The 1985 Great American Bash

Today on Vintage Wrestling Review, we head into July 10, for NWA’s first Great American Bash in Charlotte, North Carolina’s American Legion Memorial Stadium.

Match: Buddy Landel (with J. J. Dillon) vs. Ron Bass

The match began with Landel with a kick and blow, throwing Bass out of the ring. The two fought furiously back and forth, Bass’ head being thrown onto the bell once early on and Landel being thrown into the ring posts numerous times.

Winner: Draw

Match: Ole and Arn Anderson vs. Buzz Sawyer and Dick Slater for the Tag Team Championship

The fight started before the bell, Sawyer and Slater heading straight towards the Andersons, and dominated nearly the entire match, save for an illegal switch at the end.

Winners: Ole and Arn Anderson with a pin to retain the National Tag Team Championship

Match: 6 Team Tag with “Superstar” Billy Graham, Konga the Barbarian, and Abdullah the Butcher (with Paul Jones) vs. Manny Fernandez, Sam Houston, and Buzz Tyler.

The match was pretty dominant from Graham, Barbarian and Abdullah’s side, once having Houston in their corner and all three completely thrashing him. Eventually though, Houston was able to escape from the torture, spark a brawl and make a pin in the midst.

Winners: Fernandez, Houston and Tyler with a sneaky pin.

Match: Jimmy Valiant vs. Paul Jones in a Dog Collar Match

Jones was in control for the beginning and most of the match, weaponizing the chain. Eventually, Valiant was able to gain leverage when Jones was on the rope and soon gained the upper hand. Jimmy eventually hit the Valiant Elbow and won. Though, Abdullah decided to beat on Valiant after the match.

Winner: Jimmy Valiant with the Valiant Elbow and pin.

Match: The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) (with Paul Ellering) vs. Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff for the World Tag Team Championship

Hawk started this match doing very well against Koloff, even slamming him from the top rope. Eventually, Khruschev and Koloff were able to gain the advantage over Animal, working him down.  The match would end with all four men brawling in the middle of the ring, each using the same chair to hit each other.

Winner: Double Disqualification

Match: Magnum T.A. vs. Kamala (with Skandor Akbar) for the NWA United States Championship

Kamala began the match in complete control, though Magnum used his weight to gain a slight advantage at one point, but it was quickly lost. Somehow, over the hopeless beating, Magnum was able to turn it around with three dropkicks.

Winner: T.A. Magnum via Disqualification to retain the NWA United States Championship.

Before the next match, there was a short interview with Ivan Koloff, who stated that the Kremlin had chosen his brother Nikita to be the next NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Yay Red Scare!

Match: Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff (with Ivan Koloff) for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with David Crocket as special referee.

Ric Flair landed in the stadium via helicopter along to Zarathustra. Gotta love that.

Anyway… Kolof started the match off brutally strong, putting Flair in a headlock. Flair tried to fight back, but to hardly any avail, but a Figure 4 Leg Lock almost did it. Finally, all bloodied up, Flair was able to gain the advantage by falling on Koloff. Afterwards, the Koloffs gave Flair a complete beatdown even with other wrestlers trying to stop it.

Winner: Ric Flair by deadweight fall and pin to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Match: Tully Blanchard (with Baby Doll) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Television Championship in a Steel Cage

Rhodes started off the match quite strong, but Blanchard gained small headway before Rhodes retained control. Every leg up Blanchard tried to get was met with a counter by Rhodes until the piledriver.

Winner: Dusty Rhodes with the piledriver to win the NWA World Television Championship

Match Ratings

Landel vs. Bass.

Good match. Both men brutalized each other, but left no clear victor. Yet, sometimes no true winner is good when a feud needs more heat. Following the bell though, Bass staying in the ring to egg on Landel just didn’t feel right. If the feud was really that strong, he should have chased them to the back or out of the stadium. 3/5

Ole and Arn Anderson vs. Buzz Sawyer and Dick Slater

Good match. The illegal switch and pin were a good way to dirtily retain the titles. The beginning was good too with Sawyer and Slater not even waiting for the bell to ring. My only problem was sometimes the chaos with all four men in the ring made it confusing to watch. 3/5

“Superstar” Billy Graham, Konga the Barbarian, and Abdullah the Butcher (with Paul Jones) vs. Manny Fernandez, Sam Houston, and Buzz Tyler.

Sometimes 6 Man Tag matches can be good and fun to watch. This was a great match with Sam Houston being demolished until the last second. He body slammed Graham for a partial pin, but when the other four came in, he scored another pin to win. My only problem for this match was that Houston should have gotten some more hits in than just a slam. But it was still great. 4/5

Jimmy Valiant vs. Paul Jones

Research shows that Vince Russo didn’t begin booking until 1992, and that was with the WWF. So I’m not sure who to blame for this. I’m not really into Dog Collar matches, but even so, this match was ok. Nothing really notable, except for Abdullah’s beating after the match. 2/5

The Road Warriors vs. Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff

This was a good match. Both teams were evenly matched and had their own high points. I said before that sometimes no winner is a good move, but sometimes it doesn’t work. The double disqualification came with both teams using the same chair. I would have liked this match to have a clear winner, but the Double DQ could have worked if the first match hadn’t been a draw. It also got a little slow before the DQ. Other than that, good match 3/5

T.A. Magnum vs. Kamala

This was a good match. It would have been a great match if it hadn’t been for the disqualification thanks to Akbar. I like matches where the smaller guy turns it around to eventually win and Magnum had Kamala off his feet, it could have been great for a true pin. I do like how Magnum took the post match hit from Kamala to make it look like he won fairly, but it was still a poor finish. 3/5

Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff

It was an amazing match. Flair’s victory came out of nowhere after both men were going back and forth for quite some time. At one point a fan ran into the ring which, though stupid, was completely hilarious. I found nothing wrong with this match and the post match beatdown just proved how livid Koloff really was. 5/5

Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard

This was quite a good match; Dusty really showed his drive and determination in stopping Blanchard whenever he could. On the other hand, Blanchard really didn’t have a chance, even though he got some offense in. I think there should have been a time where it looked like he was going to retain the title. Also, I don’t think it should have followed the Flair/Koloff match, it was a little less energetic and should probably have gone on a bit longer. 3/5

Show Rating: 3/5

It was a good card. Most of the matches were quite entertaining, and I liked all of them except for the Valiant/Jones match. For the most part, it was an energetic night with one good title change and a crazy fan. I’d say my favorite match was either the 6 Man Tag or Magnum/Kamala.

And so we’re almost halfway through 1985! Stay sharp, there’s two more airings of Saturday Night’s Main Event before the next Pay Per View!