Watched "NWA GAB 1988" today.

[d_henderson1810]

I am going through the PPVs on WWE Network (WWE, NWA/WCW and ECW).

Today, I watched NWA (WCW) Great American Bash 1988.

It is the worst PPV I have watched thus far.

Sting & Nikita Koloff v Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard- Match went to a draw, as time ran out while Sting had the Scorpion Leglock on Anderson.

I hate time-limit draws on NWA PPVs in particular. The timekeeper keeps yelling out the time remaining, removing any shock value when the move is put on, to make people think that someone tapped out and the match is over. I am also sick of the time limit always ending as a pin or submission is applied, and the bell goes before the ref finishes counting, but having the idiot timekeeper call audios totally ruins it.


Triple-Cage Match-I will comment on this later.

Somewhere, someone thought that this match was a good idea.

A 5 v 5 match, has to climb up to a top cage, one at a time. After a minute, they have to open the cage and climb down to the next cage, or be outnumbered, when the next man came in. The aim is to get to the bottom cage, where Precious (Jimmy Garvin's valet) is waiting with the key, to let you out. Whichever team has all members leave the bottom cage first, wins.

But this match sucked. The top cage is too small to move around in. Forget dropkicks or any chain wrestling, they barely had room to punch each other. Also, awkard to see the next entrants hanging around on the ladder.

Ronnie Garvin was the first to exit. He climbed down into the second cage. But because no-one else did, he just stood there for a couple of minutes, doing nothing. He then went to the bottom cage, and Precious let him out. So Ronnie Garvin got from the top to the bottom with minimal effort, and hardly raising a sweat.

On and on, this farce continued. The wrestlers fought each other in very confined cages. Also, when someone left, they stood in the same spot as where their teammates who haven't entered yet are, so there is no indication how many members have left the cage, and who hasn't entered. It is a mess.

The faces win. Kevin Sullivan knocks around Precious (oh, for the times where one could beat up the fairer sex on a wrestling show (sarcasm)), and the match mercifully ends. But did anyone learn that this match didn't work? No, because they had more of them.

The Fantastics v The Midnight Express (Jim Cornette in strait jacket, suspended from a cage).- Chain used and Express win belts.

So having a manager suspended from a cage didn't matter, when one of the heels can just sneak in a chain in their tights. Aside from having a chain down your strides being uncomfortable, it defeats the whole purpose of having Cornette suspended from the cage. Also, don't refs check for these things beforehand? Another screwy finish.

Dusty Rhodes v Barry Windham (c) for U.S. Title. Match ended when Ronnie Garvin showed up, and hit friend Dusty Rhodes with his "Fists Of Stone".

Ric Flair (c) v Lex Luger- Luger loses because Maryland State Athletic Commission stop match because Luger is bleeding.

WTF!

So they have a finish, in a main event, where some guy misses out on the title, because some old fogeys from some "fake" Athletic Comission stop a match because of blood? Also, we are told that the rules are more strict in Maryland. So, if this match was in another state, Luger would have won the title? What a farce!!!!

Also, this is the second NWA PPV I have watched where the title match ends stoppage via blood loss (Starrcade '83 was the other).

So, in this PPV, there was a draw, which meant that the titles didn't change hands (even though the faces celebrated, only to have to hand them back), a terrible multi-cage match mess, a match where a chain was used to win tag-team titles, a title was retained by the face having a friend betray him, and a main event where an Athletic Commission interferes and decides the result.

This must have been in the midst of "Dusty booking" because of all the screwy finishes. Many times, fans were disappointed to see the faces get the victory, only for the heels to win or retain their belts through some screwy finish.

This was a shit PPV, and I think it would be hard-pressed to find one more disappointing. All the WWF and ECW PPVs I watched from the past aren't all great either, but, so far, the ones I have seen at least had some good things to it. I can't think of ONE good thing about GAB '88.

You can't jerk around fans like this. I don't see how anyone thinks that this type of booking is good. Dusty Rhodes is a Legend, but a crap booker, and I can see why NWA/WCW eventually folded.

Can't blame Vince Russo for this one. No, NWA/WCW were producing crap PPVs long before Russo came along. I can see now why this company is no longer in existence, if this is the tripe they serve up. It was excrutiating to watch.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I have to be honest...this sounds awesome to me!

I was purely a WWF fan until the mid 90s when my favorites started heading over to WCW; so, this is all new to me.

I am sure many fans agree with you. But, I miss the days of stuff like this. So, while you hated it, I will just thank you for the heads up and watch it soon.

 

[tdmoon]

I enjoyed the '88 Bash. The Sting/Koloff vs. Blanchard/Anderson match did have a weak finish but was a good solid bout that the fans were totally into. Sting was crazy over then and Koloff was also good at working the crowd. And of course Tully and Arn were always fantastic. I agree the cage match was goofier than shit but at least it was somewhat interesting. Should have been a War Games match, though. Probably the weakest match on the card. It was near impossible for the Fantastics and the Midnights to not have a great match. This was another excellent showing from them and Cornette was awesome here. The US title bout between Windham and Rhodes was a good one(most of Barry's matches are) and got Windham some pretty good heat, what with the history between the two. The Garvin run-in would have been good had he stuck around to capitalize on it. Flair and Luger always had a terrific chemistry and this was yet another excellent match between the two. I didn't like the fuck finish either, but mostly because Luger sucks at blading. Had he been covered in a crimson mask it may have worked out but the blood was barely trickling. Not my favorite finish but I've read that it boosted interest in their house show run and allowed them to play it out even longer so I can't blame them much for it. In hindsight, I wish they had given the strap to Luger there, though.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I guess it all comes down to opinion, I haven't watched it for years but from what I do remember about it I enjoyed it, I grew up in this era and have great memories of it so I can only recomend if you don't like it from that era don't watch it from that era and just stick with watching wrestlers of today like Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, To crap over someone elses era when you can just choose not to watch.

 

[jpickens]

The main event finish was bullshit but the rest of the card was good plus this was late 80's NWA/ JCP which was a far cry from their heyday in the early and mid 80's.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I enjoyed the '88 Bash. The Sting/Koloff vs. Blanchard/Anderson match did have a weak finish but was a good solid bout that the fans were totally into. Sting was crazy over then and Koloff was also good at working the crowd. And of course Tully and Arn were always fantastic. I agree the cage match was goofier than shit but at least it was somewhat interesting. Should have been a War Games match, though. Probably the weakest match on the card. It was near impossible for the Fantastics and the Midnights to not have a great match. This was another excellent showing from them and Cornette was awesome here. The US title bout between Windham and Rhodes was a good one(most of Barry's matches are) and got Windham some pretty good heat, what with the history between the two. The Garvin run-in would have been good had he stuck around to capitalize on it. Flair and Luger always had a terrific chemistry and this was yet another excellent match between the two. I didn't like the fuck finish either, but mostly because Luger sucks at blading. Had he been covered in a crimson mask it may have worked out but the blood was barely trickling. Not my favorite finish but I've read that it boosted interest in their house show run and allowed them to play it out even longer so I can't blame them much for it. In hindsight, I wish they had given the strap to Luger there, though.

I enjoyed some of the matches, but when it was said and done, all I remembered was the crap finishes.

Why couldn't they have had ONE of the title matches be a clean win? I mean, maybe you have a screwy finish in one or two matches, but not every match.

I know that they used to do this in the old days to get people to go to house shows to get a decisive finish, but if you are paying for a wrestling show (and remember, there wasn't a WWE Network back then), you don't want every match to be screwy. Keep those for the TV shows, and have the PPV matches be the "blow-off" matches, or have a decisive finish.

I don't know why, but the face constantly being screwed out of the title FOUR times, made me angry, and any good from the standard of the match was forgotten by how the matches finished.

I mean, State Althetic Commission can GAGF.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I guess it all comes down to opinion, I haven't watched it for years but from what I do remember about it I enjoyed it, I grew up in this era and have great memories of it so I can only recomend if you don't like it from that era don't watch it from that era and just stick with watching wrestlers of today like Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, To crap over someone elses era when you can just choose not to watch.

I don't mind that era, and I liked a lot of early WWF (Ricky Steamboat, Junkyard Dog, Jake Roberts and Randy Savage were some of favourites) but they didn't have a screwy finish EVERY match. Also, the production values in WWF '80s, even back then, were far superior to NWA '80s production values and darkened arenas.

It's not that I prefer the new stuff, it's that I am not shelling out $40 a PPV to get indecisive finishes anymore. DQs and countouts on PPVs hurt less when you are paying $10 a month for one or more PPVs.