Written By: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents ECW on TNN
Date: 1/28/2000
From: New Orleans, LA
Backstage, Francine enters a locker-room where Raven is sitting. She tries to get Raven to get ready for his match against Steve Corino and Rhino, but Raven doesn’t want to wrestle them because they aren’t the champions. Raven is upset that Dreamer hasn’t thanked him for taking the cane shot to save Francine. Dreamer enters the room and tries to get Raven up, but he refuses. Francine leads Dreamer out of the room to end the segment.
Joey Styles and Joel Gertner are standing in the ring with the fans chanting ECW. Gertner talks about Cyrus being a wussy for being unable to make it to the show. Cyrus appears in the production truck to cut off Gertner’s statements. Cyrus says there are five guys who want their releases if Gertner continues to be a commentator. Cyrus introduces a clip of a RVD/Mike Awesome confrontation from last week. They show Sabu attacking RVD and all that great stuff from last week.
ECW on TNN opening video package
Tonight, we will see Mike Awesome defend the ECW World Championship against Spike Dudley!
Backstage, Judge Jeff Jones is with Mike Awesome for a promo. Jones was going to talk about RVD, but Awesome instead wanted to talk about Spike Dudley. Awesome says he is the champion because he is awesome and focused. He is focused on powerbombing Dudley through a table. Awesome notes that Dudley has his respect since the pay per view but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to kick his ass tonight!
Opening Contest: Tajiri defeated Little Guido: Tajiri hip tosses Guido to open the contest but Guido comes back with a wrist lock for a brief time. Tajiri delivers a kick but Guido spears him and they bridge out of pin as ECW goes to another commercial break. Tajiri leaps off the top rope with his knee on Guido’s neck and drives him face first into the mat. Tajiri takes out Guido and Big Sal with a moonsault on the floor before playing to the fans back in the ring. Guido counters a suplex attempt into the ring but Tajiri puts the Tarantula on Guido! Tajiri continues to work on Guido with a few kicks to the head/face of Guido. Guido avoids the brain buster and puts an arm bar on Tajiri! Guido attempts a Un-Prettier but Tajiri gets out of it but Guido puts the arm bar back on. Tajiri comes off the ropes to hit Guido with a handspring back elbow. Tajiri delivers a couple of dropkicks to keep control of Guido. Guido drives Tajiri face first down to the mat for a two count. Guido leaps off the top rope to hit Tajiri with a nice leg drop but only gets a two count. Tajiri recovers to crotch Guido on the top rope and puts Guido in the tree of woe. Tajiri charges the corner to dropkick Guido in the face. Big Sal is on the apron with a chair but is dropkicked off by Tajiri. Guido and Tajiri exchange chops until Tajiri kicks Guido and plants Guido with the brain buster for the win. **
Backstage, Bill Alfonso is with ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam for an interview. RVD knows that it bothers Sabu that he is better than him. RVD says he would’ve let Sabu carry his bags and hold the championship he could never take from him. RVD talks about Mike Awesome who he gives credit for being a great champion and big man. RVD says he is the best wrestler and the fans tell him that every day.
Second Contest: Steve Corino/Rhino defeated Tommy Dreamer/Josh Wilcox: Wilcox and Corino start off the contest in a football stance position. Rhino tags into the bout but misses a charge and hits the corner as Wilcox tags in Dreamer. Dreamer sends Rhino to the floor after a low blow. Dreamer rams Rhino into the guard railing a few times. Rhino runs into a big boot in the corner but comes back to gore Dreamer! Rhino covers but only manages to get a near fall. Corino tags in to work on Dreamer with a few right hands until Rhino tags in and plants Dreamer with a spine buster for a two count. Rhino gores Dreamer in the corner and gets another near fall. Corino tags back into the contest delivering a few shots on Dreamer but Dreamer fights back and Corino tags out to Rhino. Rhino hits a snap suplex on Dreamer for a two count. Rhino heads to the top rope but misses a big splash. Dreamer gets up to gore Rhino and tags in Wilcox. Corino backs off as Wilcox picks up a chair. Wilcox hits Dreamer with the chair across the back and Corino covers Dreamer after Rhino delivers a pile driver for the win. *1/4
After the match, Wilcox is given a payday for his services. Corino hugs Wilcox before Wilcox saying the fans booed the Saints and insults the fans. Corino proclaims Josh Wilcox as the savior of the Saints. Dusty Rhodes comes down to the ring as Corino calls him out. Rhodes knocks out Victory and Wilcox with elbows and knocks Corino to the floor as well. Rhodes hits Wilcox with an elbow drop as the fans chant for Rhodes!
Main Event: ECW World Champion Mike Awesome defeated Spike Dudley to retain the title: Dudley takes Awesome out with a top rope cross body on the floor to kick start the match. Awesome stops Dudley with a title shot on the floor and continues to work on the challenger with a few right hands. Dudley wildly hits Awesome with a chair and hits Awesome with a fans beer. Awesome tosses Dudley side first into the guard railing to regain the advantage. Awesome drops Dudley chest first across the guard railing as well. Dudley stops a charging Awesome with a head ram and leaps off the top rope with a sit down splash of sorts for a one count. Awesome delivers a huge clothesline to stop the momentum shift. Awesome tosses Dudley across the ring with a release German suplex for only a near fall. Dudley counters a power bomb attempt with a hurricanrana but Awesome comes back with a sit out spine buster for a near fall. Awesome sets up a table on the floor and grabs Dudley on the apron but Dudley wiggles free and manages to bulldog Awesome off the apron through the table! Dudley leaps off the top rope to hit Awesome with a chair! Dudley continues to hit Awesome with the chair back in the ring and goes for the Acid Drop but Awesome throws Dudley away only to be met with a chair shot for a two count! Dudley nails Awesome with another chair shot off the top but only manages to get a two count! Awesome kicks the chair into Dudley’s face to stop the challenger in his tracks. Awesome delivers a vicious clothesline before driving Dudley down to the mat with an Awesome Bomb. Awesome goes up top and hits the Awesome Splash but only gets a two count! Awesome sets up a table in the corner and works on Dudley with a few right hands before powerbombing Dudley through the table to pick up the win. **1/2
After the match, Awesome powerbombs the referee. Awesome grabs a microphone to call out RVD. RVD’s music hits and the ECW TV Champion makes his way down to the ring. However, Sabu runs down to attack RVD from behind. Awesome leaps over the top rope and accidentally takes out Sabu with a dive as RVD moved out of the way! RVD leaps off the top rope to take out Awesome and Sabu out with a somersault dive to close out the show!
My Take: The Raven/Dreamer angle just seems to be repetitive and quite annoying to me. I understand that Raven’s character has historically been a whiner and whatnot but he is actually sounding like a little bitch to me. I want to see the ruthless, pissed of Raven and hopefully he reaches that point where he just loses his mind and destroys Dreamer.
Tajiri/Guido was a quality bout with the outcome being obvious. Guido hardly ever wins against Tajiri or Super Crazy which bugs me a lot.
I’m really digging the RVD/Awesome progression. Having Sabu paired up with Awesome and continuing his feud with RVD is also interesting. This feud has to be the most entertaining feud going right now in ECW.
Have you ever heard of Josh Wilcox’s? I’m an NFL fan and consider myself to know a decent amount of stuff about the league, but I don’t recall Wilcox ever being a standout football player. His promo was shockingly good, but it was kind of weird that he would rip on Saints fans. I’d have to think the fans would know it was scripted but I wonder how much of that he really meant and just used wrestling as a crutch to get it off his chest!
Respect has to be given to Spike Dudley for continuing to work brutal matches despite having blown out his knee at the Guilty As Charged pay per view. They had a solid bout for television and the aftermath with RVD and Sabu was a fun way to close out the show, in my opinion.
Overall, this week’s episode was a decent broadcast. The opener and main event were two decent matches so it wasn’t a waste of time. Next week, Dusty Rhodes competes!
Thanks for reading.