ECW Heatwave 1999 7/18/1999

Written by: Arnold Furious

This is a PPV from the midst of RVD’s epic feud with Jerry Lynn. Tonight they’re allies against a common enemy – the Impact Players. The team of Justin Credible and Lance Storm. Taz is defending his ECW world title against Tajiri who’s on a run since his hot debut against Super Crazy earlier in the year. Tajiri is also backed by Steve Corino, Rhyno and Jack Victory. Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley have combined their resources to tackle ECW tag champs – The Dudley Boys.

Taz cuts a promo before the PPV hits the airwaves telling Tajiri to beat him if he can and survive if I let you. Various ECW stars talk about who’s the hottest star at Heatwave 99. Jerry Lynn tells us that he doesn’t like Rob Van Dam and he never will. RVD tells us that he doesn’t need Sabu or Bill Alphonso in tonights main event because he’s “the whole f**king team”.

Road Kill/”Dastardly” Danny Doring w/Angelica (Lita) v Nova/Chris Chetti

Doring proposes to Angelica prior to the match and she agrees. Nova ignores his tag partner and hits a belly to belly side slam on Doring. Nova is the innovator. Hart Attack on Nova from Road Kill and Doring. Huge avalanche from Road Kill. Bareback from Doring on Nova. Doring follows up with a g-spot sweep. Road Kill comes in off the top rope with a leg drop. Dirt road slam on Nova. Doring comes back in with a springboard elbow. Nova with a “Spin Doctor” which is an inverted swinging neckbreaker. Chetti comes in with an axe kick and a powerslam on Doring. Nova grabs both Road Kill and Doring and hits a DDT and a stunner at the same time. Awesome. Nova only gets a two count off both men. Road Kill and Doring double whip Nova into Chetti who’s propped up in the corner. Nova monkey flips Chetti out of the corner and he wipes out Doring and Road Kill with a double clothesline. Sweet spot. Nova slaps the figure 4 on Road Kill. Doring and Chetti head to opposite turnbuckles and both hit leg drops from the top on their respective opponents. Chetti then nails a beautiful double springboard moonsault. Chetti calls for some music because he’s so good he wants to dance a little. He calls Angelica in and dances with her. Nova confronts Chetti about this foolishness and Angelica belts Chetti so Chetti gives her the Amityville horror. Doring is pissed off. He throws a tantrum. Nova surprises him with the Kryptonite Krunch and Chetti hits the Amityville horror on Road Kill. Nova and Chetti go upstairs and hit the Tidal wave for the win at 7.01. ****. About as good as you can get in 7 minutes. Nova would have been the next big star in ECW had it not gone bust.

Jason v Jazz

Jazz goes for an early crossbody and Jason catches her, spanks her and slams her. Jazz comes back with a scoop slam and a crossbody from the second turnbuckle. Jason misses a kick and Jazz sweeps him down for a two count. Jazz with a rolling neck snap for another 2. Jason drop kicks Jazz (in the face) and hits an elbow from the second rope for a 2. Jason with a drop kick to the back of a seated Jazz’s head. Jazz picks up a 2 from a crucifix. Jason uses power to take back over and scores a two off a leg drop. Jazz with a snap suplex and then a Samoan drop for a two count. Jazz goes outside and grabs a chair. She puts a chair over Jason’s groin and then nails the chair with another one. Ensiguri from Jason and they’re both down. Jason is up first and sets up the chair. Jazz reverses a powerbomb into a Jazz Stinger (X-Factor) on the chair and pins for the win at 6.32. **1/2

Little Guido w/Big Sal v “The Insane Luchador” Super Crazy

They start out with a few leg trips and arm drags to a decent pop. Crazy shows amazing agility to leap onto the top rope as he’s whipped towards it and tries to come off with a crossbody which Guido turns into a Fujiwara armbar. Lovely. Crazy comes back with a sweet looking second rope moonsault. Guido with a neckbreaker. Crazy does his 10 count in the corner which the crowd count in Spanish. Guido goes to do the same and Crazy just powerbombs him out of the corner. Guido charges Crazy and Crazy back drops him over the ropes. They fight into the crowd and Crazy hits a moonsault off a balcony. That had to be at least 10 feet in the air. Guido crawls back in and hits a neckbreaker for a 2 count. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a spinning heel kick from the top by Crazy. Guido hits a Sicilian slice off the top rope but can only get a two count. He throws Crazy outside where Big Sal squashes him against the guard rail and then slams him on concrete. Guido puts on the Sicilian crab and Crazy makes the ropes. Crazy gets caught on the ropes and Guido slams him for 2. Sal comes in and Guido gets another 2 count off Sal’s leg drop. Guido goes for a northern lights suplex but Crazy counters into a DDT (must have seen RVD/Lynn do it a few months earlier). Crazy misses a springboard moonsault and Guido lays the boots in. Crazy hits a Michinoku Driver on Guido and hits the two of the trifecta of moonsaults and then lays a plancha on Big Sal. Guido hits the Maritado back inside but Crazy kicks out. Crazy hits a huge powerbomb for 3 on 12.31. ***1/2.

ECW tag titles – The Dudley Boys (c) v Balls Mahoney/Spike Dudley

The Dudleys are 6 time ECW tag team champions at this point. Buh Buh Ray spends a couple of minutes insulting the crowd before the match gets underway. “There’s a mom in the front row who taught her daughter how to suck dick”. If only they could let Buh Buh cut loose in the WWF. This one starts out as a brawl. Buh Buh hurls Spike onto the ramp and that’s the first huge bump Spike’s taken. Buh Buh then nearly caves in Balls’s head with a chair shot. Spike hits the acid drop up the outside of the ropes and onto the ramp. Spike takes a run up the length of the entranceway and Buh Buh back drops him into the ring. D-Von grabs the ring bell and tags Spike with it. Spike is busted open. Spike ranas D-Von over the ropes and Buh Buh and Balls step into the ring. Buh Buh takes a road sign to Balls head. He throws it out of the ring and clocks Spike in the head with it. Hilarious. Buh Buh takes a cheese grater to the head of Balls Mahoney and he’s busted wide open. Balls comes back with a superkick and grabs the cheese grater. Grater to the forehead of Buh Buh. Meanwhile Spike and D-Von are out in the crowd somewhere. Everyone is officially busted open. They all fight out to the same part of the crowd. Spike climbs a balcony and dives off onto the Dudleys from around 15-20 feet. Back in the ring Balls hits a superkick on D-Von. Balls and Spike do the 10 count punches but the Dudleys powerbomb them both off the turnbuckles. Balls and Spike come back with stereo neckbreakers for stereo 2 counts. Spinebuster and an acid drop combo only gets a 2 count for both men. Acid drop and a nutcracker suite at the same time and that should be all except Sign Guy pulls the referee out. The Dudleys go for a 3-D but both Balls and Spike sneak in roll ups for the pin and the belts at 15.08. ***. Pretty good for a hardcore brawl.

After the match the Dudleys give both men 3-D’s and powerbomb Spike Dudley through a flaming table. ECW was the home of extreme. Of course that pisses off New Jack and out comes the original gangsta. New Jack decimates the Dudleys with an array of hardcore weapons.

Tommy Dreamer comes out and gives an impassioned speech about how great ECW is and how proud he is of everyone. He talks about ECW’s TV deal with TNN and how great this is for the company. Tommy runs down the WWF and WCW but doesn’t blame the wrestlers. Tommy starts getting tearful because he won’t get the chance to wrestle on TNN. Tommy Dreamer has herniated discs in his back and can’t wrestle. Steve Corino comes out and tells Dreamer that Dreamer should do the job to him and pass the torch but “he’ll hook the leg because he respects the veteran”. Corino is one of the best heels ECW ever had. Dreamer takes exception and punks out Corino and Francine pins him while Tommy counts to 3. Francine got to be on top? That’s a first. Tajiri comes out and belts Tommy and Francine. Tajiri puts the injured Dreamer in the tarantula and that brings out Taz.

ECW world title – Taz (c) v Tajiri

Tajiri hits the handspring back elbow and follows up with a spinning heel kick. Tajiri throws Taz into the crowd and then goes back onto the apron and hits an asai moonsault into the crowd. Tajiri goes for a tarantula but Taz counters with a massive spinebuster. German suplex from Taz but Tajiri lands on his feet and drop kicks Taz in the knee. Tajiri puts Taz in a sleeper but Taz suplexes him out of it and drops Tajiri on his head. Front head and arm Tazplex and Tajiri lands on his head again. Tajiri hits an ensiguri to get back into the match. Tajiri lays in a few kicks to the head of Taz. Taz crotches Tajiri on the top rope and front head and arm Tazplexes him off. Tajiri hits his double kick and follows in with a drop kick to Taz’s head for a long 2 count. That was Tajiri’s finisher. Tajiri goes up top and Taz pushes him off into Steve Corino. Taz knocks Jack Victory out of his wheelchair and then brains him with it. Tajiri kicks Taz down on the ramp and follows up with a rana but Taz powerbombs him out of it. Rhyno sets up a table behind Taz. Taz provokes Tajiri to kick him in the chest and takes 2 kicks but catches Tajiri the third time and gives him a front head and leg capture Tazplex through the table. Taz chases Corino backstage and Tajiri is still down. Taz rips down part of the barb wire which makes up the ECW set. Taz uses the barb wire to choke out Tajiri on the ramp and this is over. Officials come running out and one of them has a huge towel to soak up Tajiri’s blood. Extreme. Match time – 10.13. ***. I expected more from both of them and despite the odd high spot the match was pretty dull.

Rob Van Dam/Jerry Lynn v Justin Credible/Lance Storm w/Dawn Marie

RVD’s entrance takes 4 whole minutes. It takes almost as long to get Bill Alphonso out of the ring. Lynn and Credible start out. Justin goes for an early tombstone but it gets reversed into a tombstone attempt from Lynn. Justin reverses it back into another tombstone attempt and Lynn wriggles free. Lynn goes for the cradle piledriver and Justin backdrops out. Lynn with a bulldog on Justin and then he dropkicks Storm. Justin calls for RVD and when RVD tags in Credible tags out to Storm. RVD and Storm do a tremendous amateur sequence that is just too complicated to type out. Leap frog from Storm, back roll from RVD and then a monkey flip. They run through a couple more sequences and Storm drops down to slap on the Canadian maple leaf but RVD gets out of it through sheer flexibility. Ensiguri misses so RVD comes straight back with a sidekick. Awesome. Lynn tags in. Lynn puts Storm in the abdominal stretch and although Storm escapes Lynn hangs him up on the top rope. Storm whips Lynn into the ropes and Justin nails him in the face with the singapore cane. Justin tags in and drives a knee into Lynn’s face in the corner. Sit down powerbomb scores a two count. Storm back in with a perfect drop kick. Storm and Lynn runs through a near falls sequence and Storm follows up with a superkick for a 2 count. Storm with a backbreaker and Credible tags in. Justin with the Razor’s edge on Lynn for a 2 count. Storm tags back in and puts a chair on the top turnbuckle. Storm gets whipped into the same corner then leaps onto the top turnbuckle, grabs the chair and comes off with it all in one fluid motion only for Lynn to drop kick the chair into his face on the way down. Coolness. Justin tags back in and doesn’t let RVD tag in. Lynn gives Justin a DDT on a chair. Both teams make tags. RVD hits his butterfly slam and follows up with a spinning heel kick. RVD with a leaping sidekick from the top rope. Inverted atomic drop and RVD drop kicks a chair into Storm’s face. Storm is outside and Fonzie puts a chair over his back on the guard rail. RVD comes off the apron with a corkscrew leg drop. Meanwhile Lynn bulldogs Justin off the turnbuckles to the ramp. Storm ducks an RVD crossbody and RVD wipes out the front 3 rows. RVD comes out of the crowd with a senton off the guard rail. Fonzie sets up a table at ringside for future use while RVD takes the offence to Storm. Storm comes back with a spin kick from the top rope and RVD kicked out of the finisher. RVD ducks a heel kick and hits one of his own then follows up with a rolling thunder onto a chair. Fonzie sets up Justin Credible on the table outside the ring while Storm sets up a chair inside. RVD drop toe holds Storm into the chair. Sabu suddenly appears from nowhere and splashes Justin through the table at ringside. Lynn has Storm pinned in the ring as RVD comes off the top. Storm kicks out and RVD hits the 5 star frog splash on Jerry Lynn. Lynn kicks out at 2 and half. RVD hits a Van Daminator on Storm and Lynn follows up with a cradle piledriver for the 3 at 21.05. ****.

Best matches –
3. Super Crazy v Little Guido. The mix of Crazy’s flying and Guido’s ground attack was very pleasing.
2. Nova/Chetti v Doring/Road Kill. Nova is a great wrestler and the others are pretty good too. Good stuff.
1. Lynn/RVD v Impact Players. 3 of the best wrestlers in the business and Justin Credible. So nearly perfect. If it wasn’t for Justin’s little run’s in the ring this was an *****.

Overall PPV rating – B
Lots of lovely solid action with the opening and closing tag matches being excellent.