WCW Bash at the Beach 1996

Ever since Memorial Day 1996, when Scott Hall showed up unannounced on Nitro as an ‘invader’ from a rival promotion – the wrestling world was abuzz. At The Great American Bash, he (and fellow ‘Outsider’ Kevin Nash) attacked WCW’s Eric Bischoff – powerbombing him through a table – and spent the next month reeking havoc on the entire roster, running in during matches, and attacking everyone in sight. The angle was extremely hot, turning all heads to WCW (and Nitro – which would dominate the WWF’s RAW in the ratings for over 80 weeks), and the first ‘blowoff’ to the angle was scheduled for Bash at the Beach, where the Outsiders (along with an unnamed third man), would do battle with three of WCW’s foremost stars.

As a kid, this was big. Everyone knew who Razor and Diesel were, and seeing them show up on Nitro, destroy sets and punk out wrestlers was like a bizzaro world. It didn’t have the same feeling as seeing Barry Windham or Dustin Rhodes show up in the WWF with a new gimmick – it felt real, and was extremely well done. The ‘who is the third man’ question also plagued us for weeks going into this – with all sorts of rumors of who was going to come over from the WWF next.

From Daytona Beach, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes


Opening Match: Rey Misterio, Jr. v Psychosis: Rey offers a handshake to start, but gets slapped in the face. Rey shoots at the leg to take him down, but Psychosis reverses an STF attempt. Rey tries the arm next, but again gets countered on the mat - establishing that these two are equally matched. Rey tries to flip flop around to avoid Psychosis, but gets caught with a spinkick to put him on the outside. Psychosis follows with a crazy suicide dive, and a legdrop gets two on the inside. He hooks a cobra clutch, but Misterio isn't even close to done, so Psychosis hits a crisp flying legdrop. Bodyscissors on the mat doesn't garner a submission either, and Rey keeps him at bay with a monkey flip off of the apron, into the post. He follows with a crisp rana on the outside, and a springboard version coming in gets two. He dropkicks the knee, and with Psychosis weakened, hangs him in the corner for another dropkick. Criss cross, but Psychosis gets him on the mat with a headscissors. Stungun, and an inverted DDT puts Misterio on the outside, where Psychosis drops him on the rail. He hits a visually impressive flying senton to squash little Rey like a bug, and inside hits an enzuigiri to finish him off - but it only gets two! Camel clutch, but Rey catches him with a headscissors takedown. Springboard dropkick, and he follows with a crazy flying rana – catching Psychosis on the apron – to the floor. Springboard moonsault gets two, and a springboard dropkick puts Psychosis on the floor again. He follows with an absolutely crazy springboard moonsault - adding a twist in midair - and nearly ending up in the front row. He tries a springboard back in, but Psychosis catches him with a desperation powerbomb for two. He tries to finish him with a splash mountain off of the top rope, but Rey counters with a fantastic rana, putting him away at 15:18. Quite the spotfest there. Everything was brilliantly executed (this featured some of the crispest spots you'll ever see), and they worked in quite a variety of maneuvers you don’t see everyday – though the match is strictly a spotfest, with any of the psychology from the early going abandoned once they started springboarding like madmen. **** This earned Rey a rematch with Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko, and he would pick up the title the next night on Nitro.

Carson City Silver Dollar Match: Big Bubba Rogers v John Tenta: A 'Carson City Silver Dollar Match' is basically fancy-talk for a sock full of silver dollars on a pole, as 'Sock on a Pole Match' doesn't quite have the same ring to it, I guess. 'Object on a Pole' matches were fairly common during the 90s as blowoffs, but, in a moment of what can only be described as insanity, WCW decided to build a pole twice as high as any I've seen before - to the point where it would be dangerously unstable for either guy (both well over three hundred pounds) to try and retrieve the sock. Both guys chase each other around to start, until Tenta finally gets hold of him. He chokes, and tries for the pole - but Bubba stops him with a windmill punch. He tries the pole, but realizes it's suicide, and doesn't even make much of an attempt before Tenta pulls him off the top rope. They go back-and-forth with that for a while - with both guys having the good sense not to make more than a token attempt to climb the pole of death - until Bubba jumps Tenta with his belt. He uses some athletic tape to tie him to the ropes (it was all downhill for him once he lost the handcuffs – as 'cuffing a guy to the ropes was such an essential part of his heel shtick, and he had to start subbing in less treacherous looking stuff, like tape), but Tenta blows him blow, and gets a pair of scissors (apparently he carries them in his trunks for just such occasions) to free himself. Meanwhile, Bubba's manager Jimmy Hart nearly kills himself climbing the pole, but Tenta steals the sock, and wallops Bubba with it for the pin at 9:14. Bad wrestling, bad gimmick, bad angle, bad storytelling. – ½*

Taped Fist Match: Jim Duggan v Diamond Dallas Page: If you're thinking WCW was getting a little too liberal with the use of athletic tape in their angles at this point, well, you obviously haven't seen the Duggan/Big Bubba epic sports tape explosion from World War 3 1995. It is perhaps the greatest athletic tape display in the history of all wrestling. Maybe even all sports. Page bails right away, but trips Duggan up, and hogties him to the ringpost. The referee frees him (Thank God! We nearly got screwed with a quickie match), and Duggan slugs away. Suplex, and a faceslam allow Duggan to clothesline him to the outside, but Page crotches him, and hits the Diamond Cutter for the pin at 5:39. Short enough to be inoffensive. The main point here was to establish Page as a United States Title contender - defeating former champion Duggan. The angle was incredibly influential on Page, actually, as he learned the power of tape, and soon started wrapping his ribs in it to draw heat. DUD

Dog Collar Match: The Public Enemy v The Nasty Boys: This is standard Dog Collar rules (two guys connected by a chain, wearing dog collars around the neck), but with all four participating at once. Jerry Sags links up to Rocco Rock, and Brian Knobs to Johnny Grunge. Everybody plays tug-of-war to start, before spilling to the outside. The usual choking and whipping with the chain follows, as all four brawl up the aisle. Knobs and Grunge 'battle' on the beach set - rolling around in the sand like two fags (that’s not homophobic, just an accurate description) - until Knobs ups the ante by whacking him with an inflatable pool toy. Even Sags is embarrassed by that, and grabs a surfboard as a more appropriate weapon. After they finish decimating the set, they fight over a table (though, really, once you've fought on an indoor lifeguard tower, a table just seems anticlimactic), with Sags getting splashed through it. In the ring, Rocco tries to put Sags through another table, but gets yanked off of the top rope, and crashes onto the table, as it fails to break. Sags tries to put him through it with a 2^nd rope flying elbowdrop, but it holds firm again, and everyone slugs it out some more. Sags eventually whacks Rocco with a good helping of chain, and with Grunge tied up in the ropes, it gets the pin at 11:25. This was the best use for the Nasty Boys at this point, as they could work these garbage brawls every week (and WCW booked a lot of them), and it nicely took away focus from their other limitations. That being said, a few nice bumps here – but overall too much punch-kick and anemic brawling to really hold your attention for twelve minutes. ¾*

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Dean Malenko v Disco Inferno: Malenko viciously slaps him in the face before the bell, spilling to the outside, and he posts him. Spinkick gets two, and a brainbuster for two. He works a chinlock, but Disco gets uppity, so Malenko switches gears to a headscissors. He makes the ropes, so Malenko drops him with a side suplex before grabbing a grapevine. Finding the weak spot, he starts unloading on the knee, and hooks an STF. Sunset flip gets two, but Disco BOOTYS UP!! Stungun! Forward Russian legsweep! Hands of fury, but Malenko dumps him, and runs him into the rail. Inside, he ties him up on the mat again, which - while psychologically sound - is a poor transition, as they were already building towards the finish there, not more mat stuff. Disco gets the ropes again, and hits a standing neckbreaker for two – as Malenko is in the ropes. Backdrop gets two, and a swinging neckbreaker for two. As he tries to figure out how to put Malenko away, he gets caught with a springboard dropkick, and it's Texas Cloverleaf time – but Disco cradles him for two! He dodges a Dean dropkick, and tries a backslide, but gets caught in a release butterfly powerbomb, and the Cloverleaf finishes at 12:04. Robot Crippler Malenko was always the best version of the character, and he was in good form here – playing a vicious dick-heel through the match. Good stuff – especially towards the finish – but the pace certainly suffered from Malenko’s endless mat-work. ** ¾ As noted earlier, Malenko would drop the title to Rey Misterio the next night on Nitro.

Steve McMichael v Joe Gomez: Gomez goes right at him, but gets caught in the corner, and chopped. McMichael with the 3-Point Stance early, but Gomez no-sells, and hits a bodypress for two. That rattles Mongo, so he blows Joe low to take over. He punts Gomez in the ribs, and hits a backbreaker for two. Reverse chinlock, but Gomez fights out, so McMichael goes with the standard version. Not much more luck there, however, so he hits a standing neckbreaker for two. Figure four, but Gomez cradles him for two. Joe with a pair of dropkicks, and a badly botched sunset flip. McMichael gets sick of him, and finishes with a tombstone at 6:44. McMichael was the newest member of the Horsemen, and this was just a squash to put him over. Both guys made an effort, and I liked Mongo’s nods to his Horsemen status (trying chops and the figure four like Ric Flair), but overall dull, and about two minutes too long. ¼*

WCW United States Title Match: Konnan v Ric Flair: Konnan catches Flair with a mat-based side-headlock right away - holding onto it for dear life - but Flair wrestles out, so Konnan slaps him across the face. He must have been feeling suicidal. He tries to control Flair on the mat again, but gets caught in the corner with chops, and throws Flair into the lights with a backdrop. Surfboard (at the Bash at the Beach? What a nut!), and a pair of press slams leave Flair reeling, so he dumps him with a Cactus clothesline. Clothesline off of the apron nearly takes out Elizabeth (Flair's valet) as well (and proves that he was feeling suicidal, as that would have likely would have gotten him pistol whipped by Randy Savage), so Woman (Flair's other valet) trips the champ up, then blows him low. Hey, that's why you have two valet's – one to take your bumps for you, and one to blow guys. Flair works a chinlock, but Konnan unloads his own chops (alright, now I’m thinking less ‘death wish’ more ‘dumbass’), and a springboard dropkick puts Flair on the floor. Sunset flip, but Flair decks him, and tries the figure four – only to get cradled for two. Konnan hooks his own figure four, but Flair makes the ropes. Konnan with a suplex, and he slams Flair off of the top. Bulldog gets two, so Woman whacks him with her shoe (she was pissed about Tenta and Bubba stealing her sock earlier, and needed to vent), and Flair gets the pin at 15:39, ending Konnan's token gratitude (for helping to bring in a lot of other Mexican Cruiserweights to legitimize WCW's joke of a division) run with the title. Nice back-and-forth match, but it was mostly going through the motions of the standard Flair spots, without much finesse. *

Chris Benoit and Arn Anderson v The Giant and Kevin Sullivan: Sullivan and Giant jump them from behind during the entrances, brawling to the ring. Inside, the Horsemen work over Sullivan, viciously cutting the ring in half - which is extra aggressive, considering how short Kevin Sullivan is. They try a spike piledriver, but Sullivan counters by supermarket sweeping Anderson, and firing him into the corner – right at Benoit's nuts. Nice, creative spot, though unfortunately they botched it - starting the slingshot out of position - and it came off looking goofy. That allows Sullivan to tag Giant, and a four-way brawl breaks out. Giant suplexes Anderson, and the chokeslam gets the pin at 7:59 - as Benoit and Sullivan brawl through the crowd. This was essentially a seven minute heat segment on Sullivan – and not a particularly good one. ¼*

Main Event: Six-Man Tag Team Match: Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger v The Outsiders: Hall and Nash show up, but the mysterious third man is nowhere to be found. Gene Okerlund goes into the ring to inquire, but Hall ominously says the third man is in the building - and won't let on anymore. They wrestle a handi-capped match, with Hall and Luger starting. Luger controls early with a forearm smash, but it quickly breaks down into a brawl between all five men, and Luger gets posted – knocking himself out. The officials stop the action to carry him out on a stretcher (which is a giant red flag, in wrestling logic), and we continue with Hall/Nash v Sting/Savage. Sting tries Hall first, and unloads on him with a spear. Inverted atomic drop and a bulldog, and Savage tags in for the flying axehandle – but runs into a fist on the way down. Sting and Nash have a go, with Nash overpowering, but Sting throws a dropkick. Sunset flip, but Nash counters with a chokeslam, and tags Hall. They cut the ring in half on Sting, until Nash misses a backdrop, and Sting gets the tag. Savage us a house of arson, dropping axehandles on anything that moves, but Nash blows him low. That draws out Hulk Hogan (who had not been seen on WCW programming since the Spring) to save Team WCW. The Outsiders bail, and Hogan surveys the damage... then gives the fallen Macho Man a pair of legdrops, in one of the most shocking turns in wrestling history. The referee flips out - throwing the whole thing out at 16:55, so Hogan drops a third legdrop, and Hall counts their own pinfall. Afterwards, Hogan delivers the nWo manifesto in front of the shocked crowd (who are filling the ring with trash at an alarming rate), telling the WCW fans to go fuck themselves (not in those exact words, though) because they never accepted him to begin with. He gives an amazing, endlessly quotable heel promo - saying without saying that they're invading from the WWF, as Hall and Nash came from there, and Hogan used to be the face of the company. Gene, and the announcers all play their parts beautifully, and the crowd is leveled. Match itself was a lot of punch-kick until the big angle, but this was one of the best payoffs in all of wrestling history – so certainly an acceptable main event. ½*

BUExperience: That was all it took. The Outsiders angle was interesting leading into the Bash, but after Hogan dropped the leg and cut that promo – things would never be the same in wrestling. I remember my friend calling me on the phone as soon as the show ended to tell me what had happened – and I no-sold it. Couldn’t be. Hulk Hogan can’t be a bad guy. It was literally not believable – except that once you saw the act, you were sold. His heel turn remains one of the most jarring, and successful in all of wrestling, leading to WCW’s rating dominance of the WWF – and indirectly to the Attitude Era – as the WWF had to counterprogram the nWo.

As a wrestling show, it’s certainly no blow away, but for historical purposes alone it’s a must-see. ***