Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 10/23/1998
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Prior to the opening match, Danny Doring gets great heel heat for insulting the fans and demanding there be zero foul language. Doring introduced Roadkill for his match.
MATCH #1 ROADKILL VS. CHRIS CHETTI
FINISH: Chetti wins following a double springboard moonsault.
Bob’s Take: Chetti gets the advantage early on by sending Roadkill to the floor with a clothesline and hit a crossbody to the floor to get the crowd into the bout followed by a springboard clothesline into the ring. Doring gets involved by sending Chetti into the railing after Roadkill knocked Chetti to the floor with a clothesline of his own. Roadkill puts Chetti over the top rope gut first and hit a top rope strike to knock Chetti to the mat. Chetti battled back with a snap powerslam for a two count. Roadkill regained control with a powerslam and a top rope splash. Roadkill tries to walk the ropes, but actually slips and missed an elbow drop, but knocked Chetti off the top into the railing. The finish takes place a little bit after that, but there wasn’t much notable action leading into it. Chetti displayed a little bit of his agility, and hitting the finisher popped the crowd. It’s a mostly basic opening bout for an ECW house show.
Match Rating: **
Prior to the next match, Tommy Rich insults Pittsburgh and their football team.
MATCH #2: TRACY SMOTHERS VS. JERRY LYNN
FINISH: Lynn dropkicks Smothers into Guido and uses the flag to clothesline Smothers for the win. After the match, Smothers and Guido bicker, but Tommy Rich manages to smooth things over.
Bob’s Take: There is substantial pre-match antics with Tommy Rich and the referee to seemingly stall time for whatever reason. Early on, Smothers and Lynn trade arm drags and the fans chant ‘boring’ due to Smothers stalling. Lynn continues to control the bout hitting a crossbody to the floor and sends Guido into the railing, but Tommy Rich jabbed Lynn with a chair. Smothers keeps control for a bit thanks to his pals helping him out. Rich continues to jab Lynn with a chair from the floor. Lynn tries to fight back, but is stopped by a slam. Lynn gets a flurry of offense with a head scissors, hurricanrana and a top rope crossbody. Smothers almost rolled through the crossbody for a pin. This was a fairly underwhelming encounter and I wish Lynn was able to shine a bit more. I love Smothers, but even by 1998 he’s not the same worker that he was in SMW just a few years ago. I may have been expecting too much here.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #3: ULF HERMAN & BILL WILES VS. BLUE MEANIE & NOVA
FINISH: Meanie pins Herman after a wheelbarrow suplex/DDT combo with Nova. After the match, Wiles apologizes for losing his temper and returns to being timekeeper for the remainder of the night.
Bob’s Take: I honestly thought this would be comedy focused, but Meanie wasted no time hitting a splash and a top rope moonsault. But, the time keeper (Bill Wiles) declares the time limit to the match expired, which is hilarious because the match was less than a minute. Nova misses a somersault dive and crashes through a table. The match turned into a tag match at this point. Wiles looked good in the ring with Nova hitting a side slam early on, but Nova stopped Wiles with a standing hurricanrana. Moments later, Herman gets finished off by Nova and Meanie. Honestly, the structure to this match is just guys fighting and I liked this far better than a dragged out tag match. There wasn’t comedy here for the most part, and I actually enjoyed the segment.
Match Rating: *1/2
Prior to the next match, Lance Storm makes a remark suggesting that he’s going to sleep with Tammy Lynn Sytch in his hotel room prompting an attack by Candido.
MATCH #4: CHRIS CANDIDO & TAMMY LYNN SYTCH VS. LANCE STORM & TAMMY LYNN BYTCH
FINISH: Sytch delivers stunners to Bytch and Storm allowing Candido to hit a top rope diving headbutt and Sytch pins Storm for the win. After the match, Sytch pulls down Bytch’s trunks.
Bob’s Take: Sytch helps out Candido by low blowing Storm, but Bytch tries to do the same thing and accidentally headbutts Storm when Sytch stopped her. Storm gets low blowed a few times at the start for some comedy. Sytch slams Bytch much to the delight of the fans. Storm controls Candido with a backdrop and dropkick in the early moments of the bout. Candido stops Storm with a neckbreaker and a middle rope fist drop. Storm hits a nice springboard back elbow and decides it’s a good idea to tag in Bytch. Sytch gets involved and delivers a DDT to Storm and Candido takes Storm out on the floor. Sytch leaps off the middle rope to crossbody Storm and Candido on the floor. Sytch actually gets sent into the railing by Storm. The finish takes place twenty seconds after brawling on the floor. The match is a bit hectic and it’s a bit odd to see Storm selling for Sytch, but whatever. I enjoyed this segment and the crowd ate it up.
Match Rating: **1/4
Prior to the next match, the Dudley Boys take a good amount of time cutting a promo on the fans. I’m not going to cover it, but they generate some good heat, as per usual. It is noted that Axl Rotten can’t wrestle tonight, so Balls Mahoney has to find a partner. That brings out… Masato Tanaka!
MATCH #5: DUDLEY BOYS VS. MASATO TANAKA & BALLS MAHONEY — STREET FIGHT
FINISH: Tanaka spikes Bubba onto a chair with a tornado DDT for the win.
Bob’s Take: A pet peeve of mine is when a street fight starts off with tag rules, and that’s what we do here. Luckily, it takes maybe fifteen seconds for the match to breakdown and become a street fight, but what was the point of trying to do tags at the start? I am so confused because while they do brawling, they are still tagging into the match. So, this is not a street fight then, right? Tanaka gets worked over by the Dudley’s for a good bit of time. Tanaka nailed Bubba with a discus forearm, but D-Von kept control with a reverse DDT. This is literally a structured tag match, but Mahoney tells the referee there’s no disqualifications while holding the tag rope and following the rules? This match is making little sense to me. Joel Gertner tries to get involved, but Mahoney hit the Nutracker Suite and superkicks Big Dick to the floor. Dudley’s whack Tanaka and Mahoney with chair shots, but they get forearm strikes to the face moments later. I’m honestly incredibly disappointed by this largely because they didn’t even keep to the stipulation and the action as a result was not very good. I was hoping for more brawling and vicious weapon shots that would be expected by these two teams. Felt liked they completely mailed it in.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #6: ECW WORLD CHAMPION SHANE DOUGLAS VS. SABU
FINISH: They both fall off the top rope and crash through a table. A second referee comes out just as they both drape their arms over each other prompting a double pin. The referees argue over the finish and who won the match. After the match, Chris Candido and Bam-Bam Bigelow come out to argue. Bigelow hits the Greetings From Asbury Park on the referee and shoves Douglas. Bigelow pummels Sabu, but that brings out Rob Van Dam leading to the next match.
Bob’s Take: A slower start to the match with a focus on mat wrestling, which is to be expected. Sabu gets the first amount of substantial offense hitting a somersault leg drop from the apron into the ring. Sabu focused his attack on the left knee of Douglas. Sabu hits a double springboard dive into the crowd onto Douglas. Douglas battled back by crotching Sabu over the railing. Douglas atomic drops Sabu sending Sabu face first into the railing. Sabu had placed a table between the apron and railing and Douglas looks to use it, but Sabu stopped him. Sabu delivers a nice top rope hurricanrana for a near fall. Sabu whacks Douglas with a few chair shots and a leg drop with a chair. Sabu puts Douglas through the table with a springboard elbow drop on the floor. Sabu also uses a spike on Douglas to bust Douglas open. They both fall off the top rope and crash through another table in the ring. That leads to a ridiculous finish where they have a double pin when a second referee randomly came out despite the original referee never being knocked out or anything. It’s an enjoyable match, but the finish got a major eye roll from me.
Match Rating: **1/2
MATCH #7: ECW TELEVISION CHAMPION ROB VAN DAM VS. BAM-BAM BIGELOW
FINISH: RVD leaps off the top to kick a chair into Bigelow’s face for the win.
Bob’s Take: RVD counters a powerbomb early on to deliver a leg drop to gain the first bit of momentum. There’s a massive brawl causing security to come out and I thought that was going to cause the match to be thrown out, but luckily it actually still happens. RVD dives to the floor to take Bigelow out at the start of the match. They brawl into the crowd where Bigelow slams RVD through a table. RVD almost falls off a moving table and misses a leg drop attempt crashing through a table. RVD leaps off another table onto Bigelow. The fans are loving the brawling aspect of this match. Bigelow tosses RVD into a bunch of chairs in the crowd. RVD leg drops Bigelow over the railing as they head back towards the ringside area. Bigelow keeps control on RVD with a clothesline and a DDT. Bigelow almost wins following a top rope falling headbutt. RVD fights back by kicking a chair into Bigelow’s face for a near fall. Bigelow delivered a powerbomb for another two count. RVD leaps off the top to kick Bigelow followed by the Five Star Frog Splash, but couldn’t cover Bigelow. Instead, RVD kicks a chair into Bigelow’s face from the top rope for the win. This was a far better match than I thought it would be and Bigelow put in a lot of effort. As for Bigelow in ECW, this is his second to last match with the company and putting over RVD clean is the right thing to do. I enjoyed the brawling and this delivered for a house show.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Prior to the next match, Justin Credible cuts a promo about being the best. The fans do not agree and continue to rip on Credible. It looks like the main event was initially just Credible vs. Dreamer, and that it ends up being a multi-man tag match. The crowd also are mean to Nicole Bass.
MAIN EVENT: NEW JACK, SPIKE DUDLEY & TOMMY DREAMER VS. JACK VICTORY, SAL E. GRAZIANO, JUSTIN CREDIBLE, ROD PRICE & ONE MAN GANG — EXTREME DEATH MATCH
FINISH: Spike Acid Drops Sal and Gang misses a splash hitting Sal allowing Dreamer, Jack and Spike to pin both men.
Bob’s Take: At first, this starts off as a singles match between Dreamer and Credible. Dreamer gains control with a spinebuster and clotheslines himself and Credible over the top to the floor. Credible battles back with a spinning DDT. Credible drop toe holds Dreamer face first into a steel chair. Credible misses a baseball slide in the corner and hit the post allowing Dreamer to regain control of the match, but Jason attacks Dreamer to help Credible. Dreamer plants Jason with a DDT and superplexs Credible. Nicole Bass and Chastity get involved to help Credible, but Dreamer low blows Bass and piledrives Chastity. Dreamer slams Credible and heads backstage, but comes back with a ladder. Dreamer sends Credible into a ladder, but that brings out Jack Victory and Rod Price to assist. Lance Wright comes out and suplexs Dreamer. New Jack comes out and uses a variety of weapons to clean house. Wright tries for a slingshot somersault clothesline, but slipped and fell causing Jack to hit him with a weapon. One Mang Gang also joined in on the beating hitting a splash on Jack, but that’s when Spike Dudley came out. The match is what you’d expect from this kind of match, and it’s actually enjoyable for what it’s worth.
Match Rating: **
Final Thoughts:
I wanted to watch this show because it looked like a loaded card to feature RVD/Bigelow, Sabu/Douglas and Dudleys/Mahoney/Tanaka. RVD/Bigelow is match of the night as they had a good house show match. I wish Douglas/Sabu didn’t try to pull off the double pin finish as it just didn’t work at all. The Pittsburgh crowd was red hot for the action, and the show is an average overall. I was hoping for a bit more, but it’s an acceptable house show from ECW.
Thanks for reading.