Bash '89

[Loss]

I can't believe this show was 20 years ago, today.

 

That's insane.

 

The build was really awesome, with Ric Flair coming back from his broken neck to face Terry Funk, Steamboat seeking revenge after Luger turned on him at the Clash, Sting and Muta facing each other for the first time, a War Games featuring most of the top tag teams, Cornette and Paul E. in a tuxedo match to blow off their feud, etc.

 

Time flies!

 

Talk about Bash '89 (the buildup and the show) here.

[tigerpride]

It recently just aired on 24-7, the show is a lot of fun, though I don't know if it's the best PPV ever.

 

The top three matches are all a lot of fun, I loved Sting v. Muta and Luger v. Steamboat. The wild brawl to end it really makes you want to buy Halloween Havoc

[Bob Morris]

There's no doubt that Bash '89 was a strong show from top to bottom. You had feuds that were built up well, found ways to deliver clean endings yet still keep the feuds going, the matches that didn't feature a decisive winner didn't actually do harm to anyone... the show isn't without its flaws, but the flaws are few.

 

One of the nice things about some of the WWE DVDs is, on the second Flair set, the Flair/Funk match from GAB '89 includes the post-match brawl... truly great stuff in which the faces keep gaining the advantage, yet the heels keep coming back for more, until it finally reaches the point when the heels decide to fight another day, and Flair and Sting are declaring "this is not over!"

[Guest Iron Chad]

Strong show from top to bottom. . . if you ignore the Skyscrapers/Dynamic Dudes match, though it's funny that Spivey lost Johnny Ace on the powerbomb and almost killed him (I bet Cornette wishes today Spivey had dropped Johnny on his dome). It may not be the best PPV of all time, but it's one of my favorites and most of it holds up well 20 years later. I can dig Steamboat as the pissed off babyface wanting revenge, and Luger as the smarmy heel who won't face Ricky with No DQ. I'm finding Luger from 1988-mid-1990 was a bit underrated as a worker. The WarGames on this show is really underrated, I don't hate the Hayes/Gordy/Garvin Freebirds as much as I thought I did, as is the work of Cornette and Heyman at ringside (the less said about the manager's tuxedo match, the better, though the promos for it were great).

 

Flair/Funk and the angles around it are still great and the grudge match aspect of it made Flair change up his game a bit and you get Flair match that, for a change, is actually a bit different than usual. I love Flair/Sting/Muta/Funk continuing to brawl for about ten minutes after the match while JR and Caudle try to wrap things up.

 

"Doug Dillenger. . . NO, HE'S A CIVILIAN!!"

-Jim Ross as Head of Security Doug Dillenger hits the ring to try to stop Funk from piledriving Flair on a chair

 

-Chad

[floyd]

 

Yeah I love the show. There's better shows out there but I was a huge fan for the 1989 run and this was the pinnacle show.

 

I curious now that's it's up in 24/7, how will newer fans see the show as compared to today? Like has it aged well. I know over at F4W the Bryan & Vinny show saw it in 3 parts and hated the 1st half, even giving Sting/Muta 2-1/2 stars.

[Stuttsy]

Can't believe it's been 20 years, I remember watching the VHS the next day that my uncle, who unlike us, had PPV capability, taped for me. To me this is still pretty much the most complete, full PPV card of all time. It holds up very well for me but I too would love to hear what someone watching it for the first time has to think.

[Guest Iron Chad]

Great pic. Poor Civilian Dillinger.

 

I didn't mention Sting/Muta in my earlier post because I tend to agree with it not holding up well over time. Match is only ten minutes and almost half of that is Muta time-wasting that I've grown to hate over the years. The NWA did the damn back suplex --> double/contested pin finish too much in the 1980's.

 

The battle royal kinda sucks, though the double Skyscrapers finish at the time was OK, history has not been kind to the Skyscrapers. I remember being convinced they were the next Road Warriors, then Sid punctured his lung, Spivey left and the blowoff match against the Warriors ended up being Mean Mark Callous and some guy in a mask vs. the Roadies. Other than a 1 minute squash at Starrcade 1990, the Skyscrapers were done.

 

Pillman/Irwin doesn't hold up that well either, though Pillman made great use of the double rings for a couple of impressive high spots that I have always remembered but are routinely outdone on most random ROH cards. I still submit the second 2/3 of the `89 Bash holds up well and is on par with most, if not all, other PPV's.

[Loss]

 

Yeah I love the show. There's better shows out there but I was a huge fan for the 1989 run and this was the pinnacle show.

 

I curious now that's it's up in 24/7, how will newer fans see the show as compared to today? Like has it aged well. I know over at F4W the Bryan & Vinny show saw it in 3 parts and hated the 1st half, even giving Sting/Muta 2-1/2 stars.

Yes, Bash '89 is a good show, but it's no FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2007 WWE.

[KrisZ]

 

Yeah I love the show. There's better shows out there but I was a huge fan for the 1989 run and this was the pinnacle show.

 

I curious now that's it's up in 24/7, how will newer fans see the show as compared to today? Like has it aged well. I know over at F4W the Bryan & Vinny show saw it in 3 parts and hated the 1st half, even giving Sting/Muta 2-1/2 stars.

Yes, Bash '89 is a good show, but it's no FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2007 WWE.

 

It's definitely not UFC 100

[Guest Rob Naylor]

Ooooh, late to the game on this thread... but let me just say.. that the months of May through August of NWA in 1989 were by far my favorite time in wrestling ever.

 

The show itself is awesome.... but ALOT of what made the show... was the two months prior to July 23rd (I think that was the date) that built up every match.

 

You had the awesome Funk/Flair angle, which started after the main of Music City and then led to some of the greatest promos in wrestling history each week on NWA tv from Funk... with him annihilating all the job guys and raising hell. You also had Flair's comeback promo, which was as heated as it will ever get for Flair.

 

Then you had Gary Hart basically being a mastermind in building to the Sting vs. Muta feud. Sting was already a made man so to speak in NWA.. but you had the Muta come from out of nowhere and just blow everyone away with how spectacular he was. He was soooo strongly used on the tv shows... destroying jobbers, winning 2 on 1 handicap matches... winning 3 on 1 handicap matches in less than 10 minutes, the introduction of the Dragon Shai match, Eddie Gilbert coming to Sting's side, which was a badass turn of events for nutty fans like me that had PWI's that told me about Sting and Eddie's history in UWF, Muta spraying Missy in the eyes with the Mist and Eddie Gilbert throwing fire at Muta and missing at the Clash ... by the time they were in the ring, the build up was so strong that it didn't even matter if the match was 2 and half stars or whatever the fuck Bryan Alvarez says he thought it was.....

 

You had the WARGAMES! Holy shit was I pumped for this as a kid. The SST's, much like Muta were built up throughout the summer as the most badass mofo heels around. They destroyed jobbers all summer, they beat the Midnight's clean, they actually stood toe to toe with the Road Warriors, they beat the shit out of Paul Ellering with a Pineapple, they joined with the Freebirds in another of the greatest angles I've ever seen "The Marrieta Massacre" where Gordy, Garvin, Hayes, Paul E, SST's handcuffed Animal and beat the shit out of Hawk in the cage. Garvin wiped Hawk's blood on a helpless Animal to close it out and it lead to a sick sick Animal promo with Jim Ross....

 

Then you even had Paul E and Cornette in a tuxedo match. The heat with Paul E and Cornette stemmed from late 88 and still managed to last all the way till summer for this show.

 

The double ring King of the Hill Battle Royal was also really put over strong on the TV. The Skyscrapers were put over all summer long as this monstrous unbeatable team and the match was a great vehicle for them to further prove it.

 

Luger's turn on Steamboat is ANOTHER amazing thing. Luger's turn was slowly done and perfectly executed. Steamboat's selling at that Clash in June (I think it was June) as he was helpless as Luger stalked him with a chair was amazing too. I was dying to see Steamboat kick Luger's ass. I honestly still believe Luger in 89 was a better worker than Flair was in 88 in pretty much the same heel role.

 

So yeah, glad this is a topic of discussion. Believe it or not.. I NEVER saw the ACTUAL show that all this cool buildup led to... for like 15 years after it happened. At the time I remember being sooooo sad as a little kid when my cable company didn't carry the Bash... as there was no show in the history of wrestling that I wanted to see more than that show after an entire summer of picture perfect build up. Upon watching the Bash 89, I totally enjoyed it and as mentioned, the post match stuff with Funk, Muta and "DAG (sic) DILLINGER... HE's a CIVILIAN" was just so epic.

 

Great fucking topic. I'd implore everyone to seek out some 1989 World Wide Wrestling tv comps... as from May to August (or even November really), it was as great as wrestling gets.

[DocSarpolis]

I remember being sooooo sad as a little kid when my cable company didn't carry the Bash... as there was no show in the history of wrestling that I wanted to see more than that show after an entire summer of picture perfect build up.

Sadness is visiting nearby in Washington D.C. during the week of the show and not going. I remember watching 1 of the last shows building up to it on TV and my father offered to take us. Knowing we were struggling for money, I politely declined even though I REALLY wanted to go. He even offered to try and find a way for me to meet Terry Funk since my Dad knew him when they were younger back in Amarillo. 'It's OK I said'. Imagine my frustration when I realized years later that this legendary show was the one I almost went to.