Throwing in another Fancam this morning. Let's see what was going on at a regular ECW house show in 2000. We're in Indy, and as it turns out, I have randomly picked the show where Mike Awesome dropped the ECW title to Taz before going to WCW.
Match One: Johnny Swinger vs Chilly Willy:
Chilly Willy is "everybody's homeboy" and one of many guys Paul brought in to the new ECW undercard. Swinger was coming off his WCW job guy run and would eventually form a pretty good team with Simon Diamond.
Johnny's tights say "Swing Zone" on them. Chilly Willy does a Michinoku Driver as part of his first burst of offense. Was he a house of hardcore guy? Rude Awakening by Swinger gets him the advantage. Chilly Willy comes back with a flying hip attack and a huge baaaack body drop! Willy has facial expressions like D'lo Brown, really, he has the same kinda head shape. Suplex is blocked into a small package. Swinger argues with the ref, gets cradled and loses.
1 for 1. Not bad, basic, but enjoyable, so it gets a pass. And Chilly Willy has lots of charisma
Match Two: The Baldies (DeVito and Angel) vs Danny Doring/Roadkill
Always fun to see The Baldies NOT fighting New Jack! Doring and Roadkill are on their long march to the title, which they'd get in December. D and R are a house of fire early, hit moves and beat up the Baldies. Doring already hits one of his moves that has a special name, the Bareback I think. DeVito hits a spin kick to get the heat. I assume he does that in street fights. Then a dropkick. Who is this Tony DeVito? He then does a Nightmare on Helms street and its bizarre thug offense. Angel comes in and does a butterfly suplex. Awesome! Doring fires back once and a while, which is great to see and keeps me watching. Tony drills Danny with a sit out Rock Bottom for two. I think that was his finisher. Angel misses a dropkick running to the corner, but Doring moves, and he lands on the top rope. Roadkill in and he starts laying waste to the Baldies. Heart Attack by Doring and Roadkill. Roadkill goes up top for a splash, but DeVito pushes him off and he falls through the ringside table. Things break down a bit and Tony gets a chair, but misses and hits Angel. Doring clotheslines Angel out and Roadkill flies back with a clothesline off the center of the top rope. Pancake/Top Rope legdrop combo, and Doring gets the pin
2 for 2. Super fun, I always enjoy these kind of ECW tag matches. Doring and Roadkill were two of my favorite 2000 ECW guys.
Match Three: Simon Diamond vs Mikey Whipwreck
Simon has his amazing group with him: The Prodigy, The Prodigette, The Muskateer. What a group. Did the Musketeer ever wrestle? Simone berates his cast of misfits one by one, wondering why he had them around even. Mikey them comes out and gets double teamed by Prodigy and Diamond. They brawl around ringside and Mikey takes control, but eventually the lackeys outside help Simon gain control. Mikey hits a nice Superkick and I realize he has two sets of knee pads: regular white ones and his old pink ones around his ankles. Oh, James Mitchel is outside as well, and soon he's in the ring fencing the Musketeer: sword vs walking cane. Awesome! Prodigy comes in and lays Mikey out, but Prodigette misses and moonsault. Diamond tries to take advantage, but gets a whippersnapper and pinned.
2 for 3. Not much here, entertaining for the outside stuff and fencing, but a bit short.
One thing I have a problem with in late era ECW is the amount of heels that had big entourages. Justin Credible had it at one point (Jason, Nicole Bass, Chasity), Simon had it for most of his early run. It just seems like they were trying to reuse a concept that they had already done a lot with Raven, just with lower card heels. I worked great for Raven when he had 3 or 4 guys outside the ring to help him, but the other ones just look like copycats or in Simon's case, just make him really hard to take seriously.
Match Four: Kid Kash vs Rhino
Rhino hurts him early. Jack Victory is out with Rhino. Victory had a long run in the company for reasons I'm not sure of honestly. Kash's flying stuff is pretty great when he hits it. Rhino catches him trying a moonsault and drives him down with a powerslam. Crowd chants for tables. Took them long enough. Rhino gets right up after a flying hurricanrana, connects with a Gore, piledriver, and its over!
3 for 4. A bit on the short side, but really energenic and fun, i like the combo of these two, good stuff in 2000 ECW.
Match Five: Billy Wiles/CW Anderson vs Chris Chetti/Nova
The Dangerous Alliance, Lou E's version, is another in what seemed like a lot of lower mid card ECW gimmicks that I never took too seriously, this one because it's based on a parody. CW is a great worker and could be great in a tag environment, but I dont remember him and Billy ever doing anything serious. Nova and Chetti were a decent tag team, but seemed thrown together at the start of their run. It was a good use of both. Electra is with the D.A. and she had no real purpose except to be their "Medusa".
The Alliance does have matching gear, which is always a plus. Nova is in his Green Lantern tribute outfit, which is cool, he always had fun gear that played off the original version of his chracter (he was like the Hurricane in an indy way). He also invented most moves used today, so it's great to see where today's wrestling came from...um...yeah. Chetti and Anderson do some stuff and I remember that Chris is mostly kicks and baggy, baggy pants. Really its like High Energy with him. Wiles hits a spinning wheel kick, which is shocking, and he a decent punch. Anderson does a hammerlock Michinoku Driver to Nova, which is pretty cool. He works the arm just like the family taught him. He also had a good spinebuster. Nova gets a Downward Spiral on Billy and gets the tag. Chetti is all kicks! Electra breaks up a pin and Jazz comes out to give us our catfight for the night. Lou E. tries to attack her, Jazz tries to give him an X-Factor, but CW gets a superkick to save his boss. Rude Awakening by Wiles, which Nova breaks up. Kinda messy right now, everyone just kinda doing stuff, and the interference doesn't come off so great. They do a super duper convoluted chair spot: Nova is down so Lou E. put a chair on his face, Wiles goes to slingshot Nova up into what I think was going to be a superkick. Was their plan for nova to hold the chair to his face the whole time? Anyway, Nova blocks that, throws the chair and Anderson and Chetti nails a bit kick off the top to give him a pseudo Van Damintaor for the win. It didn't look great and wasn't a good idea anyway.
3 for 5. I wanted a longer heat section as I like the Dangerous Alliances tag work, and less Chris Chetti practicing all his kicks.. Too much interference in what could have been a good basic tag match.
After the match, the Alliance beat down the babyfaces. And, like Jim Gordon and the bat signal, ECW plays "natural born killers" alerting New Jack that there is trouble in the Land of Extreme that only he can handle. He answers the call as always.
Match Six: Little Gudio vs Super Crazy:
This should be fun, as most of the matches in the Super Crazy/Guido/Tajiri/Lynn group in 99. There's some fun stuff here. I like the opening chain sequence that ends with Guido somersaulting over a monkey flip attempt and doing an elbow to the abs and seated dropkick. On the outside, Crazy avoids a big Sal splash and uses him as a platform to dive into the crowd. Sal is allowed to interfere as he pleases, but at least ECW had a history of allowing this. Crazy fights back and eventually uses a brainbuster to get the win.
4 for 6. A shortish but good back and forth match, your normal match between these two but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Match Seven: Lance Storm vs Raven
Storm has Dawn Marie and Raven has Francine with him, but I'm sure they will not do anything except lend advice to their men during this battle. This is an odd match. Storm is one half of the tag team champions (w/ Justin Credible). This is not one my favorite periods for Raven; his character seemed undefined and the angles around him so loose, total cruise control until he left for the WWF. A lot of stalling, and the guys do a short exchange before the girls start to argue.
Raven stops Storm from attacking Francine and it's a brawl outside.
Storms offensive section is decent, and Raven makes sure to show life every now and then, but it never loses the feel of a feud advancement TV taping match. Raven has a face doesn't quite work and he lacks most of the tricks he did as a heel. I do love the powder attempt by Dawn, blinding Storm and giving Raven a good near fall. Evenflow DDT draws in the interference, and we get the catfight. Raven pulls Dawn off Francine, and eats a superkick for his trouble, and pinned. I'm surprised!
4 for 7. I'm not a huge fan of Raven during his second ECW run. Storm's always crisp no matter who he's in against, but you can skip this.
Match Eight: Tajiri vs Tommy Dreamer
Both Steve Corino and Jack Victory are out with the Buzzsaw, and Dreamer gets an early jump on Corino before the proper match starts. Tajiri beats on Dreamer, until the handspring elbow is countered into a Russian Leg sweet and Dreamer decides to do a Tarantula. The move outside for the normal chair swing based action. We begin the crowd brawling and the camera does a good job of following them. They head back to the ring, and Tajiri kicks a chair into Dreamer stomach, then uses it to make his kicks even more deadly. Tree of woe dropkick misses, and Dreamer decides to counteract with a Tree of Woe nut stomp and then a chair sliding dropkick. Corino comes in at that point, but Dreamer puts him and Victory down and receives a table. Tajiri mists him and sets him up on the table, giving Tajiri a perfect chance to do a double stomp through it. Dreamer kicks out at two, then DDTs Corino and the Buzzsaw. Victory comes in next to break up that pin. Corino uses the bullrope on Dreamer (this was during his Dusty Rhodes feud).
All this 3 on 1 brutality leads to the Sandman making his long entrance. If I was one of the heels, I'd run out of the ring as quickly as possible. Sandman canes everyone quite hard. Rhino runs in and Gores Sandman to the outside, leading to more heel control of the ring. Mikey and Super Crazy run out for the save, which brings out the Baldies. In the background, I notice Rhino gives Sandman a piledriver off the apron through a table. Geez, I would have liked to see that closer. This is just a messy brawl, bringing out the whole roster.
4 for 8. I really liked the Tajiri/Dreamer match, but there's not enough. The ending chaos works sometimes, but ECW did a lot of that, and it doesn't lead to much except Danny Doring punching Tony DeVito a lot.
Match Nine: Mike Awesome vs Taz
Awesome arrives from the crowd, being outside the arena the whole show. The crowd dislikes him to a great extent. Mike was, of course, already signed to WCW and left ECW without dropping the belt. Taz answers a challenge and the crowd goes crazy. He's using his WWF music and gear, but no one cares about that small bit. And while it's weird to have a WCW guy fighting a WWF guy for the ECW title, I have to ask: why did ECW need to bring Taz in. Could they have not had any number of guys on the roster take the belt. Dreamer taking the belt from the traitor seems like as nice a moment as any. They brawl around the ring and back inside. There's a ref bump (like we need it) and Dreamer comes out to DDT Awesome. Taz applies the Tazmission and wins the belt. This was two minutes long. Dreamer hands the belt to Taz, and this would lead to their ECW arena match, that just a few months FINALLY got shown in full on WWEClassics.com
Not going to rate this one. It's a historical couple of minutes and a crazy fan reaction.
Final Thoughts: An alright show that's overshawdowed by the ending. The good matches are just good, but there's nothing blow away and no odd matches or hidden gems. Check out the title change if you're curious, you can skip the rest
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Random ECW Fancam! 5/31/98
I have lots of random Fancams, let's review one.
We're in New Orleans, LA for this show. Crowd is rabid as usual.
Match One: Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
One match of many in a series , these two were joined at the hip once Justin joined ECW as Jason's new find, and this summer series between the two helped bring Justin up the card. The next step would be the Impact Players. Justin plays up the "Justin Asshole" chants, and his facials remind me so much of X-Pac, but that makes sense now in a post X-Factor world. Lynn controls early with some basic wrestling, but Justin takes control with a....Razors Edge. Finishing move some places...but in ECW transitions are extreme. They're trading chops seconds later, and Lynn takes a corner bump that's like Psychosis-lite. The fans think he F'ed up. Jason gets a chair for his charge and the fans cheer and chant ECW, face and heel be damned. Lynn moves the chair out and gets boo'd. Lynn wipes out Credible and ref, but catches Jason interfering,. Even heel ref Jeff Jones is here, I didn't think they were doing that in mid 1998. Double teaming from Jason and Justin, and I'm starting to think the Jeff Jarrett stole his 2005 TNA World Title match formula from Justin Credible matches. Mindless interference, ref bumps, it's all there! Lynn gets back control and sets up the chair for a corner slingshot. Would love to see Hennig take that bump. The crowd boos cause it was extreme enough. Was this their first time in the city? Justin gets rana'd off the top onto the chair, leading to Chasity trying to interfere, it doesn't go well at all. Lynn's assult on her leads to him getting caught with That's Incredible. This match would be recycled for the rest of Justin's ECW run, but for some reason, I still enjoy random Credible matches. It's just me. But this felt short, oddly paced, and way too much interference, in the middle and at the end.
0 for 1
Match Two: Mike Luzansky, Jamie Dundee, Danny Doring vs Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten:
That heel team is a very random collection of ECW undercard guys. And the faces are like a trio at any midwest or east coast indy "ECW reunion" show since 2004. Jamiee Dundee has a great jacket and hat, Danny Doring has the same tights he always wore. Crowd is quick to get on Dundee once he starts cutting a promo. Was Luzansky in ECW prior to this, i thought he had just one cup of coffee with them in 1997 (?), ah well. Wish I could hear Jamiee a bit better. I think this is after Al failed to win the ECW title from a nearly crippled Shane Douglas, he was close to going back to WWF and jobbing to Too Much. Dundee is the early highlight of this, and I am guessing the whole match. He starts with Axl, makes it entertaining for a few minutes, and then we get Snow and Doring. Snow had feuded with a lot of undercard ECW guys in late 97 - early 98 (Doring, Roadkill, Paul Diamond of all people). Danny Doring is one my guilty pleasure, well, 1999-2000 Doring, but i was 15 and a sucker for his multiple moves and funny colored tights. This early in his career, he's doing pretty much the same stuff Rhett Titus has been doing. Balls takes in and squares of Luzanski. Would have thought he would pair off with Al. Balls goes to the floor with one of his oft-missed spin heel kicks, and the heels go to work. I just remember Luzanski passed on a few years ago, I didn't follow his career, but that's surprising to think about. The heat segment is on B. Mahoney, but he makes the comeback with a nice back suplex. He tags Snow, good idea. Axl gets in anyway. Everyone brawls, Doring takes Head and Axl hits him with a chair, and we have a pin. Nothing spectacular, sort of a waste of Snow, Luzansky, and Jamie Dundee
0 for 2
Match Three: FBI vs Blue Meanie/Super Nova
Another one of those undercard ECW rivalries that went on forever. But you can't go wrong with the Guido/Smothers/Rich version of the FBI, good wrestling, incredibly funny, and quite Italian. Did Rich ever wrestle? Maybe a six man once or twice, and I do remember him having a match with Terry Funk and one with Ricky Morton, both at the arena. Not sure what Morton was doing there, hanging out with David Tyler Morton Jericho Cash, perhaps? Nova and Guido both got better (nevermind, Gudio was always pretty good) but lose their comedy edge by the end of ECW. I don't think it was best direction for Nova, I always like the goofy blue version better. He starts with Guido. Meanie and Nova work double teams and for some reason my mind goes to the Hart Foundation, only they're like the Harts, outside of the Big Guy/Little Guy pairing. Smothers tags in and we have a dance off. Tracey Smothers automatically win this match a point by dancing.
Then Taz comes out, DANG! I was kinda looking forward to this match. He suplexes everyone, but does let Tommy Rich fire off one awesome punch before choking him out. Damnit Taz, ruining my fun. He has the FTW title with him, which was a goofy gimmick and just reminded me how silly it was to leave the belt on Douglas while his body was in a million pieces.
Then Bam Bam comes out, tosses Guido over the top with little regard and he starts brawling with Taz. They get broken up. Guessing that's a match for later tonight, Hooray!
1 for 3, I said Tracey Smothers busting a move would get this a point.
Match Four: Lance Storm vs RVD
This should be fun! Lance is alwasy a great opponent for RVD, and I prefer watching him work with Rob than Jerry Lynn. Also, the RVD TV title reign is one of my favorite runs of a guy with a belt ever, and Fancams have a wealth of awesome TV title matches. Rob jumps RVD at the bell and hey, that's a different start. Instead of a feeling out process, they start right away hitting big stuff like the superkick from Storm and a somersault plancha from RVD. They misses some sweets, Storm flips or cartwheels out of most of RVD's signature stuff, and Rob takes it outside, gaining control with the help of Fonzie and a chair. I think Van Dam was a heel during this time, and Storm was the face in his tag team with Chris Candido. Lance comes back with one of his perfect spin wheel kicks. Sitout Powerbomb gets two for Storm, after the springboard elbow. Cartwheel clothesline and a springboard clothes gets Lance another two count, then Sabu comes out to prevent another springboard. They set up a table and Sabu puts Storm through it with a triple jump elbow drop to the outside. You know, the fact that ECW had no rules makes me totally ok with this. At least they never pretended to be a lawful group. RVD nails a split legged moonsault for the pin.
2 for 4. Short, but an awesome pace and super fun.
After the match, Candido comes out to save his partner. Oh, I hope we're getting Sabu vs Candido! The tag champs do a double plancha on Sabu and RVD to finish a nice post match section.
Match Five: John Kronos vs Ulf Herman
Dangit. Ulf looks like Droz, but maybe that's just me. Kronos runs to to the ring and the fight is on. He does some sweeps and punches a lot. Lance Wright is with Ulf, continuing his oh so amazing run as a manger. Anyway, Kronos hits a 450, ref is distracted, Jack Victory shows up, hits Kronos and Ulf wins. Ulf is also using Green Day as his theme, "Brain Stew" to be exact.
2 for 5. Nothing to see here
Match Six: Mike Luzansky vs Chris Chetti
Jamie Dundee is back out with Mike! Awesome! And Tommy Rodgers is the special ref. I want this to be a tag match based on that fact alone. Crowd has no interest in this, but I am curious to see how it is. Chetti does a superkick and a springboard clothesline, then Luzansky does a flying clothesline. Dundee gets on the apron to get some heat for this match, and gets slugged my Rodgers, then Luzansky goes after him, only to get hit with Tommykazi. double springboard moonsault by Cheeti and its over.
3 for 6. Not a great match, a showcase of Chetti's House of Hardcore skills, but it made me imagine The Fantastics vs PG 13.
Match Seven: The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray, D-Von, Big Dick) vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer:
I don't see this being any different than their other matches, including the Heatwave 1998 match (which I enjoyed when I first saw it). The intros and entrances take forever, as you'd expect with these six. Then we settle down for a good old fashion six man. There's some assorted tomfoolery with the New Orleans fans, Sandman's tits, bear, and Beulah. At least everyone is having fun. Dreamer starts with D-Von. It's a rematch from their 1997 Raw main event! They wrestle for a bit. Spike and Bubba then go at it and he almost immediately get powerbombed and rolls outside. Heat segment on Spike, but he makes a comeback soon after. Finding myself not typing much as I watch this one. Sandman tags in to face Big Dick, and we have the worst combination of guys in there now. I am very excited for this. Sandman punches Dick and shakes his hand out, which is an instant win. Then everyone starts fighting. I am amazed it took this long to turn into the normal match with these teams. Sandman does his top rope rana on Big Dick, quite a sight, and everyone seems ok. Dick does a powerslam to Sandman and this is now his best performance. Spike is busted open, and he drives from the post over the rail onto D-Von and Bubba. A bit later, Dreamer and Bubba go at it in ring and Bubba nails a Bubba Cutter. I had thought the angle with the Dudley's taking out Beulah was already done, but she's here still. Spike gets a rope running bulldog for two. D-Von then hip tosses him to the floor. Big Dick ducks a chain shot and gets a go behind waist lock and i think he's gonna german suplex Sandman, buts it not to be. There's just a lot of brawling...as you can tell. I still dig Sandman cannonball splash onto the ladder on some guy. Ladder gets brought in and Spike climbs up, only to be shoved off and caught on the way down with a Bubba Cutter, which is a cool spot. The Dudleyz give Beulah 3D and I think this is the angle that took her out. Or perhaps that was later, not sure. Dreamer and Sandman are handcuffed to the guardrail and ropes, so New Jack comes out to save the day. Then Jack Victory shows up, again quite randomly. I know Raven didn't come back til 99, but him returning to beat the Dudleys, and putting aside his hatred for Dreamer in doing so, is kinda perfect given the Dudleys did put Beluah out of ECW. That does seem like the one thing that would motivate Raven to work with Tommy. Don't think they ever brought that up, as the TNN shows never recaped the ECW history as well as the regular TV shows did.
So the Dudleys and Jack Victory kill everyone and its a total mess. Dreamer would feud with Bubba and D-Von for a very long time after this.
4 for 7. I still enjoy these brawls every now and then, and the heavy nature of the post match was good.
Match Eight: Sabu vs Chris Candido
Shane Douglas, with his giant arm cast/support, comes out and does a promo. He was holding the belt for Taz, and would until January 1999, but I do wish they would have done something different.
This should be a great main event. Sabu starts with his single leg take down, it goes just like it always does. Two minutes in, Candido goes out and Sabu follows with a dive and then hits him with a chair. Really liking Candido chops so far. He also does a nice swinging neck breaker and Lightning Kid like leg drops. Long delayed suplex by Candido. Sabu blocks a top rope rana and connects with a leg drop off the buckles. He then starts his chair assisted offense, which I still have a soft spot for, finishing with a hurricanrana off the top. Table gets set up briding the guard rail and apron, but Candido planchas onto Sabu to stop that. Superplex connects for Candido, but a top rope headbutt misses. Triple Jump Moonsault gets messed up, so Candido responds with a simple powerbomb. Sabu does take over, and the triple jump hits the second time, only with Sabu's foot drilling Candido in the mouth. Storm hits the ring and they double team Sabu, payback for earlier. RVD comes out after that and he fights Storm off. Combo Rolling Thunder-Slingshot Legdrop by RVD and Sabu. They then put CAndido through a table and Sabu gets the pin.
5 for 7. A good match, while Candido and Sabu have had better matches, this was still fun. It went a long way to setting up RVD and Sabu as top challengers to Lance Storm and Chris Candido, which I should search out and watch.
Final Thoughts: A fun show, nothing incredibly standout, but some fun basic ECW matches. Storm/RVD was fun, main event was good, and the Dudleys match is good if you like that sort of things.
More ECW to come!
We're in New Orleans, LA for this show. Crowd is rabid as usual.
Match One: Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
One match of many in a series , these two were joined at the hip once Justin joined ECW as Jason's new find, and this summer series between the two helped bring Justin up the card. The next step would be the Impact Players. Justin plays up the "Justin Asshole" chants, and his facials remind me so much of X-Pac, but that makes sense now in a post X-Factor world. Lynn controls early with some basic wrestling, but Justin takes control with a....Razors Edge. Finishing move some places...but in ECW transitions are extreme. They're trading chops seconds later, and Lynn takes a corner bump that's like Psychosis-lite. The fans think he F'ed up. Jason gets a chair for his charge and the fans cheer and chant ECW, face and heel be damned. Lynn moves the chair out and gets boo'd. Lynn wipes out Credible and ref, but catches Jason interfering,. Even heel ref Jeff Jones is here, I didn't think they were doing that in mid 1998. Double teaming from Jason and Justin, and I'm starting to think the Jeff Jarrett stole his 2005 TNA World Title match formula from Justin Credible matches. Mindless interference, ref bumps, it's all there! Lynn gets back control and sets up the chair for a corner slingshot. Would love to see Hennig take that bump. The crowd boos cause it was extreme enough. Was this their first time in the city? Justin gets rana'd off the top onto the chair, leading to Chasity trying to interfere, it doesn't go well at all. Lynn's assult on her leads to him getting caught with That's Incredible. This match would be recycled for the rest of Justin's ECW run, but for some reason, I still enjoy random Credible matches. It's just me. But this felt short, oddly paced, and way too much interference, in the middle and at the end.
0 for 1
Match Two: Mike Luzansky, Jamie Dundee, Danny Doring vs Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten:
That heel team is a very random collection of ECW undercard guys. And the faces are like a trio at any midwest or east coast indy "ECW reunion" show since 2004. Jamiee Dundee has a great jacket and hat, Danny Doring has the same tights he always wore. Crowd is quick to get on Dundee once he starts cutting a promo. Was Luzansky in ECW prior to this, i thought he had just one cup of coffee with them in 1997 (?), ah well. Wish I could hear Jamiee a bit better. I think this is after Al failed to win the ECW title from a nearly crippled Shane Douglas, he was close to going back to WWF and jobbing to Too Much. Dundee is the early highlight of this, and I am guessing the whole match. He starts with Axl, makes it entertaining for a few minutes, and then we get Snow and Doring. Snow had feuded with a lot of undercard ECW guys in late 97 - early 98 (Doring, Roadkill, Paul Diamond of all people). Danny Doring is one my guilty pleasure, well, 1999-2000 Doring, but i was 15 and a sucker for his multiple moves and funny colored tights. This early in his career, he's doing pretty much the same stuff Rhett Titus has been doing. Balls takes in and squares of Luzanski. Would have thought he would pair off with Al. Balls goes to the floor with one of his oft-missed spin heel kicks, and the heels go to work. I just remember Luzanski passed on a few years ago, I didn't follow his career, but that's surprising to think about. The heat segment is on B. Mahoney, but he makes the comeback with a nice back suplex. He tags Snow, good idea. Axl gets in anyway. Everyone brawls, Doring takes Head and Axl hits him with a chair, and we have a pin. Nothing spectacular, sort of a waste of Snow, Luzansky, and Jamie Dundee
0 for 2
Match Three: FBI vs Blue Meanie/Super Nova
Another one of those undercard ECW rivalries that went on forever. But you can't go wrong with the Guido/Smothers/Rich version of the FBI, good wrestling, incredibly funny, and quite Italian. Did Rich ever wrestle? Maybe a six man once or twice, and I do remember him having a match with Terry Funk and one with Ricky Morton, both at the arena. Not sure what Morton was doing there, hanging out with David Tyler Morton Jericho Cash, perhaps? Nova and Guido both got better (nevermind, Gudio was always pretty good) but lose their comedy edge by the end of ECW. I don't think it was best direction for Nova, I always like the goofy blue version better. He starts with Guido. Meanie and Nova work double teams and for some reason my mind goes to the Hart Foundation, only they're like the Harts, outside of the Big Guy/Little Guy pairing. Smothers tags in and we have a dance off. Tracey Smothers automatically win this match a point by dancing.
Then Taz comes out, DANG! I was kinda looking forward to this match. He suplexes everyone, but does let Tommy Rich fire off one awesome punch before choking him out. Damnit Taz, ruining my fun. He has the FTW title with him, which was a goofy gimmick and just reminded me how silly it was to leave the belt on Douglas while his body was in a million pieces.
Then Bam Bam comes out, tosses Guido over the top with little regard and he starts brawling with Taz. They get broken up. Guessing that's a match for later tonight, Hooray!
1 for 3, I said Tracey Smothers busting a move would get this a point.
Match Four: Lance Storm vs RVD
This should be fun! Lance is alwasy a great opponent for RVD, and I prefer watching him work with Rob than Jerry Lynn. Also, the RVD TV title reign is one of my favorite runs of a guy with a belt ever, and Fancams have a wealth of awesome TV title matches. Rob jumps RVD at the bell and hey, that's a different start. Instead of a feeling out process, they start right away hitting big stuff like the superkick from Storm and a somersault plancha from RVD. They misses some sweets, Storm flips or cartwheels out of most of RVD's signature stuff, and Rob takes it outside, gaining control with the help of Fonzie and a chair. I think Van Dam was a heel during this time, and Storm was the face in his tag team with Chris Candido. Lance comes back with one of his perfect spin wheel kicks. Sitout Powerbomb gets two for Storm, after the springboard elbow. Cartwheel clothesline and a springboard clothes gets Lance another two count, then Sabu comes out to prevent another springboard. They set up a table and Sabu puts Storm through it with a triple jump elbow drop to the outside. You know, the fact that ECW had no rules makes me totally ok with this. At least they never pretended to be a lawful group. RVD nails a split legged moonsault for the pin.
2 for 4. Short, but an awesome pace and super fun.
After the match, Candido comes out to save his partner. Oh, I hope we're getting Sabu vs Candido! The tag champs do a double plancha on Sabu and RVD to finish a nice post match section.
Match Five: John Kronos vs Ulf Herman
Dangit. Ulf looks like Droz, but maybe that's just me. Kronos runs to to the ring and the fight is on. He does some sweeps and punches a lot. Lance Wright is with Ulf, continuing his oh so amazing run as a manger. Anyway, Kronos hits a 450, ref is distracted, Jack Victory shows up, hits Kronos and Ulf wins. Ulf is also using Green Day as his theme, "Brain Stew" to be exact.
2 for 5. Nothing to see here
Match Six: Mike Luzansky vs Chris Chetti
Jamie Dundee is back out with Mike! Awesome! And Tommy Rodgers is the special ref. I want this to be a tag match based on that fact alone. Crowd has no interest in this, but I am curious to see how it is. Chetti does a superkick and a springboard clothesline, then Luzansky does a flying clothesline. Dundee gets on the apron to get some heat for this match, and gets slugged my Rodgers, then Luzansky goes after him, only to get hit with Tommykazi. double springboard moonsault by Cheeti and its over.
3 for 6. Not a great match, a showcase of Chetti's House of Hardcore skills, but it made me imagine The Fantastics vs PG 13.
Match Seven: The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray, D-Von, Big Dick) vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer:
I don't see this being any different than their other matches, including the Heatwave 1998 match (which I enjoyed when I first saw it). The intros and entrances take forever, as you'd expect with these six. Then we settle down for a good old fashion six man. There's some assorted tomfoolery with the New Orleans fans, Sandman's tits, bear, and Beulah. At least everyone is having fun. Dreamer starts with D-Von. It's a rematch from their 1997 Raw main event! They wrestle for a bit. Spike and Bubba then go at it and he almost immediately get powerbombed and rolls outside. Heat segment on Spike, but he makes a comeback soon after. Finding myself not typing much as I watch this one. Sandman tags in to face Big Dick, and we have the worst combination of guys in there now. I am very excited for this. Sandman punches Dick and shakes his hand out, which is an instant win. Then everyone starts fighting. I am amazed it took this long to turn into the normal match with these teams. Sandman does his top rope rana on Big Dick, quite a sight, and everyone seems ok. Dick does a powerslam to Sandman and this is now his best performance. Spike is busted open, and he drives from the post over the rail onto D-Von and Bubba. A bit later, Dreamer and Bubba go at it in ring and Bubba nails a Bubba Cutter. I had thought the angle with the Dudley's taking out Beulah was already done, but she's here still. Spike gets a rope running bulldog for two. D-Von then hip tosses him to the floor. Big Dick ducks a chain shot and gets a go behind waist lock and i think he's gonna german suplex Sandman, buts it not to be. There's just a lot of brawling...as you can tell. I still dig Sandman cannonball splash onto the ladder on some guy. Ladder gets brought in and Spike climbs up, only to be shoved off and caught on the way down with a Bubba Cutter, which is a cool spot. The Dudleyz give Beulah 3D and I think this is the angle that took her out. Or perhaps that was later, not sure. Dreamer and Sandman are handcuffed to the guardrail and ropes, so New Jack comes out to save the day. Then Jack Victory shows up, again quite randomly. I know Raven didn't come back til 99, but him returning to beat the Dudleys, and putting aside his hatred for Dreamer in doing so, is kinda perfect given the Dudleys did put Beluah out of ECW. That does seem like the one thing that would motivate Raven to work with Tommy. Don't think they ever brought that up, as the TNN shows never recaped the ECW history as well as the regular TV shows did.
So the Dudleys and Jack Victory kill everyone and its a total mess. Dreamer would feud with Bubba and D-Von for a very long time after this.
4 for 7. I still enjoy these brawls every now and then, and the heavy nature of the post match was good.
Match Eight: Sabu vs Chris Candido
Shane Douglas, with his giant arm cast/support, comes out and does a promo. He was holding the belt for Taz, and would until January 1999, but I do wish they would have done something different.
This should be a great main event. Sabu starts with his single leg take down, it goes just like it always does. Two minutes in, Candido goes out and Sabu follows with a dive and then hits him with a chair. Really liking Candido chops so far. He also does a nice swinging neck breaker and Lightning Kid like leg drops. Long delayed suplex by Candido. Sabu blocks a top rope rana and connects with a leg drop off the buckles. He then starts his chair assisted offense, which I still have a soft spot for, finishing with a hurricanrana off the top. Table gets set up briding the guard rail and apron, but Candido planchas onto Sabu to stop that. Superplex connects for Candido, but a top rope headbutt misses. Triple Jump Moonsault gets messed up, so Candido responds with a simple powerbomb. Sabu does take over, and the triple jump hits the second time, only with Sabu's foot drilling Candido in the mouth. Storm hits the ring and they double team Sabu, payback for earlier. RVD comes out after that and he fights Storm off. Combo Rolling Thunder-Slingshot Legdrop by RVD and Sabu. They then put CAndido through a table and Sabu gets the pin.
5 for 7. A good match, while Candido and Sabu have had better matches, this was still fun. It went a long way to setting up RVD and Sabu as top challengers to Lance Storm and Chris Candido, which I should search out and watch.
Final Thoughts: A fun show, nothing incredibly standout, but some fun basic ECW matches. Storm/RVD was fun, main event was good, and the Dudleys match is good if you like that sort of things.
More ECW to come!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Even more WCW Pro!
Ah, let's return to the glory of WCW Pro from 1996. Commentators are Chris Cruise, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Some WCW 1996 PRO!
Ah, WCW B-Shows, my favorite type of wrestling. I'm a fan of any b-show really, which gives us odd matches, sometimes longer matches, odd appearances, and fun commentary. WCW was king of these types of programs, seeming to have 25 different B and C shows during the 1990's
Right now I am going through my 1996 WCW Pro set, so let's see what we have here as I make my way through the year.
3-9-96
Sting vs Barbarian: Fun little match, always enjoy Barb on offense. I wasn't paying as much attention as I was writing the intro for this blog while it was going on. A five minute a affair, I think there was a powerbomb by Barbarian, I must re-watch this at some
3-16-96
Dave Sullivan vs Fit Finley: Oh wow, this might be the best Dave Sullivan match ever. He hits a sweet big boot, drills Fit with a clothesline. Finley is in the early stages of his big American run with Regal, and was doing solid hurty matches on the B shows with guys like Brad Armstrong. This is three and a half minutes, Dave misses a corner charge like he's 1988 Ken Patera, and fit wrenches the shoulder with a Fujiwara armbar for the win. There was also senton by Fit earlier, so this is fun! Best Evad ever...it doesn't take much.
Brad Armstrong vs Ric Flair: This probably happened a half decade earlier and was awesome, I don't know. But here it is in 1996 and I have no problem with that. Brad gets a huge flurry earlier, Flair flips over the buckle, get caught on the way down, and takes the Russian Leg Sweet for a near fall. Brad has great punches fighting out of the corner. Match is mostly Brad taking the offense, Flair trying to get ahead but getting put down by multiple punches and backdrops, almost to the point of repetition. Very little leg work, and once the Flair spots are run through, Brad misses a dropkick off the top (the flat back bump kind, which is fun to see) and Flair hooks on a rope assisted figure four for the win. With 10 more minutes, it would have been really good, as is, it's a very cliff notes Flair match. Looking forward to the eventual Flair-Hardwork Bobby Walker match that I know is here somewhere
3-23-96
Hulk Hogan vs Meng:
The rare Hogan appearance. Nothing drives me crazier than one of those Hogan matches where he just chokes and bites...then chin locks. Meng comes back with a back rake, and choking. Was hoping for a more fiery brawl, but I really should know better. Hogan bites the leg to counter a pile driver, then bites the neck. Ax Bomber!!!! Elbows!! The choking and biting continues for a while, and at least no one is in control for a long period of time. Just as I say that, we hit the nerve hold. Meng its a big superkick and Hogan hulks up to avoid an elbow, nice to see a variation. Big boot follows and Savage tosses him a chair, bringing out most of the Dungeon of Doom! We are deep into the build up to the Uncensored Cage of Doom build up. Kinda fun, could have been more, but an odd sight.
Ric Flair vs Mark Star: The Flair Pro Tour continues! Star's early offense is short lived, and mostly a headlock and a few roll ups. I keep looking at the elevated Pro stage and wondering why I never heard of anyone getting hurt from it. Match feels like the end of a longer Flair match as Star's comeback offense is a small package and backslide. Flair taking backdrops even in 1996 is scary. Finish is similar to the last one, just Mark misses a second rope knee drop, and the figure four finishes. Interesting to watch different lower card guys fit into Flair match, not a bad way to see who's good and who is a lower card guy for a reason.
And we're out for now, I can't wait to watch more than this
Right now I am going through my 1996 WCW Pro set, so let's see what we have here as I make my way through the year.
3-9-96
Sting vs Barbarian: Fun little match, always enjoy Barb on offense. I wasn't paying as much attention as I was writing the intro for this blog while it was going on. A five minute a affair, I think there was a powerbomb by Barbarian, I must re-watch this at some
3-16-96
Dave Sullivan vs Fit Finley: Oh wow, this might be the best Dave Sullivan match ever. He hits a sweet big boot, drills Fit with a clothesline. Finley is in the early stages of his big American run with Regal, and was doing solid hurty matches on the B shows with guys like Brad Armstrong. This is three and a half minutes, Dave misses a corner charge like he's 1988 Ken Patera, and fit wrenches the shoulder with a Fujiwara armbar for the win. There was also senton by Fit earlier, so this is fun! Best Evad ever...it doesn't take much.
Brad Armstrong vs Ric Flair: This probably happened a half decade earlier and was awesome, I don't know. But here it is in 1996 and I have no problem with that. Brad gets a huge flurry earlier, Flair flips over the buckle, get caught on the way down, and takes the Russian Leg Sweet for a near fall. Brad has great punches fighting out of the corner. Match is mostly Brad taking the offense, Flair trying to get ahead but getting put down by multiple punches and backdrops, almost to the point of repetition. Very little leg work, and once the Flair spots are run through, Brad misses a dropkick off the top (the flat back bump kind, which is fun to see) and Flair hooks on a rope assisted figure four for the win. With 10 more minutes, it would have been really good, as is, it's a very cliff notes Flair match. Looking forward to the eventual Flair-Hardwork Bobby Walker match that I know is here somewhere
3-23-96
Hulk Hogan vs Meng:
The rare Hogan appearance. Nothing drives me crazier than one of those Hogan matches where he just chokes and bites...then chin locks. Meng comes back with a back rake, and choking. Was hoping for a more fiery brawl, but I really should know better. Hogan bites the leg to counter a pile driver, then bites the neck. Ax Bomber!!!! Elbows!! The choking and biting continues for a while, and at least no one is in control for a long period of time. Just as I say that, we hit the nerve hold. Meng its a big superkick and Hogan hulks up to avoid an elbow, nice to see a variation. Big boot follows and Savage tosses him a chair, bringing out most of the Dungeon of Doom! We are deep into the build up to the Uncensored Cage of Doom build up. Kinda fun, could have been more, but an odd sight.
Ric Flair vs Mark Star: The Flair Pro Tour continues! Star's early offense is short lived, and mostly a headlock and a few roll ups. I keep looking at the elevated Pro stage and wondering why I never heard of anyone getting hurt from it. Match feels like the end of a longer Flair match as Star's comeback offense is a small package and backslide. Flair taking backdrops even in 1996 is scary. Finish is similar to the last one, just Mark misses a second rope knee drop, and the figure four finishes. Interesting to watch different lower card guys fit into Flair match, not a bad way to see who's good and who is a lower card guy for a reason.
And we're out for now, I can't wait to watch more than this
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