WCW in 1995 was the road to a turnaround. That year was really the calm before the storm in the industry as the 90s wrestling boom was on the horizon. On the Atlanta promotion’s end, they were beefing up their roster with some of the best international talent and established stars. You can do that when the company is a personal project and you have an infinite money cheat basically. What we’re looking at this time is July 16’s WCW Bash At The Beach 1995!
Low-Tier
I’m a fan of the WCW TV title. Next to the World Cruiserweight title, it’s my favorite title from that period because you got to see who was on the bubble in WCW before they moved on to the U.S title. The Renegade was never going to be on the bubble and him defeating Paul Orndorff made sense as they were trying to get him over but didn’t make sense because The Renegade defeated Mr. Wonderful in a title defense.
What’s good about him losing is that we get the so-terrible-it’s-bad stuff with him and popular psychic of the time Gary Spivey. Check out this look into the weeks ahead in WCW for that.
After that, we have—oof. That wasn’t a gentle “oof” either, that was a butt hitting the toilet seat after a hard day oof as Kamala takes on Jim Duggan. Only worth watching if this was WWE or Mid-South in 1985 and even then, I don’t know, folks.
The only other thing not really worth watching is DDP vs. Dave Sullivan and that’s because Dave, Evad, the Equalizer—whichever name you remember him using. This was a WCW Worldwide bout or the opener to Saturday Night. Wouldn’t you know it, these two faced each other on the B-shows well into 1995. This wasn’t the beef DDP needed to deal with.
Mid-Tier
Sting defending the U.S title against Meng was a solid match that ran too long. Meng would’ve made for a good opponent for pre-Crow Sting but he needed to be protected a bit via a shorter match. That said, it had its moments that make it a watchable match—such as Meng booting the hell out of Sting when the champ attempted his splash in the corner!
Exotic-Tier
The final three matches are all enjoyable. Our main event saw Hogan defending the World title against Vader in a steel cage is exactly the kind of match Hogan shines in. He’s got a monster to fight, they’re in a cage, and Dennis Rodman appears too. Nice. It had a nice length to it as well—as did each of the matches.
My personal favorite from WCW Bash at the Beach 1995 was Harlem Heat defending the World tag titles against the Nasty Boys and the Blue Bloods. This was just an exciting match that would’ve been better if Harlem Heat faced either of the two teams separately or even if the Blue Bloods took on the Nastys.
The match that shined saw a lumberjack—excuse me, a “lifeguard match”—between Ric Flair and Randy Savage. This one was a no-brainer since they were going to put on a good match. There was a little extra here with the lumberjacks but it worked.
WCW Bash at the Beach 1995 Verdict: 6/10
By now, you just expect WCW to drop some matches no one cares to see on the card but at least they heavier at the start of the show. Bash at the Beach went on, it got better and that’s always the progression you want for a show. Making the tag title match three-way could’ve been booked differently but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. The conclusion to Hogan vs. Vader was expected but overall, this was a rock-solid show.
WCW Great American Bash Score: 6/10
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