ECW House Show 7/24/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 7/24/1999
From: Alexandria, LA

The attendance for the show doesn’t appear to be all that strong. According to the History of WWE, the attendance for the show was 400. The bleacher seating was pretty empty, but the floor appears to be full.

Opening Contest: CW Anderson vs. Vito Lograsso: Vito spits on a fan on the floor prior to the match effectively making CW the baby face for the match. They go to the floor where Vito works over Anderson with strikes. Vito tosses Anderson back first into the guard railing but CW soon returns the favor. Vito hardly hits a middle rope dropkick to gain control in the ring. The fans are chanting “faggot” at Vito because he is wearing purple gear. CW counters a backdrop attempt with a DDT for a near fall. Vito soon comes back with a jumping DDT and wins the match. (*. Well, it wasn’t a good opener to start. It felt like it went a little long. Vito was getting booed but gets a pop for winning the match afterward. CW was nowhere near the level he would end up being at when he had a feud with Dreamer in 2000.) After the match, Jack Victory, who was the manager for Anderson, levels CW with a clothesline because he lost the match.

Second Contest: Simon Diamond vs. Roadkill: Early on, Roadkill splashes Diamond in the corner after taking a couple of arm drags. Diamond gets control working over Roadkill’s arm but the fans don’t seem to be overly interested in the action. Roadkill slams Diamond and hits a middle rope elbow drop. Roadkill crotches himself on the top rope and Simon hits a top rope hurricanrana followed by a clothesline. On the floor, Diamond sends Roadkill into the guard railing. Simon heads to the top but Danny Doring crotches him on the top. Roadkill side slams Diamond and gets a two count. Roadkill plants Diamond with a side slam but can’t get a three count. Simon brings Doring into the ring and hits a reverse DDT. Roadkill power slams Simon and comes off the top to hit a splash for the win. (*. Similar to the first match as it didn’t do anything to become entertaining and the action was really lackluster.)

Third Contest: Super Crazy vs. Little Guido: Big Sal trips Crazy to allow Guido to hit a dropkick early on. Guido locks in an arm bar but can’t get a submission on Crazy. Crazy hits two springboard moonsaults for a near fall. Crazy backdrops Guido over the top to the floor and Crazy takes both Sal and Guido out with a springboard dive on the floor! Crazy locks in a surfboard and rolls around but Guido refuses to give up. Crazy taunts Sal on the middle rope which allows Guido to hit a middle rope side Russian leg sweep! Guido gets a two count after a swinging neck breaker. Guido drops Crazy with a clothesline and comes off the middle rope to hit a leg drop for a near fall.

Sal enters the ring and grabs Crazy to deliver a standing leg drop to the back of Crazy’s neck. Guido hits a middle rope elbow drop for a two count. Crazy has an inside cradle but the referee is distracted by Sal. Crazy nearly wins after a spinning heel kick. Sal holds Crazy on the apron and nearly collides with Crazy. Guido counters a head scissors by dropping Crazy face first into the canvas. Crazy plants Guido with a DDT and hits a trifecta of moonsaults for the win. (**1/2. A good paced match between these two guys as they always worked very well together. The best match on the show thus far and a turning point for the show as the remainder of the card appears to be for bigger names.)

Fourth Contest: Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn: Lynn arm drags Storm to the floor early on but he doesn’t follow up with the control. Lynn rolls Storm up but they begin to counter rollups for a few moments leading to a standoff. Lynn monkey flips Storm and hits a head scissors before yanking Storm off the apron and hitting his face across the apron. Lynn sends Storm into the guard railing and Lynn flips off the apron to take Storm out with a dive on the outside! Dawn Marie holds Lynn’s foot on the apron so that Storm can hit a dropkick and Lynn hits the railing. Storm hits a springboard top rope clothesline but only gets a two count on the cover attempt. Lynn comes back with a springboard cross body for a two count but Storm hits a spinning back elbow to drop Lynn to the canvas. Storm hits a rolling fireman’s carry but Lynn again manages to kick out before three. Marie gives Storm a chair but Lynn plants Storm with a DDT over the chair!

Storm decks Lynn with a right hand but Lynn hits a bulldog and a German suplex for a near fall. Lynn counters a suplex attempt and hits a stunner from a vertical suplex position but goes to the apron to take care of Marie. Lynn goes for the cradle piledriver but Storm counters and hits a super kick for a near fall! Storm low blows Lynn but Jerry comes back with a rollup and gets the win. (**1/2. Much like the Guido/Crazy match, this one had some decent action going but nothing overly memorable. They worked a good pace and kept it fairly simple.)

Fifth Contest: ECW World Tag Team Champions the Dudley Boys vs. Nova & Chris Chetti: Early on, Nova and Chetti take out the champs with double team moves and Nova hits a slingshot cross body onto the champs on the floor. Nova gets stopped on the middle rope and D-Von hits a neck breaker off the middle rope. Bubba took out Chetti on the floor to give the champs the advantage. Bubba controls Nova with several jabs as the pace of the match slows down. D-Von hits a head butt off the top to the groin area of Nova for a two count. Nova plants D-Von with a reverse DDT and a regular DDT on Bubba. Chetti gets the hot tag and cleans house hitting a scissors kick on D-Von and a face buster on Bubba. The champs hit a dangerous looking power bomb/neck breaker combo due to poor timing. They know they fucked up and Nova is helped out to the backstage area.

The Dudley’s fake being sorry and attack Chetti as Balls Mahoney comes out with a steel chair and is the new partner for Chetti, apparently. Mahoney gets the hot tag and cleans house on the champs. Dudley Boys are nearly pinned after stereo super kicks and sit down scoop slams. Sign Guy whacks Chetti with a sign and D-Von hits a reverse DDT on Mahoney for a two count. Balls gets a chair and whacks the champs over the head with it. Oh crap, Balls has a plastic bag full of thumbtacks! Balls puts the tacks over a table but gets hit with a chair by D-Von. Bubba recovers and power bombs Mahoney through the table covered in thumbtacks but still kicks out at two! Chetti gets met with the 3D and is pinned. (*1/2. So, that was just kind of there. Nova being taken out due to injury, which I would think was planned due to Mahoney coming out and quickly filling the role, hurt the match. Nova was the most entertaining guy part of the match and is taken out. Not a hardcore brawl, which would have been better, but rather a tag match that relied on a table spot and that’s about all.)

Sixth Contest: Steve Corino vs. Francine: Corino and Dreamer traded words prior to the match, but I have no idea what they were saying due to poor sound. Francine hit a bronco buster and got the win over Corino after a DDT. The match was literally ten-seconds.

Seventh Contest: Tajiri vs. El Costco: I’m guessing on the opponents name for Tajiri due to the poor sound quality of the microphone and horrible echo in the arena. Costco arm drags Tajiri to the floor and dumps Tajiri into the crowd. Costco leaps off the railing and takes Tajiri out with a moonsault! Costco drives Tajiri down with a tilt a whirl back breaker, but Tajiri quickly hits a hurricanrana and a kick to the head. Costco counters a power bomb with a face buster. Costco hits a top rope somersault splash but Tajiri kicks out at two. Tajiri gets his boots up to block a moonsault but spikes Costco with a brain buster for the win. (**. For the quick match that it was, I enjoyed it.) After the match, ECW World Champion Taz makes his way out and sets up a title match with Tajiri.

Eighth Contest: ECW World Champion Taz vs. Tajiri: They quickly go to the floor where Taz controls Tajiri by sending him into the guard railing. Tajiri tosses Taz into chairs in the crowd to get the advantage. Taz dumps Tajiri into a trash can before heading to the concession area. Tajiri low blows Taz while they brawl in the bleachers. They finally make it to ringside and into the ring after the lengthy brawl. Tajiri hits a handspring back elbow and a spinning heel kick. Tajiri lands on his feet on a suplex attempt and dropkicks the left knee of the champ. Taz takes Tajiri over with a back suplex anyway, though. Taz hits a double leg slam out of the corner. Taz takes a few kicks but asks for more from Tajiri. Taz catches a kick to hit an overhead belly to belly suplex. Tajiri with a low blow and a kick to the face but can’t put Taz away. Taz locks in the Taz Mission and gets a quick submission. (*1/2. They surely went the brawling direction to kill time and not have to produce much in-ring action. So, that was kind of disappointing. I don’t know why people were giving these guys a standing ovation afterward for limited work.)

Ninth Contest: Sabu vs. Justin Credible in a death match: Sabu goes for a triple jump splash to the floor but Credible cuts him off with a kendo stick shot to the midsection in midair in the ring. Sabu avoids Justin in the corner to hit a springboard heel kick and a slingshot leg drop from the apron for a near fall. Sabu baseball slides Credible over the railing into the crowd. Sabu hits a triple jump dive into the crowd onto Credible! Credible comes off the ropes to deliver a dropkick to a seated Sabu, but his offense doesn’t last too long. Sabu goes to the floor and sets a table across the apron and railing but Credible takes him out with a cross body! Sabu shakes the ropes to crotch Credible on the top and hits a hurricanrana off the top rope! Credible low blows Sabu with a mule kick in the corner to regain control of the contest.

Credible has a chin lock on Sabu but isn’t about to get a submission with that. Sabu gets his knees up to block a splash and locks in the camel clutch. Jason comes in to deliver a kick to Sabu and Bill Alfonso enters to make the save and kicks Jason after a chop block from Sabu. Sabu tries for a springboard but Credible trips him face first into a steel chair. Credible comes off the top to hit a big splash and gets a two count. A table is set up in the corner where Sabu leg drops Credible through it and leg drops the broken table onto Credible a couple of times, but Credible still kicks out. Credible avoids a splash in the corner and rams Sabu face first into the steel chair. Jason accidentally hits Credible with a kendo stick shot and Sabu nearly wins with a DDT. Sabu finally hits the triple jump moonsault and heads to the top rope where he is handed a chair for the Arabian face buster and pins Credible. (**1/2. I enjoyed the match was Sabu didn’t botch anything and was on his game tonight. The story of Sabu not being able to hit the triple jump but managing in the end to hit it provided a bigger pop than he usually got for the move and helped the match, too. Credible didn’t really do much, so it was all about Sabu here.)

Main Event: ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Spike Dudley: Spike goes for a rollup while RVD plays to the crowd and gets a near fall. Spike low blows RVD and attempts the Acid Drop but gets crotched on the top and knocked to the floor after a spin kick. Spike knocks RVD off the apron and face first across the apron. RVD catches Spike on a somersault dive off the apron and hits a spinning leg drop off the apron across the guard railing. RVD sends Spike hard into the railing and plays to the crowd. Spike is sent hard into the railing a second time. RVD puts Spike across the railing and leg drops Spike into the crowd. RVD kicks a chair into Spike’s face in the crowd after leaping off of the railing.

Spike avoids a slingshot leg drop to the apron and takes RVD out with a suicide dive that sends both men over the guard railing! Spike drops RVD throat first across the railing, as well. RVD leaps off the top to hit Spike with a kick back in the ring while Alfonso had Spike distracted. Spike nearly wins with a rollup but misses a cross body and RVD hits a standing moonsault. RVD dropkicks a chair into Spike’s face again. RVD hits a spinning leg drop for a two count. Spike fights back with a neck breaker on a steel chair. Spike follows up by dropkicking a chair into RVD’s face and messes up a hurricanrana it looked like. RVD counters the Acid Drop by tossing Spike away. RVD kicks a chair into Spike’s face and heads to the top to hit the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. (**. This would have been a lot better had they treated Spike as any kind of threat to RVD. After every spot RVD took the time to play to the crowd and it ruined the flow of the match for me. A lackluster main event to close the show.)

Final Thoughts:
Well, there were a few decent matches but nothing worth checking out here. A thumbs down for this ECW house show.

Thanks for reading.