The Great American Bash (1991)

The Great American Bash is a professional wrestling event established in 1985. It was first produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and aired on closed-circuit television before becoming a pay-per-view event in 1988; JCP was rebranded as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) later that same year. The 1991 event was the third annual Great American Bash event promoted by WCW and seventh annual overall. The event took place on July 14, 1991, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the fourth Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988, 1989, and 1990 events. It was also the first Great American Bash held by WCW alone after its split from the NWA earlier that year in January.{{cite web|url= http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/gabash.html|title=The Great American Bash|publisher=Pro Wrestling History| access-date=2009-07-17}}

The card was originally to be headlined by a steel cage match between Ric Flair and Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and this match was heavily promoted on WCW television but two weeks before the show, then-WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd fired Flair over a contract dispute, stripping him of the title in the process. At the time, champions left a $25,000 security deposit that would be refunded to them (along with any accumulated interest on the deposit) once they lost the title. As Herd did not give Flair back his deposit, Flair retained possession of the belt and later brought it to the World Wrestling Federation, where he appeared with it on television. WCW had to commission a new world championship belt. However, the new belt could not be readied in time for the event, so the company was forced to improvise. A Championship Wrestling from Florida title belt that was in the possession of Dusty Rhodes was used and a metal plate with "World Championship Wrestling" was attached to the front.

In the advertised main event, Lex Luger pinned Barry Windham, who replaced Flair, after delivering a piledriver on the orders of Harley Race. After the match, Luger turned heel and appointed Race as his manager and Mr. Hughes as his bodyguard.

P. N. News and Bobby Eaton were scheduled to face Steve Austin and Terrence Taylor in a traditional scaffold match but, on the day of the show, a "capture the flag" stipulation was added as the wrestlers were unwilling to perform a risky fall from the scaffold.

Dustin Rhodes and The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong) faced The Fabulous Freebirds in a six-man elimination match.

The masked Yellow Dog defeated Johnny B. Badd by disqualification when Badd's manager Teddy Long interfered to try and unmask Yellow Dog; had he done so, Brian Pillman (who was wrestling under the mask) would not have been allowed to wrestle in WCW again.

The final match was originally supposed to pit The Steiner Brothers and Missy Hyatt against Arn Anderson, Barry Windham and Paul E. Dangerously. After Windham was moved to the title match following Flair's departure from WCW and Scott Steiner sustained a bicep injury at the June 12 Clash of the Champions, the match was changed into a mixed tag team match pitting Rick Steiner and Missy Hyatt against Arn Anderson and Paul E. Dangerously. Before the match, Dick Murdoch and Dick Slater kidnapped Hyatt and forcibly took her backstage, turning the match into an 2-on-1 handicap match which Steiner won (in reality, this was done because the Maryland State Athletic Commission did not allow intergender matches).

{{Pro Wrestling results table

|results={{cite book | first=Graham | last=Cawthon | title=the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994 | publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | year= 2014 | isbn=978-1499656343}}{{cite news|title=2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1991|work=Wrestling's Historical Cards|publisher=Kappa Publishing|year=2007|pages=136}}{{cite web | url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/gabash.html#91 | title=Great American Bash 1991 | date=July 14, 1991 | accessdate=September 16, 2015 | publisher=Pro Wrestling History}}

|note1=dark

|match1=Junkyard Dog defeated Black Bart

|stip1=Singles match

|time1=12:45

|match2=P. N. News and Bobby Eaton defeated Steve Austin and Terrence Taylor (with Lady Blossom)

|stip2=Capture-The-Flag Scaffold match

|time2=06:19

|match3=The Diamond Studd (with Diamond Dallas Page) defeated Tom Zenk

|stip3=Singles match

|time3=09:00

|match4=Ron Simmons defeated Oz (with Merlin the Wizard)

|stip4=Singles match

|time4=07:55

|match5=Richard Morton (with Alexandra York) defeated Robert Gibson

|stip5=Singles match

|time5=17:03

|match6=Dustin Rhodes and The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin and Badstreet) (with Big Daddy Dink)

|stip6=Elimination match

|time6=17:10

|match7=The Yellow Dog defeated Johnny B. Badd (with Teddy Long) by disqualification

|stip7=Singles match

|time7=06:00

|match8=Big Josh defeated Black Blood

|stip8=Lumberjack match

|time8=05:39

|match9=El Gigante defeated One Man Gang (with Kevin Sullivan)

|stip9=Singles match

|time9=06:13

|match10=Nikita Koloff defeated Sting

|stip10=Russian Chain match

|time10=11:38

|match11=Lex Luger defeated Barry Windham

|stip11=Steel Cage match for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship

|time11=12:25

|match12=Rick Steiner defeated Arn Anderson and Paul E. Dangerously

|stip12=Steel Cage match

|time12=02:08

}}

{{reflist}}

{{1991 WCW pay-per-view events}}

{{WCWPPV|Great American Bash}}

1991

Category:1991 in Maryland

Category:1990s in Baltimore

Category:Professional wrestling shows in Baltimore

Category:July 1991 in the United States

Category:1991 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events