ECW on Sci-Fi – August 29, 2006: Heyman’s ECW Debut
ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: August 29, 2006
Location: Sovereign Center, Reading, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Joey Styles, Taz
It’s another week in and the show continues to be decent, at least in theory. Tonight is all about furthering Heyman vs. Sabu in the battle of ECW past, which is probably the best feud this show has going. Also tonight we have RVD vs. Hardcore Holly, which if I remember right has a scary bump in it, but that might be a rematch later on. Let’s get to it.
We open with Heyman of course. He talks about how this is his creation and how he’s our messiah as usual. Heyman has never wrestled in ECW, although I’d assume that’s probably a good thing. Tonight he’s getting into the ring against…..Sabu. I don’t see this going well. He says that Dr. Frankenstein must destroy his own creation and beat his own child tonight in the ring.
Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly
This is a followup to last week where Holly jumped Van Dam with a chair. Holly goes right for him but gets kicked down and clotheslined to the floor very quickly. Van Dam puts him on the barricade and this his spin kick to the back. Back in the Alabama Slam is countered but Holly throws Rob to the floor to take over. Off to a HARDCORE chinlock before the dropkick gets two. Van Dam kicks his head off to put both guys down but manages to get up first. A superkick and standing moonsault get two. Windmill kick sets up Rolling Thunder but the Five Star misses. Holly brings in a chair but Rob hits him with it for the DQ.
Rating: D+. That was a pretty lame ending to a pretty weak match. This was only about five minutes long and while they would feud for a few weeks before Van Dam beat him in an Extreme Rules match (meaning this wasn’t the match I was talking about in the intro), this was a bad opener to the feud. Not much to see here.
Rene Dupree rides an exercise bike and says he’s the most extreme wrestler.
Here’s Big Show for a chat. He talks about how dominant he is and how the McMahons saw that. That’s why they enlisted him to help in their battles with DX. You mean it’s not because there’s no way to believe that Vince and Shane can fight Shawn and HHH so they needed to bring in some heavies to do the work for them? DX’s fate will be sealed at Unforgiven in the Cell but if they want, they can come face him here next week.
Shannon Moore says fight the power.
CM Punk vs. Stevie Richards
Richards actually gets an intro. They go to the mat to start and Richards fires away with some chops. Punk knocks him to the floor and hits a suicide dive to take over, but back inside Richards crotches him on the top to slow Punk down again. Off to a bearhug from Stevie but Punk breaks out of it very quickly. Punk hammers away with his strikes and hits a butterfly backbreaker for two. Richards ducks the backfist but walks into the Rock Bottom and Anaconda Vice for the tap.
Rating: C+. This was a nice surprise as Punk got tested instead of rolling over the latest ECW jobber that he was facing. Richards is a guy that never quite gets the appreciation that he deserves, because he’s most remembered as a comedy guy. He could have some entertaining matches though when he was just being himself, which is what you got here. This was a surprisingly entertaining match.
Video on Sabu.
It’s Matt Striker’s Classroom. He says he’s a teacher and he’s here to help. For some reason people don’t cheer for him though, because they’d rather cheer for the Sandman. You know, the guy who drinks “giggle water.” Sandman is constantly drunk and has a Singapore Cane, but Striker’s weapon is his mind. Cue Sandman, but Striker actually beats him down, breaking the chalkboard over his head and hitting him with a stapler before leaving.
Balls Mahoney is in the back and has something to say when Kelly comes up and flashes him. Ok then.
Taz and Joey explain that Angle is gone and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
Paul Heyman vs. Sabu
It’s Extreme Rules. The security guards (the Bashams but I don’t think that was ever revealed on TV) jump Sabu on the way to the ring of course. Since this is ECW though Sabu beats up both guards who are in riot gear, but Big Show makes save #2 for Heyman before Sabu can, you know, kill him. Show CRACKS Sabu’s head with a chair as I’m sure you can get where this is going already. Sabu is busted already and the three guys not named Heyman beat him down with Big Show holding him so Paul can get in a shot.
We get out first table of the night (that has to be a record for ECW as the show is almost over) as Heyman dances around the ring and calls himself the Messiah. Show lifts Sabu up into a gorilla press position to put him through the table on the floor, but of course he holds him just long enough for RVD to come out for the save. Van Daminator takes down Big Show and it’s kicks for the Bashams.
Sabu finally gets his hands on Heyman and destroys him for a bit, even hitting the Arabian Facebuster. Sabu and Van Dam put Heyman on the table but Big Show pulls Sabu out of the air on the dive attempt. That’s always cool to see. Cue run-in #5 (I’ve lost count) in the form of Hardcore Holly. He hits the Alabama Slam to Van Dam through the table as Show hits that walking legdrop thing, giving Heyman the pin.
Rating: C-. This is more ECW’s style: a totally mindless and insane brawl with massive carnage. It was clear what they were going for as soon as they said Extreme Rules, but that’s ok here. They had to do something to keep this from being Heyman getting killed for eight minutes, and having all these people come out allows for more stories to be advanced. Not a good match or anything but it was fun in an insane sort of way.
Sabu gets put through a table to end the show. Heyman makes the sign of the cross over Sabu’s body.
Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t their best show. The main feud is starting to get some traction but it’s not exactly the most interesting story in the world. Big Show would hold the title for the next three months or so which didn’t really do much for the level of interest in the title. The show here was getting more coherent but it wasn’t exactly interesting.
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