The Great American Bash PPV Returns

[JimSteel]

In an ironic and interesting twist, the WWE has decided to name their June 27th PPV "The Great American Bash". The PPV will be held in Norfolk, VA, and the WWE is already started on promotion for the event. Torrie Wilson will be taking pictures dressed as Uncle Sam for an upcoming photo shoot to promote the Bash, and the event will be free to members of the military.

The Bash first came into being as a series of summer events held by Jim Crockett Promotions during the late 80's. During "The Great American Bash" on July 1988, the then-NWA Champion "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair defeated Lex Luger when the MD State Athletic Commission stopped the contest due to bleeding from Luger. That show was also the first NWA event to be available on PPV.

The Bash became a signature event for the NWA/WCW until 2000 when the company was bought by Vince McMahon. With all of the rumors about the WWE bringing back ECW, it's interesting that a WCW name like "The Great American Bash" pops up at this time. The PPV is part of two additional events that the WWE decided to add to their Pay-Per-View roster this year. The other extra PPV will take place on October 19th, 2004

[Chris Ingersoll]

Of course, this is lessened somewhat by the fact that it will be the second WWE PPV that month.

If they don't lower the prices on these things FAST they're going to get more brand separation than they intended.

Hmmm. The second additional PPV in October, eh? Halloween Havoc, here we come! ;D

[GalactiKing]

Sounds like a possibility. Seems the WWE is hoping that enough people will order two PPVs in a month to cover the costs of running both. )

[Big Bri]

I'm divided on this one

First, on a positive note, WWE will do the "Great American Bash" name justice by promoting it right, as WCW "gave up" on the Bash during the late 90's until its death. I can't honestly remember any Bash matches during this time frame.

On a negative note (this coming from my favoring the 80's NWA), the "Bash" name should be left alone, out of respect for the 80's bashes. The "Bash" used to be one of the biggest supercards of the year back in the day (Rhodes/Flair, WarGames, Flair/Luger, Flair/Sting). It just doesn't "feel" right having the WWE be a part of it, but then again, with all of this "new direction" stuff, maybe they'll surprise us and give us a "Bash" feel of yesteryear. I thought that WMXX had an old school feel, with more concentration on the matches and less storyline, and the matches themselves were great (Not all, but most). I hope they can capture the same atmosphere with the "Bash"

Be Cool,

Big Bri

[j]

if they do it right, then I'm o.k. with using the Bash name. But with the recent track record and since it's only gonna be a Smack Down PPV it's only gonna be a second tier PPV. As someone else already said the RAW October PPV will probably be Halloween Havoc. I just hope and pray that if the use Starcade that they don't bury that too. I guess Vince isn't satisfied with burying WCW's wrestlers, he wants to bury the whole legacy too.

[Joe]

I don't think that Vince is as deadset on destorying and tarnishing the legacy of NWA/WCW as people seem to think he is. After all, Vince did not bury WCW, the people running WCW did. Vince did not kill the legacy of the Great American Bash and Starrcade. The people who decided to book a washed-up Hogan vs a washed-up Piper in the main event for Starrcade. If I remember, they followed it up with a washed-up Hogan vs. Sting who had not wrestled in over a year, as well. Any event that WWE puts on under the banner will probably be superior to any WCW PPV of that company's last five years.

[j]

Joe said:

I don't think that Vince is as deadset on destorying and tarnishing the legacy of NWA/WCW as people seem to think he is. After all, Vince did not bury WCW, the people running WCW did. Vince did not kill the legacy of the Great American Bash and Starrcade. The people who decided to book a washed-up Hogan vs a washed-up Piper in the main event for Starrcade. If I remember, they followed it up with a washed-up Hogan vs. Sting who had not wrestled in over a year, as well. Any event that WWE puts on under the banner will probably be superior to any WCW PPV of that company's last five years.

That maybe true but...

Vince isn't doing anything to help the name either. And he could greatly benifit by using Starcade and the Great American Bash as major PPV's instead of minor ones.

as far as WCW ruining it by putting Hogan vs Piper or Hogan vs Sting. You can't really judge just by the main event match. The undercard was pretty good, when Hogan fought Piper the undercard had matches like Hennig vs Flair, Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero, Luger vs Hall (Larry Zybysko as the referee), Jericho vs Gedo, Yuji Nagata vs Ultimo Dragon and Savage vs DDP, not a bad card.

when Hogan fought Sting after Sting came back the undercard was Guerrero vs Malenko, Saturn vs Benoit, DDP vs Hennig. Again some decent matches.

If we only would go by the main event WrestleMania 3 would be the worst event ever (not just PPV's but any event), but it's considered to be one of the better WrestleManias of all time.

[Joe]

I'm feel you about not judging a PPV solely on the quality of the main event. I do remember that Starrcade had some good matches on the undercards of the two shows I mentioned, however, I just think that by the time that WCW was on its last legs, the people in charge seemed to have far less respect for what the NWA/WCW once was than the fans or even their opposition.

Something else I have thought about is the perception that Vince doesn't allow former WCW people to get over. Even though Booker T has not won a World Title since being in WWE, one could certainly argue that he gained more popularity in WWE than he ever had in WCW. The same could definitely be said for Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, and Misterio. I wish I could say the same for RVD, but it seems that Vince holds him back, possibly because he had such enormous popularity coming into the WWE.

[Chris Ingersoll]

Joe said:

The people [running WCW] decided to book a washed-up Hogan vs a washed-up Piper in the main event for Starrcade.

I dunno. Ask Sean O'Haire about whether or not Vince would do something like that.

[Joe]

I cannot remember which PPV that was. I am thinking sometime in the summer, but I could be wrong. It wasn't WM or a Starrcade-type PPV, though.

[baldue]

We all know that Vince can care
about nothing that he does or
does not do with wCw. I also think
he knows that he must keep the
fans in his good grace so, he'll
keep wCw in the memory banks.

It was a shame that Time Warner
let a great promotion sink, but
then again in the end would it
have helped if they did care with
the way things gone on in the
backstage area.

Anyway...

If the ECW becomes a Brand and
we see more wCw-type PPV's and
other things from the old days
of the wCw, this is just a good
thing for us fans of wCw.

Johnny Nitro sucks, they should've
brought someone in better to play
that role... then again is this
gimmick a jab at wCw?

I have to say that RAW is wCw,
and SMACKDOWN is the WWF no
matter the name change from WWF
to WWE.

All in all if the WWE wants to
make wCw a factor in the WWE,
then lets bring back NITRO and
get rid of RAW.

[Joe]

Dennis said:

All in all if the WWE wants to
make wCw a factor in the WWE,
then lets bring back NITRO and
get rid of RAW.

Frosty the Snowman has a better chance of strolling through downtown Hell in the middle of July than that has of happening.

[Big Bri]

About Hogan-Piper from "Starrcade '96", I thought that was a great match, especially because Hogan lost cleanly (which hadn't happened since Ultimate Warrior beat him at WM VI). The stupid part of it was that it was a NON-TITLE MATCH, can you believe that? Two icons (well, Piper anyway) head-to-head on WCW's signature PPV, and they made it a NON-TITLE match!!! It was probably hogan's whining that did this I'm sure.

WCW did give a great effort with Starrcade '97, with two hot feuds culminating (Hogan-Sting and Zbyszko-Bischoff), plus DDP finally winning a prestigious title (U.S., from Henning). It seemed like the entire event was well-hyped and presented well. It was a rare shining moment for WCW.

Yes, I do believe that "Johnny Nitro" is another slap at WCW. Vince seems to pull one of these every so often, just to be a prick. I have little respect for Eric Bischoff as a person because he's now a "yes man" to Vince, while he used to talk trash about him on "Nitro", standing up to the WWF empire. Now he just collects his check as he allows vince to urinate on what "Nitro" was (before Russo came along). It's kind of sad.

Just my thoughts,

Big Bri

[CaseyJones]

BRING BACK WARGAMES!!!! Come on, was there ever a bad wargames match other than the one with Ultimate Warrior and the one where Hogan's team all wore camo and fought the Dungeon of Doom?

(Kamala was in that last one though. Kamala can save anything in my eyes.)

[baldue]

BigBri said:

I have little respect for Eric Bischoff as a person because he's now a "yes man" to Vince, while he used to talk trash about him on "Nitro", standing up to the WWF empire. Now he just collects his check as he allows vince to urinate on what "Nitro" was (before Russo came along). It's kind of sad.

I agree... Bischoff lost his
spirit when he became Vince's
yes'man... It is a shame that
the good wCw died the way it
did, and well we'll never see
wCw again in any form that will
please.

[traviz]

[quote author=CaseyJones link=board=WWE&thread=1081803179&start=13#0 date=

(Kamala was in that last one though. Kamala can save anything in my eyes.)[/quote]


Kamala looks like my mother-in-law,want me to introduce you?

[Joe]

Traviz said:

Kamala looks like my mother-in-law,want me to introduce you?

That's bad business. My condolences.

[wildman]

Chris said:

Hmmm. The second additional PPV in October, eh? Halloween Havoc, here we come! ;D

the only way ill watch WWE do a Halloween Havoc is if they do the Orinal Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal