ECW House Show 3/22/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 3/22/1997
From: Revere, MA

Opening Contest: Chris Chetti & Spike Dudley vs. Tracy Smothers & Little Guido: The match is joined in progress with Smothers working over Spike and trying for a cover but can’t keep Spike down long enough. Spike plants Smothers with a modified Fame-Asser and a standing hurricanrana before tagging in Chetti. Chetti cleans house on Smothers and Guido with dropkicks. Chetti scoop slams Smothers and delivers a sloppy spinning heel kick to Guido. Cherri hits a better one on Smothers before getting a two count on Guido. Guido lifts Cherri up to allow Smothers to hit a top rope leaping uppercut, which gets them the win. (NR. Obviously I can’t give this a rating since it’s not the whole match. It appeared that Chetti wasn’t on his game and had a rough showing. Interesting that this match happened considering Smothers heel turn on Chetti hadn’t been shown on television yet.)

Second Contest: Axl Rotten vs. Cpl. Punishment: Rotten jabs Punishment several times after ducking a clothesline in the early moments. The fans are chanting that they want to see some blood. They go to the floor where Punishment tries to use a chair, but Rotten blocks it and uses the chair on Punishment instead. Rotten leaps off the apron to clothesline Punishment, which looked stupid. Rotten delivers a chair shot to the back before bringing the action back into the ring. Punishment clotheslines Rotten to gain control in the ring. Punishment continues with a snap suplex before going to the top rope. Rotten crotches Punishment on the top rope and wins the match following a lariat. (1/2*. That honestly sucked and was not entertaining at all. I dread Axl Rotten matches on house shows. The match should have been nothing but violence and bloodshed and instead they attempted to actually have a wrestling match. I don’t think anyone wanted to see this.)

Prior to the next match, Louie Spicolli says that he knows Stevie Richards has a lot of heat backstage. Louie suggests that Richards has lost his smile.

Third Contest: Stevie Richards vs. Louie Spicolli: Richards backdrops Spicolli early on followed by a few clotheslines and a dropkick to send Louie to the floor. Richards atomic drops Louie and almost wins with a sunset flip. Louie gets punched by Meanie and Nova, but drops Richards over the top rope. Louie continues with a back suplex for a near fall. Spicolli locks in a bear hug, which the fans groan at. Louie tries for another bear hug, but Richards fights out of it quickly. Louie press slams Richards gut first to the mat. Richards press slams Louie off the top rope. Richards nails Louie with a spinning heel kick. Richards stops Louie with a quick low blow. Louie nearly wins with an inside cradle. Richards nearly wins with a Fame-Asser. Richards plants Louie with a powerbomb for a two count. Louie plants Richards with a spinebuster for a near fall. Richards gets out of a Samoan Drop and hits a superkick for the win. (*1/4. They never got out of first gear and the match didn’t hold my interest at all. I was quite disappointed by this as I thought these two could have a really good match and it just didn’t happen here.) After the match, Louie fakes a Death Valley Driver and instead shakes Stevie’s hand.

Fourth Contest: The Sandman vs. Balls Mahoney: Sandman ducks a chair shot attempt and beats on Mahoney with several kendo stick shots. Mahoney low blows Sandman and delivers several chair shots over Sandman’s head. Mahoney has been busted open from the kendo stick shots. Mahoney drinks a beer and smashes the can against his head. Mahoney spits beer into Sandman’s face followed by a clothesline. Mahoney elbow drops a chair against Sandman’s chest. Outside the ring, Mahoney beats on Sandman demanding his respect tonight. Mahoney sends Sandman flipping upside down into the railing. Mahoney leg drops a chair onto Sandman’s chest in the ring. Mahoney misses a top rope leg drop and Sandman wins with a rollup. (1/2*. You’ve got to be kidding me. I didn’t enjoy this at all.)

Fifth Contest: ECW Tag Team Champions Dudley Boys vs. Perry Saturn & John Kronus: All four men start the match brawling with Saturn and Kronus getting the upper hand. Kronus nails D-Von with a standing heel kick and Saturn scissors kicks Bubba. Saturn hits a triple jump moonsault onto D-Von. Kronus hits a handspring elbow in the corner. Saturn and Kronus hit a double moonsault. Saturn hits a springboard kick to Bubba and Kronus delivers a spinning heel kick. Saturn superkicks Bubba after Kronus kicked Bubba from behind. Kronus nails D-Von with a spinning kick. Saturn misses a dive to the floor and hits the railing chest first. D-Von plants Saturn with a reverse DDT. Bubba powerbombs Saturn and D-Von comes off the top to hit a diving headbutt. Bubba takes Saturn over with a vertical suplex. D-Von slams Saturn and puts a chair over Saturn’s chest and delivers a leg drop. Saturn takes D-Von down with a side Russian leg sweep and a springboard moonsault. Bubba backdrops Saturn to keep control of the match.

Saturn hammers away on Bubba and delivers a few kicks to stagger Bubba. Bubba low blows Saturn to regain control of the match. Saturn takes Bubba down with a spinning heel kick. Kronus superkicks D-Von and cleans house on the champs. Kronus backdrops D-Von and Bubba. D-Von is dropped following a double spin kick and the same happens to Bubba. D-Von is met with another double kick to the chest and the same happens to Bubba. Kronus and D-Von go over the top to the floor. Saturn gets powder thrown into is face by Sign Guy and Bubba hits a cutter for the win. After the match, Sign Guy gets nailed by Total Elimination. (**1/2. The match was enjoyable and held my interest. The finish was rather weak, though. It’s the first time on the show that I felt entertained.)

Sixth Contest: Rob Van Dam vs. Taz: The match starts with Taz controlling RVD on the mat with some mat based wrestling. RVD delivers a kick followed by an axe kick to get the advantage. RVD spin kicks Taz to the mat and hits a frog splash off the top for a near fall. Taz runs into a boot in the corner but crotches RVD on the top rope. They counter each other until Taz hits an overhead suplex. Taz goes to the floor and grabs a table. Taz sets the table up in the corner and tosses RVD through the table with a suplex. Sabu slides into the ring and attacks Taz. Chris Candido comes out as well and attacks Sabu. That leads us to the next match.. This match ended in an apparent no contest.

Seventh Contest: Chris Candido vs. Sabu: Sabu avoids a kick but misses a springboard crossbody attempt. Sabu nails Candido with a springboard clothesline to send Candido to the floor and baseball slides Candido into the crowd. Sabu tosses a chair into the ring and tries for a springboard from the ring to the floor. However, Candido tosses a chair at Sabu in midair and Sabu hits the guard railing chest first. Candido leaps off the top to take Sabu out with a dive. Sabu gets stopped on the top rope and Candido spikes Sabu with a middle rope piledriver. Candido flips a table over on the aisle way to seemingly take it away from Sabu. Candido hammers away on Sabu until a dropkick stops him. Sabu springboards off the middle rope to hit a somersault leg drop for a two count. Sabu backdrops Candido over the top to the floor. Sabu takes Candido out with a suicide dive. Sabu sets a table up on the floor and lays Candido down.

Sabu tries to dive over the top, but Brian Lee has entered the ring and drives Sabu down with a spinebuster. Candido gets tossed into the ring by Lee and almost pins Sabu. Candido takes Sabu over with a snap suplex for a two count. Sabu heel kicks Candido to get the advantage back in his favor. Sabu tosses Candido overhead and taunts Taz. Candido takes Sabu down to the mat with a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. Candido drops Sabu gut first over the top rope, but Sabu takes Candido over from the apron with a suplex. Sabu misses a springboard splash off a chair and hits the railing. Candido isn’t paying attention and Sabu tosses a chair at him. Sabu springboards off a chair to hit a hurricanrana but Candido catches Sabu on a springboard to hit a back suplex. Sabu tosses Candido off the middle rope and connects with a somersault dive. Candido comes back with a hurricanrana off the top for a two count. Sabu splashes Candido in the corner, but Candido stops Sabu with strikes. Sabu slams Candido and hits a springboard leg drop. Candido blocks a triple jump moonsault by getting his knees up.

Candido powerbombs Sabu for a two count. Sabu counters a powerbomb and landed on top for a near fall. Candido slides a chair into the ring and Sabu backdrops Candido onto the chair from the middle rope. Sabu leaps off the top to hit a leg drop and gets a submission with a camel clutch. (**. Well, this match felt like it was going on forever and really didn’t need the amount of time that it got. The match got a point where it felt like they were just doing moves with no real substance to them. It was enjoyable for a little while, but the longer it dragged on I just hoped it would end.) After the match, Sabu gets a microphone and just says “Taz!”

Main Event: ECW World Champion Raven & ECW Television Champion Shane Douglas vs. Terry Funk & Pitbull #2: Raven and Funk start the match until Raven tags out to Douglas, which brings in Pitbull. Raven pulls Funk off the apron and they brawl on the floor while Douglas drops Pitbull guy first over the top rope. Funk tossed Raven over a table at ringside and they continue to brawl. Douglas plants Pitbull with a swinging neckbreaker. Raven brings Funk into the ring and Douglas works over Funk with strikes while Raven delivered a few blows to Pitbull. Francine cheap shots Pitbull in the corner and Funk is being double teamed. Raven brawls with Pitbull on the floor while Douglas puts a chin lock on Funk. Raven gets in Funk’s face and taunts him. Raven puts Funk through a table with a slingshot splash from the ring to the outside. Douglas dangerously powerbombs Pitbull onto the broken table on the floor. Douglas powerbombs Pitbull onto two chairs on the floor.

Funk is left in the ring with Raven and Douglas but Funk refuses to stay down. Brian Lee chokeslams the referee for not counting a three there. Tommy Dreamer enters the ring and brawls with everyone. Chris Candido comes out and helps Lee hit a chokeslam. Louie Spicolli enters the ring and gets chokeslammed by Lee. Beulah and Francine end up having a cat fight in the ring. Rick Rude comes out causing a distraction and Pitbull pins Douglas with a rollup from behind. (*1/2. The cluster that happened towards the end gave me a headache. They probably did all that just so Douglas didn’t have to do a clean job. I wasn’t entertained by this as the main event.)

Final Thoughts:
I had hopes for this show as the card seemed to be a good one for a house show. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed by what they presented.

Thanks for reading.