1. Great American Bash 1989
WWE.comIt's the show that is generally considered the best NWA/WCW event ever by most fans. It was the perfect mix of great technical wrestling, some wild brawls, impressive performances by veterans in the main event and a crowd that was hot the whole night. No surprise here, but the main event had Ric Flair in it. The man was Mr. NWA/WCW for so long. This time he was actually the babyface as he defended the NWA World Title against a very aggressive Terry Funk, who had hit Flair with a devastating piledriver leading up to this match. There was a lot drama throughout, but Flair won with an inside cradle. After the show, he was attacked by the Great Muta and Sting came to his rescue, which was a really hot finish. Lex Luger was impressive as the heel US Champion. They put Ricky Steamboat against him because Ricky was fresh off that amazing World Title series with Flair, so it elevated Luger to have him work with Steamboat. They had a great 10 minute match with Luger doing all the old school heel techniques to drive Ricky crazy. It led to Ricky getting DQ'd after using a chair, but the crowd cheered him for it because they were so sick of Luger's actions. Sting's match with The Great Muta was a lot of fun too. My favorite version of Sting was from about 1988 to 1993 or so. That five year period was when he was really at his best. By the late 1990s he really started to slow down and lost some of that athleticism that made him special. Muta was such an awesome heel in this match. Sting won clean to retain the TV Title.
The Wargames match didn't feature the biggest names in the company because so many of them were in other matches, but it was still a very entertaining brawl. It's hard to have a bad Wargames match. The concept works. What wasn't great? A tuxedo match between Cornette & Dangerously, but they're two of my favorite people in wrestling and they really shouldn't be in matches even though this was more for laughs. It's the best NWA/WCW show ever. No question about it. It was hard picking 2-8 on here, but the first choice was obvious if you've seen 1989 Great American Bash. If you haven't seen it get to it now because it's amazing.