ECW on TNN – October 1, 1999: Dreamer And Raven Are Fighting. Imagine That.

Back here again and we’re somehow less than a year from this show ending. I didn’t realize how short this series was but we’re about a month into it and we have less than a year to go at this point. Awesome is the world champion and needs someone to fight so maybe we’ll get to that tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with breaking news: the tag champions got in a fight backstage and Dreamer is still wrestling tonight.

Mike Awesome will defend the title tonight.

Theme song. That’s still pretty awesome.

ECW World Title: Rhyno vs. Mike Awesome

Rhyno charges into a clothesline before the bell and then takes a jumping back elbow off the middle rope. Another clothesline puts him on the floor and Awesome hits a dive over the top. Most of it hit concrete but the effort was there. Back in a top rope clothesline gets two. Awesome likes that move. Awesome Bomb is countered and Rhyno Gores him but that’s not a finisher yet. Swan dive by Rhyno gets two. German suplex out of nowhere takes Rhyno down and there’s an Awesome Bomb up and over the top rope and through a table on the floor. Rhyno is mostly dead so the Awesome Splash retains the title.

Rating: C. Awesome was, in a word, awesome with the stuff he could pull off in the ring. People shouldn’t be able to move the way he could so it amazes me that WCW screwed him up as much as they did. He was mostly a face as the fans cheered him because there was almost no way to not be impressed. Fun match here and basically a squash for the champ.

Big Sal E. Graziano vs. Little Spike Dudley

Sal weighs about 500lbs. Spike is the Giant Killer so I think you know where this is going. It’s going to a no contest as Guido runs in for the DQ and it’s time for a new match.

Little Spike Dudley vs. Little Guido

Does the winner get upgraded to a medium? After a quick break they trade rollups and Spike takes him down with a neckbreaker for two. A forearm puts Guido on the floor and there’s a dive. Guido throws him into the barricade and Sal splashes him up against the steel. Middle rope Fameasser gets two. Tomikaze (Killswitch) gets two and Guido is frustrated. Sal comes in but his splash misses and the Acid Drop to both guys (with Sal landing on Guido) gets the pin.

Rating: D+. It was entertaining enough but the Spike character could only be carried so far. The idea of him hitting one shot and then the Acid Drop to win matches worked for awhile but it finally had to stop. Guido was his usual self and Sal did his usual fat guy stuff. Not bad or anything but Spike did the same thing every week.

Music video on RVD.

The following is from Anarchy Rulz but it was a dark match so I haven’t seen it yet.

Danny Doring/Roadkill vs. CW Anderson/Bill Whilles

Big pop for Roadkill be fore he and Whilles gets us going. Roadie punches him down and hits a powerslam to set up a double tag. Doring speeds things way up and hits a Japanese armdrag. Back to Roadkill who hits a Bossman Slam and everyone is in now. Doring cleans house but walks into an Anderson spinebuster and a single arm DDT. The control lasts for about 30 seconds and it’s back to Roadkill. Bill manages a spinning powerslam on Doring for two and everything breaks down again. Danny hits a reverse DDT to set up a top rope splash by Roadkill for the pin.

Rating: C. This was a good choice for a dark match as the fans were WAY into Roadkill and Doring. They would get the titles in about 14 months but ECW was long past dead by that point. They also had Lita as a manager for a cup of coffee so there aren’t any complaints there. Fun match here that was very fast paced and got the people going though.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Tommy Dreamer

Dreamer is in street clothes. Back from a break before the match and Dreamer hits a baseball slide to send Corino (manager) into Tajiri. Tajiri gets crotched on the barricade and takes the deadly Pepsi to the face. Back in the handspring elbow and the Buzzsaw kick give Tajiri a quick advantage but Dreamer comes back with a slingshot splash for two. Dreamer goes up for something like a moonsault I think but gets crotched and put in the Tree of Woe.

Tajiri misses his baseball slide and crotches himself so Tommy shows him how its done. Dreamer sets for a suplex to the floor through a table but Tajiri manages to superkick him down to the floor. Back inside Dreamer puts Tajiri in the Tarantula and doesn’t look half bad at it. We go back to the floor and Tajiri is thrown into the crowd. It’s your usual crowd brawl with both guys being thrown in the penalty box. Tajiri is busted.

They head to ringside and Tajiri steals a beer which he spits into Tajiri’s face Mist style. In the ring Dreamer runs into a superkick but pulls off a Dre

amer Driver for two. Corino and Francine come in with the girl hitting a Pedigree on Corino. Raven comes in, DDTs Dreamer and lets Tajiri kick him in the head for the pin.

Rating: C-. The brawling was ok but at the same time, the same problem most ECW brawls had comes into play: why are these two having this big wild brawl? I’d assume it’s over the tag titles but that’s really just an educated guess. There’s no real reason to have these two beat on each other so much so it’s not something you can just jump into and be interested. Kind of a fun match but it was only there for the ending.

Overall Rating: C. Much like the Sci-Fi version, this show is finally starting to calm down and therefore it’s gotten a lot more entertaining and watchable. There are stories being told throughout the show and they eventually (in theory) get paid off at the PPV. That’s basic wrestling booking and if they can get that down, things will go way up as a result. Not a great show but it’s a good sign.

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