WCW Beach Blast 93'

RATING LEVELS:

Curt Hennig – A “GOAT” show, as Perfect as possible

Watch It – A consistently good show worth watching in its entirety

Watch It…With Remote in Hand – 3 or more above-average ratings

High Risk Maneuver – Mostly filler, inessential, but 1-2 good matches

DUDleyville – Zero redeeming qualities, chore to watch

BEACH BLAST 93’ – July 1993

Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Heading into tonight’s show, Vader is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Barry Windham holds the NWA World Championship, and while Rick Rude holds the US Championship, the title is technically vacated. The WCW/NWA Unified Tag Team Champions are The Hollywood Blondes, Steve Austin and Brian Pillman, while “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff holds the Television Championship.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

The show kicks off with a ridiculous introduction for Jesse Ventura surrounded by babes in bikinis. Tony Schiavone is wearing zinc on his nose, so, there's that too. I don't know about you, but these sort of cheap, unpretentious gimmicks get me just as pumped for a show as a 40-minute pre-show of replays and video packages.

The opening contest is a Television Title Match between the challenger, Ron Simmons, and the champion, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. I really enjoyed Orndorff's Falls County Anywhere match against Cactus Jack, so I went into this hoping for a similarly stiff brawl, especially as this rivalry had been brewing for a significant number of weeks. While the match certainly qualifies as a brawl (there's little technical wrestling going on), it’s not a very good one as there's a noticeable lack of major spots. When the finish comes, it is unexpected and a definite disappointment, as the match seems to be picking up right before it ends. (2/5)

Marcus Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio take on Tex Slazenger (Dennis Knight a.k.a Phineas Godwin aka Mideon) and Shanghai Pierce (Mark Canterbury a.k.a Henry Godwin) in the second bout of the night. Even in the summer of 93', after at least 18 months of working for WCW, Bagwell is introduced as WCW’s Rookie of the Year. An early botch from the faces is saved by bad camera work, though the commentary team doesn't ignore it. Despite a shaky start, the match is actually far better than I expected heading in. The heels, two hosses that I don't recall having any matches even close to good in the WWE, surprised me with their selling and are far more agile in their bumps than I remember them. At one point, Shanghai hits an impressive sit-out powerbomb too. Bagwell plays the face-in-peril for quite a bit before 2 Cold comes in and the crowd erupts. As I wrote earlier, I didn't go into this match expecting to be captivated, but it was far better than I expected it to be. (3/5)

From here, we get a quick promo from Paul Orndorff, who is accompanied by The Equalizer (who went on to play the dyslexic character Dave "Evad" Sullivan, Hulk Hogan's biggest fan). Too short to review, Orndorff does deliver his lines with passion, even if they are rather pointless.

The next match is Erik Watts (whose title card reads "Lord Steven Regal") vs. Lord Steven Regal (whose title card also reads "Lord Steven Regal"). This is mostly arm bars and reversals, but they're applied correctly, showing that Watts improved a great deal from where he was in 92'. He's still prone to awkward facial expressions and weak looking holds, but he's competent enough by this point. The finish is spoiled by WCW's camera work, which doesn’t get a good view of Watts' STF or the interference that leads to him releasing the hold. That being said, this might just be the best Erik Watts match ever - at the very least, the best match I've seen of him in my journey through WCW’s major shows. Is that good enough to make it "must see"? Not quite...but if there's a "must see" Watts match, this might be it. (2.5/5)

A grudge match follows between Maxx Payne and Johnny B. Badd. This rivalry dates back a ways when Payne stole Badd's Badd Blaster and shot him in the face with it at the previous month's Clash of the Champions. Due to the injury, Badd arrives in a mask, but it is Payne's entrance that I always mark out for as an unapologetic fan of camp in wrestling. Sadly, Payne's arrival may be the best thing about this. Despite starting off with a great bump by Badd over the turnbuckle and onto the arena floor, as well as Payne delivering a respectable snap suplex to follow it up, this match gets less entertaining with each minute - the exact opposite of what a "grudge match" (or any match) should be. Bad camera work (again) misses a crossbody to the outside by Badd and then we get a quick finish in the ring that doesn't play off of anything that came before it. Why invest time into a feud, with a pretty cool set-up at the Clash, not to somehow capitalize on the Badd Blaster as the "MacGuffin" for these two to be fighting over? Overall, just not a good match and an even worse way to end this feud, though, I will give it an extra half-point for the few bright spots in this match. (1.5/5)

Following this is the night's second title match - this time one for the WCW Tag Team Championships - between The Hollywood Blondes and Arn Anderson & Paul Roma of the Four Horsemen. At the Clash of the Champions, the Blondes were able to retain the straps in a 2-out-of-3 falls match against Anderson and Ric Flair, but while my review of that match is mostly positive, it is hard to argue that the finish of that particular bout didn't hurt the Blondes credibility. Still eager to prove their worth, Austin and Pillman are fantastic here - particularly Stunning Steve, who, in this match more than any other I've seen, seems to overshadow his partner for the first time. Now, that's not to say Pillman doesn't do nice work, as he expertly hits some of his signature bumps as good as he ever has in this match - it's just that Austin throws in some additional touches that he had not yet shown on PPV. On the face side of things, Roma isn't awful, but the best stretches of this match are the ones in which Anderson is in the ring. The match does hit a speed bump when Roma takes the air and Pillman attempts a counter dropkick, neither men connecting at all. By design or not, the spot is awkward, if not an outright botch. Then, Randy Anderson makes a weird count in which he seems to lift Double A's shoulder prior to the 3. Other than that, I'm not sure I have any complaints about the match - though I have seen more than a few reviews that criticize it as being too long and consider the lack of crowd interest as so severe it hurts the match. To me, if the fans in attendance let their blind hate for Roma affect them so much that they were unwilling to give this match a real chance, they missed out. (4/5)

After a match that I believe is underrated, we go to one that I sadly wish I could defend overrating - Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes in an Ironman Match for the United States Championship. In 92', these two were EASILY on the list of top 5 workers in WCW and it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say they deserve to be on that list in 1993, but, sadly, this match won’t help that argument. I went into it with very high hopes, but if you consider looking at this 30-minute match in chunks, it just seems like the segments are out of order, making it an absolute chore to get through. Numerous restholds are used in the first 10 minutes when more fast-paced action and bumps should be expected, while the few notable bumps and suplexes occur randomly around the midpoint of this marathon. The first fall and second fall should arguably be reversed or, at the very least, saved for the last third of the match in order to better tell the story of Rude's disrespect for Rhodes and the Natural's undying heart. The finish is poorly timed, adding an extra dash of bitter taste to it. Overall, just a thoroughly disappointing match that even the biggest Dustin Rhodes and Rick Rude fans will want to steer clear of. (1/5)

Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham for the NWA World Championship is next. Again, I went into this with high hopes and while the match is more engaging than Rude/Rhodes, it suffers from one of the most anticlimactic finishes I’ve ever seen in a World Championship match. After viewing and reading others’ reviews of the bout, I learned that Windham actually went into this match with an injury, so, I do give him credit for getting through the match at all. The fact that it is actually fairly average, no worse, is commendable when you keep that in mind. I’m going to give it an extra point for Flair’s post-match promo, as well as the essentially one-legged Windham delivering an impressive vertical suplex from the apron. (3/5)

It is main event time – The Masters of the Powerbomb, Sid and Vader vs. The Super Powers, Sting and the British Bulldog. The crowd is hot for this, especially for the Stinger, but there are some noticeable Vader chants sprinkled in that do not go unignored by Ventura on commentary. On paper, this match may not seem like its worth your time – but there are a handful of excellent spots in here, including a nasty Vader Bomb and Vadersault, as well as Bulldog impressively hoisting the Baby Bull up for a vertical suplex. Sid is the weak link, but he’s not so atrocious that he brings down the whole match. Again, crowd involvement brings what could be considered a fairly average match up a notch. (3.5/5)

Averaging out the ratings, this show earns a fairly pathetic 2.56-out-of-5, which is unfortunate considering what could’ve been accomplished. Rhodes/Rude is a bore, Flair/Windham underwhelms, but the lack of excitement in the Simmons/Orndorff and Payne/Badd matches really hurts this show. Those two matches had been built up considerably on TV, but instead of a decent payoff, you get some really unremarkable filler. Considering how hot the fans were (especially for the opener), a little bit more time taken to tell more engaging stories in those matches would’ve made a huge difference in the card’s final rating.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville