ECW on TNN – October 6, 2000: Finally

ECW on TNN
Date: October 6, 2000
Location: Roy Wilkins Auditorium, St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 4,600
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

We’ve finally arrived here and this show can’t wrap up fast enough. Raw is on the same channel, the show is turning into a bunch of previously aired matches and the stories aren’t interesting. ECW is mostly done at this point and to no one’s surprise, they wouldn’t last another six months. Anarchy Rulz saw Jerry Lynn get the World Title and little more so let’s get to it.

We open with the end of Sunday’s main event, which saw New Jack coming out to beat up heel referee Danny Daniels because that’s still going. Lynn won with a cradle Tombstone. Limp Bizkit playing over this (in the same video that ended Sunday’s show) doesn’t help.

We’ll see Cyrus vs. Joel Gertner from Sunday in full tonight.

Hotline ad. WCW might have been sold.

November To Remember ad.

Nova vs. Bilvis Wesley

Wesley has Tom Marquez and the Prodigette with him. It’s not a good sign when the ring still has the pay per view logo right in the middle. They trade headlocks to start until Nova sends him outside for a double baseball slide. Back in and Prodigette trips Nova so Wesley and Marquez can get in some shots behind the referee. Bilvis’ superplex is broken up and Nova hits a good Swanton for a two count. An even better looking enziguri gets the same, followed by Novacaine (Downward Spiral) with Prodigette pulling the referee out. Back up and Kryptonite Crunch ends Wesley.

Rating: D+. Yeah whatever. Here’s the thing: these are guys (well Nova at least) who should have been fighting for a title but since the TV Title is basically a co-World Title, they’re stuck running around with nothing to do. That’s the case for WAY too many people on the roster as ECW really didn’t need to have a lot of them around. Like for instance, what did Marquez and Prodigette ever add?

So at Anarchy Rulz, Gertner was supposed to fight Cyrus. However, Cyrus said Gertner had to beat EZ Money to get the scheduled match. Matchmaker Spike Dudley came out and said Kid Kash would fight Money in Gertner’s place. Now of course this isn’t important enough to explain on the TV show but here’s the match from Sunday (copied from the pay per view review because I’ve put WAY too much time into this show already).

Kid Kash vs. EZ Money

If Kash wins, Joel gets to fight Cyrus. Money jumps Kash before the bell but Kash comes back with some fast armdrags to send Money out to the floor. Hamrick and Dinero get nailed as well but the distraction lets Money sneak in from behind. Money picks up Kash for a suplex but lets him fall backwards and crash down to the mat for two. A charge goes badly for Money as he falls onto his partners, setting up huge springboard flip dive from Kash to take out everyone.

Back in and Money flips over the top rope into a clothesline for two and we hit the chinlock. Joel is screaming for Kash to get up with more emotion than he ever showed as the Dudleys’ manager. Money spends a bit too much time swiveling his hips and gets rolled up for two. A running tornado DDT gets the same for Kash but Money comes back with a spinning suplex neckbreaker (Electric Dreams, named after Elektra) for no cover.

Kash nails something like a Whisper in the Wind for two before they trade pinfall attempts for two each. There’s the Money Maker but Elektra distracts the referee, allowing Dinero to take Kash down. A double suplex has Kash in trouble and Hamrick adds a top rope legdrop for two. Money gets crotched on top but still manages to try a super bomb, only to have Kash reverse into a weak hurricanrana for the pin.

Rating: D+. The spots weren’t bad but if you’ve seen one Kid Kash match you’ve seen the all. As usual it was obvious that Kash was going to win here as Joel vs. Cyrus was almost guaranteed. If nothing else, Hot Commodity (Dinero/Hamrick/Money) could be a decent midcard heel stable and is far better than the Dangerous Alliance.

Post match Hot Commodity beats on Kash until Spike tries to make a save. They go after his leg and put him in a Figure Four but Sandman makes the real save. Elektra tries to seduce him but Sandman pours beer on her chest and shoves Gertner’s face onto the beer.

Joel Gertner vs. Cyrus

Joel jumps him to start before taking off his shirt to reveal Kamala (old Ugandan savage) chest paint. Cyrus trips him up and chops in the corner but Sandman spits beer in his face, allowing Gertner to get a rollup for the fluke pin. This was harmless fun.

Kash, Sandman, Gertner and Spike drink beer.

Rhino is the man Rob Van Dam never beat.

The FBI isn’t sure what to think of the Unholy Alliance but it doesn’t matter because they can beat the Alliance. Mamaluke was doing an Adam Sandler impression for no apparent reason.

The Alliance wants their titles back.

New Jack says he took himself out and wants Francine as his next trick. Oh and Rhino will wear a dress. This goes on WAY too long and the fact that I understood him makes it even worse.

Corino says it’s a man’s world and he wants another shot at the title.

Dawn Marie doesn’t have much to say.

Jerry Lynn is ready to defend the title every time he wrestles but here’s Justin to say he respects the new champ. Francine hits Jerry low and a beatdown takes us out.

Overall Rating: D+. Is there really a point in rating a six minute match and almost nothing else new? That’s it for ECW on TNN and really, the show probably should have ended six months ago. This was nothing to see and it felt like a last gasp from a promotion that knew it was dying and really didn’t care.

So that’s ECW on TNN and the show is hardly worth remembering. It kept ECW around for probably another year or so but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. ECW was WAY past its peak at this point and this entire series is far from what ECW was all about. The problems here are fairly clear but the lack of star power star power really hurt things. When everything is about hitting people with chairs and there’s almost no one to care about, no one is going to watch your show. TNN didn’t do the show any favors but ECW was hardly worth saving by the end.

At the end of the day, it’s just not a good show. So much of it was about ripping on TNN for not supporting them enough and while it’s true that the WWF was coming in no matter what, the show was often more about airing Heyman’s issues and not about the wrestling company. The Network angle wasn’t interesting for the most part and it was hardly worth following because very little ever happened. Overall though, it’s just nothing worth seeing because there’s better ECW out there. Watch some stuff from 1995 and forget that this show exists.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete 2014 Raw and Smackdown Reviews Part I at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY6766K#nav-subnav

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

PDFPrint