ECW House Show 3/27/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 3/27/1998
From: Rostraver, PA

Opening Contest: D-Von Dudley vs. Al Snow: Snow runs down and whacks Bubba with head on the aisle way and enters to fight D-Von. Dudley backdrops Snow and continues to deliver strikes in the corner. The fans are red hot for Snow, who hits a spin kick to gain control. Al follows up with a snap suplex and plays to the crowd. D-Von sends Al to the floor after a spinning elbow strike. D-Von nearly wins after a side slam and argues with the referee. Dudley scoop slams Snow and leaps off the middle rope but misses a splash. Snow attempts the Snow Plow but gets whacked with a sign from Sign Guy Dudley but D-Von only gets a near fall. Snow spikes D-Von with the Snow Plow for the win. (*1/2. This is without the doubt the most popular Snow ever managed to be in his career. The fans would not stop cheering for him and chanted his name the entire contest. D-Von put up a fight but Snow is a main event singles guy opening the show against a tag wrestler, no surprise with how the match went.)

Second Contest: Tracy Smothers, Little Guido & Tommy Rich vs. The Sandman, Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney: Sandman is a surprise partner for Rotten and Mahoney and proceeds to take several minutes to get to the ring and his reaction fades more and more as time passes. Sandman tries to use his kendo stick early on but the heels avoid any damage. Rich avoids Sandman and tags in Guido. Guido gets backdropped by Sandman and Rotten enters to actually get the match going after seemingly eight minutes of stalling. Guido counters the Nutcracker Suite from Mahoney and tags in Smothers. Tracy hits a dropkick and plays to the crowd. Smothers ducks a clothesline but is met with a super kick to the chin. Balls flies over the top and hits the guard railing where Rich attacks to give his team more of an advantage. Mahoney misses a splash in the corner and crashes to the canvas. Mahoney continues to be worked over by the heels for a long period of time. Mahoney finally battles back with a power slam on Smothers and heads to the top where Tracy power slams Balls off. Smothers drops Mahoney with a forearm strike from the top but only gets a near fall.

Balls plants Tracy with a sit out spine buster. Sandman gets the hot tag and uses the kendo stick on the heels. Two chair shots and a kendo stick shot later and we get a triple pin to end the match. (*. Really some uninspiring action by the guys involved. Sandman did nothing the entire match and the Mahoney being in peril part of the match seemed like it was never going to end.)

Third Contest: Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Roadkill: The fans have no idea who Bobby Duncum Jr. is. Duncum was an accomplished wrestler for All Japan Pro Wrestling before coming back to the States. Roadkill nearly wins with a power slam and sends Duncum to the floor where Danny Doring beats on Bobby briefly. Roadkill uses a chair on Bobby but is soon sent over the railing into the crowd. Duncum uses a chair on Roadkill a few times and goes after Doring who runs away. Back in the ring, Roadkill chokes Duncum over the middle rope and Doring gets involved again. Duncum low blows Roadkill and sends him to the floor but the fans are getting restless. Duncum hits a top rope clothesline for a two count due to Doring breaking the pin up. Roadkill heads to the top rope but misses an elbow drop. Duncum quickly hits a running bulldog and knocks Doring off the apron. Duncum hits an elevated reverse DDT and wins the match. (DUD. Yeah, that was just boring as hell. Nobody knew who Duncum was and it felt like a match you’d watch on WCW Worldwide. Probably makes sense that Bobby would be in WCW by the end of the year.)

Fourth Contest: Justin Credible vs. Mikey Whipwreck: Mikey is noticeably limping to the ring during his entrance, so the plan of attack for Credible should pretty obvious. Whipwreck starts off well with a side Russian leg sweep and sends Justin flipping into the corner. Mikey sends Credible off the apron with a kick and a head scissors on the floor! Mikey tosses Credible over the railing into the front two and Mikey takes him out with a somersault splash. They brawl into the crowd and Credible is sent into the hockey glass several times. Mikey whacks Justin with a trash can as well. Mikey drops Credible with a clothesline back in the ring, but Jason helps distract Mikey to allow a spinning DDT from Credible. Mikey is sent face first into a chair and Credible gets a near fall. Credible wedges a chair in the corner and sends Whipwreck back first into it. Credible hits a sit down power bomb after yanking Mikey out of the corner. Jason tosses Credible a chair and he jabs Whipwreck in the gut.

Justin heads to the top with the chair and gets the chair kicked back into his face after leaping off. Whipwreck starts to make his comeback by hitting a swinging neck breaker. Whipwreck catapults Credible face first into a chair and nearly wins with a rollup. Whipwreck follows up with a tornado DDT but here comes Jason. Whipwreck takes care of him with the Whippersnapper. The same goes for Credible’s girl Chastity. Credible low blows Mikey and hits the That’s Incredible for the win. (**1/2. I enjoyed the match these two managed to put together. Whipwreck was good in his spurts of offense but Credible is an underrated heel and can work a decent match when needed.)

Fifth Contest: ECW World Tag Team Champions Chris Candido & Lance Storm vs. Chris Chetti & Jerry Lynn: Chetti and Storm kick off the title match. Storm controls Chetti with a back breaker early on but Chris comes back with a hip toss and dropkick. Candido forces a tag and tells Storm to get out of the ring. Candido tells Storm to watch what he is about to do. Chetti gets out of a hold on the ground and Candido stalls. Chetti takes Chris down to the mat with a go behind and Candido panics before getting to the ropes. Chetti keeps control with arm drags and here comes Jerry Lynn to hit an elbow strike off the middle rope. Lynn maintains control with basic offense before tagging Chetti back in. Chetti hits a dropkick for a near fall. Storm tags back in after a scoop slam by Candido, but Storm can’t keep control. Lynn comes back in and drops Storm with an elbow strike and yanks Candido off the apron to hit his face on the apron. Storm baseball slides Lynn face first into the guard railing. Storm follows up with a dropkick and rips on Candido for complaining on the apron. Candido tags back in and works over Jerry in the corner.

Lynn rolls Candido up out of the corner for a near fall and follows up with a head scissors but Candido stops him with a kick to the head. Candido low blows Lynn and plants Jerry with a delayed vertical suplex. Storm locks in a nice roll under Boston Crab on Lynn but can’t get a submission. Lynn continues to get near falls every one in a while but gets cut off by Storm each time. Storm nails Jerry with a super kick for only a near fall. Lynn comes off the middle rope to barely hit a dropkick after Candido was playing to the crowd. Lynn exposes Candido’s ass and the female fans love it. Candido hits a power slam and tags in Storm who gets a near fall. Lynn and Storm collide in the middle of the ring. Candido forces a tag on Lance and they argue as Lance was going to the top rope. Lynn hits a top rope clothesline on the champs and Chetti gets the hot tag. Chetti cleans house and backdrops Candido. Chetti gets a two count following a swinging neck breaker and goes for a springboard hurricanrana but Candido kind of hits a power bomb instead.

Chetti stops Candido on the top and hits a superplex for a near fall thanks to Lance breaking up the cover. Storm clotheslines Chetti while Lynn is sent to the floor. Chetti low blows Candido and sends the heels into each other. Candido nearly pins Chetti by countering a rollup. Candido is left alone in the ring and Lynn hits a bulldog off the middle rope for a two count. Storm clubs Chetti to the floor while Lynn hits a hurricanrana but on the pin, Candido super kicks Lynn to allow Storm to get the win. (*1/2. Honestly, I was expecting a lot better from these four guys. Perhaps it was Lynn not having gotten into his groove yet or that they focused too much on the Storm/Candido tension. The match was long, as you can tell, and the fans were not invested into it at all. I mean, they have no reason to care about Chetti or Lynn anyway. A disappointing match when I was thinking it could have been a show stealer when I checked out the card.)

Sixth Contest: Doug Furnas vs. Rob Van Dam: Furnas runs over RVD with a clothesline to get the early advantage but RVD quickly hits a top rope leg drop to the back of Doug’s head for a near fall. Van Dam bails to the floor when Furnas got a few shots in on him. Furnas hits a nice overhead belly to belly suplex and goes after Van Dam on the floor. RVD is sent into the guard railing back first. Furnas tosses RVD over the railing and into the front row. Furnas takes RVD out with a splash into the crowd. Furnas clotheslines RVD over the railing and back towards ringside. Furnas continues in the ring with a power slam but Van Dam refuses to stay down for a three count. RVD hits a springboard dropkick and a twisting leg drop. RVD works over Doug in the corner and hits a scoop slam before a rolling thunder twisting leg drop for a near fall. Van Dam shoves Furnas off the middle rope and goes for a somersault dive but in midair is slammed by Furnas. Doug connects with a nice standing hurricanrana for a near fall.

Van Dam drives Furnas face first to the mat for a near fall. Furnas gets a near fall after a German suplex and the referee acts like he hurt his hand. Van Dam kicks a chair into Doug’s face and we get a fast count to end the match. (*. Yeah, well that was a bad match. The crowd is losing interest in the matches it seems like. These two have styles that should have worked well together but that wasn’t the case. Another disappointing match on the show.)

Seventh Contest: Spike Dudley vs. Bubba Ray Dudley: Spike power walks to the ring and hits Bubba with several forearm strikes but can’t drop him. Bubba stops Spike with a side slam to gain control of the match. Spike tries to counter Bubba’s offense but walks into a short arm clothesline. Bubba hits a high elevated backdrop sending Spike crashing down to the mat. Spike tries to get a sleeper on Bubba but is rammed into the corner back first. Spike nearly wins with a sunset flip but Sign Guy breaks up the count. Bubba lifts Spike up and casually lets him crash to the mat. Spike with a jaw breaker but Bubba backdrops Spike to the floor. Spike is busted wide open. Spike rams Bubba face first into a table set up at ringside and somersaults off the apron to take Bubba out on the floor. Spike leaps off the top and dives onto Bubba! Bubba crotches Spike on the top rope and hits a back suplex. Spike low blows Bubba and heads to the top and hits a missile dropkick. Spike stands on Bubba’s chest in the corner and attempted a hurricanrana but Bubba countered with a big power bomb! Bubba is busted open as well now. Bubba sets a chair up in the corner and they botch a snake eyes, but Spike hits it anyway and plants Bubba with the Acid Drop. Sign Guy hits the referee with his sign to breakup the cover.

D-Von enters and attacks Spike to help Bubba out. The fans want New Jack but here comes John Kronus. Kronus takes care of D-Von with some strikes a spinning heel kick to Bubba. Big Dick Dudley comes out and choke slams Kronus. Here comes New Jack, folks. Same old routine from Jack. Big Dick jabs Jack with some barbed wire to bust him wide open. Kronus is bleeding buckets as well. Anyway, Spike eventually hits the Acid Drop and pins Bubba. (*. I’m not use to seeing Spike wrestle more than ten seconds as he normally would for ECW it seemed like. Same old routine to finish matches and a lot of blood for very little work.)

Eighth Contest: ECW Television Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. Taz: Bigelow is all taped up on his forehead and Taz wastes no time clubbing Bigelow in the face after a drop toe hold. Bigelow splashes Taz in the corner but Taz charges out with a clothesline. Bigelow counter a suplex attempt by landing on top of Taz. Taz recovers to send Bigelow to the floor and the bandage is off of Bam-Bam’s eye. Bigelow catches Taz off the apron and rams him back first into the ring post. They go into the crowd where Bam-Bam rams Taz face first into the chairs. Taz sends Bigelow face first into the hockey glass. Taz sends Bigelow through a merchandise table but Bam-Bam is able to do the same moments later. They are fighting towards the entrance of the arena as Taz rams Bigelow face first into another chair. Bigelow rams Taz head first into a glass window, which proceeds to shatter. Bigelow walks away and is soon tackled. They get back to ringside where Taz rams Bigelow into the timekeepers table again. Taz and Bigelow collide following a double clothesline. Bigelow can’t see because of his eye and plants the referee with a DDT. Taz locks in the Taz Mission but there is no referee. A second referee comes out and calls for the bell. Taz wins the match, but by disqualification. (*1/2. Okay, what a bullshit finish that was. They have a brawl all over the place and it all just ends with a second referee calling for a DQ. I get they had to protect both guys, but put together a match that isn’t a wild brawl and no DQ is called with the original referee calling the action.) After the match, Taz takes out the second referee with a suplex.

Main Event: ECW World Champion Shane Douglas vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Sabu in an elimination match: They start off with a triple lockup with nobody getting any leverage. Sabu decks Dreamer and Douglas works over Sabu in the corner with several punches. Douglas botches a suplex on Sabu as it looked like it was in slow motion. Sabu botches a springboard attempt by missing the middle rope. Sabu gets a chair and smashes Douglas in the face and the same goes for Dreamer. Sabu follows up with a splash in the corner on Dreamer. Douglas jumps off the chair to splash both challengers in the corner. Sabu takes both guys out on the floor with a springboard dive. Dreamer baseball slides a chair into both Sabu and Douglas. Back in the ring, Dreamer has a sleeper on Douglas and Sabu steps on a chair to put a sleeper on Dreamer. Douglas delivers a double jaw breaker to break the hold. Alfonso trips both Douglas and Dreamer. Francine and Beulah team up to clothesline Alfonso and they turn on each other for the expected cat fight. Dreamer and Douglas deliver piledrivers on both females! Sabu hits a springboard clothesline for a near fall on Douglas.

Sabu introduces a table into the mix and slides it into the ring. Dreamer hits a Death Valley Driver but Sabu breaks up the pin with a top rope leg drop. Sabu puts Tommy on the table and heads to the top but Tommy cuts him off and goes for a superplex. Douglas puts Dreamer on his shoulders and Sabu clotheslines Dreamer through the table. Douglas covers and pins Dreamer for the first elimination.

Douglas hits Sabu with the broken piece of table to get the upper hand in the now singles match. Douglas sends Sabu back first into the broken table and hits a delayed vertical suplex for a near fall. Sabu comes back with a springboard clothesline but Douglas easily kicks out at two. Alfonso gets in the ring and is knocked down by Douglas. Sabu low blows Douglas and delivers a DDT. RVD is at ringside and attacks Douglas on the floor with some kicks. A table has been laid across the apron and guard railing. Douglas is placed on the table and Sabu hits a springboard leg drop but the table doesn’t break. Sabu attempts a cover but Shane kicks out at two again. Sabu tosses a chair at Douglas and holds Douglas only for RVD to accidentally kick the chair into Sabu. Douglas with a belly to belly suplex and gets the win. (*3/4. I mean, there was some decent action but it’s an example of using weapons to get a pop. There were a lot of botches, which tends to happen when it involves Sabu. It’s a strong main event on paper, but the action just didn’t reach the expected delivery from the three men.) After the match, Sabu and RVD argue a little bit.

Final Thoughts:
On paper, this should be a great ECW show. However, the reality is that the show is a huge disappointment. The best match is Credible/Whipwreck but the show is filled with matches that should have provided a lot of entertainment but just didn’t click right. It was noticeable that as the show progressed, the fans interest in the show declined. Not a recommended show to get.

Thanks for reading.