ECW Hostile City Showdown 1995 4/15/1995

Written by: Matt Peddycord

ECW: Hostile City Showdown
April 15, 1995
Philadelphia, PA
ECW Arena

The current ECW Champs were as follows:
ECW World Champion: Shane Douglas (3/26/1994)
ECW World Tag Team Champions: Public Enemy (4/8/1995)
ECW World TV Champion: Eddie Guerrero (4/8/1995)

Whoa! Awesome creepy subliminal message at the start of the tape.

Your host is Joey Styles.

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Stevie Richards (w/Raven)

Stevie debuts the half shirt-cutoff jeans look to try and look more like Raven. Whipwreck gets ahead of Stevie, so Raven trips him up as he comes off the ropes. Mikey will not STAND for this and goes to the back and brings Hack Meyers with him to keep an eye on Raven. SHAH! Total armbar match here. Stevie finally hits a powerbomb, but then sells the arm. He misses a corner charge, so Raven trips up Mikey again to even the odds. Meyers protests and then trips up Richards. At least Stevie is selling the arm. He launches Whipwreck once, but tries again and Mikey counters with a hurracanrana for the 1-2-3. (7:37) Raven’s hired henchmen the Pitbulls head out to join in and beat down Meyers and Whipwreck until Public Enemy run down and clean house. EIGHT MAN TAG? Nah, probably not. ¾*

Tony Stetson vs. Tsubo Genjin

We get about a minute of this Japanese Jimmy Snuka who squeals with every move coming back on Stetson and delivering a legdrop to win. No rating.

Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten – Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Match

Well, it’s a “Viewer’s Choice” match. Sorry to give it away. Since there’s not text messaging and the internet wasn’t all that sophisticated, Axl gives the crowd a few options of what they want to see. Sign Guy wants to see chainsaws. WHAT. In case you haven’t figured it out, barbed wire baseball bat match wins. Ian heads out and uses all the weapons in Axl’s trash can against him, except the barbed wire bat. He gets that RAKED across the back of his head. It just turns into a barbed wire match from here as they get bloody again. Finally, Ian wraps barbed wire around Axl’s head and blasts him with a chair for the win. (9:04) It’s the same crap, different show for these two. There’s no skill necessary for this – you just have to be a HUGE masochist. CRAP

Out comes Raven, Stevie Richards, and Beulah. Richards explains that Tommy Dreamer turned down the 320-pound, zit-faced Beulah back at summer camp and the only guy who treated her right was Raven. Tonight, Stevie says that Raven will crucify Tommy Dreamer.

Raven (w/Stevie Richards & Beulah) vs. Tommy Dreamer

Raven planchas on top of Dreamer to start. They brawl back into a room where Dreamer comes out bleeding. They brawl over to the Eagle’s Nest where Dreamer backdrops out of a piledriver and gives Raven a suplex. Dreamer finds a kitchen sink and beats Raven over the head with it. Someone hands Dreamer a big plastic dinosaur and hits Raven in the balls. AWESOME! He even nails Dreamer with a full egg carton. Back inside, Raven hits THREE DDTs one after the other for 1-2-NO! He goes to give Dreamer a DDT on the floor which always seems to get the pin. Dreamer counters with a kick to the balls and DDTs Raven on the concrete. Back inside, Stevie runs over and breaks up the pin. He takes a DDT for his troubles. Even the ref takes a DDT. Beulah sees a chance to get even with this guy and hops in the ring. Dreamer finds that to be kind of cute and gives her a PILEDRIVER to pop the woman-hating ECW crowd. (7:56) Dreamer has one of his classic celebrations with the fans as they all chant E-C-DUB. Another good brawl, but not quite what we saw last week. **½

And now for something completely different.

ECW World TV Champion Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

While these two had wrestled in Japan, I believe this is the first time they had met on US soil. Great armlock exchange to start. They trade boot scrapes across the face. When it’s Eddie returning the favor, Dean hits the floor. A heavily choreographed segment brings the crowd to their feet for a standing ovation. It ends with both guys taking turns with a headscissors and delivering dropkicks at the same time. Eddie takes Dean to the mat with a cross armbreaker. Apparently part of the crowd is chanting “boring” while the other side in front of the hard camera is chanting “throw him out”. Just another day in ECW. Meanwhile, Eddie and Dean are bridging over knucklelocks. Eddie hits a Uranage out of that and a Hilo gets two. Dean backs Eddie into the corner to escape a chinlock and delivers a double-arm suplex. Malenko dropkicks the knee and stays on that like a shark that smells blood and any other wrestling cliché you can come up with on your own! Malenko applies this crazy hold with an Indian deathlock and then pulls back on the arms like you would for a surfboard! He rolls Eddie over into a pinning combination for a few nearfalls. How you going to lift your shoulders off the mat in that kind of hold? Dean takes Eddie to school and then posts the knee a few times. Back in, Dean grapevines the leg a bunch with Eddie fighting for his life. He does a great job of making Dean’s offense believable and something to be feared. Eddie gets a temporary break with a snap suplex. Powerbomb and the Tornado DDT gives Eddie a pair of nearfalls. Eddie hits the Hurracanrana out of the corner, but slams his knee on the way down. Slow cover gets two. Eddie tries what Dean did with the Indian deathlock into a surfboard, but can’t get him up and grabs an STF instead. They brawl out to the floor where Eddie gets flipped over the top rope into the guardrail. Eddie needs to suplex Dean into the ring, but Dean counters with a suplex of his own to bring Eddie down on the concrete, which does more damage to the knee! Guerrero sidesteps a pescado, causing Dean to jam his knee. Eddie climbs up top and splashes Malenko. Back in, Malenko has the advantage with a Brainbuster. Eddie blocks another one and gives Dean a Brainbuster this time. FROG SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! Eddie misses a corner charge and takes a Northern Lights suplex for two. Malenko makes several attempts for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Eddie fears it like the plaque and thwarts them all by lunging for the ropes. Eddie turns the final counter into a small package for 1-2-NO! Eddie clasps onto Malenko’s hand and springs off the ropes with a hurracanrana for 1-2-NO! Pumphandle backbreaker gets two. Eddie applies the Gory Special into a pinning predicament that leads to a rollup sequence. STANDING OVATION! Eddie gets caught up on top for a possible Super Electric Chair Drop, but Eddie counters it into a sunset flip powerbomb! Unbelievable! That gets two. As both men get to their feet, the bell rings because have reached the 30-minute time limit. (25:54) That’s how long the match went in real time. Wrestling time is usually a little faster for some reason. One of the greatest matches in ECW history and a definite MOTYC in 1995. These two would continue to have a stellar series of matches throughout the summer of ’95 that maintained a level of consistent greatness every time they went out there. ****½

And now for something completely different…again.

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas (w/Woman) vs. The Sandman

Douglas outwrestles Sandman to start, which really doesn’t require much skill. He hangs Sandman out to dry on the top rope and then follows up with a flying splash out of the corner. Sandman tosses Douglas out and legdrops him on the apron. Joey calls it a “modified” legdrop. Douglas takes Sandman off the apron onto his shoulders and drops him on the railing. Sandman returns the favor by just dropping him from the apron to the rail. Out comes the chair. Sandman whacks Douglas and goes after Woman, but then Douglas saves with a plancha of sorts. Back inside, Sandman misses the “modified” flying legdrop. Douglas manages a backbreaker of some kind. He floats over Sandman in the corner who runs his shoulder into the post. Douglas grabs a CFCW, but then Woman whacks him in the knee with the Singapore cane and Sandman collapses on top of Douglas for the 1-2-3. (7:52) Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a NEW ECW world champ. SWERVED AGAIN~! As Sandman and Woman reunite, Douglas throws a Bret Hart fit down on the floor and puts on a Monday Night Raw t-shirt. Shane tells the crowd they can kiss his behind and heads out the door. Have you ever heard of a good Sandman match? *

ECW World Tag Team Champions Public Enemy vs. The Pitbulls (w/Stevie Richards)

The Pitbulls destroy Rocco Rock to start – culminating in Pitbull 2 gorilla slamming Rocco to the floor through a table. Grunge BUM RUSHES THE SHOW, but the Pitbulls cut him off with a double suplex. Back inside, Rocco fights out of a chinlock and hits a Quebrada on Pitbull 1 for a nearfall. They brawl to the floor where Grunge and Pitbull 2 pair off with Rocco and Pitbull 1 on the other side. Everybody gets busted open pretty bad. Pitbull 2 looks like he might need a transfusion after this match. Stevie saves Pitbull 1 from Rocco with a cookie sheet. Meanwhile in the ring, Grunge pump splashes Pitbull 2 through a table. More chair brawling into the crowd. Back inside, Rocco counters the SUPER POWERBOMB with a headscissors for 1-2-NO! The Pitbulls deliver a slingshot clothesline to Rocco. Grunge knocks Pitbull 2 out of the ring so they can try the DRIVE BY on Pitbull 1, but he rolls out of the way. Since nobody can hit their finisher, Grunge nails Pitbull 1 from behind and sends him into the corner. He staggers back into a schoolboy from Rocco for the 1-2-3. (16:51) These in-the-crowd brawls translate well in the arenas, but this was just WAY too long for the TV viewer. Keep the in-ring stuff though and you would have had a much better match. *½

Ron Simmons vs. 911 (w/Paul E. Dangerously)

Short clip as Simmons goes for something up in the corner and 911 counters it with a SUPER CHOKESLAM. No rating.

Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk

Here is Terry Funk making his every-six-months appearance in ECW. Cactus wants to fight Funk in the crowd, so he obliges over at the Eagle’s Nest. They beat each other with a chair until Cactus tries an elbow drop off the stage through a table and misses. Back to ringside, more chair shots. Terry brings a table into the ring and while its propped up against the ropes, he gets thrown into it a couple times. Cactus heads up top, but Funk knocks him over with the table. That table nearly lands in the crowd as a result. Somebody brought a toilet seat to the show and that gets used around Funk’s neck. Cactus sets up for another elbow drop to the floor, but Funk slams him from the middle rope down to the concrete. A trash can gets brought into the ring and Funk finds a beer bottle. He beats Cactus with that until it breaks. Then when it breaks, Funk rakes it across Cactus to make him BLEED. Oh, that’s no good. Mikey Whipwreck and Hack Meyers try to save the day for their friends, but Terry Funk puts them both in the front row. Back inside, Funk has chairshots for Foley’s knee. After all this, he applies the SPINNING TOE HOLD like Cactus would submit or something. Cactus cradles him up for 1-2-NO! Cactus hits a DDT and covers Funk, but Sandman is a little early on the cane shot and breaks up the pin. Cactus hits another DDT and finally pins Funk for real this time. (13:02) Sandman starts caning Cactus and pours what is sold as lighter fluid all over him. Funk returns to the ring with a branding iron that’s ON FIRE. Cactus gets the branding iron away from Funk before he can REALLY get burned. Crazy brawl, folks. CRAZY brawl. **

Final Thoughts: Guerrero-Malenko is the start of something GOOD. Raven-Dreamer is historically important to the angle. There’s a changing of the guard so to speak now that Sandman is the ECW world champ. The rest is the standard procedure from ECW. Mild thumbs up for Hostile City Showdown 1995.

Well that’s all the ECW for now. Next up, Enter Sandman from May 95 and Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams from June 95. Good times will be had by all.