The Great American Bash

The Great American Bash was an annual summer professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and then by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). According to Ric Flair in his autobiography, To Be the Man, Dusty Rhodes invented the concept of The Great American Bash.

After the final Great American Bash was held by WCW on June 11, 2000, the event would not be held again due to the acquisition of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). After a four-year hiatus, however, the event was revived by WWE in 2004 until 2009 (the name of the final event being abbreviated to "The Bash"), and was also used as the title for a special live edition of SmackDown in July 2012. WWE's production of The Great American Bash was the only former WCW pay-per-view event to be revived by WWE.

Dates and venues

National Wrestling Alliance (Jim Crockett Promotions)

1985

The Great American Bash (1985) took place on July 6, 1985 at the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result of Dusty Rhodes winning the match, Tully Blanchard's valet, Baby Doll was forced to be Dusty Rhodes' valet for 30 days which sparked her face turn as she became a full-time valet for Rhodes and his then partner, Magnum T.A.

1986

Jim Crockett Promotions used "The Great American Bash" as the name for a tour that had several PPV caliber shows around the country. In 1986, there were 13 Great American Bashes and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defended his title at each one against Ricky Morton, Road Warrior Hawk, Ron Garvin, Nikita Koloff, Robert Gibson, Road Warrior Animal, Magnum T.A., Wahoo McDaniel and Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes defeated him for the title at the July 26 Bash. Flair challenged for it on the last Bash on August 2. Nikita Koloff and Magnum T.A. were involved in a best of seven title match series throughout the Bash for the U.S. Title. The cities toured in 1986 were in order as follows: July 1 in Philadelphia, July 3 in Washington, D.C., July 4 in Memphis, Tennessee, July 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, July 9 in Cincinnati, July 10 in Roanoke, Virginia, July 12 in Jacksonville, Florida, July 18 in Richmond, Virginia, July 21 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, July 23 in Johnson City, Tennessee, July 25 in Norfolk, Virginia, July 26 in Greensboro, North Carolina and August 2 in Atlanta.

July 5, 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Memorial Stadium)

July 26, 1986 in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum)

1987

This was the first use of the WarGames: The Match Beyond match conceived by Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes was on the winning side in both events along with The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering. Koloff, Rhodes and J.J. Dillon sustained serious injuries in the first encounter. The Bash series took place in numerous venues all July long, starting in Landover, Maryland at the Capital Centre on July 2.

July 4, 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia (The Omni)

July 18, 1987 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Memorial Stadium)

July 31, 1987 in Miami, Florida (Orange Bowl)

1988

World Championship Wrestling

1989

1990

1991

1992

1995

1996

The Great American Bash (1996)
Promotional poster featuring Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Tagline(s)	World Championship Wrestling Turns Up The Heat!
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	June 16, 1996
Attendance	9,000
Venue	Baltimore Arena
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Pay-per-view chronology
Slamboree (1996) The Great American Bash (1996) Bash at the Beach (1996)
The Great American Bash chronology
The Great American Bash (1995) The Great American Bash (1996) The Great American Bash (1997)

The Great American Bash (1996) took place on June 16, 1996 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. After John Tenta defeated Big Bubba Rogers Tenta cut Rogers' goatee off with a pair of scissors. After the match between Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan Arn Anderson came to the ring and helped Benoit attack Sullivan. In a tag team match Ric Flair pinned Kevin Greene after Steve McMichael turned on Greene and hit him with a steel briefcase. Debra McMichael had chased Woman and Elizabeth to the back, only to return with the briefcase containing money and a Four Horsemen T-shirt. McMichael's accepting of the case gave him Brian Pillman's spot in the Horsemen. After the match, Chris Benoit came out and the Horsemen attacked Greene and Savage. Eric Bischoff interviewed Kevin Nash and Scott Hall after the interview Nash and Hall Power Bomb Bischoff.

1997

The Great American Bash (1997)
Promotional poster
Tagline(s)	Give Him A Nice Warm Hug On Father's Day
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	June 15, 1997
Attendance	9,613
Venue	The MARK of the Quad Cities
City	Moline, Illinois
Pay-per-view chronology
Slamboree (1997) The Great American Bash (1997) Bash at the Beach (1997)
The Great American Bash chronology
The Great American Bash (1996) The Great American Bash (1997) The Great American Bash (1998)

The Great American Bash (1997) took place on June 15, 1997 at The MARK of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois. During the match between Glacier and Wrath, Mortis was handcuffed to the ring post. After the match, Mortis and Wrath handcuffed Glacier to the ring ropes and attacked him. Due to her loss to Akira Hokuto, Madusa had to retire. Kevin Greene pinned Steve McMichael after Jeff Jarrett accidentally hit McMichael with a steel briefcase.

1998

The Great American Bash (1998)
Promotional poster
Tagline(s)	Baseball, Hot Dogs & Apple Pie. Tradition Bites! The New American Pastime!
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Brand(s)	WCW nWo
Date	June 14, 1998
Attendance	12,810
Venue	Baltimore Arena
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Pay-per-view chronology
Slamboree (1998) The Great American Bash (1998) Bash at the Beach (1998)
The Great American Bash chronology
The Great American Bash (1997) The Great American Bash (1998) The Great American Bash (1999)

The Great American Bash (1998) took place on June 14, 1998 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.^[13] Booker T and Chris Benoit had been facing each other for several weeks to determine the #1 contender to the WCW World Television Championship that Booker had lost to Fit Finlay on the May 4, 1998 edition of Nitro due to a distraction from Benoit. Dean Malenko was disqualified after hitting Chris Jericho with a steel chair. This match was made after Malenko was stripped of the Cruiserweight Championship due to his actions at Slamboree the month before. After Konnan's loss to Bill Goldberg, Curt Hennig and Rick Rude turned on Konnan and attacked him, joining nWo Hollywood. As per the stipulation of the main event, the winner was able to keep his half of the tag team championship and pick a new partner. Sting chose his nWo Wolfpac teammate Kevin Nash. The Giant was to pick The Disciple if had he won the match.

1999

The Great American Bash (1999)
Promotional poster
Tagline(s)	The Real Fireworks Start June 13th!
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	June 13, 1999
Attendance	11,672
Venue	Baltimore Arena
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Pay-per-view chronology
Slamboree (1999) The Great American Bash (1999) Bash at the Beach (1999)
The Great American Bash chronology
The Great American Bash (1998) The Great American Bash (1999) The Great American Bash (2000)

The Great American Bash (1999) took place on June 13, 1999 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Hak pinned Brian Knobs after Jimmy Hart accidentally hit Knobs with a steel chair. Knobs was then hit with a kendo stick by Hak. After the match, Hugh Morrus came out and attacked Hak. Roddy Piper was disqualified when Buff Bagwell came out and attacked Ric Flair; as per a prematch stipulation Flair regained the presidency of WCW that he had lost to Piper at Slamboree the previous month. After the match, Piper helped Flair and Arn Anderson to attack Bagwell. Rick Steiner won the match after Sting was attacked backstage by dogs and Rick forced the referee to declare him the winner. Randy Savage was disqualified after Sid Vicious interfered and attacked Kevin Nash with a big boot and a powerbomb.

2000

The Great American Bash (2000) took place on June 11, 2000 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the final Great American Bash produced by World Championship Wrestling before the acquisition of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) the following March. Shane Douglas put the Wall through three tables at the same time to win. The first wrestler to put their opponent through three tables would win the match. Hollywood Hogan pinned Billy Kidman after hitting him with brass knuckles to become number one contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. If Hogan had lost, he would have had to retire. If Ric Flair had lost his match, he would have had to retire. Vampiro set Sting on fire to win the match. Jeff Jarrett pinned Kevin Nash after a Spear from Goldberg. Konnan was guest bellringer, Rey Misterio Jr. was guest timekeeper, Disqo was guest beltkeeper, Juventud Guerrera was guest ring announcer. After the match, Goldberg joined the New Blood.

References

External links

• Official Site of WWE