[1996-06-16-WCW-Great American Bash] Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Steve McMichael & Kevin Greene

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Just the finish. I love this angle. I think my favorite thing about it is that the outsider always went over in wrestling matches in a WWF setting, and the wrestlers actually went over, no matter the circumstances, in this one. It was also very well done as an angle and a good sync with the post-match stuff in the Benoit match, as the Horsemen were put over strong on this show.

[Strummer]

love this angle and the mini Horseman push that lasted a few weeks after this was real fun. I think they had a bunch of 8 man tags against jobber teams and had dinner and drinks ringside. Used to love Flair flirting with Debra right in front of her husband!

[Bob Morris]

One thing about the match that gets overlooked is Tony Schiavone's foreshadowing near the start of the match. He's talking to Dusty about Steve McMichael's days in the NFL, where he was with the Chicago Bears his entire career, only then to sign with the hated rival Green Bay Packers in his final years. Schiavone says he asked McMichael about why he did that, "and he said, 'Money.' He said, 'I did it for the money.'"

 

And then, we get the payoff with Debra bringing out the attache case full of money and Steve completes his heel turn, with Schiavone making a point to note what he had earlier discussed about Steve McMichael doing it for the money.

 

It was one of those times in which Schiavone really did shine as a commentator.

[Victator]

Kevin Greene showed a lot of potential. Athletically he seemed a natural.

[El-P]

One instance where everything works exactly right.

[BackToBionic]

I liked McMichael as a Horseman. Big dumb oaf. They had 3 amazing wrestlers (3 of the greatest ever) so he was a good 4th. This angle was very well done. In the weeks leading up to it, it wasn't completely telegraphed. I just read a bunch of WONs from around this time but I can't remember if Meltzer knew about this too far in advance.

[El-P]

Still love everything about this match and angle. The last great heel Horsemen angle.

[TravJ1979]

Would you call this the best wrestling match involving non-wrestler/celebrities?

[Loss]

I'd put both Show/Mayweather and the six-man at Slamboree the following year with Kevin Greene above this one I think.

[PeteF3]

I remember reading the match results online and almost falling out of my chair. I was SO pre-emptively disgusted that Flair and Arn were going to have to put over two football players, the idea of them winning, much less McMichael of all people turning heel, wasn't even the slightest possibility. Hell, I read about Bischoff eating a power bomb through a table even before Nash's debut, but no one saw this comng. Mongo was never a good worker but I could never really hate him, because this is one of my favorite heel turns of all-time. Even before ordering the replay, just reading the rundown of this card made it absolutely clear that WCW was truly the new #1.

[soup23]

Fun match in full and the Mongo turn works a bit as Flair has been on his own with the ladies and Arn as his lackey for the first part of the year. Now he has his unit which seems to have some new life breathed into it. Debra shows who wore the pants in the marriage with Mongo.

[BruiserBrody]

I really loved this match a ton and give the Horsemen full credit for being stooges and leaders in there. Flair said on his podcast that Greene was all fired u and wanted to work spots they hadn't practiced once the match started.

[PhilTLL]

I don't really understand why you'd have McMichael take such a beating from two guys he's about to join. It would have made more sense to have Greene take the heat, then hit the hot tag to McMichael, have him take the clip shot and tag out, then work the rest of the match the same.

[Marksman]

On 1/29/2011 at 5:25 PM, Bob Morris said:

One thing about the match that gets overlooked is Tony Schiavone's foreshadowing near the start of the match. He's talking to Dusty about Steve McMichael's days in the NFL, where he was with the Chicago Bears his entire career, only then to sign with the hated rival Green Bay Packers in his final years. Schiavone says he asked McMichael about why he did that, "and he said, 'Money.' He said, 'I did it for the money.'"

And then, we get the payoff with Debra bringing out the attache case full of money and Steve completes his heel turn, with Schiavone making a point to note what he had earlier discussed about Steve McMichael doing it for the money.

It was one of those times in which Schiavone really did shine as a commentator.

Just watched this, and knowing the closing angle in advance, that foreshadowing really stood out as fantastic, yeah.