Beach Brawl was the only live

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- ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

event produced by

Herb Abrams Herbert Charles Abrams (July 9, 1955 – July 23, 1996), also known by the nickname Mr. Electricity, was an American professional wrestling promoter from Queens, New York, who founded the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1990. Early life ...

' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event took place on June 9, 1991 at the Manatee Civic Center in

Palmetto, Florida Palmetto is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was listed as 13,323, up from 12,606 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Sarasota metropolitan area, North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota, Florida ...

. Eight

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 ...

were contested at the event. In the

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

, Steve Williams defeated

Bam Bam Bigelow Scott Charles Bigelow (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Bam Bam Bigelow. Recognizable by his close-to-400-pound frame and the distinctive flame tattoo that spanned mo ...

to become the inaugural SportsChannel Television Champion in the finals of a sixteen-man tournament. The inaugural Women's World Champion was also crowned at the event as Rockin' Robin defeated

Candi Devine Candace Maria Rummel (January 1, 1958 – February 9, 2022) was an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name Candi Devine. She won singles championships in several Professional wrestling promotion, promotions, most notably in ...

to 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 Zhukov defeated Paul Samson in a

dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

Preliminary matches

The opening match of the event was a tag team match pitting The Blackhearts (Apocalypse and

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...

) against Fire Cat and Jim Cooper. Blackhearts performed a bearhug and diving leg drop combination on Cooper for the win while

Luna Vachon Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon (; January 12, 1962 – August 27, 2010) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon.Lisa S. Davis,Ex-wrestler Luna Vachon, 48, found dead", ''Tampa Bay Online'' (August 31, 2010). Over th ...

strangled Fire Cat. A Street Fight was scheduled to take place between

Don Muraco Don Muraco (born September 10, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on ...

and

Terry Gordy Terry Ray Gordy Sr. (April 23, 1961 – July 16, 2001) was an American professional wrestler from Soddy-Daisy, TN. Gordy appeared in the United States with promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Ch ...

but Muraco suffered an injury and

Johnny Ace John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s. He emerged as a prominent figure in postwar R&B an ...

substituted for him. The match ended in a double count-out after both men brawled with each other throughout the crowd. Masked Confusion (

Brian Blair Brian Leslie Blair (born January 12, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer ...

and

Jim Brunzell James Brunzell (born August 13, 1949), best known under the ring name "Jumping" Jim Brunzell, is an American retired professional wrestler known for his successful tag teams, Brunzell performed for various wrestling promotions during his 21-year ...

) took on The Power Twins (Larry and David Power). Near the end of the match, Brunzell tried to perform a sunset flip on David but David prevented it by holding the ropes and then Blair performed a sunset flip on David for the win. Rockin' Robin took on

for the inaugural

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first Women's professional wrestling world championship in the world. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she ...

. 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 Orndorff Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 – July 12, 2021), nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful", was an American professional wrestler and football player, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Champions ...

took on

Colonel DeBeers Edward Wiskoski (January 10, 1945 – January 22, 2025) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances in the American Wrestling Association under the ring name Colonel DeBeers from 1985 to 1990. Early life Wiskos ...

in a

Strap match A strap, sometimes also called strop, is an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of leather or other flexible materials. Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, should ...

. Near the end of the match, DeBeers tried to release himself by getting out of the strap wrangled around his neck by a back body drop but Orndoff countered that with a

spike piledriver A piledriver is a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat. The technique is said to have b ...

for the win. The match was followed by a Captain Lou's Corner interview segment hosted by

Captain Lou Albano Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009) was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1 ...

featuring The Blackhearts and

as his guests, but Albano said he disliked his guests, dropped the mic and left.

Bob Backlund Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American retired amateur wrestling, amateur and Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Fede ...

took on

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "the Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, where he was billed from Russia and, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ...

. 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 Stephen or Steven Ray may refer to: *Steve Ray (rugby league) (1906–?), Welsh rugby player *Steve Ray (golfer), in the 1999 World Cup of Golf *Steve Ray (wrestler), American professional wrestler *Stevie Ray (fighter), Scottish mixed martial arti ...

and

Sunny Beach Sunny Beach ( , ''Slanchev bryag'') is a seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, north of Burgas and south of Varna. Created in 1958 as a weekend getaway for Bulgarian families, Sunny Beach has become the largest tourist and vacati ...

) against Cactus Jack and Bob Orton, Jr.

John Tolos John Tolos, nicknamed "The Golden Greek", (April 5, 1931 – May 28, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler, and professional wrestling manager. Professional wrestling career Tolos was born on April 5, 1931, in Hamilton, Ontario to G ...

was 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 inaugural SportsChannel Television Championship between Steve Williams and

. Williams

powerslam A Powerslam or simply Slam is a professional wrestling Professional wrestling throws#Body slam, body slam move in which the wrestler performing the slam falls face-down on top of the opponent. The use of the term "powerslam" usually refers to th ...

med Bigelow to win the match and become the inaugural SportsChannel Television Champion.

Reception

''Beach Brawl'' was a major failure as it was only able to generate a crowd of 500 people at the 4000-seat Manatee Civic Center with a low buyrate of 0.10. The event also received negative reviews from critics. Arnold Furious of ''411Mania'' gave 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." Adam Nedeff of ''411Mania'' gave 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."

Aftermath

UWF did not produce any other pay-per-view events due to ''Beach Brawl'' being a massive failure, but they produced a major television special called Blackjack Brawl in 1994 that served as the promotion's final show.

Results

SportsChannel Television Championship tournament brackets

The tournament to determine the inaugural SportsChannel Television Champion began on April 7, 1991 and concluded with the tournament final at Beach Brawl. Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Countout; DCO-Double countout; DQ-Disqualification; Ref-Referee's decision

References

External links

UWF Beach Brawl
on Cagematch *

on Pro Wrestling History {{Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams) 1991 in professional wrestling 1991 in sports in Florida Professional wrestling shows in Florida June 1991 in the United States Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams)