10 Things You Didn't Know About Bash At The Beach
Hulk Hogan IS 'Mr. Bash at the Beach'.
From 1994-2000, World Championship Wrestling changed one of their summertime events as Beach Blast would be replaced with Bash At The Beach. Over the next seven years, the company would hold seven events under the banner, with some huge moments taking place at the shows that would mould certain pieces of wrestling history as we know it - most notably, the formation of The new World order in 1996.
When the promotion closed its doors in 2001 though, later being purchased by WWE (then WWF), all of its assets were purchased by big Vinnie Mac in the process. With some of the show names being utilised by WWE in recent years, such as Starrcade and Clash Of Champions - yes, it was Clash Of The Champions in WCW, but the point remains - Bash At The Beach was nowhere to be found. Until now, that is.
It's not WWE using the name though, but rather All Elite Wrestling. Cody purchased the rights to use the name for this week's episode of Dynamite, paying homage to his father, seeing as it was Dusty Rhodes who originally created the Bash At The Beach brand. Bash At The Beach events were known for their aesthetic entrance ways, and with AEW already doing the same for their own pay-per-views, expect no different on Wednesday evening.
Before we get to the first Bash At The Beach in 20 years though, here are ten things you perhaps didnt known about the annual summer extravaganza.
10. Slow Decline
When the first Bash At The Beach event occurred in 1994, the attendance was a mighty fine 14,000. That's a decent enough number, but as the years went by, the attendance figures for WCW's annual summer show went on a gradual decline.
By the following year, there were fewer than 10,000 fans live in-person at Bash At The Beach - a decrease of over four thousand. It's worth noting that the second event was held at an actual beach, mind, and unlike '94, didn't promote Hulk Hogan's in-ring debut. It was about as full as could be expected.
Nevertheless, the numbers continued to steadily go down throughout the mid-90s - although a bit of a boost hit in 1998 as they just passed the 10,000 mark again. The final Bash At The Beach held under the WCW banner had just six and a half thousand fans in attendance at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach. Obviously, this was down to a big fat zilch the following year - the company, as predicted by the dwindling attendances, had closed its down.