(Originally written 7/13/10)
I have lots of random Fancams, let's review one.
We're in New Orleans, LA for this show. Crowd is rabid as usual.
Match One: Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible
One match of many in a series , these two were joined at the hip once Justin joined ECW as Jason's new find, and this summer series between the two helped bring Justin up the card. The next step would be the Impact Players. Justin plays up the "Justin Asshole" chants, and his facials remind me so much of X-Pac, but that makes sense now in a post X-Factor world. Lynn controls early with some basic wrestling, but Justin takes control with a....Razors Edge. Finishing move some places...but in ECW transitions are extreme. They're trading chops seconds later, and Lynn takes a corner bump that's like Psychosis-lite. The fans think he F'ed up. Jason gets a chair for his charge and the fans cheer and chant ECW, face and heel be damned. Lynn moves the chair out and gets boo'd. Lynn wipes out Credible and ref, but catches Jason interfering,. Even heel ref Jeff Jones is here, I didn't think they were doing that in mid 1998. Double teaming from Jason and Justin, and I'm starting to think the Jeff Jarrett stole his 2005 TNA World Title match formula from Justin Credible matches. Mindless interference, ref bumps, it's all there! Lynn gets back control and sets up the chair for a corner slingshot. Would love to see Hennig take that bump. The crowd boos cause it was extreme enough. Was this their first time in the city? Justin gets rana'd off the top onto the chair, leading to Chasity trying to interfere, it doesn't go well at all. Lynn's assult on her leads to him getting caught with That's Incredible. This match would be recycled for the rest of Justin's ECW run, but for some reason, I still enjoy random Credible matches. It's just me. But this felt short, oddly paced, and way too much interference, in the middle and at the end.
0 for 1
Match Two: Mike Luzansky, Jamie Dundee, Danny Doring vs Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten:
That heel team is a very random collection of ECW undercard guys. And the faces are like a trio at any midwest or east coast indy "ECW reunion" show since 2004. Jamiee Dundee has a great jacket and hat, Danny Doring has the same tights he always wore. Crowd is quick to get on Dundee once he starts cutting a promo. Was Luzansky in ECW prior to this, i thought he had just one cup of coffee with them in 1997 (?), ah well. Wish I could hear Jamiee a bit better. I think this is after Al failed to win the ECW title from a nearly crippled Shane Douglas, he was close to going back to WWF and jobbing to Too Much. Dundee is the early highlight of this, and I am guessing the whole match. He starts with Axl, makes it entertaining for a few minutes, and then we get Snow and Doring. Snow had feuded with a lot of undercard ECW guys in late 97 - early 98 (Doring, Roadkill, Paul Diamond of all people). Danny Doring is one my guilty pleasure, well, 1999-2000 Doring, but i was 15 and a sucker for his multiple moves and funny colored tights. This early in his career, he's doing pretty much the same stuff Rhett Titus has been doing. Balls takes in and squares of Luzanski. Would have thought he would pair off with Al. Balls goes to the floor with one of his oft-missed spin heel kicks, and the heels go to work. I just remember Luzanski passed on a few years ago, I didn't follow his career, but that's surprising to think about. The heat segment is on B. Mahoney, but he makes the comeback with a nice back suplex. He tags Snow, good idea. Axl gets in anyway. Everyone brawls, Doring takes Head and Axl hits him with a chair, and we have a pin. Nothing spectacular, sort of a waste of Snow, Luzansky, and Jamie Dundee
0 for 2
Match Three: FBI vs Blue Meanie/Super Nova
Another one of those undercard ECW rivalries that went on forever. But you can't go wrong with the Guido/Smothers/Rich version of the FBI, good wrestling, incredibly funny, and quite Italian. Did Rich ever wrestle? Maybe a six man once or twice, and I do remember him having a match with Terry Funk and one with Ricky Morton, both at the arena. Not sure what Morton was doing there, hanging out with David Tyler Morton Jericho Cash, perhaps? Nova and Guido both got better (nevermind, Gudio was always pretty good) but lose their comedy edge by the end of ECW. I don't think it was best direction for Nova, I always like the goofy blue version better. He starts with Guido. Meanie and Nova work double teams and for some reason my mind goes to the Hart Foundation, only they're like the Harts, outside of the Big Guy/Little Guy pairing. Smothers tags in and we have a dance off. Tracey Smothers automatically win this match a point by dancing.
Then Taz comes out, DANG! I was kinda looking forward to this match. He suplexes everyone, but does let Tommy Rich fire off one awesome punch before choking him out. Damnit Taz, ruining my fun. He has the FTW title with him, which was a goofy gimmick and just reminded me how silly it was to leave the belt on Douglas while his body was in a million pieces.
Then Bam Bam comes out, tosses Guido over the top with little regard and he starts brawling with Taz. They get broken up. Guessing that's a match for later tonight, Hooray!
1 for 3, I said Tracey Smothers busting a move would get this a point.
Match Four: Lance Storm vs RVD
This should be fun! Lance is alwasy a great opponent for RVD, and I prefer watching him work with Rob than Jerry Lynn. Also, the RVD TV title reign is one of my favorite runs of a guy with a belt ever, and Fancams have a wealth of awesome TV title matches. Rob jumps RVD at the bell and hey, that's a different start. Instead of a feeling out process, they start right away hitting big stuff like the superkick from Storm and a somersault plancha from RVD. They misses some sweets, Storm flips or cartwheels out of most of RVD's signature stuff, and Rob takes it outside, gaining control with the help of Fonzie and a chair. I think Van Dam was a heel during this time, and Storm was the face in his tag team with Chris Candido. Lance comes back with one of his perfect spin wheel kicks. Sitout Powerbomb gets two for Storm, after the springboard elbow. Cartwheel clothesline and a springboard clothes gets Lance another two count, then Sabu comes out to prevent another springboard. They set up a table and Sabu puts Storm through it with a triple jump elbow drop to the outside. You know, the fact that ECW had no rules makes me totally ok with this. At least they never pretended to be a lawful group. RVD nails a split legged moonsault for the pin.
2 for 4. Short, but an awesome pace and super fun.
After the match, Candido comes out to save his partner. Oh, I hope we're getting Sabu vs Candido! The tag champs do a double plancha on Sabu and RVD to finish a nice post match section.
Match Five: John Kronos vs Ulf Herman
Dangit. Ulf looks like Droz, but maybe that's just me. Kronos runs to to the ring and the fight is on. He does some sweeps and punches a lot. Lance Wright is with Ulf, continuing his oh so amazing run as a manger. Anyway, Kronos hits a 450, ref is distracted, Jack Victory shows up, hits Kronos and Ulf wins. Ulf is also using Green Day as his theme, "Brain Stew" to be exact.
2 for 5. Nothing to see here
Match Six: Mike Luzansky vs Chris Chetti
Jamie Dundee is back out with Mike! Awesome! And Tommy Rodgers is the special ref. I want this to be a tag match based on that fact alone. Crowd has no interest in this, but I am curious to see how it is. Chetti does a superkick and a springboard clothesline, then Luzansky does a flying clothesline. Dundee gets on the apron to get some heat for this match, and gets slugged my Rodgers, then Luzansky goes after him, only to get hit with Tommykazi. double springboard moonsault by Cheeti and its over.
3 for 6. Not a great match, a showcase of Chetti's House of Hardcore skills, but it made me imagine The Fantastics vs PG 13.
Match Seven: The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray, D-Von, Big Dick) vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer:
I don't see this being any different than their other matches, including the Heatwave 1998 match (which I enjoyed when I first saw it). The intros and entrances take forever, as you'd expect with these six. Then we settle down for a good old fashion six man. There's some assorted tomfoolery with the New Orleans fans, Sandman's tits, bear, and Beulah. At least everyone is having fun. Dreamer starts with D-Von. It's a rematch from their 1997 Raw main event! They wrestle for a bit. Spike and Bubba then go at it and he almost immediately get powerbombed and rolls outside. Heat segment on Spike, but he makes a comeback soon after. Finding myself not typing much as I watch this one. Sandman tags in to face Big Dick, and we have the worst combination of guys in there now. I am very excited for this. Sandman punches Dick and shakes his hand out, which is an instant win. Then everyone starts fighting. I am amazed it took this long to turn into the normal match with these teams. Sandman does his top rope rana on Big Dick, quite a sight, and everyone seems ok. Dick does a powerslam to Sandman and this is now his best performance. Spike is busted open, and he drives from the post over the rail onto D-Von and Bubba. A bit later, Dreamer and Bubba go at it in ring and Bubba nails a Bubba Cutter. I had thought the angle with the Dudley's taking out Beulah was already done, but she's here still. Spike gets a rope running bulldog for two. D-Von then hip tosses him to the floor. Big Dick ducks a chain shot and gets a go behind waist lock and i think he's gonna german suplex Sandman, buts it not to be. There's just a lot of brawling...as you can tell. I still dig Sandman cannonball splash onto the ladder on some guy. Ladder gets brought in and Spike climbs up, only to be shoved off and caught on the way down with a Bubba Cutter, which is a cool spot. The Dudleyz give Beulah 3D and I think this is the angle that took her out. Or perhaps that was later, not sure. Dreamer and Sandman are handcuffed to the guardrail and ropes, so New Jack comes out to save the day. Then Jack Victory shows up, again quite randomly. I know Raven didn't come back til 99, but him returning to beat the Dudleys, and putting aside his hatred for Dreamer in doing so, is kinda perfect given the Dudleys did put Beluah out of ECW. That does seem like the one thing that would motivate Raven to work with Tommy. Don't think they ever brought that up, as the TNN shows never recaped the ECW history as well as the regular TV shows did.
So the Dudleys and Jack Victory kill everyone and its a total mess. Dreamer would feud with Bubba and D-Von for a very long time after this.
4 for 7. I still enjoy these brawls every now and then, and the heavy nature of the post match was good.
Match Eight: Sabu vs Chris Candido
Shane Douglas, with his giant arm cast/support, comes out and does a promo. He was holding the belt for Taz, and would until January 1999, but I do wish they would have done something different.
This should be a great main event. Sabu starts with his single leg take down, it goes just like it always does. Two minutes in, Candido goes out and Sabu follows with a dive and then hits him with a chair. Really liking Candido chops so far. He also does a nice swinging neck breaker and Lightning Kid like leg drops. Long delayed suplex by Candido. Sabu blocks a top rope rana and connects with a leg drop off the buckles. He then starts his chair assisted offense, which I still have a soft spot for, finishing with a hurricanrana off the top. Table gets set up briding the guard rail and apron, but Candido planchas onto Sabu to stop that. Superplex connects for Candido, but a top rope headbutt misses. Triple Jump Moonsault gets messed up, so Candido responds with a simple powerbomb. Sabu does take over, and the triple jump hits the second time, only with Sabu's foot drilling Candido in the mouth. Storm hits the ring and they double team Sabu, payback for earlier. RVD comes out after that and he fights Storm off. Combo Rolling Thunder-Slingshot Legdrop by RVD and Sabu. They then put CAndido through a table and Sabu gets the pin.
5 for 7. A good match, while Candido and Sabu have had better matches, this was still fun. It went a long way to setting up RVD and Sabu as top challengers to Lance Storm and Chris Candido, which I should search out and watch.
Final Thoughts: A fun show, nothing incredibly standout, but some fun basic ECW matches. Storm/RVD was fun, main event was good, and the Dudleys match is good if you like that sort of things.
More ECW to come!
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