ECW House Show 1/9/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 1/9/1998
From: New Britian, CT

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas comes out before the first match and cuts a promo on the crowd. I can’t really hear what he’s saying since the microphone isn’t connected to the camera. He seemingly put over Candido before the match.

Opening Contest: Jerry Lynn vs. ECW Tag Team Champion Chris Candido: Lynn backed Candido into the corner but backed away cleanly. Lynn hip tosses Candido followed by a dropkick knocking Candido to the floor. They focus on some mat wrestling holds but neither man is able to get control of the match. Lynn stops Candido with a low blow and a standing hurricanrana. Francine trips Lynn from the floor and Candido connects with a leg drop. Candido drives Lynn down with a delayed vertical suplex. Candido goes to the middle rope and hits a leg drop for a two count. Candido pokes Lynn in the eyes but Lynn comes back with a sunset flip pulling Candido’s trunks down. Lynn continues with a backdrop and Candido is staggering around with his trunks still down but finally does pull them up. “Shave your ass” chant for Candido. Candido works over Lynn with a few chops in the corner and taunts the fans but Lynn comes off the middle rope hitting a bulldog! Candido drives Lynn down with a spine buster for a two count. Lynn plants Candido with a wheelbarrow face buster. Lynn continues with a head scissors take over. Lynn dropkicks Candido in the corner followed by an overhand chop. Lynn takes Candido off the top rope with a hurricanrana for a two count. Lynn heads to the top rope but Shane Douglas decks Lynn off the top rope and hit a power slam. Candido goes to the top but misses an elbow drop. Lynn tries for a sunset flip but Candido counters by sitting down and pins Lynn. (**1/4. This was okay, nothing great like it should have been. It didn’t feel like it got out of first gear.)

Second Contest: Chris Chetti vs. Justin Credible: Chetti has a wrist lock on Credible, who flips over but it doesn’t look like Chetti was going for that. Credible gets to the ropes to break a hammerlock. Chetti head scissors Credible and continues to hammer away on Credible. Credible slides to the floor but Chetti rams Credible into Jason on the floor. Chetti sends Credible into the guard railing and into the crowd. Chetti catapults Credible into the ring post and Credible goes groin first into the ring post a couple of times. Jason attacks Chetti on the floor with a steel chair helping out Credible. Jason rolls Chetti into the ring and Credible hits a reverse DDT. Credible continues to work over Chetti with an eye rake and right hands in the corner. Credible plants Chetti with a sit down power bomb for a two count. Credible has a steel chair and drives Cherri across the chair with a suplex. Credible goes to the top with the chair but Chetti is able to boot the chair into Credible’s face! Chetti sends Credible into the corner and nearly wins with a swinging neck breaker. Chetti connects with a sit down power bomb of his own for a two count. Credible backdrops Chetti to get momentum in his favor. Credible goes to the top hits a cross body but Chetti rolls through for a two count. Chetti scoop slams Credible and kicks Jason before missing a double springboard moonsault. Credible takes advantage with the That’s Incredible for the win. (**1/2. I enjoyed the action as it was pretty non-stop and they worked well with each other.)

Third Contest: Al Snow vs. Paul Diamond: Diamond’s valet, who I think would be known as Chastity in WCW, fell down the stairs. Diamond attacks before the bell working over Snow with right hands and stomps in the corner. Snow blocks a hip toss and hits a swinging neck breaker. Snow kicks Diamond and clotheslines him over the top to the floor. Snow follows to the floor and they trade a few shots. Snow drop toe holds Diamond face first into the guard railing. Snow drops Diamond groin first across the railing and delivers a few more chops. Snow sends Diamond into the guard railing back first but Diamond gets control after Chastity provided a distraction. Diamond wrenches Snow’s arm in the guard railing and beats down on Snow some more. Diamond pulls Snow shoulder first into the ring post. Diamond drops Snow across the guard railing chest first. Diamond continues to stomp on Snow in the corner and hit a spinning heel kick in the corner. Snow is crawling towards Head asking for help. Snow plants Diamond with a sit out spine buster. Snow mounts Diamond with right hands. Diamond is sent into the corner and Diamond comes back with a springboard bulldog for a near fall. Diamond spikes Snow with a float over DDT. Snow sends Chastity and Diamond into each other. Chastity trips Snow, but Snow still hits a falling head butt on Diamond. Snow uses Head and Chastity tries to get involved. Snow ends up planting her with the Snow Plow! Snow spikes Diamond with the Snow Plow as well to get the win. (**1/4. Honestly, it’s not a bad match as it was some solid action with Diamond holding my interest with his offense. Snow is mega over with the crowd, too.)

Fourth Contest: Brakkus vs. Danny Morrison: Morrison would go on to be known as Danny Doring later on in ECW. Brakkus is an enormous man and uses his power to slam Morrison a few times at the start of the match. Brakkus plants Morrison with a sit down power bomb. Brakkus puts a full nelson on Morrison and that appears to be it for the squash match. They get a WWF flag and puts it over Morrison.

Fifth Contest: ECW Television Champion Taz vs. Super Nova: Taz gets attacked before the bell but that’s just delaying his dominance. Taz takes Bilvis Wiles over with a German suplex and Blue Meanie comes into the ring wearing a Taz shirt but runs away. Nova hits a face buster but Taz completely no sells it and Taz tosses Nova with an exploder suplex. Taz wastes no time winning with the Taz Mission. After the match, Taz and Brakkus brawl briefly.

Sixth Contest: Tommy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, & Axl Rotten vs. Tracy Smothers, Little Guido & Tommy Rich: Dreamer and Guido kick off the six man tag match. Guido takes Dreamer down at the start but they both quickly get back up and Guido taunts the fans. Dreamer has a full nelson but Guido gets both his feet on the top only for Dreamer to drop him to the canvas. Dreamer catches a cross body attempt hitting a fall away slam. Smothers enters and elbow drops Guido on accident. Guido is frustrated with Smothers and shoves him until Rich comes over to calm them down. Axl is legally in now and shoulder blocks Guido. Axl hip tosses Guido and works over the arm. Balls gets tagged in and leg drops Guido before playing to the crowd. Guido yanks Balls down by his hair and Smothers tags in to hammer away on Mahoney. Balls drops Smothers with a short arm clothesline. Smothers ducks a clothesline to hit a heel kick for a two count. Balls plants Smothers with a power bomb and Tracy gets decked by Axl and Dreamer in the corner. Dreamer tags back in and Smothers wants to tag out to Rich, who doesn’t seem all that excited about it. Dreamer decks Rich and Rich accidentally decks Smothers. Rich knee lifts Dreamer from the apron to help his guys. Guido works over Dreamer on the floor but gets sent into the railing back first.

Dreamer sends Guido back first into the railing and Rotten drops Guido across the railing as well. Mahoney is battling Rich on the floor as a referee with a neck brace tosses powder into Axl and Dreamer’s face. Rich hits a belly to belly suplex on Rotten for a near fall. Guido tags backs in and stomps on Rotten. Guid tries for several pin attempts but Axl casually kicks out of them. Rich goes for a backdrop but completely botches it with Axl. Rich misses a fist drop off the middle rope. Balls enters and cleans house with right hands. Balls scoop slams Smothers and the same for Guido and Rich. Dreamer brings Jeff Jones into the ring and soon plants Guido with a DDT after chair shots to Smothers and Rich. Jones stops the count to save Guido and Beulah decides to low blow Jones. Finnegan DDTs Jones and Dreamer pins Guido with Beulah making the count. (*1/2. There were a few comedy moments in the match and the action was rather below average throughout. I don’t know why Tommy Rich is still competing at this point.)

As per usual, the Dudley Boys start their segment by just ripping on fans in the front row and getting great crowd reaction. Oddly, it’s not boos, but rather cheers from the great insults they delivered.

Seventh Contest: Bubba Dudley, D-Von Dudley & Big Dick Dudley vs. Spike Dudley, New Jack & John Kronus: As you might expect, this match is one hundred percent hardcore wrestling with the Dudley Boys getting destroyed early on with various weapons. Spike takes Bubba over with a hurricanrana and follows up with a dropkick for the rare wrestling moves in this kind of match. Bubba plants Spike with a power bomb right on his head it looked like. Spike drops D-Von with a bulldog out of the corner but the referee is distracted. Bubba hits an ace crusher on Spike that gives the Dudley Boys the win. I was expecting a lot longer of the brawl, but that was a quick match. (1/2*. It’s basically the nonsense brawling you’d see in independent wrestling in 2017, and the wrestling was rather limited. I was just glad it was a quick one and not 20+minutes like they usually do in this era.)

Eighth Contest: Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam: Bigelow is sporting just a moustache which looks a little weird on the guy. RVD starts off with a kick to the head but Bigelow comes back with a shoulder in the corner. RVD tries for a sunset flip out of the corner only for Bigelow to sit down quick. Bigelow hammers away on RVD with strikes in the corner but misses a splash. Bigelow plants RVD with a quick power bomb. Bigelow rams RVD face first into the ring post and they brawl on the floor for a few moments. RVD tries to get a chair but gets pulled back into the ring by Bigelow. Bigelow controls RVD with a head scissors on the canvas. Bigelow stomps on RVD in the corner several times. Bigelow takes RVD over with a high elevated hip toss. Bigelow misses a running attack going over the top to the floor. RVD takes Bigelow out with a somersault dive to the floor! Bigelow sends RVD into the railing but RVD head scissors Bigelow face first into the guard railing! RVD smashes a chair over the back of Bigelow a few times to maintain control of the match. RVD kicks Bigelow right on the chin backing Bigelow against the railing. RVD sends Bigelow face first into the ring post before they return to the ring.

RVD misses a twisting leg drop hitting the canvas as Bigelow rolled out of the way. RVD works over Bigelow with several more strikes and a running shoulder to the midsection. RVD springboard dropkicks Bigelow and leg drops Bam-Bam across the apron. RVD sends Bigelow into the corner and attempts a monkey flip but Bigelow counters with one of his own. Bigelow plants RVD with a DDT after a failed suplex attempt. Bigelow splashes RVD in the corner and goes to the top rope. Bigelow misses a swanton attempt. RVD heads to the top and goes for the frog splash but Bigelow gets his knees up. RVD rolls to the floor in agony. Bigelow press slams RVD into the crowd and nobody bothers to catch RVD. RVD hits a rolling thunder for a two count. RVD goes to the middle rope and kicks Bigelow. RVD goes to the top again but gets stopped by Bigelow. Bigelow drives RVD down with a power bomb and wins the match. (**3/4. A solid match between these two as there were a few exciting spots and the crowd was into the match. Bigelow looked like he was willing to work and RVD worked well with a bigger opponent.)

Main Event: The Sandman vs. Sabu: Sandman misses a kendo stick shot and ducks a springboard heel kick. Sandman proceeds to whack Sabu with his kendo stick a few times as they go to the floor. Sabu sends Sandman into the guard railing back first. Sabu gets is leg stuck in a chair before whacking Sandman over the head with it. Sabu works over Sandman in the ring with several stomps. Sabu hits a springboard heel kick for a two count. Sabu hits a somersault leg drop from the apron for another two count. Sabu goes for a springboard heel kick but Sandman counters with an electric chair slam. Sandman follows up with a slingshot leg drop from the apron for a near fall. Sabu takes Sandman over with a hurricanrana off the top rope for a near fall. Sandman stops Sabu on the top and takes Sabu over with a hurricanrana of his own for a two count. Sandman tosses Sabu to the floor and quickly follows to brawl for a few moments. Sabu sets up a table across the apron and railing. Sandman goes under the ring and grabs a ladder tossing it over the top and lands on Sabu. Sandman hits a somersault splash onto the ladder. Sandman sets the ladder up in the corner and hit a suplex onto the ladder for a near fall. Sabu sends Sandman flipping into the ladder in the corner and smashes the ladder into Sandman’s face.

Sabu puts the ladder around Sandman’s head and goes to the top with a chair to deliver a chair shot. Sabu plays to the crowd as Sandman remains on the canvas. Sabu hits a chair assisted leg drop for a two count. Sabu baseball slides Sandman to the floor and puts Sandman on the table setup on the floor. Sabu hits springboard leg drop onto Sandman through the table! Sabu puts the ladder over Sandman but misses Sandman and lands on just the ladder which gets Sandman a two count. Sandman misses a swanton off the top rope. RVD appears and kicks the ladder into Sandman from the top. Sabu leaps off the top with a chair to hit a leg drop onto Sandman who had the ladder on him and that’s good enough for a three count. (**. It was kind of a sloppy match but it was enjoyable for what it was trying to achieve. Hardly a classic match or anything.)

Final Thoughts:
As usual with almost all ECW live events, this had a few decent matches but they certainly held back on the violence and excellent wrestling that they were accustomed to in the era. There’s nothing you have to see here. There aren’t any gems of a match. Thus, I can’t recommend the show. Only if you’re a diehard ECW fan.

Thanks for reading.