On this Friday’s edition of Rewind-A-Wai, we are reviewing WCW’s Bash at the Beach '98 pay-per-view.
This event was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Thorsten Wendelmuth
We appreciate any of your feedback to this event or questions you may have regarding this time period for WCW, we will get to all of them on this Friday’s show.
Check out the POST Wrestling Café this Friday for an extensive review of Bash at the Beach 1998.
WCW Bash at the Beach
Sunday, July 12th, 1998
San Diego, California at the Cox Arena
*Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone
*Bill Goldberg vs. Curt Hennig for the WCW title
*Booker T. vs. Bret Hart for the WCW Television title
*Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight title
*The Giant vs. Kevin Greene
*Konnan vs. Disco Inferno
*Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero in a Hair vs. Hair Match
*Chavo Guerrero vs. Stevie Ray
*Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera
*Raven vs. Saturn
This was probably WCW’s hottest week in its history. They’ve just come off crowning Goldberg on Nitro and then have one of the most purchased PPV’s they ever did. It’s a shame Rodman came into the match in a state as I think they probably could have gotten a better performance out of him, he did OK the year before in a tag and that was with Luger & the Giant. I think the bigger shock on this show is how much Bret had already fallen by this point, the guy was a huge signing and was just challenging for the TV title on this show. But that point can go to many wrestlers on this show, it’s a stacked roster and many felt like they were just turning a wheel. The Giant was a 2 time world champ and he’s wrestling a random American football guy on this. But I’ve just finished listening to the Death of WCW book so that may have swayed my view on this. Saying all that, I did enjoy some of the stuff on this show and was a big fan of the Eddie/Chavo match, I even liked the comedy of Chavo tapping to a handshake so that he was fresh for Eddie.
Michael from Newfoundland.
I’m in the middle of the main event as I type this. I have decided to start my feedback while the main event played due to the fact that it was got less heat than a standard episode of 205 Live. I understand the 1998 logic of having two giant names from the NBA in a match with your top stars to inflate buy-rates but good God the final match was boring. Also they gave it about a half-hour. Who thought that that was a good idea?
Thankfully, the under-card was much better. It was filled with solid matches. Saturn/Raven, Jericho/Rey Msyterio, and Bret/Booker had pretty good matches. Kidman/Juventud also had a stand out match which would have gone over great in today’s nXt. It’s also good to see Henning get a World title shot. I can’t think of another time where he got one.
But God damn, that main event sucked. Although Carl Malone did do a half-decent Diamond Cutter.
Side question: is there any reason why Chris Jericho’s theme music was re-dubbed on the Network? Was his old theme a Jimmy Hart production? It doesn’t really make much sense to replace it other than copyright issues.
Brandon from Oshawa
The main event really could have been shaved down and give some of that time, to some of the solid undercard matches. There was no need for it to go that long. I didnt even bother watching it, but really enjoyed the undercard and wanted more. Kidman/Juvi, Eddie/Chavo, Rey/Jericho & Bret/Booker were all solid. I even liked Disco/Konnan for what it was.
2 Questions…
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With all the guys on this show, that are now in the podcast business, if podcasting is still a thing in 20 years, who on the main WWE roster would you like to have a podcast?
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When I think of Bash at the Beach, I always remember the 95 version, actually being on the beach. WCW did numerous events where they held their shows outside, or cool looking venues and I’m wondering why you guys think WWE doesnt ever do this? Their shows always look the same pretty much, especially in this age where the same set is always used. I thought a couple years ago when they went to Hawaii and I think Brock was on the show, they could have billed it as a Bash at the Beach type event and did something on the beach in Hawaii.
Jordan from KW
Guys I watched this entire PPV and really thought it was a great ppv in the general with an exciting undercard that got me heavily invested in the event. A question why was Malkeno taken out of the match with Jericho and his slot was given to Rey. Was Malkeno injuried at that time?
MJ
The idea of two massive (hall of fame worthy) NBA stars that just played in the NBA finals being on this show - in a match no less - is a testament to how hot WCW was at this time. To put it in modern terms, this is JR Smith and Kevin Durant equivalent to being featured at Summer Slam on Sunday. I can’t imagine the WWE ever attracting names like that for a feud today…though perhaps with the Fox deal we’ll see some NFL crossover.