The Great American Bash (1990)

The Great American Bash
VHS cover featuring Sting and Ric Flair
Promotion	National Wrestling Alliance: World Championship Wrestling
Date	July 7, 1990
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Baltimore Arena
Attendance	14,000
Tagline(s)	The New Revolution
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The 1990 Great American Bash was the second annual Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner, and the sixth annual Great American Bash event overall. It was the final held under the NWA banner, as WCW seceded from the NWA in January 1991. The event took place on July 7, 1990, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the third Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988 and 1989 events. The 1990 event featured the WCW debut of Big Van Vader.

In the main event, Ric Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting. Sting pinned Flair after countering his Figure Four Leglock attempt into a small package. During the match, The Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff, and The Junkyard Dog (the "Dudes with Attitudes") surrounded the ring to prevent outside interference by The Four Horsemen. During the entirety of the match, Ole Anderson was handcuffed to El Gigante.

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 1990 event was the second annual Great American Bash event promoted by WCW and the sixth annual overall. The event took place on July 7, 1990, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the third Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988 and 1989 events.^[1]

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[2]

The 1990 Great American Bash would be the final Great American Bash held under the NWA banner, as WCW seceded from the NWA in January 1991.^[1]

This would be Mark Callous' final appearance on a WCW PPV, after allegedly being told by booker Ole Anderson he would not draw well. Callous would head to the WWF where he would become the legendary Undertaker.

Harley Race would wrestle only house shows until retiring from active wrestling in December 1990. He wouldn't return until next year's Great American Bash.

Sting would hold the NWA World Heavyweight title through the remainder of 1990, shortly after the GAB a mysterious wrestler allegedly from Sting's past would begin haunting him under the name "The Black Scorpion".

• 1990 in professional wrestling

• Some of the prose in this article was copied from The Great American Bash 1990 at the Pro Wrestling Wiki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA) license.