Written By: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents ECW on TNN
Date: 10/1/1999
From: Plymouth, MI
Late breaking news: Raven and Tommy Dreamer were involved in a locker room confrontation.
Joey Styles and Joel Gertner welcome everyone to the show from the broadcast booth. Mike Awesome will be defending the ECW World Championship on this edition of ECW on TNN.
ECW on TNN opening video
Opening Contest: ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome defeated Rhino to retain the title: Rhino charges towards the champion after being shoved but is met with a clothesline. Awesome with a back elbow after leaping off the middle rope. Awesome clotheslines Rhino over the top to the floor and leaps over the top connecting with a body splash. Awesome tosses Rhino back first into the guard railing a couple of times and sets up a table on the floor. Awesome sends Rhino back into the ring and leaps off the top rope connecting with a clothesline for a two count. Rhino backdrops Awesome, avoiding a power bomb. Rhino connects with a spine buster and gets a near fall. Rhino woks on Awesome in the corner with a right hand and spears Awesome in the corner. Rhino leaps off the top connecting with a flying head butt to Awesome’s lower back for a two count. Rhino comes off the ropes but is met with a big boot and a release German suplex. Awesome goes for a power bomb but Rhino gets out of it. Awesome sets Rhino up again and connects with a sick power bomb over the top and Rhino crashes through a table on the floor! Rhino is out cold back in the ring and Awesome leaps off he top hitting the Awesome Splash and gets the three to retain the title. **½
Joel Gertner and Joey Styles put over the dominance of Mike Awesome before going back to the ring.
A video highlighting Spike Dudley delivering the Acid Drop to several big guys throughout his ECW career.
Second Contest: Spike Dudley defeated Little Guido/Sal E. Graziano: Dudley hit’s the Acid Drop on Sal but Guido enters the ring and breaks up the pin. Guido rams Dudley into corner a few times. Back from a commercial, Dudley rolls Guido up but only gets a near fall. Guido with a Oklahoma roll but is only able to get a two count. Dudley with a neck breaker and also gets a two count. Dudley sends Guido to the floor and connects with a suicide dive! Guido tosses Dudley into the guard railing and Sal comes out of nowhere with a splash up against the railing! Guido with the silician slice back in the ring but Dudley kicks out at two. Guido with the Kiss of Death but is only able to get a two count! Guido scoop slams Dudley and Sal misses a big splash. Dudley with a low blow on Guido and walks up Sal in the corner to hit the Acid Drop on Guido. Sal accidentally elbow drops Guido and is able Acid Drop Sal onto Guido. Dudley covers both men and picks up the win. **
Joey Styles and Joel Gertner continue to hype up the locker room fight between Raven and Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer will still be facing Tajiri later on tonight.
Next week, Tammy Lynn Sytch makes her return to ECW.
A highlight video of ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam is aired.
Joel Gertner introduces a clip from ECW Anarchy Rulz. They show a match from Anarchy Rulz which was Danny Doring/Amish Roadkill taking on CW Anderson/Billy Wiles. I’m not going to recap this show until I get to the actual pay per view event. Doring and Roadkill do win the match, though.
Main Event: Tajiri defeated Tommy Dreamer: Dreamer baseball slides Corino into Tajiri on the floor and sends Victory into Corino as well. Dreamer sends Tajiri back first into the guard railing and crotches Tajiri on the guard railing. Dreamer hits Tajiri with a paper cup and tosses Tajiri back into the ring. Tajiri with a handspring back elbow and kicks Dreamer on the side of the head. Dreamer drops Tajiri throat first across the top rope from the apron. Dreamer with a slingshot splash from the apron gets Dreamer a near fall. Dreamer scoop slams Tajiri and heads to the top rope but is crotched by Tajiri. Tajiri places Dreamer in the tree of woe. Tajiri charges the corner but misses a dropkick and hit’s the ring post groin first! Dreamer sets Tajiri up in the tree of woe and Francine hold a chair in front of Tajiri’s face. Dreamer connects with a running dropkick sending the chair into Tajiri’s face! Tajiri avoids a suplex from the apron to the floor and is able to kick Dreamer in the head and Dreamer drops to the floor. Tajiri delivers a kick to Dreamer’s neck on the floor. Tajiri goes for the Trantula but Dreamer low blows Tajiri and locks in a Trantuala of his own until Corino delivers a right hand to break the hold. Tajiri with a baseball slide and kicks Dreamer’s knee on the floor. Tajiri sends Dreamer face first onto a chair but Dreamer comes back by sending Tajiri over the railing into the crowd! Dreamer backdrops Tajiri into a penalty box and whacks Tajiri over the head with a steel chair! Dreamer with a flurry of right hands and Tajiri has been busted wide open! Tajiri tries to crawl away but Dreamer hits Tajiri with the chair again. Dreamer bites Tajiri’s forehead and spits beer into Tajiri’s face. Dreamer tosses Tajiri back into the ring hammers away on Tajiri in the corner. Dreamer runs into a super kick in the corner from Tajiri. Tajiri with a knee drop to the back of Dreamer’s head. Tajiri misses a spin kick and Dreamer drives Tajiri down with a death valley driver! Dreamer covers but Corino pulls the referee out! Francine enters the ring and charges Corino but Corino avoids the attack. Francine is able to connect with a pedigree on Corino. Raven comes down to the ring and DDT’s Dreamer! Tajiri with a running dropkick and covers Dreamer to win the match! **½
End of show
My Take: Awesome/Rhino was a quick title defense but it was a competitive match where I thought they were able to fit a lot into the contest. The fans are really behind Awesome at this point and are buying into everything the guy can do. ECW has been making Awesome look like a absolute beast. Anything Awesome does just comes across, well, awesome!
Dudley/FBI match was entertaining for what it was. Dudley is being pushed as the underdog who has been able to beat anyone in any situation. That is fine, but his lack of size kind of makes the people he beat look bad, especially when it’s a handicap situation.
I also enjoyed Tajiri/Dreamer and think the win by Tajiri greatly helps Tajiri possibly move up in the ranks. Tajiri has been used mostly as a mid-card wrestler but if they can follow up on this he can be a realistic threat to the main event level. The whole Raven/Dreamer storyline to me is played out at this point. Their feud from 1995-1997 was great, but going back to it two years later is kind of lame.
Overall, the show featured some quality wrestling. I can’t complain with that. Good show.
Thanks for reading.