NWA The Great American Bash 1985

Date: July 6, 1985

Location: Charlotte, North Carolina — American Legion Memorial Stadium

Announcers: Bob Caudle & Gordon Solie

The Setup 

After looking like a monster (albeit mainly in tags with Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev), the big Russian monster, Nikita Koloff, was challenging hometown hero Ric Flair for the NWA title. This was at the height of the Cold War, and nothing says America like the womanizing and boozing of the Nature Boy. 

Also, Dusty Rhodes challenged Tully Blanchard for the TV title, which they traded that year, in a steel cage. The AWA world tag team champions, The Road Warriors, also challenged Ivan and Krusher for the NWA tag titles. 

The Business 

The show drew 27,000 fans in the outdoor stadium, according to ProWrestlingHistory, for a $300,000 gate. The inflation calculator has that $3 below the $900,000 mark, so this was a tremendous house for the era. 

Results

Ron Bass TLD Buddy Landel in 15:47. They were on their way to a good opener (even if it was a little long) until an awful finish where the bell rang out of nowhere when Bass no-sold a Landel punch. Both men’s work was solid, but it was worked slowly like a first match.  **1/4

NWA National Tag Team Title Match: Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson (c) def. Buzz Sawyer & Dick Slater in 9:47. Slater and Sawyer had to be the team most likely to be cooked up on this show, and they were tremendously over with the crowd. They ran into the ring and started beating the champions’ asses while they were still wearing the title belts. The Andersons both played great bumping and selling heels, and put believable heat on Slater. Sawyer got the hot tag and had Arn beat with the jam sandwich, but Ole broke it up. Sawyer had Arn covered again when Ole dropped an elbow on the back of Buzz’s head while the ref was distracted. This was a very good match with a quick pace and an awesome crowd.  ***1/2

Manny Fernandez, Sam Houston & Buzz Tyler def. Abdullah the Butcher, Superstar Billy Graham & The Barbarian in 7:49. It’s possible I liked this match more than most. Still, I also love watching Sam Houston sell in this era, and he did that in abundance here with some heavy hitters. Hell, Barbarian did a good job bumping around for the babyfaces in the first part of the match, working particularly well with Manny, who I love as a worker as a babyface. It was a six-man, so they could nearly hide Graham, who was objectively awful at this time. Houston eventually rolled up Superstar for the win, in a result that is pretty fucking incredible by their career successes, but Graham was nearing the bitter end.  **1/2

Dog Collar Match Jimmy Valiant def. Paul Jones in 3:49. You can say what you want about this match, but just like every other in this seemingly never-ending feud, the crowd was rabid. Jimmy bled almost instantly when Abdullah helped Jones early. The finish saw Abby and Jones run into each other, and Valiant finished it with an elbow. *1/4

NWA/AWA Tag Team Title Match: The Road Warriors DDQ Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khruschev in 14:37. The crowd heat was off the charts, and the Russians as a trio really reached another level once Nikita was added to the fold. Poor Ivan’s body had been through the wars at this point, and he kept taking these big press slams from the juice freaks. Animal sold very briefly in this one, which also summarizes his career. Hawk got the hot tag and was a house of fire (and steroids). They were about to set up Ivan for an Animal powerslam off the second rope when Krusher hit Animal in the back with a chair, and a big brawl ensued with Hawk clearing the ring with said chair. The finish was pretty lazy and a way for JCP not to put the AWA tag team champions over without them doing a job. A bloody Ivan vowed revenge from the outside. **1/2 

NWA United States Heavyweight Title Match: Magnum T.A. (c) def. Kamala (w/ Skandor Akbar) via DQ  in 6:41. The fans were crazy into Magnum, including rallying behind him when he bladed. Kamala worked a pretty standard big man match, working a nerve hold to the chest, but it kept the fans engaged and got them behind Magnum. They went nuts when he did the ten punches in the corner during the comeback. Magnum threw three dropkicks, and Akbar came in for another lame DQ. **

NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) def. Nikita Koloff (w/ Ivan Koloff, Special Referee: David Crockett) in 23:22: This was the match where Flair famously came to the ring via helicopter landing. It really was a tremendous presentation of their champion. I’m on the lower end of this than most, but because Nikita had only worked about a year by this point and mostly in tags, the match lagged a bit. Koloff posted Flair, who bled a ton. Flair deserves all the credit in the world for the match being this good because he got more out of Nikita than almost anyone could in this amount of time allotted, but there were a lot of long Nikita holds to fill the time. Still, the Russians had nuclear fucking heat, and a fan tried to do a run-in at one point and went for NIKITA! Thankfully, the cops saved this man from his own murder. Flair was on the apron, and Nikita tried slamming him into the ring, but Flair grabbed the ropes and fell on top for the win. The Russians attacked Flair after the match, and it got so bad that the announcers were telling fans to clear the aisles. **3/4

Steel Cage Match/NWA World Television Title Match:  Dusty Rhodes def. Tully Blanchard (c) in 10:29. I always liked Tully better with Dusty than Flair. Tully was a little more willing to show his ass as a heel (obviously that would be Flair in the literal sense) and bump around for Dusty’s offense.  Dusty bled because, of course, he did, and eventually made his comeback. Tully kept trying to escape during Dusty’s comeback until Dusty eventually caught him and won the match and title with a piledriver. ***

Recommendation 

Thumbs up. There were several good matches on the show, and Dusty and Flair got big wins that the fans paid for. Flair and Nikita had a much better match at the following year’s Starrcade, but Flair did a tremendous job calling a safe match that the crowd was into. After the Russians got all the heat, the fans left on the night note of Dusty winning the TV title in a good match.