ECW House Show 8/8/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 8/8/1997
From: Warwick, PA

Sandman and Tod Gordon open the show with the fans going nuts for Sandman. He is supposed to be teaming with Taz and Tommy Dreamer later on in the show against the Triple Threat, however, he doesn’t look to be in good physical shape, even for his standards. Sandman has something important to say and puts over the fans for being the reason that keeps ECW alive. Sandman lists the injuries he has suffered over the last several months and says that the doctors won’t clear him to compete tonight. He promises the next time he is in Warwick he will drink a case of beer and lift the roof off of the place. Sabu and Rob Van Dam come out with Bill Alfonso to run down Sandman. They have chairs and have cornered both Sandman and Gordon. Gordon gets tossed down and Sandman is hit with two chairs. So much for not being cleared… Balls Mahoney and Tommy Dreamer run down with a chair and kendo stick to chase Van Dam and Sabu from the ring.

Opening Contest: Louie Spicolli vs. John Kronus: Spicolii comes off the ropes and is met with a few spin kicks from Kronus sending him to the floor. Louie comes back into the ring and trades strikes with Kronus. Spicolli ducks a spin kick to plant Kronus with a spine buster for a two count. Louie kicks Kronus on the side of the head to get a two count. Spicolli hits a stunner but can’t put Kronus away on a cover attempt. Louie heads to the top but misses a swanton bomb. Saturn gets on the apron and whacks Spicolli over the head with his crutch. Kronus hits a handspring elbow strike and slams Louie. Kronus goes up top and hits the 450 splash for the win. (*1/2. That was a quick match and it had an effective ending with the high spot.)

Second Contest: Tracy Smothers & Little Guido vs. Axl Rotten & Chris Chetti: Rotten and Guido start the match with Rotten using his size to knock Guido down. Chetti enters the match and Guido yanks Chris down by his hair. Chetti gets a full nelson on Guido and drops him to the canvas. Chetti power slams Guido but missed an elbow drop. Guido is backed into the corner and Rotten tags in to continue the attack on Guido with jabs and an elbow strike. Smothers tags in and runs into an arm drag. Smothers gets control and dances for the crowd but is met with a short arm clothesline and sent over the top to the floor. Chetti takes Smothers out with a cross body to the floor. Rotten and Chetti continue to attack the heels on the floor. Smothers drops Rotten throat first across the top rope. Guido scoop slams Rotten and tags in Smothers who slams Guido onto Rotten for a near fall. Tommy Rich crotches Rotten over the guard railing to help his team out. Smother assists Guido to leg drop Rotten for a two count.

Smothers and Guido double team Rotten but they can’t put him away. Guido misses a clothesline and hits Smothers. Here comes Chetti to clean house with dropkicks and clotheslines. Chetti nails Smothers with a spinning heel kick. Chetti hits a power slam on Smothers but only gets a two count. All four men are in the ring brawling until Chetti misses a double springboard moonsault, which almost costs him the match. Chettti has a rollup on Guido but Smothers whacks Chetti with the Italian flag and Guido gets the win. (*1/4. This was a basic match but the FBI is an entertaining act. Chetti was entertaining for his brief role in the match. Axl Rotten is pretty much just a sore sight of the match.)

Third Contest: Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Nova: For what I’ve seen of Duncum in ECW, he just doesn’t fit in with the company and what they are all about. Nova fights back after a basic start and sends Duncum to the floor with a dropkick. Duncum plants Nova with a DDT for a near fall. Nova is sent to the floor where Jason knight sends Nova into the guard railing to help his guy. Duncum knocks Nova off the apron and onto the railing. Duncum rolls Nova into the ring but can’t get a three count on the cover. Nova avoids a leg drop and heads to the top rope to take out Jason with a twisting dive to the floor and hits the camera guy, as well. Nova big boots Nova and gets a two count following a big boot. Duncum can’t get a three count after a power bomb. Duncum places Nova on the top turnbuckle and hits an elevated reverse DDT for the win. (*. I guess it was better than the other few matches I’ve seen, but Duncum in ECW isn’t fun to watch. Nova isn’t in good shape at this point, but he took a few decent bumps to make some parts enjoyable.) After the match, Nova gets beaten down for whatever reason. Jason hits a top rope leg drop with a bull rope placed on Nova.

Fourth Contest: ECW World Tag Team Champions Dudley Boys vs. Blue Meanie & Spike Dudley: Bubba works over Spike to start the match with D-Von getting a few shots in on the apron working over Spike’s arm several times. D-Von does the same thing but this time he is doing it Bubba but wasn’t aware of it until it was too late. The lights in the venue go out randomly but Bubba continues to work over Spike hitting a press slam dropping Spike face first across the top turnbuckle. Blue Meanie enters the match and works over Bubba as the venue is still dark. Bubba takes Meanie over with a snap suplex. Meanie gets worked over by the champs as the lights are finally back on. D-Von comes off the middle rope to hit Meanie with a leg drop. A few minutes later, the Dudley’s put Meanie away with the 3D in a rather heatless match. (*. It wasn’t a good match and the fans didn’t seem to care. Spike and Meanie came across like jobbers and the match was rathe easy for the champs.)

Fifth Contest: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Rob Van Dam: RVD controls the early moments of the match dropping Whipwreck with a kick to the chest and hits a spinning leg drop before playing to the fans. Van Dam monkey flips Mikey out of the corner and stomps away on him. RVD places Whipwreck on the top turnbuckle and looks for a superplex but is punched off. Mikey plants Van Dam with a tornado DDT for a near fall. Whipwreck continues with a head scissors and hits a hurricanrana over the top rope sending both men to the floor! Whipwreck kicks Van Dam off the apron and hits a slingshot cross body to the floor to keep the advantage. Van Dam regains control with a leg drop on the apron across the middle rope. Van Dam leg drops Whipwreck back in the ring and is rather casual about his offense at this point. Van Dam hits a rolling thunder big splash and plays to the crowd some more. Van Dam nails Mikey with a super kick and a standing moonsault for a two count.

RVD scoop slams Whipwreck and goes to the top rope to hit the Five Star Frog Splash but doesn’t go for a cover but instead plays to the crowd. Whipwreck avoids a middle rope spin kick and hits a few dropkicks followed by a fisherman suplex for a two count. Van Dam hits a lifting double under hook face buster. Van Dam attempts the split legged moonsault but Mikey gets his knees up to block it. Whipwreck goes to the top and hits a leaping head scissors for a near fall. Van Dam crotches Mikey on the top rope and hits a springboard heel kick for a near fall. Van Dam kicks a chair into Whipwreck’s face and that’s good enough for the win. (**1/2. The constant showboating by Van Dam hurt the match as it felt like it was just move after move without any real setup or purpose. Best thing on the show, but it’s not anything special.)

Sixth Contest: ECW Television Champion Taz, Tommy Dreamer & Balls Mahoney vs. Shane Douglas, Bam-Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido: Mahoney is twirling a dildo with him for some reason. Douglas and Mahoney kick off the match with Mahoney hitting a power slam but unable to keep Douglas down long enough on a pin attempt. Douglas quickly tags out to Candido who tries his luck with Dreamer. Taz isn’t at ringside for the match, yet, by the way. Dreamer hits a running bulldog and swinging neck breaker on Candido and hip tosses Douglas. Mahoney enters and helps Dreamer knock the heels down. Bigelow clubs Dreamer from behind and Douglas stomps on Mahoney. Candido chokes Mahoney with a towel and we hear the music for Taz! Taz and Candido begin to hammer away on each other with Candido hitting a power bomb. Taz avoids a leapfrog and hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Bigelow enters and runs over Taz with a body strike and punches Taz with the towel for some reason. Taz is being triple teamed by the heels who continue to keep control of the bout with several tags.

Bigelow drops Taz with a back elbow strike and tags in Douglas to get a few shots in on the champion. Taz hits an exploder suplex on Bigelow to a pretty big pop. Dreamer gets the tag and hammers away on Bigelow with right hands. Francine trips Dreamer from the floor and Bigelow hits a falling headbutt. Candido chokes Dreamer with a belt or something to allow the Triple Threat to keep control of the contest. Douglas scoop slams Dreamer and Bigelow drops Douglas across Dreamer for an elevated leg drop. Candido misses a splash in the corner and is punched by Taz. Candido gets a two count following a snap suplex. Douglas sets Dreamer up and hits a delayed vertical suplex after taunting Taz on the apron. Bigelow plants Dreamer with a DDT but only gets a near fall.

Douglas attempts a belly to belly suplex but Dreamer counters with a DDT of his own! Mahoney gets the tag and cleans house with strikes on the heels. Taz clotheslines Candido over the top to the floor and Mahoney drops Douglas across the top. Taz locks in the Taz Mission for the submission victory for his team. After the match, Bigelow attacks Dreamer on the floor with a steel chair and they brawl backstage. (**. It was fine for what it was, but it was fairly basic and didn’t keep me all that interested, to be honest.)

Main Event: ECW World Champion Terry Funk vs. Sabu: Funk clotheslines a charging Sabu at the start of the match to get the early advantage. Funk arm drags Sabu but Sabu quickly comes back with a chop. They are missing each other badly on strikes and it looks rather awkward. Funk works over Sabu with a few chops and sends him to the floor to start the brawling. Funk tosses Sabu over the railing into the crowd. Fuink whacks Sabu over the head with a piece of wood. Sabu gets a chair and nails Funk over the head as they go back to the ring. Sabu hits a leg drop with the chair and tries to get a submission with a camel clutch. Sabu leaps off a chair to splash onto Funk in the corner but only gets a two count. Sabu uses an unfolded chair to hit Funk over the back for a near fall. They go back to the floor where Sabu hits Funk with a chair as they are in the crowd. Sabu slowly clotheslines Funk over the railing back to ringside.

Sabu plants Funk on a chair with a piledriver for a near fall. Sabu tries to get a submission with an arm bar but Funk rolls over to break the hold. Sabu tosses a chair at Funk to keep the champ on the canvas and locks in another camel clutch. Sabu delivers a few weak looking chair shots to the back of Funk and goes back to the clutch but Funk gets out of the hold quickly. Funk hits a neck breaker and goes to the floor to toss a chair onto Sabu. Funk hits another neck breaker but this time onto two chairs! Funk spikes Sabu onto a chair with a piledriver for a near fall. Funk sends Sabu to the floor and they begin to brawl outside again with Funk sending Sabu into the guard railing and a table. Funk works over Sabu with several chair shots. Sabu places Funk onto the table and has a chair with him. Sabu misses a slingshot splash from the ring and crashes through the table. Funk plants Sabu with a DDT on a chair but only gets a near fall. Sabu hits the triple jump moonsault but Funk kicks out at two!

Funk blocks a second attempt with a chair shot to the chest and face. Funk plants Sabu with a piledriver but Sabu kicks out at two. Funk plants Sabu with a power bomb but that still isn’t good enough. Funk attempts another but Sabu counters with a hurricanrana for a near fall. Sabu heads to the top rope but misses a leg drop. Funk gets up and hits another power bomb this time good enough for the win. (**1/4. These two had a barbed wired match the next night at the Arena, so I don’t think they were trying to kill each other here. It was okay but not a great main event. I think at this point, I find it hard for Sabu to really lose since he comes across like a mad man. So, a power bomb putting him away just doesn’t like a great finish, to me.) After the match, Sabu and RVD attack Funk with fans throwing sodas and food into the ring and even a chair. They were going to put Funk through the table but they actually have to leave because the fans weren’t going to let that happen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. They loved Funk that much.

Final Thoughts:
Nothing all that memorable on the show aside from the near riot at the end of it. A lot of the action seemed basic and didn’t have much of an extreme feel to it. I’d say it was a disappointing show that had a big crowd in attendance.

Thanks for reading.