ECW House Show 2/3/1995

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 2/3/1995
From: Jim Thorpe, PA

Opening Contest: The Young Dragons vs. 911 in a handicap match: The Dragons are certainly not the same Dragons that would compete in WCW five years later. They are dressed in stereotypical Japanese clothing. The Dragons try to hit 911 with a steel chair but they both end up taking a choke slam at the same time. 911 hits another choke slam this time one at a time. 911 picks them up again to hit a second pair of double choke slams. 911 pins one of them to win the match. (NR. This isn’t a match more so than 911 just getting his few minutes to pop the crowd.) After the match, 911 choke slams the referee, too.

Second Contest: Dino Sendoff vs. Stevie Richards: Dino doesn’t get an entrance so he must be a jobber for the night. Richards is accompanied to the ring by Raven. Richards wins the match very quickly following a super kick out of the corner. After the match, Raven and Richards beat down Dino. Tommy Dreamer comes down to the ring to make the save. He slowly enters the ring and Sandman whacks him from behind with his kendo stick! Sandman spikes Dreamer with a piledriver before leaving the ring.

Third Contest: Tommy Dreamer vs. The Sandman: Sandman misses a kendo stick shot upon returning to the ring and Dreamer works over Sandman sending him over the top to the floor. Dreamer whacks Sandman over the head with a steel chair a few times. Dreamer uses a cooking sheet on Sandman, as well. Sandman is sent into a few chairs that fans are holding up in the front row. Dreamer hits Sandman with a middle rope trash can lid shot. Sandman kicks Dreamer in the groin to get control of the match. Sandman power slams Dreamer and hammers away on Tommy. Sandman has Dreamer on the floor and hits a snap suplex on the wooden floor. Dreamer fights back with a suplex on the wooden floor. Sandman sends Dreamer into the guard railing back first. Sandman goes to the top rope to hit a shoulder block. Sandman goes to the top rope but misses a leg drop. Dreamer plants Sandman with a quick DDT. Dreamer misses a big splash coming off the ropes. Sandman hits a top rope leg drop. Sandman goes to the floor and grabs a steel chair to toss into the ring. Sandman plants Dreamer with a DDT onto the steel chair. Sandman misses an elbow drop hitting the chair instead. Dreamer stands on the chair and drives Sandman face first onto the canvas for the three count. (**. A decent brawl between these two. They didn’t really try any wrestling moves and kept the feel of a hardcore brawl. I liked that.) After the match, Dreamer whacks Sandman with a kendo stick several times over the head.

Fourth Contest: ECW Tag Team Champions Public Enemy vs. JT Smith & Hack Myers: They seemed to try to have a regular tag match but it didn’t take long before everyone was brawling at ringside. Smith got some early momentum on Rocco during the opening moments of the match. Grunge and Myers got tagged in and Grunge stopped Hack with a low blow and clothesline. Grunge works over Myers on the floor with steel chair shots. They eventually find themselves in the crowd brawling. Myers whacks both Rock and Grunge with chair shots in the crowd. They brawl on the other side of the building and there isn’t a moving camera at ringside so the camera stays far away. Eventually, the camera runs over but I’m pretty sure anything good had already occurred. They are brawling by several tables before returning to the ringside area. JT gets double teamed in the ring by Public Enemy. The champs plant Smith with a double DDT. Grunge hits a reverse DDT on Myers and Rock goes to the top hitting a swan ton bomb for the win. (*1/2. This felt much more like just a match to get the Public Enemy a victory than any kind of a competitive tag team match.)

Fifth Contest: The Tazmaniac vs. Chris Benoit: They waste zero time going at each other with Benoit taking Taz over with a snap suplex. Benoit continues to work over Taz with a clothesline and taunts the fans. Benoit cuts Taz off with a short arm clothesline out of the corner. Benoit plants Taz with a power bomb and gets a two count. Benoit drops Taz across the top rope gut first. The camera is facing the crowd for some reason instead of the ring. Seemingly, to show the crowd in attendance. Benoit drives Taz down with a back breaker. Benoit puts Taz on the top turnbuckle managing to hit a superplex! Benoit goes for the cover and nearly wins the match. Taz blocks a clothesline and tries for a German but they counter a few times before Taz takes Benoit over with an exploder suplex. Benoit kicks Taz away but Taz puts Benoit on the top turnbuckle hitting an overhead belly to belly suplex. Taz goes for the cover but only manages a near fall. Taz gets distracted by Jason Knight at ringside before scoop slamming Benoit but gets tripped by Jason as he tried to run the ropes. Paul E. Dangerously comes to ringside as Al Snow whacks Taz with a chair. Sabu comes out and gets a chair shot. The match is thrown out as Public Enemy comes out to attack Taz, too. 911 comes out and choke slams Public Enemy. (*3/4. This had promise to be the best thing on the show and instead we get nothing but interference and a non-finish. That was disappointing.)

Sixth Contest: ECW World Champion Shane Douglas vs. Mikey Whipwreck: They go with a mat wrestling start where Whipwreck reaches the bottom rope to break a hold. Douglas gets a near fall with a rollup. Douglas hammers away on Whipwreck but misses a clothesline. Whipwreck trips Douglas and connects with a drop toe hold. Mikey controls Douglas with a hammerlock on the canvas. Whipwreck gets another two count on Douglas. Mikey spin kicks Douglas to the floor and hit a slingshot cross body onto Douglas on the floor. They go to the floor but there are people standing and thus you can’t see anything. It looks like a chair was used on the floor, though. Whipwreck rolls Douglas into the ring and hit a double axe handle for a two count. Mikey keeps Douglas on the mat with a hammerlock. Douglas elbows Mikey but Whipwreck arm drags Douglas to regain control of the match. Whipwreck knee drops Douglas and controls the arm. Douglas back elbows Whipwreck against the ropes and plants Whipwreck with a power bomb. Douglas works over Mikey in the corner with stomps. Douglas brings Mikey back into the ring from the apron with a suplex followed by an elbow drop. Douglas taunts the referee as Mikey remains on the canvas. Douglas is stopped by a low blow two times. Whipwreck atomic drops Douglas a couple of times. Mikey comes off the ropes with a series of clotheslines for a two count. Mikey slams Douglas and heads to the top rope. Whipwreck hits a missile dropkick for a two count. Whipwreck goes to the top again and hit a cross body for another near fall. The fans really thought that was over. Douglas stops Whipwreck with a suplex. Douglas comes off the middle rope but is met with a boot to the face. Douglas plants Whipwreck with a belly to belly suplex for the victory. (***. I enjoyed the action and Whipwreck had some believable near falls. The belly to belly suplex feels like a really weak finisher considering how much punishment Douglas took beforehand. Regardless of that, the fans were invested and I enjoyed the action.)

Main Event: Sabu vs. Al Snow: The fans are heavily behind Sabu for this encounter. Snow works over Sabu with several stomps on the canvas and locks in a chin lock. Snow clotheslines Sabu before gouging Sabu’s eyes. Snow drives Sabu down with a back breaker. Sabu hits a head scissors and sends Snow to the floor. Sabu takes Snow out with a somersault dive to the floor. Sabu slams Snow and misses a slingshot somersault leg drop. Snow misses a slingshot leg drop from the apron, as well. Sabu stomps away on Snow several times to maintain control of the action. Snow works over Sabu with strikes in the corner. Sabu comes back with a clothesline in the corner. Snow hits a quick DDT managing a two count. Snow plants Sabu with a piledriver but doesn’t quickly followup on the advantage. Snow puts on a neck brace and taunts Sabu by holding his neck. Sabu fights back with right hands and a kick to the midsection before hitting a bulldog. Sabu leg drops Snow across the bottom rope. Sabu slams Snow and hit a somersault leg drop from the apron for a two count. Snow slams Sabu and hits a couple of quick leg drops. Snow slams Sabu and heads to the top rope landing on his feet after an attempted moonsault. Snow hits a German suplex that folds Sabu up. Snow hits a wheelbarrow German suplex for another two count. Snow drives Sabu down with a sit down power bomb for a near fall. 911 is at ringside and whacks Snow with a steel chair. Sabu uses the chair to leg drop Snow and both men are down. Sabu continues to work over Snow with a steel chair. Snow cuts off Sabu with a running clothesline out of the corner. They trade a few strikes until Snow drops Sabu gut first across the top rope and heads to the apron. Sabu drops for the ropes and gets a chair. Snow is distracted allowed Sabu to springboard off the chair and heel kick Snow off the apron. Snow avoids a sunset flip power bomb to the floor as Sabu crashes to the outside. Snow hits a springboard cross body onto Sabu. Snow uses the chair on Sabu a few times. Sabu drops Snow onto a chair to avoid a DDT and splashes him. Sabu whacks Snow over the head with a chair and drives Snow face first onto the chair. Sabu hits a slingshot leg drop onto the chair for the win. (**1/2. The constant interference kind of bothered me while watching the match. These two are capable of some classic matches and they weren’t allowed to reach that level here. Considering Snow wasn’t around very long in ECW, I’m thinking that Snow may have had some bigger plans had he not gone to SMW. There’s some good action here, though.)

Final Thoughts:
I didn’t really rate anything all that high, but for a show that runs less than two hours and has featured names from the company, I enjoyed the majority of the show on some level. Douglas/Whipwreck was a fun title match and the main event was solid overall, too. I’ll give it a mild thumbs up, as I’ve watched some pretty bad ECW house shows before.

Thanks for reading.