WCW Bast at the Beach 1997 Review

WCW Bash at the Beach 1997 Review

Date:  July 13, 1997

Attendance:  7,851

Location: Ocean Centre, Daytona Beach

Your commentators are Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan and unbelievably Dusty Rhodes. Why the fuck he is on the panel when they have Larry Zbyszko and Mike Tenay doing part time stuff is beyond me. Just stale and boring as bat shit.

They open up with all the Dennis Rodman talk which supposedly has ‘the whole world talking’ and is making sports headlines around the world. Bullshit. Rodman should be nowhere near a wrestling ring but we will get to that later.

First match-up:  Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller & Glacier vs Wrath and Mortis

We get the creepy and longggg entrance of Wrath and Mortis and the match finally begins. I personally couldn’t give a shit about Miller and his kicks. A few nice spots in this one with Wrath holding a chair to Glaciers head when near the ring post and a fly kick by Mortis while the ref was distracted was nice. Back in the ring and Wrath puts on a different sort of Boston Crab. Your usual hot tag see’s Glacier take control until Vandenberg puts a chain on Mortis’s foot and he connects with a kick after Vandenberg’s distraction of Glacier for the 1-2-3. Glacier’s first loss in WCW.

Rating: *** - A surprisingly good opener .

Ultimo Dragon vs Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Championship

Why Jericho is facing Ultimo Dragon instead of Syxx is beyond me. (Maybe i missed something). Idiotic crowd starts chanting ‘We want Syxx’. Ummm no we don’t. Match starts out with both competitors picking the offence of one another and this one is full of counters. Jericho hits his Lionsault and Dragon hits his Asai Moonsault as the pace starts to lift. Jericho gets the pin with a roll up from a hurricanrana for the win.

Rating: **¾ - Not the worst performance from the two but are capable of so much more.

Mene Gene is near the ring and wants a word with Raven. Rumors have it he is DDP’s mystery partner. We get some crappy poetry and this just creates more questions. The putz that is Stevie Richards spills that there will be some sort of announcement on Nitro tomorrow night and the whole mystery partner rumor is squashed. Nice to see Raven smack Richards one.

Steiner Brothers vs Masa Chono and The Great Muta

We have the roid freak in Scott Steiner starting things off and we soon have him riding Rick like a horse. Muta has this awesome looking nWo face paint on while Chono spends most of his time arguing with a fan at ringside. Rick hits his overhead suplex off the ropes five or six times. Picks up towards the end with Muta hitting a frankensteiner to give the Japanese the ascendancy. Chono argues with the ref while the Steiners hit a double team electric DDT for the win.  Steiners are now announced the #1 contenders to face the Outsiders.

Rating : **-  Just your simple tag team match with nothing special. Why the hell the Outsiders haven’t defended the titles in god knows how long is completely beyond me.

6 man tag team match: La Parka, Psychosis and Valliano IV vs Lizmark Jr, Juventud, Hector Garza

We get the technico’s (the good guys) coming out first and the match is now Mexican rules with the referee being alot more lenient to tags. Have to say, im a huge mark with these sorts of matches. Sonny Onoo tries to keep La Parka happy after his own teammates accidently hit him with some shots. Alot of nice stuff with a triple suicide dive by the Technico’s to the floor. Back in the ring, numerous turnbuckle splashes misfire as Mike Tenay states they are picking up all their offense. Yeah right! Juventud hits an awesome leap off Hector Garza all the way to the floor. Everyone hits their spots and we have Valliano V come out to replace Valliano VI. This back fires as Garza hits a dropkick from the top and hits the standing moonsault for the 1-2-3.

Rating: ***¾ - Really fun match with everyone hitting their spots. WCW always had an abundance of Cruiserweights who at the time could do a job no problem.

Career match: Chris Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan w/ Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart

Sullivan comes out with Jacqueline not looking too pleased. Thanks WCW, in that one instant; you gave away exactly what was going to happen. A real slug fest to begin with trading blows as its not long before it hits the floor. Jacqueline puts her trouble with Sullivan aside for the moment as they double team Benoit near the rail. Its now a brawl near the entrance as Benoit gets thrown into some sort of shack and Sullivan uses the surf boards as a weapon. Jimmy Hart climbs the lifesavers chair only to have it tipped. Sullivan funnily enough tries to irish whip Benoit into some trees and bushes. Didnt think about that one. Back in the ring and Sullivan is in a terrible looking crossface and is able to hold on. Jacqueline enters the ring with a chair, wanting to do the dirty work and instead hits Sullivan. Benoit goes up top and hits the headbutt for the win.

Rating: ** - Loses half a star for the shit, predictable ending that was about to unfold. Was expecting alot more but just glad to see this feud over with.

And this is where its all down hill.

US Title match: Jeff Jarrett vs Mongo McMichael.

Of all the 100 wrestlers on the WCW roster, we have McMichael wrestling Jarrett for the US title. We aren’t even two minutes in and I already want this match over with. Jarrett has the most hideous outfit known to ma, worse than anything Orlando Jordan has worn. We have Deborah turn on Mongo handing Jeff the briefcase and connecting with the fore arm and then the head for victory.

Rating: * - Pure crap. Id have rathered Eddie, Dean Malenko or even a member of the nWo in this one.  Why this was on PPV when it could have been done on Nitro is beyond me.

Mystery Tag Team Match:  Scott Hall and Macho Man vs DDP and ....

The mystery partner is announced as Curt Henning which receives a very small pop. DDP does most of the in ring work and you barely ever see Curt hit or punch Scott Hall for the brief time he is in the ring which raised my suspicions early. Curt gets irished whipped and isn’t happy with DDP and strikes him in the ribs. Leaves him to fight the battle, thus supposedly joining the nWo. Usual nWo bullshit with an outsiders edge and an elbow drop for the 1-2-3.

Rating: ** - Boring stuff with no explanations as to why the fuck Macho Man is tagging with Scott and why DDP was tagging with Curt Henning.  Like usual, we will have to wait for Nitro to find out. Something tells me this feud is still not over.

Roddy Piper vs Ric Flair

Dusty Rhodes comments on the condition of the two, stating they are probably in their prime and not over the hill as people are saying. Get the fuck out. We have 4-6 minutes with not one wrestling move and if you want to save some time in your life, it went chop chop chop, reversal, chop chop chop, eye rake, kick, low blow, kick, chop chop chop. We finally get an actual move with a neckbreaker and then it starts to get better. Ric Flair grabs this item from his laces and goes to hit Piper. Piper sees it coming and steals the item to nail Flair. We then have the Four Horseman run out to distract the ref as Benoit his his headbutt from the top, but only connect with Flair. Mongo then picks up Piper and plants him with a tombstone piledriver. Flair finally gets the pin but only 2! Back to their feet and an irish whip sees Piper whack on the sleeper for win.

Rating: **½ - Glad to see this done with but the outside interference probably saved this one. Would have been a hot one back in the day but not now when both are clearly out of their prime.

Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Lex Luger and The Giant.

Where to start? Garbage. Utter shit. Terrible and if this is the crap that is making sports headlines around the world then sport is in alot of trouble. We spend most the time scratching out balls as the competitors walk around the ring circling each other. Rodman is finally tagged in and what does Luger do? He stands off him? WTF! You are bigger, stronger and physically more rounded than Rodman by 3x. CHARGE AT HIM AND NAIL THE CRAP OUT OF HIM. Instead, we get a test of strength Rodman arm drags him which sends the commentators into a fucking frenzy. “OMGG BEST WRESTLAHH EVAHHH”. Give me a break. We start to see some sort of actual wrestling only for it to go back to Rodman doing a leap frog which sends the commentators into another frenzy. Please, someone shoot me. We then get ‘Sting’ coming out, only to hit the Giant with the bat. Somehow i don’t think thats the real Sting. Luger runs riot whacking the torture rack on Hogan for the win then continues to put Rodman and Savage in the rack. We for some reason before the credits see the three stooges at the entrance all of proud of themselves. Ummm they lost?

Rating:  ½ - One of the poorer finishes to a PPV i can remember. Why Rodman is anywhere near a wrestling ring is completely beyond me and was a joke to the industry.

PPV Rating:  **

The younger guys at the start of the night did a good job at getting the PPV off to a flyer and the crowd was hot all night. The garbage we experienced at the end dampened the whole PPV and it left me feeling empty.  Completely empty. I recommend you watch but don’t expect too much from the final third of the show.