WCW Bash at the Beach 1995 (Version II)

Original Airdate: July 16, 1995

From Huntington Beach, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Opening WCW United States Title Match: Sting v Meng: They are literally right on the beach here, ocean waves crashing in the background and everything. They measure and feel each other out to start, and Meng dominating. He chokes Sting down to set up a legdrop for two, and it's on to the nervehold, but Sting quickly counters to an armbar. Meng tries a vertical suplex, but Sting is able to block, and they end up in the ropes. They go back to measuring each other again, but Meng misses a 2^nd rope flying splash, and Sting capitalizes with the Scorpion Deathlock, so Colonel Robert Parker hops up onto the apron. That distracts Sting into breaking the hold, and Meng dumps the champion to the outside. Vertical suplex brings him back in for two, and Meng adds a three-alarm no-release backbreaker for two. It's interesting how when he was working as Haku in the WWF, Meng never looked especially big or strong to me, but in WCW he looked and acted like a beast. I guess not standing next to Andre the Giant all the time has it's advantages. Meng works a toehold, then an abdominal stretch, as it seems wrestling under the hot summer sun may be working against them here. Usually whenever I see an outdoor show, the ring itself is at least covered over with a canopy of some sort. Not the case here. Hope everyone wore sun block. A crab is Meng's next hold of choice, which is at least fitting for a beach setting. Too bad Sting wasn't in his lobster period yet, we could have had seafood towers worth of crustaceans here! Sting escapes, and finally starts mounting a comeback. Thesz-press gets two, and a rana gets two. And not a particularly well executed one, either. 2^nd rope bodypress for two, but Meng blocks the Stinger Splash with a boot to the face for two. Meng with a bodyslam to set up a 2^nd rope flying splash for two, but a big boot is countered into a schoolboy to retain at 15:28. This was really dull, tedious, and way too long for what they were bringing to the party. ½* (Original rating: * ¼)

WCW Television Title Match: Renegade v Paul Orndorff: No matter how many times I learn it, I'm always shocked when reminded how old Orndorff is. Like, chew on this... the dude was thirty five at the time of the FIRST WrestleMania! No substitute for a good head of hair, I suppose. Hmm, something I've never noticed before... a close-up of the belt reveals that it reads 'Cruiserweight Champion' on it. Odd, considering this design for the TV belt debuted only a month or so prior, and the promotion had no active Cruiserweight belt at the time. My sources tell me that this was actually the original design for the Cruiserweight title that debuted in 1996, and they eventually changed the banner that read ‘cruiserweight’ to ‘television’ later on. Still weird. Orndorff pounds him down to start, but gets distracted by the crowd, and gets nailed coming off the top rope. Renegade clotheslines him over the top, with Paul taking a spill all the way into the sand! Back in, Renegade works a headlock, and it looks like the crowd of beachgoers (there was no admission charged nor tickets issued for this show) is already starting to thin out. But on the plus side, there may be a decent percentage of them who actually think it's Ultimate Warrior out there. Renegade with a dropkick to send Paul back to the outside, so this time Orndorff grabs a handful of sand, and blinds the champion on the way back in. That allows Orndorff to take over, and he hits a dropkick between jawing sessions with the fans. Piledriver, but Renegade counters with a backdrop, and throws two of the ugliest dropkicks you'll ever see. Powerslam follows, so Orndorff desperately dumps the champion to the outside to buy time. He tries a suplex on the way back in, but Renegade counters to a side suplex to retain at 6:12. Yuck. DUD (Original rating: -½*)

Jim Duggan v Kamala: I get wanting to bring in all of the ex-WWF guys, but did they have to put them in the worst possible pairings imaginable every time? Even the WWF was putting guys like Duggan in there with great workers like Shawn Michaels to carry him by the end of his run there. Slugfest to start, won by Duggan. He throws a series of clotheslines to put Kamala down, but runs into a headbutt, and Kamala superkicks him. Hey, so it's KINDA like he's wrestling Shawn Michaels, I guess. Good on you, WCW. Kamala works him over in dull fashion, with Duggan selling a bearhug like he's trying to hold in a fart. Kamala follows with what appears to be a titty twister, as this match just keeps getting worse and worse by the second. Duggan escapes by apparently biting him ('apparently,' because based on the camera angle, he's kissing his neck), and Jim hits a bodyslam. 3-point stance follows, so Zodiac runs in to whack Duggan with Kamala's ceremonial mask, and Kamala gets the pin at 6:06. See, unlike with Orndorff, I'm not at all surprised to learn that Kamala was forty five when this match took place. -* (Original rating: -½*)

Diamond Dallas Page v Dave Sullivan: The beach setting is cool for us as viewers, but man, it must have sucked for the crowd, especially if you weren't right by the ring. No seats, no bleachers, no shade, no big screens to see the what's going on in the ring... if you're more than even a couple rows back, why bother? It would have been awesome for the people who lived in the high rises along the beach, though. A kid gives Diamond Doll some flowers before the bell, which has Page flipping out. As he berates her, Sullivan runs in with a sneak attack, and he delivers a vertical suplex. Dave with a shoulderblock and another vertical suplex, but he gets distracted by the Doll, and Page jumps him. Dallas works him over in dull fashion, but ends up crotched on the top rope when he misses a stinger splash, and Dave starts slugging away. Meanwhile, the crowd is getting sick of this show, and throwing things into the ring. Guess no one ever taught them that you get what you pay for. Sullivan goes for the worlds ugliest powerbomb, but Maxx Muscle distracts him, and Page hits the Diamond Cutter at 4:23. Swing and a miss! DUD (Original rating: DUD)

WCW World Tag Team Title Triangle Match: Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys v The Blue Bloods: First fall wins here. The idea of three sides in a match still hadn't caught on in the national promotions yet, and this is pretty much the first time it's being attempted in the mainstream. It's kind of weird to think how long it took for them to come up with that innovation, considering how obvious it is. Big brawl between all three teams to start, with the Nasties cleaning house. The dust settles on Booker T and Brian Knobbs to start, and Brian sending him spiraling with a clothesline. Lord Steven Regal tags himself in to pound Booker, but gets swept off of his feet, and Booker throws a superkick. Over to Stevie Ray and Earl Robert Eaton, with Stevie backdropping him, but not noticing Jerry Sags blind tagging himself in while Stevie hits Eaton with a sloppy tilt-a-whirl slam. The Nasties double up on Stevie, but don't seem to grasp the concept of the match all that well, and willingly pass to Regal while in control. That leads to Booker tagging back in, but the Nasties get back in as well, and work him over. This is just kind of all over the place, with guys tagging in and out every two seconds, and no real heat segment. It just kind of drags on and on and on without any real direction or focus, until it breaks down into a big brawl again, and the Nasties pin a member of each team at 13:08. Ah, but since Booker was on top of Regal in the dog pile pin, the referee counted that as the legal pinfall, and the Heat retain. This was unique for the time, but they were far from mastering this new concept, and the match suffered from a major lack of direction, as well as poor flow. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Lifeguard Match: Ric Flair v Randy Savage: This is a standard Lumberjack match, but with girls in bikinis also at ringside to add to the theme. Poor Harlem Heat and the Nasty Boys have to play along as well, despite having just finished their match. Heenan is in all his glory ogling the girls here, and legit cracking Schiavone up in the process. Savage blitzes him, and dumps Flair to the outside right away, but the lifeguard send him back in. Randy unloads with a ten-punch, but Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop, and he chops at the Macho Man in the corner, then dumps him to the outside. The lifeguards send him back in for Flair to keep chopping, but Savage returns fire with jabs, and a corner whip flips Flair to the outside. I don't really get why they needed this stipulation... it's not like their earlier match ended in a double countout, or something. Savage with a suplex from the apron to the outside to keep the lifeguards busy, and a backdrop hits on the way back in, so Ric goes to the eyes. He pops Macho with a backelbow, and grabs a sleeper, but Savage quickly escapes, so Flair dumps him to the outside again. Ric tries to dive out after him, but the lifeguards roll him in before Flair can, and Randy slams him down. He grabs his own sleeper, but Ric escapes with a kneebreaker, and he works the leg. Figure Four looks to finish, as Angelo Poffo looks on from the crowd. They couldn't even comp the poor old guy a spot up front? Or, at least away from all the beach bums crowding him? Savage reverses, so Ric drops him with a hanging vertical suplex for two, but Macho starts making a comeback. Big punch sends Ric over the top, and back in for another backdrop. That's like the fourth one already. Flying axehandle follows, so Arn Anderson (one of the lifeguards) runs in, but Savage fights him off, and backdrops Flair over the top! The Nasty Boys actually catch him, but while the referee is caught up making sure they don't harm him, Anderson sneaks in again with a DDT. Ric covers, but it only gets two, and Macho counters a hiptoss with a backslide for two. Ric goes up, but gets slammed down, and Savage plants another flying axehandle on him. Bodyslam, and the Flying Elbowdrop takes us home at 13:56. This was a really weak entry in their long series, with the gimmick getting in their way, and not at all the right setting to get over the intensity of their feud. Too bad they didn’t go all out with this, and let them do a crazy brawl right into the ocean, or something. Still the best match of the show thus far, though. * ½ (Original rating: ¾*)

Main Event: WCW World Title Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v Vader: Hogan has Dennis Rodman in his corner for this. Not surprisingly, this crowd of casuals loves the Hulkster. Hogan comes in dominating Vader by using his torn t-shirt as a weapon, then really getting brutal by using his do-rag. Oh, the humanity! Vader, bless his heart, sells all of this like a man who has been properly emasculated by months of being Hogan's bitch. And man, if you thought visibility from the cheap seats was bad before, now we've got that cage blurring and reflecting in the sun, and even up close you can barely make out what's happening. Vader takes control in the corner, but Hulk fights him off with a turnbuckle smash, and he puts on Vader's helmet to taunt the big man with. Vader reverses a cross corner whip and follows in with an avalanche to set up a pair of Vaderbombs for two, and he rams Hulk into the cage. He drops Hogan with a suplex-slam, but a flying senton splash misses, and Hulk hits a corner clothesline. Bodyslam, but Vader topples him for two, and he works a chinlock. Odd time to suddenly go to a resthold. I guess the heat must have been getting to them. Hulk escapes and hits a clothesline, then manages the elusive bodyslam, but he hurts his back in the process. The risk/reward ratio on that one never made any sense to me when Hulk would fight the super heavyweights. Like, even if you hit it, it's just a bodyslam. Vader takes over again, but a 2^nd rope flying splash triggers the HULK UP!! Cage Tosses! Big Boot! Kick to the Gut! Posing! Legdrop! More Posing! Legdrop! More Posing! Escape! - but Vader follows him to the top rope! Oooh, should have added another round of posing first, brother. No matter, Hulk easily fights him off, and escapes to retain at 13:23. And yes, I'm skipping over the attempted run in by Kevin Sullivan and Zodiac that Rodman thwarts, since no one cares anyway. The match was shit, but at least it had an actual (and clean) finish. ¼* (Original rating: ½*)

BUExperience: I loved the outdoor beach setting (still one of the more creative and memorable venue choices of all time), but it’s just too bad the show itself couldn’t live up to it. It’s kind of worth firing up on the Network just long enough to check out the cool venue choice, but that’s it.


DUD