Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 3/17/1995
From: Jim Thorpe, PA
Opening Contest: Hack Myers vs. Raven: Stevie Richards is at ringside for Raven. Raven works over Myers with strikes and a knee lift. Raven clotheslines Myers followed by a snap suplex. Myers jabs Raven a few times followed by elbow shots. Raven sends Myers to the floor and soon brings him back in after I’d assume some brawling since it’s clipped. Myers stomps on Raven in the corner. Myers delivers a knee breaker to Raven and focuses his attack on the knee. Myers leg drops the left leg of Raven and continues to stomp the knee several times. Myers tries to get a submission but Raven won’t give up and isn’t staying down when his shoulders hit the mat. Raven grabs the ropes to break the hold. Raven kicks Myers to the floor to get some momentum back in his favor. Myers continues to work over the knee of Raven until Raven sends Myers to the floor and hit a cross body to the floor. Raven isn’t really selling the leg as he sends Myers into the guard railing. Raven has a sleeper hold on Myers for a few moments. Myers gets out of the move to put Raven in the sleeper until the both crash to the floor. Raven is waiting for Myers in the ring when he continually stomps on Myers off the apron. Raven misses a splash in the corner and drops the canvas. Myers drops Raven after a few punches. Raven boots Myers in the corner but is dropped by a forearm shot. Myers comes off the top to drive Raven face first into the canvas. Myers knocks Richards off the apron but is met with a clothesline from Raven. Raven loads up his boot to kick Myers in the midsection and hit an arm breaker for the win. (*1/2. A rather basic opener to kick off the show. I think it makes sense considering Raven is being groomed to be the top heel while Myers was still an over face who wasn’t going to get any sort of push. So, this made sense to me.) By the way, the Hat Guy is actually in attendance for this show. I thought he was mainly only at ECW Arena shows.
Second Contest: Tony Stetson & Johnny Hotbody vs. 911 in a handicap match: I don’t recall Hotbody or Stetson really being in ECW during this time, so this may have been a one off appearance to put over 911. I’m sure you could figure out how this plays out. Hotbody hits 911 with a steel chair over the back. Stetson does the same and 911 actually drops down to his knees. 911 fights back quickly and hit a double choke slam for the win. After the match, 911 decides to choke slam some more people.
Third Contest: ECW Television Champion Dean Malenko vs. The Tazmaniac: Malenko takes Taz down with a leg trip. Taz kicks Malenko off and connects with a clothesline. Malenko pulls Taz to the floor but is kicked away on the apron. Malenko attacks Taz while Jason Knight provided a distraction. Malenko works over the left knee for a few moments. Malenko continues to control Taz with a leg lock on the canvas. Taz attacks Jason Knight on the floor hitting him with a chair. Malenko hit a delayed vertical suplex on Taz for a two count. Malenko works over Taz left knee some more. Malenko wraps Taz leg around the ring post knee first. Taz whacks Malenko with a chair in the midsection. Malenko is stomping on Taz on the floor. Back in the ring, Malenko continues to work over Taz with stomps. Taz takes Malenko over with a snap suplex but is tripped by Malenko. Malenko splashes Taz across the knee to weaken him some more. Taz drives Dean down with a back suplex after avoiding a chop. Malenko plants Taz with a DDT. Taz hits a northern lights suplex for a two count. Taz goes for a slam but Malenko lands on top for a two count. Jason Knight enters the ring with the ECW TV Championship while Malenko keeps Taz on the canvas. Knight stomps on Taz a few times. Here comes 911 for the save along with Paul E. Dangerously. That appears to be the end of the match. (*1/4. Another ECW TV Championship match that didn’t have a finish. I don’t think they had good chemistry, anyway.)
Fourth Contest: Public Enemy vs. Ron Simmons & 2 Cold Scorpio: Simmons and Scorpio go right after Public Enemy and they waste zero time brawling on the floor. Simmons is brawling with Rocco in the crowd trading blows. Simmons tosses Rocco towards the ring where he misses a clothesline. Simmons takes Rocco over with a snap suplex. Rocco gets control on Simmons working over him with right hands. Grunge is getting worked over by Scorpio at ringside. Scorpio hammers away on Grunge until he gets backdropped to the floor. Grunge is busted wide open and hammers away on Simmons. Rock hits Scorpio with a guitar shot. Scorpio hits Rocco with the miniature guitar and does the same to Grunge. Rock piledrivers Scorpio while Grunge hit a back suplex on Simmons for a near fall. Scorpio comes off the middle rope and Rock gets his knees up. Rock misses a somersault splash off the middle rope and Scorpio gets a two count. Grunge hit a middle rope leg drop on Simmons and broke up Scorpio’s pin attempt. Simmons and Scorpio control the match with Scorpio hitting a scoop slam. Scorpio hit a twisting splash on Grunge for a two count. Simmons sends Rocco over the top rope to the floor. Grunge decks Scorpio with an object. Grunge hit a vertical suplex on Scorpio but Simmons enters to stomp on Grunge. Scorpio hits Rock with a sink or something for a two count. Scorpio kicks Rocco and hit a moonsault. Simmons plants Rocco with a spine buster for a two count. Grunge hits Scorpio with a chair shot across the back. Grunge sends Scorpio over the railing into the crowd. Simmons plants Rocco with a DDT and hits him with a chair several times. Simmons misses a splash off the top hitting a chair and Rocco pins Simmons! (*1/2. This was literally just a brawl between these four men. There was zero resemblance of rules or structure. These kind of matches fit well on the card and are what the crowd responds to the most.) After the match, Scorpio and Simmons beat down Grunge with steel chairs.
Fifth Contest: The Sandman vs. Cactus Jack in a falls count anywhere match: Cactus starts the match with a running bulldog out of the corner for a one count. Cactus goes to the floor to get a chair but Sandman gets hand of it and whacks Cactus over the back. Sandman continues to work over Cactus with the steel chair. Cactus sends Sandman to the floor where Sandman sends Cactus into the railing but gets decked by a right hand. They brawl into the crowd where Sandman wraps a towel around Jack’s face before hitting a piledriver through a table in the crowd! Sandman takes Cactus over with a snap suplex. Sandman sends Cactus to the floor through the middle rope. Cactus pummels Sandman with right hands before returning to the ring. Cactus hits Sandman over the back but Sandman low blows Cactus with the chair and hit a DDT. Sandman goes to the top rope hitting a leg drop on Cactus, who had a chair across his face. Cactus hammers away on Sandman with more rights and sends Sandman to the floor. Cactus sends Sandman into the guard railing. Cactus rams Sandman chest first into the guard railing. Cactus has a cheese grater and uses it on Sandman. Sandman is busted open as Cactus tossed someone off the apron onto Sandman against the railing. Cactus uses the chair to elbow drop Sandman on the floor for a two count. They are battling on the apron until Cactus low blows Sandman to the floor and wins the match with a sunset flip off the apron. That moves clearly hurts Cactus far, far more. After the match, Sandman hits Cactus with a steel chair and kendo stick in the ring. Cactus backdrops Sandman over the top to the floor and follows him backstage. (**. It was a decent brawl, but it wasn’t anything special. The finish was a bit bizarre as the move wouldn’t hurt Sandman and did more damage to Cactus.)
Main Event: ECW World Champion Shane Douglas vs. Tommy Dreamer: Douglas complains of a hair pull at the start of the match but that wasn’t true. Dreamer says this isn’t WCW and doesn’t want to stall. Dreamer controls Douglas with a hammerlock briefly. Douglas chops Dreamer in the corner but that doesn’t do anything. Instead, Dreamer lifts his shirt up and wants more but Douglas doesn’t do that. Dreamer chops Douglas in the corner and sends him flipping in the corner to the floor. Dreamer uses his shirt to clothesline Douglas and controls Douglas with an arm bar. Douglas works over Dreamer in the corner with stomps. Douglas goes to the floor and gets in the face of a fan before stomping on Dreamer some more. Douglas delivers a knee breaker wrenches on the knee of Dreamer. Douglas uses the ropes for leverage until the referee forces a break. Douglas locks in a half Boston Crab to keep Dreamer on the mat. Dreamer hit a back suplex on Douglas and puts him in the figure four. Dreamer dumps Douglas to the floor and whacks Douglas with a trash can lid several times. Tommy rolls Douglas into the ring and Dreamer keeps control of the match with a snap suplex. Dreamer misses an elbow drop but recovers to hit a vertical suplex on Douglas. Douglas puts a sleeper on Dreamer and the referee is knocked down. Sandman comes down and whacks Douglas over the head with a kendo stick. He puts Dreamer on top of Douglas but here comes Cactus Jack to brawl with him to the floor. Dreamer has remained on top of Douglas this entire time. The referee slowly makes the count and Douglas kicks out at two. Dreamer punches Douglas and grabs an illegal object to hit Douglas again, the same object that Douglas. The referee makes the count and Dreamer wins the ECW World Championship! However, the referee sees the foreign object on Tommy’s fist and makes the match restart. Douglas hits Dreamer in the corner with a kendo stick as the referee was shoved aside. Douglas covers Dreamer and wins the match. (*1/2. The only entertaining part of the match was the finishing sequence. Aside from the that, this was a pretty lackluster bout.)
Final Thoughts:
It feels like whenever they wrestle at Jim Thorpe that there isn’t great wrestling and they try to do odd finishes that would seemingly involve angles of some kind. So, this one gets a thumbs down from me as well.
Thanks for reading.