Written By: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents ECW on TNN
Date: 2/4/2000
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Joey Styles and Joel Gertner are standing in the ring to welcome everyone to the show. Gertner’s line this week involves saying that the kid from Cuba should be deported (Elian). Gertner is going to say “ass” but Cyrus is backstage to cut away from that. Cyrus suggests that Gertner should go to Rock N’ Bowl. He says that Gertner has heat with the Network. Behind Cyrus, Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso are walking past a sitting Raven. RVD enters a locker room to fight Mike Awesome. RVD jumps over a table to attack Awesome while Spike Dudley hits the Acid the Drop on Judge Jeff Jones through a table! Cyrus ends the segment saying that the Network will not tolerate that kind of violence.
ECW on TNN opening video
Tonight, Dusty Rhodes teams up with Tommy Dreamer to take on Steve Corino and Rhino! Also, RVD will be in action!
Backstage, the Sinister Minister is trying to talk to Raven. Raven wants to know why Dreamer needs Francine and thinks Dreamer doesn’t want to hear his problems. Paul Heyman walks over and tosses Minister out of the area. Raven ends up having a conversation with Heyman as the camera is put down, so it’s like they don’t know the camera is on. Heyman wants Raven to snap out of his issues. Raven asks Heyman if he has ever helped him before to end the segment.
Steve Corino is in the ring saying that no one wants to see him destroy Tommy Dreamer once again. Corino wants Dreamer to turn around and tag in Dusty Rhodes. Corino keeps on calling Rhodes a fat, disgusting piece of garbage. Rhodes gets tagged in to start the tag match.
Opening Contest: Dusty Rhodes/Tommy Dreamer defeated Steve Corino/Rhino: Corino puts a side headlock on Rhodes but rolls to his corner to avoid a biotic elbow. Rhino tags himself into the match to save his manager. Rhodes rakes Rhino’s eyes and puts on an awful figure four on Rhino. Dreamer enters and puts Jack Victory in the figure four. Francine enters and decides to put Corino in a figure four as well. Dreamer and Rhodes head to the floor to attack Corino and Rhino. Dreamer brawls with Rhino in the crowd while Rhodes busts Corino open on the entrance ramp area. Rhodes brings Corino back to the ring to deliver right hands. Dreamer tags in to hit Corino with a double back elbow strike. Dreamer drops an elbow before tossing Corino to the floor. Rhino attacks Dreamer on the floor by dropping Dreamer groin first onto the guard railing. Rhino enters the ring controlling Dreamer with several shots and a spear in the corner. Rhino scoop slams Dreamer before heading to the top rope and connects with a big splash for a two count. Rhino gets another near fall following a suplex. Dreamer manages to crotch Rhino on the top rope and connects with a superplex! Corino and Rhodes get the tags. Rhodes jabs Corino several times to get the advantage. Dreamer and Rhodes work on their opponents in opposite corners. Rhino spears Dreamer but Rhodes elbows Corino. Rhodes scoop slams Rhino but misses an elbow drop. Rhino hits Rhodes with a clothesline and Corino heads to the top rope. Dreamer whacks Rhino with a steel chair several times followed by a DDT on the chair. Rhodes slams Corino off the top rope and hits Corino with an elbow drop to win the bout. *3/4
The ECW World Tag Team Champions, the Impact Players are with Jason and Dawn Marie in a hot tub. Storm says they want to defend the titles against worthy opponents. Credible has no problem with the guys beating each other up to get a shot at the titles. Marie is going to get naked but Jason decides to take his towel off and provide such great entertainment.
Backstage, Doring and Roadkill cut a promo about being the team that deserves to be the tag team champions. Doring believes it’s a reality that they will make money and get a lot of money. Electra is offended by the women part and ends up grabbing Doring’s penis after telling the camera to move in to not violate TNN’s rules. Electra tells Marie that she is going to kick her ass, too!
Backstage, Mikey Whipwreck talks about his past achievements that included carrying Cactus Jack to the tag team titles and being able to defeat Sandman for the ECW World Championship. Whipwreck is going to beat RVD to win the ECW Television Championship tonight!
Main Event: ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Mikey Whipwreck to retain the title: Whipwreck hits RVD with a baseball slide followed by a slingshot cross body onto the floor! Whipwreck continues his offense with a side Russian leg sweep into the guard railing. Whipwreck sends RVD head first into the ring post before hitting a hurricanrana on the floor! Back into the ring, Whipwreck hits RVD with a slingshot elbow drop while RVD laid across the middle rope. Whipwreck gets a two count following a top rope lariat. RVD stops Whipwreck with a step over heel kick. RVD atomic drops Whipwreck and delivers a running chair assisted dropkick to Whipwreck in the corner! RVD works on Whipwreck with a few kicks on the floor and tosses Whipwreck into the guard railing. RVD super kicks Whipwreck over the guard railing into the crowd! RVD leaps off the apron to hit Whipwreck with a leg drop over the back with a chair on top of Whipwreck as he was on the guard railing. RVD connects with a cartwheel body splash for another near fall. RVD continues his onslaught with a rolling thunder splash onto a chair. RVD misses a splash in the corner and is met with a German suplex by Whipwreck for a two count! Whipwreck pedigrees RVD onto a chair for a two count. RVD blocks the Whippersnapper and hits the Van Daminator followed by the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. **
Outside, Mike Awesome says that his manager is being loaded into an ambulance. Awesome tells RVD and Dudley that if his manager is not okay, he will break both their backs!
URGENT NEWS: Hours after the broadcast, Rob Van Dam suffered a broken leg in Orlando, FL. Next week, we will find out what will happen due to this injury.
My Take: I didn’t like the segment with Heyman and Raven. It just seemed like they were trying too hard to make the situation emotional.
The tag match was a decent brawl for what it was. The only thing that really bothers me is how lackluster Dusty’s offense is compared to everyone else’s. You’ve got guys hitting each other with chairs and kicking out. However, after a simple elbow drop, Rhodes is able to earn wins. It’s just really lousy and doesn’t really fit well with the ECW style.
Danny Doring is becoming an entertaining character. Who would’ve thought that?
I actually thought that Whipwreck/RVD was going to turn into an extended squash with RVD getting the obvious win, but it was a fairly competitive match. Again, nothing special, but it was a decent bout.
Sucks to see RVD breaking his leg as they kills the feud with Awesome dead in its tracks. Should be interesting to see where this leaves Awesome moving forward.
Overall, you would think that Dusty’s debut would be a big deal but it just seemed flat to me. Honestly, the guy shouldn’t be going over anyone in ECW. Decent in-ring action makes this an average show at best.
Thanks for reading.