Beach Brawl

Beach Brawl
Beach Brawl
Promotion	Universal Wrestling Federation
Date	June 9, 1991
City	Palmetto, Florida
Venue	Manatee Civic Center
Attendance	550
Pay-per-view chronology
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Beach Brawlwas the only liveprofessional wrestling pay-per-viewevent produced byHerb Abrams'Universal Wrestling Federation(UWF). The event took place on June 9, 1991 at theManatee Civic CenterinPalmetto, Florida.

Eightprofessional wrestling matcheswere contested at the event. In themain event,Steve WilliamsdefeatedBam Bam Bigelowto become the inauguralSportsChannel Television Championin the finals of a sixteen-man tournament. The inauguralWomen's World Championwas also crowned at the event asRockin' RobindefeatedCandi Devineto become the inaugural women's champion of the company. The event was widely considered a failure because of its extremely low attendance and pay-per-view buyrate of 0.10.

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view,Boris Zhukovdefeated Paul Samson in adark match.

Preliminary matches

**Other on-screen personnel**
Role	Name
Commentators	Craig DeGeorge
Commentators	Bruno Sammartino
Interviewer	Brian Ricco

The opening match of the event was a tag team match pitting The Blackhearts (Apocalypse andDestruction) againstFire Catand Jim Cooper. Blackhearts performed abearhug and diving leg drop combinationon Cooper for the win whileLuna VachonstrangledFire Cat.

AStreet Fightwas scheduled to take place betweenDon MuracoandTerry Gordybut Muraco suffered an injury andJohnny Acesubstituted for him. The match ended in a double count-out after both men brawled with each other throughout the crowd.

Masked Confusion(Brian BlairandJim Brunzell) took on The Power Twins (Larry and David Power). Near the end of the match, Brunzell tried to perform asunset flipon David but David prevented it by holding the ropes and then Blair performed a sunset flip on David for the win.

Rockin' Robintook onCandi Devinefor the inauguralWomen's World Championship.Near the end of the match, Devine missed a charge at Robin in the corner and Robin rolled up Devine to pin her and win the title.

Paul Orndorfftook onColonel DeBeersin aStrap match.Near the end of the match, DeBeers tried to release himself by getting out of the strap wrangled around his neck by aback body dropbut Orndoff countered that with aspike piledriverfor the win. The match was followed by a Captain Lou's Corner interview segment hosted byCaptain Lou Albanofeaturing The Blackhearts andLuna Vachonas his guests, but Albano said he disliked his guests, dropped the mic and left.

Bob Backlundtook onIvan Koloff.Backlund pinned Koloff with a roll-up for the win after hitting a back body drop to a charging Koloff.

The penultimate match of the event was a tag team match pitting Wet'N'Wild (Steve Ray andSunny Beach) againstCactus JackandBob Orton, Jr.John Toloswas tossed into a shark cage suspended above the ring by Ray and Beach. Near the end of the match, Tolos interfered by throwing brass knuckles from the cage but they knocked out Jack, allowing Ray to pin him for the win.

Main event match

The main event was the final round match of a tournament for the inauguralSportsChannel Television ChampionshipbetweenSteve WilliamsandBam Bam Bigelow.WilliamspowerslammedBigelow to win the match and become the inaugural SportsChannel Television Champion.

Reception

Beach Brawlwas a major failure as it was only able to generate a crowd of 500 people at the 4000-seatManatee Civic Centerwith a low buyrate of 0.10. The event also received negative reviews from critics. Arnold Furious of411Maniagave the event a 5.0 rating out of 10, stating "most of the undercard is relatively inoffensive. I say “relatively” because the UWF was so bad at times that a passable show would be good by their standards. There were some UWF-isms creeping onto show though. The count out in the street fight is an obvious one but there are several completely non-competitive matches and their titles mean nothing. The booking never makes any sense. "^[1]

Adam Nedeff of411Maniagave a rating of 2.5 out of 10, citing "Underwhelming finishes (Tolos in the shark cage), nonsensical booking (Captain's Corner, the street fight, a seven-minute main event, Backlund squashing Koloff), and just-plain-disappointing matches."^[2]

Aftermath

UWF did not produce any other pay-per-view events due toBeach Brawlbeing a massive failure, but they produced a major television special calledBlackjack Brawlin 1994 that served as the promotion's final show.

Results

No.

Results

Stipulations

Times

1^D

Boris Zhukovdefeated Paul Samson

Singles match

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2

The Blackhearts (Apocalypse andDestruction) (withLuna Vachon) defeatedFire Catand Jim Cooper

Tag team match