Written by: Arnold Furious
1999 – the year of ECW was coming to an end. Could ECW finish on a high and continue their year of excellence? This show features the famous “3 way dance” between Jerry Lynn, Tajiri and Super Crazy which appears on one of ECW’s “Best of” tapes. Also on the card – Awesome v Tanaka III, Taz v RVD in Taz’s farewell match and a mess of heels v Dreamer/Raven and Sandman in a 6-man main event tag match, which marked Sandmans return to ECW. But is it any good? Stay tuned.
November 7th 1999
We’re in Buffalo, New York. Joey Styles and Cyrus welcome us to N2R. Crowd is hot from the start. Good sign. Joel Gertner comes out and he’s not happy that he’s the host of ECW on TNN but he’s pushed to one side on PPV. Taz comes out. “You sold out” – Buffalo. Taz has a beef with Joey Styles. Taz isn’t happy that Joey called his attack on RVD “from behind”. They argue about the Tazmission. All a bit pointless. Taz asks Joey if he wants to fight him and Joey tries not to laugh at the “f*ck him up Joey, f*ck him up” chants. Joey steps out of the ring and apologises. Taz turns his attention to “fat shit” Joel Gertner. Taz chokes Gertner out. That’s Gertner off the commentary team then.
This is the 7th annual November 2 Remember. Simon Diamond is out in the ring with his bodyguard – Dick Hertz (chuckle). Simon cuts a promo – “look at my Dick. My Dick is huge. My Dick is vascular”. Classic. Jazz comes out. She hits the Jazz Stinger on Simon so Dick plants her with the Penile Implant (a reverse Emerald Erosion). Spike Dudley comes out and we have a match. On commentary Cyrus says this – “Now Joey, you have a lot of experience in these matters – is that not the biggest dick you’ve ever seen?” I miss these guys on the mics.
Simon Diamond v Spike Dudley
Acid Drop on Dick. Flapjack into the buckles from Diamond. “He desperately needed that Dick” – Cyrus. They go outside and Spike hits a senton off the apron. He heads up top and drops off with a chair dive. Simon is busted. “I just hope his Dick doesn’t start bleeding” – Cyrus. Rolling snap suplexes into a gourd buster from Simon. Acid Drop and Spike wins at 2.59. Well that was…short. 1/2*. Guido and Big Sal come out and attack Spike and Nova makes the save.
Little Guido v Nova
X-Factor from Nova and Guido bails. Plancha from Nova. Big Sal whacks Nova in the spine and Guido takes over. Sicilian slice gets 2. Guido escapes a side Russian inverted DDT (I heart Nova, that was the set up for the Spin Doctor) and hits a neckbreaker. Super Samoan drop from Nova but Guido reverses the fall for 2. Smash Mouth from Nova (that’s a powerbomb countered in mid-air into a cutter) gets 2. Big Sal comes in and misses an avalanche. Nova with a tornado DDT to get rid of Sal. Maritado gets Guido the duke. *1/2. Short at 4.20 but entertaining. Chetti comes out to make the save on the post match FBI beat down. Doring and Roadkill do a run in and beat down Chetti.
3 Way Dance – Jerry Lynn v Tajiri v Super Crazy
Tajiri is joined by Steve Corino (who is now blonde) and “The Living Legend” Jack Victory (who’s still selling his leg injury from November to Remember 1998). Tajiri stiff kicks both the other guys while they lock up. They repeat the leapfrog into a turnbuckle crossbody spot from Tajiri-Guido-Crazy. Then do a leapfrog/dropkick back the other way. Lynn with a tilt-a-whirl flying headscissors on Crazy and they run a few sequences. Tarantula on Lynn and Crazy lays the boots in. Tajiri puts the Tarantula on Crazy and Lynn punches Crazy as a receipt. Tajiri nearly kicks Lynn’s head off. Lynn goes up but instead of attacking Tajiri he planchas Crazy on the floor. Tajiri hits an Asai moonsault and everyone is wiped out. They fight into the crowd. Lynn hits the others with a dive over the guardrail. Lynn and Tajiri fight on the floor while Crazy climbs the balcony above and hits a moonsault. Haha, screw you New Jack – Crazy just one-upped you. They head back into the ring and Crazy puts the Mexican surfboard on Tajiri but Tajiri gets his arms free. Bulldog from Lynn takes Tajiri out of the hold. That’s new. Gory Guerrero special from Lynn on Crazy. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Lynn on Crazy and Tajiri wipes Lynn’s knee out. Rana on Crazy and Tajiri is winning. Lynn goes for a rana on Crazy and gets powerbombed. Springboard moonsault from Crazy gets 2. Crazy escapes a brainbuster and hits a powerbomb for 2 on Tajiri. Lynn hits his cradle piledriver on Crazy. Tajiri breaks the pinfall up and hits the brainbuster to eliminate Crazy at 6.44. Surprising they got rid of Crazy so quickly.
Handspring back elbow from Tajiri. Stiff kicks from Tajiri. Lynn is hung in the tree of woe and Tajiri hits his evil looking baseball slide. Looks like Tajiri misted someone but I missed that. Lynn catches Tajiri in a German suplex after he went for the handspring back elbow again. Tajiri lands on his feet but a second German suplex gets 2 for Lynn. He’s still selling cracked ribs from months ago. Backbreaker from Tajiri but he misses with a moonsault. Tornado DDT from Lynn gets 2. Tajiri escapes a rana and hits a German suplex for 2. Tajiri kicks Lynn in the ribs. Lynn sells the ribs on a cradle piledriver attempt and Tajiri kicks him in the ribs again. Second cradle piledriver wins it for Lynn at 10.59. ***1/2. The one with Guido in had much better flow. Still it was a good match. Lynn piledrives Corino after the match.
Cyrus tells Joey he went in to bat for Joey against “Dangerously” and he congratulates Joey on being in. He presents him with a name badge that reads – “Joey Styles – ‘office'”. This was classic stuff. Cyrus was possibly the funniest character ECW ever came up with. Cyrus spawns the phrase K-5.
The Baldies (Angel/Tony DeVito/Vito Lograsso/PN News) v Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten and eventually New Jack
Bunch of chair shots and the 4 on 2 numbers leave Balls and Axl beaten down. New Jack arrives about a minute into the match. Plunder shots, which include brutalising a computer keyboard. He also hits Angel in the groin with a vacuum cleaner. “New Jack’s cleaning house” – Joey. PN News and Lograsso kill Balls with top rope moves while the rest fight into the crowd. New Jack does his balcony dive off the backboard of a basketball net. New Jack just had to go higher and higher with these things. Lograsso gets stapled. Angel belts him a guitar shot though and the Baldies take the win at 8.31. DUD. Lograsso hit an elbow drop and then went to WCW. That was the full extent of the wrestling in this thing.
Sabu v Chris Candido
Sabu has Fonzie in his corner while Candido has Sunny. Bill Alfonso cuts the calmest promo of his career mainly because Sabu’s best friend Ticho died right before this show so Sabu is wrestling for him. For the first time ever Sabu actually gets that single leg he’s always looking for. Candido catches Sabu on the springboard and slams him. Sabu backdrops Candido to the floor (not as great as Michaels one but it was cool). Headfirst pescado from Sabu. Back inside Candido hits a vertical suplex. New Jersey Jam gets 2. “Sable” chant breaks out to wind Sunny up. Release Northern lights from Candido but he misses a beautiful swan dive headbutt. Sabu plants Candido with a DDT for 2. Triple jump legdrop gets 2. Sabu goes out to get a table and Candido hits a plancha. Sabu is set up on a table at ringside but Sabu gets off and crotches Candido. Super rana from Sabu. Camel clutch from Sabu. Table comes into the ring. Sabu is on the table, again. Sabu slides off and Candido legdrops the table. Sabu pins him for 2. Camel clutch again from Sabu. Air Sabu and Candido falls onto the set up chair. Baseball slide sends Candido into the first row – triple jump plancha from Sabu. They fight into the crowd. Damn it, the match was gold until that. Top rope splash gets 2 for Sabu after a chair shot and he goes back to the camel clutch. Another table is set up and Candido ends up on it. Sabu legdrops him through it for 2. Triple jump moonsault misses. Powerbomb from Candido gets 2. Piledriver gets 2. Perfect superplex gets 2. Candido considers an “Air Candido” but Sabu nails him coming in and hits the Arabian press for 2. Sunny crotches Sabu on the ropes and Candido hits the super rana. Swan dive connects for Candido and he gets a near fall. Another piledriver from Candido and he goes for another table. Sabu gets it from him and sets Candido up on it. Fonzie prevents Sunny interference and puts her on the table Candido pushes her off and Sabu legdrops him face first through the table. Candido kicks out. Arabian facebuster connects and he slaps on the Camel clutch for the submission at 17.42. Wow. ****. Best match of Sabu’s career. He hit absolutely EVERYTHING.
Tanaka cuts a promo claiming he’ll be world champion by the end of tonight. Judge Jeff Jones tells the fans that Awesome has never beaten Tanaka twice in a row. But he will tonight. Awesome tells Tanaka he’ll break his back. We get some footage of Lou E Dangerously. He tells everyone they’re fired. As he walks past Sandman he shouts “you’re fired, again”. I love shoot promos. Glad they found Sign Guy something to do after the Dudleys went to the WWF.
ECW title – Mike Awesome (c) v Masato Tanaka
I forgot that Awesome used Bruce Dickinson’s cover of the Zoo as intro music. Judge Jeff Jones accompanies him. Early avalanche from Awesome. Springboard clothesline from Tanaka and he hits the buckles for a plancha. Bearhug into an overhead belly to belly release suplex from Awesome. Tanaka falls outside and Awesome hits a suicide dive. Awesome is amazing. Awesome goes back inside and hits a springboard clothesline to the floor. Super chair shot from Awesome and Tanaka no sells it. Tanaka grabs the chair and Awesome tries to no sell a chair shot so Tanaka hits a roaring elbow into the chair for a near fall. 187 chair dive from Tanaka gets 2. Tornado DDT into a pair of chairs gets 2 for Tanaka. The crowd chant for “one more time” and Tanaka goes for another tornado DDT only to be reversed into a powerbomb on the chairs. Alabamaslam from Awesome. He sets up a table at ringside. Tanaka escapes the over the ropes powerbomb and he hits a back suplex. They fight on the apron and Awesome hits a sit down powerbomb off the apron through the table. Oh my God. “My mothers going hate me for this but holy shit” – Joey Styles. Awesome is bleeding from the hamstring and Tanaka kicks out. We get another table in the ring and he sets Tanaka up on it. Tanaka gets up and tries for a superplex. Awesome tries to counter into the Awesomebomb but Tanaka counters again and superplexes Awesome through the table. Awesome kicks out. Diamond dust from Tanaka. Awesome ducks a roaring elbow and hits a release German suplex. Tanaka lands on his neck but no sells it. Awesome cuts him down with a clothesline and hits a frog splash but Tanaka kicks out! Top rope sit down Awesomebomb and that’s it at 12.26. ****. I love these Awesome-Tanaka matches.
ECW TV title – Rob Van Dam (c) v Taz
This is the end for Taz. 2 months later he’d be in the WWF. RVD is in 100% slapping hands babyface mode by this point. Takeovers and counters followed by a couple of near misses. Ensiguri misses for RVD and he misses again back the other way so Taz takes him down. RVD gets the ropes. Corner roll up gets 2 for RVD. This match has been cursed with lots of stalling. Taz back drops RVD to the floor and he wipes out a cameraman HBK-style. Taz fights Fonzie and RVD hits a dive from one side of the entranceway to the other and into the crowd. RVD hits his leg on the barrier so Taz chop blocks him. Tip up goes wrong for RVD and Taz hits the Alabamaslam for 2. Crossface punches from Taz. Tiger suplex from Taz. Wicked. Taz gets a table and sets it up in the corner. Spinning back kick takes Taz down. Cartwheel splash gets 2. Rolling thunder gets 2. Taz clotheslines RVD in the middle of a monkey flip attempt. Taz ducks the Van Daminator and catches an RVD kick. Capture Tazplex through the table gets 2. Leaping Van Daminator after Taz went to belt Fonzie with a chair. Top rope move of some kind gets horribly botched and RVD hits a split legged moonsault for 2. Taz got busted in the mouth there. Spinning heel kick sets Taz up and a 5 star frog splash finishes him at 14.34. Well I don’t know what they were trying for up on the top rope but my guess for this is – blown finish! **1/2. Too much stalling and they screwed the finish up. Taz’s career went straight down the toilet after this. He shakes hands with Fonzie and RVD and leaves.
Rhino/Justin Credible/Lance Storm v Tommy Dreamer/Raven/Sandman
Sandman is back after failing to make an impact in WCW. Dreamer has Francine in his corner. Jason and Dawn Marie are in the heels corner. During Raven’s music I catch Dreamer mouth “he’s more over than me”. This starts out as Rhino over powering Sandman. Dreamer tags in along with Lance Storm. Side Russian legsweep from Dreamer and Raven walks away from the tag. Credible comes in and gets crotched. Turnbuckle neckbreaker from Dreamer. Sandman comes in and Credible runs. Rhino comes in and wails on Sandman. Credible canes the hell out of Sandman on an Irish whip and Credible comes in to beat him up. Storm comes in for the cartwheel splash. Rhino kills Sandman with a superbomb. Storm with a superkick on Sandman. He misses with a frog splash. Raven punches Dreamer and decides now he’ll tag in. He back drops Credible into the ropes and Credible lands on his head. Rhino gores Raven out of the DDT attempt. Superkick on Dreamer from Storm gets 2 and Sandman saves. Cactus clothesline takes Rhino out but Storm hits a pescado onto Dreamer. Raven hits the DDT on Credible but Storm makes the save. Dreamer and Raven set up a table on the outside but Raven takes out Dreamer to hit a pescado himself. Which misses. Raven puts himself through the table. Rhino gores Storm by mistake. Sandman canes the hell out of Rhino. Dawn Marie and Francine come in – catfight. Sandman kisses Dawn. Raven canes Sandman and pretends it was an accident. That’s Incredible and the heels win at 9.19. Raven pretends to be upset. *. Messy. Very messy. Shame because it could have been so good with those 5 guys (and Sandman) involved.
Best matches –
3. Jerry Lynn v Tajiri v Super Crazy. Not as great as ECW thought it was or as good as the net thought it was at the time. Sure, it’s a good match but everyone involved in it has done better.
2. Masato Tanaka v Mike Awesome. Another great match between these 2. I remember giving their Heatwave ’98 debut match 5 stars because it was the original but every match they had was a classic. This is no exception.
1. Sabu v Chris Candido. The best match of Sabu’s career, hands down. He doesn’t miss a beat in 17 minutes. You can’t say that for any other 17 minutes of his career. He blew nothing in this match, which makes you wonder how he blows so many spots in other matches. Still this is perfect Sabu.
Overall PPV rating – C+
They tried to squeeze too much into the early couple of matches and then blew the main event, which knocks this from thumbs up to more of a thumbs in the middle. Still it was a great way to finish a great year for ECW and was the best November to Remember to this point.