83 Weeks - Bash at the Beach 1996 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Eric...this is a historic episode of 83 Weeks. We’ve beaten around the bush. We’ve gone 171 episodes before this. We are officially at the 25th Anniversary of Bash at the Beach 1996...the show that does what was unthinkable at the time...the impossible...the heel turn of “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan.

We have covered the launch of the nWo...we’ve done many Watchalong’s in the last couple of weeks. We talked to Scott Hall regarding it. Now we go back and discuss the show live from Daytona Beach when WCW changes the course of professional wrestling history.

Daytona Beach Ocean Center is the place where it all happens and you draw 8,300 fans (6,400 paying) and turn away 2,000 for a house of $72,000. For some perspective the 95 Bash...headlined by Hulk vs. Big Van Vader...was held on the beach in Huntington Beach in front of 9,500 fans for no attendance gate.

This pay-per-view is subtitled...The Hostile Takeover as we watch a recap of the nWo invasion with Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. We got Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone & Dusty Rhodes on commentary. There’s a storyline that you might’ve been kidnapped before the show. Meltzer speculates it was because you were working out last minute details with Hogan on the deal to turn heel. Is that what was going on?

The first match is what is long called one of the best opening matches in not just WCW but wrestling pay-per-view history with Rey Misterio Jr facing Psicosis.

“1. Rey Misterio Jr. pinned Psicosis in 15:18. They started with some great mat wrestling. Psicosis did an awesome over-the-top tope, and partially crashed his head into the post. He came back in and used a guillotine legdrop off the top. Misterio Jr. used a spinning Frankensteiner off the apron to the floor. Psicosis did perhaps the greatest hotshot in the history of wrestling. He dropped Misterio Jr. throat first on the top, and then did a senton from the top rope to the floor, which appeared to shake himself up. Misterio Jr. used a springboard huracanrana for a near fall, a springboard dropkick from the apron to the ring. He came off the top turnbuckle with another spinning Frankensteiner on Psicosis on the apron. In the ring he used an Arabian moonsault followed by a springboard dropkick to the back which sent Psicosis sliding across the mat to the floor. Misterio Jr. then did a twisting Asai moonsault and crashed his knee on the guard rail on the flight over. He went for another springboard huracanrana, but Psicosis turned it into a power bomb. Psicosis went for a Splash Mountain off the top rope but on the way down, Misterio Jr. turned it into a Frankensteiner for the fall. ****¾”

Just an outstanding match Eric and it’s certainly one of the best ways to kick off a pay-per-view. What did you think watching this back and how good were they? Do you think having Mike Tenay on commentary helped get these guys over?

2. John Tenta pinned Big Bubba Rogers in what was billed as a Carson City Silver dollar match, which had a sock filled with coins on the top of a high pole. It was apparent Tenta wasn't going to be able to climb the pole. They did enough gimmicks combined with Bubba being a good worker to keep it interesting. At one point Bubba pulled out athletic tape and taped Tenta to the ropes and whipped him with a belt. Heenan said he was hitting him in the gills. Schiavone responded he didn't have gills and Heenan goes, "I know, he's not a fish." Bubba pulled out scissors and teased cutting more hair but Tenta saved the day with the one of 225 low blows on the show. Tenta got the scissors and cut the tape off, getting himself loose, and attempted to cut the straps on the pole. It wound up with Bubba regaining the advantage and telling Jimmy Hart to climb the pole. 55-year-old Jimmy climbed up, and while this was going on, Tenta powerslammed Bubba. As Hart came down, Tenta was waiting, got the sock, hit Bubba, and scored the pin at 9:00. *1/4

Did anyone think...realize...consider...that two of the biggest men on the roster would have a hard time climbing this gigantic pole? What a stark contrast from the first match to this match. Watching these back to back it’s a hard defense for some of the mid card workers WCW had at the time that eventually got replaced by the luchadores wouldn’t you agree?

3. Diamond Dallas Page pinned Jim Duggan in a taped fist match to retain the ring in 5:39. Page taped Duggan's boots together trapping him around the post. He pulled out scissors (that was two straight matches with scissors and tape) and cut the tape off Duggan's fists. Although Duggan is just about the worst wrestler in the business and Page is overrated in some circles (and underrated in others), this match in the ring was much better than it would be imagined due to Page, who won with a Diamond cutter. After the match Duggan taped his fist and KO'd Page. *¾

It is kind of weird to have two matches in a row with similar types of gimmicks with tape and scissors. Is this just poor planning or poor agenting? What do you think of Meltzer’s criticism of Duggan here? Is it valid?

4. In a double dog collar match, Nasty Boys beat Public Enemy in 11:25. Their typical match with lots of foreign objects used, lots of stiff shots and almost no selling. It was your basic bad ECW brawl match sans juice. Sags in particular was atrocious when it came to selling. This match ranged from being a great brawl in certain spots to a total cluster toward the end. There were hard shots with garbage cans and lids, chair shots, surfboard shots, etc. Rocco came off the lifeguard stand in the back and wound up hitting a chair when Sags yanked his chain for real. He went up a second time and Sags knocked down the entire lifeguard stand. They used tables. At one point Sags piledrove Rocco on the floor. The match was too long for this style since there is no story or building involved so you can't be out there for a long time unless it's ECW, and these guys really got sloppy at the end. It got worse as they got one of those industrial strength tables that kept not breaking. By the end the guys were tripping over each other's chains. Finally Rocco was clotheslined with a chain and Sags pinned him. Public Enemy beat up Nasty Boys after the match. *1/4

It’s entertaining in a perverse sort of way what do you say Eric?

5. Dean Malenko (Dean Simon) beat Disco Inferno in 12:04 with the Texas cloverleaf to keep the WCW cruiserweight title. Shockingly, this was the second best match on the show. Malenko was awesome in carrying Disco, who actually looked like a promising good wrestler in there. The storyline was that Disco was actually dropping his flighty mannerisms and came close to winning on numerous occasions. The match did a good job of getting Disco over as a serious wrestler when he's focused rather than just a dancing clown, even though he lost at the end. Finally Malenko used a Tiger driver and the cloverleaf. It was a good Japanese style match. ***1/4

Were you shocked this was the second best match on the show? Was this an attempt to make Disco more serious or was Dean just not interested in doing something comical?

6. Steve McMichael pinned Joe Gomez with a tombstone piledriver in 6:44. McMichael has the attitude and his wife as the look. But it was painful putting two guys who are both so green out there on a PPV and having them go this long and it exposed him big-time. Just terrible. -1/2*

Yup. It sucked Eric. No way around it. Do you think this was the best match to put Steve into or was there someone else that could’ve put him over to make him look better?

7. Ric Flair pinned Konnan to win the U.S. title in 15:39. It was a basic Flair match with all the regular spots. At one point Konnan came off the apron with a bodyblock on Flair and nearly wiped out Liz in the process. Woman later gave Konnan a tremendous low blow which was so good it should have been the finish. Instead, Konnan recovered from that and they traded figure fours, and Konnan got a few near falls. Finally Liz distracted the ref and Woman gave Konnan a horrible looking shot with a high heel shoe and Konnan sold it as if he were shot, and Flair pinned him with his feet on the ropes. The match was good until the finish, which looked really bad. Considering the style clash, both did well, although that probably isn't surprising because Flair has carried a whole lot worse in his career. **½

Why Flair for the United States title? Was this an attempt to elevate the United States Title? Was Konnan disappointed in losing the title here?

8. The Giant & Kevin Sullivan beat Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit in 7:59 when Giant choke slammed Anderson. McMichael hit Giant with a briefcase early and he chased after him. This left Anderson & Benoit to beat on Sullivan and try to establish him as the face in this match. Sullivan, even though he was being double-teamed, didn't sell much. His comeback came when he gave Anderson the sloppiest monkey flip in the history of PPV, onto Benoit. Giant made the tag, Benoit and Sullivan brawled to the back, and Giant immediately choke slammed Anderson for the pin. After the match Benoit used a crossbody off the television platform onto Sullivan and both landed in the beach area set. They brawled back to the ring where Benoit gave Sullivan a backward superplex off the top rope and kept stomping on him until Woman ran in and screamed for Benoit to stop hurting Kevin. No acknowledgement was made about them being married nor were any hints dropped. Giant carried Sullivan out on his shoulders. **

A lot of not said commentary here regarding Chris - Woman - Kevin. Do you think viewers who are casual don’t know what’s going on? A lot of Giant just choke slamming Arn Anderson for wins in this era though. Did Giant get lost in the shuffle during the whole run up to the nWo?

9. Sting & Randy Savage & Lex Luger went to a no decision against Nash & Hall. Luger was KO'd early when Sting used a Stinger splash on Nash, which in storyline was said to have hit Luger although it didn't. Luger's has been destroyed a million times worse in the past and not even sold it, but this time he did a stretcher job and the match was halted for a few minutes. Match was so-so, totally saved by the finish, mainly with the Outsiders beating on Sting. Savage made the hot tag until Nash low blowed him.

Hogan came out to a babyface pop after Nash had delivered a low blow on Savage. After Hogan teased going after Nash and Hall, and they bailed out of the ring, he then legdropped Savage twice, threw the referee out of the ring, legdropped Savage a third time and covered Savage while Hall counted the pin. The heat, with a literal flood of debris being thrown at the ring, was as intense as anything seen in U.S. rings at a major arena in years.

After the match, Hogan gave one of his best interviews in years, basically talking about building a giant organization up North (the World Wrestling Federation) and making the owners of that company millions of dollars, then coming to work for Billionaire Ted, who offered him millions. Hogan portrayed it as if Hogan had proved he was bigger than pro wrestling, and that the WCW fans were Johnny-come-latelys who wouldn't even be attending matches for the group if Hogan hadn't have joined and basically called the fans garbage and told them to stick it because of the way they had reacted to him the past few months after he had done all kinds of charity work. The half-shoot, half-work interview was strong and focused enough that it incited enough heat that some fans in the building were ripping up and throwing down their Hogan merchandise and a few people were even crying. Still, according to live reports, approximately 25% of the fans were still cheering Hogan, Nash and Hall (the latter two of whom were reduced to background performers as Hogan held the spotlight at the finish). Nash and Hall had received a predominately babyface reaction when the match began.

***

Eric, is this the crowning achievement of your career creatively?

Do you think the criticism of the Luger injury is fair?

Were you worried in any way, shape or form about how the Hogan turn was going to come off?

Did Hulk, Scott & Kevin express any fear this wouldn’t work?

From the Observer: In between the PPV opener and the angle was a basically average PPV show, highlighted more by the strongest performance in the career of Tony Schiavone as play-by-play announcer. Schiavone focused the entire show on the main angle and the identity of the third man, to the point that the show was largely well received despite the mediocre nature of much of the show, because the key angle paid off in a big way.

We really don’t talk about this that much but how much do you think Tony added to the show?

To end this all...once again from the Observer… “Even though many would argue the Hogan turn was long overdue based on fan reaction to him particularly in the Carolinas and in the major cities where fans are more oriented toward cheering for their favorites (ie Ric Flair) than being the programmed response robots wrestling fans have long been taken for granted as being by those who run the business. However, it didn't come without major risks. Hogan's name was still a factor in buy rates, largely believed to be coming from young children who wouldn't be as apt to beg parents to buy the shows to see a heel Hogan. Whatever revenue WCW merchandise brings in was put at major risk as well, as Hogan was the top item seller and clearly those numbers should drop substantially. For older and long-time fans, seeing the biggest name in American wrestling do his first turn on a national scale is going to spark interest in a big way, particularly short term. WCW officials knew that the Hogan turn had to be done right or it wouldn't be worth the risks, and it could only be done once, and long-term plans had to be finalized. There was legit fear basically up until the last day that Hogan would change his mind at the last minute, as he's done in the past when it comes to major angles that would leave him laying or doing jobs that would elevate others to a parity position. A "Plan B" contingency idea was that Sting would do a heel turn and join the Outsiders, largely due to the belief that too many people had speculated about Luger turning (which was the original plan) or Savage turning but nobody had speculated on Sting turning and the company wanted a shocking finish to the show.”

It is a huge risk. Obviously the merchandise money could’ve dropped off but I mean the nWo merchandise continues to sell let alone still 25 years later. Did the higher ups in Turner know the turn was coming and did they have reservations about the possible loss of merchandise money?

Was Sting the backup plan?

Was Luger the original plan?

Did Hulk sign a new contract before the turn or after? Was the turn part of the deal?

The Wrestling Observer readers were very impressed with the show. 74.4% thumbs up, 12.6% thumbs down and 13% in the middle.

What say you Eric?