The 2022 Beach Break was a two-part

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

produced by

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

(AEW). It was the second annual

Beach Break A surf break (also break, shore break, or big wave break) is a permanent (or semi-permanent) obstruction such as a coral reef, rock, shoal, or headland that causes a wave to break, forming a barreling wave or other wave that can be surfed, b ...

and took place on January 26, 2022, at

Wolstein Center The Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center is a 13,610-seat indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU). It is home to the Cleveland State Vikings men's and women's basketball ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. The two-part event was broadcast as special episodes of AEW's weekly television programs, ''

Wednesday Night Dynamite ''AEW Dynamite'', also known as ''Wednesday Night Dynamite'' or simply ''Dynamite'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It airs live every Wednesday at 8 p.m. E ...

'' and ''

Friday Night Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from August 13, 2021, to Dece ...

''. ''Dynamite'' aired

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

on TBS while ''Rampage'' aired on tape delay on

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

on January 28. A Beach Break special was not held in 2023 but returned in July 2024. In the main event of the ''Dynamite'' broadcast,

Orange Cassidy James Cipperly (born May 4, 1984), better known by his ring name Orange Cassidy, is an American professional wrestler and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#school, wrestling trainer. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is ...

defeated

Adam Cole Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989), known by the ring name Adam Cole, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Paragon (professional wrestling), ...

in a

Lights Out match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

, which also saw the AEW debut of Danhausen. The opening bout was a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself become ...

for the

AEW TNT Championship The AEW TNT Championship is a Professional wrestling championship#Gimmick/style championships, men's professional wrestling television championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion Al ...

, in which

interim champion An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing, and in other combat sports such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts. Occasionally, the champion of a particul ...

Sammy Guevara Samuel Guevara (born July 28, 1993) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Sons of Texas and is a record tying three-time former AEW TNT Champion. He also appears in AEW's sist ...

defeated lineal champion

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (born June 30, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As of April 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. He is also known for co-fou ...

to become the undisputed TNT Champion in what was Rhodes' final match in AEW. In the main event of the ''Rampage'' broadcast,

Jurassic Express Jurassic Express was a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus. The team performed in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where they are former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champions. History Prior to signing with AEW ...

( Jungle Boy and

Luchasaurus Austin Matelson (born March 10, 1985), better known by his ring name Luchasaurus, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Killswitch. He is a member of The Patriarch ...

) defeated Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) to retain the

AEW World Tag Team Championship The AEW World Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a standard tag team championship, being contested by teams of two wr ...

Production

Background

In February 2021,

(AEW) held a

titled

, which aired as a special episode of ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

''. The event replaced

Bash at the Beach Bash at the Beach was a yearly professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the company's PPV for the month of July, held from 1994–2000. As the title implied, the show centered on a b ...

as the promotion's midwinter beach-themed event. A second Beach Break was scheduled for late January 2022 to air as a two-part event as special episodes of ''Dynamite'' and ''

Rampage Rampage may refer to: People * Rampage (rapper) (born 1974) * Quinton Jackson (born 1978; nicknamed "Rampage"), American mixed martial artist and actor * Randy Rampage (1960-2018), Canadian musician Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional chara ...

'', thus establishing

as an annual event. It was scheduled to be held on January 26, 2022, at the

. ''Dynamite'' aired

on TBS while ''Rampage'' aired on tape delay on

on January 28.

Storylines

Beach Break featured

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs, ''Dynamite'' and ''Rampage'', the supplementary online streaming shows, ''

Dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

'' and ''

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

'', and

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. , they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whe ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

series ''

Being The Elite The Elite is a villainous professional wrestling stable appearing in the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The group consists of co-leaders The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson), Kazuchika Okad ...

''. During the special Holiday Bash episode of ''

'' on December 25, 2021,

defeated

to become a record three-time

AEW TNT Champion The AEW TNT Championship is a men's professional wrestling television championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established as a secondary title on March 30, 2020, it is named after the TNT televisio ...

. The two were scheduled to have a rematch for the championship at

Battle of the Belts I A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

on January 8, 2022; however, Cody was pulled from the event as he had been in contact with family who had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, thus requiring him to quarantine. Guevara instead faced and defeated Cody's brother

Dustin Rhodes Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes, with a nickname of "The Natural" and is a member of The Sons of ...

at that event to become the

. On the January 19 episode of ''Dynamite'', lineal champion Cody challenged interim champion Guevara to a

at the ''Dynamite'' broadcast of Beach Break to determine the undisputed TNT Champion.

Results

Reception

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...

of the ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...

'' gave the ladder match between Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara a 5 star rating.

Television ratings

Dynamite averaged 1,100,000 television viewers on TBS, with a 0.41 rating in the

key demographic The key demographic or target demographic is a term in commercial broadcasting that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by outlet, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally ...

. Rampage averaged 601,000 television viewers on

, with a 0.25 rating in the key demographic.

References

External links

* {{All Elite Wrestling events, Beach Break

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2020s American television specials 2022 American television episodes 2022 in professional wrestling January 2022 sports events in the United States Professional wrestling shows in Cleveland 2022 in Cleveland