ECW on TNN
Date: November 19, 1999
Location: Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

Back for another week as I can’t believe it’s already the middle of November and that I’m somehow almost 1/5 of the way through this entire series. We’re getting closer to Guilty As Charges which is still about seven weeks away. This show was taped after the previous PPV though so at least we should be able to get some fallout from that show. Let’s get to it.

Joey and Joel do their intro but here’s Rhyno. Rhyno says that he and Credible are challenging for the titles tonight but he doesn’t like Credible. Gee there’s a new idea. Tonight Rhyno is going to beat up Dreamer and Raven on his own.

Rhyno is in the back and Tammy Sytch offers sex for something not mentioned.

Opening sequence.

Jerry Lynn vs. Super Crazy

Nice to them them following up on last week’s angle. The Baldies are waiting for New Jack at the subway. The other Baldies are in a loser leaves ECW match tonight against Rotten and Mahoney. Back to the actual match at hand as Jerry starts fast and sends Crazy to the floor. A big dive takes Crazy out and they head back inside. Crazy tries a moonsault out of the corner ala Daniel Bryan but he doesn’t quite clear Lynn. A backbreaker gets two on Lynn who still has bad ribs.

A powerbomb gets the same but the American hits a German on the Mexican for two. Lynn hits a tornado DDT out of the corner for two and Crazy is in trouble. Jerry goes up but gets shoved off the top and down through a table, which gets two back in the ring. Triple moonsaults get two as Lynn’s ribs are in big trouble. Piledriver gets two as does a brainbuster. Corino runs in with Tajiri and the referee takes some Mist. Tajiri hits a brainbuster on Crazy to put both guys down. Lynn rolls over and gets the pin on Crazy.

Rating: C+. For some reason I liked this. It was fast paced and while the ending was kind of out of nowhere, it fits with the story from last week which is a big improvement over a lot of the stuff you get on here. These guys worked well together but then again I like Lynn a lot which has a lot to do with it.

The Baldies are still waiting at the subway and go New Jack hunting. They want New Jack.

Corino thinks he’s blind and sends Jack Victory to get help. He comes back with Sinister Minister (James Mitchell) who slaps his chest and “heals” him. Victory says that just cost him a million bucks. Minister lights up a cigarette and says it’s better than managing Mortis and Wrath.

Da Baldies vs. Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten

This is joined in progress for the sake of the previous segment. Whoever loses the fall is gone from ECW. This would be PN News and Vito for the Baldies. Balls beats on the fat man News in the ring but gets taken down by a clothesline. Axl moves him out of the way of a News splash and a double chair shot takes down both Baldies. Mahoney superkicks Vito down and the Nutcracker Suite (sitout powerslam) pins Vito to send him to WCW. This was short and nothing.

Corino and Victory go looking for Rhyno and find him with Tammy and Candido. Candido is his partner for tonight now.

Gertner is very proud of Rhyno in a funny bit.

House show ads.

Get our catalogue.

Go to our website!

Back to the subway or L train or whatever it is. The Baldies challenge New Jack to a New York street fight anywhere.

Tag Titles: Chris Candido/Rhyno vs. Raven/Tommy Dreamer

After the intros, we cut to the back where Danny Doring and Roadkill complain about being passed over for a title shot. Of note is that his chick Miss Congeniality has gone to WWF, only to be replaced by Elektra. Back in the arena Corino says he didn’t like being punched in the face by a referee. He demands restitution in the form of the tag titles. Dreamer punches him in the face and we’re ready to go.

Dreamer and Candido get us going with both guys missing enziguris. It’s a standoff as we take a break. Back with Candido pounding away on Dreamer but getting caught in a Russian legsweep. Off to Raven so the champs can hit a double gordbuster for no cover. Out to the floor and Raven gets double teamed down, but Dreamer hands him a weapon to fight out of it.

Everyone goes into the crowd and Raven drives Rhyno through a table back at ringside. Candido throws Dreamer off the apron and onto the concrete as Raven plays cheerleader. Things settle down again and Rhyno hits a spinebuster on Dreamer for two. A Gore puts Dreamer down but it only gets two as Bird Boy makes the save. A delayed vertical suplex gets two for Candido on Dreamer.

Chris loads up the Blonde Bombshell (superbomb) but Dreamer backdrops him down. Rhyno hits a powerbomb out of the corner to take Tommy down but Dreamer makes the tag anyway. Rhyno misses a Gore so that it hits Candido. Drop toehold puts Rhyno face first into the chair for two as everything breaks down. Tammy hits Dreamer low to break up the Death Valley Driver and it’s time for a catfight. Dreamer hits a DDT out of nowhere on Candido for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was a pretty decent ECW main event tag. Rhyno and Candido were clearly just a filler team but they made the most of it, which can take a boring match like this and make it a decent one. This was fine for a TV main event, especially when you don’t have the big time team there for whatever reason.

Post match Corino and Victory join in for a four on one beatdown of the champions. Sandman finally comes in for the save. Raven jumps Sandman and Dreamer is caught in the middle again. Dreamer winds up getting caned in the head and the Impact Players run in for the big beatdown to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a more entertaining show than last week, mainly because of the main event. The Lynn match was good too so I don’t have many complaints about the in ring part of this show. That being said, has Mike Awesome vanished or something? The guy is the world champion but he hasn’t been on the show in weeks. This was a better show than ECW has had in weeks though.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

ECW on TNN
Date: November 12, 1999
Location: Hara Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Attendance: 5,000
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

We’re past November to Remember now and for the most part nothing has happened. The Impact Players and Rhyno won the main event which meant nothing at all. Other than that RVD is still TV Champion and Awesome is still world champion as well. It’s time to build to Guilty As Charged which at least had some bigger matches on it. I’m not sure what’s going on tonight so let’s get to it.

The Impact Players arrive but Jason says Sandman is on the warpath. Rhyno pops up and says he’s not worried about Sandman because he’ll Gore him in half.

Opening sequence.

Joey runs down the card and plugs the website, which has a lot of stuff about the PPV apparently.

Dreamer is sitting in a bathroom and imitates Raven. Apparently Raven is just like all of us rather than being all hurt and disturbed. Raven wants to destroy Dreamer, but what can he put Dreamer through that he hasn’t been through already? Dreamer busts himself open by ramming his head into a wall.

Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino

Corino says the thing that bothers him the most are people that refuse to wrestle hurt. He has a bad appendix but has been wrestling for months now. Jerry has bad ribs here but he runs over the manager Corino is here. They quickly head to the floor with Corino being sent into the barricade and then into a chair. The “injured” Jack Victory gets up but a low blow puts him down. It does however allow Corino to get in a chair shot to the bad ribs followed by a backbreaker for no cover. Corino charges into a boot and Lynn hits a tornado DDT to take over. Cradle Piledriver hits and we’re done. Too short to rate but it was fine.

Tajiri runs in post match and Mists Lynn. Super Crazy runs in for the save but the blind Lynn goes after Crazy for a bit, which goes nowhere.

Cyrus says TNN is happy with Joey on commentary but they don’t care for Gertner at all. This would go on for MONTHS. Apparently Gertner has heat with the boys and gets himself over at the expense of the boys. My goodness every word he says could apply to Cole today. What’s Cyrus doing today anyway? Joel went too far when he went at Taz (Joel got choked out from behind) at the PPV so there’s going to be a meeting about Joel’s future.

Gertner is stunned.

Buy the November To Remember replay!

Post break Joel begs the cameraman to spread some good words about him. This is supposed to be a parody of the WWF corporate structure I think but it’s missing badly.

Buy the November To Remember replay!

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy

They go to the mat for their usual fast paced sequence. Tajiri armdrags him down and it’s headscissors a go-go. It’s a standoff so they head to the floor with Tajiri hitting a huge dive over the top. They head into the crowd with Crazy taking over with a clothesline. Crazy dives out of a balcony and they head back to ringside. Tajiri sends him into the barricade and we go back inside.

A sunset flip is countered by Crazy but Tajiri reverses the counter into the Tarantula. Crazy shrugs that off and hooks a surfboard with a dragon sleeper. Brainbuster by Tajiri is broken up but the triple moonsault hits knees. Jerry Lynn runs in to attack Tajiri but Crazy goes after Jerry as well. A Cradle Piledriver to Crazy is followed by a standing moonsault from Tajiri for the pin.

Rating: C. This was a pretty wild brawl which is pretty unnecessary when you have guys that work together like these two do. The ending doesn’t make a lot of sense as Crazy saved Lynn earlier but they fought here. Crazy went after Lynn first too, but why would he do that? Because of the blind attack earlier? If Crazy was watching the match and knew that Lynn needed a save, wouldn’t he have known that Lynn was blinded? See why this year was bad for the company overall?

Rhyno vs. Sandman

Actually scratch that as we go to Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney in the back who talk about beating up the Baldies. They’re in a bathroom and the Baldies jump out of the stalls to beat them down. You didn’t miss any of the match as that was all during Sandman’s entrance. Rhyno immediately gores him down and Corino steals the cane. A powerslam gets two and Rhyno yells at the fans. Sandman gets sent to the floor and then into the barricade to make it a matching set.

The drunk takes over by sending Rhyno into the steel and they go back inside. Why would Sandy want to go back into the ring? You see new stuff every day. The Heinken-rana (yes that’s really what it’s called) hits but Rhyno comes back with a powerslam for two. Rhyno misses a Swan Dive onto a chair and it’s a White Russian for Corino. Sandman canes Rhyno down and here’s Credible to cane Sandman. The match is thrown out somewhere in here.

Rating: D+. The fans liked it but this was much more of a brawl than a match. This was Sandman’s return from an injury so you can’t really blame him much for being out of rhythm. Then again that might be due to near alcohol poisoning but that goes without saying. There wasn’t much here but it was fun for the live crowd.

Dreamer comes out for the second save but Storm comes in and beats him down too. Raven is watching in the back and finally runs in for the save. Sandman destroys Raven for past hatreds until Dreamer takes him down.

Raven wants to know why he got beaten up after he did the right thing. He says Dreamer let the drunk beat him up like his dad did when he was seven. Raven cries while saying he did the right thing over and over to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This was barely a fallout from November to Remember as almost nothing on that show was mentioned. To be fair, that probably has to do with this show being taped before the PPV happened but that’s no excuse. It makes for a dull TV show because it’s basically a throwaway episode due to the taping schedule. Then again the next PPV was in about two months so they had some to throw away.

Since I screwed up the previous review’s link, here’s November to Remember if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/07/26/november-to-remember-1999-another-six-man-main-event/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

ECW on TNN
Date: November 5, 1999
Location: ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

It’s the last show before November to Remember and I’m sure we’ll get some more matches thrown on here, or at least some more talked about. If I remember right a lot of the matches would often be added on the night of the show. I can’t believe that we’ve only got eleven months to go with this entire show. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of a house show tag title match with Raven/Dreamer defending against the Impact Players. There was a catfight (duh) and Rhyno ran in to take down Dreamer, revealing himself as the mystery partner of the Impact Players. Raven tried to DDT him but Credible destroyed him with a Singapore cane.

The Players hit stereo piledrivers and covered but the lights went out and Sandman made the save, setting up the six man tag. After waiting for his song to play for a few minutes he came down and caned everyone in a fairly col sequence. Dreamer and Sandman have a beer together. This is Sandman’s return from WCW.

Opening sequence.

Joey runs down the PPV card.

The Baldies are in the ring and says there are two things they don’t have: hair and patience. They want Axl and Balls to prove who the real Hardcore Chair Swinging Freaks are.

Axl Rotten/Balls Mahoney vs. The Baldies

The guys with hair clear the ring until Skull (Big Vito) gets in Balls’ face. PN News and New Jack run in and make the save for the heel and then face side respectively. Carnage ensues and this wasn’t a real match. Angel staple guns New Jack in the eye and everyone panics.

After a break, Rotten/Mahoney vs. The Baldies is made for the PPV.

We run down the PPV card again.

The Baldies say they’re the new kings of the street instead of New Jack.

Little Guido vs. Spike Dudley vs. Super Crazy

Spike has a female fan in the crowd and Guido gets in her face. Then he stomps on her glasses until Spike goes off on him to get us going. Crazy gets involved and we take a break. Back with the Acid Drop being countered into a Fujiwara Armbar by Guido. Guido gets sent to the floor by Crazy so Spike can dive onto him. This is one of those matches that’s going so fast you can’t keep track of everything in it.

Everyone goes into the crowd for more brawling with Guido taking over again. They go to the ringside area inside the barricade before Spike puts Crazy into the crowd again and hits a rana. Back in finally and Spike dives into another Fujiwara Armbar but he makes the rope. The shoulder goes into the post and Big Sal sets up a table. Spike manages to Acid Drop him through said table as this is one of the biggest messes I’ve seen in years. Spike comes back in but walks into the Tomikaze (jumping Killswitch) for a quick pin.

This is elimination though so Crazy grabs a quick German suplex on Guido for two. Standing moonsault gets the same. Crazy does the ten punches in the corner and of course the crowd counts in Spanish. Guido counters a headscissors into a facejam out of the corner to take over. A top rope legdrop gets two and Guido is ticked off. A brainbuster is countered into a DDT for two for Crazy. Triple moonsault is broken up by Sal so the third one only hits knees. Crazy’s brainbuster gets two followed by a sitout powerbomb for the pin.

Rating: C-. I’m really not a fan of these wild fast paced matches. They’re going too fast to keep up with and while they’re fun, there’s too much going on at at once and it gets distracting. The stuff in the crowd was a nightmare because you couldn’t keep track of what was going on. Once they got in the ring and started wrestling it was a lot better, but this was still too much of a mess.

Van Dam isn’t worried about Taz because Taz is just jealous. When Taz was world champion, people were talking about the TV Champion. When did anyone tell Taz that one of his four minute title defenses were the match of the year? That’s painful because it’s true.

Simon Diamond has Dick Hertz with him.

Doring is sad because Lita is gone. They’re playing the Pulp Fiction music so we’re not going to see another match tonight are we? Doring says where he’ll be staying tonight if any women want to come make him feel better.

Fonzie tells Candido to bring it to Sabu.

Simon and Dick make fun of Buffalo.

Jerry Lynn is ready for his three way dance on Sunday.

The Baldies tell New Jack it could have been worse.

Simon warns people about his Big Dick.

Corino says his team will win and they’re not worried about Sandman.

Raven doesn’t want Sandman on his team.

The Impact Players want the titles.

Raven wants to hurt Credible.

Credible says his catchphrase.

Raven would rather let his mother die than lose to Justin.

Overall Rating: D. I get what they’re going for with these promo marathons, but they don’t make for good TV. Literally the last ten minutes of 45 they have to air are nothing but people talking. That isn’t interesting and it could have easily been used for a quick match or even two quick matches. At the end of the day, just wrestle. It’ll work most of the time.

Here’s November to Remember if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/07/26/november-to-remember-1999-another-six-man-main-event/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

ECW on TNN
Date: October 29, 2006
Location: Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Attendance: 2,500
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

It’s another show before November to Remember and most of the card hasn’t been fleshed out at all. To be fair though they’re still getting the hang of this national TV thing and most of their audience (in theory) was watching Hardcore TV which is where a lot of the show was likely being hyped. I’m not sure what to expect from this show as I can’t find a card for it so this should be surprising at least. Let’s get to it.

After the theme song, Joel and Joey do their usual intro.

Taz vs. Sabu

That’s quite the opener. These two are the only grand slam winners in company history, if you count the FTW Title as a championship. They slug it out to start with Sabu taking a small advantage. We head to the floor and both guys get whipped into the barricade. Sabu sets up a table between the ring and the barricade and we take a break. Back with Sabu hitting a DDT on Taz on the ramp.

They fight on the ramp with Taz taking over with more right hands. Back inside the ring and Sabu dropkicks the knee out. The slingshot side kick gets two and both guys are down. There’s the camel clutch but Taz escapes pretty easily. Another kick is countered into a release German Tazplex to change the momentum. Taz goes up but gets caught in a rana off the top for two.

Fonzie helps to bring in a table and the fans are a lot more excited now. Now we get a chair too but the Triple Jump Moonsault is broken up. Sabu kicks the legs out from Taz when he’s about to swing a chair. A powerbomb is countered into an Alabama Slam through the table by Taz but Sabu grabs the rope. Taz goes up and misses a Swanton (Yes, Taz just tried that) so Sabu pelts him with a chair and drives him through a table. That gets a delayed two for Sabu and here’s another table. In a pretty simple ending, Sabu puts him on the table and hits an Arabian Facebuster off the top to drive Taz through the table for the pin.

Rating: C-. Not a terrible match here and I liked it better than their Barely Legal match. This is one of those matches where the history was there (not that ECW would ever give that history to you) so the fans were automatically going to care about it. The ending was a little lackluster, but Taz was on his way out so it made sense for him to go out on his back.

Post match the Impact Players come out but get chased off by Van Dam. Sabu and Van Dam get in a fight and Rob is punched into the Tazmission. It’s Taz vs. Van Dam at the PPV.

We get a clip from Hardcore TV with Lou E. Dangerously bringing back Mikey Whipwreck who got destroyed by Mike Awesome.

Lance Storm vs. Tommy Dreamer

Storm jumps Dreamer as he gets into the ring and Dreamer is in trouble. Dreamer comes back with an atomic low blow and knocks Storm to the floor. They head into the crowd for some shots with a chilled beverage. Back to ringside and Dreamer’s bad back gets suplexed onto the floor. It doesn’t really seem to matter as Dreamer backdrops him into the crowd again. He goes to the back and pulls out a ladder. Sure why not.

A middle rope elbow misses Storm completely and hits the ladder which had to freaking HURT. They head back in and Storm is in complete control. And scratch that as Dreamer whips him into the ladder and hits the Dreamer Driver for two. The girls get in and break it up with a catfight, allowing Raven to run in and DDT Dreamer so Storm can get the pin.

Rating: D. This can barely be classified as a wrestling match. It was a fight and a pretty sloppy one at that. Dreamer was incredibly popular in ECW, but he was never a ring general or even a sergeant. This didn’t work for the most part as Storm because a brawl isn’t his style at all. I didn’t like this one at all.

The Impact Players beat down Raven as well until Dreamer makes the save.

We recap the whole Dreamer/Raven vs. Impact Players feud.

Raven yells at Dreamer, saying that Tommy is a leech and a degenerate. For some reason Dreamer stands there and lets Raven beat him up before Tommy DDTs him and yells a lot.

Nova says he’s dedicating every match he wrestles to Chris Chetti, his injured partner.

Nova/David Cash vs. The Baldies

No match as Doring/Roadkill jump Nova while the Baldies beat up Cash. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten make the save for no apparent reason. They argue over hitting Lita with a chair but Jazz comes out and does it for them.

We get a bit of a dance party to Big Balls until Joey glares at Gertner. Joey previews next week’s show and talks about someone jumping from WCW next week.

Raven talks about all the misery he’s going to put Dreamer through and all the misery the Impact Players are going to go through as well. No matter what Justin does, he’ll never be as big as Raven.

Overall Rating: C-. These shows are reaching the point where we have coherent stories on them, which is a major upgrade. The main story is clearly Dreamer/Raven vs. the Impact Players, which would be most of the main event at November to Remember. The wrestling here was pretty bad but they were setting up the PPV which is something they needed to do. Also this show went by quickly so I can’t complain as much.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

ECW on TNN
Date: October 15, 1999
Location: Civic Center, Houma, Louisiana
Attendance: 2,000
Commentators: Joey Styles, Joel Gertner

We’re heading towards November 2 Remember and not a lot has been established yet. Then again that’s pretty common for ECW PPVs so I’m not that worried. The only other main story is the Raven vs. Dreamer feud, but that could be said about almost any time that the two were in the company at the same time. Let’s get to it.

We open with Candido and Sytch coming to the ring. Before they can say anything though, here are Storm and Dawn Marie. I still can’t get over how hot she was in ECW. Storm says that Sytch is a has been at 26 but everyone knew it a year ago. At least Candido had some talent. Not a lot mind you but enough for Storm to carry him. Those are Storm’s words if that’s not clear. Storm makes a drug reference and it’s on. Security breaks it up before they fight too much though.

Theme song.

David Kash vs. Tom Marquez

That’s Kid Kash and it’s his debut. Kash hooks a Japanese armdrag and here are Corino and Rhyno to beat them both down. The match didn’t last 30 seconds.

Rhyno and Tajiri are in Falcons’ jerseys and insult the Saints players in the audience. Rhyno goes after them and Dreamer comes out to try to break it up. Corino calls out Tommy and we’re having a match after the break.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Steve Corino

It’s a big wild brawl and they go into the stands very quickly. Dreamer is in pure control and beating him up in the crowd. They tease throwing both guys over the railing and I think Dreamer falls off the side. Not that you can see anything mind you so that’s kind of a guess. They get to the ring for the first time and there go Corino’s pants and whatever he had under them. Everything is covered by a mosaic at least.

There’s a superplex to Steve Corino, whose clothes are having some issues. He comes back with a shot to Dreamer’s bad back and pulls his singlet up. Corino puts on a front facelock and sits down in the chair for some reason. Dreamer escapes the devastating sitting hold and sets up the DDT on said chair, but Corino escapes and sends Dreamer into the chair.

There goes the referee and Dreamer hits the Death Valley Driver. He hooks a Tarantula as Francine knocks Jack Victory down. Cue Tajiri to kick Dreamer in the head. Tajiri goes after Francine and Raven comes in to break up whatever Corino was setting up. DDT to Tajiri and one to Dreamer as well. Corino goes for the cover but Dreamer rolls him up for the pin.

Rating: D+. It’s pretty clear they have no idea what to do with Dreamer and Raven at this point. The problem was they didn’t have anything to do with them other than throw them together because they feuded for so many years. This was more of a fight anyway and I thought about not rating it. Not terrible though and it was entertaining I guess.

Fonzie says watch out for Sabu.

Chris Candido vs. Lance Storm

After a break we join this in progress with Storm chopping away in the corner. Candido takes him down and pounds away but walks into a spinwheel kick from Storm. Chris hooks a neckbreaker and a middle rope legdrop gets two. A very delayed vertical suplex gets two on Storm. Out to the floor and Candido hits a big dive to the floor.

Storm is sent to the barricade but knocks Candido over the railing. Back in a springboard clothesline gets two for Storm. Tammy interferes to slow Lance down and a superplex followed by a swan dive gets two. Cue Justin Credible and it’s time for a cat fight. Credible pops Candido with a Singapore Cane and Storm pins Candido with Jerry Lynn’s cradle piledriver.

Rating: C. I like Storm so I can’t complain much about this one. Candido was fine but sometimes he could get a little boring. To be fair the girls here looked great so that always helps. This was a feud that went on forever a few years before though so we had seen it for a long time already.

Rod Price vs. Mike Awesome

Price is a big jock looking guy. Awesome however is a monster and knocks Price to the floor and dives over the top onto him. Back into the ring and Price gets some shots in but the world champion runs him over, kicks him down and powerbombs him through a table. Another powerbomb puts Price’s manager through a table on the floor and a top rope splash ends Price. Squash pretty much.

Awesome vs. Tanaka is announced for the PPV.

Dawn Marie and the Impact Players say they’re running everyone out of town.

Da Baldies say that they’re Da Baldies.

Raven is on Bourbon Street and talks about souls.

Doring talks to Miss Congeniality but I can’t understand any of it. He tells Chetti that Chetti wouldn’t listen so now he’s hurt. He’s coming for Nova too.

Back to Raven who talks about how the idiots on this street are Dreamer’s people.

Rotten and Mahoney say they’re hardcore.

Spike looks at his hands. These are supposed to be themed like Pulp Fiction I think.

Da Baldies are still named Da Baldies.

New Jack talks about being a baby.

RVD says nothing of note about November 2 Remember.

Lynn says the injuries won’t stop him. Corino interrupts him and says to work hurt. Corino leaves and Lynn goes looking for him but finds Congeniality in a towel instead. He keeps looking but finds Tajiri who kicks his bad ribs.

Raven makes fun of Dreamer some more.

Van Dam wants to face Sabu at the PPV.

New Jack yells a lot.

Tajiri talks about his favorite Jimmy Stewart movie.

In a funny bit, Gertner compliments Tajiri’s promo (which was in Japanese). Joey says what did Tajiri say. Joel opens his mouth and a voiceover of Tajiri’s promo plays. Joey looks at the camera with a look straight out of a Daffy Duck cartoon.

New Jack rants some more.

Van Dam says he’ll fight anyone. That ends the show. The last nine minutes were all these promos being split up.

Overall Rating: C-. This is on the ECW scale of course. The show wasn’t that bad but the ending was really weird. I get that they’re going for something different, but different doesn’t always mean good. They did a good job here of getting more wrestling on the show, but then the last quarter of the show was like that, which doesn’t really work. Not a horrible show but it didn’t quite work.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

There are a total of 59 episodes of this show so why not knock them out too? I’ll be doing two of these right after I do the ECW on Sci-Fi episodes so this won’t take long to knock out. I just hope I can find them all. Enjoy.

First ECW on TNN
Date: August 27, 1999
Commentator: Joey Styles

From the title I think you get the idea here. This show is weird as it’s a lot like the old WWF TV shows as it’s a collection of previously aired matches thrown together here. The first show they taped was awful so they turned it into this. The main thing is Lynn vs. Van Dam from Hardcore Heaven 99 which I’ll re-review and see how it matches up with the original rating I gave it, which is something I don’t think I’ve done before. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of the Dudleys (who would leave for WWF in like a week) powerbombing someone through a flaming table as Joey says this isn’t WCW or WWF but ECW.

Cue theme song. The main focus is Tazz who would leave in like 2-3 months and everyone knew that was going to happen.

Joey lists off a bunch of people to have held the TV Title but says RVD might be better than all of them.

TV Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

I think this is new commentary here but I’m not sure. This is really just a way to introduce Van Dam and give us what they know is an exciting match. You can’t hear a word the ring announcer is saying. They start with a nice sequence where neither can get any real advantage but the fans love it. We actually get highlights of both guys in the middle of the match. I get that you want to showcase two of your top guys but dude, do it when there’s not a match on.

Van Dam gets knocked to the floor and Lynn takes over. Lynn gets a top rope bulldog for two. RVD is bleeding from…..something. I think at this point we go to a commercial as we get an ad for Anarchy Rulz. Joey suggests the Warrior could be coming to ECW. Oh dear. Yeah the commentary here is new. Lynn is bleeding too now after botching a fall to the floor and hitting his foot on the ropes. The replay has a rap song with it. Really?

Lynn gets a sunset powerbomb for two. What would an ECW match be without tables? Van Dam’s eye is messed up and black as coal. Van Daminator in the stands as this match is kind of hard to follow. Another commercial doesn’t help as they don’t stop the match for it, which is either a good idea or a bad idea and I’m not sure which. Lynn gets another sunset powerbomb through the table on the floor.

CUE THE RAP SONG REPLAY! After a clip or a commercial, Fonzie takes a chair pelted at his head. Lynn goes for a top rope belly to belly but he just falls off. You know the chant we get from that. Cradle Piledriver is blocked and both guys are down. Split Legged Moonsault hits Lynn. PAY ATTENTION MORRISON. THAT IS HOW YOU DO THE MOVE. And there’s the Five Star out of more or less nowhere but Lynn rolls through for two. Van Daminator and a HUGE Five Star ends it.

Rating: B-. The clipping hurts this a lot. It makes this look like far less of an ultra competitive match and more like RVD just breaking a sweat. It’s still good but at the same time it really makes Lynn look weak. At the same time though this was about RVD and that worked very well. This was still good but a different kind of good. I gave the PPV version a B as I still find these matches to be overrated by most ECW fans.

We plug Rollerjam (which as a kid I thought was a cool show. The women were hot if nothing else) and then talk about the ECW World Title, listing off guys that didn’t win it but tried to, such as Konnan, Benoit, Austin and Foley. I’m not entirely sold on talking about guys that USED to be here, but you could look at it like this: We had these guys before they were superstars. Imagine what kind of buried treasures we have here now. That makes sense.

Shane threw down the NWA Title, which meant nothing to most fans watching this show but whatever. That was 5 years before the debut of the TV show. Didn’t know that.

ECW World Title: Taz vs. Rhyno

This is from Hardcore TV or a house show. Rhyno hits a powerbomb 3 seconds in and Taz just pops up. Rhyno means nothing at this point which you can probably guess. Well we’re in Chicago if nothing else. Taz is massacring him here with Rhyno looking like a freaking jobber. He’s hit two punches to the ribs and a no sold powerbomb. Tazz sets up a table and Rhyno hits new levels of offense with THREE punches to the ribs. Suplex through the table sets up the Tazmission. Total squash if there ever has been one.

Rating: N/A. This was DOMINANCE which is the idea I guess, but Rhyno looks like a joke here. The problem is that these matches are just random defenses with no meaning to them. We keep hearing about Steve Corino and how he’s Taz’s archenemy, but we never even see him.

Video on Sabu who is apparently awesome. No match or anything but just highlights.

Ad for Anarchy Rulz again.

Spike Dudley vs. Big Sal

Low blow and Acid Drop end it. Literally that’s the whole thing. Who is Spike? Who is Sal? “Spike has done it again!” What does he do? Apparently that’s not important. Ah ok they call him the Giant Killer.

The Impact Players introduce themselves and we have no idea if they mean anything or not. Cyrus pops up for no apparent reason as Jason makes gay jokes about Joey. We see clips of the Impact Players beating people up which helps a bit as we know they’re dominant.

House show ads.

We get a BUNCH of clips of guys and a brief description (as in their nickname) of them. It’s set to a Kid Rock song so what do you expect here?

Taz talks about how TNN and ECW are together now and how cool that is I guess. We get clips of famous people he’s made tap out. He talks for like three minutes and that ends this mess.

Overall Rating: D. This was a total mess. Considering this is the first show, this was just awful as you learn nothing about the guys other than Taz being a tough guy and RVD is awesome. Other than that though you get nothing at all here though and other than a single good match to start, this gave us nothing. We have no idea about any feuds or angles or anything like that as it was just a few squashes and one big match from months earlier. This just didn’t work as Heyman clearly didn’t know what he was doing, which became a theme here. Bad show and just a car wreck of an hour.

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall