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WCW Bash At The Beach 1996 Is A Weird PPV, Even Without Hulk Hogan's Heel Turn

On July 7, 1996 the wrestling industry changed forever. During The Hostile Takeover match at WCW’s Bash At The Beach Hulk Hogan came down to the cheers of the crowd. Those cheers immediately turned to a chorus of boos and garbage being hurled into the ring when he was revealed to be the third man, aligning with The Outsiders. The nWo was born and the wrestling business was forever changed.Related: 10 Interesting Matches That Happened At WCW Bash At The BeachBut in the hours preceding this moment, the rest of The Bash At The Beach PPV is a very strange series of matches that reeked of well…WCW style of overbooking nearly every match on the card. While the night had some good matches, Hogan’s turn to the dark side is the only reason this event is remembered. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the event should be forgotten.

The Cruiserweights Steal The Show As Per Usual

The PPV started out like many WCW matches did during this era, with hyper fast cruiserweight match between Rey Mysterio and Psicosis. The two pulled off moves that certainly inspired the superstars of today but were then unheard of in America. Later on in the evening, two more Cruiserweights were able to showcase that not all lightweight wrestlers fly - Dean Malenko successfully defended the Crusierweight title by outwrestling Disco Inferno. The latter two’s great wrestling match was only marred by WCW still trying to push Disco as babyface. Glenn Gilberti was able to create a character that was instantly unlikeable, but similar to the Honky Tonk Man years earlier in WWE, for some strange reason the bookers saw big-time babyface, it was interesting to see Disco as a babyface firing it up for the comeback and comically going for the big dance pose before realizing that he should be going for the cover instead.

Did Vince Russo Book This?

Thanks to WCW's love of overbooking nearly every match on the card, events like the 1996 Bash At The Beach can sometimes feel like blueprints for how Vince Russo would eventually book a card. Sandwiched between the two cruiserweight matches were not one, but three big-time gimmick matches. The best of which being the Double Dog Collar brawl between the Nasty Boys and The Public Enemy. Once a staple in several territories, Jim Duggan brought back the taped fist match taking on Diamond Dallas Page, who was still not quite ready for prime time.

Related: 8 Things You Didn't Know About Vince Russo

Despite not taking place in Carson City, there was a Carson City Silver Dollar Match, where a sock full of quarters was hoisted high on a pole that Jimmy Hart had to get down the sock for his man Big Bubba against John Tenta. It's easy to dismiss overbooking and bad booking as a "did Russo book this" joke. But unfortunately, both WCW and WWE were doing some pretty silly and terrible things in the early to mid-nineties and Bash At Beach 1996 for a few matches seemed like a bad Uncensored PPV.

The Horsemen Ride

In the last WCW PPV before the nWo took hold, the preeminent group was a rejuvenated Four Horseman. The group dominated the latter half of the card before the main event. Steve "Mongo" McMichael faced down the challenge of a Joe Gomez, a youngster also trying to make a name for himself. The Dungeon Of Doom were able to defeat Chris Benoit and Arn Anderson. While Woman was busy flirting with Mean Gene, The Nature Boy was primed and ready to take the US title from Konnan. Since this was before the nWo, K-Dawg was the clean-cut babyface pride of Mexico. Konnan fell victim to the constant interference from Miss Elizabeth and Woman and Flair was able to score the victory. The entire night was filled with a little bit of everything and a fun microcosm of how wrestling was at the time and where the business was going.

History Is Made In The Main Event

It all led to the big six-man Hostile Takeover match. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash returned to the company that didn’t believe in their talents when they were there to destroy it. Standing in their way were WCW stalwarts, Sting, Macho Man, and Lex Luger. It wasn’t long before Luger was taken out by The Outsiders.

Related: 10 Wrestlers The Outsiders Had Backstage Heat With

Just when it seemed like Hulk Hogan was going to come out and save WCW from the invading Outsiders, the most popular babyface in the history of the business dropped the big leg on his former friend and became the absolute scourge of the wrestling industry, helping to kick off a WCW boom period that forced WWE to up their game as well. The events at Bash At The Beach 1996 are a good example at how a hot angle and big main event not only could save a show but in the case of WCW turn around an entire territory.

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Gladis Harcrow

Update: 2024-04-26