The Great American Bash was an annual, summertime PPV event put on by one-time WWE rivals the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), from 1985-2000. These events always featured several top tier matches involving some of wrestling’s biggest stars—including ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair, Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin—a true gathering of star power, The Great American Bash was a must see event for wrestling fans of the era.

The latest release from the WWE’s vast archives, United We Slam: The Best of the Great American Bash is hosted by ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes and collects over seven hours worth of matches from fifteen years of events. A true highlight package, there’s not a bad match in the bunch. While Rhoades adds a little color to the proceedings here and there, this isn’t a documentary, or a history lesson on the event itself. Rather, we just get a compilation of the best of the best, from the debut 1985 match between Ric Flair and Nikita Koloff all the way to a 2000 World Heavyweight Championship bout between Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash. The Blu-ray itself is constructed like previous WWE offerings of this sort, Rhoades offers some thoughts occasionally, but it’s really about the wrestling.

United We Slam: The Best of Great American Bash contains the following matches:

Disc One:

  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff. Charlotte, NC — July 1985 (Exclusive commentary provided by Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zbyszko).
  • #1 Contender’s Match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: Rock N’ Roll Express vs. Arn & Ole Anderson. Greensboro, NC — July 1986 (Exclusive commentary provided by Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zbyszko).
  • Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes. Charlote, NC — July 1986 (Exclusive commentary provided by Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zbyszko).
  • War Games Match: Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff & Paul Ellering vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger & JJ Dillon. Atlanta GA — July 1987.
  • Tag Team Match: Sting & Lex Luger vs. Road Warriors. Charlotte, NC — July 1988. (Exclusive commentary provided by Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zbyszko).
  • NWA World Television Championship Match: Sting vs. The Great Muta. Baltimore, MD — July 23, 1989.
  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk. Baltimore, MD — July 23, 1989.
  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Sting. Baltimore, MD — July 7, 1990.
  • Tag Match: Steiner Brothers vs. The Fabulous Freebirds. Baltimore, MD — July 7, 1990.
  • Quarter Finals Match in the NWA Tag Team Title Tournament: Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. “Stunning” Steve Austin & Rick Rude. Albany, GA — July 12, 1992.
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Sting vs. Vader. Albany, GA — July 12, 1992.

Disc Two:

  • Singles Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair. Dayton, OH — June 18, 1995.
  • WCW Responds to the Outsiders’ Challenge: Baltimore, MD — June 16, 1996.
  • Falls Count Anywhere Match: Diamond Dallas Page vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Moline, IL — June 15, 1997.
  • Respect Match: Ultimo Dragon vs. Psicosis. Moline, Il — June 15, 1997.
  • Singles Match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerrero. Baltimore, MD — June 14, 1998.
  • Singles Match for the Vacant WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho. Baltimore, MD — June 14, 1998.
  • Tag Team Match: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper & “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan & Bret “Hit Man” Hart. Baltimore, MD — June 14, 1998.
  • Ambulance Match: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Awesome. Baltimore, MD — June 11, 2000.
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash. Baltimore, MD — June 11, 2000.

Presented in the 1.78:1 and 1.33.1 aspect ratios, as you might expect, this 1080i transfer is a bit of a mixed bag, given the different film sources. We’ve got both up-converted standard definition material and new HD material. The HD footage features Dusty Rhoades standing inside an empty arena, in front of the WWE logo. The detail here is very nice, Colors pop and clarity is excellent. His skin looks natural, and textures on his clothes are easy to pick up. Some compression issues are evident throughout. The SD material varies in quality, notably improving as time passes. Details and vividness get markedly better, though there’s an obvious difference between this, and the HD material. Even so, this is a more than acceptable transfer for what it is.

As with most WWE releases, United We Slam: The Best of Great American Bash features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It suits this presentation just fine, as the entrance music has the necessary punch, and Rhodes’ interlude commentary is delivered clearly and efficiently from the center. The matches contain either Rhodes and Larry Zbyszko commentary or classic play-by-play and crowd ambiance. The newly recorded Rhodes/Zbyszko commentary possesses a bit more definition than the older material, but that’s to be expected here. This is a fairly basic mix, but it does the job.

English SDH subtitles are included.

Disc Two contains the following bonus matches, labeled as “Blu-ray exclusives,” with a total running time of 1:42:05.

  • Steel Cage Match: Dusty Rhodes, Magnum Ta & Baby Doll vs. The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette. Charlotte, NC — July 1986 (Exclusive commentary provided by Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zbyszko).
  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger. Baltimore, MD — July 1998.
  • Russian Chain Match: Sting vs. Nikita Koloff. Baltimore, MD — June 14, 1991.
  • Tag Team Match: Kevin Greene & Steve McMichael vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson. Baltimore, MD — June 16, 1996.
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kevin Nash vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Baltimore, MD — June 13, 1999.