WCW’s anchor in Ric Flair is gone and so is the WCW World Title, so tonight’s main event has been changed as Lex Luger will now battle Barry Windham to determine the new WCW Champion. The company was unable to get a new championship ready with this all going down just two weeks prior to the event, so instead an old Florida Championship is used with a simple WCW plate placed on the front. Boy, things are already off to a rough start for this year’s Great American Bash and the show hasn’t even begun! Let’s find out if the action is any better!

Match #1 – Capture The Flag Scaffold Match: ‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton & P.N. News vs. Terrance Taylor & WCW Television Champion ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin w/Lady Blossom
Eaton challenges his opponents to meet him halfway across. Taylor obliges but he’s shaky. Taylor drops to the scaffold and crawls back. Austin inches out, Eaton jumps and it startles Austin. They reach their hands out and Austin falls on his face again. Austin rakes the eyes and hits some rights. They tie up, Eaton kicks him in the gut and facebusts him. Eaton tries rolling Austin off but Taylor saves him. Austin crawls toward Eaton and Taylor follows slowly. Eaton changes out with News and Austin insists Taylor fight him. News shoves Taylor into Austin.

News blocks a right and lands one of his own. Test of strength and Taylor is on his back. Austin punches News who falls on Taylor. Eaton pulls Taylor out and Austin fights news next to the flag. The crowd gets behind Eaton. Eaton uses the railing on his base against Taylor. News and Austin are laying face down. Austin gets up and delivers some stomps. Taylor returns and they try to roll the big man over. Double ax handle by Eaton on Taylor. News gets back to his feet and uses his size to corner the opponents. Eaton grabs the flag, uses it as a weapon and he returns to his side to win the match.
Winners: ‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton & P.N. News

• After The Bell: Austin crawls down and Blossom hands him something. It appears to be hairspray and News gets sprayed in the face. All four men crawl down slowly. They brawl in the ring and News throws Taylor with a hip toss.
• EA’s Take: I. Detest. Scaffold. Matches. Bobby Eaton has had to have been involved in the most of any guy and he’s not even with Jim Cornette anymore, so I don’t see the sense of it. PN News is our newcomer, a rapper gimmick who got inspiration for his ring name from the group PM Dawn. If you’re wondering who that is, I don’t have the slightest clue and I used to be pretty into all walks of hip-hop. That’s obviously not the big debut here though, as Steve Austin, the new World Television Champion gets his first shot on PPV. Obviously WCW saw something in him right off the bat despite how his run with the company comes to an end years later.

Backstage: Eric Bischoff is standing by with Paul E. Dangerously & Arn Anderson. Bischoff explains that the handicap match stemmed from trouble between Dangerously and Missy Hyatt. Dangerously says there’s always a bottom line, he’s made a phone call that guarantees Hyatt is going to be out of WCW. Double A explains that if you lock them in a cage and treat them like criminals, they’re going to act like criminals. If Missy Hyatt sticks her head through the ropes, he’s going to make a real woman out of her.

Match #2: ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk vs. The Diamond Studd w/’Diamond’ Dallas Page
DDP introduces his client prior to the match. He welcomes a “random girl” from the crowd, they’re looking for the perfect Studdette and she strips the Diamond Studd to his trunks. Z-Man flies over the top rope and double clotheslines Studd and DDP. He goes right after Studd hard. He runs the ropes but Page pulls the ropes down and he hits the floor. He pursues DDP and gets blindsided by Studd. ZMan is thrown over the guard rail and gets an ax handle when he crawls back over. Studd shoves him into the rail again and rolls back into the ring. They exchange rights and Studd kicks the knee out from Z-Man.

Studd introduces him to the turnbuckles, but Zenk blocks the third. Studd stays in control and chokes his opponent on the ropes. Whip to the ropes, Zenk ducks a few strikes and hits a crossbody. Back to their feet and Studd is back in control. He nails him with chops in the corner. Zenk fights back and switches spots. Studd reverses the Irish whip and his a shoulder in Zenk’s abdomen. Abdominal stretch by Studd and he uses the rope for leverage. Nick Patrick sees the infraction and Zenk throws Studd with a hip toss. He misses the elbow and Studd takes over again. They exchange rights, Studd blocks a hiptoss and chokeslams Zenk. A cocky pin is reverses into a sunset flip by Zenk for two.

High impact clothesline by Studd, whip to the ropes, and he blocks a sunset flip with a right to the head. He stomps Zenk on the mat, but Z Man works his way to his feet. Zenk ducks a clothesline and catches Studd’s jaw with a big boot. Studd rolls out of the ring and Zenk chases him. Zenk reverses a whip to the guard rail and Studd eats it. Back in the ring, Zenk lands a missile drop kick and goes for the pin. Page slaps Zenk from the outside and Zenk pulls him up to the apron. He drags DDP in by his hair and gives him a big boot. Distracted by Page, Studd catches him with a belly to back suplex and bridges into a pin to pick up the win.
Winner: The Diamond Studd (Bridging Back Suplex)

• EA’s Take: Lots of action in this near-10 minute match. DDP is certainly a good heel manager, but the Studdette gimmick was a little questionable. This match had some technical wrestling, a couple high risk moves, some good brawling, it was a well rounded bout and another PPV debut for a future Hall Of Famer. This is really the very early stages of the Razor Ramon gimmick for Scott Hall, using a lot of the same mannerisms later on using the WWF’s bright lights. Again, another classic case of WCW having a talented youngster and no clue what to do with him.

Match #3: Ron Simmons vs. Oz w/Merlin The Wizard
Collar and elbow tie up, and they twist into the corner. Oz breaks it off clean. Another tie up and Oz gets positioning again, but it’s broken off. A third tie up, side headlock by Oz. He hangs on as Simmons attempts to escape. Third time is a charm for Simmons, they leave their feet and are both up quickly. They exchange words before colliding on a couple attempted shoulder tackles. On the third run, Oz catches him with a boot to the face followed by a clothesline. Shoulder tackle by Oz, his next attempt and Simmons reverses with a drop toe hold. Collar and elbow tie up and Oz gets the advantage with straight rights. Irish whip by Oz, Simmons gets his boot up.

Simmons takes the big man over the top rope on a third clothesline. Oz returns to the ring and calls for a test of strength, Simmons is hesitant but goes for it. Both men struggle and Simmons is worked to his knees off of kicks to the midsection. Simmons catches Oz with a kick and a back body drop. He sends Oz but misses a dropkick. Oz regains momentum with a clothesline. Big double ax handle blows to Simmons’ lower back followed by a knee. Oz lifts Simmons for a side slam but Ron kicks out. Oz dumps Simmons to the floor and Merlin the Wizard kicks him in the ribs. From the apron, Simmons sunset flips in but Oz blocks it. Simmons is lifted briefly in a bearhug. Simmons ducks a clothesline and lands a dropkick. He hits Oz with several football tackles, knocks the Wizard off the apron and dives at Oz with a shoulder block and he wins the match.
Winner: Ron Simmons (Shoulder Block)

• EA’s Take: Not that losing to Ron Simmons is a bad thing for anyone and they’re starting his build toward being a championship contender, but there are a few weird things about this match. Last PPV, you make Oz look like the biggest monster to ever walk through the door and this time he loses to a shoulder block? Oz is obviously so clearly and I don’t mean his gear, but this was just one of many issues for such a ridiculous character.

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