wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Bash at The Beach ’94
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Written: 12.19.25
-Source: Peacock
-Run-Time: 2:43:58
-Note: Ted Turner passed away a few days before this review was set to drop. This show was so big that Ted even showed up to be front and center during the Flair/Hogan contract signing. You could see that Ted was like a kid watching Hogan and Flair cut promos on each other. The wrestling world owes a lot to Ted Turner and what’s great is that at the end of the day, he was one of us: a fan of wrestling. I believe if he was still in charge, he would have let WCW burn as much of his money as possible if needed to keep them from going under, but that’s not how things happened. Rest easy Mr. Turner, what you did in wrestling didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as much as everything else you did, but for people like many and millions others, we owe you a debt of gratitude for what you did for our pseudo-sport.
-We have arrived at the biggest show in WCW history to this point. This was where I started following WCW more and pulling for them vs. WWF. This is also the VHS tape I rented more than any other as when a Hollywood Video was built near me, they had a copy of this show. I may have even bought the copy when they went out of business, but I think it’s in storage. This show is all about Flair vs. Hogan because WCW was smart enough to put it on PPV as soon as possible. It worked out rather well I would say.
-Announce Team: Tony Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-July 17, 1994
-Orlando Arena, Orlando, FL
-Attendance: 14,000
-PPV Buys: 225,000
-Daron Norwood sings The National Anthem.
-We go back to Saturday Night where a “fan” rushes the ring and scratches Sting’s eyes, knocking him out of tonight’s TV Title Match. Hogan out for the save and the fan is Sherri, dressed like a man. Flair attacks Hogan’s knee, but Mr. T is out for the save. It’s still weird seeing Hogan on that Saturday Night set.
WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/ Sir William) vs. Johnny B. Badd
-USA chant to start from the crowd. Regal starts this one slow as expected. Badd reverses arm control, but Regal stays with him and transitions to a side headlock. Badd back to the arm, but Regal shoves him in the corner and we get a clean break. Regal grabs the hair to get a trip and that angers Badd, so Regal backs off in a corner. Regal gets another take down by the hair and gets a two count. He holds Badd’s shoulders down for another two count. Monkey Flip from Regal and he rolls into a pin, but Badd counters with his own pin attempt for two. Badd picks up the pace and gets a Japanese arm-drag, but Regal slows things down again. Regal grab a leg and gets a trip, but Badd uses his lower power to bring Regal down and Regal goes to the corner again. Linda Hogan is sitting front row and both of Hulk’s children are there as well. Badd gets a take down and regal lands on his shoulder and bails to the floor. They are taking their sweet time getting into this one. Regal fakes walking out, but comes back to the ring. He backs Badd into a corner and delivers a series of European Uppercuts. Badd goes back to t he mat game and gets a hammerlock. Tony notes that wrestling is cool again. That’s the catchphrase The Rock used in 2024. Regal lands an elbow to break a hammerlock and perhaps we can get going now. Badd blocks a suplex, but Regald delivers a kick to the head and then a dropkick. Badd continues with the ground game as he takes Regal to the mat and works on the arm. Heenan: “Hogan has all the support of his cronies,” as they show Chris Lemon (Thunder in Paradise). Some will tell you that’s a shoot comment to describe the rest of 94 and 95 in WCW. Badd starts his comeback and hits a backdrop. He lands The Kiss That Don’t Miss, but Regal rolls to the floor. Slingshot plancha from Badd to the floor nails Regal and William. Sunset flip back in, but William offers his umbrella to save Regal. The ref kicks to away and Badd gets two, but things get ugly as Regal tries to reverse back and Badd has to do it for him. That gets Regal the pin at 10:45.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal via pin at 10:45
-This one never got going for me and then the finish was a little wonky. **
-The Hogan super fan that dresses like him is right behind Tony and Bobby at ring side.
-Antonio Inoki receives an award, but Regal can’t let the slide and comes in to cause issues. Inoki is ready to go and removes his jacket, which give Regal enough of a reason to leave.
Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race) vs. The Guardian Angel
-Jesse Ventura joins Tony on commentary as Bobby gets the next couple of matches off. Harley gets too close to Angel and gets tossed to the floor, but that gives Vader an opening an he mauls The Angel. He hits a spinning kick and falls on his ass. Clothesline is ducked and Angel gets a belly-to-back suplex. Angel removes Vader’s head gear and throws it at Race. Body slam from Th Angel as we see the various famous people in the first row. Angel hits a clothesline and they brawl on the floor. Race gets decked, which lets Vader take over. The Angels has to crawl back in the ring and Vader puts him in the corner and throws some boxing blows. The Angel responds but gets run down by Vader. He actually tries a sunset flip off the middle ropes, but Angel sits down to block. Vader goes to the eyes and hits a short arm clothesline. Vader works the leg and transitions to side control. You can hear Vader scream “damn it,” as Angel kicks out at two. Another slam from Vader and he heads up and hits the Vader Bomb to a strong reaction. Vader heads all the way top and hits the Moonsault, which didn’t happen often. Race wants some, but The Angels knocks him down and dumps him to the floor. A clothesline sends Vader to the floor. He hits a suplex to bring him back in and we get some shenanigans with the ref getting bumped. Vader grabs a telescopic night stick, but the Angel beats him up and steals it. The ref sees The Angel with the nigh stick and calls for the bell in a really stupid ending at 7:58.
Winner: Vader via DQ at 7:58
-Ending killed any good will that match was building. Just awful and a disappointing match compared to others they had done. **
-Tony presses Jesse for a pick on Hogan/Flair and he says he already told everyone it would be Flair. I believe this was Jesse’s last PPV. I don’t think he had learned yet that Hogan is the one that snitched about creating a union.
-Recap of Dustin Rhodes’ issues with Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck. He was then dumb enough to ask Arn Anderson to be his partner and Arn told him it would be the old Arn that was slap his grandma for 50 cents. Geez, I wonder how this is going to end for Dustin?
-We get video from a dark match featuring two guys from a radio show against Molly McShane with Jimmy Hart as the special ref. He quick counts one of the two radio guys and Molly gets the win. Okay then. I guess they helped promo Bash at The Beach and were from The Ron and Ron show.
Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Colonel Parker and Meng) vs. Dustin Rhodes and Arn Anderson
-Again, a Rhodes thought it was a good idea to team with an Anderson in a match against a Funk? Now, all joking aside it does end up setting up a lot of good stuff. Jesse notes he wrestled Funk to a one hour draw in Seattle in 1976. Oh wow, I wonder what that looked like. Funk talks trash to Arn from the apron as Buck starts the match. The crowd wants Dustin in, so Arn gives it to him. Funk in and Dustin goes right after him. Right hands and Funk is staggering down the apron before falling on his face. The Colonel has to get him back in the ring direct and back into the ring. Funk fires off some chops and drops an elbow to the back of the head. Slam from Funk! He hooks a side headlock but gets shoved off and runs into a slam. Buck in and Dustin slams him. Dustin throws Funk over the top to the floor with a slam, but the ref didn’t see it. He also missed Buck getting tossed over the top to the floor as well. I was so happy when they got rid of the over the top rope rule. We go again and Dustin gets an atomic drop on Funk and one on Buck. He whips them into each other and lands a series of right hands on Funk. Snap-mare and he drops an elbow. He hooks a side headlock, but Funk counters with a belly-to-back suplex. He brings Buck back into the match and he misses. Clothesline. Dustin goes for a cross-body, but Buck goes south and Dustin goes crashing to the floor. Funk out and he drops Dustin throat first on the railing. Jesse goes on his traditional rant about all the glitter and garbage left on the floor by Badd;’s entrance. Back in the ring, Buck gets a reverse chinlock, who hasn’t touched anyone, gets the crowd going. Slam from Buck and he lands a kick to the head. Abdominal stretch and Funk offers a helping hand. We get double clubbering on Dustin in the corner rand I need Dusty here to call it. Funk land s a neckbreaker for two. Piledriver and kind of a weak one as Funk just kin of sat down. Arn pulls Funk off to save the count. Buck in and another boot to the head. This is kind of boring as we are just waiting for what we all came to see with this match. Right on cue, the camera pans the crowd which tends to happen when nothing is really happening. Are gets the crowd going to cheer on Dustin, but he gets pounded by both men with rights and lefts. Dustin fires up and fights his way out of the corner to pop the crowd. Elbows for everyone and he runs Buck and Funk into each other. Backdrop to Funk! Backdrop to Buck! Tony and Jesse both note that Dustin needs to get out of the ring. No kidding! Elbow to Funk and a clothesline sends Buck to the floor. Lariat gets a two count. Buck up top, but Dustin punches him in the gut and throws him onto Funk. Parker on the apron and he gets decked. Tag to Arn and DDT TO DUSTIN! TREMENDOUS! Funk gets rolled on top and gets the pin at 11:36.
Winners: Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck via pin at 11:36
-Match was kind of boring but got fun when Dustin made the comeback and then that beautiful ending. What made it work was Arn never being in the match and not really noticing as he was still cheering on Dustin and wasn’t avoiding a tag. Dustin just tried to do it alone and then Arn did what Arn will always do when a Rhodes is involved. The ending alone is worth an extra * ***
-We aren’t done yet as they hold Dustin down and Arn starts stomping on the arm. Funk, Buck, and Parker stomp away as well and Meng just watches to see if anyone wants to get involved. The officials head down and Meng backs them into a corner. Greg Gagne is one of the officials and I assume he is there to make sure Hogan remembers how to be Hulk Hogan.
-Fall Brawl is the next PPV on Sept 18, but I believe there is a Clash in August.
-Gene is in the back and we get words from Flair and Sherri. There is a loud part of the crowd that is behind Flair in this one.
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: “Stunning: Steve Austin (c) vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
-Austin attacks at the bell as The Dragon made a mistake and had his back turned. Austin goes after the knee in the corner, so Dragon responds with chops. Austin goes back to the knee and Dragon goes back to the chops. Austin is relentless with his attack on the knee and gets Steamboat down. He goes for a leg lock but Dragon kicks off and Austin goes into the post. Dragon goes Taker Old School off the top and nearly walks from corner to corner before coming off with a chop to the arm. Austin is sporting black tights that read “Dragon Slayer” on the back. Austin heads up top, but Dragon hits a dropkick and Austin falls backwards into a nasty looking Tree of Woe. I am sure he was fine, but that hurt my knee just looking at it. Dragon with an armdrag and into an armbar. Chop knocks Austin to the mat and Dragon goes back to the armbar. Back up and we get the leap frog sequence and Austin’s knee goes out. Heenan thinks he should get a 20 minute rest, but Tony isn’t buying it as he notes it’s an old Blondes trick. Dragon doesn’t fall for it and goes after Austin, who ends up on the floor. Austin calls for time and waits until Dragon gets close enough to pull him to the floor. They brawl out there and Austin makes Dragon chase. Back in the ring Dragon drops down a few times and catches a charging Austin with a sleeper. He shoves off into the corner and gets a roll-up for two as Austin bounced off the buckles. Back to the armbar! Tony: “WCW, what the world is watching…now.” Just a coincidence he used the old WWF tag from the 80s, but it was funny the way Tony added “now” at the end like WWF lawyers were over his shoulder. Austin’s trick knee acts up as he gets a low blow on Steamboat behind the ref’s back. Heenan notes trick knees just flare up from time to time. Austin tells us that his arm is feeling better. Dragon gets sent to the floor and takes a funny bump as he rolls down the steps. I was never a fan of the steps that were in the middle of the apron instead of around the corners. Dragon flips out of a suplex and lifts Austin off the mat with a double choke. Arm Dragon is back with another armdrag and into the armbar. The crowd is getting a little annoyed with the armbar and they realize it as they start picking up the pace again. Dragon gets a two count off a slam. Austin catches him and DRILLS him with a modified Alabama Slam. Cool! Austin poses on the ropes and then gets cocky as he mocks Dragon on the mat. Austin comes off the middle ropes with a knee to the back of the head and Austin shows off his kung-fu abilities to the crowd. Chops from Austin, but Steamboat tells him to bring it. More chops from Austin as Tony wonders if Dragon is using a rope-a-dope strategy. He catches Austin with a catapult into the corner and gets a roll-up for two. Austin up first and hits a clothesline. Austin with a reverse chinlock, but releases as Dragon nearly got him in the Electric Chair position. Austin goes for multiple covers as he holds Dragon’s arms down, but he is out at two each time. Never a fan of that spot. Going for a cover over and over is fine, but just holding the arms down always seemed weird to me. Just one of those weird deals with me I guess. Austin drops his weight on Dragon’s back in the corner and makes Heenan laugh as he grabs Dragon’s arm and waves at the camera. I agree with Heenan as it’s pretty funny. Austin charges again, but Dragon catches him with a stun-gun. They battle on the apron and Dragon gets tossed into the railing. Austin then gets run into the post. Back in the ring Dragon off the top with a chop and instead of a pin he just punches Austin in the head ten times. Backdrop! Double Chop gets two. Austin goes to the eyes and throws Dragon over the top to get a DQ, but Dragon skins the cat back in and fires away with chops. Austin tries again as he backdrops Dragon over, but again, he skins the cat. Small package from Dragon gets two. Jackknife cover gets two! They reverse Tombstones numerous times and Dragon ends up hitting it, but again, no cover. He heads up top, but Austin puts the ref in the way, so Dragon has to move and land on his feet. The ref wants to DQ Austin, but Dragon talks him out of it. Dragon gets a cross-body, but Austin rolls through and after a second try gets his feet on the ropes for the pin at 20:15.
Winner and Still WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Steve Austin via pin at 20:15
-Got a little slow in the middle, but it’s Dragon vs. Austin so it’s going to be good. Never really hit that next gear to make it an all time classic, but a very good match that flew by. Austin showed some more personality here and Dragon sold like crazy before his comebacks. Austin cheating to win is appreciated. ***3/4
-Gene heads into the dressing room of The Stud Stable and they are smoking cigars, drinking beers, and champage with some ladies. It’s party time! Parker reveals what we all knew, it was a plan all along and he has a briefcase full of cash for Arn. They dump champagne on Arn’s head and he continues to cut a promo about Dustin making a pact with the devil, who just happened to call his marker in sooner that Dustin wanted. Good stuff!
WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack (c) and Kevin Sullivan (c) (w/ Dave) vs. Pretty Wonderful
-Wonderful yells at the ring girl as she takes his robe to the back and she just laughs at him. I note this because we get stalling to start and that’s the only notable thing to happen in the first 90 seconds. We finally get a lockup between Sullivan and Wonderful and Wonderful gets an armdrag. He celebrates with a double bicep pose. Sullivan gets taken down again, so he tags out to Jack. He wants Roma, so he makes the tag and stalls. Roma gets a go behind and leg trip as Pretty Wonderful is trying to show up the Tag Champs with wrestling. Roma gets another take down and jumps on the ropes to let us know this is easy. Jack responds by biting at the face. Tag to Sullivan and he gets a shoulder tackle. He misses a clothesline and Roma laughs at him. Jack in and delivers a headbutt as Roma asks where the tag was. Mr. Wonderful in and he pounds away in the corner. Jack blocks a whip to the corner and Sullivan starts firing off chops. Everyone in the week and the Champs clear the ring as Heenan is baffled that Sullivan and Jack are working as a team. More stalling by Pretty Wonderful, or regrouping as Tony calls it. Jack and Wonderful go again and end up on the floor. Jack blocks being sent into the railing and fires back with right hands. Sullivan over and Jack whips Wonderful into a clothesline. Jack looked like he was going to drop a Cactus elbow on the floor, but Wonderful just wandered off so we head back into the ring. Sullivan chops the crap out of Wonderful in the corner and Pretty Wonderful get their heads cracked together. Jack in and hooks a hammerlock, which shocks Heenan. Sullivan in and he stomps the had before tagging back to Cactus. He sets too early on a backdrop and gets slammed down by the hair. Roma in and he stomps Jack down in the corner. I will say both teams are showing fire, but they crowd just isn’t buying this match so far. Wonderful has a suplex blocked and Jack gets one of his own. Tag made to Sullivan and he runs wil as he runs Roma and Wonderful both head first into the top buckle over and over. Double Stomp to the gut gets two as Roma makes the save. Jack in for a few seconds and then back to Sullivan. He goes to work on the arm as the crowd is alive but I don’t think it has anything to do with the mat. Yep, the crowd is doing the wave and ignoring the match. The Wave continues so Jack hooks a front facelock to wait them out. Wonderful goes to the eyes on Sullivan and makes the tag to Roma. He punches away in the corner, but Sullivan eats them and SLAPS Roma really hard. Everyone in the ring again as the wave continues. Wonderful sticks Sullivan with a piledriver in the chaos. It gets two as Dave puts Sullivan’s foot on the bottom rope. Sullivan catches Wonderful with a jawbreaker. Roma back in and he gets a slam. He comes off the top with an elbow and gets two with a cocky cover. Wonderful in and he drops the boogie woogie elbow and goes to a reverse chinlock. Ugh! Sleeper next, so double ugh! Sullivan breaks as he sends Wonderful into the corner, but Roma gets the tag first. Another cocky cover only gets two. We get a double KO though Sullivan stays on his feet and spins to the wrong corner. After that Roma just hooks a front facelock. That sequence was weird. Wonderful back in and goes to a choke in the corner. Roma with a clothesline and Sullivan does another over dramatic fall for the sell. Wonderful in with a backdrop and Sullivan nearly lands on his feet. Roma back in and misses a dive off the top. Tags on both sides and Jack gets to run wild. Clothesline to Wonderful and a slam to Roma. Everyone in the ring and Jack hits the double arm DDT, but the ref is focused on Roma and Sullivan, so no count. We get a bad looking ending as Wonderful gets a pin and Roma kind of holds the feet from the floor while the ref has to ignore it at 20:13.
Winners and New WCW World Tag Team Champions: Pretty Wonderful via pin at 20:3
-That was painfully boring and the finish was pretty crap. We didn’t even get any crazy bumps by Jack to help things. *
-Tony and Bobby talk about Hogan/Flair and Heenan notes if Hogan wins it will be a fluke. You can’t say they didn’t hype the crap out of this match.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair (c) (w/ Sherri) vs. Hulk Hogan (w/ Jimmy Hart)
-Buffer introduces Nick Bockwinkel, who will be at ring side and Shaq, who will be presenting the Championship Belt to the winner. The crowd really loves Shaq as he was two years away from signing with The Lakers and this was months before the season he led the Magic to the NBA Finals. Mr. T is also here as he will be the referee on the floor. The match just has a big time feel to it and it’s crazy that it’s WCW who pulled it off without over thinking it. Hogan has a smile on his face as he and Flair have a stare down. The crowd is jacked for this one. Hogan also looks slimmed down from his last WWF appearance and way down from his peak in the 80s. Yes, we know why. Hogan shoves Flair down, but stays cocky as he struts around the ring. Hogan struts and plays to the crowd to show he can roll with the mind games as well. Flair gets a hammerlock and takes Hogan to the mat. He gets a wrist lock and pulls the hair to get Hogan on the mat. Hogan to his feet and Flair goes to the hair again. Flair goes for the hair again, but Hogan blocks and pulls Flair down by the head. He gets a short arm scissors. Flair bails to the floor and hides behind Sherri, who dares Hogan to punch her. Back in the ring Hogan messes with Flair’s hair which has him charging in anger and Hogan drills him with a right hand. Clothesline, but Flair slides out of the ring to avoid the big boot. He puts Sherri in front of him again. Hogan side steps and chases Flair into the ring, but gets caught with a boot to the head. Chops in the corner followed by a right hand. Loud Hogan chant and he responds by biting Flair on the head. He gets the 10 count punch in the corner and then a running clothesline. Flair gets bounced from corner to corner and Hogan goes back to throwing right hands. Sherri grabs the leg and that allows Flair to bury a knee to the back. Hogan gets knocked over the top to the floor and Sherri goes to use a chair, but Hart stops that. Heenan: “Jimmy, she will knock you out.” Truth! Flair kicks Hogan in the head and then drops a knee to the head back in the ring. The crowd has great for this one so far! Heenan is crushing it on commentary as it feels like 1992 all over again. Hogan fights back in the corner again, but Flair gets a double leg take down. Hogan back with a clothesline, but Flair is able to hook a reverse chinlock. Hogan chant rings throughout the arena. He transitions to sleeper and Hogan starts to fade. The ref checks the arm, but it stays up on the third go and Hogan rallies to his feet. Shoulder tackle and another. Flair begs off in the corner and Hogan pelts him with right hands. Whip to the corner and Flair flips to the apron and gets run over with a clothesline. Hogan follows him out and hits a belly-to-back suplex. Another suplex brings Flair in from the apron. Leg Drop misses as Flair rolls away. Hogan starts selling the hip and quad. Flair goes to a figure-four, but Hogan counters into a small package for two. Great near fall there! Flair shows off the power with a delayed vertical suplex. Heenan marks out, but cries when Hogan gets up first. Flair flexes and doesn’t know Hogan is behind him. Three punches and a bit boot gets two as Sherri pulls the ref out. She then decks Jimmy for good measure. Flair with a chop block on a distracted Hogan and Sherri comes off the top with a splash. Cool! Nick Patrick takes over as the ref and Flair gets the figure-four to a big pop from the Flair fans in the crowd. Heenan mentioning Hogan hasn’t wrestled in 2-3 years is weird as it was about a year at this point. Hogan gets to the ropes but Sherri is there to choke him with her pantyhose. Flair goes back to the knee and then chops in the corner. The third one wakes Hogan up and Heenan is ready to cry. Hogan stares Flair down as he continues to fire chops and punches that aren’t doing anything. Hogan runs into an elbow. Sherri off the top again, but Hogan moves. Flair up top and he gets slammed down. Clothesline to Flair and one to Sherri as well. The place is going crazy right now as Hogan hooks a figure-four. This is fantastic! I have seen this show a ton and don’t remember the crowd being this jacked for the match. Sherri tries to get involved again, but Mr. T carries her away. Flair uses a foreign object, but Hogan is out at two. Heenan: “Damn it!” Hulk-Up and Hogan gets a shoulder block. Three right hands and a big boot! Leg Drop gets the pin at 21:51 as Heenan pleads to God.
Winner and New WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan via pin at 21:51
-Hogan had not wrestled in like a year, so credit for going out there in a 22 minute match. The match had crazy good heat and as mentioned, was even louder than I remembered. That sleeper went a bit long in the middle. It was a basic match, but they didn’t have to go crazy to hook the crowd. If you were a Hogan fan, this was great. If you were Team Flair, this match sucked as it officially changed the direction of WCW. I enjoy the match and that stretch after the sleeper was great. Props to Heenan for his job on commentary as well and Tony needling him at times was funny. ***3/4
-Heenan doesn’t even want to look at the replay, so Tony handles it and picks on Heenan at the same time. Funny!
-We see Hogan head to the back for the celebration and Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Brutus Beefcake are here. Hogan makes his way back to a reception area where Gene and the “press” are waiting. Hogan cuts a promo and name drops Mr. T, Shaq, George Foreman, Duggan, Pillman, and Johnny B. Badd. Gene refers to Brutus as The Barber and I assume that got a letter from WWE legal team.
-Back to Heenan who says Hogan started a war and Flair will be looking for him for the rest of his life and then he storms off to let Tony close things.
-Thanks for reading!
