WCW Bash at the Beach 1998

From San Diego, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Raven's Rules Match: Raven v Saturn: Saturn attacks him on the floor during the entrances, and whips him into the guardrail a few times out there. He slips off the top rope trying a missile dropkick (a botch), but still gives Raven a standard dropkick and a gutwrench suplex. Saturn with a bodyslam, but a flying elbowdrop misses (intentionally this time), and Raven capitalizes with a butterfly suplex. He rolls out to the floor to grab a table (brilliantly identified by commentator Tony Schiavone as a 'chair'), but an attempt to suplex Saturn out through it gets him crotched on the top rope. He manages to dodge a springboarding Saturn to send him flying over the top, and Raven follows to give him a nasty Russian legsweep into the rail. He rolls him in to get a rope-assisted two count off of it, and hits a snap suplex. Sleeper, but Saturn uses a stunner to break, and hits a t-bone suplex. He grabs a chair, and covers Raven's head with it to set up a springboard twisting legdrop for two. The referee goes down when Raven dodges a dropkick, and they roll to the outside for Saturn to bulldog Raven onto the steps. He grabs another table to stack them up, and sandwiches Raven in between them, but Kanyon runs out to move Raven out of the way, and Saturn dives through the tables from the top rope. That sounds neat, but it looked ridiculous, as Saturn saw Kanyon pull Raven out of the way, and then dove anyway. Kanyon promptly turns on Raven with a Flatliner onto a chair, but Saturn is still hurt from randomly putting himself through a table, and can't capitalize. Raven gives him a drop-toehold onto the chair for two, and a DDT finishes Saturn at 10:42. This was just a toned down ECW brawl, with weapons in place of flow, psychology, or even logic. Not dull, but nothing memorable. ½*

Juventud Guerrera v Kidman: I hate having to type 'Juventud Guerrera' multiple times, but I love watching him, so I'm torn. They go though a long (and nice) series of reversals until Guerrera manages a headscissors takedown, and a clothesline puts Kidman on the floor. Guerrera follows with a springboard bodypress, but another reversal sequence ends in Kidman creaming him with a vicious ocean cyclone suplex for two. He tosses Juvi outside again for a stungun onto the guardrail, but gets backdropped as he tries to follow-up. Kidman desperately tries to climb back in, but gets powerbombed off of the apron, but a rana off the top gets countered with a well executed sitout powerbomb from the top for two. Chinlock, but Guerrera fights to his feet, and counters a bodyslam with a cradle for two. Kidman dropkicks him, but a superplex is blocked when Guerrera crotches him on the top rope, and brings him down with a rana for two. Northern lights suplex is worth two, and a head-and-arm suplex gets two. Kidman fires back with a springboard bulldog for two, and a bridging pinfall reversal sequence ends in the Juvi Driver for two. Kidman with a spinebuster slam to set up a Shooting Star Press, but Guerrera dodges  him, and hits a 450 to finish things at 9:55. Slick stuff here - typing his name was totally worth it. **

Chavo Guerrero Jr v Stevie Ray: The idea here is that Chavo has to face uncle Eddie Guerrero in a hair versus hair match next (Eddie already at ringside with a pair of scissors), and he doesn't want to exert himself against Stevie. So, he stalls. Challenging Stevie to a pose-off. Then a dance contest. Then, finally offering a handshake, and immediately 'submitting' at 1:35. DUD, obviously, since it wasn't even a match - but it was entertaining.

Hair v Hair Match: Eddie Guerrero v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Eddie is reluctant to get started, and tries offering a handshake, but instead of submitting, Chavo turns it into a short-clothesline. Furious, Eddie charges, but gets backdropped. He hides behind the referee, but his nephew bites his ass (WCW really knew their audience, give them that) - only to take a dropkick to the knee, and get dropkicked into the corner. Eddie with a brainbuster, and a slingshot somersault senton leaves Chavo trying to bail out of the ring - and getting thrown into the rail for his trouble. Inside, Eddie slaps on the Gory Special, but Chavo escapes with an armdrag, so Eddie clotheslines him and goes for a camel clutch. Chavo won't quit, so Eddie unloads some chops on the ropes - only to take a headscissors out of the ropes, and a monkeyflip into them. Chavo with chops of his own, but he misses a ridiculous corkscrew dive off the top - which he sells by popping up and hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. That's one of the things I most dislike about the Lucha style - that visually impressive spot should have left Chavo dead for a while, but he pops up like he missed a clothesline, or something. Out to the floor again, Chavo eats steps, and Eddie pulls up the mats to expose the floor - only to have his suplex reversed. Inside, Chavo with a scoop slam, but Eddie crotches him on the top turnbuckle, and super-duperplexes him down. Chavo still manages a stungun moments later, but Eddie blocks a frog splash with his knee, and hits a tornado DDT. He wastes time going for the scissors before scoring a fall, and that's enough to allow Chavo to dodge a Frog Splash. Though, really, considering how little Chavo is selling here, Eddie's lucky he had time to even go for the scissors. Chavo looks to finish with a tornado DDT of his own, but also makes the mistake of going for the scissors before getting the pin, and Eddie cradles him at 11:55. Well, he did have that grueling match with Stevie Ray just before, so what can you expect, really? Not a bad match by any means, but their match at the Great American Bash the month before was more intense and generally better (Chavo was playing it too goofy here for my tastes). * ¾

Konnan v Disco Inferno: Konnan dominates with bunches of punches in the early going, and a Japanese armdrag sets up a series of stomps. Konnan with a sunset flip, a sitout facebuster, and a rolling clothesline, but Disco blocks a spinebuster, and tosses him out to the floor for pal Alex Wright to abuse. That works, but pisses off Konnan's pals Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, and the punch line is Disco taking a Powerbomb from Nash and getting hooks in the Tequila Sunrise at 2:16. Whatever. DUD

The Giant v Kevin Greene: Poor Greene. WCW doesn't even bother to promote his crossover appearance as anything notable anymore, and he's stuck essentially curtain jerking for the basketball guys. As for the match, he uses his speed to sucker Giant into a few punches, and then into a chase that ends with Greene kicking him in the balls. Giant blocks a ten-punch count with a bearhug into a spinebuster, and an elbowdrop hits. The match drastically slows down as Giant goes through a lazy offensive period (stomp, forearm, stomp), and a headbutt puts Greene on the floor. Greene reverses a shot into the rail out there, and adds one into the post before hitting a nice flying clothesline on the way back in for two. 3-point stance hits, but a second try is blocked with a Chokeslam, and Giant pins him at 6:59. Football player Greene actually looked better (and more motivated) than his professional opponent. Still, DUD

No Disqualification WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Rey Mysterio Jr: This is Rey's return off of a legit injury - his first match since facing Jericho back at Souled Out in January. Rey charges in with fists of fury and a backdrop, then uses a slick baseball slide to sweep Jericho off of his feet for a slingshot legdrop. Cool sequence there. To the floor, Rey flings him into the rail with a headscissors, but Jericho stops short on an Irish whip, and clips the bad knee. A missed charge puts him back on the outside, but this time he bails up the aisle to the beach themed entrance set. Rey slams him onto a sandcastle, then dives off of a lifeguard tower with a rana before throwing a handful of sand into his eyes. Back to the ring, Rey hits a flying bodypress, but Jericho rolls through for two. Chris with a powerslam off the top rope, and he grabs a chair to abuse the knee a bit. A flying splash onto a knee covered chair misses though, and Rey dropkicks the chair at him in the corner. Mysterio with a sitout facebuster, but a springboard is countered into the Liontamer - Rey making the ropes. Out comes Jericho nemesis Dean Malenko as Jericho goes for it again, but the distraction is enough to allow Rey to cradle him for the title at 8:02 - though WCW would return the title to Jericho the next night on Nitro due to 'interference,' though really, if a guy walking around is enough to get you pinned, you don't deserve the damn title. The Souled Out match was disappointing, but understandable because Rey was injured. I don't know what their excuse was here, but I'm gonna chalk this one up to bad booking. It seemed like they wanted to make things easier on Rey by booking a brawl instead of a spotfest, but it didn't really click for them. Still, **

WCW Television Title Match: Booker T v Bret Hart: Booker wins the initial lockup with an armdrag, and they trade waistlock. Hart tries to speed things up, but taking a jumping clothesline out of the ropes, and Booker hiptosses him over the top to the floor. Hart manages a stungun on the rail, and he blasts Booker with a backelbow on the way back in. Booker fires back with a spinebuster into a somersault cradle for two, but Bret clotheslines him out to the floor again, and uses the rail. Inside, Hart hits a backbreaker and the 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop gets two. Russian legsweep gets two, as the crowd naps. Booker with a spinheel kick to slow Hart down (not hard, considering he was moving like he was covered in molasses up to that point), and the axekick sets up a flapjack. Booker with a missile dropkick for two, but a plancha gets blocked with a chair, and Hart unloads - drawing a disqualification at 8:27. Really? Bret Hart, master of ring psychology, uses a chair in plain view of the referee with a title on the line? This could have been a blast had Bret been properly motivated (Booker looked game), but he was in a serious funk by the summer of 1998, and this was just going through the motions for him - not even bothering with things like basic psychology. The more I watch these 1998 Bret matches, the more I wish Montreal had never happened, because Bret tearing it up during the Attitude Era would have likely been amazing. Of course, then, I'd be writing things like, 'hey, imagine if Bret had gone to WCW in '98, and tore it up with someone like Booker T!' instead. DUD

WCW World Title Match: Goldberg v Curt Hennig: Goldberg had just won the title the week before on Nitro, in yet another blown money match opportunity from WCW. Hennig has no problem going right into oversell mode from the start - doing a 360 off of a shoulderblock. He tries chops, but Goldberg reverses him coming into the corner, and Curt bails after a takedown. Goldberg drags him back in by the hair, and press slams him off of the top rope for fun. Hennig tries sweeping the leg for a few shots to the knee, but Goldberg kicks out of the Hennig-Plex, and spears him. Another one, and the Jackhammer finishes at 3:51. Just a squash. DUD

Main Event: Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman v Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone: Rodman and Malone start, and start trading headlocks into hammerlocks into a drop-toeholds into surfboards. Oh wait, no - that doesn't happen. They do yell at each other a bunch though. And Malone shows of the Diamond Cutter hand symbol about a dozen times - probably the one thing I most remember about him from seeing this in 1998. Rodman bails to the floor to consult Hogan, and they tag - Hulk challenging to a test-of-strength. They finally lockup, but Malone can't really master the concept of a headlock, and holds Hogan in this weird headlock/chinlock mash up. He hits a bodyslam (which Hogan oversells like Curt Hennig on speedballs - selling the move more than he did all of Ric Flair's offense between 1994 - 1997), but that's enough for the former World Champion, and he tags Rodman. Page tags as well, and he overpowers Dennis through a series of lockups. Rodman stalls to complain of a hairpull (an especially ridiculous claim when you consider that Rodman is wearing a bandana), as DDP spits at him. That trigger the fury of Rodman, which manifests itself in... I'll get back to you. I should note that we're about ten minutes into this, and there has been about forty seconds of contact between any of the four. Rodman tries selling by going into limp deadweight when Page hits him, and both men tag before it has a chance to get into 'legendarily bad' territory. Malone controls Hogan with an overhead wristlock (Hulk again hilariously overselling) so Rodman fires off a cheap shot, and Hogan chokes away. Hulk with a bodyslam, and the nWo cut the ring in half on Malone. Hulk misses an elbowdrop to allow the tag to Dallas, and Page is a house of arson, but another cheap shot from Rodman takes the pep out of his step. Hogan unloads with his weightlifting belt, and they switch to cutting the ring in half on Page. Double-clothesline! Double-big boot! Double-mint gum! Hogan misses the Legdrop to allow the tag back to Malone, and he's a mail truck of fire! Clotheslines and slams all around, and Hogan takes a big boot. Tag back to Page for the Diamond Cutter, and Rodman gets one from Malone when he tries to interfere. That triggers a run-in from the Disciple, and Page takes the Apocalypse (a stunner) to allow Hogan the pin at 23:45. I can understand why WCW booked this stuff for some easy media coverage, but seeing Hulk Hogan (one week removed from his last World Title run) selling for basketball players more than he did for anyone since Andre the Giant hurts the business more than it helps. Everyone tried, but guiding two inexperienced celebs through twenty minutes is easier said than done. Also, TWENTY FOUR MINUTES?! ¼*

BUExperience: What else is there to say? The only decent matches probably happened a dozen times on Nitro, and the show features not one, but two celebrity matches. Sometimes less really is more. DUD