ECW House Show 2/5/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 2/5/1999
From: Columbia, SC

Opening Contest: Danny Doring & Roadkill vs. Nova & Jerry Lynn: Doring and Lynn kick off the match with Doring taunting the fans after avoiding a lockup with Lynn. Doring works over Lynn in the corner with some chops, but Lynn quickly comes back with a running clothesline. Lynn drops Doring with a kick to the head and tags in Nova to continue the beating. Doring bails to the floor and Roadkill gets dropkicked to the outside, as well. Lynn and Nova kick the heels into the railing and go to the floor to brawl for a few moments. Nova sends Roadkill into the railing and Lynn puts Doring on a table. Lynn comes off the apron to leg drop Doring through the table and the fans are going nuts for this. Lynn gets crotched on the top by Roadkill and Doring recovers to hit a superplex for a near fall. Roadkill splashes Lynn in the corner and Doring hits a bronco buster. Lynn runs into a side slam from Roadkill after Doring avoided a clothesline. Roadkill plants Lynn with a power slam and Doring comes off the top but misses a leg drop.

Nova gets the hot tag and atomic drops Doring followed by a leg drop. Nova continues with a running neck breaker but Doring avoids a pin attempt. Doring stops Nova with the Bareback. Roadkill gets a two count following a side slam. Nova stops Doring with a sit out spine buster and tags in Lynn. Lynn plants Roadkill with a tornado DDT and gets a two count. Lynn takes Roadkill out with a cross body to the floor. Roadkill sends Lynn into the guard railing back first. Lynn connects with the stunner on Roadkill and Nova hits a frog splash but Doring makes the save. Doring and Roadkill hit their version of the Hart Attack on Nova but Lynn makes the save. Nova sends Roadkill to the floor and that allows Lynn and Nova to hit a power bomb/top rope clothesline combo on Doring for the win. (***. That was actually a fun match with plenty of fast pace action and some minor hardcore stuff early on that got the fans heavily into the action. This was a well done match to kick off the show.)

Second Contest: Big Dick Dudley vs. Spike Dudley: The winner of the match gets an ECW Television Championship match later on in the night. As you might expect, this has the usual story behind it. Spike low blows the big man, hits the Acid Drop and wins the match in under thirty-seconds.

Third Contest: Tracy Smothers & Little Guido vs. Chris Chetti & Tommy Rogers: Chetti and Smothers kick off the match. They have a mat wrestling start with neither man getting the clear advantage. Guido tags in and tries his luck taking Chetti down to the mat, but his offense is short-lived. Chetti slaps Guido to avoid a monkey flip and delivers a leg drop followed by several kicks for a two count. Guido slams Chetti off the top rope and gets a near fall. Smothers tags in but is stopped by a drop toe hold. Chetti fights out of the corner with a few kicks knocking Guido to the floor from the apron. Rogers is tagged in to go at it with Smothers. Rogers knocks Smothers down with a running knee lift and delivers a flurry of rights in the corner. Rogers power slams a charging Guido. Smothers and Guido are sent into the railing and Chetti takes them out with a cross body off the top to the floor. Tommy Rich gets involved dropping Chetti throat first across the railing. Chetti gets double teamed for a few moments.

Smothers drops Chetti with a leaping side kick a couple of times and tags in Guido. Guido nearly pins Chetti with a rollup. Guido hits a middle rope leg drop to a hunched over Chetti but can’t get a three count. Chetti dropkicks both Smothers and Guido before tagging in Rogers who also hits a few dropkicks and knocks Rich off the apron. Rogers clotheslines Smothers over the top tot he floor and plants Guido with a Un-Prettier but Smothers makes the save on the cover. Rogers goes for the move again, but Rich enters to hit Rogers with an Italian flag and Smothers gets the pin. (**. An average tag match between these two teams, though the duo of Chetti and Rogers had some good chemistry and their moments to shine were enjoyable.)

Fourth Contest: Tajiri vs. Super Crazy: Crazy takes control early on working over the leg of Tajiri but isn’t going to get a submission in the opening moments of the bout. Tajiri counters and controls the leg of Crazy for a moment. They are just countering each others on the mat trying to get a submission but neither man managing to get one. Tajiri hits a nice hurricanrana but Crazy rolls through and they continue to counter each others moves in quick fashion. They have a standoff after they both hit arm drags and the fans are appreciating the action. Crazy locks in a dragon sleeper in a surfboard position, but Tajiri hangs on to continue the match. Tajiri monkey flips Crazy out of the corner and hits a head scissors out of the corner. Crazy misses a running attack and flips over the top to the floor. That allows Tajiri to connect with a somersault dive over the top to take Crazy out on the outside. Tajiri head scissors Crazy on the floor and plays to the crowd. Crazy fights back with a springboard missile dropkick and hits a springboard moonsault.

Crazy slams Tajiri and hits a springboard moonsault for a near fall. Tajiri counters a power bomb with a DDT but only gets a two count on the cover. Tajir counters a suplex from the apron into the ring with a neck breaker and that gets the three count. (***. It’s a rather quick display of action by two guys who would wrestle each other quite a bit in ECW. The finish was not expected and felt kind of lame, honestly. Nonetheless, it was a solid match.)

The Dudley Boys, well, more so Bubba Ray Dudley, rips on the fans and gets some great heel heat prior to the next match. That would be a common occurrence during this time.

Fifth Contest: Dudley Boys vs. Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney: Axl works over D-Von at the start of the match with a few arm drags and a clothesline. Mahoney gets tagged in and leg drops D-Don, but Bubba gets tagged in. Mahoney jabs Bubba a few times but Bubba comes back with a bulldog. D-Von hits a top rope diving head butt to the groin of Mahoney. Mahoney super kicks Bubba and gets a near fall. The match appears to breakdown at this point as all four men start to brawl on the outside going the route I figured it would go. Mahoney brawled with Bubba on the stage where Mahoney low blowed Bubba. Bubba sends Mahoney down some steps as they head back towards the ring. All four men have chairs with the Dudley Boys getting hit with the chairs. Bubba would fall face first onto D-Von’s groin. Mahoney heads to the top rope and hits a frog splash. Sign Guy hits D-Von with his sign on accident and gets met with the Nutcracker Suite. Big Dick Dudley choke slams Mahoney. Dudley’s hit the 3D on Mahoney and win the match. (*1/4. Felt like a little bit of a squash, but there was a few moments of brawling that were enjoyable and competitive.) After the match, the Dudley Boys continue to attack Axl and Mahoney. That is until New Jack makes his way out and destroys them all with weapons. You know, the same old story.

Sixth Contest: FTW & ECW Tag Team Champion Sabu vs. One Man Gang: This just seems like a bizarre match to have happening in ECW. Gang works over Sabu on the floor with strikes but Sabu battles back with rights of his own. Sabu tosses a chair at Gang and whacks him over the back with it. Sabu goes to the ring and misses a triple jump dive hitting the railing. Gang rams Sabu head first onto a table and uses a chair to control Sabu. Back in the ring, Sabu put a camel clutch on Gang but doesn’t get a submission. Sabu dropkicks Gang sets a table up on the floor. Gang stops Sabu on the apron with a couple of strikes. Gang uses a chain on Sabu and chokes him out. Someone enters the ring and takes the chain from Gang and shoves him down. Sabu runs into a big boot in the corner. Gang power slams Sabu and leaps off the middle rope but misses a big splash. Sabu puts Gang on the table that was setup on the floor. Sabu hits a triple jump dive to put Gang through the table. Sabu gets a table and slides it into the ring. Gang stops Sabu with a chair shot and places Sabu on the table. Sabu takes Gang down with a hurricanran and puts him on another table. Sabu leaps off the top and splashes onto Gang, but the table doesn’t break. Sabu does it again this time going for a normal splash instead of a twisting splash and pins Gang. (*1/2. I appreciate Gang taking some table spots in this one, but this otherwise sucked.)

Seventh Contest: ECW TV & ECW Tag Team Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Spike Dudley: Spike low blows RVD at the start and attempts the Acid Drop but gets crotched on the top and kicked to the floor. Spike sends RVD into the railing but is met with a spin kick and RVD plays to the crowd back in the ring. RVD sends Spike into the guard railing a few times. RVD puts Spike on the railing gut first and delivers a leg drop to keep control of the bout. RVD sends Spike head first into the ring post. RVD leaps off the railing to leg drop Spike across the apron. RVD puts Spike in the tree of woe and dropkicks a chair into Spike’s head for a two count. RVD locks in a surfboard but Spike isn’t going to give in. RVD scoop slams Spike and continues to work over Spike. Spike fights back on the top rope and plants RVD with a tornado DDT onto a steel chair! Spike continues to knock RVD face first onto the chair and gets a two count. Spike takes RVD over with a hurricanrana over the top to the floor. Spike hits an Acid Drop on the floor dropping RVD across the railing. Spike hits a bulldog but can’t get a three count back in the ring. RVD stops Spike with a forearms shot on the top rope. Spike attempts a tornado DDT but RVD counters with a kick to the head. Spike leaps off the top but avoids RVD, which looked awkward.

Spike avoids a chair assisted spin kick and gets slammed by RVD anyway. RVD hits the rolling thunder splash. RVD scoop slams Spike and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. (**1/2. Spike is one guy that you can’t buy into coming close to dethroning RVD. Still, it was a fine match and Spike worked hard with RVD to make it as enjoyable as they could.)

Eighth Contest: Tommy Dreamer vs. Justin Credible: Early on, Credible works over Dreamer with chops but Dreamer fights back with strikes and a low blow. Dreamer plants Credible with a spine buster and clotheslines Credible over the top to the floor. On the floor, Dreamer sends Credible into the guard railing. Credible drops Dreamer groin first across the guard railing. Credible drop toe holds Dreamer face first onto a chair. Dreamer rams Credible face first into the chair. Credible counters a slam by hitting a neck breaker onto the chair for a two count. Credible comes off the top with a chair but it gets kicked into his face. Dreamer drives Credible down with a slam. Dreamer leaves the ring and returns with a ladder. Tommy uses the ladder to knock down Credible and Jason on the floor. Dreamer slingshots both men into the ring. Dreamer catapults Jason into the ladder in the corner and the same happens to Credible. Dreamer slams Credible onto the ladder. Dreamer attempts a middle rope elbow drop but misses and hits the ladder. Credible plants Dreamer with a spinning DDT. Dreamer sends Credible into a corner and connects with a Death Valley Driver but Jazz gets in the ring to attack Dreamer. Dreamer is no selling the offense and grabs Jazz. Dreamer proceeds to spank Jazz until Jason hits Dreamer with a kendo stick and Credible nearly wins the match.

Dreamer clotheslines both Credible and Jason and plants Jason with a DDT. Credible attempts a scoop slam but Dreamer counters with a DDT onto the ladder for the win. (**. Not a whole lot going on here, really, but it was fine for what it was. The match wasn’t on the list of matches shown on this card from my source, so it was kind of a surprise to get it here for me. Felt like a standard through the motions kind of match.)

Main Event: ECW World Champion Taz vs. Shane Douglas in a falls count anywhere match: Douglas takes Taz down to the mat to start the title match but Taz counters unable to get a submission early into the match. They slap each other several times but Douglas gets out of a suplex attempt dropping Taz with a clothesline. Taz tosses Douglas over the top to the floor. Taz stomps on Douglas while on the apron and they go to the floor where Taz tosses Douglas into the crowd. In the crowd, Taz hit a suplex on some steps which gets him a two count. Taz punches Douglas down another set of steps. Douglas sends Taz into the walls of the venue and gets a near fall. Taz pummels Douglas in the crowd with more right hands. Taz gets a two count with an inside cradle. Douglas drops Taz across the railing gut first. Douglas sends Taz into the railing back first. Two tables are brought into the ring, one by each man. Douglas hits a reverse rolling neck snap. Douglas hits a springboard cross body off the middle rope for a two count. Douglas hits a side Russian leg sweep for another two count. Taz is getting fed up and wants Douglas to hit him repeatedly, so Douglas does that.

Taz comes fighting back with rights but is sent chest first through a table in the corner. Douglas covers but Taz powers out at two. Douglas plays to the crowd but Taz gets up and hits a Tazmission suplex through the second table in the corner. Taz has the cover and wins the match. (**. Well, I was thinking this was going to be a longer match, but it was mostly just a brawl and then the major finish at the end. I was disappointed in what they went with here.)

Final Thoughts:
It’s not a bad show as there are a few decent to good matches and the bad stuff is kept relatively short. Sure, the main event is disappointing, but this isn’t an awful way to spend 2 1/2 hours if you’re a diehard ECW fan.

Thanks for reading.