Written by: Arnold Furious
Welcome to 2000 and the increasingly unstable world of ECW. Long term planning was gone by this point with Raven and Lance Storm joining the list of ECW employees headed elsewhere. This left Justin Credible as the world champion. His number one challenger was the man who was more and more responsible for what we saw on TV – Tommy Dreamer. On the somewhat patchy undercard RVD faced off against his “best friend” Scotty Anton. Jerry Lynn would face Steve Corino in an effort to push both men to main event status and everyone else got thrown into meaningless matches. ECW was slowly falling apart. Would ECW’s 7th year be it’s final? Stay tuned.
Jasmine St Claire shows off her ass on the beach. The Blue Boy shows up. It’s the former Blue Meanie. He insults a muscular guy for being fat. Amazing transformation for him. Sinister Minister laughs at the whole thing. We’re in L.A. – the Devil’s playground. He hypes the card. He’s buried Mikey Whipwreck up to his neck on the beach. They both find it hilarious.
Sign in crowd – “Cyrus is a meat smuggler” + “Cyrus – registered sex offender”
Joey Styles and Joel Gertner welcome us to Los Angeles, California. Cyrus comes out and we have the continuation of this “feud”. He gets a contrasting couple of chants, which shows how much heat he has. One side chant “faggot” while the other side chant “asshole”. He points out that Super Crazy has been deported. Shit. That’s another one gone. ECW has been cancelled on TNN. Gertner and Cyrus jaw back and forth for what seems like forever. Gertner feigns walking out and jumps Cyrus from behind. Cyrus has him arrested. Did they really have to put this over on EVERY PPV?
Balls Mahoney v Big Sal E. Graziano w/Tony Mamaluke
Sal asks for a chair shot but Balls hesitates so Sal pearl harbour’s him. Sal is very much the Big Show of ECW. Balls gets to deliver his patented chair shot which Sal ignores. Chokeslam, elbow drop, bearhug slam and Sal goes over clean in 1.39. DUD. Total squash.
Backstage RVD is upset about Scotty Anton. He’s pissed off for the first time ever. He’s so pissed off he’s created a new finishing move – the Van Terminator.
Danny Doring/Roadkill/Kid Kash v Simon Diamond/Swinger/CW Anderson
Simon has thrown off his comedy act and gained Swinger as a tag partner, dropped the comedy entourage altogether and now is teaming up with a serious wrestler in CW. In order to do so CW has quit the Dangerous Alliance. Roadkill is crazy over all of a sudden. Diamond and Kash start with some standing reversals. Arm drags. Hip tosses. Everyone spills in. Avalanche on the heels from Roadkill and he cleans the heels out of the ring. Pescado into a rana from Kash. Cool. Springboard clothesline – all the way across the ring from Kash. Leapfrog and a rana from Kash. Ferris wheel from CW and Kash is taken down. Swinger tags in and hits a back suplex. Moonsault press from Kash on CW which he just about connects with. Doring superkicks Swinger, hits the g-spot sweep on CW and the bareback on Diamond. The heels are coming off as real weak in this one. Swing thing on Doring gets 2. Double downward spiral from Diamond/Swinger. Rolling snap suplexes into a gourd buster from Diamond gets 2. Doring takes the Anderson left for 2. Rocker dropper on CW and Doring gets the hot tag. Roadkill comes in and cleans house. Dirt road slam on Diamond and an F-5 on CW. Heels bail and Doring hits a somersault plancha. Kash hits a massive springboard senton. Plancha from Roadkill and the crowd is going NUTS. Swinger gets rolled back in and takes an Ohio Jam from Doring. 3-D-B on Doring from Swinger/Simon. They go up and superplex Roadkill for 2. Anderson spinebuster from a leapfrog attempt on Kash. Roadkill drops the Pennsylvania Jam to break the fall. Kash gets Doring out of the Problem Solver and Doring hits a Wham, Bam, Thank ya Mam on Diamond. Kash hits the Money Maker (double underhook piledriver – like a pedigree only straight into the air) on Swinger and pins him for the win at 11.03. ***. Good action throughout and mostly well paced. Crowd is HOT.
Backstage Rhino tells Sandman he enjoyed putting his wife in the hospital. Intense promo from Rhino. He was gold on the mic in ECW.
Steve Corino w/Jack Victory v Jerry Lynn
Leaping bulldog from Lynn and he clotheslines Corino to the floor. Plancha from Lynn wipes out Corino and Victory. Nice shoulder charge/head fake/guillotine legdrop spot that Lynn has brought with him from the RVD feud. Corino takes out his razorblade while Lynn hits a tornado DDT off the guardrail. Corino (shock) is bleeding. Lynn goes for the 10 count punches and Corino hits a sit down powerbomb out of the corner. Corino is bleeding really badly. Bionic elbow gets 2 for Corino. Lynn corner roll up gets 2. Great powerslam from Corino gets 2. Corino jaws with the fans. T-bone suplex from Corino. Van Daminator from Lynn after Corino went for a chair shot. Corino gets crotched and Lynn DDT’s him off the top rope into the chair. Cool spot. Lynn uses Corino’s blood to put war paint on his face and he finger-paints DIE on his stomach. Superkick from a rather pissed off Corino gets 2. Corino goes up again and they botch an inverted DDT from the top. Old School Expulsion (inverted DDT changed into a neckbreaker in mid flow) gets 2 for Corino. Jack Victory tries to throw powder at Lynn who knocks it into the referee’s face by mistake. Back suplex for Lynn but the referee is down. Corino takes his boot off and nails Lynn with it. Lynn gets whacked with a cowbell and he still kicks out. Corino escapes a cradle piledriver and they run a near falls sequence. Cradle piledriver and Jerry Lynn wins at 15.25. ***. Good stuff, a few blown spots but nevertheless entertaining.
Backstage Sandman is a little upset that Lori ended up in hospital for 7 weeks after Hardcore Heaven. Rhino comes in and canes him from behind. Rhino shoves Lori’s head down the toilet. Rhino was just ruthless in ECW. Dawn Marie is brought in to the announce booth to do comedy commentary.
New Jack comes out despite the fact that he has a broken leg. Before he can get into the ring the Baldies jump him. Nova and Chetti make the save.
Chris Chetti/Nova v The Baldies (DeVito/Angel)
Springboard plancha from Chetti and Nova hits a tope. Baldies come back in and hit a flapjack on Nova. Horrible selling from Angel. Nova misses a Swanton. Bronx bomb on Chetti (sit down Rock Bottom). DeVito misses the follow up moonsault and Nova hits rolling piledrivers! It’s called the Third Degree (2 rolling piledrivers into a spinning sit down powerbomb). Nova is the bomb. Amityville horror on Angel and the Tidal wave finishes the Baldies at 4.39. *1/2. Short and the Baldies suck.
Backstage Tommy Dreamer talks about how he’s lost all his friends, pissed his family off and lost women over a business that takes and takes and takes but he regrets nothing. He broke his back for the business. Dreamer busts himself open on a locker while ranting about how he’s sick of TNN and how everyone has ripped ECW off. He’s pissed off about Justin Credible stealing his big payoff by taking his title the night he won it. Tommy looks literally insane during this promo.
4 way dance – Tajiri v Little Guido v Psicosis v Mikey Whipwreck
This is meant to be a 3 way but Mikey adds himself in. Psicosis is back after being out for 5 years in WCW. Mikey plants Psicosis only to get the kick of death in the back of the head from Tajiri. Guido miscues a dropkick and hits Tajiri. Rana from Mikey on Guido. Whippersnapper on Tajiri. They all bail and Mikey hits a cannonball. Mamaluke does a run in and Mikey attacks Big Sal. He slams Mikey into the ring post. Psicosis hits a Tijuana Jam and Guido pins Mikey at 1.36 and now it’s back to a 3-way dance. Why not just have that match in the first place? Tajiri stiffs Guido with some kicks. Rana from Tajiri on Psicosis and a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Psicosis and Guido fight on the floor so Tajiri hits an Asai moonsault. Superplex on Guido from Tajiri. Psicosis hits a corkscrew moonsault on Guido for 2. Maritado on Psicosis and Tajiri hits a German suplex to boot him at 4.28. It’s down to Tajiri and Guido. Tajiri slaps on a weird stretch and Guido escapes into a sunset flip for 2. Tarantula. Handspring back elbow. Tree of woe on Guido and a chair in place – baseball slide. Sicilian slice and Tajiri bails to avoid a pin. Tip up slam onto the chair gets Guido 2. Tajiri kicks out of the maritado and hits the mist. Brainbuster on a chair and Tajiri wins at 9.17. ***. Another good match. Nothing amazing but all good stuff.
Justin Credible talks about bringing barbwire to PPV while Francine looks on.
ECW TV title – Rhino (c) v Sandman
Rhino no sells the cane while Sandman destroys it over his head. They fight outside and Sandman brings in a length of guardrail. He has no idea what he’s going with it. Heineken-rana onto the guardrail from Sandman. Bulldog onto the guardrail from Sandman gets 2. Rhino suplexes Sandman onto the guardrail. Jesus, these guardrail spots look like crap but they’re all potential career-ending moves. Sandman puts the guardrail on Rhino and hits a swanton for 2. That’s the best top rope move the Sandman has ever done. Corino/Victory do a run in and deck the referee. Spike Dudley (complete with busted leg) comes in and canes Victory. Sandman and Spike hit a 3-D on Corino. Rhino bashes Spike down. Sandman dodges a gore and Spike takes it. Rhino piledrives Spike off the apron and through a table to the floor. There’s your high spot right there. Sandman canes Rhino with the new cane but Rhino escapes the white Russian legsweep and piledrives Sandman on the guardrail to retain at 8.39. **1/2. Slow to start with but the multiple run in’s and the one big bump made it fun.
Rob Van Dam v Scotty Anton
Scotty’s fantastic clap gimmick causes me to clap above my head while typing this out. During this match RVD stops and points to himself a lot. This will be from now on simply written as “stalling”. Spinning heel kick and an early rolling thunder gets 2 for RVD. Stalling. Outside and RVD comes off the guardrail with a moonsault press. Stalling. Corkscrew guillotine legdrop from the apron to the guardrail w/chair. Stalling. Gorilla press drop with back flip from RVD. Screw the Ultimate Warrior, there is no other wrestler who can do shit like that. Stalling. 2nd rope moonsault gets 2. Top rope Van Daminator is countered as Scotty blasts Fonzie and RVD with chair shots. Chair shot from Scotty and he goes to the “clap”. Anton hits a bulldog from the apron into the front row hanging RVD up on the guardrail and RVD bit his tongue on that move. That, incidentally, was the peak of Scotty Anton’s entire career. Super back suplex (which occurred about 3 minutes after the last move) from Scotty. This is dragging. Scotty jumps a legsweep and hits a DDT for 2. Tree of woe again on RVD and Anton works the bad leg to set up for his finish, which is a sharpshooter. Boston crab from Anton. Step through heel kick from RVD. Stalling. RVD goes chair surfing. Stalling. Split legged moonsault gets 2. Stalling. Tumbling senton w/chair. Stalling. Chair shot to the leg from Anton. Clapper (Sharpshooter) from Anton. Fonzie distracts him. Clapper on Fonzie. Crappy Van Daminator. Stalling. 5 star frog splash. Stalling. Crowd chant for “Term-in-a-tor”. Van Terminator and it’s over at 19.02. “Holy shit” – Joey Styles. *1/2. The single worst match of RVD’s career. Way too much stalling. Not just from him but from Anton as well. Every spot was followed up by stalling. It just killed the flow. I love RVD matches but this one is everything that he’s criticised for. Spot, point, spot, point, spot, point. Avoid.
ECW title/Stairway to Hell – Justin Credible (c) w/Francine v Tommy Dreamer w/Jazz/George
George is the former girlfriend of Randy Savage. Barbed wire hangs over the ring. Francine gets into a scuffle at ringside and the locker room spills out. I believe that’s XPW getting thrown out of the arena. They do a few standing reversals. Isn’t this meant to be a match of extreme violence? Superkick from Credible. Powerslam from Dreamer and a Cactus clothesline. They have a bit of a pointless fight in the crowd. Credible is busted. Dreamer climbs a ladder to brawl with Credible on a balcony and Credible pushes the ladder over sending Dreamer crashing into the merchandise tables. They get back into the ring and Dreamer grabs the ladder but he gets reversed into it face first. They do the slingshot under the ropes only using the ladder. Francine knocks Dreamer off the ladder and he lands on her. George comes in along with Jazz. George turns heel and hugs Francine. Jazz takes both of the other girls out. That’s Incredible on Jazz. Tommyhawk gets 2 (a version of the Cutter). Dreamer climbs the ladder and brings down the barbed wire. Credible gets crotched on barbwire. Arrrrrgggh. I hope that never happens to me. That’s Incredible on barbwire but Dreamer kicks out. DDT on wire gets 2 for Dreamer. That’s Incredible on barbwire and Credible retains at 14.58. **1/2. I didn’t like the finish. If Credible was going over why didn’t Dreamer get a couple more finishing moves in? If this was supposed to be brutal how come the barbwire was only involved in the last few minutes? Oh well, it’s over now. No point going on about it. I personally would have put Dreamer over here.
Best matches –
3. Tajiri v Guido v Psicosis v Whipwreck. This symbolises this PPV for me. It was something new and different (with Psicosis coming in) and yet it didn’t click very well and left me feeling that they could have done more with it.
2. Doring/Roadkill/Kash v Diamond/Swinger/Anderson. Great 6 man tag. Could have been even better unfortunately but it was probably the hottest match on the card.
1. Steve Corino v Jerry Lynn. What looked to be a midcard match to determine who was ready to move up to the main events ended up being a show stealer. But not because it was particularly good. It was just better than anything else on this show.
Overall PPV rating – C+
This is a thumbs in the middle effort. It’s not terrible by any stretch of the imagination but no one match stands out particularly. It’s made memorable by the odd spot but not by any of the matches. There is a lot that needs to be fast-forwarded. I can’t say I’m a big fan of this show.