Written By: Matt Peddycord
WCW Beach Blast 1993
July 18, 1993
Biloxi, MS
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
The current WCW & NWA Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Big Van Vader (3/17/1993)
NWA World Champion: Barry Windham (2/21/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: vacant (5/15/1993)
WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions: The Hollywood Blondes (3/2/1993)
WCW World Television Champion: Paul Orndorff (3/2/1993)
Matches that aren’t included on the tape:
WCW World TV Champion Paul Orndorff defeated Ron Simmons (11:15) by DQ.
Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell beat Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce (12:48) after Scorpio pinned Pierce.
Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) pinned Erik Watts (7:31).
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura.
Johnny B. Badd vs. Maxx Payne
We saw at the last Clash where Maxx Payne was going to return the Badd Blaster to Johnny. Of course, a crazy guy like Maxx Payne isn’t going to just hand over a confetti gun because that’s no fun at all. Johnny gets shot in the face with confetti and now he has to wear a flower-patterned mask to cover up the scars on his beautiful and homosexual face. Apparently he was still pretty disappointed with how his face looked fourteen years later so he got his face loaded up with botox before appearing on the 24-hour news channels denouncing drugs in wrestling and the like. Oh hush, Matt! Badd pounds away on Payne before missing a corner charge and takes a SICK fall to the floor. Back in, Payne slams him around and splashes him in the corner to show he’s a big guy. Payne grabs an armbar and then delivers a backbreaker for two. Uh oh, PAYNE KILLER! It’s a Fujiwara armbar that comes out of nowhere. Johnny makes the ropes and takes a suplex. He gets a sunset flip on Payne and then thinks, “Okay, maybe then I can get him over with a crossbody.” Not gonna happen. Payne slams him down, but misses an elbow drop. Badd hits a dropkick that looked like it didn’t even connect, so Payne naturally falls all the way out to the floor. Badd lands what might’ve been a pescado a little too early (the camera missed it) and lands on Payne’s shoulder. Payne shoves off a headlock into the ringpost and then tries to headbutt Badd up against the ringpost. He obviously hasn’t seen Hogan/Andre at WrestleMania 3, because that didn’t work even for Andre so it definitely won’t work for this scrub. Payne’s head smacks the ringpost and we’re back in the ring. Badd hits an awful looking flying bodypress off the middle rope for 1-2-3. (4:52) So a guy shoots you in the face, and that’s all you want to do to him? A crossbody block? I’m sorry but I would’ve done a little more than that. *
WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions The Hollywood Blondes vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma
The Blondes stall around by messing with the crowd at ringside. Finally, Austin and Roma hook up. Austin talks some smack to Roma in the corner and gets popped in the face to put him on the floor. Pillman tags in and claims Roma has something in his hand to draw him and the ref away so he can go digging in his tights. He doesn’t find anything he can use in there apparently. Arn tags and scares the Blondes away. Ha, Pillman delivers a hiptoss and gets all cocky about it. He goes low on AA and tags Austin. AA puts Austin out on the rampway and Austin comes back in and asks for a handshake on one knee. Arn obliges and kicks Austin in the gut. Tag to Roma, and the boring starts to set in. He works a wristlock and from there, he delivers a sunset flip and a backslide for a pair of nearfalls. Roma misses a crossbody, allowing Austin to tag Pillman. He chops Roma in the corner, but runs into a choke lift. Roma sets Pillman in the corner. Pillman jumps over Roma and turns around into a clothesline for two. Arn tags in and catches Pillman trying to flip over him in the corner for a hotshot. He then catapults Pillman into a Roma right hand. Pillman starts faking a knee injury and uses that to trick AA and dump him on the floor. Pillman tries to launch onto Arn from the apron, but Arn moves and Pillman does his chest-first guardrail bump. Back in, Arn wants the GOURDBUSTER, but Pillman puts on the brakes. Roma gets a blind tag and shoots in for a flying sunset flip for 1-2-NO! Pillman kicks Roma out to Austin so he can drop him throat-first on the guardrail. Austin tags in and goes to work on Roma for our first face-in-peril segment. Arn gets drawn in to allow some double-team choking. You know, he ought to know better. He’s Arn FN Anderson – the greatest tag team wrestler ever. The hot tag to AA comes after Pillman blocks a missile dropkick from Roma with a dropkick of his own. Arn hits a DDT on Pillman, but Austin lowers the boom to break up the cover. Pillman covers for 1-2-NO! Now Arn is our face-in-peril. He takes some stomps, kicks, punches and such. Austin tries to give him a piledriver on the floor, but we know that never works. Back in, more stomping. Austin goes for the STUNGUN, but AA punches out and nails Austin with a STUNGUN of his own. Tag to Pillman, he draws Roma in just as AA cradles him up, but the ref is with Roma. Double-knockdown spot occurs, but Austin cuts off the tag with a back suplex. Austin tries a suplex from the apron and AA counters by giving Austin a suplex to the floor. Arn gets within inches of Roma and Pillman stops him just at the last second. Pillman snaps off a headscissors (!), but AA catches him in the gut as he comes off the middle-rope. HOT TAG TO ROMA! It breaks down and once Pillman gets dumped, AA hits the SPINEBUSTER on Austin. Roma’s legal so he covers for 1-2-NO! Pillman just barely makes the save. Roma rolls up Austin and while the ref is with AA, Pillman BLASTS Roma with a clothesline. Austin rolls through and grabs a handful of tights for the 1-2-3. (26:16) The Worldwide tapings at Universal Studios taped shows months in advance showing Anderson and Roma as the next tag champs and screwed up everybody’s prediction for this one. Of course, the only people who knew that at the time were those at the tapings and the Usenet people, but I guess that’s the price you pay for being an internet mark. Touché on the swerve, Mr. Bischoff, touché indeed. This was a good, old school-style match. On the other hand, you’ve got Roma who is just way too bland and ordinary, causing the match to lack that extra something that Tully could’ve probably provided had he just took the money given to him for the Horsemen reunion. Still a good match though – thanks to the Blondes and the personality they bring to the table. ***¼
Dustin Rhodes vs. Rick Rude – 30-Minute Ironman Challenge for the vacant WCW US Title
This feud just bugged the bejezus out of me. First of all, the title becomes vacant after a controversial finish. You can check the recap of it because its on my blog. No problem really there. It’s not like that’s never happened before, so it’s not too frustrating just yet. So they have some rematches and guess what – still no champion crowned. The US title is a belt that I always loved. As a kid, I thought it better to be US champ five times than be world champ only one time because it meant you were #2 longer than you were #1. Granted, I didn’t win a whole lot of gold medals and first place prizes when I was a kid, so what did I know. Anyways, the belt was continued to be cheapened because it wasn’t being defended or put on anybody for over three months. It’s like WCW was dangling the belt over these two guys and neither man could ever jump high enough to reach it. By the time somebody finally won, you don’t even care. It didn’t make any sense to me and frankly I don’t think the belt ever recovered. Just when you thought it was getting important again, Jim Duggan gets the belt. Just when you think it’s beginning to matter again, One Man Gang wins the belt. Just when it looks like it might have a chance at making a comeback, Steve McMichael wins the belt. Do I really need to continue after mentioning Steve McMichael? Alright, that’s enough of that.
Rude does a lot of talking directed at Rhodes to start. Rhodes works the back early and sits on Rude during a chinlock. He even does some hip-swiveling. *shudders* Yes, Terri Boatright aka Terri Runnels married that a week after this show as a matter of fact. Rude kicks Dustin away and drills him with a clothesline for the 360 degree sell. He catches Rhodes coming off the top right in the face and tries to do a little bump ‘n grind, but his back is hurting too bad. Now Rude works the back and grabs a bearhug. Dustin tries to elbow out so Rude takes care of that with a belly-to-belly suplex. Rude sits down on the chinlock for a while. Rhodes electric chair drops his way out, which is the standard counter for that hold in almost every Rick Rude match. Rhodes goes after the knee now. Rude escapes a legbar with a rake to the eyes. Rhodes telegraphs a backdrop and pays for it with a kick to the face. Rude follows up with a neckbreaker across the knee and executes the RUDE AWAKENING! Rude gets the three-count and now he’s up by a fall. (14:00 Rude – 1 Rhodes – 0) Rude catches Rhodes with a flying clothesline and tries to get ahead 2-0, but Rhodes kicks out at two. Rhodes rolls out to the rampway and takes a count. Back in, Rhodes elbows out of a chinlock, but runs into a knee in the corner. They go through the tombstone reversals, which of course Rhodes wins. Cover, 1-2-NO! Rhodes charges, but Rude goes to the mat and Rhodes flies out to the floor. Back in again, Rude gives Rhodes a pair of suplexes for a near-fall. Rude goes for a third suplex, but Rhodes counters with one of his own. Ten minutes remain. Rude nails Rhodes in the face with a flying fist. He starts trash-talking, which Jesse advises against since Rude is only up by one fall right now with plenty of time left. Rhodes goes down in a sleeper hold. He nearly passes out as his hand touched the mat on the third drop, but bounced right up. Jesse calls foul play on the part of the ref. Rhodes jawbreakers out, but Rude pounds him back down. Rude even spits on the guy! Rhodes returns the favor with four minutes left. Rude rakes the eyes good this time – causing Rhodes to stumble and fall over the top rope to the floor. Back in, Rude ducks a right hand and then out of nowhere, Rhodes comes up behind him with a BULLDOG! Cover, 1-2-3. (26:56 Rude – 1 Rhodes – 1) Rhodes follows up with a flying elbow and a piledriver for two. Such a Dusty-esque piledriver too. Rhodes hits a big elbow drop just like daddy for 1-2-NO! One minute left! Rhodes hits the Lariat for two. He grabs the sleeper on Rude, but a jawbreaker allows an escape. Rude misses a double-ax off the top and turns around into a DDT, but he’s run out of time. (30:00 Draw – Rude – 1 Rhodes – 1) It told a good story, yet the problem anyone with a brain would have with this is that nothing was settled at all. Instead, the title change was finally decided at the end of August at an Omni house show where it was later announced that Rhodes had defeated Rude. This is not Steamboat/Rude from Beach Blast ’92 by any means, but still a decent match in my eyes. **½
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham vs. Ric Flair
Windham and Flair have been beating each other up for weeks now and its time to settle this once and for all. These two had some of the best matches of the ‘80s together, but Windham’s not the same man here that he was in 1987. For starters, he’s not as quick considering he’s thirty pounds heavier. Plus he’s working through a really bad knee injury similar to the one Sting suffered in 1990. You know, I didn’t notice it in his other matches in 1993, but Windham STILL has that hand taped from when Larry Zbyszko slammed his hand in a car door at Halloween Havoc 1991. Windham catches Flair with a Lariat early on, but Flair chops back. Windham shoots Flair into the corner and a Flair Flip lands him on the floor. Windham runs around the ring and levels Flair with another Lariat. He gives Flair a suplex back in from the apron. Flair starts to chop back and hits the sleeper, but Windham sends Flair into the buckle to break the hold. Fireman’s carry slam and a Powerslam by Windham gets two. Windham connects with another Lariat for two. Flair comes back with a forearm and a jackknife cover gets two. Well, that was certainly something different coming from Flair. Kind of like The Rock putting HHH in the La Majistral cradle in the ironman match. Next up, they do the crossbody block spot where both guys fall out to the floor. Except this time, only Windham falls out. Flair gets pulled out for a slam. Back in, Windham takes Flair to the corner for the ten-count corner punch action, but Flair brings him out with an atomic drop. The Rolling Knee Drop connects. Windham counters a suplex though and places Flair in the corner and delivers the SUPERPLEX! Windham doesn’t cover once he’s to his feet and then misses a flying elbow drop. He still covers Flair for two. Flair runs down the apron after a second Flair Flip and comes off the top (because he’s working face!) and lands a crossbody, but Windham rolls through for 1-2-NO! Double-KO spot occurs. Flair delivers a back suplex to Windham and starts going for the FIGURE-FOUR. Windham kicks him off a few times, but all it takes is a kick to the knee to make it FIGURE-FOUR time. Windham reaches for the ropes and doesn’t realize his shoulders are down as the ref counts 1-2-3. (11:27) Ahh, that’s such a stupid finish. Am I supposed to really believe that Barry Windham who is a second generation veteran and one of the greatest performers ever let something like that happen to him to cause him to lose the most important title of his career? Please. Definitely my least favorite Flair/Windham match of all-time. Nevertheless, Flair wins his 10th world title. Two months later, the NWA would separate itself from WCW when Bischoff decided to put the belt on Rude against the NWA’s wishes. Therefore, the International World title was born, which is about the worst name for a belt there could be. As for Windham, this was his last match in WCW for the next ten months when he returned to once again take on the Nature Boy. **
Sting & Davey Boy Smith vs. Big Van Vader & Sid Vicious (w/Harley Race & Col. Robert Parker)
It’s the Super Powers vs. The Masters of the Powerbomb! Do I really need to mention the mini-movie that went along with this? I guess I probably should. The only version of it I could find on YouTube or DailyMotion was pretty poor quality, so I’ll just try and explain it. If you still want to watch it, be my guest. Okay, so Sid makes his return at Slamboree with his new manager Colonel Robert Parker and joins forces with Vader based solely on the fact that both guys have the same finishing move. Their first order of business is to get rid of Sting and Davey Boy Smith – the biggest threats to them completely dominating WCW. Col. Parker and Harley Race gave Sting and Davey Boy Smith an ultimatum – retire or deal with Vader and Sid. Sting and Davey Boy Smith ignored everything they had to say and headed to the beach for a friendly game of volleyball with a bunch of kids. The Masters of the Powerbomb find the Super Powers enjoying themselves and that REALLY pisses them off. Sid and Vader both want to handle these two right then and there on the beach, but Col. Parker has a better idea. He calls Cheatum the Evil Midget to disguise himself as a shark and plant a bomb on Sting and Davey Boy Smith’s speedboat. Sid, Vader, Race and Parker give Sting and Davey Boy Smith one last chance to take some plane tickets “to the retirement home of their choice” or suffer the consequences. Sting talks it over with Davey Boy Smith and possibly considers taking the tickets…NOT! See, its 1993. It was still okay to say that. Race holds everybody back and spouts off his usual, “You just signed your death warrant!” line. Parker hints that Sting and Davey Boy might be stuck on this island for a really long time and laughs it up. Davey Boy wonders what he could’ve meant by that, but doesn’t think too much about it and starts playing volleyball again. Anyways, some little girls tip off to Sting that a midget or a “funny guy” as they called him has been hanging around his speedboat. When Sting runs over to his boat, those same little girls tell Davey Boy that the boat was going “click click click”. Uh oh! Davey Boy puts two and two together and immediately thinks “A BOMB!” He runs over and saves Sting by knocking him off the boat just in time as the bomb goes off and explodes! The people on the beach start to look moderately concerned until Sting and Davey Boy Smith come up out of the water with their hands raised in the air. I guess the fact that they’re now stuck on an island with no way of escaping hasn’t sunk in yet. Forget about all the legal charges that should’ve been filed against the Masters of the Powerbomb like attempted murder and destruction of property to name a few, this is just completely “over the top” on every level. For it to be settled in a wrestling match is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
Sting starts off with Sid and face slams him all over the place. Sid quickly has enough of that and nails Sting with a Chokeslam. Davey Boy and Sting get dumped so they can come back with STEREO FLYING CLOTHESLINES to rid the ring of the heels. Davey Boy and Vader tag in now. Vader pounds Davey Boy down into the corner. DBS still manages to flip out of a suplex for one of his own. He covers for two, but then charges right into Vader. Sid tags and sits down on Davey Boy during a chinlock. Vader tags and gets in Sting’s face to draw him in the ring. Davey Boy tries a desperation sunset flip and Vader tries to splash him instead, but DBS moves out of the way. Vader cuts off the tag with an elbow drop. Sid tags and hits a double-sledge off the middle rope. Break a leg, Sid! Sid grabs a nerve hold. The crowd gets behind Davey Boy as he elbows out, but Sid cuts off another tag. Vader tags and tries to splash Davey Boy up against the ropes while Race holds him, but Davey Boy moves and Vader hits Race. That sets up the HOT TAG TO STING! He punches everything in sight and even avoids a Vader avalanche in the corner, but then Sting staggers back into a clothesline from Sid and then a clothesline from Vader. The MOTP have everything in control for a while there. When Vader goes for a superplex, Sting bites Vader’s face and ear-claps him to put him down on the canvas. Sting starts to crawl over to Davey Boy, but Vader drops an elbow on him. Sid tags and misses an elbow drop, allowing Sting to make the tag to Davey Boy Smith. Sid goes low and tags Vader in who gives Davey Boy the Pump Splash. He covers for 1-2-NO! Sting makes the save. Sid takes Sting to the rampway. Meanwhile, Vader delivers a VADERSAULT to Davey Boy Smith! Sting punches Sid away and does a running dive over the top rope onto Vader to break up the pinfall! With Sting and Sid at their respective corners and both men in the ring up to their feet, Davey Boy Smith comes off the ropes with a crucifix on Vader for 1-2-3. (16:43) I think I would’ve rather seen a Running Powerslam finish if the faces were going to win, but whatever. Everything Vader did in 1993 was pretty friggin’ awesome, but Sid brought this down quite a bit by not really doing much of anything when he was in the ring. Still a fun match and that’s really all there was to it. ***
Final Thoughts: Another WCW PPV where I could see no conceivable reason to look into unless you’re a Flair completist and you want to have all of his world title wins. Other than that, a completely forgettable show. It’s really sad to see because the Clash shows you can watch for free during this time period were very well done and entertaining shows. But I have go with thumbs down for Beach Blast 1993 for the second PPV in a row. That hasn’t happened since the Great American Bash-Halloween Havoc combo in 1991.