My Great American Bash 1988 Program

On July 10, 1988 the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland was the site of The Great American Bash, the final Jim Crockett Promotions pay-per-view event.  On this day, the 36th Anniversary of the event I thought it would be a great time to share, in depth, the original program from this event that I acquired at WrestleCon during mania weekend this year. 

Rolling into day 2 of WrestleCon this year, April 6th, I was slated to get a 1991 Impel WCW Card of the Four Horsemen signed by SID and Ric Flair.  This card features, Barry Windham, SID, Ric Flair, & Arn Anderson.  I had Arn sign it on June 10, 2022 at a Big Time Wrestling show in Webster, MA.

Barry Windham was supposed to sign the card in March of this year at the Wrestling Classic, however due to a Spring snowstorm his flight was cancelled.  They did do a private signing make up in June, however It was not announced until May.

That morning I get to the hall and look for SID and he is not at his table.  I ask the handlers there who tell me that SID cancelled last minute.  I had heard rumors that SID was a frequent no show or last minute cancellation type guy.  Not wanting to waste the $79 Ric Flair signature I pre-paid for I didn't want him to sign this card, trouble is I didn't bring anything else.  So the hunt was on to find something else for Flair to sign and quickly.  

I started searching around at vendor tables looking for Wonderama Trading cards and I found one, but it's Michael Hayes slamming Flair, why would I want Flair to sign that?  I mean if Hayes had signed it, sure, but not Flair first.  I was stressing hard.

I got in line for Flair, ended up in line for over 2 hours.  I tried to sell my Flair ticket, but didn't have any luck there.  I was frustrated because it's $79 for Flair to sign something and I wasn't happy with what I was getting signed.  The vendor that I bought the card from also had an original Great American Bash 1988 Program for $60.  I just didn't want to spend more money as I had spent quite a bit already.

Ultimately, I wasn't happy with the card, I love Jim Crockett Promotions and this is an original and official piece of JCP merchandise.  My favorite wrestling to watch is JCP from 1984 - 1988 and I love the Great American Bash tours, this was the last one under the JCP banner, also this was the first ever Great American Bash PPV and the last ever Crockett PPV.  My buddy Bradford watched my place in line and I ran back upstairs and bought it.

As I neared the front of the line many people saw what I was getting signed and that it was a cool piece to get signed.  Flair even remarked how nice it was.  After getting Flair to sign it I decided to spent another $60 to have Lex Luger sign it as he and Flair wrestled in the main event on the show.  He too thought it was a beautiful piece and talked about the match.  I've met Luger twice and both times he couldn't have been a nicer guy.

I debated having others at WrestleCon who appeared on the show sign the program as well, Arn Anderson and The Rock n' Roll Express, but then I thought, no I can't get everyone on the show to sign it, and they way Flair and Luger signed it, it was too perfect.  I couldn't be happier with how this piece turned out.

 

My plan is to frame it and hang it, however I'm going to share all the pages of the inside of the program at the end of this post.

Great American Bash 1988 Results

July 10, 1988 Baltimore Arena, Maryland

NWA World Tag Team Champions: "Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard with JJ Dillon wrestled Sting and "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff to a 20 minute time limit draw

The Midnight Express: "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton & "Sweet" Stan Lane with Jim Cornette defeated NWA United States Tag Team Champions: The Fantastics: Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers to win the championships

Tower of Doom Match: The Road Warriors: Hawk & Animal, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin, and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin with Precious defeated Al Perez, "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, "Captain" Mike Rotunda, and The Russian Assassin with Gary Hart and "Mr. Number 1" Paul Jones

NWA United States Champion: Barry Windham with JJ Dillon defeated "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair with JJ Dillon defeated "The Total Package" Lex Luger by referee stoppage

Check out all of my posts from our wrestling trip to Philly

More Than Mania Philadelphia Adventure

More Than Mania Rasslin Photos

More Than Mania Mike with Friends and Rasslers!

More Than Mania Signed Cards

More Than Mania Wrestling Results

Read a blog post I wrote about The Great American Bash in general in 2017. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan: June 2024

Here are the June expenses...

This month would been a lot lower as I was not going to go to Limitless on June 23rd as Kate and I were going to a concert, however it was postponed to July 26th.  

Again biggest expense was going to Limitless on June 23rd with the ticket, gas, and food totaling $56.47 and I spent another $45 on merchandise.  Megan Bayne had her Pro Wrestling Junkies cards and I really like those, I'm not surprised she charged $20 as she does tend to charge more like it's a convention than a local wrestling show.  I didn't need another shirt, but I really like Channing's design, I've been watching him wrestling for like 6 years and I really dig his gimmick right now, so that was $25 well spent.  It also helped that it was purple and not just black. 

I had to pay for the additional Barry Windham Autograph and shipping, $33.  You can read my post about the Barry cards and other NWA Wonderama Cards here: Signed Trading Cards NWA Wonderama

I bought the 4 episode season of Who Killed WCW from VICE tv on YouTube for $6.99, as I do with the Dark Side of The Ring Seasons.

The remaining $35.24 are my normal streaming services for Wrestling.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

Signed Trading Cards: NWA Wonderama

Let's take a look at some recent signed cards!

All of these cards are from the NWA Wonderama Jim Crockett Promotions Card Set.  The test market run was released in 1987 and the full set was released in 1988. 

I mailed these cards to my friend Antonio, he is a friend of a friend and did me a huge favor getting these cards signed for me at 80's Wrestling Con in Morristown, New Jersey on May 4, 2024.

  

This is my new Grail Card and you can read all about it in this post. New Grail Card Update 2!

This is the only test market card that I have, Antonio got this card signed by both Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson at this signing.  The test market cards have a cardboard color backing where as the complete set has a white backing. 

This card I had signed by Arn at Big Time Wrestling on June 10, 2022 in Webster, Massachusetts, it's great to have Tully's signature to finish it off.  Maybe  I should get Lex to sign this card?

These two JJ Dillon cards are great additions as well, this is the only card I have with JJ in wrestling gear, the others are suites.

I mailed these cards to Nic with Captains Corner.  I've done business with him in the past getting cards signed by Wendi Richter, Misty Blue Simmes, and Tessa Blanchard.  Barry Windham was supposed to appear at the Wrestling Classic in March, however a late snowstorm cancelled his flight.  My buddy Mikey was going and pre-paid for the Autographs. 

Nic was bringing Barry back for two signings on June 1st and 2nd in Massachusetts and New York to make up for the March one that was missed. I mailed him 3 cards total.

 This card I had signed by Arn Anderson at Big Time Wrestling June 10, 2022 in Webster, Massachusetts.

I absolutely love the green ink used on this signature.  Nic says it's a Deco Green Thin tip.  I definitely need to get Arn to sign this card someday. 

This card is the second logo card that I have signed from this set, the other is the Rock n' Roll Express.

In case you can't tell, these NWA Wonderama cards are my all time favorite cards to get signed.   

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time! 

New Grail Card Update 2!

If you've been following this blog you may recall back on May 17, 2022 I posted about my new grail trading card, from the 1988 NWA Wonderama set, card #339 Four Horsemen.

The Second update was posted on February 11, 2023, here is the time line of events

May 9, 2022 I ordered the card on Ebay, total with tax and free shipping was $42.20 it was delivered on May 12, 2022. 

The first signature I was able to get Arn Anderson at Big Time Wrestling in Webster, Massachusetts he was managing Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr. in tag team action who were wrestling FTR managed by Bret "Hitman" Hart.  Amazing right!

I got Arn to sign several cards that night, as well as FTR and got my picture with them and Brock Anderson.  It was a great night!

Next, I mailed the card to my buddy Brandon who attended WrestleCade 2022 held November 25 - 27 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  David Crockett was scheduled to attend and he doesn't do many signings.  I got 3 cards total signed by David, the other two NWA Wonderama cards already signed by Tony Schiavone.  He was also able to get Luger to sign it for me.  

Fiterman Sports Group out of Texas is the signing agent for "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.  I wasn't sure if I'd ever see Flair again, turns out I saw him in 2024 in Philadelphia, so I mailed the card off to a signing they were doing in Houston on January 15, 2023.  I mailed two cards, the second being another NWA Wonderama.  

That just left Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon. Sadly neither appeared at WrestleCon this year.  Reaching out to others about JJ Dillon it was relayed to me that he is not in the best of health so was hoping to see him in Philly and was sad he didn't appear.

However, he and Tully as well as Barry Windham and Arn Anderson appeared at 80's Wrestling Con in Morristown, New Jersey on May 4th.  There was no way I was going to be able to go, but a friend of mine Erik had a friend name Antonio going to the show.  He connected us together and Antonio was going to be a huge solid and get it signed. 

I mailed the grail card to Antonio along with two other JJ Dillon Cards and two Tully Blanchard cards, all NWA Wonderama.  I figured might as well get some others signed.  Unfortunately during the event there was some confusion and he was only able to get Tully to sign the card.  He got JJ to sign the other cards, he just didn't give JJ the grail card.  

I can't be mad about it, he did a complete stranger a favor and he feels bad about it.  It is what it is, hopefully I can get JJ to sign this year.  Part of me wants to get that last signature myself in person, but at this point I just want to finish it off. 

 

Arn Anderson signed June 10, 2022 cost $25

David Crockett signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Lex Luger signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Ric Flair signed January 15, 2023 cost $87.89

Tully Blanchard signed May 4, 2024 cost $40

Total investment so far: $275.09

I think it would make sense that once complete send it to PSA for grading and authentication.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan: May 2024

 Here are my May expenses:

In the Month of May I spent the least on my wrestling passion.

The bulk of the total, $220 when towards getting some NWA Wonderama cards signed at 80's Wrestling Con in New Jersey.  I did not attend myself, however I did have a buddy that got them signed for me.  I'll go over those cards in another post.

I only went to 1 wrestling show in May, Let's Wrestle in Fairfield, I took both of my sons, hence the $60 in tickets.  Only spend $24.88 on gas and snacks after the show as we ate dinner at home before we went.  I was supposed to go to Limitless on the 18th but work got in the way and I missed the show.

I spent $12.48 on two NWA Wonderama trading cards to get signed in June.  I had prepaid for two signatures in March but a storm cancelled his flight, this is the make up signing.  I ended up mailing him 3 cards, these two and one signed by Arn Anderson.  

The remaining expenses $35.24 are my streaming services for wrestling.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan: More Than Mania Expenses

 Here is a special post just looking at my More Than Mania weekend of Expenses.

These are all my expenses related to this weekend prior to April and going on the trip, I've talked about these in previous posts. 

Below are my expenses of the actual trip itself and the grand total of monies spent before and during the trip, and I'm going to break them down into categories

Autographs & Photo Ops: $879.09

Tickets & Admissions: $596.13

Hotel $1,168 - my share $396

Meals & Snacks: 196.67

Merchandise / Cards: $159.33

Gas: $169.50 - my share $56.50

Parking: $113 - my share $41.83

Tolls: $86.30 - my share $28.76

I can't believe I spent that much on Autographs and Photo Ops, It really shocks me because I thought I was being pretty strict but I guess not.  Tickets and Admissions seems about right because everything had a bit of an inflated price because of where we were and the weekend.  My food bill for 5 days being roughly $200 is pretty dang good for essentially having to eat out for all meals.  I did bring some soda, crackers, and other snacks with my that I didn't calculate the cost of into this trip, probably $30 worth.

Gas, hotel, parking, and tolls is the biggest expense, but having other to split them with is very nice indeed!  Once we got to Philly we did very little driving mileage wise from venue to venue but just under 1,000 miles is impressive.

I had a blast, you can read all my other blogs about this trip and see some photos, thoughts, and moments.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

The Cost of Being a Wrestling Fan: April 2024

April was an expensive month because I went to More than Mania Weekend.

That's a giant number, but it's also a once every 5 years trip.  The non WrestleCon expenses were $189.48 with $35.24 going to the monthly wrestling streaming expenses.  $55 for tickets to two wrestling shows, and $45.37 the gas and snacks and whatnot for those two shows.

The remaining $53.87 included supplies for my storing my signed wrestling cards and an 8x10 signed photo of Stephanie Vaquer from a Highspots sign it live.  I don't normally buy 8x10's they are just not my thing and haven't been for a long time.  However Stephanie has no official trading cards I have little faith I will ever see her live again and I really wanted something signed.  The only reason why I got this though, is because the photo is of her at the Stardom Show I attended at the 2300 Arena during More Than Mania Weekend.  That's what makes it cool, it's from I show I attended live.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

More Than Mania Rasslin Photos!

I didn't take a lot of photos because I really wanted to just enjoy the matches.  I grabbed a few to help me remember in the future, but I really wanted to live in the moment.

Here are a couple links to other blogs that feature:

Cards I Got Signed

Pictures with Wrestlers and Friends

April 3rd - WrestleJawn

Mike Bailey vs. Paul London

The Chad with a sky twister press

Triple C Death Match: Colby Corino defeated Clint Margera

April 4th Penn's Landing home of the Collective 2024

DEFY Wrestling

April 4th, Stardom at the 2300 Arena

New High Speed Champion: Saki Kashima

Stephanie Vaquer

April 4th 2300 Arena

The FBI: Little Guido Maritano & “Wildfire” Tommy Rich and Deonna Purrazzo with Tony Mamaluke defeated Los Boricuas: Savio Vega & Miguel Perez Jr and Nathalya Perez with Huracan Castillo Jr. & Jose Estrada Jr. when Purrazzo submitted Nathalya

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion: Michael Oku with Amira pinned Titan

Team CMLL: Averno, Cavernario, Mistico, Star Jr, & Villano III Jr defeated Team Dragon Gate: Shun Skywalker, Dragon Kid, Kota Minoura, & YAMATO

Philadelphia Street Fight: Paul Walter Hauser pinned Sami Callihan with help from The Sandman & Bill Alfonzo

April 5th Progress Wrestling Penn's Landing

Yoichi defeated ATLAS Champion: Ricky Knight Jr to win the championship

SANITY: Axel Tishcer & Big Damo defeated The Sunshine Machine: Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper and Tag Team Champions: Cheeky Little Buggers: Alexxis Falcon & Charles Crowley to win the championships

Joey Janela Spring Break 8 Penn's Landing

Masha Slamovich & Ultraviolent Champion: Rina Yamashita defeated Masato Tanaka & Minoru Suzuki

“Speedball” Mike Bailey & The East West Express: Nick Wayne & Jordan Oliver defeated Kerry Morton and The Rock n’ Roll Express: Ricky Mortin & Robert Gibson when Oliver pinned Ricky

Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match: Cole Radrick defeated Aigle Blanc, “The Prize” Alec Price, Arez, Leon Slater, Marcus Mathers, Mr. Danger, Myron Reed, and Microman 

Matt Cardona with Steph De Lander & Jimmy Lloyd defeated Blue Pain

Amazing Red pinned Gringo Loco

I Quit Match: Mance Warner defeated Effy

Maki Death Kill: Nick Gage & Extreme Champion: Maki Itoh

defeated Ramhausen: Danhausen & Ram Kaicho

April 6th WrestleCon original Jim Crockett Promotions signed Great American Bash 88 program signed by the main even of the card NWA World Champion: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs. "Total Package" Lex Luger

April 6th TJPW vs. GCW Penn's Landing

Arisu Endo pinned Shazza McKenzie

Steph De Lander pinned Hyper Misao

April 6th WrestleMania XL closed circuit viewing at the 2300 Arena

April 6th JJSB Clusterfuck Forever, Penn's Landing

Punjabi Prison Match: Tag Team Champions: Violence is Forever: Kevin Ku & Dominic Garrini defeated Juicy Finau & Zilla Fatu, The Bollywood Boyz: Gurv & Harv Sihra, and Los Macizos: Ciclope & Miedo Extremo

Clusterfuck Match: Tony Devito & Jason Knight

Clusterfuck Match: Mike Bailey as the Fighting Chicken

Clusterfuck Match: Kaiju Big Battel invades

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!