[2000-07-09-WCW-Bash at the Beach] Mike Awesome vs Scott Steiner

[soup23]

Shockingly, this is my match of the night. They did the best job of conveying the crowd brawling as two hosses going after each other. The finish was predictably awful but Steiner has a aura to him that helps hide his physical limitations and Awesome is again much better in the gatekeeper/monster role that can go toe to toe than the king bully bullshit he was doing in ECW. This show was pretty putrid up to this point especially with the hardcore title/ wedding gown and never ending Perfect Event tag match. This helped kick the crowd back into gear for the finishing stretch. *** (5.9)

[DMJ]

Wholeheartedly agree. This match is a bit of a hidden gem if you like seeing two guys just beat the hell out of each other. It kind of helps a little bit that both guys have somewhat questionable reputations so its not like you can feel that bad seeing Awesome slam the back of Steiner's head into the guardrail and take no precautions doing so. Ditto for that ridiculous splash at the beginning or the 6'1 Steiner trying to hit the 6'6 Awesome with a half-nelson/t-bone suplex and getting little to no elevation on it. I wonder if there was any beef between these two after or if there was a mutual respect or if they both just no-sold the fact that there are moments here when the minimal damage was probably a mild concussion.

Watching this match also made me think about just how important a credible commentary team is in getting a match and a promotion over. By this point, WCW could've been putting on the best wrestling on the planet up-and-down the card, but the commentary team was so worthless that it wouldn't have mattered. Madden, Schiavone, and Hudson try to sell the brutality, but after overselling the merits of the KroNik/Perfect Event match, the cartoonish violence of the Hardcore Title match, and the entertainment value of the Wedding Gown match (not to mention the months and months of other shit that they had to provide commentary for), it makes this seem like "just another wild WCW match" when it is light years more physical and stiff than anything else on the show. Too bad the commentators paint it with the same colors and Russo ended it with the same screwy finish as most everything else on the broadcast.

[Migs]

It's been really interesting to dive into Awesome's WCW stuff and see the older guys working hard with him and having fun matches. All sorts of crazy stuff here (that belly to belly superplex, holy shit) with neither guy giving a care and just going for it. Impossibly terrible finish.