Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it to the dance! Tonight, Extreme Championship Wrestling brings pay-per-view to the land of extreme. After only a month long return following a lawsuit granted by our old network, a more fitting event couldn’t have been held. The card is stacked from top to bottom and the time for talk is over. ECW has returned and said return has arrived in a BIG way. Thanks to you, the fans of ECW, we proudly present ECW Barely Legal 1997! Championships will be defended, rivalries will progress and history will indeed be made…
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents:
ECW Barely Legal 1997 – 06/15/97 (Philadelphia, PA)
MATCH CARD:
Singles Match
Danny Doring Vs. Chris Chetti
Tag Team Match
The Triple Threat (Mike Awesome & Lance Storm) Vs. The Gangstas (Mustafa Saed & New Jack)
Singles Match for the ECW Television Championship
“The Human Suplex Machine” Taz (c) Vs. Saturn
Fatal Four-Way Match
Rob Van Dam Vs. Chris Candido Vs. Mikey Whipwreck Vs. Davey Morton Jericho
Tag Team Match for the ECW Tag Team Championships
Spike Dudley & Roadkill (c) Vs. The Prime Time Killers (Kronus & “Prime Time” Brian Lee)
Singles Match
Bam Bam Bigelow Vs. “The Franchise” Shane Douglas
Three-Way Dance for the ECW Heavyweight Championship
Sabu (c) Vs. Raven Vs. Terry Funk
The results were as follows:
1. Opening segment: As Joey Styles was talking Extreme Championship Wrestling up to a worldwide pay-per-view audience, Danny Doring rudely interrupted as only he does. Mid-sentence Doring made his way down the aisle with something on his mind. Once in the ring with a microphone in hand the live audience would figure out exactly what that was. “Ladies and Gentlemen around God’s green Earth, the man you PAID to see has FINALLY arrived! That’s right, Danny Doring is here in live vivid color! Tonight folks, lucky number seven goes under my belt as I put away the puny Chris Chetti… At least I think that is his name, I only heard it quick on the way out here. Right here tonight, Danny Doring goes seven consecutive victories to zero losses, an unblemished accomplishment nobody else in the world of professional sports can lay claim to! Now Chetti, nobody here in Philadelphia or out there in TV land wants to see you. So, for the benefit of ECW’s loyal paying customers, I’m gonna’ beat you nice and quick.” The arena’s boos finally built to a roar. “No, no folks. No need to thank me. It’ll be my pleasure.” Finally, Chris Chetti’s music hit and he stormed down to ringisde.
2. Danny Doring was in fact able to put Chris Chetti away with a certain amount of ease, as confidence overcame skill tonight. The crowd constantly go on the case of Doring though which almost deterred him enough for Chetti to pick up a victory. Realizing his confidence was slowly slipping and that the crowd was slowly creeping into his head, Doring put Chetti away as soon as possible. After whipping him around quite a bit, Doring hit the Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am and pinned Chetti for the seventh consecutive win of his career. After the bell rang, Doring would provide an unnecessary encore presentation of his finishing move for further insult to injury. With an upset crowd, Doring walked out with his hands and arms proudly in the air. (7:13)
3. Mustafa Saed entered through the crowd to his theme music, kicking off the next contest. He grabbed a mic before jumping into the ring. “So, tonight, I’m supposed to face those little p**** b****** Lance Storm and Mike Awsome all alone. What ‘chu think this is? Well, I go some thin’ awesome for ya’ll. New Jack, get ‘cho ass out here!” With that, New Jack made his return to ECW through the crowd after serving a short stint of prison time. As the crowd erupted, the Thriple Threat’s music hit and Mike Awesome and Lance Storm walked out, stopping halfway down the aisle to do a little talking. Lance Storm started off on behalf of the Triple Threat. “New Jack. New Jack, I’m not sure your parole officer knows your here, but regardless, now that you are Mike Awesome and I have two asses to kick instead of just one. You should have stayed in the stony lonesome my man, because now you’re going to have to deal with some even harder justice. You think you can return to ECW and STEAL our spotlight? That doesn’t sit well with the Triple Threat and after we’re done kicking Mustafa’s ass and yours, you’re not going to be able to sit well either!” Before Storm could continue, The Gangstas jumped to the floor to meet him and Mike Awesome. The beating them commenced and both teams were fighting as dirty as possible. Needless to say, this one might not have made it to free television! At one point, New Jack tore open Mike Awesome’s forehead with a screwdriver, compliments of a fan’s weapon brought from home. This one was an obvious blow off of steam for The Gangstas and two-thirds of Triple Threat just happen to be the bodies in the way. A set of Gangsta Splashes through a table a piece would put Lance Storm and Mike Awesome away after a brutal beat down. (15:47)
4. After making their entrances, preliminary announcements began for the ECW Television Champion Taz and challenger Saturn. After announcements were made and rules were made clear, Saturn reached out a hand of purely respect. Taz did not embrace this notion, so instead, Saturn pulled his hand away, walked closer to the ECW Television champ and slapped him hard on the face. In furious retaliation, Taz grabbed Saturn and quickly shot him into a T-Bone Tazplex. Absolutely stunned, Saturn then found himself in a Tazmission before he could even inhale following the crushing previous maneuver. Nearly tapping out before reaching the ropes. Almost losing seconds into the match up focused Saturn and Taz now knew that Saturn was going to be a very unpredictable opponent for him. Nonetheless, both men fought to their last breath. Saturn and Taz’s similar mat-based styles meshed so well that every impact grapple was that and then some. The two were just trying to break each other. Bill Alfonso would try to get involved before being swatted from the apron by Sautrn, who was having none of it. Several near falls would be gained by both men, leaving the crowd on the edge of their seats. Finally, Saturn was drained and passed out under Taz’s infamous Tazmission submission hold. After the match, both men were shown tremendous respect by the live attending audience. Saturn would regain consciousness after Taz left and would be able to walk out on his own to applause. (18:11)
5. A quick video showcasing ECW: Resurgence on Thursday nights is played. Call your local cable provider for more information!
7. Mikey Whipwreck was able to pull off another impressive victory tonight against former ECW Television champion Chris Candido, Rob Van Dam, and Davey Morton Jericho. High spots were a-plenty as expected in this one, making it a fun and highly competitive match. Mikey and Van Dam worked together at a few points in the match leaving Candido and Jericho to come up with a way to fight back as a makeshift team. Allainces would go awry though as Mikey and Van Dam would square off for a good few minutes. The ending would come when Van Dam leaped to the outside onto Candido and then not being able to return to the ring in time to break up Mikey pinning Davey Morton Jericho after a dishing out a Whipper-Snapper. Mikey would earn another hard fought victory tonight and Rob Van Dam specifically recognized it, giving him a hand shake and holding up his hand in victory. (13:55)
8. Tonight, fans saw the ECW Tag Team champs at their weakest for sure and tonight was not the night to be off their game. Kronus and Brian Lee, collectively now known as The Prime Time Killers, were able to dethrone the champions. Several slip ups were made by both Spike and Roadkill and it would cost them their titles on this night. Frustration began building when Roadkill and Spike couldn’t keep Brian Lee down for a three count on three separate occasions. Letting the pressure and frustration get the best of them, Roadkill and Spike began to slightly disagree and argue. Lee and Kronus would capitalize and eventually Brian Lee of The Prime Time Killers would pin Spike and gain the ECW Tag Team Championships for he and Kronus. After the match, Roadkill helped Spike up and threw his fallen partner onto his shoulders. Exiting the ring, the former champs got clapped out until, very violently and suddenly, Roadkill Samoan dropped Spike Dudley through the time-keepers table. He would then roll the lifeless Spike into the ring and prop him up in one of the nearest corners for a huge body avalanche splash. With his work finished, Roadkill exited the arena leaving a crushed former partner to pick up his own pieces in the ring. (16:04)
9. “The Frnachise” Shane Douglas entered with Francine to face “The Beast from the East” Bam Bam Bigelow. Lance Storm and Mike Awesome accompanied Bigelow to the ring. Realizing he would have to act smartly to combat the Triple Threat, Douglas waited for the bell to ring before leaving Bigelow in the ring to chase down Lance Storm and Mike Awesome chair in hand. Attempting to be sneaky, Mike Awesome waited for Douglas around the corner. BAM, Douglas would level him with the steel chair. Realizing that the odds were now even, Lance Storm would make a ditch effort to get away before Shane Douglas grabbed him and a drowsy Mike Awesome and tossed them in the back. Before “The Franchise” could turn around to head back to the ring though, he was blindsided by Bam Bam Bigelow. The two brawled down the aisle before Bam Bam Irish-whipped Douglas into the steel barrier so hard that he hit it and bounced over into the front row. The two brawled all the way to the back of the arena where the bleachers section was located for added fan seating in the ECW Arena. Shortly after, the two found themselves at the top of said bleachers throwing hay-makers until they both became weak in the legs. Bam Bam finally blocked a big punch thrown sloppily by Douglas and tossed Douglas down the bleachers. Douglas would tumble down them and slap the concrete floor as Bigelow taunted on top of the bleachers. Eventually, the two would finally square off in the ring putting on a pretty decent match with some huge swings in moment throughout. Douglas would end up delivering a huge belly-to-belly suplex followed by a rear naked choke on Bam Bam in a desperate attempt to put him away for the night. Bam Bam would get to his feet with Douglas still on his back and ram him into a turnbuckle to shake him loose. The ending came when Bam Bam Bigelow grabbed a chair from ringside to hit Douglas with. Instead of tee off on Douglas, “The Franchise” was able to duck it and hit Bam Bam with a huge fist. Dropping the chair, Bigelow stammered but suddenly recovered before going down by grabbing Shane Douglas and hitting him with a Greetings From Asbury Park. Thus, spiking Douglas’ head right into the chair avoided earlier and gaining himself the victory. (17:38)
10. A hype package video recapping the entire Sabu/Terry Funk/Raven saga, covering Sabu’s injury and return, Raven’s actions almost closing ECW and putting his ECW career on the line, and Terry Funk’s battle in the ECW title picture over the past few months.
11. Finally, the main event was here. After making the announces that this would be for the Extreme Championship Wrestling Heavyweight title. Also, it would be for Raven’s career in ECW, if he doesn’t win he will banned from Extreme Championship Wrestling forever. All three men wanted to win this one, all for different reasons. With such clashing styles, this one was nothing short of an Extreme classic. Raven ducked out of the action several times with an obvious strategy to get Funk and Sabu to destroy each other. Funk and Sabu wouldn’t allow it though, as they would almost immediately reintroduce him to the action as soon as they noticed his absence. Early on Funk was heavily double teamed before Raven turned on Sabu and hit a surprise Evenflow DDT. Trying for an early pin proved to be a bad decision as Funk would pull Raven off of Sabu and put him in a spinning toehold. With Raven in the toehold, Sabu was able to recover and hit an Arabian facebuster with a chair from the top turnbuckle onto Raven’s head. Raven was down and out for several minutes before he broke up the Camel Clutch, saving Funk from tapping out and subsequently the match for himself. Throughout the match, one would capitalize on another’s devastating maneuver, each trying to out do the other and gain the victory. The ending of the match came when Sabu placed Raven on a table, then a table over him. With Raven in a table sandwich, Sabu proceed to superplex Terry Funk through the stacked tables with all three men disappearing in the debris. Sabu’s arm happen to fall across Funk’s chest and the referee counted the pinfall. Sabu would retain the ECW Heavyweight Championship and Raven would have to leave the arena immediately. Medical staff appeared ringside to tend to all three men at the same time the bell rang to officially end the match. Sabu of course refused them medical treatment and refused to be helped out. Terry Funk had to be helped out by three medical staff members and was walked out to a standing ovation from the entire attending audience. Lastly, Raven was helped to his feet as Paul E. Dangerously appeared at ringside with Todd Gordon. “Raven, a deal is a deal. With the little dignity you have left, I suggest you walk outta’ here on your own will. If you refuse, you’ll be escorted out.” Defiantly, Raven stayed in the ring and Paul E. continued. “Fine, Raven. Have it YOUR way. Boys, get this piece of sh** outta’ here!” A security force entered the arena and shortly the ring. After a few minutes of last minutes of decisions, the team jumped on Raven and carried him out by his hands and feet. The crowd sang goodbye to Raven as he is seen kicking and lashing in an attempt to escape the security force. (24:20)
12. Joey Syles closed the show by thanking all those who ordered the show tonight on pay-per-view and that ECW would be back on pay-per-view sometime soon! Until then, Style reminded the views to tune into ECW: Resurgence every Thursday night for all the extreme action you can handle!