It’s that time of the year where those of us in the Midwest start to get a real hankering for summer weather and with that in mind, I thought it would be a good time to try to think summer with my next set of reviews. Luckily, WCW has my fix with a quick pair of PPVs called Beach Blast that were held in 1992 and 1993. These are just the first of a run of summer themed shows that I’ll be looking at as we ride the road towards Summerslam.
1992
We open with a bout for the WCW Light Heavyweight title between Scotty Flamingo and Flyin’ Brian. Oh my god, that’s how Raven started out? I haven’t seen much of Mr. Levy in his pre-ECW days, so to see him as Flamingo here is… well, it’s abrupt. I’m a little skeptical of this match going into it because this is Watts-era WCW and you can’t come off the top rope in Watts-era WCW, kind of handcuffing your high-flying division. But I was instead pleasantly surprised. They had a good match, a good opener, that had two distinct parts, told a good story and they were able to work around the top rope rule really well. I get the feeling that the new rules had been recently introduced at the time of this show because Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura had to keep reminding the audience of them. Apparently, we’re going to get a three-part bikini contest between Missy Hyatt and Madusa, so here’s the flller boys. Next up is the All-American Ron Simmons taking on the Taylor Made Man, Terry Taylor. Power vs. technique and power eventually wins out. It was a solid match, pretty much designed to start Simmons on his road to the world title. Next up, the rookie Marcus Alexander (not Buff yet) Bagwell taking on Greg Valentine. The Hammer was The Hammer and they told a neat little story of the up and comer trying to overcome the vet but having his knee taken out from him. I am a little surprised the kid didn’t overcome in the end, but it was still a decent bout. Up next is the one you’ve all come for: Sting vs. Cactus Jack in a falls count anywhere war. My only real question about the 30 Minute Iron Man challenge is why wasn’t it for Rude’s WCW United States Championship? We get another round of the Madusa v. Missy Hyatt…thing and then back to action. Our penultimate event is a six-man tag as Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes take on the Dangerous Alliance of Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Steve Austin. Given the six great workers in this match, I was hoping for another classic. However, special referee Ole Anderson dragged this one down, with a number of slow counts and lacking judgment calls. The finish was also weak sauce, as Ole caught Arn coming off the top rope and immediately DQ’ed him. I guess it may have worked because these trios would continue to feud into the summer, but once again the new rules handcuffed the in-ring action. I think I have to make the main event my honorable mention, because the WCW Tag Team title match between the Steiners and Dr. Death Steve Williams and Terry Gordy is a classic professional wrestling match, even though I know that it’s not going to be for everyone. It’s 4 hosses spending a lot of time early in amateur and chain wrestling spots and then ending the match with a lot of power moves to beat on each other. Half the bout feels like a grapping showdown in MMA, which not all fans like. Also, they don’t use the name for the Williams/Gordy team that they picked up in Japan, the Miracle Violence Connection, which is a shame because it’s one of the best ever.
MUST SEE MATCHES:
- WCW World Light Heavyweight Championship: Flyin’ Brian (c) vs. Scotty Flamingo
- Come for a good opener between two great workers, stay for a surprise finish
- Falls Count Anywhere Match: Sting vs. Cactus Jack
- I love that they teased this match as falls count anywhere on the gulf coast. You figured they were gonna leave the building, but it’s building a mystique. They started with 5 minutes or so of madness on the floor with several nasty looking spots on the concrete floor. They put a few minutes worth of wrestling in inside the ring, and then back to the floor. A very innovative 12 minute match, especially for the time. This was all the mayhem that we got used to during the Monday night wars, just 4-5 years early. Also, the finish was another example of some very cool stuff they did on the ramp.
- 30 Minute Iron Man Challenge: Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat
- Just a phenomenal wrestling match that tells an excellent story and is really well built throughout the entire half hour. They found a great way to include the new top rope rule and the whole thing is really built as a legitimate contest. I highly recommend keeping the sound on as well, because JR and Jesse Ventura’s commentary is an important part of building the match. They help lay out the strategy at play in the ring. You really won’t notice that a half hour has flown by watching this one.
FINAL GRADE: A-
For a show that feels like a filler PPV and includes the time-waster of a three-segment bikini contest, this is still one of the best in-ring pay-per-views WCW ever did. It’s a peak of the product inside the ring and despite it’s flaws, it’s still a very compelling show. If you’re just speeding through some old WCW PPVs, stick to the three suggested matches. If you’re like me and doing a deep dive into wrestling in the early 90’s, stick around for the whole show
1993
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. Yes, you should seek out the mini-movies that were produced to lead into this show. Yes, they are one of the most ridiculous things ever produced by a wrestling promotion. Yes, they are well worth your time. This year’s show also represents a changing of the guard for WCW, as it’s the final PPV that would see the NWA World Heavyweight Championship featured. Ric Flair and Rick Rude were set to face off again for the title at the next PPV, Fall Brawl, but the company pulled out of the NWA after some friction over a title change. It also led to the period where WCW had two world titles, and maybe there’s a podcast on that subject. For the second year in a row, we also get a 30-minute Iron Man Challenge for the vacant US title, one of four title matches on the evening.
Your opening match is for the WCW Television championship where champion Paul Orndorrf can lose the title to challenger Ron Simmons if he is disqualified. The crowd is pretty hot for this one, razzing Mr. Wonderful hard with the “Paula” chants, as Orndorff sells the chants like crazy. They have a fine physical match going before Simmons chucks the champ over the top rope with a back drop and is disqualified. I understand the rule, but I don’t have to like that it’s used as a finish here.
Tag team action next as 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell takes on Shanghai Pierce and Tex Slazenger. Scorpio and Bagwell are a few months away from winning the tag titles so this is likely a change to start their ascension to the belts. Before we get to the match, stop what you’re doing and look up 2 Cold Scorpio’s WCW theme music. I don’t even have words. Slazenger and Pierce are the future Phineas I. and Henry O. Godwinn respectively, so they have quite the history as a team. Tex at one point watches Scorpio take over on Slazenger on the ramp, complete with a springboard cross body and just politely waits for his opponent to complete his offensive maneuvers before clubbing him in the back of the head. Bagwell gets all the heat, Scorpio gets to do all the fun high flying stuff. A decent, if not formulaic tag match.
Singles action next between Erik Watts and his Lordship Stephen Regal. It was a really technical match, Watts got a chance to show off some mat prowess but in the end, a little interference from Sir William was the difference for Regal. It was there, nothing special, just a lot of mat work.
We gets what’s billed as a “super” grudge match next between Johhny B. Badd and Maxx Payne, who comes to the ring soloing on his guitar. Badd comes out dressed as… one of Dalton Castle’s boys. Oh, that’s a mask he was weaning because Payne hit him in the face with the Badd Blaster. The match highlight, if you can call it that, was a cross-body to the outside from Badd. The camera missed it because it was focused on Payne, who wasn’t ready for Badd, he hadn’t stood up so Badd just bounced off the floor after grazing Payne. Hopefully, this ended this mini feud.
World Tag Title match as the Hollywood Blondes defend against the Four Horsemen. Technically they are, though it is Arn Anderson and Paul Roma.
For the second straight Beach Blast, Ravishing Rick Rude partakes in the Iron Man Challenge, this time against Dustin Rhodes with the WCW US Title actually on the line this time. It’s an alright but ultimately unsatisfying match. The pace is much slower than the previous year, which would be fine if there were more peaks. That’s how the match worked in 1992. But the peaks were few and far between. The most impressive spot was a tombstone piledriver that Rude kicked out of, but that was about 13 minutes in. Rhodes took a beating for most of the match, hit a bulldog out of nowhere to tie the match and then… time limit draw. They did time it out right so Nick Patrick didn’t have to stop mid-pinfall after Rhodes hit a DDT with 5 seconds left but we get time limit draw. Meh. Post-script: it would be nearly 2 more months before they finally would put the title back on Rhodes, which… sure.
For the final time, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would be contested on a WCW pay per view and c’mon, Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham. They had some absolute classics in the 80s and the build seemed to be pretty intense. They had a fine little match going until what seemed to be a botched finish after like 11 minutes. Flair put Windham in the figure 4, Randy Anderson counted the pin but then didn’t then did and called it for Flair. Like, the figure 4 might have been the finish but it seemed like there was more of a struggle to be had. Their older stuff is much better.
Your main event is Sting and the British Bulldog taking on the Masters of the Powerbomb, Sid Vicious and Vader. I think this would be my honorable mention for the night. It’s a good, solid tag match that goes exactly where you’d expect it to go. Just enough twists and turns along the route to keep you interested. No major issues. Vader did Vader things and I’m always here for those.
MUST SEE MATCHES:
– WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin’ Bryan and Stunning Steve Austin) vs. The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson and Paul Roma)
The Blondes are firing at all cylinders at this point in their reign. The match contains a ton of referee manipulation, which I like to see when teams make the effort to put the ref where they want him. That’s tag team psychology. Roma is the new guy and he took a ton of the heat from the champs, but Arn is in great shape here too and is more than game. These four had the crowd up and down the entire match to where you don’t even realize you’ve just watched at 26 minute bout. A great piece of tag team work.
FINAL GRADE: C
A weak first half with a solid second half and some outstanding tag team matches has this card a bit behind its predecessor but still a solid amount of action. You won’t hate yourself for watching this in full, but you will want to do yourself the favor of taking in the Tag Title match.
If you like early-90s wrestling, these shows are worth your time. If not, there’s still some wrestling gold to be mined. So if you want the cliff notes, check out these bouts:
| Year | Participant | Participant | Stipulations |
| 1992 | Flyin’ Brian (c) | Scotty Flamingo | WCW Light Heavyweight Title |
| Sting | Cactus Jack | Falls Count Anywhere match | |
| Rick Rude | Ricky Steamboat | 30-Minute Iron Man Challenge | |
| 1993 | Hollywood Blondes (Steve Austin & Brian Pillman) (c) | Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Paul Roma) | WCW World Tag Team Titles |
The Finisher 