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[1992-07-12-WCW-Great American Bash] Interview: Bill Watts / Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

The pre-match interview with Bill Watts explaining his wrestling philosophy while Eric Bischoff holds the mic is a bit surreal.

 

Anyway, this match is disjointed as hell, the ref is out of position in several key spots, and the whole thing feels off. Yet I still think they overcome all of that and have a really good match. Liger and Pillman work really well as a team, and Koloff and Liger work well together way better than you'd expect. The criticisms against this match are valid, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

This was pretty good, but was off in spots. I remember Meltzer mentioning this was good when Koloff wasn't in the bout. I think he way off base with that claim. For me some of the best aspects of the match was the big man little man aspects with Koloff. Koloff's work on the apron was pretty great as well. To me Steamer and Pillman's timing with one another seemed off with each other on a couple of things. Funny they would be working a program with each other for 6 months in a bout a few months. Also for a show that has a rep for the matches killing the crowd, they seemed pretty hot for this. Overall, a fun babyface style tag.

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  • 9 months later...

Best match involving Nikita since he came back. I was really down on him, and I still think he sucks on offense, but I admit he was pretty decent here working against smaller guys, and actually good working outside the ring cheerleading Steamboat and putting over what was happening inside. You can feel Pillman is frustrated at this point and works really hard to show up Watts, including going to the tope rope often. Liger ruled, although was a bit off in spots, but you can blame unfamiliarity. Yes, kinda disjointed, but overall a cool match.

(loved Ventura dropping Eddie Carpentier's name)

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  • 2 months later...

Had a fresh feel as they'd probably never worked together and were doing it on the fly. A real mixed bag with numerous fun moments but some equally poor ones as well. All over the place. Koloff was just about adequate technically, with good ring presence. A poor mans Goldberg?

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  • 9 months later...

Watts gives an interview explaining that the top rope rule doesn't apply in NWA title matches. Nerd city but cool to see tag titles portrayed as a big deal.

 

Liger/Pillman feel like a legit dream team of the era. They use their speed to work over Nikita with quick tags as he surprisingly serves as a good base for them, and this somehow almost feels like a NJ juniors tag -- no small feat given who's involved. Liger moonsaults Steamboat for near fall early on that gets crowd going and follows with a tombstone for another near fall. Steamboat counters headlock with back suplex and hot tag to Nikita, who doesn't sell the arm. Loved Pillman countering Steamboat's attempt to tag out of a headlock with a back suplex. Ross also had a great call on the move. Really fun match that could've gone a number of different ways.

 

***3/4

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  • 4 weeks later...

Watts does a terrific job of getting over the idea of the different rules between the NWA and WCW, drawing comparisons to the Designated Hitter and various amateur wrestling rule differences. No one could draw comparisons to real sports for even the most absurd wrestling logic better than Watts.

 

This has a long, drawn-out layout like an extended Japanese tag match, but it comes off as fresh in this setting. Sort of like the previous All-Asia tag where it keeps going after you think you're watching the finishing stretch. It's not that good, of course--Nikita tries but also brings this match down at times with his chinlockery. Plus Mike Atkins is too busy escorting people out of the ring to count, which I thought was setting up something but was just Atkins being out of position. Crowd is really into Liger vs. Steamboat, especially Liger unloading on him with big bombs, and that's definitely a match you wish you could have seen sometime. Really great, fun PPV opener.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

Nice interview by Watts to explain the differences in the top rope rules between the NWA and WCW. Superplexes and slams off the top are expressly protected, which is good news since one of the guys in the tag tourney finals (Windham) uses the superplex as a finisher.

 

I liked the styles clash here more than anything else. This match kept me off-balance a bit as a viewer because I had no idea what to expect from one moment to the next. Nikita looked more like the Russian Nightmare than he has since early in his original face turn, as Liger and Pillman both played pinball for him. Meanwhile, Steamboat offered a tantalizing glimpse of what he could have been as a heel, as he played bully quite effectively, particularly against Liger. I've seen the press backbreaker before, but never for three full reps with a powerslam finish. Talk about impressive. It's not that Steamer used heel tactics, it's more like the attitude he portrayed; instead of plucky babyface, he was kind of bossy, saying "Hey, I'm the veteran and former champion, and you young pups will have to go through me to win this."

 

Liger and Pillman had their moments as well; they frustrated Nikita with armwork early, and I really liked the Liger-Steamboat exchanges, particularly the tombstone reversal that Liger pulled off. We already knew that Pillman could work with regular heavyweights, but it was a treat to see Liger do the same. I only wish we'd seen it more often.

 

Jesse was at his main-event level for 95% of this, mostly because there were no real heels to back. His only digressions came when he tried to interject the Medusa abuse storyline into the match, which JR quickly (and rightfully) shot down. There was a definite feeling of issues and feuds being on hold for the night and all competitors equally fighting for the same big prize (which JR all but explicitly stated at one point), so it was jarring to hear Jesse call Nikita a woman abuser out of nowhere. He made up for it with the Edouard Carpentier reference, though, and I'm surprised that JR didn't follow up on it by at least letting the younger fans know who Carpentier was. He probably would have if it had been Tony or Gordon or someone else he respected who'd brought him up.

 

Atkins was needlessly out of position quite a few times during the match. I don't know if they were doing things he hadn't anticipated or what, but it was more noticeable than usual.

 

Nice use of the top rope early in the match to establish that using it was indeed legal in this match. I kind of wish we'd gotten more of an aerial match so we could have seen Liger and Pillman use it more often, but with Nikita in there it would have been unfair.

 

Jesse estimated Nikita's weight at between 265 and 270 here, but he didn't look that big to me. Maybe he was and I just didn't see it.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow, I guess I am way off base. I thought this was not very good at all. Brian Pillman looked wicked off.

 

Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman - Great American Bash 1992

 

Liger was the MVP of this match. He was the spark plug. He was the one that really got the match going with offense in the middle and is a good FIP. Something was really off about Pillman. Blowing spots. Looking lost, forgetting to kick out, clamping headlocks late because he doesn't know what to do. In addition to Pillman sucking wind in this match, the face vs face nature of the match worked to the detriment of the match. I have gone on record saying I love face vs face matches because they can be explosive mid-match. There was no explosion. It was pretty pedestrian except when Liger was in there. Either someone needs to turn heel for the match or go for a ton of highspots. Where was the Pillman vs Steamboat fire fight? They did a good job establishing Nikita's power game early and then the Rockers style arm work by Pillman & Liger. I thought Steamboat was ok until Liger just goes crazy. Tombstone, moonsault and Carpentier somersault! Thank you Liger! Whats great is we get a look at Steamboat as a heel quickly where he hits three backbreakers in succession and then an Oklahoma Slam. Ricky Steamboat The Power Wrestler! Liger was a fun FIP. Pillman comes in and hits five dropkicks inside of two minutes. Jeez. Only the missile dropkick looked good. There was a great late Liger/Steamboat sequence late followed by a shitty Steamboat/Pillman sequence. Pillman crossbody roll through finished. My review is negative but I am more just miffed that Pillman didn't deliver because this could have been great if he was on, but instead it is just good. Watch for Steamboat vs Liger. I wish they got a singles match. ***

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  • GSR changed the title to [1992-07-12-WCW-Great American Bash] Interview: Bill Watts / Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff
  • 1 year later...

Pillman looked super off here.  He just was out of position or not paying attention about 33% of the time he was in the ring.  Sleeze and I are 100% in agreement on Liger/Steamer.  I was hoping and praying they had a singles match on tape somewhere because it looks like it would be AMAZING.  I thought Koloff did well, especially against Liger.  Oddly, Koloff was more entertaining than Pillman for most of this.  Still a fun match that has great stuff in between the question marks.

The interview with Watts was fine.  At least we know, even if it is stupid.

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