ECW House Party 1999 1/16/1999

Written by: Arnold Furious

Welcome to 1999 and ECW. The right time and the right company. In 1999 ECW threw off their self-imposed shackles thanks to the departures of some of their real no talent performers. Most obvious example – The Sandman went to WCW so that was the end of his horrible sloppy wrestling performances. ECW, fed up with other companies hiring their talent, just brought in more fresh talent. This event however wasn’t about new talent. The Dudleys had called out ECW’s own Public Enemy. Would they show up?

January 16th 1999

Less than a week after Guilty as Charged and ECW has a new world heavyweight champion in Taz.

Spike Dudley v Danny Doring w/Roadkill

Spike goes for an Acid Drop on the guardrail but Doring throws him off into the front row. Leaping rana onto Roadkill. The Angry Amish chicken plucker comes in to stop Spike hitting an early Acid Drop and Spike takes them both over with a legscissors/head lock takeover combo. Hart Attack on Spike. Dirt road slam from Roadkill. This has been all 2 on 1. Double underhook leaping DDT from Doring! Amish splash misses. Acid drop on Doring onto Roadkill and Spike pins them both. It has to be noted that I don’t have any match times for this show. Try finding them anywhere on the Internet. I tried. I could time it myself but I don’t have a stopwatch and this is on DVD and the PS2 doesn’t have a counter on it. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! 1/2*.

Steve Corino v Chris Chetti

Corino celebrates a snap mare and refuses to shake Chetti’s hand. Corino threatens a pescado and then slides under the ropes. Perfect heel work for ECW. Then he threatens to throw Chetti into the crowd and throws him into the ring. The ECW marks in the front row are really getting onto Corino’s case because he’s using psychology against them. Chetti hits a pescado. Back inside Corino slams Chetti out of a rocker dropper attempt. Corino jaws with ECW regulars at ringside. Chetti flips around a bit and a scores a near fall with a roll up. Sunset flip gets 2 for Chetti. Superkick from Corino out of nowhere. Corino has spent this whole interacting with the fans. Sleeper from Chetti. Spinning heel kick from Chetti and a powerslam gets 2. Amityville horror from Chetti but he misses with a legdrop. Corino tries to use the ropes but gets caught. Double springboard moonsault and Chetti bags the pin. Corino was amazing for a rookie. Constantly working the crowd. **.

Antifaz Del Norte v Little Guido w/Tracey Smothers/Tommy Rich/Big Sal/Ulf Hermann

Couple of lucha arm drags from Antifaz. Guido starts working the leg, which is sound strategy, but he eats a spinning heel kick. Side slam from Antifaz. Mahistrol cradle gets 2. Spinning side slam from Guido gets 2. Corkscrew moonsault gets 2 for Antifaz and he hits a missile dropkick. Guido bails so Antifaz hits a corkscrew plancha. Fujiwara armbar from Guido. Wheelbarrow bomb from Guido gets 2. Back suplex kills Guido. Version of a Mexican stretch from Antifaz and Smothers/Rich come in. Pisan elbow. Nova does a run in. Sledge-o-matic from Nova (sit down powerbomb with a mid air turn into an elbow drop) and Antifaz hits a plancha onto Ulf. Super Samoan drop from Nova. Why didn’t he just have the match? Leaping swinging DDT onto Big Sal and a tornado DDT on Smothers. Nova is on fire here. He hits the only recorded example (that I’ve seen) of the pedigree where Guido lands on his neck. I can’t even begin to imagine how painful that was. Pescado on the biggest heels from Nova while Antifaz hits a gourd buster for the pin. *. Why they didn’t make this a tag match or better still – just put Nova in the match I don’t know. The overbooking killed it.

Super Crazy v Yoshihiro Tajiri

Handspring back elbow scores early for Tajiri. Crazy bails and Tajiri hits a cannonball. Stiff kicks from Tajiri and he slaps on the Tarantula (and this time he nails it). Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Tajiri. Moonsault misses for Tajiri. Missile drop kick from Crazy. Tajiri bails. TOP ROPE ASAI MOONSAULT from Super Crazy. Springboard spin kick from Crazy. TOP ROPE LIONSAULT from Crazy. Corkscrew moonsault misses for Crazy so Tajiri kicks him in the head a few times. German suplex gets 2 for Tajiri. Crazy fights out of the dragon suplex. Moonsault press connects for Crazy. Mexican surfboard from Crazy and he rolls with it into a Mexican stretch. Pescado misses for Crazy. Tajiri connects with an Asai moonsault. Corkscrew pescado from Crazy and that connects. Dragonrana gets 2 for Tajiri. Crazy goes for a powerbomb and Tajiri counters into a DDT. Super spinning heel kick gets 2 for Tajiri. Brainbuster from Tajiri gets 2. Missile dropkick misses and Crazy hits the powerbomb he was looking for earlier. Tornado inverted DDT from Crazy and that’s enough for the pin. ****. Another awesome match between these two guys. More psychology than the first one but less length. So it evens out.

Three Way Dance – Justin Credible v Tommy Dreamer v Lance Storm

“Aiieeerrrghh” – Joey’s reaction to seeing Nicole Bass. This is originally just Dreamer v Credible in a Guilty as Charged rematch. Storm wants into a triple threat because someone said that Dreamer-Credible was better than RVD-Storm on PPV. Dreamer runs down all the entourage (he called Jason a cocksucker, Nicole a man, Jazz a crack whore and Dawn Marie a “carpenters dream”). He then asks for a decent set of tits on this show and out comes Francine. Dreamer should be a stand up comedian.

Fallaway slam from Dreamer on Credible and he mocks Scott Hall. Storm and Credible work together from the start and stomp on Dreamer. Beautiful dropkick from Storm. Unimaginative double teams from the heels. Spinning heel kick miscues but Credible superkicks Dreamer for 2. Storm helps Credible out of the Spicolli Driver and Credible hits a DDT. Storm pins him and the heels argue for the first time. They do the Matrix hair pull spot (even though Justin has no hair). Dreamer comes out with a ladder and hits a ladder clothesline. He sets the ladder up in the corner and slingshots Credible into it. Credible is slammed on the ladder and Storm on top of him. Dreamer frog splash misses because they both move. Dreamer does the 3 stooge ladder spin. Dreamer knocks the heels down with some ladder seesaw action. The heels put Dreamer through a table. Back in the ring Dreamer DDTs Credible into Storm’s groin. The girls come in to attack Dreamer but end up in a catfight. Dreamer gets caned and Storm canes Credible as well. Dreamer rolls him up and it’s one on one. Side Russian legsweep with the cane on Storm and Dreamer wins the match against the odds. 1/2*. Dismal 3-way. Nothing of any redeeming quality and THAT was Dreamers revenge on Justin Credible? Sheesh. Next.

ECW tag titles – Rob Van Dam/Sabu v Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten

Sabu starts out with one of the fat guys. The fatties connect with a couple of double teams. Boston crab with a leg drop is the best of 3 of them. Sabu bounces a chair off Axl Rotten’s head. He then throws it at Balls who catches it – Van Daminator! Cool. Air Sabu on Axl. Triple jump moonsault press to the floor from Sabu onto the fatties. RVD has a chance to frog splash Axl buts instead opts to hit a senton into the crowd where Balls Mahoney was fighting Sabu. Balls hits his back suplex, which RVD kicks out of. Everyone botches some spots and Sabu puts Balls through a table with a suicide dive. Fonzie helps out on a top rope Van Daminator. Superkick from Balls gets 2 on RVD. Splash from Balls and Sabu hits him with an Arabian facebuster. Rolling thunder/slingshot legdrop combo and Balls kicks out. Opposite turnbuckle legdrops from RVD and Sabu and they put Balls Mahoney through a table to finish it. *. Aimless spots tagged together in a fashion that did no one in the match any favours. It didn’t help that Axl and Balls were dead weight in this one.

John Kronus v Ulf Hermann is clipped from my DVD. Well, in all honesty – who cares?

ECW title – Taz (c) v Chris Candido w/Sunny

Shane Douglas and Francine come out and Douglas takes out Candido (I don’t know how – another clipped part of the tape). Douglas cuts a promo about how the ECW title is the most important thing in ECW. Shane asks for a title shot and Taz accepts.

ECW title – Taz (c) v Shane Douglas

Early chants for both men shows the crowd is somewhat divided. They do a little mat work. That’s how it started at Guilty as Charged. One can only hope it’ll this will be better than that match. Reversals (amateur ones at that) and Taz gets an armbar. T-bone Tazplex. Douglas bails and Taz goes out after him. Douglas hits a Savage double axe handle from the top, which is very unlike him. Taz suplexes Douglas through a table at ringside after blocking a Douglas attempt at the same thing. They fight into the crowd. I was hoping they wouldn’t do this. Taz hits a suplex through a table by the merchandise section. They fight up onto the stage and Douglas hits a crossbody from the higher level. They fight into the merchandise stands and there are wrestling tapes all over the floor. They fight out of the side door and outside in South Philly before coming back in through the front. Back in the ring Douglas sets up a table. Suplex from Douglas and a rolling neck snap. Douglas back suplexes out of the Tazmission for 2. Suplex gets 2 for Douglas. Taz starts with the whole no selling kicks and punches shit. Side Russian legsweep gets 2 for Douglas. Fisherman suplex gets 2 for Douglas. Front head and arm Tazplex. Tazmission but Douglas fights out. Hardway Tazplex through the table and Taz retains. **1/2. Much better than their PPV match. No run in’s and the crowd fighting included some actual moves. Plus the finish was clean so Douglas actually put Taz over which he should have done on the PPV anyway. I believe Shane had agreed to go to WCW at this point and he’s clearly tearful on his way out.

The Dudleys come out to tell the fans that Public Enemy aren’t here so they’re going home. Bubba Dudley actually cuts a killer promo. “We didn’t ask for your applause and we don’t want it”. This was originally all one segment but it’s been re-cut on my DVD to be either side of the next match…

Sid v Skull Von Krush

Skull apparently bought his way into the ECW with “nazi gold”. Hahaha. Or alternatively he’s a nothing jobber. Sid is making his ECW Arena debut. Chokeslam over the ropes and through a table at ringside. This is Sid being “extreme”. Back inside and powerbomb finishes it. DUD. Skull didn’t take the bumps as well as Kronus at the PPV. Sid hits another powerbomb after the match is over to a big pop and he KILLS him with it.

Joel Gertner comes out to tell the ECW Arena that the Dudleys have gone home. Gertner cuts a hilarious promo about Public Enemy. PE’s music hits and out come the Dudleys dressed as Public Enemy doing the whole arm swaying thing. Bubba has a lot of fun doing it because he’s been a heel for 3 years. Ironic “welcome back” chant from the ECW fans. Bubba cuts a comedy PE style promo which the crowd eats up and then he cuts a serious promo which is just as good. This is probably what got the Dudleys hired by the WWF. The Public Enemy music kicks in again and PE come out for real. That’s where the ECW TV show ended.

Dudleys work over PE with a Big Dick chokeslam and a waaassuuup headbutt. New Jack comes out. The Duds stand to one side and let New Jack attack PE (because he hates them too). But New Jack just batters the Duds with plunder. What follows isn’t exactly a match but more a bunch of plunder shots. Public Enemy clear the ring and celebrate. PE cut a promo, which is nowhere near as good Bubba Dudley’s spoof PE promo. I guess we really did find out who the better team was.

Best matches –

3. Steve Corino v Chris Chetti. Corino shows a lot of promise as real jerk.
2. Taz v Shane Douglas. Much better than their PPV offering. Considering the fact that Candido never got his title shot you have to wonder why they bothered booking the PPV finish like they did.
1. Super Crazy v Tajiri. When it’s these two I can confidently borrow this well known Marvel phrase – Nuff Said.

Overall event rating – C-
Crazy-Tajiri gets thumbs up. Everything else on the card sucks. If you really like Crazy-Tajiri there are other shows that they have good matches on besides this one so I’d advise everyone to leave this show well alone. Thumbs down.