ECW House Show 3/4/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 3/4/1999
From: Philadelphia, PA

To start the show they do a ten bell salute for someone. I couldn’t make out the name as they cut to the salute. Interesting to see Shane Douglas at ringside since he’s not on the card to compete. Several wrestlers go over to a gentleman in the front row and give him a hug. So, I’m assuming the salute was for someone that he had loss. That was a really good gesture by ECW and the wrestlers.

Opening Contest: Steve Corino vs. Chris Chetti: Corino is getting good heel heat by taunting the fans. Chetti backdrops Corino and continues to deliver strikes in the corner. Chetti crotches Corino over the top rope and hits a springboard heel kick to knock Corino to the floor. Corino decks Chetti on the floor a few times. Chetti has Corino on his shoulders and drops Corino chest first over the railing. Corino counters a springboard attempt into the ring with a clothesline in midair. Corino heel kicks Chetti for another two count. Corino boots Chetti in the corner followed by an elbow strike. Corino crotches Chetti on the top rope but Chetti shoves Corino off only to miss a crossbody. Chetti collides with Corino and lands on Corino’s groin head first. Chetti heel kicks Corino followed by a powerslam for a two count. Chetti springboards off the ropes to heel kick Corino again but misses a springboard leg drop. Corino drops Chetti with a superkick for a two count. Chetti plants Corino with a sit out Death Valley Driver and a springboard moonsault for the win. (**. Not too bad of an opening match with the right guy going over. The action was decent and they put in a enough highspots to hold my interest throughout.)

Second Contest: Tracy Smothers & Little Guido vs. Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney: Rotten and Guido start the tag match with Guido taking Rotten down to the mat with an arm drag. Axl comes back with an arm drag of his own and gets arm control before tagging in Mahoney. Mahoney leg drops Guido and Smothers gets tagged in. Smothers works over Mahoney with strikes in the corner but Mahoney clotheslines Smothers followed by several jabs. Mahoney misses a clothesline and Smothers connects with a heel kick. Mahoney plants Smothers with a sit down powerbomb and clotheslines Smothers over the top to the floor. Mahoney sends Smothers into the railing, but Big Sal runs over and splashes Mahoney into the ring post. Guido comes off the middle rope to deliver a leg drop for a two count. Mahoney continues to be double teamed by Smothers and Guido as Sal enters to connect with an elbow drop. Mahoney is dropkicked by Guido and Smothers. Guido misses a middle rope knee drop as Rotten gets tagged in. Rotten cleans house with strikes and an elbow strike. Mahoney superkicks Smothers to the floor and plants Guido with the Nut Cracker Suite for the win. After the match, Rotten whacks Sal over the back with a steel chair. (*1/2. I usually dread these matches, but it didn’t get a lot of time and they moved through it quickly.)

Third Contest: Jerry Lynn vs. Skull Von Krush: They start off with some mat wrestling to begin the match. Lynn chops Vito several times in the corner followed by a head scissors out of the corner. Lynn takes Vito out with a slingshot crossbody to the floor. Lynn sends Vito into the guard railing back first. Vito clotheslines Lynn to regain control of the match. Vito grabs a chair but decides to not use it. Lynn tries for a hurricanrana, but Vito hits a powerbomb. Vito delivers a chop to knock Lynn down to the mat and connects with a scoop slam. Vito mocks the People’s Elbow by stomping Lynn after running the ropes. Lynn almost wins with a sunset flip and gets nailed by a clothesline. Vito plants Lynn with a back suplex and a middle rope splash. Lynn nearly wins with a rollup out of the corner. Vito decks Lynn to regain control of the contest. Lynn counters a wheelbarrow attempt with a rollup for a near fall. Lynn connects with a springboard bulldog and both men are down. Lynn takes Vito over with a snap suplex and goes to the middle rope to hit a leg drop for a near fall. Lynn continues with a back suplex for a two count. Vito plants Lynn with a side slam for another two count. Lynn plants Vito with a DDT to counter a backslide and wins the match. (**. The finish was kind of dull and felt like it came out of nowhere. Vito was getting some good heat from the crowd. There were a few sloppy moments, but it was a decent match for what it was.)

Fourth Contest: Super Crazy vs. Tajiri: They start off with some mat wrestling and counter several holds on the mat. The fans are chanting for USA, which makes me think they don’t care for either guy. Tajiri hits a hurricanrana but they quickly counter each other with arm drags and they do a kip up. Crazy comes off the ropes with a tornado DDT. Crazy runs into a superkick and Tajiri comes back with a tornado DDT. Tajiri dumps Crazy over the top to the floor. Tajiri baseball slides Crazy on the floor. Tajiri kicks Crazy by the railing and then on the apron. Tajiri puts the Tarantula on Crazy. Crazy misses a twisting senton and Tajiri hits a German suplex for a two count. Tajiri nearly wins the match with a rollup. Tajiri clotheslines Crazy for a two count. Crazy heel kicks Tajiri and plants Tajiri with a powerbomb followed by a springboard moonsault and a Michinokuj Driver for the win. (*1/2. Well, it has to be the first time I have never really enjoyed a match between these two. They didn’t get a lot of time and it felt like Tajiri wasn’t presented as a serious threat to Crazy. The presentation for the match just felt weird and the flow didn’t connect with me.)

Fifth Contest: Danny Doring vs. Nova: Doring yanks Nova down to the mat and then flips him off. Nova comes off the middle rope to clothesline Doring. Nova comes off the ropes with a leg drop for a two count. Nova nearly wins with a fisherman suplex. Nova tries for a reverse Boston Crab, but Doring crawls to the outside. Roadkill yanks Nova off the apron and Doring baseball slides Nova into Roadkill, who then rams Nova back first into the ring post. Doring misses a splash in the corner and Nova connects with a neckbreaker. Doring hits a jumping jawbreaker. Doring takes Nova over with a snap suplex. Doring comes off the top with a leg drop. Doring connects with a few elbow drops and does a strut before going for a cover. Nova hits a powerbomb/elbow drop to Doring’s midsection. Nova clotheslines Doring a few times, but Roadkill grabs his boot from the floor. Nova proceeds to take Roadkill out with a suicide dive! Nova connects with a reverse DDT twice, but Roadkill gets on the apron to cause a distraction. Roadkill decks Nova with a chain. Doring has the cover and wins the match. (**. Another average match on this show. I wasn’t expecting the chain shot to be the finish at all. I usually enjoy these guys in the ring and they didn’t have a bad match here.) After the match, Roadkill chokes Nova with the chain. This naturally brings out New Jack.

Sixth Contest: New Jack vs. Roadkill:Jack tosses a trash can full of weapons into the ring and whacks Roadkill and Doring with weapons. New Jack dropkicks Roadkill inside a trash can. Roadkill gets the upper hand and digs a scraper into Jack’s forehead. Nova has a sharpshooter on Doring outside the ring. Roadkill side slams Jack and stomps away on him. Roadkill misses a top rope big splash. Jack comes off the top to whack Roadkill with a steel chair. (1/2*. This was exactly what you’d expect and it wasn’t all that enjoyable.)

Seventh Contest: ECW World Champion Taz vs. Spike Dudley: Taz quickly knocks Dudley to the floor after several strikes. Dudley sends Taz into the railing and drops Taz chest first over the railing with an Acid Drop. Dudley axe handles Taz over the railing. Dudley comes off the apron to take Taz out with a somersault. Spike hits a missile dropkick for a two count. Dudley calls for the Acid Drop, but Taz counters and clotheslines Spike. Taz tosses Dudley with a wheelbarrow suplex. Taz connects with a double leg slam out of the corner. Dudley dropkicks Taz to counter a suplex. Spike low blows Taz and tries for the Acid Drop, but Taz counters with the Taz Mission to win the match. (**1/2. Obviously a quick match but it was enjoyable.)

Eighth Contest: Lance Storm vs. Tommy Dreamer: Dreamer attacks Storm during his entrance and they brawl into the crowd. Dreamer rams Storm’s face into the wall as they fought up the bleachers. Dreamer sends Storm into dozens of empty chairs. Dreamer sends Storm into the wall back first and the same happens to Dreamer. They get into the ring where Storm has control and catapults Dreamer under the bottom rope. For some reason, the camera keeps cutting out and is now up in the bleachers. Francine spears Dawn Marie and Shane Douglas is in the ring. So, sadly the camera missed virtually all of the match. That sucks. They explain that the battery for the camera is dead, so they are up in the bleachers probably plugged in.

Main Event: ECW Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley: Sabu and D-Von start the match with Sabu getting some mat control. D-Von drives Sabu down to the mat with a front slam for a two count. Sabu hits a heel kick and a slingshot leg drop on D-Von for a two count. Bubba tags in and woks over Sabu with strikes. Bubba elbow drops Sabu but gets stopped with a baseball slide kick. Sabu jumps off RVD’s back to splash Bubba in the corner. Bubba catches Sabu on a second splash hitting a sit down powerbomb. Sabu gets a camel clutch on Bubba and RVD delivers a dropkick. RVD monkey flips Bubba out of the corner and delivers a spinning heel kick for a two count. Bubba side slams RVD for a two count. Bubba slams RVD and twists RVD’s neck. RVD gets worked over in the corner as D-Von tags in and keeps control of the match with a spinning elbow strike. D-Von leaps off the middle rope to headbutt RVD’s on the groin. RVD springboards off the middle rope to drop Bubba with a kick to the face. RVD leaps off the top to crossbody Bubba for another near fall.

RVD and Sabu hit a splash/slingshot leg drop combo on Bubba. They also hit stereo senton splashes onto D-Von. Sabu springboards off the top rope and takes the Dudley’s out with a dive into the crowd. RVD leaps off the top to take Bubba out with a somersault dive in the front row. D-Von drives RVD down to the mat with a reverse neckbreaker off the middle rope. Sabu enters but Bubba hits a reverse DDT on Sabu for a two count. D-Von drives Sabu down to the mat with a reverse DDT off the top rope. RVD slams Bubba and hits a split legged moonsault. Alfonso hits Sign Guy to the floor. RVD hammers away on Bubba in the corner but D-Von comes over and hits a reverse neckbreaker and Bubba hit a powerbomb. D-Von powerbombs RVD for a two count. Bubba hits RVD with a chair shot and keeps control with strikes in the corner. Bubba drives RVD down with a neckbreaker out of a hip toss for a two count. Bubba plants RVD with a DDT for a two count. Bubba locks in a Boston Crab on RVD, but Sabu enters and breaks the hold. Dudley Boys hit a vertical suplex/crossbody combo for a two count.

D-Von delivers a jawbreaker to stop RVD. Bubba misses a clothesline and Sabu gets tagged in. Sabu leaps off the top to clothesline Bubba and cleans house with dropkicks. Sabu sets up a table but D-Von puts Sabu on the table. Sabu hurricanranas Bubba to the mat and RVD hits the frog splash for a two count. Sabu plants Bubba with a DDT. D-Von and Bubba are put on the table. Sabu splashes Bubba through the table, but D-Von got off and hits Sabu with a chair. RVD kicks the chair into D-Von’s face for the win. (**1/4. The match eventually broke down to guys just doing moves to do them without much setup or purpose to them. There were a few goos spots thrown in there and it ended up being an average wrestling match.)

Final Thoughts:
There were a few decent matches but there just isn’t enough here to make it an entertaining overall show. Thus, I can’t recommend this show.

Thanks for reading.