[1999-06-13-WCW-Great American Bash] Ric Flair vs Roddy Piper

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The video package doesn't make this feud look any better. We do get recaps of some of the key angles in the last month that we cut because we'd rather include stuff that was actually good. I do like the potential of Flair vs Benoit/Malenko but they didn't do much with it. Last few minutes of the match. Arn runs interference for Flair. It works better when he's associated with Benoit-Malenko as a heel act because it's a fresher dynamic. Flair ends up socking Piper with brass knucks after Arn distracts the ref. He locks in a figure four with Arn helping add leverage. Bagwell shows up from behind and attacks Arn, then enters the ring to go after Flair. Flair works Bagwell like he's 1988 Sting and they are in an impromptu brawl, which is funny because Buff has nowhere near that charisma. Then Piper turns on Bagwell and all three guys team up to put him down. Flair and Arn hold Bagwell while Piper whips him, as Tenay explains that this means the established stars stick together when there are threats to their spots. Buff Bagwell. That's who WCW thought should spearhead an angle that admittedly was a good idea. I remember reading at the time that Nash wanted to lead the young guys and Hogan wanted to shoot on them for being flippy floppy nobodies who had never drawn a dime, so this all could have been much worse than it was, believe it or not.

[tim]

Bagwell, the guy WCW seems ready to push as their big up and comer, makes himself look like an idiot by DQing the guy he wants to win and the crowd cheers when everyone beats him up.

[soup23]

Piper saying he had a partner Phantom and Menace made me want to vomit. Flair vs. Benoit/Malenko really could have been good stuff but I digress. Clips from the finishing match and it actually looks fairly spirited for a Piper 1999 match. After escaping the sleeper, Flair brings out his trusty brass knuckles and receives a kiss from Asya. Figure four is applied with help from Arn. Bagwell helps Piper and gets a decent reaction. His hulk up from the shots of Flair were straight out of the Clash 1 playbook. Piper then decides to deck Bagwell in a decision that makes no fucking sense to me. The crowd is baffled and just stares there besides popping for the spinebuster like always. This is odd stuff and why Piper and Flair are allies is totally asinine.

[Tim Evans]

Piper's turn makes no sense. Bagwell isn't a bad choice to lead the young guys but no one cares for him without Scott Steiner.

[PeteF3]

The video package gives us a few fill-ins on stuff we missed, like how Benoit & Malenko split from the Horsemen. The confrontation with Arn, naturally, seems to be the best part of this. Piper reads a top-10 list of why Flair shouldn't run WCW, which was a quasi-infamous bomb of a segment but admittedly the #1 reason is couched in pretty airtight logic. That said, WHO ON EARTH DECIDED TO RUN THIS MATCH A *SECOND* TIME? Is this Nash using Piper and Flair the way Dusty used Paul Jones and Jimmy Valiant, sticking them with each other so they don't dare screw up anyone else?

 

Arn is the best part of the match and post-match as well. The idea of Buff as the leader of the new generation is whatever but there's a ton more wrong with WCW than that. Still, the execution of the Piper turn is pretty shitty since a.) there's a way to do it without having him align with Flair all of a sudden, and b.) the announcers, Tenay's "establishment sticks together" line notwithstanding, obviously aren't clued in and don't know how to get over that Piper turned on Bagwell for costing him the match and Presidency. Heenan even says Piper's "directing traffic" when he's doing no such thing.

[DMJ]

Wanted to add that earlier in the night, Buff Bagwell struggled considerably to beat Disco Inferno. Like, at times, Inferno was dominating him so badly that I thought it was leading to a "Bagwell was playing possum" finish that would've been ridiculous, but at least could've establish that Buff is smarter and tougher than we know. But no - he barely squeaks out a victory against an unfocused nWo jobber and then, because he's the biggest dolt on the planet, costs his horse the race for no apparent reason (I feel like wrestling logic would dictate that if you pull Double A away from providing leverage to Flair, Flair either releases the hold by being distracted or Piper now has the energy to reverse the move).