Each week, members of the Place to Be Nation staff come together to watch a professional wrestling show from the past as a group. As they watch and interact, they also track their grades and overall thoughts in various categories along the way. We will regularly be bringing you their output here in a variety of projects and entries.
Great American Bash 1992 (viewed June 28, 2018)
Card:
Nikita Koloff & Ricky Steamboat vs. Brian Pillman & Jushin Liger
Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Fabulous Freedbirds
Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. Steve Austin & Rick Rude
Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Nikita Koloff & Ricky Steamboat
Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham
Sting (c) vs. Big Van Vader – WCW World Heavyweight Title
Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams – NWA World Tag Team Titles
What Worked
JT Rozzero: The slightly heelish Ricky Steamboat in the opener; Scott Steiner’s arms; The Freebirds losing; Rick Rude & Steve Austin’s teamwork; Hiroshi Hase’s energy; Vader’s awesome theme; Sting’s trepidation to match power with Vader early in their match; Sting walking around with Vader on his shoulders; Vader destroying Sting with the powerbomb for a dominant win
Tim Capel: Brian Pillman’s tight tights; The Freebirds losing; Steve Austin’s selling; VADER
Jennifer Smith: Tony Schiavone’s pretty face; The banter between Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura; Everything Ricky Steamboat (except that one shitty match); Fucking Vader, dude
Greg Phillips: Ricky Steamboat being aggressive; Jushin Liger’s offense; Angry Jim R Ross; Michael Hayes selling; Hiroshi Hase’s Northern Lights; Rick Rude’s tights; Barry Windham’s punches; Hase’s athleticism; Windham and Rhodes’ strikes; Sting’s babyface fire and timing; Vader’s registering; The story of the Sting/Vader match; The cuts to Ron Simmons and Tony Schiavone watching the match a la Rocky III; Virtually everything about Sting/Vader
Jacob Williams: Every moment Vader was on screen; Harley Race’s post match promo; Sting’s selling and making people care; Sting bleeding; Tony Schiavone; Hiroshi Hase bringing it; The ref no selling bump; The first match tricking me into thinking the tournament will be great; Brian Pillman’s tights; Jushin Liger’s offense
Neil Trama: Sting/Vader being pretty much everything it was cracked up to be and Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura did a great job selling everything on commentary. Steve Austin was also an under-the-radar MVP.
Stacey O’Loughlin: Vader; Sting; Vader and Sting; Brian Pillman in those tights; Ricky Steamboat wrestling Jushin Liger; Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham working hard; Shinya Hashimoto existing
Tim Slomka: Fireworks everywhere; Magnum TA’s Ponytail; Jesse Ventura’s Jacket; They built up to Sting/Vader Match really well, making it a big deal; No draws in the tournament; Ron Simmons’ white suit & promo; Everything Vader (RIP)
Trent Williams: Everything having to do with the Sting vs Vader match; Sting as a great underdog babyface; Jushin Liger on the show; Harley Race’s post match promo; Terry Gordy puts on a better “Oriental Twist” than Cena does
Steve Riddle: Vader was made to be an unstoppable force and Sting hung with him every step of the way; Ricky Steamboat vs. Jushin Liger would’ve been a great singles match; Madusa at her valet peak at this point; Funny seeing the Dangerous Alliance still together after War Games; Magnum TA was a good hype man that seemed pretty underutilized
Logan Crosland: Sting vs Vader; Great opener with Pillman & Liger and Steamboat & Koloff; Sting’s German suplex; Vader’s powerbomb finish; Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes working their asses off all night
Tyler Kelley: Sting vs. Vader is a terrific, iconic match that set the template for big man vs. little man matches (though Sting is hardly a little man); Steamboat and Koloff vs. Pillman and Liger; Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes working hard and making a great babyface team
What Didn’t Work
JT Rozzero: Jesse Ventura’s jacket; Madusa’s very early 1990s jacket; The long heat segment in the Dangerous Alliance match; Too much matwork on this entire show; Not enough variance in the card and as a result it didn’t get to show off the depth of the roster
Tim Capel: Nikita Koloff’s testicle-hugging singlet; The Freebirds in 1992; Steve Williams and Terry Gordy stinking up the joint; A forgettable tag tournament; The crowd (not that I blame them)
Jennifer Smith: Eric Bischoff’s face; Steve Austin’s Bradley Taylor haircut; All of the Steve Williams and Terry Gordy; The crowd was lame (understandable though)
Greg Phillips: Bill Watts; Miscommunications in the opener; The entire Watts/Matsuda segment; Jimmy Garvin; The length of the middle portion of the Dangerous Alliance match; BORING-ASS DOC AND GORDY; So many slow mat wrestling segments and there was no variety in match styles; Dead crowd after Sting lost; Too many heel wins, especially in main event; Doc and Gordy not remotely over
Jacob Williams: The bland Bill Watts interviews; Tag Tournament feeling heatless; The sleepy crowd; Boring/meaningless/overly long restholds that don’t contribute to the match; Not finding a way to break up the tournament matches; Dr. Death; The ending of the show; No Steiner Brothers match
Neil Trama: The tournament was a preposterous overblown backdrop to the World Title match, effectively killing the crowd. It was almost as if they were watching a tournament where they didn’t care about the stakes. Oh wait. And then they booked a HEEL WIN!?!
Stacy O’Loughlin: So much; A show full of long, interminable tag team matches; No variety on the card; A dead crowd; Doc and Gordy sucking; Hash not murdering anyone
Tim Slomka: Last two matches ending with heels winning dominantly, I can’t think of another PPV to end that way. The double feature during the Dustin Rhodes closeline and pinfall. Terrible matches from Steve Williams & Terry Gordy that just killed the crowd, which listening on headphones actually were a good Georgia crowd besides those matches. Not having the Steiners being involved in the tournament on PPV.
Trent Williams: The Steiners’ t-shirts during interview. Too many long, slow, & methodical matches that were worked too much the same way. They could have cut two match times in half and put in two more non tournament matches. Terry Gordy and Steve Williams working as methodical mat experts for every match instead of showing off their power and brawling. If it weren’t for Sting vs. Vader this could be an all time worst wrestling show.
Steve Riddle: I like tournaments, but they could’ve cut the quarterfinals out and just done the semis and finals while balancing the rest of the card; How do you leave your hottest team in the Steiners off this show?; Never a good sign when the best match of the tournament is the first one and they get progressively worse throughout the night; I find Terry Gordy and Steve Williams slightly overrated and Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham should’ve won in the end.
Logan Crosland: This was not a good night for outfits, just absolutely terrible trunks, jackets, and t-shirts all over the place. The crowd was pretty dead and terrible all night. Terry Gordy and Steve Williams are pretty boring as a team to me. Having the Steiner Brothers on the show but not in the tourney.
Tyler Kelley: The tag team tournament killed any variety for the show and completely burned out the crowd, so even the well-worked matches were dead. Way too much stalling in most of the tag matches, with the worst offenders being Terry Gordy and Steve Williams. I’m not familiar with their Japanese work, but they bored me to tears during this show. Closing the show with two big heel wins was also a bit questionable.
Match of the Night
JT Rozzero: Vader vs. Sting
Tim Capel: Vader vs. Sting
Jennifer Smith: Vader vs. Sting
Greg Phillips: Vader vs. Sting
Jacob Williams: Vader vs. Sting
Neil Trama: Williams & Gordy vs. Rhodes & Windham… just kidding, Vader vs. Sting
Stacey O’Loughlin: Vader vs Sting
Tim Slomka: Vader vs Sting
Trent Williams: Vader vs Sting
Steve Riddle: Steamboat & Koloff vs. Liger & Pillman
Logan Crosland: Vader vs Sting
Tyler Kelley: Vader vs Sting
Worst Match of the Night
JT Rozzero: Steamboat & Koloff vs. Williams & Gordy
Tim Capel: Steamboat & Koloff vs. Williams & Gordy
Jennifer Smith: (sigh) Steamboat & Koloff vs. Williams & Gordy
Greg Phillips: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Jacob Williams: Steamboat & Koloff vs. Williams & Gordy
Neil Trama: Fabulous Freebirds vs. Hase & Hashimoto
Tim Slomka: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Stacey O’Loughlin: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Trent Williams: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Steve Riddle: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Logan Crosland: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
Tyler Kelley: Steamboat & Koloff vs Williams & Gordy
MVP of the Night
JT Rozzero: Vader
Tim Capel: Sting
Jennifer Smith: Vader
Jacob Williams: Sting
Greg Phillips: Sting
Neil Trama: Sting
Stacey O’Loughlin: Sting
Tim Slomka: Vader
Trent Williams: Sting
Steve Riddle: Vader
Logan Crosland: Vader
Tyler Kelley: Vader
Best Live Chat Comment of the Night
JT Rozzero: “Parv preached eating veggies and he has 13k subscribers on his political YouTube now” – Chad Campbell
Tim Capel: “I’ll be 44 next month assuming this match doesn’t kill me” – Tyler Kelley
Jennifer Smith: “Hase mache” – “Jambalaya” Jake Williams
Greg Phillips: “You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten broccoli out of Barry Windham’s ass hole.” – Tim Capel
Jacob Williams: “Can they go home if Doc and Gordy promise to wrestle for Bill in his bedroom?” – Stacey O’Loughlin
Neil Trama: “Looking like the oldest child on Home Improvement” – Greg Phillips on Steve Austin’s haircut
Stacey O’Loughlin: Greg Phillips getting “1992 Bill Watts” as an address on Google Maps via the Facebook Messenger application
Tim Slomka: “Or Green Day’s Dookie, appropriately enough” – Tim Capel on the font on the back of Rick Rude’s tights
Logan Crosland: “Rude and Austin better work the anus in this match. It’s a vulnerability.” – Greg Phillips
Tyler Kelley: “I’m a dirty ass Pillman? I’ll wear it.” – Tim Capel
Match Grades
JT Rozzero: ***1/4, **, ***1/4, *3/4, **3/4, ****1/4, **
Tim Capel: ***1/4, **, **3/4, 1/4*, **1/4, ****, *
Jennifer Smith: ***, *1/2, **3/4, 1/2*, **, ****, *
Greg Phillips: ***1/2, *1/2, ***1/4, -*, **1/4, ****1/2, *1/2
Jacob Williams: ***½, **, ***, *1/2, **1/2, ****, *1/2
Neil Trama: ***, *, ***, *, **, ****1/4, *
Stacey O’Loughlin: ***, **, **1/2, *, **, ****1/2, *1/2
Trent Williams: ***½, **1/4, ***1/2, *, **, ***3/4, *1/4
Tim Slomka: ***, *1/2, ***, 1/2*, *, ****1/4, *
Steve Riddle: ****, **, ***, 1/2*, **1/2, ***1/2, *1/2
Logan Crosland: ***, **, ***, *, **, ****, *1/2
Tyler Kelley: ***1/4, **, ***, 1/2*, **3/4, ****1/4, *1/2
Overall Show Grade
JT Rozzero: 5/10
Tim Capel: 4.5/10
Jennifer Smith: 4.5/10
Greg Phillips: 3.5/10
Jacob Williams: 5/10
Neil Trama: 3/10
Stacey O’Loughlin: 3/10
Trent Williams: 2.5/10
Tim Slomka: 4/10
Steve Riddle: 5/10
Logan Crosland: 4/10
Tyler Kelley: 4.5/10
