NWA Great American Bash 1990 – New Revolution (7.7.90) review 

 

July 7, 1990 

 

We’re in Baltimore, Maryland at the Baltimore Arena. Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle. This is a big show for the NWA. Since botching Capital Combat (Flair-Sting that never happened) the company has been fumbling around and GAB is a chance to course correct. Sting is fit and he’s ready to take the prize Flair promised him at the start of the year. Sting is about to be crowned the NWA World Champion. What could possibly go wrong?  

 

Well. Black Scorpion? There are issues before we even get started. People aren’t stupid and they know Sting was supposed to win the title earlier in the year. So, this match doesn’t have the same vibe as it could have. As soon as Luger doesn’t win at Capital Combat, you know they’re waiting for Sting to win it. The issue with Sting is that he’s been in the business for five years and is still relatively green. He’s probably better off chasing the belt. Jim Herd didn’t agree and wanted to build around Sting and Luger, which is fine until you put them in a match and neither of them can lead. 

 

It doesn’t help that Ole Anderson, as a booker, is showing himself to be the opposite of the progressive guy Herd wants. So, they’re immediately at loggerheads. Herd wants WWF-style action, muscled heroes and child-friendly excitement. Ole is out here booking Harley Race vs. Tommy Rich. It’s not 1980 anymore. There’s also the mentality that it’s a big show, so it should have lots of matches. Eleven matches tonight. Jesus. 

 

 

Buddy Landel vs. Flyin’ Brian  

It’s so odd having “Nature Boy” Buddy Landel on the same card as “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. If you squint at the screen, you might be fooled into thinking Flair is in this match. Only he’s forgotten how to sell and has changed his diet to incorporate more cheeseburgers. He takes the same bumps, does the same begging off, same chops, same everything, only worse.  

 

If you’re going to totally steal your entire look from one guy, might as well make it Ric Flair. Where Landel and Flair differ, other than one being significantly better, is that Landel always tries to make the match about him. He doesn’t let Pillman do anything. As he cuts off yet another attempted comeback in order to do a chinlock the crowd look BORED.  

 

I’m begging Landel to sell something here. ANYTHING. He looks like that dude Triple H got pissed off at on Tough Enough, only far, far worse. Pillman eventually catches Landel with a high crossbody to win. This was horrendous and it’s 100% on Landel, who was dreadful here.  

 

Captain Mike Rotunda vs. Iron Sheik 

So, WCW signed Iron Sheik last year, discovered he was brutally washed and stopped using him. However, they didn’t send him his papers after 12 months, so the contract rolled over. Someone must have been mad about it because they put him on the fucking road and had him do jobs for the rest of the year in every single town around the country. Then they finally release him, right when the WWF is looking for Middle Eastern talent for their Iraq War gimmick and he’d main event a WWF PPV in 1991. Wrestling eh?  

 

Anyway, this match sucks because Sheik is brutally washed and can’t do much. He’s also gained a bunch of belly fat over the previous six months and just looks dreadful. Rotunda is boring, which doesn’t help. Putting a sea captain’s hat on him hasn’t suddenly turned him into a charisma machine. Sheik really struggles with the finish, which is *checks notes* taking a backslide. Time to retire mate. It’s sad to see Sheik like this.  

 

Promo Time: Harley Race. He tells us he thinks Flair might lose tonight. Before making the even more outrageous statement that he’s going to beat Tommy Rich, as revenge for Rich taking his NWA title. In 1981. Everyone in the crowd is all “huh?” Nobody remembers Tommy Rich, brother, let’s move on.  

 

Dutch Mantel vs. Doug Furnas 

Mantel got a shot here at being an NWA superstar. He lasted about a year. Which is longer than Doug. Neither of them are a good fit for what the promotion wants to be. Furnas is a lot closer to what Herd wants. A smaller version of Lex Luger. He would have made a great tag partner for Brian Pillman. Just saying. The concept of the match is Dutch getting Furnas all mad and then Furnas overpowering. It’s not too dissimilar to Flair-Luger matches.  

 

However, they get the point across in 3:00 and then the match goes 11:00. Furnas always looked gold in AJPW but that’s because he was being led around by Dan Kroffat, who FUCKING RULES. Without that Furnas has to find his own way around and he’s not that interesting on his own. He has all the cool, flashy stuff down because he’s normally a hot tag. Sadly, Dutch thinks it’ll be beneficial to work a longer match. On a house show, sure. This is a PPV, just put the man over. Furnas ends up taking it with a belly to belly. This dragged. Furnas looked cool for the most part. WCW probably didn’t agree seeing as they gave up on him.  

 

Promo Time: Jim Cornette takes a moment to disparage the Southern Boys, calling them gutless and incapable of beating the best in the world; the Midnight Express.  

 

Harley Race vs. Tommy Rich 

Rich here is just 34 years old. The 80s territory days aged this man. Race is with the company, as in ring, until years end but this is his final TV appearance. He’s still wearing his WWF King Harley Race gear and is clearly finished. As with Sheik it’s sad to see a former great look this bad. With Race the fall is even greater as he was still a brilliant wrestler just a few years beforehand. His body has just quit on him. The end, when it comes, is a relief.  

Race rolling through a Rich high crossbody. We’ll never see Harley Race wrestle again but he’ll be back to manage Lex Luger about a year from now. Race was as good as a manager as he was as a wrestler. A consummate professional and one of the greatest in-ring talents of all time. Race hardly ever seems to get mentioned when the discussions come around for ‘who is the GOAT’. For me, he’s got to be in there. A great bumper, seller, talker and his offence was always believable. He drew huge money and won seven NWA world titles. He’s finished here though, don’t watch this match. 

 

Promo Time: Paul E derides Sting and Lex Luger before claiming his charge, “Mean” Mark Callous is taking home the US title tonight.  

 

NWA United States Tag Team Championship 

Midnight Express (c) vs. Southern Boys  

Southern Boys still have the Confederate gear. This year has seen the MXP go out of their way to have great matches, presumably to piss off Jim Herd who didn’t like them. It’s hard to watch, looking back, but Tracy Smothers was great in 1990. Eaton brings a masterclass here in both bumping and concealing cheap shots. It’s about 50-50 as to which is best. Bobby Eaton is an elite talent.  

When Lane tags in to demonstrate some martial arts against fellow martial artist (sic) Smothers, we have an absolutely sensational time. MXP are getting great reactions here too because this crowd just loves the graps. It’s not that they hate the Southern Boys either, every high spot gets a pop. The cheap stuff the MXP do here is great. Lane throws Tracy outside over the top, behind the ref’s back, Cornette then whacks him with the tennis racket and Lane throws him into the rail again.  

 

Literally every MXP spot is getting popped. The crowd adore them. This being WCW, they got jobbed out and were gone from the company in three months. Although part of the crowd are clearly anti-Southern Boys. Which is what happens when you book babyface Southerners in the North. “Whack that Reb” suggests one punter. The stretch in this is wild because it breaks down and it feels like it’s over 2-3 times before Lane catches Tracy with an Enzuigiri from outside and Eaton rolls him up to retain.  

 

This is one of those great, whirlwind tag team matches. MXP at the top of their game against a hot babyface tag outfit. I’ve seen some people suggest this is a five star encounter. I don’t think it’s that good but it’s hellafun and the stretch is great for 1990. ****½  

 

Big Van Vader vs. Z-Man 

I know this is WCW, but this is no-brainer. Zenk is cannon fodder. Vader ignores a dropkick and then takes Zenk apart. Vader would stay in WCW, on and off, until 1995. However, this is his only PPV appearance until Wrestlewar ‘91. He won’t get to do anything cool until 1992. 

 

Fabulous Freebirds vs. Steiner Brothers 

The Freebirds turn up covered in glitter and not taking this seriously. The crowd chant homophobic slurs at him. Ah, the 90s. There will be a lot of this. It’s amazing how much the culture around wrestling has changed since 1990. Rick Steiner could almost be forgiven for not understanding how times had changed during his time in the sport. Almost. I’ve been around that long too, Rick, and you have accept change. Or just don’t be an asshole.  

 

Speaking of change; the Freebirds wrestle like we’re still in the territory days here, going after heat and stalling. It’s a shame they don’t just kick lumps out of each other all match because Hayes is stiff as all hell when he’s in there. JR tells us the Freebirds makeup would be popular “in some parts of San Francisco”. They have a hot finish where Garvin tries to hit a DDT but the referee notices he’s not legal and Rick sneaks in to lay out Hayes. Scott, who just hit Hayes with the Frankensteiner, gets the pin. There’s also great work from Hayes, who gets his foot on the rope but it’s clearly after the pin. **½. Good effort and extremely heated.  

 

Four Horsemen (Barry Windham, Sid Vicious & Arn Anderson) vs. Dudes with Attitude (El Gigante, Paul Orndorff & Junkyard Dog) 

The idea here is that the Horsemen are kept away from Sting via his backup group; the Dudes with Attitude. So, they can’t interfere later. Or if they do interfere, they’ll clash with the Dudes. What Dudes? The Dudes with Attitude.  

 

Sports aficionado JR claims Argentina is playing for the “world soccer world championship”. He means the World Cup, readers. The final is the day after this show with Argentina losing 1-0 to West Germany in one of the most boring games of football I’ve ever seen. This was when Diego Maradona got booed in Naples in the penalties win over Italy in the semi-final. Effectively ending his career as a ‘top guy’ in football. But I digress… 

 

The gimmick with El Gigante was that he was a house show attraction. You want to see El Gigante? Go to the house shows. A way to improve the ailing fortunes of WCW’s pathetic house show numbers. That’s not fair. They used to do in the region of 1,700-2,500 but there were complaints from the boys about numbers. WWF, same month, was doing 3,500-4,500.  

 

If the aim is to get El Gigante cheered here it almost works. The crowd are very into Sid, who has started wearing a black whitebeater for reasons. Why would you cover that man’s torso up? El Gigante is so big. He runs Sid off and he’s a foot taller than Sid.  

Here’s Arn Anderson selling the sheer size. JR starts talking in football (American) analogies to explain why El Gigante isn’t tagging in. They’re saving him for the third down and short yardage, readers. Jim keeps having to remind us how tall Sid and Windham are as they suddenly look tiny. JYD gets thrown over the top for the cheap ass DQ around 10:00 in.  

 

Post match: El Gigante gets in there, having never legally tagged in. He is supposed to throw the Horsemen out of the ring, and he can’t do that properly. He just piefaces Windham. The trouble with El Gigante is he can’t bump, he can’t drop onto someone or he might hurt them so what do you do with him? You can’t get offence on him and he can’t do much beyond bearhugs and clubbing blows. He should never, ever, be in a singles match, ever.  

 

NWA United States Championship 

Lex Luger (c) vs. Mean Mark  

So, if you ever wanted to know why it never worked out for Mean Mark here’s a story. His contract was coming up and he sat down with Ole Anderson to negotiate a new one and Ole, genius that he is, told Mark nobody would ever pay to see him. I’m not the biggest Undertaker fan around these parts but even I think that’s fucking stupid. He clearly had great athleticism and presence and just needed his rough edges sanding off.  

 

JR compares Paul E to Andrew Dice Clay here. “The Diceman” sold out MSG doing stand-up but was a horrible person doing low hanging homophobic, sexist and racist jokes. Anyway, Mean Mark does mostly ok here but for every impressive feat of athleticism, he fluffs a strike or something. Luger doesn’t help him out at all. It’s not a bad match. It’s inoffensive. Mark does a grand job of bumping around for Luger’s aggressive no-selling comeback.  

 

Torture Rack should finish but the ref gets bumped. They run into further misunderstandings, with Luger getting confused by a short-arm clothesline. A quick clothesline on Mark later and Luger retains. The crowd was into this, and it wasn’t horrible, but they botched BAD a couple of times.  

 

This is, incredibly, the last time we’ll see Mean Mark Callous. The next time we see the big man he’ll be the Undertaker. Unless I watch his NJPW run, which is unlikely because of the lack of NJPW footage anywhere online. Including on NJ World. “Punisher” Dice Morgan, we hardly knew ye.  

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship 

Doom (c) vs. Rock n Roll Express 

Doom are so much better than “Woman Presents Doom”. You need a manager you go after Teddy Long. Thuggin’ and buggin’ playa. Ron Simmons is apparently Burt Reynolds’ favourite wrestler. I don’t know where JR gets that tidbit from but here we are. The match is clearly power vs speed. It works well when the RnR are doing sneaky roll ups and keeping the pace up.  

 

Obviously, they go to heat here but it’s sluggish. The crowd is just dead. They either don’t care about the match or they’re itching to see the main event. In future big shows this would become known as the ‘death spot’. People just want you gone so they can see Flair vs Sting, lads.  

 

I’ll give them their dues, it’s not a bad match at all. It’s just too long and in the wrong place on the show. They have a wacky spot where Teddy jumps onto the ropes to argue with Gibson but Butch Reed wipes him out. Reed comes back in with a flying shoulderblock to retain. Great bump from Reed into Teddy though. This was fine but no one cared, let’s get to the main event. **½ 

 

Rock n Roll Express won’t wrestle again during this run in WCW. Robert Gibson got hurt a few months after this and Morton ended up in singles and turned heel. 1991 is a weird place, guys, it doesn’t always make sense.  

 

NWA World Championship 

Ric Flair (c) vs. Sting 

Jim Herd is desperate to get that belt off Flair. He wanted Flair to drop it to Luger when Sting got injured and had no interest in having Flair as his champion or his main event or anything. The argument being that he didn’t think Flair was modern enough and wouldn’t be in this position if he was in the WWF, which is made even more hilarious by Flair going to the WWF and winning the title in 1992. The ring is surrounded by babyfaces here, which prevents a lot of Flair’s match tactics. Ole Anderson is handcuffed to El Gigante.  

Sting’s knee injury is part of the match but initially he looks 100%. Plus he no sells most of Flair’s offence from the start. A few minutes in Flair goes after the bad knee. With them not being able to use the floor, as it’s covered in babyfaces, the match comes off as a bit flat. Flair has to beg off in lieu of running away and Sting looks dumb for not just beating his ass.  

 

It feels like the match recycles itself too. Sting does a lot of no-selling. Flair runs through his usual and the match only escalates when Flair does his corner bump and gets clocked running the apron. You would think the crowd would be more into it but they’re not. Maybe Jim Herd was right and Flair’s time was up. Or maybe they’ve just waited too long for this.  

 

Scorpion Deathlock applied. The Horsemen run in but the Dudes with Attitude see them off. Sting starts smiling, just before hurting his knee, like he knows the finish is near. Flair goes after the Figure Four and Sting rolls him up for his first world title.  

This was a good match but it felt limp at times. Flair was going through the motions compared to some of his biggest title matches. ***¼. Sting’s title reign was a disaster thanks to horrible Ole Anderson booking.  

 

The 411: 

It’s pretty much a one match show but the crowd heat for MXP vs Southern Boys is fantastic. It’s well worth watching. Don’t go in expecting a 5-star affair though because it’s not. There are some interesting things scattered around on the undercard, and they tried some different stuff here. It’s an interesting snapshot of that moment in time where Harley Race, Paul Orndorff, Iron Sheik, Buddy Landel, Sid Vicious, Sting, Ric Flair, Doug Furnas, Undertaker and El Gigante were all on the same card. WCW had a delightfully scattershot approach at times. This was also before the Ole booking had gone completely wrong so it’s not a bad show. Race vs Rich though, what the fuck was he thinking?