[1991-06-09-UWF-Beach Brawl] Steve Williams vs Bam Bam Bigelow

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I loved this match! Stiff, bloody bull fight. Doc shows a level of aggression that I wish he'd show in All Japan when he's content to sit on the mat. And Bigelow looks like a guy who is actually working at his full potential as an athletic superheavyweight for first. I've always liked Bigelow, but I don't think he's ever had this really great performance. This was one of the better ones I've seen from him. This was exactly the match you'd hope to see from these two. It's short, but it didn't need to go any longer than it did.

[Childs]

I love these kinds of matches -- just two big bulls going hard until one of them falls. The blood certainly added something as did the struggle over the big moves. I guess they could have milked a bit more drama out of it with a few extra minutes, but I was quite happy with this.

[shoe]

I thought it played out perfectly for match #1 in a series. This was just a hard hitting battle. The elbows, punches, suplexes all looked great. This was a total battle and I loved every second of it.

[PeteF3]

Screw this Triple Crown shit, the SPORTSCHANNEL TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP is on the line here. It's a hard-hitting slugfest worthy of such a prestigious championship--in fact, having very little exposure to him in ECW and with the Steiners matches in the inner reaches of my memory, I'm hard-pressed to think of a better Bam Bam performance and match. Doc is much more fired-up too, as he gets to work babyface and an underneath babyface at that. I think sometimes Doc needs a Hansen or other big, overbearing personality to push him--or at least he did at this point in his career. This is obviously the artistic high point of Abrams' UWF.

[Kevin Ridge]

What a fight. I’m partial to the Hart/Bam Bam matches but this is one of the better Bigelow singles matches that I can recall. Part of me wanted a few more minutes as the finish kind of surprised me. But with the length of match we got a good brawl with little down time.

[soup23]

Eight minutes of bell to bell hoss matches. Both worked hard and used blood and huge power moves to put over the urgency that the match could end at any time.

[garretta]

This was probably a better match than the Abrams UWF deserved, as both men went their hardest from bell to bell despite the small crowd and just as small pay-per-view audience. The blood was a great touch, and only reminds us of how sterile every American promotion outside of Memphis has become. Doc somehow survives a top rope splash from the Bammer, then hits something that's about as close as you'll ever get to the Oklahoma Stampede on someone Bigelow's size for the three count and the title.

 

The one downside to the match was Abrams' involvement. Did the match really have to start with Bigelow shoving him around? Did he have to present the belt in the first place? You have guys like Bruno and Captain Lou on your payroll, Herb. That kind of stuff should be their function, not yours. Of course, Bruno was the only good thing about the announcing, so maybe it's best that he didn't present the belt. Craig Minervini/DeGeorge hit his peak in the wrestling business reading off of a teleprompter in a WWF studio back about four years before this; everything else he's tried in wrestling, from podium interviews to color commentary to play-by-play, he's totally stank at. In this match, he can barely call a simple slam without being prompted by Bruno, who won't exactly make anyone forget Gordon Solie either.

 

How was Doc a heel fighting Orndorff just a few weeks before, then a total babyface in this match with no explanation whatsoever? I guess Herb figured that he was the lesser of two evils. By the way, does anyone know if any of the tournament matches mentioned in the opening actually took place? The names are most of the ones we saw around this promotion all the way back in December, but I'm wondering if Japan stalwarts like Gordy (and Doc too, for that matter) would have taken time out of their busy and lucrative schedules overseas for anything less than a pay-per-view payday such as this card.

 

Yet another title for title challenge, as Abrams challenges every World champion in the sport to come and face Doc. I know this kind of stuff was beyond guys like Flair and Hogan, but Doc might have been a interesting challenge for Lawler if Abrams would have agreed to work with the USWA. Don't ask me why, but I could even see him acting as the mouthpiece for Doc in a scenario like this, since Doc's still pretty brutal on the mic, as we saw after this match.

[JKWebb]

Well, this was awesome. I had a blast watching this, and I agree Bam Bam was great in this. The only thing I didn't like was how quickly Williams recovered from the top rope splash. It didn't bother me he kicked out, but he pretty much bounced right up from it (instead of them letting the kick out sink in for a minute, selling it, and letting the crowd soak in what he had just accomplished). But, don't get me wrong, I thought this was super fun. As far as favorite Bam Bam match/performance, for those interested (or those that have not seen it), my personal favorite is vs. Jerry Lawler 09/07/1986. It's worth seeking out for sure. Oh yeah, & I loved hearing Bruno on commentary.

[dawho5]

Great battle between two bulls. Williams really makes Bam Bam look like a monster and Bam Bam makes you believe it just as much.

[cactus]

Fun little hoss fight. Both guys draw blood, but Williams' crimson mask is obscured by his glorious mullet. Herb Abram's UWF almost looks like a decent promotion from this clip.

★★★