On This Day: April 3, 1999 – Cyberslam 1999: Catering to the Internet? That Could Never Work

Cyberslam 1999
Date: April 3, 1999
Location: ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 1,200
Commentator: Joey Styles

 

It’s another internet convention show which is really just a glorified house show. The main event is a six man steel cage match called Ultimate Jeopardy which is more or less ECW’s version of WarGames. It’s hard to describe until we get there but it’s a different idea to be sure. Other than that there isn’t much because this isn’t a particularly huge show. Let’s get to it.

 

The intro (a much faster version of it) hits within the first minute. That’s a bit of an improvement over it hitting after an hour last year.

 

Jerry Lynn vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri

 

Tajiri is a face here and just some new young guy. Not quite the Japanese Buzzsaw yet. Lynn is rapidly shooting up the ranks and is either about to feud with RVD or already has started. They hit the mat very quickly but neither can get any advantage so it’s a standoff. Jerry grabs a leg lock and Tajiri can’t roll through it. He escapes though and shifts to a hold of his own, in this case a bow and arrow.

 

It’s another standoff as the fans cheer. Lynn grabs an inverted Gory Special but the Japanese guy escapes the Mexican hold by the American and they speed things up again. Lynn sends him to the floor and nails a decent dive off the top. Back inside and Tajiri puts on an Octopus Hold and then the Tarantula. Nice back and forth stuff so far here.

 

There’s the handspring elbow and they go outside again. Lynn gets suplexed over the railing and Tajiri busts out a picture perfect Asai Moonsault to take Lynn out again. Back in and the future Buzzsaw gets caught in an inverted DDT for two. Tajiri fires off a kick and Lynn is all like BRING IT ON and so Tajiri kicks him in the chest and Lynn is all like ME FALL DOWN NOW.

 

Lynn gets a dropkick into the corner and fires off some overhand chops to take over. Tajiri escapes something out of the corner and fires off chops of his own. Lynn goes into the Tree of Woe for the baseball slide for two. They go to the corner where Lynn comes out with a running powerbomb for two. Tajiri dropkicks the knee and La Majistral gets two. And never mind as Lynn hits the Cradle Piledriver for the quick pin. Ending came totally out of nowhere.

 

Rating: B. This was a nice back and forth match to make the whole thing look good. Apparently Lynn was debuting the piledriver here. Very fun match although the lack of selling got old fast. Still though, the ECW fans will let you know when there’s a good match going on and this was one of those occasions. For once they were right.

 

Here are Lance Storm and the too hot to be human Dawn Marie. Storm is in WCW Monday Night Jericho shirt. This was during the time where Jericho was being totally wasted in WCW and used in pointless comedy matches and never moving up the card at all. Storm says this is about Tommy Dreamer, not Jericho. Dreamer has been claiming that Storm is on the gas (steroids).

 

The fans chant HAPPY BIRTHDAY, totally missing the point of the segment. Storm says that he gets his integrity from training in the Dungeon in Calgary, not from a vial. Storm says he’s the best build professional athlete this side of a negative drug test. Dawn pulls out a bottle of Storm’s urine. Ok then. He wants Dreamer to provide a sample of his own. If you don’t know where this segment ends, you have no right to be reading this.

 

Dreamer comes out and Joey is mad at him for it. Cyrus comes out and distracts Dreamer and Storm jumps him. Dreamer fights back and manages to get a DDT to take Storm out. And of course the urine winds up on Storm’s unconscious face. Well this was totally pointless.

 

Rod Price vs. Nova

 

Nova is more famous as Simon Dean. Price is a big muscle guy that looks about 55 years old. Price gets taken down quickly but takes over with basic power. Snap suplex puts Nova down and Price hammers away for awhile. Nova goes to the middle rope and hits a clothesline but can’t get much going overall.

 

Skull Von Crush (Big Vito), who is Price’s partner, comes out to hammer on Nova a bit as well. Nova’s partner Chris Chetti comes out for the save and it’s a double brawl. Nova hits a baseball slide to Price and then the good guys fire off a pair of dives. The Tidal Wave (splash/top rope legdrop off the same corner) pins Price. Big mess but I like the Tidal Wave so this was fine.

 

Price and Crush fight post match with Price beating him down. Scratch that as Crush gets a DDT to leave Price laying.

 

El Mosco vs. Super Crazy

 

A handful (and I mean like 4 people) might know Mosco as X-Fly from Los Perros Del Mal and AAA in Mexico. Both guys are really young here and Mosco is in a mask. Mosco sends Crazy to the floor and teases a dive but stays in the ring instead. They go into one of those cool looking yet very choreographed lucha libre sequences that takes like 40 seconds to go through and results in exchanged armdrags and a standoff.

 

Mosco misses a dropkick in the corner so of course the fans have to tell him he messed up. Crazy goes to the floor and Mosco dives on him in a not that great looking move. Crazy makes up for it by busting out the Crazy Special , which is a big springboard moonsault to Mosco who is in the first row. Back in a middle rope moonsault gets two. Another gets the same count.

 

Crazy fires off ten punches in the corner. Mosco is now Crazy’s archnemesis despite this being his ECW/American debut. Slingshot hilo by Mosco to the floor and both guys are down. Rana off the top gets two. Makes sense as it was a bit sloppy. Crazy goes to the floor again and launches Mosco into the crowd again. There’s another moonsault to put Mosco down in the crowd one more time.

 

Back in the ring and Mosco throws on some kind of arm trap neck hold which is hard to describe. And we’ve lost Joey. Both guys get victory rolls for two and they speed things up for a few seconds, only for Mosco to get a clothesline to take Crazy down. Mosco hits some kind of spinning 450 for two. Mosco slams crazy off the top but misses a moonsault. Powerbomb gets two for Crazy. He wastes time though and gets caught in a sunset flip off the top. Crazy takes him down again and a frog splash ends this.

 

Rating: B-. Pretty much just random lucha libre here but it was entertaining enough. I don’t know much of X-Fly but he’s getting a huge push in Mexico at the moment so there must be something to him. Crazy would get a bigger role about a year later, becoming TV Champion which he would lose to Rhyno.

 

Taka Michinoku vs. Papa Chulo

 

Chulo is more famous as Essa Rios. The fans chant welcome back to Taka. This goes very fast right from the beginning with Taka sending Chulo to the floor and hitting a big dive to take him down. Back in and a seated dropkick hits Chulo. Modified half crab goes on and it’s time for chops. Chulo does one of those Sin Cara style moves that looks great but the spins and flips really add nothing to the wrist drag.

 

Chulo goes up and misses a 450. He manages to crotch Taka though and a rana gets two. Taka grabs a tornado DDT for two with the kneeling cover. Chulo backdrops him to the floor but his dive gets broken up. Taka jumps into a dropkick but the Mexican can’t hit the Japanese with a German. A second tornado DDT is blocked and Papi hits a missile dropkick to send Taka to the floor for a big somersault dive to the floor.

 

The fans have switched sides over to Papi now. If he has Lita with him I’d be behind him too. Suplex back in doesn’t work but Taka can’t suplex him back out either. Taka is crotched again but manages a springboard missile dropkick to the back of the head. Michinoku Driver doesn’t work and neither does a moonsault. Chulo tries a powerbomb which is reversed into a powerbomb by Taka. He sets for a reverse suplex but drops him down into the Driver for the pin.

 

Rating: C. Not much here and after the previous match this was a little repetitive. Chulo would get a lot more famous with that fire redhead he picked up in the WWF. Pretty much a nothing match though as it only was there for a few minutes. Taka would be back in the WWF soon enough.

 

TV Title: Rob Van Dam vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

 

Should be good. RVD is also a tag champion here. A big anti-Vince chant starts up and we’re ready to go. They shake hands and we have no Joey again. Standoff to start and Van Dam does his pointing thing. They start with some technical stuff and RVD has a slight advantage early on. Just feeling each other out here. Quick spinning leg drop by Rob is the first real offensive move of the match but it doesn’t do anything.

 

The fans chant that Scorpio has lost weight. Is there anything they won’t cheer for? Hey there’s Joey again. Rob takes him down again and stops to pose. Scorpio gets a butterfly suplex to take over. RVD gets all mad for some reason and pounds away on Scorpio, beating him down in the corner. Both try spin kicks but only Rob’s hits. Scorpio takes over again and signals for the 450.

 

It’s way too early for that though so he picks Van Dam up and DDTs him instead. Double springboard moonsault gets two. NICE superkick sends Van Dam down. Modified Jackhammer gets two. Scorpio chops away and Van Dam tries a spin kick. It totally misses and thankfully Scorpio doesn’t move. Out to the floor and Rob hits a huge dive into the crowd. The man can jump with the best of them.

 

Back in a slingshot legdrop gets two for the champ. There’s Rolling Thunder for two. Does Fonzie ever shut up? Rob tries one of his flips into the corner but he gets caught in a German. Somersault legdrop gets two for Scorpio. Something similar to Shock Treatment sets up a top rope splash for two. Back to the floor we go and it’s table time. What appeared to be a bicycle kick puts Van Dam down and Scorpio puts him on the table.

 

It’s bridged between the ring and the railing as I’m sure you’ve seen before. Van Dam avoids the dive but Scorpio puts the brakes on. Clothesline puts RVD down and 2 Cold grabs a chair. Back inside now and the fans aren’t thrilled with Rob protecting himself from the chair shot. Scorpio puts the chair on RVD’s face and drops a top rope leg on it from the top.

 

Here’s Sabu, the partner of Van Dam. He jumps Scorpio and puts him on the table. They hate each other so a double jump Air Sabu puts Scorpio through the table. Fonzie is all ticked off at his client (Sabu) for risking injury like that. Oh please there wasn’t even any fire involved. This is mild for Sabu. Back in the ring they speed it up a bit and Scorpio gets a powerbomb for tow. Fonzie shoves Scorpio off the top and there’s the Van Daminator. Five Star ends this.

 

Rating: B. I liked this one quite a bit. Scorpio is one of the better guys in the ring and this was no exception to that. Van Dam was rather good at this point and it showed here. He and Lynn were in the middle of their feud at this point but I liked this better than most of their matches. Solid match where they kept the violence down and it didn’t get distracting, which is a huge perk.

 

They shake hands post match.

 

ECW World Title: Chris Candido vs. Taz

 

These two fought countless times in title matches so at least they know each other really well. Candido has Sunny in a bikini and a see-thru robe on. I can work with this. Also he has some unrecognizable guy you may have heard of named Steve Corino. He’s so young here it’s unreal. Candido says he’s never tapped out to anything and he’s not doing it here to Taz. Candido offers to make it falls count anywhere and Taz accepts.

 

Candido chops away and gets punched for his troubles. Out to the floor they go and Taz is in the crowd. Big dive into what might have been a clothesline takes Taz down and they go back to ringside. Uh scratch that as they’re in the crowd again. They brawl around for a bit with Taz mainly in control. Dang it as soon as I write that Candido takes over again. That gets really annoying.

 

They’re in the crowd for the third time in about five minutes. They fight past the fans into what looks like a merchandise stand. Thankfully the camera switches so you can see. Tazplex gets two. It’s very helpful that this is falls count anywhere because it keeps these parts from being pointless padding. Candido drops an elbow for two. They head back to the ring to a welcome back chant.

 

Delayed vertical suplex gets no cover for Chris. Diving headbutt gets a delayed cover for two. The fans want to see Sunny’s chest and I can’t blame them. She and Francine need to just flash the crowd and get it over with. Wheelbarrow suplex by Taz puts Candido down but Candido gets something resembling a slingshot belly to back suplex for two. Taz gets a big sitout powerbomb but can’t cover.

 

There’s a release Tazplex and the champion is in control again. And of course as soon as I say that a thumb to the eye sets up a Candido powerbomb for no cover again. Candido sets for the Blonde Bombshell (top rope powerbomb) but Taz counters into a head and arms super Tazplex. Candido pops up and grabs a chain which he blasts Taz with for two.

 

It’s Table Time and Taz is mostly back up. They slug it out somewhat which Candido wins with a thumb to the eye. Taz grabs a Tazmission but suplexes Candido through the table with it instead of going for the submission. The bell rings for no apparent reason and apparently Candido has hurt his neck.

 

Rating: C+. Pretty decent main event style brawl here as these two had some chemistry at times. The selling became an issue again here as a big move would hit and then they would be up five seconds later. Nothing great but for what it was this was totally fine. Taz would lose the title a few months later.

 

The crowd yells at Taz post match so Taz goes out and puts the Tazmission on Candido. Since the fans in ECW are freaking crazy, they cheer for the assault on a guy that might have a broken neck.

 

Shane Douglas vs. Justin Credible

 

Shane curses a lot at Justin before we get going. This is one of Shane’s very last matches in ECW as he would head to WCW for good in just a few weeks. They chop it out but Shane gets some rolling vertical suplexes. This was before Three Amigos and possibly before Rolling Germans (although I don’t think so on that one). Goardbuster and a rolling neck snap to Justin.

 

Justin fires off some chops in the corner but Shane fires back. Out to the floor we go which has been a running theme tonight. It’s table time again as Shane sets one up in the ring. Jason and some chick that has no name yet (Jazz) help Justin back in because the best thing to do to your buddy is to throw him into the ring where a guy that wants to kill him has a weapon.

 

Shane goes up but Jazz helps Justin put him through the table. They chop it out in the corner again but Justin gets a superkick to put him down. Middle rope elbow gets two and we hit the chinlock. Shane fights up and gets a sunset flip, only to get taken down by a clothesline. Out to the floor again and Shane goes into the post, busting him way open.

 

The fans are totally behind Shane here but a low blow stops his comeback cold. Back to a chinlock which Justin puts no crank on at all. Here’s another table, this time in the corner. Wrestling law #1 comes into play as Justin goes into it since he set it up. That only gets two so Shane puts the Figure Four on because he hates Ric Flair so much. Jazz comes in and it’s catfight time with Francine.

 

Both guys grabs canes and they have a duel. Shane gets some kind of kick to put Justin down. Here’s Jason who has a broken neck. Francine spears him down and Shane puts a full nelson on him. It leaves him open to a superkick from Justin though which gets two. Thesz Press puts Justin down and they speed things up a lot. Justin grabs a Stunner of all things to put Shane down. Justin goes up but jumps into an atomic drop and the Pittsburgh Plunge (Fisherman’s DDT with a cradle) ends this.

 

Rating: C-. Neither guy has ever really done much of anything for me. It’s not a horrible match but it dragged on a good bit at various times. Shane would be gone in about two weeks after beating Justin a few more times so this was kind of meaningless in a sense. Either way, not bad, but Justin and Shane are rather dull in the ring most of the time and are better suited on the mic.

 

Post match Storm comes out for the double beatdown and Shane takes a caining. Dreamer comes in for the save but gets in a single trashcan shot before going down also. The fans want Sid but he never shows up and the Impact Players stand tall.

 

Time for the main event so the Dudleys do their big long intro outside the cage. Bubba says there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that they’re here. The bad news is that New Jack isn’t going to be here because he changed his mind like 40 minutes ago. Time for some Gertner but Bubba cuts him off because he wants to fight.

 

Dudley Boys/Mustapha Saed vs. Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten/New Jack

 

There’s no New Jack at this point so it’s a handicap match to start. We stall a lot before the match starts as the fans want the Great Saske to replace New Jack. It would certainly be an upgrade. Actually this is a concept called Ultimate Jeopardy (not that ECW bothered to tell us this or anything) so it’s ECW’s WarGames, meaning Balls vs. D-Von starts us off.

 

Joey really likes using that cabbage in a coleslaw line. D-Von goes into the cage a few times and a superkick puts him down. All Mahoney so far as he goes up top and hits a splash. The countdown begins and here’s Bubba. You can win by pin or submission but not until everyone is in the ring. Balls hammers away and hits a low blow to keep Bubba in the corner but a bleeding D-Von gets some shots in.

 

Balls manages to fight them both off for awhile at least. Bubba manages to grabs a Rock Bottom (called a Urana-che by Joey) and the beating begins. The not yet a Bully messes up and hits D-Von with something metal as Axl comes in to tie this up. D-Von is covered in blood. Lots of metal in play now and Axl carves up D-Von’s head with a pair of scissors. Well isn’t that gruesome?

 

Mustapha comes in now and it’s 3-2. He’s New Jack’s old partner so that would be your explanation for why he’s in here. The heels are dominating here as we’re waiting on New Jack or someone to make the save. D-Von’s blood is everywhere. Bubba manages to hit his backsplash onto Balls. Mustapha uses barbed wire on Axl. There’s the final count down (duh nuh nuh duh duh) and New Jack is here all along. Apparently it was a mind game to mess with the Dudleys. That makes sense so I’ll let it go.

 

New Jack’s music of course plays through the rest of the match. It’s big comeback time as the Dudleys take a huge beating as does Saed. Bubba and Axl have been bleeding for awhile. Joey says everyone is busted so that covers the rest of them. Scratch that as New jack isn’t bleeding which makes more sense. Rotten busts out thumbtacks but D-Von avoids the suplex and puts Axl into them.

 

Everything slows down as it is known to do in matches such as this one. New Jack takes a guitar shot to the head but Balls goes one up on that as he blows a fireball into the face of Joey. Not that it matters though as he turns around and walks into a Dudley Death Drop (more commonly known as 3D) for the pin. The music cutting off really quickly made me chuckle for some reason.

 

Rating: C+. This was supposed to be about violence and keeping them trapped in a small place so I can’t complain much here. These matches are supposed to be extreme and that’s what this came out to be. No stips or anything here as this was just a big fight and to my own surprise, I kind of liked it.

 

Post match the Dudleys bail and the losers beat the tar out of Mustapha, including a huge dive off the top of the cage by New Jack through a table.

 

Overall Rating: B-. Believe it or not I kind of liked this show. They kept the violence and insanity down a lot and we got some decent matches out of them. Taz was still relatively fresh as the world champion and hadn’t destroyed the entire roster yet so there were still challengers to him. Not a great show or anything but the two hour format worked a lot better for them here and it’s one of the better ECW shows I can remember.

 

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