Written by: Arnold Furious
Welcome to ECW in 2000. Mike Awesome had jumped ship prior to this PPV creating the most confusing set of title changes in ECW history. First the (now WCW based) ECW champion Mike Awesome lost to (WWF superstar) Tazz making a WWF wrestler the ECW champion. He promptly wrestled the then WWF champion Triple H on RAW in a first ever ECW champion v WWF champion match. Tazz returned to ECW for one last time and jobbed the belt to Tommy Dreamer. He only held the belt for part of one night before losing it to Justin Credible who promptly threw down the ECW tag titles. Therefore coming into this PPV Credible was set to defend against former partner Lance Storm while the tag titles were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile RVD was back and facing off against his greatest opponent Jerry Lynn, who was also returning after an absence with a leg injury.
We’re in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Joey Styles and Joel Gertner are the hosts. It’s Mother’s Day. Sign in crowd – “Happy F’n Mothers Day”. They screw up some kind of VT connection involving Tommy Dreamer. Nevermind, eh. They go up to the announce position but Cyrus turns up and bitches at Gertner. Kanemura chokes him out. “Your fat body is a rating’s killer, the people don’t buy your gimmick” – Cyrus.
Balls Mahoney v Masato Tanaka
With Awesome gone ECW threw Tanaka into a match with one of his tag partners in Japan – Balls. They run some standing switches. Single leg Boston crab from Balls but Tanaka gets the ropes. Flying crossbody gets 2 for Tanaka and he goes to the armbar. Balls misses his spinning ropes kick, pescado from Tanaka is caught and Balls throws him into the guardrail. 30 yard running chair shot from Tanaka. Tornado DDT off a chair and onto the ramp from Tanaka. Chair duel is won by Balls and Tanaka no sells a vicious couple of chair shots until taking a brutal chair shot for 2. Tanaka swings a chair but Balls hits a superkick into the chair for 2. 4 steel chairs in the ring. Balls goes for the nutcracker but Tanaka hits a tornado DDT onto the 4 chairs for 2. Roaring elbow misses and Balls hits the Nutcracker Suite but only for 2. Diamond dust gets 2 for Tanaka. Nutcracker Suite onto a pile of chairs but Tanaka kicks out! New Jersey Jam misses. Roaring elbow only gets 2. Super chair shot and now Balls no sells the chair. Roaring elbow and Tanaka finally gets the pin at 9.17. ***1/2. Good opener and Balls Mahoney’s best match by far.
Backstage Lance Storm tells Credible that he’s spat on him and this business. Cyrus tells Joey about the heat behind the match. Lance, incidentally, is about to defect to WCW.
Simon Diamond w/Mitch/the Musketeer/’the Prodigy’ Tom Marquez/the Prodigette v Little Guido w/Big Sal v Mikey Whipwreck w/Sinister Minister
Simon is running Justin Credible close for “biggest entourage ever” honours. Guido goes for an early maritado on Diamond but Mikey breaks it and goes for a Whippersnapper. Guido escapes and Diamond goes for the Simonizer on Mikey who escapes. Everyone arm drags each other. Guido eats a Mikey superkick for 2 and Mikey also hits a dropkick on Diamond. Headscissors from Guido on Diamond. Tip up slam on Diamond from Guido gets 2. Mikey hits a super shoulder block on Guido for 2. Diamond with the rolling suplexes on Mikey into the gourd buster but Guido kicks him in the face for 2. Diamond assists Mikey on a guillotine legdrop w/chair and then chair shots Mikey. Lights go out – oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. They throw a spotlight on the ring so that Guido can see who he’s trying for a pescado on but he misses anyway. The Entourage attacks Sal. Simon hits a pescado and Sal catches him so Mikey hits a cannonball and wipes everyone out. Sal squashes the entourage. Back inside Guido hits the Sicilian slice on Mikey for 2. Sit down powerbomb on Guido from Simon gets 2. Simon gets Guido in a fireman’s carry and Mikey hits him with a superkick, which means he does a Samoan drop on Guido. Good spot. Whippersnapper on Simon Diamond and he’s gone at 5.35. Crossbody from the top from Guido and Mikey reverses the fall for 2. Spinning sit down pedigree from Mikey gets a long 2 and a “fuhgettabowtit” from Joey. Side Italian legsweep gets 2. Sal assisted legdrop misses. Fireball on Sal. Maritado gets the duke for Guido though at 7.09. ***. They sure crammed a lot of action into those 7 minutes. Shame about the lights going out though. They wrestled most of the match in the dark.
Backstage Justin Credible does an interview with Francine.
Kid Kash v CW Anderson w/Bill Wiles/Elektra/Lou E
Pre-match Lou E calls Elektra the toughest women in wrestling so that brings out Jazz. Jazz Stinger on Wiles. Superkick on Lou E. She pulls Elektra’s jacket off to reveal a Mike Awesome shirt – big heat for that. Falcon arrow on Elektra. CW superkicks Jazz and that brings out Kash. Not before a spinebuster though. Jazz is carried out. Kash hits a MASSIVE plancha onto the Dangerous Alliance. CW throws some big left hands. Rana, arm drag and a dropkick from Kash. Rana off the apron to Wiles. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors from Kash but he gets caught on another rana attempt and CW hits a tiger bomb. Amazing double springboard crossbody from Kash that rivals anything Chetti has done. Kash gets caught going for the moonsault press and CW hits the Ferris wheel for 2. Nice powerslam from CW gets 2. Cell phone misses and hits Bill Wiles. Superkick from CW gets 2. Super rana gets the duke for Kash at 7.18. Finish was a bit abrupt. **1/2. Both these guys have amazing potential. Kash does some unreal flying stuff while CW is a great technical wrestler.
Backstage RVD tapes his leg up and tells Fonzie that he has Scotty Anton in his corner Fonzie just needs to focus on his job – blowing his whistle. We learn that Credible did a number on Dreamer at the start of the show and the cameras missed it. Joey runs down TNN. Oh boy. Dreamer is meant to be in the 3-way dance tonight for the title but trust me, he won’t be.
The Baldies (Angel/DeVito) v Nova/Chetti v Doring/Roadkill
DeVito gets whipped off the ramp to the floor and Nova hits a plancha (complete with a wah-hooo). Pair of roundhouses from Nova/Chetti. Pair of front kicks and a pair of lethal kicks. Doring/Roadkill and Nova/Chetti brawl. Bareback on Nova. Baldies come in and clean house. Double Amish springboard clothesline. Swanton bomb on DeVito from Nova gets 2. Lancaster lariat of lust on Nova gets 2. Double flapjack on Roadkill from the Baldies. Double chokeslam on Roadkill into some set up chairs. Nasty. Nova hits the Baldies with a DDT and Stunner – at the same freakin’ time! Grimes hits the ring and he gets a bareback from Doring. Ohio Jam from Doring on Grimes. Angel guitar shots Doring and he and Roadkill are gone at 4.16. At ringside Roadkill pulls out a table. Grimes is set up on the table – Roadkill heads up top and hits a top rope splash to put Grimes through the table. Air Chetti off Angel’s back. Angel charges Nova (who’s in the tree of woe) and Nova flips up and hits a stunner out of the tree of woe. I heart Nova. Amityville horror on DeVito and the Tidal wave finishes at 6.35 for Nova/Chetti. *1/2. Ok in places but just a mess basically.
The Baldies mug Nova and Chetti post match and out comes New Jack.
Angel v New Jack
I think this is the match I’m watching. New Jack beats the crap out of all the Baldies with the plunder and staples DeVito. Fork to the head of DeVito. New Jack fights with DeVito out into the crowd and New Jack does the single most insane balcony dive, ever. This was nearly as high as the scaffold fall from the last PPV. New Jack guitar shots Angel thanks to him being held by Nova/Chetti. 187 chair dive on Angel and I guess that ends this feud. DUD.
Steve Corino w/Jack Victory v Tajiri
Corino rips into Tajiri and the crowd pre-match. Corino has gone from pussy to asshole in a couple of months. “Get the rocks out of that Jap head of yours you little slant eyed bastard” – Corino. Ensiguri from Corino after he ducked a few Tajiri kicks. Sit down powerbomb gets 2 for Corino. Tajiri uses a blocked kick to his advantage and slaps on a Tarantula. Corino goes for a suplex on the ramp and Tajiri stiffs him and hits a brainbuster on the ramp. DAMN! Corino rolls off the ramp and blades, big time. Corino is hung in the tree of woe and Tajiri opens that head wound wide open with a baseball slide. Blood sprays onto the camera lens. Corino’s hair is now red. Tajiri goes for a chair baseball slide but Jack Victory interferes. Superkick from Corino gets 2. Tajiri dropkicks a chair into Corino’s face. Tajiri gets a table and puts Corino at one end of it and then dropkicks the table into Corino’s head. Tajiri tries to break Jack Victory’s nose by dropping his knee on it Kawada-style. Corino back drops Tajiri into the ring and he breaks the table doing so. Fisherman suplex from Corino gets 2. Northern lights suplex gets 2 for Corino. Table is set up by Corino and you can see his blood all over it. Abdominal stretch from Corino is reversed into the Octopus (standing) from Tajiri and an interfering Jack Victory gets mist. Powerslam from Corino gets 2. Tajiri hits a flurry of punches and kicks. Amazing feet and hand speed. Vicious, nasty, brutal kick to the head of Corino and Tajiri drives him through the table for the win at 10.25. ***1/2. I love this match. Fantastic stuff. Made Corino a star in my eyes. After Kanemura and Victory beat on Tajiri out comes Dusty Rhodes to hit some bionic elbows. Rhino beats the crap out of him and this brings out the Sandman.
ECW TV title – Rhino (c) v The Sandman
Rhino anticipates the cane shot and beats Sandman down. It spills outside and Sandman hits a guillotine legdrop ala RVD. Table in the ring. Table set up on the ropes while they wail on each other. Rhino sets a table gore on the apron but Sandman ducks it and Rhino puts himself through the table. Sandman piledrives Rhino on a flat table in the ring for 2 and does it again. Victory and Corino do a run in so Lori Fullington comes in for the save and she canes Victory. Sandman decks Corino. Rhino piledrives Sandman on the ramp. Lori slaps Rhino and he’s pissed off now. He drags her into the ring and out the other side. Piledriver off the apron, through a table to the floor and GOOD GAWD Rhino just killed the Sandman’s wife. Corino and Victory tee Lori up for a gore through a table and Sandman makes the save with the Singapore cane. He picks Lori up but Rhino gores them both through the table and pins Sandman for the win at 6.23. Yay for Rhino! **. Horrible match but the finish was awesome. Rhino has a message for Lori post match – “happy mother’s day you f*ckin’ bitch”. Nice.
Rob Van Dam v Jerry Lynn
RVD has Fonzie and Anton in his corner. “I think Fonzie’s face is a complete ratings disaster” – Cyrus. “Welcome back” – Milwaukee. Couple of nice little counters. They run a magnificent series of near misses harking back to their previous matches. They sold the familiarity of the moves. Pat Patterson loved that bit apparently. RVD keeps stalling and showboating. Another near miss but RVD connects with a spin kick. Cartwheel splash gets 2. Lynn dropkicks RVD in the back after RVD showboats again. Springboard dropkick knocks RVD to the floor. Slingshot somersault plancha from Lynn. RVD does the adjacent guardrail sidekick spot. Corkscrew guillotine legdrop w/chair. Moonsault press on the floor misses for RVD. Gourd buster from Lynn and he hits the Minnesota Jam for 2. Big DDT counter out of the backdrop from Lynn gets 2. Tornado DDT doesn’t quite work for Lynn as RVD counters but can’t get Lynn over for the northern lights, couple of kicks miss and the spot ends with a double clothesline. More selling of familiarity. Lynn belts RVD with a chair to counter the Van Daminator. They do the Van Daminator duck with a legsweep into a chair that I loved so much at LD99. Step through heel kick from RVD gets 2. Rolling thunder w/chair gets 2. RVD chair surfs for 2. Lynn avoids the monkey flip and hits his corner roll up onto the chair for 2. Superplex from Lynn gets 2. They do a nice head fake sequence in the corner and Lynn hits a guillotine legdrop. They fight onto the buckles over a table and Lynn hits a bulldog through the table. Lynn hits a running senton off the apron and Anton ends up taking it after RVD dodges. Fonzie crotches Lynn and they do the top turnbuckle Van Daminator (the pre-cursor to the Van Terminator). 5 Star frog splash w/chair. The Network (Corino/Victory/Cyrus/Rhino) do a run in. Lynn gets gored. Powerbomb on RVD. That was needless. RVD hits a leaping sidekick. Van Daminator on Cyrus. Van Lynninator on Fonzie. Van Daminator on Lynn. RVD hits the buckles and Scotty Anton shoves him off. RVD lands half on the rampway. Ouch. Cradle piledriver from Lynn gets 2. Second cradle piledriver on a chair and Lynn wins at 19.50. Finally Lynn beats RVD and RVD loses on PPV. ****. Shame about all the pointless interference.
ECW title – Justin Credible (c) v Lance Storm
Credible tells Dreamer (who’s injured) not to come into the ring or he’ll dump the belt in the trash on Monday night. Heyman comes out to tell Dreamer to stay out of it. Dreamer is now bumped back to Heatwave and ECW is running out of main eventers. Dawn Marie is in Storm’s corner (for the last time) and Francine is in Credible’s corner. This is a brawl. They screw up a dropkick over the ropes and Storm hits a pescado into a cane shot. Credible hits the sit down powerbomb out of the corner for 2. Credible goes to the sleeper at every single opportunity. They do some reversals out of the That’s Incredible and Storm avoids an inverted DDT to hit a northern lights suplex for 2. Credible gets 2 from a superkick. Storm rolls through a high crossbody for 2. Storm hip tosses Credible over the ropes and through a table on the ramp. Storm drop downs and comes up with a single leg Boston crab. Francine breaks it and in comes Dawn Marie – catfight. That’s Incredible on Dawn Marie. Storm canes Credible and hits a piledriver for 2. That’s Incredible on Storm and he kicks out. Swinging DDT gets 2 for Credible. Some roll ups are countered for 2’s. Storm is crotched and Credible hits the That’s Incredible to retain at 12.29. **1/2. Actually much better than I remember but the crowd was dead for the heel on heel action. Post match Dreamer comes out to set up the main event at Heatwave 2000. He canes Credible. He looks upset at Francine. He puts the cane down and hits the Spicolli Driver! Huge pop and everyone goes home happy.
Best matches –
3. Balls Mahoney v Masato Tanaka. Sleeper match without a doubt. Both men had failed when taken out of their element prior to this but they seemed to complement each other really well. As Tanaka didn’t really appear much after this, due to his asking price one would suspect, they didn’t capitalise and do a rematch. ECW was suffering badly from raids on their talent in 2000. ECW’s talent had become recognised and that meant the WWF and WCW wanted them.
2. Steve Corino v Tajiri. Lots of bleeding from Corino mixed with stiff purposeful kicks and good timing from Tajiri made this a good match. Corino got Lynn at Heatwave to follow up on this great start but he really should have wrestled Tajiri at another big show. I guess they needed another big star quicker than that though. The swift acceleration made Corino almost insufferable at times.
1. Rob Van Dam v Jerry Lynn. No surprises about this being the show stealer but it wasn’t as good as their previous meetings. It was way overbooked. More on that in the round up.
Overall PPV rating – B-
I love this show. Thumbs up. There’s a great mixture of wrestling and violence. This is ECW at it’s best. It’s a shame they felt the need to overbook the Lynn-RVD match. It didn’t need multiple run in’s it just needed the Anton heel turn. The main event was disappointing compared to the rest of the show and somewhat proved that Credible wasn’t really a viable champion. He could draw heat but he wasn’t good enough in the ring to match that. His match with Storm wasn’t what they expected. Next up for Credible would be Tommy Dreamer. Would it be any good? Well stay tuned, Heatwave 2000 would follow this.