World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event
The 1989 Great American Bash was the first Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner and the fifth annual Great American Bash event overall; the previous events were held by the former NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions. It took place on July 23, 1989, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the second Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988 event.
The main event was a standard wrestling match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair defended the title against Terry Funk. Flair pinned Funk by reversing an Inside Cradle attempt to retain the title. Featured matches on the undercard saw The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane), and Steve Williams versus Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin, Michael Hayes, and Terry Gordy) and Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) in a WarGames match, Lex Luger versus Ricky Steamboat for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, Sting versus The Great Muta for the NWA World Television Championship, Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) versus The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan) in a Texas Tornado match, Jim Cornette versus Paul E. Dangerously in a Tuxedo match, The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey) versus Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas), and a Two-Ring King of the Hill Battle Royal.
Production.
Background.
The Great American Bash is a professional wrestling event established in 1985. It was first produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and aired on closed-circuit television before becoming a pay-per-view event in 1988. In November 1988, JCP was rebranded as World Championship Wrestling (WCW). As such, the 1989 event was the first Great American Bash event promoted by WCW and fifth annual overall. It took place on July 23, 1989, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the second Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988 event.
Storylines.
The Great American Bash featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing rivalries, plots and storylines that were played out on "World Wide Wrestling", "Pro", "Power Hour" and "World Championship Wrestling"–WCW's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a hero, villain or a tweener as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or a series of matches.
The main rivalry heading into the event was between Ric Flair and Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleWar, Flair defeated Ricky Steamboat to win the title. After the match, Funk challenged Flair for the title but Flair refused to defend it because Funk was not ranked in the Top 10 contender's list for the title. Funk proceeded to attack Flair and perform a Piledriver on him through the table, thus making Flair a fan favorite. This resulted in Funk winning matches usually against local competitors and improving himself to be ranked in the Top 10. He would make mentions of injuring Flair. On July 1 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Flair requested the WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd to allow him to defend the title against Funk at The Great American Bash, which Herd accepted.
A secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Lex Luger and Ricky Steamboat for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleWar, Steamboat lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair and Luger lost the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship to Michael Hayes. On May 22, Luger regained the title by defeating Hayes at a live event. On June 10 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Luger gave negative remarks on being held back and claimed to be worthy of getting a title shot for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship instead of Ricky Steamboat or Terry Funk. On June 14 "Clash of the Champions VII", Funk got disqualified during his match against Steamboat by hitting him with a microphone. Luger made the save and ran off Funk but then attacked Steamboat himself, becoming a villain. On June 24 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Luger announced in an interview that he attacked Steamboat because he was tired of making fans happy and wanted to prove himself better than Steamboat. On July 1 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that Luger would defend the United States Heavyweight Championship against Steamboat at The Great American Bash.
Another secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Sting and The Great Muta for the NWA World Television Championship. At WrestleWar, Sting retained the Television Championship against The Iron Sheik and Muta defeated Doug Gilbert. On May 13 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Muta and his manager Gary Hart challenged Sting to a Dragon Shi match. On May 20 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Sting challenged Muta to an immediate match but Hart claimed that he and Muta were not ready. On May 27 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that Eddie Gilbert had accepted Muta's open challenge for a Dragon Shi match. On June 14 edition of "Clash of the Champions VII", an in-ring presentation of Dragon Shi was held, during which Gilbert accidentally struck a fireball into Trent Knight's face. On July 1 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that Sting would defend the World Television Championship against Muta at The Great American Bash.
At WrestleWar, The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) retained the NWA World Tag Team Championship against The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) by disqualification when Kevin Sullivan and Dan Spivey attacked the referee Nikita Koloff. This caused the titles to be vacated by the WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd. A tournament occurred to determine the new champions. The quarter-final round took place on editions of "World Championship Wrestling". Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy) defeated Road Warriors, Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) defeated Jack Victory and Rip Morgan, Samoan Swat Team defeated Ranger Ross and Ron Simmons and Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) defeated Butch Reed and The Raider. On June 14 edition of "Clash of the Champions VII", the semi-final round and the final round took place. In the semi-final round, Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) defeated Dynamic Dudes and Midnight Express defeated Samoan Swat Team. In the final round, Fabulous Freebirds defeated Midnight Express to win the vacant titles. The interferences of Road Warriors and Samoan Swat Team in each other's matches throughout the tournament began a rivalry between the two teams as well as beginning a new rivalry between Fabulous Freebirds and Midnight Express. On June 17 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Williams became a fan favorite when Jim Cornette made him, the newest ally of Midnight Express against Fabulous Freebirds. Later that night, Terry Gordy defeated Williams, with the help of Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin, which resulted in a brawl between several teams. On July 1 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that a WarGames match would take place at The Great American Bash pitting Road Warriors, Midnight Express and Steve Williams against Fabulous Freebirds and Samoan Swat Team.
The predominant tag team rivalry heading into the event was between Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan). At WrestleWar, Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner defeated Sullivan and Dan Spivey to retain the NWA United States Tag Team Championship. Following the event, Steve Williams and Dan Spivey left the group and it was reduced to Sullivan and Rotunda. Rick suffered a shoulder injury and his brother Scott was placed in a rivalry with Sullivan. A female fan of Rick was shown in the crowd during Scott's matches, resulting in Sullivan confronting her on June 3 edition of "World Championship Wrestling". On June 14 edition of "Clash of the Champions", Varsity Club defeated Steiner Brothers. Rick's fan Robin Green's flowers were torn up by Varsity Club during Steiner Brothers' match on June 24 edition of "World Championship Wrestling". On July 22 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that Steiner Brothers would compete against Varsity Club in a Texas Tornado match at The Great American Bash.
On April 2 Clash of the Champions VI, NWA referee Teddy Long favored Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) during their NWA World Tag Team Championship opportunity against Road Warriors and gave a fast count pinfall to Varsity Club. As a result, Long was fired of his referee duties. He became a manager and the newcomer Norman the Lunatic was his first client. Long continued to expand his roster by putting former Varsity Club member Dan Spivey with newcomer Sid Vicious in a tag team called The Skyscrapers. On July 1 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", Skyscrapers made its debut by defeating two local competitors. On July 15 edition of "World Championship Wrestling", it was announced that Dynamic Dudes would wrestle Skyscrapers in a tag team match at The Great American Bash.
On June 14 edition of "Clash of the Champions VI", it was announced that a Two-Ring King of the Hill Battle Royal would take place at The Great American Bash. Qualifying battle royals were held throughout the next one month to determine the participants of the final at the event.
Event.
Preliminary matches.
The first match of the event was a Two-Ring King of the Hill Battle Royal. The match consisted of two rings. The rules were that once a competitor was tossed out of the first ring, he would battle in the second ring. The last competitor standing in the first ring would be the winner of the first ring and the eliminated participants would compete in the second ring. The last competitor of the second ring would compete against the winner of the first ring in a standard wrestling match. The participants of the match were Eddie Gilbert, Terry Gordy, Scott Hall, Bill Irwin, Brian Pillman, Ranger Ross, Mike Rotunda, Ron Simmons, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Steve Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey. Ross and Simmons were the first two participants to be tossed out of the first ring and battle each other in the second ring. All the participants with the exception of Pillman and Vicious were tossed out of the first ring and battled in the second ring. Pillman and Vicious fought against each other in the first ring, with Sid eventually eliminating Pillman by avoiding a Diving Crossbody and tossing him over the top rope. As a result, Sid won the Battle Royal of the first ring. The action continued in the second ring as Williams eliminated Irwin and Rotunda and Spivey eliminated Pillman by double-teaming him. Williams delivered a Powerslam to Rotunda and eliminated him. He battled Spivey until Rotunda distracted Williams. This allowed Spivey to deliver a Clothesline to Williams and eliminate him to win the Battle Royal in the second ring. This set up a match between Vicious and Spivey but their manager Teddy Long announced that the two would split the reward of $50,000.
In the next match, Brian Pillman competed against Bill Irwin. Irwin dominated much of the match until Pillman gained momentum by using quick high-flying moves. Pillman's momentum was stopped when he missed a Missile Dropkick on Irwin. Irwin delivered a Gutwrench Suplex to Pillman and threw him into the other ring. He tried to chase Pillman but the referee prevented him from going after Pillman. This distraction allowed Pillman to recover and perform a Diving Crossbody from ring one onto Irwin in ring two for the victory.
The third match was a tag team match between Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) and The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey). Skyscrapers dominated the earlier competition against Dudes. Sid dominated the match against Douglas and applied a Stomach Clawhold on Douglas. Spivey was tagged in. He continued to dominate Douglas by performing a Sidewalk Slam and a Backbreaker. Douglas avoided a Headbutt by Spivey and tagged in Ace. Ace delivered a Flying Clothesline and attempted to pin Spivey but Sid kicked him in the face. Sid and Spivey tried to deliver a Double Clothesline but Ace moved out of the way and both men hit each other. Douglas and Ace double-teamed Spivey until the referee took Douglas out of the ring. It allowed Spivey to take advantage and