ECW House Show 12/4/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 12/4/1998
From: Pittsburgh, PA

For a house show, ECW managed to draw a crowd reported at 2,700. Thus, it makes for an even better atmosphere.

Opening Contest: Mike Lozansky vs. Tommy Rogers: Lozansky wastes no times working over Rogers to start the bout hitting a slingshot cross body to the floor. Lozansky clotheslines Rogers over the railing into the crowd and taunts the fans. Lozansky hits a top rope flying clothesline but only gets a two count on the cover attempt. Lozansky scoop slams Rogers and heads to the top rope but is met with a boot to the face. Rogers battles back with a back suplex and the fans are chanting boring. Rogers gets crotched on the top rope but shoves Lozansky to the mat and hits a missile dropkick. They go to the floor where Rogers drops Lozansky throat first across the guard railing. Back in the ring, Rogers delivers a clothesline and a snap power slam. Rogers plants Lozansky with a power bomb for a near fall. Lozansky fights back with a gut wrench suplex and delivers kicks in the corner. Rogers blocks a clothesline and hits the Tomikaze for the victory. (*1/2. While it’s not an earth shattering match or overly entertaining, I didn’t think it was a boring match as the fans chanted at one point. These two didn’t seem to click very well, but it could have been a lot worse than what we got.)

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas comes out to address the crowd and is met with a good reaction from the crowd. Douglas talks about having a compound fracture in his wrist and says he was told he couldn’t wrestle tonight. Douglas says he told the doctor to fuck off. Douglas rips other wrestlers stubbing their toes and sitting out for six months while he wrestles with a broken wrist. Douglas brings out some guy named Bubba, who gets booed, and puts over the Steelers saying they would beat the Patriots in two days. Douglas brings out some members of the Steelers which included Hines Ward, who is the most notable of the bunch. By the way, they would lose 23-9 and ended the season on a five game losing streak finish 7-9 after being 7-4 at one point. So, thanks for the praise there Douglas.

Second Contest: 20 man battle royal: The winner of the battle royal will get an ECW World Championship match later on tonight. The match ends up being down to Masato Tanaka and the Dudley Boys. Tanaka eliminated Bubba Dudley and backdrops D-Von over the top to the floor to win the match and thus gets a championship match later on against ECW World Champion Shane Douglas.

Third Contest: Nova & Tommy Dreamer vs. Danny Doring & Roadkill: Dreamer is the mystery tag partner for Nova. All four men start the match brawling with Nova and Dreamer clearing the ring rather easily. Nova takes Doring and Roadkill out with a suicide dive. Dreamer takes Roadkill out with a slingshot cross body to the floor and Nova leaps off the top to dive onto Doring. They continue to brawl on the outside for a few moments. Upon returning to the ring, Doring is double teamed and has Roadkill sent into him in the corner leading to an awkward position. Dreamer slams Lance Russell down to the canvas. Doring and Roadkill fight back with low blows and Doring drives Doring face first into the mat. Roadkill side slams Dreamer and tags in Doring to keep control of the bout. Doring drops Dreamer across his knee and drops Tommy with a clothesline. Doring and Roadkill hit the Hart Attack on Dreamer but don’t go for the quick cover.

Roadkill heads to the top rope but misses a big splash as Dreamer tags in Nova. Nova enters and cleans house with his offense hitting an awkward looking spine buster on Doring. Nova follows up with a side Russian leg sweep on Roadkill. Nova heads to the top rope as does Dreamer and they hit big splashes on their opponents. Nova plants Doring with a tornado DDT while Dreamer hit Roadkill with a DDT. However, Justin Credible comes in and whacks Dreamer with a kendo stick and Doring gets the rollup pin. (*1/4. There didn’t seem to be any interest in the match and there were a few awkward spots. Nova didn’t have an explosive segment in the match as his stuff came across rather botchy. I suppose Pittsburgh is not pro Dreamer all that much.)

Fourth Contest: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Lance Storm: Whipwreck attacks before the bell hammering away on Storm for the early advantage. Storm gets control with a leaping kick as Tammy Lynn Bytch grabbed Mikey’s boot from the floor. Storm follows up with a high knee lift for a two count. Whipwreck comes back with a cross body but Lance puts an end to that with a jaw breaker, twice. Storm takes Whipwreck down to the canvas with a half Boston Crab but Mikey gets out of it with a kick to the head for a near fall. Storm hits a side Russian leg sweep for a near fall. Storm hits a handspring splash in the corner but is soon shoved off the apron and falls chest first across the railing. On the floor, Mikey continues to send Storm into the railing a few times. Mikey hits a standing hurricanrana back in the ring for a near fall.

Mikey attempts a tornado DDT but settles for a sit down arm trapped jaw breaker. Mikey low blows Storm and plants him with a double arm DDT for a near fall. Tammy Lynn Bytch low blows Whipwreck from behind and Mikey hits the Whippersnapper. Storm leaps off the middle rope to hit a spinning held kick and pins Whipwreck. (**. The trend has been rather short matches, but I thought this one was decent. This match actually had some purpose behind it and they worked well with each other, I thought. I don’t think anybody really thought Whipwreck had any chance of winning here.)

Fifth Contest: Justin Credible vs. Chris Chetti: Early on, Chetti takes Credible down with a head scissors and a clothesline over the top to the floor. Chetti follows up with a slingshot cross body to the floor and Chetti continues to pummel Credible on the floor for a few moments. Chetti os clotheslined by Jason on the floor and Credible comes off the apron to deliver a strike on the floor. Credible sends Chetti chest first into the railing and gets a chair from Jason on the floor. Credible slams Chetti face first onto the chair. Credible heads to the top rope with the chair but gets the chair kicked into his face. Chetti hammers away on Credible and hits a swinging neck breaker for a near fall. Chetti scoop slams Credible before hitting a nice double springboard moonsault for a two count.

Chastity gets involved but is slammed quickly by Chetti. Credible low blows Chetti from behind and gets his kendo stick but is prevented from using it by the referee. Credible attempts the That’s Incredible but Tommy Dreamer comes to the apron with a television and nails Credible with it to give Chetti the victory. (*1/2. That was a quick match, again, but I enjoyed what we got from it. The more that I watch Chetti the more I’m starting to appreciate his ability and he seems to be underrated in the ring. It’s a good victory for him even if it’s not a clean one.)

Sixth Contest: The Dudley Boys vs. Spike Dudley & John Kronus: Spike nails D-Von over the head with a chalkboard and along with Kronus they work over the Dudley Boys. Spike nails Bubba over the head with the chalkboard, as well. D-Von and Kronus brawl on the floor with Kronus sending D-Von into the guard railing. Spike attempts a hurricanrana out of the corner but Bubba hits a power bomb instead. Bubba nails Spike over the head with the chalkboard. Kronus has been busted open as he did a blade job going across his entire forehead it looks like. Spike gets worked over on the floor by Big Dick as well as Bubba sending Spike into the railing. Kronus nearly pins D-Von following a top rope moonsault. Bubba and Spike brawl up the aisle way but make their way back towards ringside as Bubba breaks a bottle over Spike’s head.

Bubba plants Spike with a piledriver on the concrete floor causing Spike to be busted wide open. It’s incredible how great Bubba is at getting a crowd reaction so furiously. Bubba rips on the Steelers players at ringside and they jump the railing ready for action. Bubba gets into the ring and the referee is trying to keep them off. One of the players attacks Bubba from behind and they are escorted out of the ring. Kronus nails D-Von with a standing spin kick and Spike hits a springboard bulldog on Bubba for a near fall. Bubba backdrops Spike over the top to the floor leaving Kronus in the ring and the Dudley Boys hit the 3D for the victory. (*1/2. This was just a brawl and nothing of substance. Bubba and D-Von are great heels and it’s no wonder they would be in a top promotion soon.) After the match, Axl Rotten enters the ring with a barbed wire bat and busts both Bubba and D-Von wide open with it. The fans loved that violence.

Seventh Contest: Balls Mahoney vs. Sabu: Well it looks like my disc for this event doesn’t want me to watch this match as it just continually skips over it whenever I try to view it. So, I can’t give a review on this one. At least I can view the main event, which has my interest. Anyway, Sabu won the match following an Arabian Facebuster. If I ever get a copy to review this match, I’ll be sure to mention it, but I can’t imagine it lit the arena on fire.

Main Event: ECW World Champion Shane Douglas vs. Masato Tanaka: Douglas controls Tanaka on the canvas at the start of the main event controlling the arm. Douglas takes Tanaka over with a fireman’s carry but they have a standoff. They trade a few pin attempts with both men kicking out at two and we get another standoff. Tanaka gets control wrenching on Shane’s arm that doesn’t have a cast on it. Douglas seems to tweak his knee on a leapfrog and Tanaka quickly goes to work on the apparent weak spot. Tanaka leg drops the left knee of Douglas but the champ isn’t giving in. Tanaka sets up for a figure four and has the hold locked in. Douglas is right in the middle of the ring but refuses to give up. Instead, Douglas rolls over but the hold is broken quickly. Tanaka kicks the leg several times to drop Shane back to the canvas.

Douglas takes Tanaka over with a suplex and plants Tanaka with a piledriver. Douglas hits a running reverse neck snap as the fans applaud the champs efforts. Douglas has a chin lock on Tanaka but isn’t getting a submission. Douglas tries an abdominal stretch but again isn’t able to get a submission. Tanaka gets out of the hold and chops Douglas several times in the corner followed by a clothesline in the corner. Tanaka takes Shane over with a power slam for a two count. Douglas battles back with a side Russian leg sweep. Tanaka hits a sit down power slam with Douglas over his shoulder, which was botched. Tanaka hits a missile dropkick for a near fall. Douglas avoids the roaring elbow and hits a belly to belly suplex but Tanaka kicks out at two!

Tanaka hits the Diamond Dust out of the corner but can’t quickly follow up on the advantage. When he does, Douglas gets his boot on the bottom rope on the cover. Tanaka nails Douglas with a forearm shot and blocks a kick to hit the roaring elbow for a near fall. Douglas counters a knee lift to the midsection with a rollup and gets the victory. (**. Well, that was a completely dull main event that the crowd just wasn’t buying into. If they did this a year later when Tanaka was on fire, then maybe it would have been different, but this one just didn’t connect with the fans and I think an injured Douglas just wasn’t able to put forth the best showing he could.) After the match, Douglas and Tanaka show each other respect before leaving the ring.

Final Thoughts:
Well, this is a pretty bad house show for ECW. Just under 3,000 fans in attendance and this felt like a stinker of a show. A poor main event and a lot of the matches didn’t seem to get out of the first gear nor were they given much time to do so. The only memorable aspect of the show was the involvement of the Pittsburgh Steeler players. This show can be avoided and not be missed.

Thanks for reading.