A Tribute To The Extreme 2
Date: April 5, 2024
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentator; Joe Dombrowski

It’s Wrestlemania Weekend in Philadelphia so you knew something like this was coming. The show is exactly what it sounds like as Battleground Championship Wrestling (local indy) is presenting a special night for ECW. There are various ECW wrestlers on the show and the Dudleys are going into the arena’s Hall Of Fame, which should be special. Let’s get to it.

Here is Team 3D to a hero’s welcome to get things going. The fans thank them but Ray says thank you instead. Ray talks about being in a much worse version of this building in 1997 and hit the first 3D right in here. They went on to become the most successful team in history and it was because of the fans. Thank you for showing up for either Team 3D or the Dudley Boyz. D-Von does the catchphrases and you can tell that they’re both loving this.

Team 3D vs. Atshushi Onita/Tommy Dreamer

Dreamer is a mystery partner but…..it’s the ECW Arena. What was the mystery supposed to be? Believe it or not, Dreamer has something to say before the match. He agrees that this is awesome and this is the point of a place like this. Dreamer is here with Onita because of a talk that Onita, Dreamer and Ray had at WrestleCon in Dallas a few years ago. They talked to Terry Funk on the phone and Onita was given the phone, which left him in tears. Without Funk, there would be no Onita or Dreamer so for that they are bonded forever. With that, Dreamer hits Ray in the head with a microphone and let’s get started.

Believe it or not, it’s a brawl to start with the Dudleyz being knocked down and the referee getting misted by Onita. They fight to the floor to keep up the brawl, with commentary saying Ray and Dreamer are probably fighting about Busted Open Radio. Dreamer’s sends Ray face first into a woman’s chest and then rings the bell on D-Von’s crotch.

A plastic table is brought in and Onita is busted open off something in there. D-Von hits Onita with popcorn as Dreamer hits the Flip, Flop and Fly on Ray for a double knockdown. Back in and the Dudleyz switch places on What’s Up to Onita before it’s time to get the tables. A 3D puts Dreamer through the table for the pin at 7:52.

Rating: C. I don’t think there is any secret to the fact that this wasn’t about having a top level match or really anything close to it. Instead, this was about the Dudleyz getting back in the ring for one more match in the arena where they started. There is nothing wrong with that and while the match was little more than a garbage brawl, that was pretty much entirely the point.

Respect is shown post match. Dreamer grabs the mic (again) and talks about how D-Von and Onita have had health issues but they had to do this one more time. Oh and thank you Paul Heyman for everything. And the fans too. We’re still not done as Onita says….something about ECW.

We pause to clean up the ring, with the ring announcer grabbing a broom as well.

Here is our host for the evening, the Blue Meanie! The fans chant for the BWO, with Meanie talking about how that was supposed to be a one off appearance but the fans made it go on for years. Meanie thanks the fans and Battleground Championship Wrestling and the building which changed wrestling forever.

Shane Douglas vs. CW Anderson

Francine is here with Douglas and seems very happy to be here. Douglas asks the fans to treat them like they did in 1994 and the rather insulting chants almost have Francine crying. Francine hasn’t forgotten everything they’ve sang and chanted at her over the years and she DESERVES RESPECT! They can walk out right now but instead just get Douglas’ opponent out here.

Douglas grabs a headlock to start as commentary talks about how great he was, despite other promotions telling him no over and over. They’re quickly on the floor with Douglas whipping him into the barricade but getting rammed face first into the apron a few times. Francine offers a distraction though, allowing Douglas to get in a low blow on the way back in. Another Francine distraction doesn’t work as Anderson blocks the low blow and hits a basement clothesline. Francine comes in and gets spanked, leaving Anderson to hit a superkick for the pin at 5:39.

Rating: C. As you can probably guess, the wrestling itself isn’t the point of this show. This is about getting people out there in front of the fans one more time and having a quick match to make it a wrestling show rather than a reunion. I’m a bit surprised that a star as big as Douglas lost, but let the fans be happy I guess?

Post match Anderson bows down to Douglas and we get some hugs. Anderson goes to leave but Douglas says hang on. We look at the Hall Of Fame banners as Douglas talks about how this place used to be infested with rats and a terrible place to be, but there was nowhere in the world better for wrestling. Douglas brings up people like Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Candido, but Anderson showed up closer to the end. Anderson worked hard and got over and, after getting in a quick shot at Vince McMahon, Douglas tells the fans to applaud themselves and give us one heck of an ECW chant.

Crowbar vs. Danny Doring

Crowbar has his lackeys Vanessa and Percival with him. They fight over a lockup to start with Doring hitting a chop, allowing him to strut. A suplex puts Crowbar down and Doring knocks him out to the floor, where Percival cuts off a dive. Vanessa offers a distraction so Doring can get in a cheap shot to take over.

A neckbreaker over the ropes into a slingshot splash gives Crowbar two but Doring drop toeholds him down. The Rings of Saturn is broken up and Crowbar grabs a Sky High into something like a surfboard. We’ll make that a camel clutch, with Doring making the ropes. They head outside with Crowbar hitting a Vader Bomb off the barricade for a big crash.

Back in and they slug it out with Doring no selling some shots to the face. Doring sends Crowbar outside for a flip dive, which takes out Percival as well. Since it’s ECW, we get a chair brought in for some shots to the back, with Vanessa pulling the referee at two. Crowbar clotheslines Vanessa by mistake so Doring plants him, only to have Percival break it up. A northern lights suplex onto the chair gives Crowbar the pin at 13:19.

Rating: C-. Of all the matches on this show to get this much time, they picked a guy who was best known for a comedy tag tam and a guy who is barely remembered in ECW? This was a really weird choice and the match was boring on top of it, making this quite the mess. The other matches at least had some nostalgic charm to them but this one was just mostly dull.

Respect is shown post match. Crowbar says they didn’t spend much time together in ECW but they got to know each other and now they are brothers.

Alvin vs. Jason Knight

Alvin is a rather large Battleground Championship Wrestling guy with no connection to ECW and Missy Hyatt in his corner. Knight on the other hand has been mostly inactive for about nine and a half years and is in rather good shape. Knight grabs a hammerlock into a headlock takeover before firing off forearms to the chest.

Back up and Knight knocks him down a few more times, only for Hyatt to grab the rope. A corner splash gives Alvin two and he sends Knight outside. With that adding nothing, it’s back inside where Alvin hits another splash. The fans don’t like Alvin so he hammers away and goes up, only to miss a middle rope elbow. Hyatt offers a distraction so that Alvin can get in a brass knuckles shot for the pin at 7:23.

Rating: C-. Just like the previous match, this one was lacking the fun or special feeling that made the show fun for the first part. Alvin getting the win over an ECW guy isn’t exactly interesting and it was a slow match to make it worse. I’m not sure what the thinking was here, as it’s fine to push one of your regulars, but doing it at a tribute show is a bit weird.

Post match Alvin gets the mic and is told to shut the f*** up. Alvin: “I HAVEN’T TALKED YET!” Alvin mocks Knight and calls ECW, Knight, the Dudleyz, Shane Douglas and various other ECW legends “myths”. Cue Sandman through the crowd and we get the big Metallica entrance, which is still awesome. Alvin keeps calling him a myth and an f’ing drunk, with Sandman giving a funny “is this guy serious?” look. Sandman whips out a beer and canes Alvin down, then does it again as per the fans’ request. This is the definition of harmless nostalgic fun.

We seem to get an intermission (cut from the recorded version).

Joel Gertner vs. Bill Alfonso

Battleground Championship Wrestling owner Tim Embler (who can’t stand Gertner) is at ringside. Gertner mocks the idea of Alfonso calling it down the middle but says Embler has no idea of how to call it down the middle. Embler wasn’t here for the first half of the show but he’s here now because he’s taking sides. Gertner does his usual limerick about Embler, suggesting that he’s here for Alfonso, with his whistle, due to his fondness of blowing. As a bonus, we have Tod Gordon as guest referee.

We get a weapons check and Gertner has a bottle of ether. And a manicuring set, which is totally not to stab Alfonso. And a pen, which is there to clean his shirt. Alfonso throws the ether at Gertner, who wants a DQ, but the match hasn’t started yet. We’re still not ready to go yet, because Gertner has a note note.

He is unable to wrestle due to a variety of wrestling injuries, such as a broken meniscus in his nasal cavity. The note is from his mother, who apparently knows about Gertner’s swollen groin. Gordon says ring the bell, so Gertner offers money ($1 bills) so Gordon drops down for a trip, with Alfonso getting the win at 32 seconds. Funny stuff here and nothing wrong with that.

Post match Gordon has Embler get in the ring and praises him for what he has done. Embler says he will never allow the flame of the extreme to be extinguished. He hopes Paul Heyman dedicates his Hall Of Fame induction speech to the fans because this doesn’t work without them. Embler and Gordon leave so here is Krisitan Ross (one of Gertner’s goons) to jump Alfonso and bust him open. The fans want Rob Van Dam and Ross mocks the RVD pose but security takes Ross out instead. Well that’s disappointing. Even if you don’t have Van Dam, you don’t have one legend there to make a save?

Rhino vs. Masato Tanaka

This should hurt. Tanaka backs him into the corner to start and we get a clean break. A wristlock sends Rhino into the ropes before he grabs a wristlock of his own. That doesn’t work for them so they head outside, where Rhino’s chop hits the post. Back in and Tanaka slugs away, with Rhino telling him to bring it. Tanaka gets the better of things and grabs a chinlock…but Rhino fights up and hits the Gore for the pin at 9:13.

Rating: C. This was another disappointing match as I was expecting more from two guys who might be a bit older but are still active. I’m not sure I get why they cut this so short, as while I didn’t need some big violent bloody brawl, I could have gone for more of….anything. This could have been worse and Rhino winning is fine, but where was the rest of this one?

Pitbull Revolution vs. Da Baldies/HC Loc

That would be Alec Odin/Gary Wolfe/Traxx vs. Angel/Tony DeVito with Loc. Street fight and it’s a brawl to start, with Wolfe hammering on DeVito as we get the New Jack tradition of having the music playing throughout. They head outside as the fight is all over the place and Traxx FU’s Loc through a chair. It’s time for the box of Legos but Angel saves Loc. Instead it’s Traxx being shoved onto them, with Loc hitting a middle rope elbow for two. Wolfe cleans house with an Anthony Durante (Pitbull #1) flag and it’s time for the ladder around the neck, with a shot to the face finishing DeVito at 6:22.

Rating: C. So that happened. This was supposed to be the big wild, hardcore brawl and it only worked so well with the people involved. I didn’t care for Da Baldies back in the original ECW and watching them almost twenty five years later didn’t make it much better. It was barely a match and rather a bunch of wild spots, which is about all it was ever going to be. You had to have something like this on the show so they might as well get it out of the way.

Samoan Gangsta Party vs. FBI

That would be Samu/Lance Anoa’i (father and son) vs. Little Guido/Tommy Rich. Samu and Rich start things off with the latter working on the wrist as commentary gives us a brief Anoa’i Family Tree history. It’s quickly off to Guido….but Rich would rather have a dance off. Lance busts out a Worm and the FBI does their own version, only to have Lance deck them from behind.

Guido gets knocked to the floor, where he hits Lance in the face with a drink to…well not do much really as Lance takes over back inside. The Samoan drop gives Lance two but the Superfly Splash misses. It’s back to Rich to clean a few of the rooms before going to the floor with Samu. Lance superkicks Guido for the pin at 6:34.

Rating: C. Is it bad that I was wanting more from the dance off? Lance looks like someone who could be something somewhere with some better coaching as he certainly has the look and the lineage. Guido is an older guy who can still do well enough in the ring, while Rich and Samu are the really old guys who are there to make this feel special.

Post match the FBI teases brawling again before hugging, as is their custom.

Juventud Guerrera vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

Before the match, Juventud says this is his last match in the United States. He loves the fans but he is sick of the backstabbing and the politics in this country. On May 18, he’ll have a big show in Mexico and that’s his last show there too, so come check it out. Scorpio grabs the mic and doesn’t buy Juventud saying that he’s going to retire. Eh ok he is lying and drops a bunch of F bombs on the fans.

Scorpio slugs away to start and knocks the mask off before dropping a leg. The slingshot flipping legdrop connects before Scorpio takes him down for a hair pull. Juventud flips out of a sunset flip and hits a basement dropkick. A middle rope crossbody gives Juventud two and a dropkick just annoys Scorpio. Juventud gets knocked down but avoids a moonsault. A running knee finishes Scorpio at 6:02.

Rating: C+. This one at least had a slightly faster pace, but it was still only so good. I’m not sure what the point was in having Juventud lie to the fans, insult them, and then get the win but the people didn’t seem to mind. This was still one of the better matches of the show, mainly due to the talent involved.

Tajiri vs. Super Crazy

The fans rather approve of this as they lock up to start. They fight over wrist control as commentary explains the history between the two, which really was quite nice. Nothing happens on the mat and the fans are rather split. Crazy manages an armdrag out to the floor and Tajiri is happy to take a breather. Hold on though as cue Mikey Whipwreck to ask what the f*** is going on. Forget the chain wrestling because it’s midnight in Philadelphia this needs to be a Mexican Japanese Death Match!

Tajiri takes the hint and they brawl out into the crowd, with Crazy already busted open as they come back to ringside. Some chairs are thrown inside and a piece of a door to the head rocks Crazy again. The ladder is put between Crazy’s legs in the corner for the big chair shot and Tajiri kicks him down for two.

We hit the chinlock for a needed breather (and some near falls) before another kick gets another two on Crazy. They had outside (with Whipwreck very interested) with the beating continuing for a rather delayed near fall. Crazy manages a quick backbreaker and some right hands in the corner but Tajiri is back with the Tarantula. Tajiri misses the Buzzsaw Kick though and Crazy mists him into the rollup for the pin at 11:50.

Rating: B-. This feels like a pairing where they might not have worked together in years (and they hadn’t) and still have a good match because they know each other that well. Of course they weren’t as good as they were twenty plus years ago but this was still the best match of the night and likely would have been with or without the rule change halfway through. Good stuff here, and it did feel like the renewing of a classic rivalry.

Overall Rating: C+. I don’t think there’s any secret to the fact that this show was about the atmosphere and nostalgia rather than the wrestling. In a way that makes sense, as ECW was rarely about the wrestling (with some exceptions) and was mainly about the fans having a good time. That’s what they did here, and while they didn’t have all of the ECW legends (which would have made the show run WAY too long), they had enough to make the whole thing work well enough.

With that being said, this show needed some tweaks, as there is a stretch near the middle that REALLY drags. They might have been better off by closing with the Sandman stuff or the Dudleyz’s match, just for the sake of going out on their biggest notes. In short, the show was good when it focused on ECW and bad when it focused on the non-ECW, which is kind of the point of a show like this one. What we got was good but with another daft of the rundown, this could have been a fair bit better.

However, the important thing here though was to pay tribute to ECW and that is exactly what this felt like. As was said many times on here, it’s hard to believe that a lot of these people are going to be able to get back in the ring again so letting them do this at a pretty well put together show is a nice way to go. The tributes and nice moments were what mattered most, as a lot of the people felt like they were saying goodbye to one of the most important venues in modern wrestling history.

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ECW on TNN
Date: July 21, 2000
Location: Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

We’re finally past Heat Wave and….nothing happened. Justin Credible is still World Champion, Rhino is still TV Champion, we still have no Tag Team Champions and the Network is still endlessly feuding with ECW. The next pay per view isn’t until October so this might not be getting better for a long time. Let’s get to it.

Joey and Joel do their thing and I can’t think of a way to censor what Gertner said. Cue Dawn Marie (my goodness) to interrupt so the guys can tell her how beautiful she is. Sex jokes are made but we cut away to breaking news of Steve Corino putting a bounty on Jerry Lynn. Da Baldies would like to collect.

Opening sequence.

Da Baldies vs. Jerry Lynn/???

It’s another mystery partner and this time Lynn has chosen……Tommy Dreamer. Tommy comes out late with Lynn already being beaten down. That happens way too often with Lynn’s partners. We take an early break and come back with the fight in the stands, meaning you can only see pieces of Dreamer beating on Angel. They head back down to ringside with Tommy beating on Angel as the other two have disappeared. Back in and Dreamer misses a charge to go shoulder first into the post. It wouldn’t be an ECW match if Dreamer wasn’t injured.

They’re on the floor all over again with Dreamer being crotched on the barricade. DeVito and Lynn remember they’re in the match and fight on the floor for a bit as Angel beats on Dreamer inside. A double flapjack drops Dreamer and of course it’s table time. Cue Jazz to powerbomb Angel for a save, allowing Dreamer to put him through the table instead. Jerry comes back in with the cradle piledriver for the pin on DeVito.

Rating: D. I’m never a fan of these matches where you can barely see a lot of the action and it’s basically two singles matches at the same time. There’s a basic enough story here though with the thugs vs. the two guys fighting against the Network and it’s nice to have anything other than the same matches over and over. The match was nothing to see of course but you can’t expect that on ECW TV.

Post match the Network runs in for the beatdown. This means we get the third name for Anton’s Sharpshooter (Clap, Clapper, Clap Trap).

CW Anderson says he’s awesome and doesn’t care that Johnny Swinger used to work in WCW.

ECW World Title: Justin Credible vs. Tajiri

Justin is defending and I have no idea why this isn’t closing the show. Also wasn’t Tajiri a heel like two weeks ago? I mean, he had a Network badge and all that jazz. Tajiri starts fast with the kicks, including a big one to send Credible into the barricade. Francine has to hide from Tajiri so Justin can get in a few stomps to the back. For the life of me I don’t get the Credible appeal. There’s just nothing there and it shows worse every time he’s in the ring. I’m not sure if it was miscommunication or intentional but Tajiri hits a kick perfectly upside Justin’s head, leaving both guys standing there for a few seconds.

After that awkward pause (and a great looking kick), Justin hits him low to take over again. A swinging DDT gets two for Justin but he eats yet another kick. Tajiri goes after Francine though, meaning he has to reverse the Tombstone into one of his own (while misting Francine at the same time). The handspring elbow completely misses so Tajiri brings in a table. A top rope double stomp through the table gets two on the champ. Tajiri’s tornado DDT gets the same but That’s Incredible retains the title a few seconds later.

Rating: D+. So Justin gets beaten up, hits a few cane shots, kicks out of a bunch of stuff and hits his finisher for the pin. That sounds like money to me. I have no idea what the appeal of someone like Justin is supposed to be but it’s really not clicking no matter what he does out there. Justin feels like a midcard guy who got lost and wound up in the main event but no one can bring themselves to tell him the truth.

House show ads, including talk of a Tag Team Title tournament.

Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney

Van Dam spins around until Balls fires off those jabs. That just earns him a kick to the floor and a big flip dive so Van Dam can pose. Balls takes him outside and starts using various beverages to hit Van Dam in the face. They head into the crowd where Rob hits a quick Van Daminator and heads back to ringside. I’m so glad they added that part.

Back in and Van Dam kicks some more, including a second Van Daminator. The Five Star looks to finish but Balls small packages Rob for two instead. A super Nutcracker Sweet (sitout tombstone) gets two but Balls makes the mistake of wedging the chair into the corner. The Van Terminator puts Mahoney away.

Rating: C-. I know Balls was a big ECW fan favorite but he’s really just a brawler with a lot of joke names for his offense. Van Dam really should be doing something more than fighting random matches and then feuding with Scotty freaking Anton on pay per view. The match was fine enough, despite there being no doubt who was winning.

Overall Rating: D+. That might even be a bit generous. This was a completely nothing show with almost no story development coming off a pretty lackluster pay per view. The company has almost no momentum at the moment and it’s really showing more every single time they go on the air.

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ECW on TNN
Date: May 19, 2000
Location: University Sports Pavillion, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

Hardcore Heaven has come and gone and almost nothing has changed. Jerry Lynn has finally pinned Rob Van Dam despite Van Dam’s friend Scotty Anton (Scotty Riggs) turning him on him to cause the loss. Other than that, Credible is still World Champion after beating Lance Storm in a pretty boring match. Let’s get to it.

Sinister Minister and Mikey Whipwreck open things up by talking about what happened at the PPV. For some reason it’s hilarious that Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff haven’t been fired yet. Somehow this is linked to Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

Kid Kash vs. Johnny Swinger

Joined in progress. Kash flies around for a few seconds and hits the Moneymaker for the pin in maybe 25 seconds.

Big Sal and Little Guido run in to attack Kash but Mikey Whipwreck runs in with a fireball to Sal. Time for another match.

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Little Guido

We start fast again with Mikey nailing a quick DDT for two but gets caught in something like an Alabama Slam for two more. A slingshot legdrop gets the same for Guido but Mikey pops right back up with the Whippersnapper for the pin. Too short to rate but it was energetic enough to work.

Joel and Joey do their intro to the show at the announcers’ area. The limerick is about drinking pearly foam and we see clips from the PPV.

RVD is annoyed that he lost to Lynn on Sunday and really hopes Lynn and Anton aren’t in cahoots.

Roadkill/Danny Doring vs. Chris Chetti/Nova vs. Da Baldies

Roadkill and Doring attack Da Baldies in the aisle so Chetti dives out to take everyone down. Nova throws DeVito in and nails a splash for two as the attention goes to Steve Corino, talking about his war with Tajiri on Sunday. We even get a clip from the match to make sure that we know this match means nothing. Chetti nails DeVito with a kick to the face but Grimes comes in to blast Nova. He goes up for an elbow, giving Angel a quick pin. That’s fine with Nova and Chetti who pop up and hit the Tidal Wave to put Grimes through a table. Doring comes back with a double arm DDT on DeVito for the final pin.

Rating: D+. This match was a backdrop for the Corino promo about Tajiri. If you want to have a tag match then have a tag match but if you want to talk about Tajiri vs. Corino then talk about Tajiri vs. Corino. Why can’t ECW just calm down and pick something instead of bouncing all over the place?

Da Baldies go after Roadkill and Doring post match until New Jack makes the save with the usual.

Lynn says he’s better than RVD because this match was faster than Van Dam’s win last year.

ECW World Title: Raven vs. Justin Credible

Justin is defending and we get some Big Match Intros for a change. Before the match, Justin talks about beating Raven all over the country and stealing his woman. We cut to the announcers again where Corino is on the same rant from earlier. Joel: “Look. Tajiri!” Corino runs away. The entire shot lasted about six seconds. Anyway Justin misses a cane shot to start and Raven hammers away before sending the champion out to the floor.

We take a break with the fight in the crowd and Justin going through a table. They head back to ringside for some mic shots from Raven before going back inside for even more. A table is set up in the corner but Justin hits him low for a breather. Raven goes through the table and we stop for Francine to look at Justin’s neck. Justin drives a knee into the ribs to stop a comeback attempt and we hit the sleeper. Raven sends him out to the floor and through a table (because ECW!) but Justin grabs a chair.

Back in and Credible uses the drop toehold onto a chair before having a seat and swearing a lot. Some knee lifts have the champion in trouble but Francine nails Raven with the kendo stick. A superkick and That’s Incredible get two each for Justin but he knocks Francine off the apron. The Evenflow is countered and we get a ref bump. Now the DDT connects for no count so Raven tries a sunset flip, allowing Justin to drop down for the pin while holding the ropes.

Rating: D+. This actually wasn’t terrible once they calmed down and stopped overthinking everything. The ref bump was a bit worthless but it’s nice to see them do something besides endless interfering. Also you would think these guys would have gotten some promo time to set this up instead of just having a one off match. Finally, at least the match had more than three minutes to get going.

House show ads.

Rhino and Cyrus are in the back with Cyrus saying he’s behind the negotiations with the WWF. We close it out with Rhino issuing a challenge to anyone who wants the TV Title.

Overall Rating: D. This was a mostly weak show due to the usual breakneck ECW pace but at least the main event was good. It helps that they gave a match some time instead of just having three or four minute matches over and over again. The Corino promos got annoying in a hurry though as it felt like those moments, which didn’t lead to anything but a quick comedy bit, overshadowed the matches.

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ECW on TNN
Date: April 7, 2000
Location: Siegel Center, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Joel Gertner, Joey Styles

We’re getting closer and closer to Hardcore Heaven and while we don’t have anything announced yet, the main ideas are clearly there. The Network is a good idea and Cyrus is a great mouthpiece for the group. We’re just waiting on Heyman to show up to stand up for ECW which will blow the roof off the place. Let’s get to it.

Joel and Joey are in the ring for the opening and the limerick is almost entirely censored. Joey brings out Raven and Francine for the opening chat. He asks Raven why the bounty was put on Dreamer’s head but Raven says Joey is putting too much stock in the internet and dirt sheets because he’s innocent. Joey asks about Da Baldies saying Raven put the bounty on Dreamer’s head. Francine says she’s a baldie herself but she can’t show Joey where on TV. She also knows Raven didn’t put the bounty on Dreamer so Joey accuses her of doing it, earning a slap in the face.

Cue Da Baldies themselves to say that Raven did issue the bounty and accuse Raven of smelling of fear. Raven: “What you smell is your mom and that’s because I only had $10 on me.” You know that earns a beating for Bird Boy, presumably setting up a tag match of some sort later tonight.

The Sinister Minister recaps what we just saw, including telling us that Raven tells the truth even when he lies. The camera zooms out to show him controlling a marionette Mikey Whipwreck.

Opening sequence.

We go to the announcers so they can say we’re going to a break.

Steve Corino vs. Kid Kash

Corino, now in regular trunks instead of his singlet, grabs a hammerlock to start. Kash comes back with some armdrags and a dropkick before clotheslining Corino out to the floor. A HUGE corkscrew plancha takes Corino and Victory out as Joel regales us with stories of his days as a luchador. Back in and Kash chops away but charges into an elbow in the corner. Corino counters a backflip into a powerbomb for two and Jack Victory gets in a cheap shot to Kash’s jaw.

They head outside with the Kid being whipped into the barricade so Corino can gloat a lot. Back in and a great looking clothesline puts Kash down and a Dusty Rhodes elbow gets two. Kash takes Victory out with a baseball slide and snaps off a top rope hurricanrana to take Corino down. Victory comes in but gets dropkicked into the referee. Kash hits the Moneymaker (lifting Pedigree) but Rhyno comes in to Gore Kash, giving Steve the pin.

Rating: C+. Best ECW match in MONTHS. This is proof that ECW has the kind of guys that can put on an entertaining match without the hardcore nonsense, which makes that kind of stuff all the more annoying. This was a nice, back and forth match with two different styles working well off each other. See why that’s a good idea?

Big Sal says Guido will win the TV Title next week. Cyrus comes in and tells Guido the TV Title match will be a three way dance with Tajiri thrown in. The implication is Tajiri will lay down after Crazy is eliminated. Cyrus loves the idea of a young Italian champion. “It’ll be like Bruno in ’63.”

Cyrus pitches the idea of the three way dance to Tajiri, saying that Tajiri will win the title. “Imagine the young Japanese girl demographic!”

TV Title: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Super Crazy

Mikey grabs a headlock to start as Joel talks about Crazy only having two channels on his TV when he was younger. Crazy escapes the Whippersnapper (Stunner) and a headscissors sends Mikey to the outside. A top rope Asai moonsault misses and a superkick puts Crazy down. Mikey legsweeps Crazy into the barricade and drops him face first onto the same barricade for good measure. Back in and Mikey puts on an Indian deathlock of all things but lets Crazy go, allowing him to hit a middle rope moonsault for two.

Ten punches in the corner have Whipwreck in trouble but he forearms the champion down and drops a middle rope legdrop for two of his own. Joel: “How can that be a guillotine legdrop? Guillotines are French and Crazy is Mexican. YOU DON’T SEE HIM EATING A CROISSANT!” Mikey loads up a moonsault but gets powerbombed down, followed by a top rope Lionsault to retain the title.

Rating: C. This was your usual spotfest but again: WE DON’T NEED HARDCORE STUFF! This has been such a refreshing episode of the show with now two solid matches lacking the violent nonsense. Wins like these make Crazy look more credible as he came from behind and pinned a former world champion clean. Nothing wrong with that.

Post match Guido runs in to jump Crazy to set up their match next week. Tajiri comes in to knock out both guys.

Tommy Dreamer thinks the bounty is a joke and offers to double the bounty if anyone can actually get it done. He knows Raven did this and says if Raven can finally get off the pills, he’ll realize that it’s not Dreamer or his dad that did all this but Raven himself. There is no Raven without Tommy Dreamer.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Angel

Joel and Joey spend the entrances accusing each other of putting the bounty on Dreamer. Joey says he’s known Dreamer too long and Joel’s defense is he’s too cheap. Tommy says he needs some help so here’s Sandman to make it 3-1. Joel: “But is he sober enough to get to the ring?”

Sandman/Tommy Dreamer vs. Da Baldies

Dreamer busts out the barbed wire before we go to a break. Back with the brawl already underway and a replay of various violence from the break.

Grimes is slammed off the top, crotch first onto the barbed wire. Dreamer brings in a ladder and wraps the barbed wire around his arm for an elbow onto Grimes onto the ladder but only the ladder gets hit. Sandman is whipped into the ladder and Grimes pounds away with the kendo stick. DeVito talks trash on the mic and here’s Raven to make it 3-3. House is cleaned and there’s the Even Flow to DeVito for the pin. Not enough to rate but more Dreamer/Raven shenanigans makes my head hurt.

Dreamer and Raven stare each other down but here’s Mike Awesome to interrupt. He understands that these two have a problem with each other but it’s not for why they should. Awesome knows Raven didn’t put the hit out on Dreamer. Judge Jeff Jones grabs the mic and says he did it himself, cuing Awesome to take out Raven and Dreamer. There’s one epic heel alliance out of the way. Both guys are put through a table by Awesome.

Post hotline ad, Judge Jones talks about watching territory tapes and saw a lot of bounties. In short, he put one on Tommy because he thought it would be fun. Seriously, that’s it. Awesome grabs Jones and demands his payoff for taking out Dreamer, plus a bonus for taking out Raven.

Cyrus sucks up to the Impact Players and says they have the hottest manager in the business. Dawn Marie and Jason argue over who he meant.

Jazz rants about Dawn Marie for no apparent reason.

RVD is back next week and Rhyno promises to Gore him before slamming his own head into a wall several times.

Overall Rating: C. This show had the perfect balance to the hardcore violent stuff, decent wrestling, and storytelling that this show has been desperately lacking in recent weeks. I actually liked this and wouldn’t mind seeing more of it which might be a first. That being said, the bounty explanation was just stupid and felt like they threw it in there because they didn’t have another answer. However, it doesn’t really matter because something very big is about to happen which will change everything in ECW. Good stuff this week.

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ECW on TNN
Date: March 31, 2000
Location: Uptown Theater, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Joel Gertner, Joey Styles

After last week it isn’t clear who the top heels in the company are anymore. Mike Awesome and Raven seemed to be the featured act but it also looks like the Network is the main story. Odds are it’s the latter given that they got half the TV time last week, but you never can tell in ECW. Let’s get to it.

Joel and Joey get us going with both guys sucking up the Kansas City crowd. Joel talks about carrying this network and that brings out a Mexican speaking (his words, not mine) Cyrus, flanked by Tajiri. The fans want Heyman as Cyrus talks about bringing the fans Rollerjam (I loved that show actually) and says the Network is taking control tonight.

Tonight he’s going to fight Super Crazy for the TV Title because idiots like Tajiri aren’t getting the job done. Tajiri isn’t pleased but Cyrus threatens to revoke his work visa and send him back to Big Japan to do jobs to Abdullah the Butcher in thumbtack matches. Cyrus repeats that he’ll be fighting for the title in case someone didn’t get it the first time.

Opening sequence.

Danny Doring and Roadkill promise to get their hands on the Dangerous Alliance tonight. One of Da Baldies comes in and steals the camera time, triggering a brawl. The other Baldies come in and the good guys are laid out.

Hardcore Heaven is May 14.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido

Feeling out process lasts about 8 seconds before Tajiri starts firing off kicks, only to be caught in a reverse powerbomb out of the corner. They head to the ramp for another HARD kick to take Guido down. It’s already table time but Guido comes back with a slingshot Fameasser to take over. Guido’s buddy Big Sal sends in a chair but Tajiri throws it at Guido, only to hit the table in the corner instead. A few chops put Tajiri down but he comes back with the handspring elbow as we take a break.

Back with Tajiri kicking Sal down and suplexing Guido onto the table for two. A big kick to the head puts Guido down again and Tajiri ties him up in the Tree of Woe for a baseball slide to drive the chair into his face. Off to a dragon sleeper but Guido gets his foot onto the ropes. Another handspring elbow is counntered into a neckbreaker and Tajiri is in some trouble. Not enough trouble to matter though as he counters a tornado DDT into a super brainbuster for the pin on Guido.

Rating: C-. By ECW standards this wasn’t too bad. The hardcore stuff continues to plague the company though, as these two were more than capable of having a good match without the table and chair and interference. ECW fans always brag about having good wrestling and all that jazz, but at this point it was very rare to see wrestling without hardcore on the side.

Mike Awesome says anyone can come try to take the title away from him.

The Sinister Minister is in an elevator for a tarot card reading about ECW. There isn’t much to say here as he just summarizes the current storylines in the company and makes a few unfunny jokes about some lower level people, such as Elektra used to be a B, but with the help of modern medicine she’s a DD. The ending is a surprise though as he starts laughing and Mikey Whipwreck comes in laughing just as hard and destroying the table.

Danny Doring/Roadkill vs. Da Baldies

Doring wants to make this a street fight because that never happens in ECW. There are three Baldies though so Doring brings out Tommy Dreamer to even things up. It’s a brawl to start of course with Grimes headbutting Dreamer low in the corner. Tommy finds a pizza cutter from somewhere and carves up Grimes for fun. Angel comes in for the save and clotheslines the invading Danny down as well. Doring comes back with a Stroke (G-Spot Sweep) to take Angel down, only to be taken down by a sitout Rock Bottom from DeVito.

Roadkill comes in with a great looking springboard clothesline and a Boss Man Slam for two. A Vader Bomb elbow crushes DeVito even more and here’s another table. Dreamer suplexes Grimes on the ramp but Roadkill misses a springboard splash through the table. Doring has a piece of guardrail and Dreamer puts a ladder on the corner. Da Baldies make a comeback and whip the non-Roadkill good guys into the ladder.

Three stereo low blows take the Baldies down but Dreamer gets powerbombed out of the corner to take him out again. Doring and Dreamer come back to snap the ladder into two Baldies’ faces. The rail is sent in but Grimes misses a Swanton bomb, landing on the steel. Dreamer DDTs Grimes onto the rail and a guillotine legdrop/top rope splash from Doring/Roadkill are enough for the pin.

Rating: D+. Usual ECW garbage brawl here but at least there was a story to it with Da Baldies trying to claim the bounty on Dreamer. Not a terrible match here as at least this time they advertised it as a street fight instead of a wrestling match. Again, at least it was short which helps a lot.

House show ads.

TV Title: Cyrus vs. Super Crazy

Before the match Cyrus reveals that it’s a SWERVE and there’s a new opponent.

TV Title: Rhyno vs. Super Crazy

Rhyno runs him over to start and takes Crazy’s head off with a clothesline. There’s a table in the corner less than two minutes into the match but Crazy comes back with a springboard spinwheel kick to the face. Rhyno heads to the floor and gets taken down by a nice plancha, drawing a big ECW chant. Back in and Crazy rains down right hands in the corner but Rhyno tosses Crazy into the air for a nice crazy. The Gore is countered with a drop toehold but Rhyno comes back with a powerbomb for a close two.

Rhyno stomps away in the corner and drops him throat first on the top rope. We hit the chinlock as the match slows down a lot. Jack Victory gets in a cheap shot from the floor to Crazy but the champion comes back with a quick springboard moonsault for two. Now it’s Rhyno in a chinlock but he comes back with something like a running powerbomb through the table. Crazy somehow kicks out at two before grabbing a quick victory roll for two. A third powerbomb gets two for Rhyno and here’s another table. Rhyno loads up a superplex, only to be countered into a sunset bomb through the table to retain Crazy’s title.

Rating: C-. There was a story here which is the main thing ECW matches often lack. I can live with the tables in there if the story makes sense, and Crazy overcoming the odds to beat Rhyno as clean as you can in ECW works well enough. Crazy is another guy that can go without all the extra stuff which makes it more annoying to see it water down his matches.

Post match the Network comes in and destroys Crazy until Sandman makes the quick (by his standards) save, but Rhyno Gores Sandman down. The Network poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. For an ECW show, this actually worked. The Network story is a good idea and fits the anti-establishment idea of ECW. There’s a story going through the episode here other than Raven vs. Dreamer and that’s what ECW needs more than anything. This wasn’t too bad but the hardcore stuff needs to be toned down.

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ECW on TNN
Date: March 24, 2000
Location: Ice House, Salem, New Hampshire
Attendance: 3,000
Commentators: Joel Gertner, Joey Styles

Things have changed a bit after the last PPV but it still isn’t anything worth seeing yet. Hopefully things can pick up a bit now that we have a new main story with Awesome and Raven teaming up as the new big bads. As long as I don’t have to sit through the hardcore nonsense even more, things should be ok. Let’s get to it.

Joey and Joel do the intros with Gertner ripping into Cyrus with nothing special.

Opening sequence.

Joey brings out TV Champion Super Crazy and we get the same video from last week on how he won the title at Living Dangerously. Crazy says something in Spanish and here’s his first opponent: Tajiri. Before the match can start here’s Cyrus to say he’s the boss so this is a Japanese death match, which I think means anything goes. Joel goes after Cyrus but is threatened with being arrested and fired. Cyrus shoves Joey as well so Styles takes off his jacket, only to be met with the same threats. If Joey hits him, the show is off the network and will go back to the stone age. Joey backs down and Cyrus gets to stand tall.

TV Title: Super Crazy vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri

The match starts after a break with Crazy being whipped into the barricade. Back inside and Tajiri hits a hard kick to the head and the handspring elbow but Crazy dropkicks him back to the floor. An Asai Moonsault into the crowd takes Tajiri down again before getting two off a moonsault press back in the ring. Crazy pounds away with right hands in the corner but Tajiri comes back with a quick victory roll for two and a HARD kick to the head puts Crazy down.

That’s too much wrestling though so here’s a chair, only to have Crazy dropkick it back into Tajiri’s face. Tajiri comes back with a chair to the Crazy’s head and an even bigger one puts the champion down again as we take a quick break. Back with Tajiri tossing in a table as Crazy is busted wide open. A top rope double stomp puts Crazy through the table for two so Tajiri brings in another table. Crazy comes back with a powerslam through the table and slides in a third because why have two when you can have three. A moonsault doesn’t put Tajiri through the table so Crazy powerbombs him through it for the pin.

Rating: D+. How exactly was this different from any run of the mill ECW match? The Japanese death part of the match was just a bunch of table spots which you can see anytime around here, which is the problem with having a hardcore company: it takes away from the shock value of it when the match is supposed to be something special.

Post match Corino, Victory and Rhyno come in to destroy Crazy until Sandman makes a three minute entrance for the save. As is always the case, the heels just stand there while Sandman drinks in the crowd. Tajiri hits the mist on Sandman, allowing Rhyno to Gore him down. Sandman and Rhyno both get piledrivers.

Back from a break and the Network is still in the ring with Cyrus saying no one can stop them. If anyone wants to fight them, come out here right now and do it. This brings out Balls Mahoney with his chair and the goons bail on Cyrus for some reason. He realizes he’s on his own but Corino saves him from death. The segment FINALLY ends after taking up literally over half of the show.

Earlier today Da Baldies beat up Tommy Dreamer in front of a Coke machine. Apparently Raven has put a bounty on Dreamer’s head.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Vic Grimes

Dreamer jumps Grimes on the floor and sends him into the post to draw early blood. They head into the aisle where a spotlight staring straight into the camera blinds us for a bit. The brawl goes into the crowd and I don’t think there was ever a bell. They fight into a penalty box as you can barely see a thing in this mess. Back to ringside and Dreamer hits him in the back with a chair but Grimes hits a powerslam on the floor to take over.

Now they head to the back of the arena for more walking around with the occasional punching called brawling. Grimes gets on top of a scaffolding and drops an elbow onto Dreamer on the concrete. Da Baldies carry Dreamer back to ringside and crotch him on the barricade. Back inside and a top rope splash is only good for two because the people in ECW won’t get pinned if they get their heads cut off while wild horses attached to their limbs run off in all four directions.

Back to the floor with Dreamer sat in a chair so all of Da Baldies can pound on him. Grimes tries a running flip dive but lands on the apron before falling on the empty chair. Dreamer pulls out a ladder for no apparent reason before tying Angel (another Baldie) up in the Tree of Woe. Dreamer catapults the ladder into the Baldies’ faces and drops them with a double DDT. Grimes is dragged back into the crowd and placed on a table so Dreamer can drop an elbow of his own. Back in the ring and Grimes blocks a DDT but misses a Swanton onto the ladder, giving Dreamer the pin.

Rating: N/A. This wasn’t wrestling of any sort at all. It was a bunch of messy spots with a few wrestling moves thrown in for fun. This is the kind of nonsense that just keeps going and going while eating up the limited television time they have. The Raven vs. Dreamer stuff was played out three years ago but it’s all the GENIUS Heyman can come up with.

The yet to be named Sinister Minister is in the ring and says that he came up with the idea to pair up Raven and Awesome. Oh yeah that’s a thing. I had forgotten they were a pairing until now. Francine is in the ring with him but he berates her for a bit before handing her the mic. She brags about all the success she’s had in ECW and doesn’t like him taking credit for her success. Francine claims she’s behind Awesome and Raven, so here are the Impact Players to stare down Awesome and Raven as the show ends.

Overall Rating: D. That’s on the ECW sliding scale. This was a tricky episode to grade because they did have stories going on, but the stories either aren’t interesting or are just being teased instead of actually going anywhere. The wrestling was bogged down by more hardcore nonsense, which is going to cost them in the long run. It’s fine to have once in awhile but when that’s all you have, the effect is gone in a hurry.

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Anarchy Rulz 2000
Date: October 1, 2000
Location: Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 4,600
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

We it’s the final countdown here as we only have four shows left. The main event here is Lynn vs. Credible which is a big match for some reason I guess. It’s not like it matters much as their TV show’s last episode was five days after this. RVD gets his TV Title shot against Rhyno here in what should have been the big feud for the last 8 months or so but whatever. Let’s get to it.

Joel does his usual sex promo which is always funny and this is no exception. You could always tell he was having a blast doing those and he clearly is here too. We get the theme song with no real issue beforehand.

Christian York/Joey Matthews vs. Danny Doring/Roadkill

Matthews is more famous as Joey Mercury. Doring and Roadkill continue to be the insanely popular team that finally got the tag belts once the company was dying. Doring and Matthews start us off. Roadkill is ridiculously popular and gets a ton of cheers as he destroys York. He’s Amish in case I didn’t mention that. York counters a slingshot into a leg drop from the middle rope which was pretty sweet.

The better faces clear the ring but Doring goes for a tope but just misses completely and crashes into the concrete in a HORRIBLE looking bump. York and Matthews hit stereo suicide dives which is one of my favorite spots. Roadkill hits a SWEET double clothesline off the top. By that I mean he was standing on the rope, not the corner. That was awesome. This is an awesome high flying match.

Roadkill hits a huge powerbomb on York and the squash is on. A double team slam/top rope leg drop ends this. They hug it out afterwards and Simon Diamond and Swinger show up with chairs to take out the winners.

Rating: B-. Solid opener here that got the crowd into the show quite well. The tag titles meant nothing at all though as they were gone for so long and Nova/Chetti was the best team in the company for like the last year or so. This means nothing though as the belts aren’t even on the line on this show. Decent match but it’s not like it means anything.

Gertner eats Lucky Charms as his diet regimen. Someone has been training him apparently.

Cyrus comes out and bashes Gertner while using the I’VE GOT POP line that TNN had back then. They have a match tonight which should be one sided as Cyrus used to be a wrestler. Cyrus says to get him, Gertner has to beat a guy named EZ Money. Money was a no name guy that wound up in the very last month of WCW as Jason Jett. Gertner gets scared. Cue Spike for no apparent reason. Apparently he’s the commissioner now which has to be a parody of WWF or WCW. He says Money has to beat Kid Kash for no apparent reason, setting up this.

Kid Kash vs. EZ Money

Somehow the segment I just went through took about 8 minutes. To the shock of NO ONE, Kid Rock music gets no reaction in Minnesota. This should actually be fairly awesome. Kash could go, there’s no question about that. He had been pushed as a big time guy, actually beating Rhyno for the TV Title for two weeks. Money hits what would become his finisher in WCW (vertical suplex but he just lets him go so that Kash goes flying) for two.

The fans want tables and Money crashes onto all of his buddies. Kash hits an INSANE double jump front flip to the floor. If Kash could do nothing else, he could REALLY do big flips well. Gertner tries to get the crowd into things as Money hooks a reverse Boston Crabd and hooks Kash’s arms up with it in a PAINFUL looking move. Kash is just insane with these jumps and flips.

He hits a 360 tornado DDT for a long two as the fans are way into this. Kash hits what would be more commonly known as Whisper in the Wind and a bunch of other big flips and springboard moves for two. He was definitely exciting. Money Maker (double underhook piledriver) gets nothing due to interference.

The referee doesn’t notice three guys in the ring other than Kash apparently. None of this works though as Kash is too big of a star to lose to EZ Money. Money goes for a top rope powerbomb but reverses into a rana for the pin in a sloppy but difficult  move. Gertner vs. Cyrus now.

Rating: B-. This was supposed to be entertaining and it certainly was. Kash was fun to watch at times and this would certainly be in that list. Money was never anything all that special but he was ok here. This was just filler but for about 8 minutes it was a very solid cruiserweight style match.

The heels beat the tar out of Kash, Spike makes the save, Spike gets beaten up and Sandman comes in without music or anything to blow the roof off the place. Elektra tries to seduce him but gets beer poured on her chest and Gertner’s face shoved into them. Match finally.

Cyrus vs. Joel Gertner

Joel takes his shirt off and has Kamala paint on his chest. He goes for a People’s Elbow, even taking the neckbrace off. This is weird as Joel has no idea what he’s doing and Cyrus is a trained wrestler in a suit. It’s ALL Cyrus here of course as Gertner is pretty much dead. Pay no attention to Sandman out there. I’m sure he won’t do anything. Beer to Cyrus’ eyes and a rollup ends it for Gertner.

Rating: N/A. This was just for the ECW fans and it worked fine. It only took six months to get to this. They talk about how this is a victory over the Network, even though they would be canceled in 5 days anyway.

Beer bash follows.

Website plug and house show ads to fill time.

Da Baldies vs. Chilly Willy/Balls Mahoney

Angel and DeVito for the combination here. Willy was this guy that never meant anything but got a push near the end of the company due to no one else being around to get it. Joel comes back to commentary here and talks like a New Yorker in a funny bit. Mahoney has a fork and starts stabbing people with it. There’s a fork shot from the apron to the floor. Yeah this is going to end well.

This is the big blood/violence match of the night as Balls bites the cut and might have licked it a bit. There isn’t much here at all other than a DeVito moonsault in the crowd which mostly misses. Willy and Angel are more or less not involved here, leaving us with a one on one in the ring which isn’t that good. Angle runs back in and we get the staplegun to the eye. Three stereo chair shots to the faces end this.

Rating: D-. It’s your standard big brawl that means nothing at all but it got the fans into it so I guess we can pass it. A match with a staplegun to the eye though is just hard to get anything close to caring about or taking like pro wrestling as you probably guessed. I never got the appeal of these.

Lou E. Dangerously jumps Gertner. Joey goes after him and security drags him off. We go to the control room for no apparent reason where a guy is freaking now.

We go to Justin and Francine who we can’t hear at first. Oh he’s bashing Jerry Lynn. Credible is in a Favre jersey, which will NEVER mean anything in Minnesota. Nope not a thing.

Lynn says he’s tired of just being the best. He wants to be champion. If that was the case about two years ago, things would have gone differently for ECW.

Joey and Cyrus on commentary now. Is there a point to this after Cyrus got beat earlier?

Steve Corino vs. CW Anderson

The winner gets the title shot at the next PPV. I don’t remember either guy winning a PPV match recently but whatever. I think Corino is a face here but I’m not sure. Anderson is older than Corino? I wouldn’t have guessed that one. A long counter sequence starts us off and the fans are for Corino. They chop it out and amazingly Steve isn’t bleeding yet.

For a guy based around the idea of old school, Corino wasn’t very old school. As I type that Cyrus calls him out on it. Anderson is bleeding. Also isn’t Anderson supposed to be based on Arn Anderson? Therefore both of these guys are old school, and isn’t that completely against the idea of ECW in the first place? Corino takes a great chair shot and hey Steve is busted open. Even Joey points out how easily he bleeds.

Anderson goes for a Stunner on Corino’s arm as this really is old school based. They slug it out and Corino takes over for a bit. This has been pretty decent. Anderson gets crotches on a chair and they’re both down now. Corino goes Dusty Rhodes and I shake my head at him. Dusty, the guy that was supposed to be everything ECW was against, is getting tributes here. Simon and Swinger come out but Victory holds them off.

Anderson keeps trying to hit the spinebuster and never can get it. He sets up another chair in the middle of the ring but gets superkicked into it. He goes for the spinebuster AGAIN but gets caught in an Old School Expulsion (Reverse Twist of Fate and a great name for a move) on the chair for the pin and the title shot at November to Remember.

Rating: B-. This wasn’t bad but it was lacking that pop to get it to be something good. The chairs were used far too much in this for a match that is supposed to be about who is the best wrestler. Again I ask, who else have these two beaten? I certainly can’t remember them getting a major PPV win but I guess they’ve been hot on TV or house shows. Not bad but certainly lacking something.

Mikey, Tajiri and Sinister Minister (James Mitchell) read a book about witchcraft and demonology and it lights on fire. Riveting.

Rhyno wants RVD tonight. Good thing he has him. He says he’ll shove Fonzie’s whistle up his…yeah. Up Fonzie’s that is.

Tag Titles: FBI vs. Mikey Whipwreck/Tajiri

Once the titles hadn’t been in place for four months, Mikey and Tajiri won the belts in a tournament and held them for one day. The FBI, a former comedy team, held them for a few months before the final change at the next to last PPV. Nova and Chetti never got them of course. The challengers are in masks which is a weird look.

To my complete and utter shock, we start with a glorified comedy match. The Unholy Alliance (challengers) dominate and we get a Tarantula on Guido. Tony is tied up in the corner and gets a pair of baseball slides and a fireball. I continue to wonder why they called this wrestling after a certain point.

Can someone get these people a pizza before they all die? Tajiri slaps the turnbuckle to go with the clapping, but if he doesn’t speak English, how does he know it’s something he should clap to? Guido is busted open. They’re actually tagging in and out here which is rather odd. Unprettier is blocked by Mist but Sal pulls the referee out.

The Alliance is dominating here, meaning of course they’re going to lose. Yep there’s the belt into the ring from Sal. In a kind of creative ending, Tajiri takes Sal out with a moonsault but he lands on him and Tajiri can’t get out. A belt shot and an Unprettier keeps the titles on a completely uninteresting team for no apparent reason.

Rating: C+. This was ok and formula based but they could certainly have a better one. On TV where the titles changed hands, they apparently had a classic which I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t seen. This wasn’t bad at all but it was just kind of there. I still don’t get the appeal of the Italians as the champions though but they company was out of business in like four months anyway so it didn’t really matter.

More house show/website stuff.

TV Title: Rhyno vs. Rob Van Dam

The whole RVD never got beat and Rhyno is the bigger and better champion is decided here apparently while Justin Credible is main eventing another PPV. Rhyno charges while RVD is doing his spin kick to his name. We immediately go to the floor and I’m not sure if there was a bell yet. This is another of those big brawls that doesn’t really prove anything at all but the fans love them so they kept happening.

The lights are weird here as things are really dark. It’s likely the company just couldn’t afford it I guess. Van Dam hits an over the ropes dive to take out Rhyno. The idea here is RVD’s usual stuff isn’t working so he’s having to hit and run. The skateboard dropkick hits in the corner and the challenger is dominating. Cyrus calls the fans troglodytes. It must be a Canadian thing.

Rhyno hits a middle rope clothesline to kill RVD and take over. And it’s table time. You knew it was coming. Rhyno hits a chinlock as Alfonzo blows his whistle in time with the RVD chants. Five Star gets two and he’s stunned. The Gore hits and there’s the piledriver through the table. Fonzie hits Rhyno with a chair to set up the Van Daminator.

Van Terminator misses thanks to Justin interfering for no apparent reason and it hits Fonzie. Rhyno hits a running spinebuster through the table and then a piledriver on a chair ends it. I always hated that move for him as he’s a power guy using a move that Jerry Lawler used a lot. Never got that.

Rating: D+. You know for a big clash, this was pretty weak. RVD loses….why? Heyman wouldn’t put the spotlight on him because of guys like Justin? This wouldn’t have saved the company but it would have given them a better chance. This was a pretty weak match that didn’t feel special. It’s not really that good and while it’s entertaining, this should have been a main event somewhere instead of a throwaway match. But that would be logical booking which didn’t exist around this time so there we are.

Fonzie is more or less dead and takes forever to get taken out. There might have been a heel referee making a fast count too.

Did you know about the website and the house shows?

We’re at about 8 minutes of nothing at all happening at this point.

ECW World Title: Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Lynn is the home town guy here so the ending should be clear but it’s ECW so of course it’s not. Justin is still wearing the Favre jersey in Minnesota which is supposed to get heel heat. That doesn’t date the shot at all. Francine has a broken rib or something. Again, these two are in the main event and RVD isn’t. Lynn gets the hometown boy pop and it’s not bad.

We stall FOREVER as it’s been fifteen minutes plus since the last match ended and this one hasn’t even started yet. We start with some technical stuff and the fans think Francine is a crack w****. Joey isn’t sure if Justin can outwrestle Jerry. Great to see that kind of thought going into things here. Lynn hits a middle rope bulldog and we hit the mat again.

Justin goes into the corner and goes to the floor. It wouldn’t have been as bad if he hadn’t jumped over the ropes like that. The plancha mostly misses though and everyone is down. This is moving pretty slowly but there’s a TON of time left so they have time to set something up. I knew the in ring stuff was going on too long. We head to the floor to get away from this wrestling nonsense. Can’t have that now.

Lynn hits a DDT on the chair to get us back to even. This match feels like something that should be in the midcard rather than the main event. Justin gets on a mic and yells at Lynn which is cheap heat 101 and there’s nothing wrong with that. We get our like third DDT of the match on the chair. Mix it up a bit guys. And there are a pair of legdrops to fix that.

Francine makes a save so there’s no table for Credible. He can’t beat Jerry though and Lynn hits the Cradle Piledriver for two, killing the crowd. Credible gets his own piledriver for two and they’re back. The referee gets kicked in the face and another is here. He gets to two and then just stops. It’s the same referee from the RVD match so yeah he was cheating earlier. Belt shot gets two.

He’s counting so fast that Jerry is having to in essence kick at what would be a two in a normal match but is almost three here. Tombstone again gets two and it’s New Jack. Dang it. He was supposed to be the referee for no apparent reason and here he is. Cookie sheet (New Jack needs his own cooking show) for the referee but Credible knocks out Jack. He walks into a Cradle Tombstone to give Lynn the title though.

Rating: C+. Not bad here, but like I said this feels like a big midcard match and not a main event on a PPV. That’s not a good sign at all but at least Credible isn’t champion anymore. Again, RVD is never champion but Credible was for over five months. Yeah that’s intelligent. The match was good, but it was Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible for the world title. See a problem here?

The locker room empties and Lynn makes a big speech. Or at least he would if the mic works. Seriously?

A Limp Bizkit video to Rollin with highlights of the show ends it.

Overall Rating: C-. This didn’t suck. It’s certainly not a great show or anything like that, but this was certainly one of the better ECW shows. The problem is of course though that the company is dead at this point and this show really didn’t mean much of anything. The booking here is a bit odd but at the same time it came off as a fun show and there was some good stuff on here. If you’re incredibly bored and can actually find it, take a look.

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