[1998-06-14-WCW-Great American Bash] Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart vs Randy Savage & Roddy Piper / Randy Savage vs Roddy Piper

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Piper is face in peril. Hogan keeps distracting the referee every time Savage tags in. Cool spot with Bret doing his typical headbutt to the lower abdomen and Savage putting a chair there. Savage does a relatively clean job to Bret, so give him credit for doing that on his way out. This immediately leads to Savage vs Piper, which I guess I should watch even though I'm not exactly excited. Savage punches Charles Robinson, who takes a great bump, for no apparent reason. Piper wins with a figure four. Glad that was short. You can tell Savage is about to take time off based on how he's used here.

[Zenjo]

40 year old Bret Hart is the young up 'n' comer in a tag match.

[Childs]

Piper seemed incredibly out of place in all of this, and boy did the crowd not give a fuck about most of it. I give Savage for at least trying to put over his storyline.

[soup23]

Pretty much a Savage burial here as he is done. Crowd was dead as hell and I couldn't find myself to care either. Piper is getting close to being my least favorite personality in 1997 and 1998 as it is way past time for him to go.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hollywood Hogan & Bret Hart vs Randy Savage & Roddy Piper - WCW Great American Bash 1998

 

WCW has lost any sort of direction as Hogan is fighting his two least interesting opponents of the six different matches/feuds he has on his plate. Hogan has the Nash/Wolfpac, Savage, Piper, Hart (frenemy), DDP and Goldberg all gunning for him in one form or another within a month of this PPV. I don't mind running everything through Hogan, but they need to use him to spin matches off of him and creating a buzz for that. Instead we have Nash & Wolfpac spinning their wheels until Hogan finally leaves in October, Bret Hart as Brutus Beefcake's more proficient twin, and Goldberg wrestling squashes as champion. I will say DDP was minted as a main eventer thanks to Hogan so I don't begrudge him that. Still, c'mon Hogan/Piper and Hogan/Savage is so played out at this point. Savage being the catalyst for causing the NWO Civil War is fine, but they needed to transfer the heat to Nash now for the fresh match, but egos got in the way. Piper just needs to go away.

 

The match is surprisingly fun, but it has a throwaway Nitro main event feel. Hogan was great in the babyface shine stooging for Piper and Savage. It is painful seeing Savage basically wrestle on one leg. You could see how much more he wanted to give. Piper was just awful and seemed blown up like two minutes into the match. Hogan did the best he could with two lame opponents (one literally and one figuratively). Brother Bruti hits Piper with the title belt as he is running the ropes. Hart is great in heat segment and Hogan is also great at cheating. I love them riling up Savage on the apron. It was definitely the most exciting part of the match. Savage sliding the chair onto Piper's abdomen when Hart goes down for his trademark headbutt was genius.Savage gets the tag and Hogan cowers and the crowd goes wild. Savage just can't move like he needs to capitalize on the heat. Savage goes up top for the elbow, but Piper is whipped into the ropes and Savage falls and wrenches his knee. The announcer blow this call so bad. Hart applies the Sharpshooter to give NWO Hollywood the victory.

 

Hart is sure working towards the match with Hogan, eye-roll. If they replaced Piper with someone worth a damn, this would have been decent. Hogan is actually a pretty good worker in 1998, he is just working with shit usually see Apathetic Sting, Injured Savage and Shitty Piper. I'd love to see him against DDP or Luger this year. Instead we have shitty celebrity matches and the fucking Ultimate Warrior to finish his year.Maybe the Goldberg match will be good.

 

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Randy Savage vs Roddy Piper - WCW Great American Bash 1998

The last match should have been main event of a Nitro and this singles match should have stemmed from all the confusion at Slamboree 1998. Hogan & Hart vs Wolfpac (Nash & Luger) would have made a lot more sense or even Hogan vs DDP World Title match would have been incredible. If only I could have booked WCW 1998 and people listened to me, it would have been a field day. First order of business, fire Roddy Piper, a shitty promo and even shittier wrestler. Piper does not want to fight Savage after his knee has been destroyed. Savage hits the world's worst clothesline and hits the elbow and fucks up his knee. We at least get one last random act of violence towards a ref as Lil Naitch takes a great bump off a bump. I'd love a wrestler crib Savage's random act of violence against refs character. Piper applies the figure-4 and Savage never comes back. Team Madness never happened...Team Madness never happened...Team Madness Never Happened. Piper needs to go the fuck away too!

[Migs]

This was a really sad way for Savage to go out (curious to see the cage match against DDP the next night), but the spot with the headbutt to the chair was brilliant.

[PeteF3]

Bret headbutting the chair was the only highlight of this mess. Piper still knows how to sell but is otherwise possibly the worst wrestler in the world at this point. This is mostly heatless because at least 3 of these guys simply can no longer provide the action to back up their star power and charisma. I know I've harped on match quality mattering less in '98 than before, but this was a traditional wrestling crowd that popped for wrestling, and "We already have their money, brother" just wasn't going to work anymore. As soon as Hogan & co. start laying in feather-light shots the crowd just dies. Savage is buried hard on the way out, doing two straight submission jobs. One would think the Wolfpack hung him out to dry but I don't know if that was the planned storyline.

[TravJ1979]

I knew Savage's time away was coming up. i didn't know it was this early. Watching this and revisiting early Piper has me going to extremes on hate and appreciation for the man.