looks like an idiot after that exchange. Roberts comes in and gets double teamed by a cheating Jones (normally a manager) and Koloff. Koloff comes in to beat on Roberts and it’s hard to believe he was WWF Champion at one point. Jones comes in and isn’t very good. Here’s Terry Gordy and this would be like Sheamus vs. Runjin Singh. Things break down and an elbow drop ends Jones quickly.

Rating: D+. Just a quick match here that didn’t mean much. Gordy was a monster though and ran through everybody at the end. He would team with Williams in 1992 in one of the most successful yet boring tag teams of the period. Anyway, nothing match and Paul Jones is one of the worst characters and managers of all time. This was from Atlanta as well.

Tully Blanchard vs. Dusty Rhodes

This is the Greensboro main event and it’s a non-title lights out (meaning unsanctioned) barbed wire $100,000 ladder match. The money is above the ring and the ropes are covered in barbed wire. So yeah, again Razor vs. Shawn isn’t anywhere near the first ladder match. Barry Windham is seconding Dusty and Dillon seconds Tully. This isn’t your typical ladder match as it’s a lot more about the wire than the ladder, which makes sense.

Tully rams Dusty’s head into the wire but Dusty fires back and gets Blanchard’s arm into it. Dusty is bleeding around the eye. Windham throws the ladder in for Dusty but Blanchard gets a kick into the leg. They both go up at the same time but Blanchard makes a save. Dusty hits a DDT (called a bulldog by Tony) and both guys go up and get knocked off a time or two. Tully has a loaded glove and knocks out Dusty with it and here’s JJ to hit the referee for no apparent reason. Barry comes in and chokes JJ out as Dusty dropkicks the ladder out to send Blanchard down. Dusty uses the glove and wins the money.

Rating: B-. This needed more time as it only ran like 8 minutes but all things considered (the lack of experience, the size of the guys, the shortness of the match and the wire) this was pretty good. I think they were afraid of the unknown of the weapons out there so they kept it short. It’s far more about the wire and brawling than anything else which is ok but for most fans, this isn’t going to work. For NWA fans in the late 80s with Dusty vs. Horsemen, this was incredible.

NWA World Title: Jimmy Garvin vs. Ric Flair

This is title vs. a night/date with Precious, Garvin’s manager/actual wife. Garvin is nowhere near Flair’s level but is getting this because he has a good looking blonde chick with him. It worked for DDP with a brunette so why not here too? This is also in a cage as is the theme tonight. It’s also clipped, as is every major match tonight other than WarGames.

Garvin and his white trunks that are too small for him starts off with some basic stuff but takes a low blow to even things out for Flair. Flair goes up and the slam gets two. Garvin hooks a Figure Four to meet the requirement of an NWA 80s match. Flair makes the rope because in a violent match like a cage, the rope break still works. I’ll never get that.

Rollup gets two for the challenger. Flair can’t really get anything going here and Garvin rakes his face into the cage. Garvin pounds away and Flair tries to climb. You know what’s being seen now that makes the crowd freak if you’ve ever seen a Flair cage match. Flair is pulled down and rammed into something made of steel for two. This has been almost all Garvin, which would be fine if anyone thought Garvin had a chance.

However, even the super marks in the crowd probably don’t think it’s all that likely of a possibility. Flair gets backdropped and screams for JJ to help him. And now we get to the turning point of the match as Garvin tries a leapfrog but lands badly and there goes the knee. Think Flair knows what to go after now? Ronnie Garvin comes out to support his stepson as Jimmy screams about how bad his knee hurts.

It’s all old school Flair knee work now and it’s another great example of psychology. You get this today with Del Rio also: he doesn’t go after anything but the limb that his finisher works on. And really, why bother? Unless there’s a preexisting injury, why mess with something other than what you’re going to go after at the end? It makes perfect sense, which is what most basic psychology is all based on.

Jimmy tries to fight back so Ronnie takes his shirt off. I doubt there’s much of a connection there but then again I’m not thinking that hard about it. Flair goes up again and the tights come down again. They fight on the top rope and Flair crotches himself for two and a HUGE pop on the kickout. Garvin tries his brainbuster finisher but the knee gives out. There’s the Figure Four and after a long while, Garvin blacks out to end this.

Rating: C+. It’s better than Ronnie vs. Flair at Starrcade but this wasn’t anything great. Again the problem comes down to it being a midcard guy in there getting a title shot and it’s not believable. It’s not terrible or anything but Flair was never in any real danger and it really only served as a way for Flair to have someone to defend the title against. Flair’s night with Precious would be interrupted by Ronnie Garvin in drag for some reason, setting up the title change soon after this and the other title change back to Flair at Starrcade.

World Tag Titles/US Tag Titles: Midnight Express vs. Rock and Roll Express

This match happened twice on the tour and I think this is in Atlanta. The Rock N Roll Express are the world tag champions and the Midnights are the US Champions and it’s title for title. Gibson vs. Eaton to start us off and there’s no Cornette here which is REALLY weird to see. Off to Stan Lane who doesn’t have much luck either. He gets sent to the floor and now it’s off to Morton.

A Japanese armdrag gets one for Ricky. Lane makes a tag and Eaton can’t get anything going either. This has been all Rock N Roll so far. Back to Morton who gets into a test of strength. I love seeing that from smaller guys. Ricky literally climbs up onto Eaton’s shoulders and drops over the back. I’m not sure what the point of that was but it looks cool.

Sweet rana gets two for Morton and it’s back to Gibson. A rana misses there and Lane cheats to save Eaton so that the Midnights can take over. I’m not sure what to make of Gibson being the one beaten down but it’s certainly happening. The Midnights beat down Gibson as only the Midnights can do even though they never really do since it’s always Morton getting beaten down but who cares. Hot tag brings in Morton (that may never be said again) and house is cleaned. A double dropkick gets two on Lane and everything breaks down. Bubba comes in with a Bubba Slam and it’s a DQ.

Rating: B-. This is one of those matches that is always good and this is no exception. They know how to have great tag matches and this is something that you flat out did not see back in the day. The Rockers claim to have introduced this style but if they did then they never watched the NWA because these guys were doing it years before that. Good match, bad ending.

Road Warriors/Dusty Rhodes/Nikita Koloff/Paul Ellering vs. Four Horsemen/War Machine

This is the Miami main event and is also WarGames. War Machine is Bubba under a mask. Dusty vs. Anderson to start again. That’s still quite a pairing. After a brief period where Arn hides a bit, Dusty fires off punches and elbows to take over. Anderson goes after the knee and Dusty tries to roll to the other ring. Just put a doughnut over there and he’ll sprint over there.

Dusty is fine now and puts his bad Figure Four on Anderson but Arn breaks it by going to the eyes. Somewhere Jesse Ventura is smiling. A suple sets up the Figure Four for Dusty and Arn is in trouble. Tony is alone on commentary here so it’s not quite as hot as the first match. Dusty again lets go and the Horsemen win the toss. It’s War Machine in second Dusty tries to separate them.

That works for about 6 seconds as Arn is way too smart for Big Dust. Dusty looks like he’s bleeding a bit and the beating continues for the full two minutes. I’m not expecting much other than a repeat of the first match. Hawk ties things up and beats up both guys but a leg drop misses to slow him down. Things slow way down until Flair comes in to double team Hawk.

Flair beats up Rhodes as is his custom and we’re waiting on the match to get tied up in about 30 more seconds. Nikita comes in and is promptly piledriven which is promptly no sold, making very little sense. He goes after Flair who screams like a man (not a girly one either) as Nikita stares him down. All good guys here as Tully comes in for a 4-3 advantage.

Dusty gets beaten down a lot as he seems to be the main focal point of the Horsemen’s offense which is logical as he’s the one that has been in there the longest. Here comes Animal to even things up and turn the tide again as is the custom for when a team gets another advantage or ties it up, depending on which one it is. Animal does the slingshot spot from the first match again and busts him open.

Lex is the fifth man in and not much happens. Ellering is in last with the spikes again and this time it’s War Machine that gets it. The LOD beats him down and Animal takes the spike and drives it into his face for a good while as the rest of the team runs interference. There’s the submission and we’re done.

Rating: B. It’s good, but at the same time the first match was just better. It had more violence, blood, more speed and is just a better match. Having War Machine in there didn’t mean much but it was better than JJ and the win is probably more impressive in that sense. Good match, but watch the first one if you have to pick.

Overall Rating: B. This is a very fun show overall and the clipping is something you can overlook as most of the matches are so long that even a clipped version is solid. Also the WarGames matches, the best ones on the tape, are in full. It’s good old NWA fun which has crowds that ECW wished it could have at times, with the Atlanta show in particular standing out.

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