July 17th
On this day in history in ....
1994 - WCW held their first Bash At The Beach Pay-per-view at the Orlando Arena, in Florida. This show would mark the beginning of a major change in WCW philosophy, as it featured the WCW PPV in-ring debut of Hulk Hogan. This was also the first-ever PPV singles meeting of Hogan and Ric Flair. Their previous singles matches had only been held on WWF house shows. Here are the results of the show:
- In a dark match, Brian (BG James/Road Dogg) & Brad Armstrong defeated Steve Keirn & Bobby Eaton.
- WCW Television Champion Steven (William) Regal defeated Johnny B. Badd when Regal reversed a sunset flip and held the trunks for the pin.
- Antonio Inoki was presented with an award for his contributions to wrestling. Regal briefly confronted Inoki, before backing off.
- Vader, with Harley Race, defeated The Guardian Angel (Big Bossman) via disqualification when the referee caught Angel with a nightstick, even though Race had brought it into the ring, and Angel never actually used it.
- Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck, with Col. Robert Parker & Meng, defeated Dustin Rhodes & Arn Anderson when Funk pinned Rhodes after Arn turned on him and gave him a DDT.
- WCW United States Champion Steve Austin defeated Ricky Steamboat by putting his feet on the ropes for leverage.
- Paul Roma & Paul Orndorff defeated Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan to win the WCW World Tag Team Title when Orndorff pinned Cactus while Roma held Cactus' legs from the outside.
- Hulk Hogan, with Shaquille O'Neil, Jimmy Hart & Mr. T in his corner, defeated Ric Flair, with Sherri Martel, to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Martel was carried off by Mr. T during the match. The bout ended when Hogan "hulked up" after a brass knuckles shot, and delivered a big boot to the face and a legdrop for the win (I know, shocking).
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