WCW Beach Blast 1993 (Version II)

Original Airdate: July 18, 1993

From Biloxi, Mississippi; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Opening WCW Television Title Match: Paul Orndorff v Ron Simmons: The building is embarrassingly empty, with the camera having a hard time avoiding all the empty seats. Ron attacks while Orndorff is busy dealing with some taunting fans ('Paula'), and he throws a dropkick for two, so Paul bails. Inside, Orndorff tries to take him down for an elbowdrop, but Simmons dodges, and works a wristlock. Paul escapes and tries a sleeper, able to wear Ron down for a side suplex, but missing a flying kneedrop. Simmons capitalizes by kicking at the leg, but Orndorff is in the ropes before he can apply a figure four, and he bails again. He pulls Ron after him this time, and unloads on the outside, then taking Simmons back in for a pointed elbowdrop and a chinlock. Ron escapes and shoulderblock Orndorff down, but runs into a kneelift, and Paul adds a kneedrop - totally ignoring all the work Simmons did on the leg earlier on. Paul grabs a front-facelock, and hits a facebuster for two, then goes back to the chinlock. It feels like they're building to a time limit draw here, or something. Ron escapes and hits a powerslam for two, and a sunset flip is worth two. Orndorff tries cutting him off with a dropkick, but Ron dodges, and clobbers him with a clothesline. Vertical suplex gets the challenger two, so Orndorff goes to the eyes to let him try the Piledriver, but Simmons counters by backdropping him over the top - only for the referee to call for a lame DQ over it at 11:15. Boy, that finish sucked for a pay per view match. * ¼ (Original rating: ¾*)

2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell v Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce: The story of Dusty Rhodes insisting that Shanghai wrestle masked because 'he's too good looking to be a heel,' is one of those things so hilariously ridiculous that they can't possibly be true - so it probably is. Scorpio and Bagwell clean house early on, and Scorpio tries springboarding off of Marcus for a dive onto them, but badly botches it. Luckily, the camera largely missed it anyway, but boy, that was ugly. The dust settles on Scorpio and Tex, and Scorpio takes a nasty spill into the ropes by overshooting his landing on a backdrop, but luckily he's fine. Scorpio throws a 2^nd rope flying bodypress for two, and a dropkick leads to an armdrag into an armbar. Over to Bagwell for a tandem hiptoss for two, but Tex fights off an armbar, and tags. Nice, fast paced criss cross ends in Bagwell grounding Shanghai in a wristlock, but he gets slammed. Tag to Tex, but he ends up in a wristlock as well, and Bagwell vertical suplexes him for two. Cheap shot from Shanghai turns the tide, and Tex hits a single-arm DDT, as they start to cut the ring in half on Marcus. Shanghai misses a charge in the corner to allow the hot tag to Scorpio, and Roseanne Barr the door! Scorpio hits Shanghai with a flying splash for two, but Tex breaks it up, so Bagwell cleans house. He hits Shanghai with a side suplex, and Scorpio punctuates it with a flying 450 splash at 12:46. This was okay once it got going, but there was a lot of aimlessness in the early going, and it overstayed its welcome. * ¼ (Original rating: *)

Lord Steven Regal v Erik Watts: I'd honestly forgotten Watts was still around at this point, and I was shocked to learn he'd continue to be active for more than another year! I guess I'd kinda figured he disappeared around the time his dad did, but nope. Feeling out process to start, as the fans head for the concession stands in droves. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in a stalemate, so Regal takes him down in a toehold, but Erik escapes and tries for the STF. Sir William thinks fast and whacks him with the umbrella though, and Steven schoolboys him (with a handful of tights) at 7:32. Wait, what? That's it? This was basically one long feeling out process, and then bam, there's the finish. The work wasn't terrible, but the match never got out the gate, and didn't tell a story at all. ¾* (Original rating: *)

Johnny B. Badd v Maxx Payne: Badd is wearing a mask, following Payne blinding him with the Badd Blaster at the last Clash. Or, maybe Dusty Rhodes just thought he was too ugly to be a babyface, who knows? Badd is fired up to start, but misses a charge in the corner, and takes a nice bump over the top to the floor! In, Maxx snap suplexes him, and delivers a hammerlock-slam. Cross corner backelbow follows, and a snapmare grounds Badd for an armbar. Maxx with a backbreaker for two, and he goes for the Payne Killer, but Johnny has the ropes right away. Maxx keeps hammering, and a vertical suplex gets two. Backdrop, but Badd counters with a sunset flip for two, and dodges an elbowdrop. He knocks Payne over the top with a dropkick, and dives after with a plancha - which the camera crew totally misses. Payne eats post, then back in Johnny hits a 2^nd rope flying bodypress at 4:53. Looks like he wanted to come off the top there, but he was losing his footing. Short and energetic enough to be passable, but would have been a train wreck with more time. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Hollywood Blonds v Arn Anderson and Paul Roma: Man, the top half of the card is going to have its work cut out for it after that undercard. Arn looks so old and grizzled here, it's truly hard to believe that he's less than a year older than Roma. The Blonds stall to start, before settling into a feeling out process. Steve Austin catches Anderson with a backdrop during a criss cross, and a pair of pointed elbowdrops get two. Steve goes back for a few more pin attempts off of it, but that just pisses the Enforcer off, and Arn knocks the champ out onto the ramp with forearms. Over to Roma for a flying elbowsmash, and he works Austin's arm. Sunset flip gets two, so Steve kicks him in the gut to setup a powerbomb, but Roma counters with a backslide for two. Bodypress, but Austin hits the deck to dodge, and Paul wipes out. Tag to Brian Pillman for some chops, but Roma dodges a dive off the top, and delivers a clotheslines for two. Tag to Arn to work a wristlock, so Brian tries to speed things up, but gets dropped across the top rope for his troubles! Catapult into a fist from Roma follows, but Brian keeps blocking an Irish whip by feigning a knee injury, and he clips Anderson. He sends him to the outside for a dive off of the apron, but Arn sidesteps, and Pillman eats guardrail! The Horsemen seem largely unconcerned about the countout though, which is uncharacteristic of a tag team veteran like Anderson. Brian beats it in, but Roma is ready with a flying sunset flip for two, so the Blonds take a cheap shot, and Austin drops Paul across the rail on the outside! The champs force him to beat the count in on his own power, but he's hardly welcomed back - Austin delivering a gutwrench suplex and a short-clothesline. The Blonds cut the ring in half on Roma, as some fan works hard to get their Bret Hart sign on camera. Roma blocks a charging Pillman in the corner, and he heads up for a missile dropkick, but Brian throws his own dropkick from the ground, and both guys wipe out. Tag to Anderson, and he comes in hot with a DDT on Pillman, but gets nailed by Austin before he can cover. Steve delivers a bodyslam to setup a flying pointed elbowdrop for two, and the champs cut the ring in half on their new victim. Pillman has been wrestling with half his ass exposed for the bulk of the match, and you've gotta know he intentionally wasn't correcting it just to mess with everyone. The ladies in the front row don't seem to mind too much, though. Arn reverses a Stungun, but fails to make the tag in time, and Steve side suplexes him for two to keep control. Vertical suplex, but Arn reverses him over the top, and Pillman is forced to hustle to cutoff the tag. He takes Arn down with a headscissors, but a 2^nd rope flying axehandle is blocked with a chop, and Paul gets the tag! He comes in hot on both Blonds, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! The Horsemen clear Pillman out, and Arn hits Steve with a rotating spinebuster, but Paul only gets two out of it. He tries a rollup, but Brian comes in with a clothesline to help Steve reverse, and the champs retain at 26:16. I know most people like the Clash match with Flair instead of Roma better, but this was a stronger overall effort, and it had an actual ending to boot. I also don't get the Roma hate, as he's a fine worker for this role. I think if it weren't for the letdown of not getting Tully after getting promised Tully, he wouldn't have been so poorly accepted. *** ¾ (Original rating: ** ¾)

WCW United States Title Iron Man Match: Dustin Rhodes v Rick Rude: This is for the vacant title, with thirty minutes on the clock. What is with Rude and Iron Man's at Beach Blast? The measure each other for a bit, until Rhodes fights Rude off in the corner, and hits a backdrop. Dustin corner whips him a few times to setup a reverse chinlock, as Tony and Jesse get into some entertaining banter on commentary. Rude knees him in the misters to escape, and sends him spiraling with a clothesline, then comes off the top with a flying forearm smash. Rick hammers the back and applies a bearhug, then shifts to a belly-to-belly suplex for two, when Dustin tries to escape. Rude with his own reverse chinlock, and if you've seen even one Rick Rude match before in your life, then you know Rhodes escapes with an electric chair. Still a neat spot, but shit, every time?

Ten minutes in, Dustin tries a splash to capitalize on the escape, but Rick lifts his knees to block. Rhodes keeps coming by kicking at the leg like a tenacious little monkey, and he grounds Ravishing Rick on a leglock. Rick rakes the eyes to escape, and an inverted DDT across the knee rattles Rhodes for the Rude Awakening at 13:20. Rick keeps right on coming with a flying clothesline for two, as Jesse immediately dives on referee Nick Patrick, accusing him of biased officiating, and a slow count. Foreshadowing? Rude knocks Rhodes out to the ramp to try for a countout, but Dustin beats the count in, so Rick snapmares him over for a chinlock. It's becoming increasingly obvious that they're stretching a ten minute match out to thirty here. I love how they're working like they're both so worn out, despite the fact that most title matches routinely go over fifteen minutes. Rude with a tombstone, but Dustin reverses for two - only to miss a bodypress, and go bumping out of the ring. Rhodes beats the count in, so Rick nicely snap suplexes him for two, then gives him an encore for two.

Twenty minutes in, Rude tries a vertical suplex, but Rhodes reverses for two, so Rick pulls the tights to drive him into the turnbuckles. Holy shit, Rude totally exposed him there on that pull of the tights. They're lucky the TV screens were smaller and non-HD in 1993, or I can only imagine what the backlash would have been like. Rick with a flying forearm smash, and he tries a chinlock, but Dustin slugs free, so Rude changes up to a sleeper instead. He wears Rhodes down in the hold, but the arm only drops twice, and Dustin fights to a vertical base - five minutes remaining on the clock as he escapes with a jawbreaker! Rhodes is battered, and can't launch much of a comeback though, with Rude fighting off his efforts. He delivers a pair of turnbuckle smashes, but Rhodes blocks a third, so Rick goes to the eyes to shrug off another comeback attempt. Blinded Dustin falls out of the ring, but manages to beat the count, so Rude hammers him, but gets suckered into a Bulldog at 26:55 - evening the score with only minutes remaining! Dustin gets to the top rope for a flying elbowsmash for two, and a piledriver is worth two! The crowd seems largely disinterested as Rhodes mounts this final rally. He delivers a bodyslam to setup an elbowdrop for two, and starts throwing clotheslines like the Ultimate Warrior! Sleeper is applied with thirty seconds left, but Rude uses his own jawbreaker to escape! He heads to the top, but Rhodes dodges him coming down, and delivers a DDT - only for time to expire as he covers at 30:00! There was no reason this needed to be an Iron Man, as they just didn't have the juice to go thirty minutes without leaning heavily on restholds. I'd rather see a peppy fifteen minute match, than a boring thirty minute one. Good selling from Rhodes throughout, though. * (Original rating: *)

NWA World Title Match: Barry Windham v Ric Flair: Ric tries unloading with chops right away, sending the champion to the outside to regroup. Inside, a criss cross ends in Barry shoulderblocking him down for some mounted punches, and a cross corner whip sees Flair flipping over the top to the outside. Windham follows for a clothesline out there, and he brings Ric back inside with a vertical suplex from the apron. Ric tries chopping again, but Barry isn't having it, so the Nature Boy goes the eyes. Win if you can, lose if you must - you know how it goes. Criss cross ends in Flair grabbing a sleeper, but Barry drops him head-first into the turnbuckles to escape, then drops him like a Samoan. Powerslam gets two, and Windham drops a leg for two. Jumping clothesline is worth two, but he argues with the referee, and Flair slugs him down for a somersault cradle for two. Chop time, and Windham bumps over the top following a bodypress. That looked awkward, but not ugly. Barry pulls his challenger out after him for a bodyslam on the floor, and he delivers a ten-punch count on the way back in, but Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop. Snapmare sets up a kneedrop, but Barry blocks a suplex, and takes the challenger upstairs for a vertical superplex! Windham goes back up top for a flying elbowdrop, but Ric rolls out of the way, and both guys are left looking up at the lights. Windham actually recovers first and gets an arm across the chest for two, but a suplex is countered with an inside cradle for two! Flair takes him to school in the corner, but a sloppy flying bodypress is rolled through for two, and a criss cross ends in another double knockout. Barry recovers just ahead of him and tries a headlock, but Ric quickly escapes with a side suplex. Figure Four, but Windham is in the ropes before he can get it locked on, so Flair throws chops to wear him down. Back to the hold, but Windham blocks again. Ric hammers some more, and sweeps him into it a third time - this time successfully applying it for the pin at 11:28. Weird ending, as Flair had the hold applied for all of a few seconds, and it almost looked like Windham forgot to lift his shoulder there. Even the announcers are, like, 'wait, what?' This may be one of the only major matches I've seen Flair win clean with the Figure Four, come to think of it. They must have been running long, because this seemed rushed. Felt more like a midcard match than a true top level effort, and kind of all over the map, but certainly not bad. ** ½ (Original rating: ¾*)

Main Event: The Masters of the Powerbomb v The Superpowers: Sid Vicious starts with Sting, and tries to use his height advantage to tower over him, but Sting tackles him down for some mounted punches! Pair of facebusters and a clothesline follow, but the Stinger walks into a chokeslam, and he gets worked over in the heel corner. Big Van Vader casually tosses him to the outside, but perhaps a bit too casually, as Sting and Davey Boy Smith scale the same turnbuckle, and dive with stereo flying clotheslines on both Masters of the Powerbomb! Dust settles on Vader and Davey, and it doesn't take long for the big man to pound Bulldog down in the corner! Short-clothesline connects, but a suplex is blocked, and Smith muscles through a hanging vertical version for two! So awesome! He charges, but bounces right off of Vader in the process, and the monster drops an elbow on him. Over to Sid for some double team fun, and he grounds Bulldog in a reverse chinlock, as the Masters cut the ring in half. Bulldog escapes a nervehold from Vicious with a bodyslam, then dodges a charge from Vader to allow the tag to Sting! Sting comes in hot, but runs into a cheap shot from Sid, and that's the end of that. I've always hated how the design on Vader's tights cutoff the 'V' printed on his leg. The Masters go back to cutting the ring in half on their new victim, but Sting blocks a superplex from Vader, and dodges an elbowdrop from Sid to allow the hot tag to Smith! He's a kennel of fire, but quickly runs into a boot from Vicious, and Vader tags back in to drop him like a Samoan for two. Vaderbomb gets two when Sting saves, so Sid rushes in to clobber him, and they brawl to the outside. With Sting occupied on the ramp, Vader goes back up to finish - debuting the Vadersault! Unfortunately, Sting dives back in before he can cover, and Davey Boy hooks a crucifix for the pin at 16:44! Yeah, four hundred and fifty pound Vader doing a moonsault for the first time really should have been the finish, but I guess they wanted the faces to go over. The six-man at the Clash was all energy and fun, but this one was kind of lethargic and disappointing. * (Original rating: ¾*)

BUExperience: The upper card needed to be amazing to save the underwhelming first half of the show, and though the tag title match was a good start in the right direction, the rest under delivered across the board. The Iron Man was especially dull, and took forever to boot, pretty much killing the whole show in the process. Don’t bother with this one, but check out the tag title match if you’re in the neighborhood.

DUD