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!
