Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents ECW on TNN
Date: 5/26/2000
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.)Masato Tanaka defeated Balls Mahoney
2.)Jerry Lynn defeated Tajiri
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. A video promoting the feud between Rhino and the Sandman is aired. It is black and white with some old school emotional music with it. I’m not sure the music really fits with what they were presenting, but it was a nice effort.
2. ECW World Champion Justin Credible is interviewed in the backstage area. Credible may have a concussion, apparently. Credible says he can’t make any mistakes because everyone is gunning for him.
3. Simon Diamond is talking to himself in a mirror. He is upset that he is considered a comedy act. He needs to align himself with someone who has the same talent as he does. Prodigy and another comedy act show up. Johnny Swinger shows up and says he is the problem solver. That’s the formation of a new tag team, folks.
4. A slow start to the Tanaka/Mahoney match. You’d be expecting hardcore action but they are keeping it simple with actual wrestling until Mahoney bites Tanaka’s forehead. Mahoney hits a short arm clothesline for a near fall. Mahoney botches a spinning heel kick that was to send them both to the floor. Tanaka sends Mahoney into the guardrailing and drives a chair into Mahoney’s head. Tanaka gets a two count on a snap powerslam and hits a top rope frog splash for a near fall. Mahoney drives Tanaka down with a sitout spinebuster. Mahoney hits a frog splash of his own for a near fall. They both have gotten chairs and they have a dual with them. Mahoney whacks Tanaka over the head three times. Mahoney isn’t affected by chair shots until the third one knocks him down. Tanaka nearly won after the roaring elbow. Mahoney hits the Nutcracker Suite onto a few chairs but Tanaka kicks out. Tanaka hits the Diamond Dust but Mahoney kicks out yet again. Tanaka goes up top with a chair but is kicked in midair by Balls. Balls goes to the floor and slides a table into the ring. Mahoney also got a bag which ends up being thumbtacks. Tanaka is able to send Mahoney through the table with a tornado DDT to win the match. (***. Yeah, it was mainly just two guys kicking out of ridiculous moves, but it was entertaining to me.)
5. Tommy Dreamer is interviewed backstage. Wait a second, Dreamer tosses the interview guy out without saying a word.
6. Tajiri opens the bout with a dropkick to Lynn’s midsection but Lynn quickly fights back with a tilt a whirl backbreaker. Tajiri knocks Lynn down with a spinning heel kick after they traded a few chops. Tajiri comes off the ropes with a handspring back elbow! Lynn attempts a tornado DDT but Tajiri drops him face first across the top turnbuckle. Lynn hits Tajiri with a legdrop and dropkicks Tajiri off the apron to the floor. Lynn takes Tajiri out with a dive over the top. Tajiri hits a dangerous powerbomb for a near fall. Lynn gets up and hits a powerbomb of his own for a near fall. Tajiri kicks Lynn as he grabbed a chair. Corino enters to superkick Tajiri behind the referee’s back. That allows Lynn to hit the cradle piledriver for the win. (**1/4. These two could have done a lot better, but it was seemingly more of a way to get over Lynn’s new attitude change.) After the match, Rob Van Dam comes down to make the save on Tajiri, who was being attacked by the Network. Scotty Anton is able to knock RVD down and puts a sharpshooter on him until Tajiri spits mist in his face!
7. Backstage, Raven is talking until Francine comes over and tells Raven that he needs realize that he is a has been. She slaps Raven and Justin Credible comes over to attack Raven. Tommy Dreamer comes over as well and is attacked by Credible too.
Final Thoughts:
A better episode compared to last weeks edition. A good match between Tanaka/Mahony and a decent match between Lynn/Tajiri. The only bad thing is that there aren’t any fresh feuds going on. It feels like the same feuds have been going on for several months and they are growing old on me. Anyway, this episode gets a thumbs up from me.
Thanks for reading.