Bash at the Beach? Another great pay-per-view in WCW’s past ruined in 1999. WCW has proven time and time again they can take something that was once great, and sculpt it into their new marketing slogan of "It’s out there." Well if the pay-per-view was out there, please take me there so I can understand some of the results. Anyway, here’s my run down of the card. 

Well in the opening match, we saw Disco Inferno Vs. The Cat in a "Last Dance" match which was hyped for weeks, and then on the spot removed. Ernest Miller decided to turn this one into a "Dance" competition, to I am guessing, waste some time. This match wasn’t too bad but, if WCW bookers are so pleased with The Cat, let him win a match on his own for once! Every match he has, involves outside interference from Sonny Ono, even when he fights a pathetic no name jobber, Ono gets his shots in. They are not helping him get over as a lethal opponent, they’re just dragging him into a corner where he won’t be bale to get out of if they keep this up. I guess the bookers realized if Disco lost, his gimmick is screwed, and if The Cat lost, it would just look bad and basically be pointless. 

Second match of the evening pitted Rick Stiener Vs. Van Hammer for the TV title. Well, it seems WCW doesn’t care about the TV strap anymore, because They got a guy like Stiener who doesn’t seem to be a perfect fit for that title. A lot of people find him annoying as a heel, but I don’t, I think he’d be fine without a title though. Van Hammer has been going through a few gimmicks lately, and it seems WCW finally found a decent one for him with this heavy metal, bad attitude. They push him for like three weeks and then it’s dropped immediately. Why did they even bother giving him a push to the TV title, let him get a few wins over a couple guys and then get him in an angle, you don’t always need a title to get over with the crowd. The TV title should be given to someone who needs it to get over and is willing to put on great matches every show, Saturday Night included, and WCW just doesn’t seem to understand that. 

Next match happened to be the most pointless match of the night, Dean Malenko Vs. David Flair for the US title. First off, everyone has said it before, but I might as well say it again, David Flair belongs no where near a wrestling ring, except for maybe in the crowd. Ric Flair complains about a back injury but takes a bump on the back? Uh, hello? If he truly has a back injury and at his age why in the world is he jumping in and out of the ring. It would have been real nice to see Dean Malenko win the title tonight, but you had to of known some kind of interference would happen. Maybe just maybe, WCW will wake up and give this title the recognition it deserves and give it an appropriate holder like Chris Benoit, or even Buff Bagwell. The puzzler of this match was why is Torrie Wilson back with David Flair? She’s been with Nash for like the pasty couple shows, and even helped confuse Team Madness, and then just shows up with Flair at his match at Bash at the Beach. WCW really needs to start putting more effort into error proofing their angles. 

Next match was the Texas Rednecks Vs. No Limit Soldiers. This angle has been getting a lot of air time in the past weeks, and I must say I like the Rap Is Crap song. Personally I thought this was a pretty slow match since the Texas Rednecks are all fairly large guys, and then the No Limit deal was mostly smaller or average sized guys with the exception of Swoll. The only real high spot in this match was the swan dive like maneuver Rey Jr. performed from the shoulders of the massive Swoll. Now that this angle is gone, what will WCW do with Swoll? They’re paying him four hundred grand a year supposedly, and if that’s about right, they better be pushing him to get their money’s worth. 

Next on the pay-per-view was the Junkyard Invitational. This match really had some potential, but mainly with only two or three of the people involved, when Jimmy Hart went searching for people on Thunder it totally screwed this up. WCW should of tried to get big names or at least names known for hard core matches, not La Parka or Steven Regal. Everyone including me, thought that Hak would just walk away with this one easily, but WCW totally went the opposite way by having Fit Finlay of all people to win. Why Finlay? Not sure what WCW was thinking here again, they must be slowly sliding Finlay into the Hard Core Division. 

Now the best damn match of the evening, The Triad Vs. Benoit and Saturn for the Tag Titles. You may have not liked the stipulation in this one, allowing all three Triad members in the match, but it was very entertaining to see Kanyon and Saturn as well as Benoit and Kanyon work. These three guys truly should be the future of WCW, but honestly, I’d prefer to see the three of them jump ship to either WWF or ECW. Some spots in the match were pretty lame, like the powder in the eyes from Kanyon to Saturn, and the repeated offense misses from DDP to Kanyon. These five guys should be the main events or at least the above average mid carders all the time. It’s pretty depressing to think Benoit hasn’t held a WCW championship, besides the Tag title for along time. 

Next match was Roddy Piper Vs. Buff Bagwell in a 10 round BOXING match. Well what do you know, WCW makes another stipulation, just to screw it up. This was a boxing match. Tell me how in the world did Buff Bagwell win the BOXING match with the blockbuster off the second rope into a pin? By the way, nice count by Mills Lane. At the beginning of the pay-per-view in the count down, they had an interview with Buff where he says he has a BIG surprise guest that will be in his corner. It’s his mom? That’s a big surprise? How much does she get paid to chase Ric Flair around after a match anyway? Couple hundred? Maybe thousand. 

Now, the main event of the evening. Kevin Nash & Sting Vs. Sid and Macho Man. It was distasteful for WCW to even use the Macho abusing Gorgeous George as an set up on Nash. WCW claims WWF I adult oriented and then Savage does this, and they use it? It seems though WCW has to wake up, and understand that even though they do not use the curse words like WWF, that using that as an angle was just as distasteful as anything the WWF has done. This match was pretty good, it was quite humorous to see Gorgeous George go for the low blow, but miss it, and have to attempt the low blow again on Nash. Every time I see Medusa and Miss Madness, around ringside with Savage and Sid, I wish they would just start feuding and put on some good women’s matches. Both have been pretty successful female wrestlers, both traveling the states in many federations such as the LPWA, and both have had small stints in Japan. Medusa has been a female wrestler in WCW and WWF. It would be actually better if they bother split from the WCW scene and headed over to WWF to light the fire for the WWF Women’s division to get going. 

Now the rumors of a WCW hard core division have been running rapid about this subject. But let’s just take a look at the Hard Core Invitational from last night’s pay-per-view. There were only like two real names that are considered Hard Core and that is Hak and Knobbs. So really if  WCW did happen to start up this division, it would really just be packed full with failures that WCW can’t get over, so they decide to throw in this group were your job is to brutally beat your opponent using anything not nailed down. It wouldn’t work, it would be good for awhile, but then these guys would start complaining of injuries and then the WCW would just stop focusing on it. 

Now final topic of the day, last week I started to rant and rave about lame or failure gimmicks, well I got quite a bit of positive feedback on that, so I thought I’d continue along and shoot some more. 

The First one is the Corporate Ministry. Now, the WWF has been focusing on McMahon Vs. Austin for ages now, and every month it seems Vince brings in another story or added interest just to keep the story line going. Well when he revealed himself as the higher power, he became the lead spokes person for the Corporate Ministry. Well it seems now that the WWF doesn’t want Undertaker to take control of his own path. Look how’s it been for him. He may have a bunch of followers, Mideon, Viscera, The Acolytes, but he’s grouped with them basically. The Taker has lost his flare as of late. It was much better in my opinion when he was the reaper of darkness and had no friends or allies except for Paul Bearer. Then McMahon decided to expose the Taker’s past with bring in Kane, and then Kane and him feuded only to team together a couple months later against Austin. Now he’s been tied in with the Ministry and now the Corporate Ministry. I say forget it, just let him go on his own, he’s interesting to hear on the mic, he’s got the ability to be a face or heel, and is pretty agile for his size. Now WWF seems to be reuniting him and his brother Kane, why? Let the Taker go back to his secret character persona, it would just let him be more of a stand alone competitor that doesn’t need people to run in on his matches to save him. Next week, I’ll talk about another gimmick or angle, that I dislike. I think this will become a regular section of the Pain Tolerance column, what do you think? Comments, send them to [email protected] 

Now onto the poll. I got a lot of responses and I’d like to thank everyone who voted. The following are some of the responses from you, the readers. 

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An obvious three choices would be the Mean Street Posse, but since they are so important in getting Test over with the fans, this would be a mistake. Besides they ain’t wrestlers anyway. If you really want to trim the fat, give DROZ and PRINCE ALBERT the boot. I know these guys are young, but Droz hasn’t been over since he's hit the WWF and Prince Albert is a stupid gimmick for a guys who’s got more hair on his back than a chimpanzee. Besides if you compare them to the other young talent in the WWF, such as Edge, Test, Gangrel, the Hardy Boyz, and Meat, they really don’t compare. Id also really like to see CHRISTIAN go because it looks as if he is going to be allied with Edge, and that would be a mistake. Besides being too small, Christian doesn’t have the looks or charisma to be a star. Edge and Gangrel are ready to be superstars know, and they’re definitely leaving Christian in their wake. I really cant think of a fourth guy. I guess if I really had to, I get rid of a guy like VISCERA, who since his return with this ridiculous gimmick, has shown very little in the squared circle, and has been given no time on the mike.  
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If I could cut four wrestlers of the WWF roster, they would be (in no specific order): 
1) Tiger Ali Singh - He doesn't draw too much heat from the crowd, and wasn't he supposed to start a feud with Kurt Angle? That sure didn't come together. 
2) Dr. Death Steve Williams - He has great wrestling skills, being an All-American in college. But he doesn't have what it takes to be in a 'sports entertainment' world like the WWF. 
3) Mideon - How many gimmick changes will the WWF give him before they realize this guy sucks? I still remember all the Phineas Godwinn marks out there hehe. 
4) Blue Meanie - The WWF should let him wrestle his way, like he was when he was really over in ECW, but if not they should just fire him like they should've done the first time when they rehired him (That was a big mistake by the WWF to rehire him) On a side note, while the WWF should trim their roster, they should give some more air time to others, like anyone from Kai-En-Tai because I think those Japanese bastards can really fight. Plus I think the hard core division should really be re-enforced soon. 
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Thanks to everyone who sent theirs in, everyone was mostly stating to fire the same guy, so that is pretty interesting. Now, my choices would have been: The Blue Meanie - I’ve never really liked this guy, he was all right, as Goldust’s side kick, but nothing special. 
Dr. Death Steve Williams - To succeed in the WWF you need mic skills, and I don’t see this guy growing some charisma any time soon. 
Steve Blackman - Same thing really as Williams. Blackman is another decent worker, but just can’t cut it on the mic like it’s needed. 
Joey Abbs - It seems he was hired to put Test over. One problem. Test is already over. This guy has shown nothing special in the ring and needs to be canned. 

Just a small note. A LOT of people said get rid of Medion and Viscera. Well wouldn’t it be nice to see a Mideon-Viscera tag team. Let’s face it. The WWF is low on Tag teams now, and could use a jobbing team like this for the Hardy’s to feud with for awhile. 

Well, that’s it for last week’s poll, now for this week’s poll. "A lot of people say that RVD Vs. Jerry Lynn matches in ECW are five star. Well, now, it’s your turn. Choose two guys from each fed that yu think could put on a five star match for the crowd, for each federation." Just so you don’t get confused or anything, I’m going to give you my choices right now, so you can see what I mean. 
WCW - Chris Benoit Vs. Kanyon. Last night at the pay-per-view, these two in the ring had me staring at the TV without blinking. I didn’t want to miss a second of the action, and I’m hoping I will see Benoit Vs. Kanyon for the World Title maybe some day. 
ECW - Rob Van Dam Vs. Jerry Lynn. The Whole FN Show, and the NEW FN Show, these two have had many’s of battles, but I never get bored watching them. 
WWF - Edge Vs. Chris Jericho. This one had me thinking. Jericho is new, and he is pretty young and so is Edge, so this could be main event match for the WWF title some day at a Wrestlemania maybe. 

Send your choices to [email protected] have a nice night everyone and thanks for reading.