WCW Bash at the Beach 1995

For 1995, WCW took the Beach Blast/Bash at the Beach concept literally – and decided to hold the event outdoors, on an actual beach, without ‘tickets’ or ‘seating’ as much as going for a festival-type atmosphere. They ended up drawing about 10,000 locales and vacationers to watch the matches – which is rather impressive, given there were no bleachers – leaving people casually gathered around to watch a stage, Woodstock-style.

From Huntington Beach, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan – with the ocean waves literally crashing in the background.  


Opening WCW United States Title Match: Sting v Meng: This was a rematch from when Sting defeated Meng in a tournament final for the vacant title at The Great American Bash. Tentative start, as both guys work a series of cautious lockups, and Meng takes early control with a choke in the corner. Legdrop gets two, so Meng goes with more choking, and the dreaded nervehold. Sting tries an armbar to comeback, but gets chopped up in the corner. Suplex, but Sting plants his feet, and forces a break. They do a power-stalemate, and when Meng misses a visually impressive 2^nd rope flying headbutt, Sting leaps into locking the Scorpion Deathlock. Meng manager Robert Parker gets involved to break it up, and Meng bashes the Stinger's head into the buckles. Suplex gets two, and a series of backbreakers for two. STF gives the production team a chance to showoff the scenery, and Meng switches into an abdominal stretch. Sting with a sunset flip for two, so Meng tries his own - but gets buttsplashed. Not as dramatic when you're not a superheavyweight, but I guess he learned it after all those matches with Vader. Meng hooks a Boston Crab, but lets off too early, and Sting hits a side suplex. Series of clotheslines, and a backdrop stagger Meng, so Sting clips the knee, and hits a nice Thesz press for two. Rana gets two, and a 2^nd rope bodypress for two. Stinger Splash, but Meng catches him with a superkick coming in, getting two. 2^nd rope splash for two, but Sting ducks another superkick, and schoolboys him to retain at 15:31. Match was both a good and bad choice for an opener. Good, because it involved Sting - with whom a lot of this crowd would be familiar; bad because it was dull, and booked to run too long. * ¼

WCW Television Title Match: The Renegade v Paul Orndorff: Considering most of the crowd is filled with what could, at best, be described as 'casual fans,' there may be a decent percentage who actually think it's The Ultimate Warrior out there. Renegade dominates with shoulderblocks to start, but quickly runs into an Orndorff elbow. Flying bodypress, but Renegade gets the foot up, and clotheslines him all the way out into the sand. Renegade literally drags him back in for a super exciting side-headlock, but Orndorff escapes - only to take one of the worst dropkicks I've ever seen in twenty years of watching. Orndorff grabs a handful of sand to blind him (Hey! There could be broken glass in there!), and uses the distraction of temporary blindness to... lock a headvice. Orndorff with a proper dropkick, but Renegade backdrops out of a piledriver. He actually has the balls to throw more dropkicks (to paraphrase Bret Hart, 'never try anything in the ring if you look like a complete, business exposing, Ultimate Warrior-clone jackass doing it'), and a powerslam, so Orndorff dumps him to take a breather. Suplex, but Renegade counters into a side suplex for the pin at 6:12. Horrible, business exposing match - but at least it was short. - ½*

Jim Duggan v Kamala: Kamala on a beach is just weird. Duggan wins a slugfest, and they do the goofy 'wobbly knees' bit, as Duggan takes three clotheslines to knock him down. Kamala offers a hug for peace, and ends up poking Duggan in the eyes when he refuses - though that's probably for the best, as I can't even imagine what Jim Duggan led relations with Uganda would lead to. Kamala with a bearhug, as the crowd works on their tans. Duggan breaks by stomping Kamala's bare feet (which is actually a pretty cool bit of variety), but he misses a blind charge, and Kamala grabs a nervehold that literally looks like he's tickling him under the arms. Considering it's Duggan, that could be lethal, actually. Duggan responds by biting him (again, not very hygienic), and hits the 3-Point Stance, but Zodiac (Kamala's fellow Dungeon of Doom buddy Ed Leslie) interferes, and Kamala gets the pin at 6:00. This belonged on Saturday Night's Main Event ten years earlier, and had no place on a major pay per view in 1995. Just terrible. - ½*

Dave Sullivan v Diamond Dallas Page: This was a bad angle built off of a good idea, as Page would hold open arm wrestling challenges with his wife as the prize - always cheating to win. Sullivan - who had a George Steele-esque infatuation with Kimberly - finally won one, so Page tricked him into eating his pet bunny during the date. Sullivan responded by training with children on literal playgrounds across the country - like some sort of retarded Rocky. Sullivan jumps him with a bouquet of roses on the way in, and hits a suplex. Another, but he gets distracted with Kimberly, and Page jumps him. Blind charge misses, however, and Sullivan hits a clothesline. He rams him into the buckles, and hits a hangman's clothesline. Piledriver, but he gets distracted with Page-buddy Max Muscle (who is finally in a venue where his outfit is almost appropriate), and Page hits the Diamond Cutter for the win at 5:04. Bad, but not offensive. DUD

WCW World Tag Team Title Triangle Match: Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys v The Blue Bloods: Triangle rules mean only two guys are allowed in the ring at a time, and tags must be made to exchange. The Heat and Nasties win coin tosses to get first in, but before Booker T and Brian Knobs can even tie-up, it breaks down into a six-way brawl. The Nasties clean house, and they finally settle back in with Booker and Knobs. Brian stupidly tags out to Steven Regal while he's in control, and Regal takes a savate kick. Another brawl leaves Stevie Ray with Robert Eaton, and Stevie hits a poorly executed tilt-a-whirl slam. The Nasties tag themselves in, and cut the ring in third on Stevie - but again make the stupid mistake of tagging to Regal when they're in control. And again, the Blue Bloods get killed - putting the Nasties title hopes at risk. They tag back to the Nasties eventually (though it made more sense, as they were getting slaughtered, and better to risk tagging and catching a breather than letting the match end), but the Heat kill Knobs, too. Some trickery allows Regal to sneak a tag off of Booker's back, and he takes over the destruction of Brian Knobs - but gets buttsplashed. Another six-way break out, and the Nasties pile bodies up, then Sags on top for the pin at 13:41. Ah, but, since Booker was on top of Regal in the dog pile, the referee counted that as the legal pinfall, and the Heat retain. 'Triangle Matches' were still uncommon in the Big Two, and they certainly still had some kinks to work out. This was punch-kick from bell-to-bell, with no flow, and horrible psychology. DUD

Lifeguard Match: Ric Flair v Randy Savage: A 'Lifeguard Match' is just a cutesy play on Lumberjack Match, which is what this is. Savage actually passes out SlimJims on his way to the ring, which could either be considered a harmless bribe or serious crime. Savage quickly takes him down for some mounted punches, and backdrops him. Series of clotheslines puts Flair on the floor, and of course, the Lifeguards force him in. Ten-punch count, so Flair blows him low, and chops him into fish bait, before dumping him to the Lifeguards. Flair tries a suplex back in, but Savages reverses, and sends him to the floor. In again, Savage with another backdrop, so Flair goes to the eyes, and hits a backelbow. Sleeper, so Savage dives into the corner to break, only to get dumped again. Flair goes to the top, and for once actually avoids getting slammed off - but his axehandle attempt doesn't really find its mark. Kneebreaker does, though, and he hammers the leg before slapping on the Figure Four. Savage reverses, but can't capitalize - instead taking a hanging vertical suplex for two. Savage comes back with more punches, so Flair tries to bail, but obviously runs into the Lifeguards. Yet another backdrop, and a flying axehandle, so Lifeguard Arn Anderson runs in with a DDT. It gets Flair two, and he heads back up top, but he should have quit while he was ahead, 'cause he gets slammed right off. Flying axehandle and the Flying Elbowdrop give Savage the win at 13:55. Afterwards, he immediately hits on some Baywatch girls hanging out at ringside, likely trying to get there before Flair. Really repetitive match, with the Lifeguards not adding anything - and, if anything, hurting the match, as they had to work in spots for the gimmick, regardless of whether or not the match needed it. ¾*

Main Event: WCW World Title Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v Vader: Predictably, the crowd loves Hogan. He goes right for Vader, choking him with his t-shirt, and ramming him into the mesh. Ten-punch count, and a 2^nd rope axehandle just serve to piss Vader off, and they get into a slugfest - with Hogan going into the mesh. Hogan responds by putting on Vader's goofy, steam-shooting mask, and scaring him with it. Vader responds more appropriately - by ramming him with his fucking four hundred pound body. Pair of Vaderbombs, but Hogan had already killed the moves credibility, and it only gets two. Vader with a suplex, but an impressive flying senton bomb misses, and Hogan hits a cross corner clothesline. Bodyslam, but Vader topples him for two, and works a chinlock. Shockingly, that doesn't put him away, and another slugfest goes Hogan's way. Bodyslam hits, but strains Hogan's back in the process, and Vader hits a short-clothesline. 2^nd rope splash gets two, as Hogan's HULKING UP!! Fists of Fury! Series of Rams to the Cage! Big Boot! Legdrop – but the Dungeon of Doom show up and distract Hogan.  While he’s fenced off in a cage. No worries, though, as Dennis Rodman (in Hogan's corner), holds them off with a chair, and Hogan hits a pair of legdrops - but then stupidly tries to climb out instead of covering. Vader meets him up there, but Hogan easily knocks him off, and climbs out for the win at 13:23. Considering this was the blowoff for a feud that covered most of 1995, it really could have used a clean ending there. Not much of a match - pretty much the standard 'Hogan-formula,' with Vader trying to work a couple of nice aerial spots in. ½* Vader would leave WCW not long after this, and resurface in the WWF by the Royal Rumble.

BUExperience: Neat atmosphere aside (though, as a kid I was disappointed no one fought into the ocean. And kinda still am, really) this is a ridiculously bad show. It did serve to finally blowoff the Hogan/Vader feud that dragged on for the bulk of ’95, but the match was nowhere near what you might call ‘good,’ and wasn’t even satisfying as a blowoff – with Hogan deciding to escape the cage rather than pin him. Nothing to see here. DUD