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WWE is bringing back one of wrestling's all-time classic events. This Wednesday, NXT will present the latest edition of The Great American Bash, the legendary WCW PPV. The card looks to be extremely stacked, as most major WWE NXT events are, and it should be one memorable evening.
Which shouldn't come as a surprise - the Great American Bash over the years has been host to some epic and classic pro wrestling moments since its inception. While it's normally not fair to hold a current brand or promotion up to the same standard to one that had Sting, Ric Flair, and Dusty Rhodes - just to name a few - in their prime, well... we're going to do it anyway.
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Here's five great, awesome, legendary Great American Bash moments from the past that WWE NXT's edition will have to live up to.
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Honorable Mention - Diamond Dallas Page vs Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Falls Count Anywhere (1997)
One of the greatest feuds in WCW during the Monday Night Wars against WWE was the one between future WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page. The two of them put on some of WCW's most legendary matches.
While this 1997 match wasn't their best, it was still one of their best and worthy of recognition.
Outside of the ring, Page and Savage had a really great relationship. According to the story from Pro Wrestling Stories, Page called Savage on Thanksgiving that year, and left him a message, thanking him and telling him "without you, I’m not sitting in this spot in life right now. And I want you to know, for what it’s worth, I really appreciate it, man."
Two weeks later, Savage would approach Page at a TV taping and tell him that hearing that message "meant everything to [him]."
It's just one reason why the Page vs Savage feud in WCW was one of the greatest of all time.
#5 The Four Horsemen keep all the gold (1988)
When it comes to wrestling factions, none are more revered than WWE Hall of Famers, The Four Horsemen. In 1988, the group consisted of Ric Flair (the NWA World Heavyweight Champion), Barry Windham (the NWA United States Heavyweight Champion), and Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard (the NWA World Tag Team Champions). At the Great American Bash that year, all three of the group's championships were on the line.
All four Horsemen walked out of the Baltimore Arena still holding their respective championships.
Anderson and Blanchard (who would actually end up in WWE in the 1980s as 'The Brainbusters') defended their tag championships against the team of Sting and Nikita Koloff in what ended up being a time-limit draw (those were a thing during the NWA of the 1980s). Windham retained his United States title against "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.
Finally, in the main event, the NWA World Champion Ric Flair held on to his title in yet another battle against one of his all-time archrivals (and former Horsemen member), Lex Luger.
This would be the Horsemen lineup that would eventually be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and this Great American Bash event would be evidence of why they deserved that honor.
#4 Dusty Rhodes wins the World Title for the 3rd time (1986)
"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes isn't just a WWE Hall of Famer - he's one of the greatest of all time. While he never won a championship working for Vince McMahon's company directly, he's still recognized as a three-time World Champion by the WWE.
It was this third championship win that happened at the Great American Bash in 1986; inside the Greensboro Coliseum in the city of the same name, in the state of North Carolina, when he defeated Ric Flair in a steel cage match.
The rest of the card isn't much to write home about - there's no other championship bouts on the line-up - though there was one of the "Best of 7" matches between Nikita Koloff and Magnum T.A. for the United States Championship, won by Magnum (which would put him up 3-1 at that point).
When you look back, though, and realize just how important and influential Dusty Rhodes was - not just on the locker room but on the audience - you'll see what a big deal this championship win was. Even then, Dusty Rhodes meant more to people than him being a popular wrestler - he inspired people.
WWE has been great at respecting his legacy when it comes to WWE NXT - especially with the Tag Team Classic held under his name. Hopefully they remember him during the Bash this Wednesday.
#3 War Games (1987)
Created by WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, War Games is one of the all-time classic speciality matches. At once simple and, yet, convoluted (I know, it's weird, but it's still awesome), these matches were a staple of NWA/WCW shows throughout its history - sort of like that era's Hell In A Cell or Elimination Chamber. It's recently been revived in WWE NXT, which is appropriate as the brand is now bringing back the Bash in the first place.
It was at NWA's Great American Bash in 1987 that we witnessed the very first War Games match. The Road Warriors - Hawk and Animal - along with their manager Paul Ellering, teamed with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff to face the Four Horsemen - which, at that time, consisted of Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, and Lex Luger (along with their manager JJ Dillon, who was also in the match along with Ellering). Many of these names would go on to be WWE Hall of Famers.
At this early point in the show's history, it was actually a series of shows that took place during July 1987 in Miami, FL and Charlotte, NC. Two out of the three shows featured this War Games match, both of which saw the Four Horsemen defeated.
The War Games matches that followed this one - including the WWE NXT matches - were certainly as epic, if not more, than this one. But, there's nothing quite like the original.
#2 Sting wins his first World Championship (1990)
The 1990 Great American Bash main event between World Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Sting was a passing of the torch in a lot of ways. Kind of. I mean, Flair would go on to hold a World Championship numerous other times - including twice in what is now the WWE - and be a major figure in the business for decades following this match. He's Ric Flair. Of course he did.
At the same time, however, Flair helped move Sting from "popular guy" to "the guy." The Stinger didn't win in overwhelming fashion, either. Rather than a big dramatic, powerful ending - like a submission or a decisive pinfall, Sting reversed Flair's Figure Four leglock into a small package for the pin. That showed the audience that he had the actual wrestling chops to go toe-to-toe with the best in the business and was deserving of the World Championship.
Sting has had a treasure trove of accolades and achievements since this moment - including a match at WWE WrestleMania that nobody ever though we'd see. But, anyone who looks as Sting's career will, without a doubt, see this moment as the point Sting began his journey from "great pro wrestler" to "legend" and WWE Hall of Famer.
#1 The Outsiders don't work for WWE, destroy Eric Bischoff (1996)
While we need to talk about how this was a watershed moment in the history of pro wrestling - and even WWE admits it is - there's something else that needs to be mentioned.
This was a damn great PPV.
The Great American Bash 1996 had some brilliant matches, including a Falls Count Anywhere match between Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan (no relation), a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match where Dean Malenko retained against Rey Mysterio, and Sting took on (and defeated) Steven Regal (aka WWE NXT commissioner William Regal).
Outside of the ring, Eric Bischoff conducted an interview with the Outsiders - Scott Hall and Kevin Nash - who had been terrorizing WCW for weeks. First, Bischoff - in an effort to head off a lawsuit from WWE - as the two newcomers if they worked for WCW's rival - to which they insisted they did not.
Once that nonsense was out of the way, Hall and Nash reiterated their challenge to WCW - the three of them (the third being their mystery partner that would turn out to be Hulk Hogan) against WCW's three best. The two Outsiders demanded that Bischoff tell them who WCW's team members were going to be, but Bischoff wouldn't budge.
So, Nash picked up Bischoff and powerbombed him off the stage.
Nowadays, that's not a big deal. In fact, it wasn't that long afterwards that the Dudley Boyz were doing the same to the likes of Mae Young. But, at the time, before the general public knew Eric Bischoff's actual position with the company - and even before Stone Cold Steve Austin hit Vince McMahon with a Stunner for the first time - this was huge.
This began the storytelling that helped WCW overtake WWE in the ratings for... a long time.
Of course, we all know how it eventually turned out.
