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The Great American Bash (1989) was the fifth annual The Great American Bash professional wrestling event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner and the second to be produced as a pay-per-view event. It took place on July 23, 1989 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The main event was a standard wrestling match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair defended the title against Terry Funk. Flair pinned Funk by reversing an Inside Cradle attempt to retain the title.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Great American Bash 1989 Review )〕 Featured matches on the undercard were The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) and Steve Williams versus Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin, Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy) and Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) in a WarGames match, Lex Luger versus Ricky Steamboat for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, Sting versus The Great Muta for the NWA World Television Championship, Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) versus The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan) in a Texas Tornado match, Jim Cornette versus Paul E. Dangerously in a Tuxedo match, The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey) versus Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) and a Two-Ring King of the Hill Battle Royal.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Great American Bash 1989 results )〕 ==Background== The Great American Bash featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing rivalries, plots and storylines that were played out on ''World Wide Wrestling'', ''Pro'', ''Power Hour'' and ''World Championship Wrestling''–World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a hero, villain or a tweener as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or a series of matches. The main rivalry heading into the event was between Ric Flair and Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleWar, Flair defeated Ricky Steamboat to win the title. After the match, Funk challenged Flair for the title but Flair refused to defend it because Funk was not ranked in the Top 10 contender's list for the title. Funk proceeded to attack Flair and perform a Piledriver on him through the table, thus making Flair a fan favorite.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=WrestleWar 1989 Review results )〕 This resulted in Funk winning matches usually against local competitors and improving himself to be ranked in the Top 10. He would make mentions of injuring Flair. On July 1 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Flair requested the WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd to allow him to defend the title against Funk at The Great American Bash, which Herd accepted.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw89.htm )〕 A secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Lex Luger and Ricky Steamboat for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleWar, Steamboat lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair and Luger lost the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship to Michael Hayes.〔〔 On May 22, Luger regained the title by defeating Hayes at a live event. On June 10 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Luger gave negative remarks on being held back and claimed to be worthy of getting a title shot for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship instead of Ricky Steamboat or Terry Funk. On June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', Funk got disqualified during his match against Steamboat by hitting him with a microphone. Luger made the save and ran off Funk but then attacked Steamboat himself, becoming a villain.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/clash7review.htm )〕 On June 24 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Luger announced in an interview that he attacked Steamboat because he was tired of making fans happy and wanted to prove himself better than Steamboat. On July 1 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that Luger would defend the United States Heavyweight Championship against Steamboat at The Great American Bash.〔 Another secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Sting and The Great Muta for the NWA World Television Championship. At WrestleWar, Sting retained the Television Championship against The Iron Sheik and Muta defeated Doug Gilbert.〔〔 On May 13 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Muta and his manager Gary Hart challenged Sting to a Dragon Shi match. On May 20 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Sting challenged Muta to an immediate match but Hart claimed that he and Muta were not ready. On May 27 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that Eddie Gilbert had accepted Muta's open challenge for a Dragon Shi match. On June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', an in-ring presentation of Dragon Shi was held, during which Gilbert accidentally struck a fireball into Trent Knight's face. On July 1 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that Sting would defend the World Television Championship against Muta at The Great American Bash.〔 At WrestleWar, The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) retained the NWA World Tag Team Championship against The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) by disqualification when Kevin Sullivan and Dan Spivey attacked the referee Nikita Koloff. This caused the titles to be vacated by the WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd.〔〔 A tournament occurred to determine the new champions. The quarter-final round took place on editions of ''World Championship Wrestling''. Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy) defeated Road Warriors, Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) defeated Jack Victory and Rip Morgan, Samoan Swat Team defeated Ranger Ross and Ron Simmons and Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) defeated Butch Reed and The Raider. On June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', the semi-final round and the final round took place. In the semi-final round, Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) defeated Dynamic Dudes and Midnight Express defeated Samoan Swat Team. In the final round, Fabulous Freebirds defeated Midnight Express to win the vacant titles.〔〔 The interferences of Road Warriors and Samoan Swat Team in each other's matches throughout the tournament began a rivalry between the two teams as well as beginning a new rivalry between Fabulous Freebirds and Midnight Express. On June 17 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Williams became a fan favorite when Jim Cornette made him, the newest ally of Midnight Express against Fabulous Freebirds. Later that night, Terry Gordy defeated Williams, with the help of Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin, which resulted in a brawl between several teams. On July 1 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that a WarGames match would take place at The Great American Bash pitting Road Warriors, Midnight Express and Steve Williams against Fabulous Freebirds and Samoan Swat Team.〔 The predominant tag team rivalry heading into the event was between Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) and Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan). At WrestleWar, Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner defeated Sullivan and Dan Spivey to retain the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.〔〔 Following the event, Steve Williams and Dan Spivey left the group and it was reduced to Sullivan and Rotunda. Rick suffered a shoulder injury and his brother Scott was placed in a rivalry with Sullivan. A female fan of Rick was shown in the crowd during Scott's matches, resulting in Sullivan confronting her on June 3 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling''. On June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', Varsity Club defeated Steiner Brothers.〔〔 Rick's fan Robin Green's flowers were torn up by Varsity Club during Steiner Brothers' match on June 24 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling''. On July 22 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that Steiner Brothers would compete against Varsity Club in a Texas Tornado match at The Great American Bash.〔 On April 2 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', NWA referee Teddy Long favored Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) during their NWA World Tag Team Championship opportunity against Road Warriors and gave a fast count pinfall to Varsity Club.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/clash6review.htm )〕 As a result, Long was fired of his referee duties. He became a manager and the newcomer Norman the Lunatic was his first client. Long continued to expand his roster by putting former Varsity Club member Dan Spivey with newcomer Sid Vicious in a tag team called The Skyscrapers. On July 1 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', Skyscrapers made its debut by defeating two local competitors. On July 15 edition of ''World Championship Wrestling'', it was announced that Dynamic Dudes would wrestle Skyscrapers in a tag team match at The Great American Bash.〔 On June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', it was announced that a Two-Ring King of the Hill Battle Royal would take place at The Great American Bash. Qualifying battle royals were held throughout the next one month to determine the participants of the final at the event.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Great American Bash (1989)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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