Overrated

Disturbing yet enthralling

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

1st Match: Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis. An absolute fantastic start to a show, I think the last time I saw an opener this good was Wrestlemania X. Great lucha style action, fast-paced, both guys get great offense, and the crowd is on their feet the whole time. The final move in this match is breathtaking, with Mysterio countering a top rope powerbomb into a hurricanrana! Please tell me WCW has more fantastic matches like this in their future! Rating: 5/52nd Match: John Tenta vs Big Bossman, Sack of Silver Dollars on a Pole match. Wish I was making this stipulation up, but I'm not. The match isn't bad, I've seen worse matches from these two, but the gimmick does add a little bit to the match. Sometimes the best way to hide someone's limitations is to put them in a match with no rules. Tenta wins, cool I guess, he'd be gone shortly after this, I'd say the best part of the match is Jimmy Hart climbing the pole and getting pushed off. Rating: 3/53rd Match: DDP vs Jim Duggan, Taped Fist match. Don't worry about the gimmick for this match, it adds nothing. It's OK for being less than 6 minutes, but I'm getting real tired of Duggan's matches, put DDP in an actual feud again, then maybe you'll have something worth talking about. Rating: 3/54th Match: The Nasty Boys vs Public Enemy, Double Dog Collar match. You'd think putting these 2 teams in a match with no rules would be great, but it's just average. There are some funny spots, and some cool ones, but the ending is super sloppy. They try twice to break a table, both times fail, so they just kind of make up the ending on the spot. An average match that could've been way better. Rating: 3/55th Match: Disco Inferno vs Dean Malenko, WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Malenko is really impressing me with his matches, I like his mix of mat wrestling and high-flying. Disco Inferno takes a good beating here, and comes pretty close to winning on a few occasions. A good way to showcase the division as more than just guys like Mysterio. Rating: 4/56th Match: Steve McMichael vs Joe Gomez. If you're wondering who Joe Gomez is, so am I. My guess is that this was going to be a squash, but Gomez puts up some pretty good offense. It's nothing to really write home about, but it's alright for being a cooldown match. Rating: 3.5/57th Match: Konnan vs Ric Flair, WCW US Heavyweight Championship. Another above average match, Flair and Konnan work well together, and the crowd's into it. The main problem with the match is the constant interference. I get heels cheating to win, but Flair seems to do it more than anyone else. He's able to hold his own for the most part though, so it doesn't take away that much. Rating: 3.5/58th Match: Kevin Sullivan and Big Show vs Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit. An OK tag match, but the ending is super confusing. Anderson gets tagged in, only for Benoit and Sullivan to brawl away from the ring and let Big Show get an easy win. Maybe it looked better on paper, but watching it happen is really awkward. After the match, Benoit continues to wail on Sullivan, and Woman (aka Benoit's wife Nancy) comes out to stop him. Maybe this'll lead to something in the future. Rating: 3/59th Match: The Outsiders vs Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage, 2-on-3 Handicap match. Hall and Nash come out without the third man, saying they don't need him yet. Great booking, because now the crowd's watching the entrance the whole match waiting for whoever it is to come out. Luger gets KO'd in the first minute, then gets stretchered out, more great booking, now the odds are even. Both teams get good shots in, but you can just feel the tension rise until Nash hits a low blow on Savage. Hulk Hogan walks out to a thunderous ovation, surely he can help swing the odds in WCW's favor. Then he leg drops Savage, and the third man is revealed. The commentators are disgusted, they cut to Mean Gene who questions Hogan while the ring fills with trash from the betrayed fans. Hogan cuts a brutal promo about how he's sick of the fans who turned on him, and how the newly-founded NWO will take over and destroy everything in their path. Mean Gene cuts back to Schiavone who utters the famous line, "Hulk Hogan you can go to Hell!". The broadcast then cuts off. I rarely go so in-depth with a match synopsis, but this is booked so well, I just had to. The match itself is good, 4 out of 5 territory, but the booking, and surprise of Hogan's betrayal, takes it to another level. Rating: 4.5/5Final Rating: 7 out of 10. While mostly remembered for the formation of the NWO, the rest of the show is also pretty good. Even the matches that are just OK, are at least short, or have something entertaining to them.R.I.P. Chris Benoit

(01.07.96)Live from Daytona Beach, FLAttendance: 8,300Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes & Bobby HeenanPsychosis Vs Rey Mysterio Jr.Mysterio wins with a frankensteiner from the top after countering a splash mountain in mid-air. This is honestly one of the best openers you will ever see. They pulled out move after move, high risk after high risk. Almost everything but the kitchen sink is in this match. Those that appreciate the Lucha Libre style will adore this match. Before Mysterio had to deal with injuries, he was ridiculously agile. ****1/4Big Bubba (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs John TentaSock on a Pole MatchOn top of the pole is a sock loaded with silver dollars, because WCW hasn't embarrassed themselves enough yet with these types of stipulations. Jimmy Hart grabs the sock full of dollars, but Tenta is waiting for him. Tenta drills Bubba with the sock and gets the win. This wasn't the atrocity I expected, but it was still pretty awful and utterly pointless. Bubba's (The Big Bossman) stock was going way downhill.3/4*Taped Fist Match (Lord of the Ring)Diamond Dallas Paige Vs "Hacksaw" Jim DugganDDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. Duggan drills DDP after the match with the taped fist. This match was borderline crappy! What angered me is that Duggan barely souled the Diamond Cutter! He shrugged it off pretty quickly.*1/4Dog Collar MatchPublic Enemy Vs The Nasty BoysThe Nasty Boys win. This was a LONG, boring match that I just wasn't able to get into. They used every weapon they could think of, including surfboards and chains, I just wasn't that excited about it. Every match with these guys seems to be the same.*1/2Cruiserweight ChampionshipDean Malenko (C) Vs Disco InfernoDean wins with the Texas Cloverleaf. This is a shockingly fun match! I could never take Disco seriously, because of his gimmick, but he came to play here. Disco was actually presented as a threat here and the two managed some good wrestling. ***1/4Joe Gomez Vs Steve McMichael (W/Debra)McMichael wins with a tombstone. I've never seen McMichael in action as a football player. However, I can't stand him as an announcer or a wrestler. The fact that he was a Horesmen member is a joke. The match was mediocre as you may expect.*1/2United States ChampionshipKonnan (C) Vs Ric Flair (W/Miss Elizabeth & Woman)Flair wins the title due to outside interference from Woman. This match was above average, if nothing else. I didn't see the need for all the cheating that Flair did against somebody like Konnan, though.**3/4Chris Beniot & Arn Anderson Vs The Giant & Kevin Sullivan (W/Jimmy Hart)The Giant pins Anderson with a chokeslam after Beniot and Sullivan brawl around ringside. Beniot continues to beat on Sullivan until Woman runs down to the ring and pleads with Beniot to stop. This one was pretty mediocre. It felt like a pretty unimportant grudge match. Woman trying to stop Beniot would lead to a long feud with Sullivan with Woman being involved. Woman was married to Sullivan in real life. *1/2The Outsiders & Mystery Partner Vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Lex Luger & Sting The 3rd man is NOT revealed at the start of this match. Luger gets knocked out inadvertently by his own teammate and has to be stretechered out. It turns into a 2 on 2 match. Hulk Hogan comes down to be everybody's hero as usual, right? WRONG! He drops the leg on Randy Savage. Hogan has betrayed WCW. He is the third man. Because there is a word limit, I can't write Hogan's amazing promo, but I do have some thoughts on it. Thoughts: Every time I watch this, I get chills. This changed wrestling forever. It officially made people interested in wrestling again with the formation of the NWO. Hogan is one of the biggest three babyfaces of all time, along with Stone Cold & The Rock. Ironically enough, though, he thrived more as a heel. A Hulk Hogan heel turn was the last thing anything expected. In all honesty, it was a long time coming. The crowd had booed Hogan heavily since 94. It's the greatest heel turn in wrestling history. All you need to do is look at all the trash that was thrown inside the ring. The mat is almost covered in debris! ***8/10 overall

1. Psychosis Vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr. - Incredible match, they are Kings of wrestling and I'll never get, why was Psychosis so underrated. The final move was breathtaking!! 10/10 2. Big Stiffa Vs. John Tenta - I cannot believe this feud wasn't over yet after 2 months. Horrible Big Bubba, Horrible match, horrible booking. At Least Tenta's got a victory. 5.5/10 3. Diamond Dallas Page Vs. "Insult" Jim Duggan - I don't like comedy matches with Duggan. Positive is that Page defeated him by bad Diamond cutter. Duggan even can't sold that move. Nothing special occurred. 6/10 4. Public Enemy Vs. Nasty Boys - Brawling with some stuff. Like always. Adittionaly, boring like hell. 5.5/10 5. WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Disco Inferno Vs. Champ-Dean Malenko - Now that was a good match. Malenko retained. 8.5/10 6. Joe Gomez Vs. Steve McMichael - What's that doing on PPV, I simply can't get. - Push for MONGO. Trololo. No way. 5.5/10 7. WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Champ-Konnan Vs. Ric Flair - OK Match with Nature boy's victory. 6.5/108. Chris Benoit/Arn Anderson Vs. Kevin Sullivan/Giant 6/10 9. Sting/Lex Luger/Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash/Razor Ramon - Average match, legendary moment. Hulk turned heel, NWO was born. I give for great booking work. 10/10

Six years after this event took place I still remember the shocking heel turn by veteran babyface Hulk Hogan.The matches on this event are fantastic but they were all overshadowed by the events in the last match.(SPOILERS AHEAD) Several weeks previous to this event, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (The Outsiders) had returned to WCW saying they were going to take over. They claimed to have a surprise partner who would join them at Bash at the Beach '96.At this actual event the good guys were Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage who were to face The Outsiders and the mystery opponent. The good guys were taking a beating towards the end when WCW's greatest hero Hulk Hogan made his way down to the ring. Like everyone at the time, I assumed Hogan was coming to help. He jumped in the ring and the Outsiders dashed to the floor. Then-in the most shocking heel turn in wrestling history-Hogan legdropped his friend Randy Savage and turned heel before joining up with the Outsiders to verbally trash WCW.It was powerful stuff. Nowadays in wrestling the competitors turn from good to bad almost on a weekly basis. Back in 1996 heel turns were quite infrequent. Furthermore, Hogan had been a good guy since the early 1980's and he was extremely popular up until this event so when he turned bad it was a shock to the wrestling fans. It was like watching Superman turn bad.All in all, it was a great card and whilst the Hogan turn overshadowed things the rest of the card had some great matches on.