Remembering the worst match in Steve Austin’s career | WON Flashback

WCW Great American Bash 1991 Scaffold Match Steve Austin

July 14 1991 was the date of WCW Great American Bash 1991, and it was arguably one of the worst PPVs in wrestling history (at least up to that point, as Heroes of Wrestling in ’99 said hold my beer). Arguably the worst match on that card was the scaffold match, which saw Bobby Eaton & P.N. News (Paul Neu) defeat Terry Taylor and Steve Austin.

Our own Dave Meltzer’s review of the match was absolutely scathing, declaring it to be a -3.5 stars in the July 22, 1991 issue of the Observer Newsletter (which you can read in full with a subscription).

Scaffold Match WCW Great American Bash 1991 review

Here is what Dave Meltzer had to say about arguably the worst match in Steve Austin’s career:

“Bobby Eaton & P.N. News (Paul Neu) defeated Terry Taylor & Steve Austin in a scaffold match in 6:00. Unannounced in pre-match hype, they had changed the scaffold match rules to allow winning by knocking the foe off the scaffold or by capturing the opponents’ flag that was on their side of the scaffold. Next thing you know they’ll change the rules of an “I Quit match” to be that the loser has to say I Quit on the mic or by finding him when they play hide-and-go-seek during the match. Or having a stretcher match end either by a guy going out on a stretcher or by whomever kicks the can–hey, that would have been a great idea for Sid vs. Gigante at SuperBrawl.

This was among the worst matches in the history of pay-per-view television. The highlight of the match was Austin & Lady Blossom walking to the ring, with a decked-out Taylor without Ms. York behind them, looking like he was all dressed up for his prom and his date stood him up. Nothing happened at all. You have to give the guys guts for going up there. But what does it say for the booker when he takes two of the four best workers in the company, puts them in a match that guarantees not to make use of their talent and make no sense to boot. Negative 3 1/2 stars is what it says.

Bobby captured the flag to win. The announcers didn’t even know it was the finish, nor did any of the fans. Lady Blossom handed Austin a hair spray container and he sprayed both faces. Then they all climbed down and had a short brawl in the ring.”

You can watch the entire PPV event in full via the WCW YouTube channel (don’t, though):

Jake Skudder
Jake Skudder

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