Rewind-A-Wai #127 will be released this Tuesday with a review of the Great American Bash 1988: The Price for Freedom,
Watch the show (WWE Network account required):
https://watch.wwe.com/episode/WCW-The-Great-American-Bash-1988-10248
Leave us your feedback & questions.
Great American Bash
Sunday, July 10, 1988
Baltimore, Maryland at Baltimore Arena
*NWA Championship: Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger
*United States Championship: Barry Windham (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes
*Tower of Doom Match: Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, The Russian Assassin, Ivan Koloff & Al Perez vs. Jimmy Garvin, Road Warriors, Dr. Death Steve Williams & Ron Garvin
*United States Tag Titles: The Fantastics (c) vs. Midnight Express
*NWA Tag Team Championships: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) vs. Sting & Nikita Koloff
Jesse from the 6
I never like to judge wrestling storytellers too harshly when they try something new. Having said that, I sincerely hope there was never a second Tower of Doom Match. This is up there with Vince Russo’s wackiest match ideas. Almost no wrestling took place in the ring itself, the sightlines must have sucked for the live audience, and poor Tommy Young looked scared witless up there. Not to mention, after 30 minutes of aimless brawling, Kevin Sullivan then willingly throws the match just to maul Precious, who had no good reason to be in the damn match anyway. Oof.
Was this a down period for Crockett Promotions? I’m pretty sure it was after the promotion’s peak, yet the crowd here seemed white hot for even basic moves. But both the opening and closing match had essentially the same Dusty finish. I don’t know if Dusty was still booking, but it’s easy to see how an overreliance on these finishes could burn an audience out. The main event was particularly egregious.
Question: Do you know if Baltimore was neutral ground in terms of wrestling territories? I know the WWWF ran shows there in the late '70s and Crockett/WCW ran shows there in the late 80’s. Was the latter just a matter of national expansion or did the city change territories somehow?
