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/wrestling /ECW on TNN /1 September 2000 |
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/wrestling /ECW on TNN /1 September 2000 |
ECW on TNN by E.C. Ostermeyer |
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MainBLAH |
This is the ECW on TNN report for Friday, 25 August 2000, and I'm your recapper, E.C. (I think he means 1 September - the TAPING date was 25 August - CRZ) This week's show deals with Day One of the outstanding Hammerstein Ballroom house show in New York City. ECW held a tag-team tournament to crown new ECW tag-team champions. My thanks go out once again to the intrepid Larry Musso, who braved the wilds of the Big Apple and a packed house of cheering, hollering "Demographic", to bring us fans an eyewitness report on what, by all accounts, was one of this year's biggest events in professional wrestling. You rock, Larry! Tonight's action was incredibly fast and furious, so let's get right to it. TNN "Bad Boys Week" promo, featuring former jail-bird and ex-porn star Tonya Harding. Only in America. We open tonight's festivities with Match #1: Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck (w/ Sinister Minister) d. EZ Money & Julio Dinero ( w/ Chris Hamrick) (double-team brainbuster on Dinero/pin, we saw 1:08) Tag-team Tourney Semi-final match. The match is joined in progress, and we are just in time to see Tajiri nail a "Tree of Woe'd" Dinero with a baseball slide to the noggin. A whip by Tajiri sends Dinero straight into a Mikey Whipwreck clothesline from the top turnbuckle. EZ money tries ot interfere, but gets his ankles yanked off the ring apron by the Sinister Minister. Chris Hamrick tries a top turnbuckle Giant Splash, only to get the Green Mist full force right in his eyes. As Hamrick staggers across the ring, digging at his eyes, he gets a double mule kick from Mikey that spins him all the way up the entrance ramp. Mikey climbs to the near-side top turnbuckle, setting up a flying elbow. Dinero sees it coming and tries to block, but Mikey avoids the block. Then he and Tajiri double-team Dinero into a vicious roll-over snap powerslam. One double-team powerbomb on Dinero, and Tajiri is able to get the cover and the pin. Opening Credits. Your on-site hosts at the jam-packed Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City are Joey Styles and Joel Gertner. After Joel's little ditty involving himself, Mayor Giuliani and a couple of hookers, out comes Steve Corino and Billy Corgan of "Smashing Pumpkins" fame. Corgan's armed with a big-ass black Gibson Les Paul, and favors us with a stiff couple of guitar riffs as he and Corino make their way to the ring. Corino's not apologizing for any of the cheap shots and cheats he used to get where he is, and he darn sure ain't gonna apologize when he takes the ECW World Championship Title from Justin Credible. This brings out Lou E. Dangerously, to wet all over Corino's birthday cake. After a few cutting remarks directed at a smirking Corgan, Lou E. gets right up in Corino's face, sneering about his chance of becoming the new Champ. Of course, this is all a ruse to allow Justin Credible to sneak in and waffle Corino from behind. Corgan grabs up the Singapore Cane that Credible dropped . One swing chases Lou E. out of the ring, and then Corgan starts choking Credible with it. Lou E. slithers back in and clobbers Corgan with the cell phone, and down he goes. Lou E. and Credible celebrate in the ring. ECW Hotline promo. Commercials. Match #2: Rhino & Justin Credible (w/ Francine) d. Chilly Willy & Sandman, ( Rhino piledriver on Sandman/pin, 1:09) Semi-final match The champs and ol' "Raccoon Puss" enter first, followed by Chilly Willy, and the "Metallica-enhanced" Sandman. As this will take a while, it's time for some more Commercials. We come back to a strategy conference at ringside between Chilly Willy and the Sandman, that's punctuated with taunts from Justin Credible and Rhino. After agreeing on the best strategy they will use, the good guys storm the ring. And almost immediately are wiped out by Credible and Rhino, despite the Sandman's White Russian legsweep on Justin Credible, and his numerous cane shots on Rhino's head. Willy takes a Rhino piledriver on the noggin, and Sandman gets hurled through another table in the ring. A Sandman recovery gets nixed when Rhino piledrives him onto the remnants of the table. Commercials. Match #3: Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger (w/ C.W. Anderson) d. Danny Doring & Roadkill, ("Problem Solver" finisher on Doring/Swinger pin, 5:08) Semi-final match Diamond & Co. make there way to the ring, followed by Doring & Roadkill. So it must be time for some Commercials. Onewrestlingdotcom Extreme Replay shows Diamond et al with their quarterfinal win over Nova & Chris Chetti. Roadkill opens the action with a powerslam on Simon, with Doring completing the task with his "Panty Drop" elbow smash. Lancaster Lariat of Lust nearly works out as a match winner, but the referee disallows the double-team. Huge plancha from Doring off Roadkill's back flattens all the heels at ringside. The momentum of the match changed shortly thereafter, with Swinger nailing his "Swing Thing" on Doring. The continual double-teaming with Simon kept Doring from making the tag. Doring finally hits a power surge, double- "Barebacks" Swinger and Simon, and then tags in Roadkill. The Amish Warrior sets about him, smiting his enemies hip and thigh. "Dirt Road Slam" for Simon, and one for Swinger. Doring returns for the double-team, and the pair execute a good-looking Spicolli Driver on Simon. "Danaconda" from Doring sets up Simon for a top-turnbuckle aerial from Roadkill. However, Anderson is there to shove Roadkill off the turnbuckle, and straight through the timekeeper's table at ringside. A "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" finisher from Doring gets blocked by Anderson. Doring attempts to mete out justice upon Anderson, only to get double-teamed into a "Problem Solver" by Simon and Anderson. Swinger gets the pin and the win to advance his team to the finals. Hilarious skit involving a visit to the "ECW New York" nightspot, a scruffy-looking, jam-packed tavern that has Balls Mahoney and a scantily-clad young lady tending bar. Or rather, avoiding being scorched, since the bar-top is one roaring sheet of flame. Balls' co-worker decides to heat things up a bit her own self by doing that "fire-breathing" number from "Coyote Ugly", and does it MUCH better than the girl in the movie. Mr. Mahoney is impressed. It always pays to work with a pro. Oh yeah, can YOU say "There goes the neighborhood?" Match #4: Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn d. Rhino & Justin Credible (w/ Francine), (Lynn w/cradle piledriver on Credible, we saw 3:48 or so.) Semi-final match. Match joined in progress, as Tommy Dreamer bouncing Rhino into opposite steel guardrails outside the ring. Lynn is clobbering Credible out in the midst of the fans. Tommy likes that idea, and decides to "Take this one to the people" as well. He tosses Rhino over the guardrail, then drags him up into the wildly cheering crowd, bludgeoning him as he goes. Rhino gets a belly-full of this, and starts walloping on Dreamer. Dreamer grabs a fan's replica Title Belt and cold-cocks Rhino with it. Back in the ring, Jerry Lynn is clobbering Justin Credible. There's a cover, 1,2, Credible just kicks out, as Francine screeches like a banshee. Lynn with punches in bunches, then a cross-corner whip. Credible reverses it, but lynn springboards off the second rope, nailing Credible with a spinning heel kick and a follow-up Tornado DDT on Francine. Cover, but Francine's got the ref's attention. Lynn gets it back when he grabs Francine and administers a (nearly) pants-down spanking, much to the crowd's enjoyment. Man, lookit that cellulite shimmy, wouldja? A Lynn Cradle Piledriver attempt on the Queen of Extreme is shortstopped by a Justin Credible super-kick. Dreamer's back, just in time to nail Credible with a Dreamer DDT. Rhino ups the ante by spearing Tommy Dreamer, then piledriving him off the ring apron and through the timekeeper's table. This brings out Little Spike Dudley, who wallops Rhino several times with Credible's Singapore Cane, then "Acid Drops" the TV Champ as the crowd goes wild. Credible's back, ambushes Spike with a boot to the gut, and then hits his "That's Incredible!" finisher on him. Lynn is back as well, and nails Credible with his Cradle Piledriver finisher for the pin and the win. ecwwrestlingdotcom has new digital photos of the "Women of ECW." Boy, THERE'S a Playboy Pictoral for ya! ECW Upcoming Events calendar: 9/7 Cleveland, OH 9/8 "The Flick," Buffalo, NY (TV taping) 9/8 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 9/14 Des Moines, IA 9/15 Omaha, NE 9/16 Sioux City, IA 9/22 The Icenter, Salem, NH. Hey, all you Boston- area ECW fans, get out there and pack the Salem "Icenter" to the rafters, okay? The paltry 450 in attendance the last time ECW was in town just plain SUCKS! This ain't WCW, y'know! Here's your chance to redeem yourselves. Do it. 'Nuff said. 9/23 Danbury, CT (TV taping) 10/1 St Paul, MN ("Anarchy Rulz" PPV) 10/6 Green Bay, WI 10/7 The Rave, Milwaukee, WI (TV taping) 10/20 Battle Creek, MI Commercials. Match #5: ECW World Tag Team Championship: Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck (w/ the Sinister Minister) d. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger d. Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn, (Mikey w/ "Whippersnapper" finisher on Simon/pin, 10:19) Three-Way Dance Rules. Footage from "ECW Hardcore TV" shows the Dreamer/Lynn quarterfinal win over Rob Van Dam and Kid Kash. RVD is all set to deliver the "Van Terminator" on Tommy Dreamer, but he's whacked off the top rope by a cane shot from Justin Credible, then gored by Rhino. Tommy Dreamer recovers and nails the groggy RVD with a Dreamer Driver. Tommy spots Rhino at ringside, puts two an two together, and charges out of the ring after the big man. Jerry Lynn, arriving back in the ring, nails RVD with his Cradle Piledriver finisher, and gets the pin. Back to the ring, where the match starts with Jerry Lynn squaring off against Tajiri and Simon Diamond. Diamond, being stalked by Lynn and Tajiri, wisely ducks out of the ring. Lynn and Tajiri start the action. Simon, seeing an opportunity, tries to capitalize, but Lynn and Tajiri immediately double-team him with a drop toehold, and Simon's sent back outside for a bit. Tajiri and Lynn get back to business, with a series of reciprocal chops (Whooo!) A cross-ring whip by Lynn, but Tajiri uses the momentum to try his hand-spring back elbow. Lynn's too quick, and ducks aside, then tries for a belly-to-back suplex. Tajiri evades, then nails Lynn with a hurancanrana. Lynn recovers, misses with a snap clothesline, slaps a waist lock on Tajiri, who escapes momentarily, only to get caught with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Simon, seeing another opportunity, hits a spinning arm-drag on Lynn, and then whips Lynn into the ropes. Lynn rebounds and nails Simon with a hurancanrana of his own. Tajiri tags in Mikey Whipwreck, who immediately goes after Lynn. Lynn tags in Dreamer, who's wearing a neck brace, the result of his earlier Rhino-administered piledriver through the table. Simon takes the opportunity to tag in Johnny Swinger. Taunting from Mikey gets Dreamer angry about the neck brace. Swinger interrupts the action for yet ANOTHER pose-down show. Dreamer and Mikey grab the flexing Swinger, and bum's rush his butt right to the canvas. Triple headlock attempt by the three combatants goes nowhere. Dreamer tries to take off his neck brace, but this only serves to get him clobbered by Mikey and Swinger. Double-team whip to the ropes gets ducked by Dreamer, who counters with a double running lariat of his own. Mikey and Swinger bail out. Simon tags in, only to be caught up in the Pier Six brawl that starts. From the ring to the floor, with Dreamer after Tajiri, and Lynn is just cutting Simon up with those punches of his. At ringside, Dreamer nails Tajiri with a buzzsaw kick of his own. Up in the crowd, Simon gets "dumpsterized" by Lynn. Tajiri hurls Dreamer into the seats, then chairs him across the face, and then jumps up and stands on the chair across Dreamer's face! Ouch! Tajiri tosses the chair aside, and starts gnawing on Dreamer's forehead. He spits out "something" that I don't even want to know about. Tajiri drags Dreamer back to the ring through the bleachers, as jerry Lynn nails Simon Diamond with a backbreaker. Tajiri suplexes Dreamer onto the bleacher steps, and Dreamer sells the move big time.Lynn and Simon have reached the ring, where Lynn locks up Simon in a "bow & arrow" submission hold. Dreamer crotches Tajiri on the steel guardrail, but only to get crotched himself by Mikey Whipwreck, who then wallops Dreamer with a by-God REAL steel chair. (They CAN'T have run out of the folding kind yet, can they?) Swinger sneaks up and clobbers Mikey, who retreats back into the ring. Tajiri and Lynn double-team Simon with some vicious-looking kicks, then toss him into the corner. Looks like it's "Tree of Woe" time for Simon Diamond, as Tajiri and Lynn do a good job of tying Simon to it. Meanwhile, Dreamer and Mikey are doing the same thing to Johnny Swinger. All four decide to do a little "Tree climbing," and find suitable footing in the respective crotches of Simon and Swinger. Next, it's double-team face-busters with steel chair enhancement on the hapless Simon & Swinger. With the heels out of action, Tajiri and Mikey revert to attacking Lynn and Dreamer. Mikey laces Dreamer through the ropes and locks on a Tarantula, while Tajiri does the same thing on Jerry Lynn. Simon and Swinger, recovering, somewhat, seize the opportunity, and each boot Mikey and Tajiri right in the head, breaking the respective holds. An attempt at an Atomic Drop on Jerry Lynn by Simon gets blocked, then countered with a springboard spinning front kick that rocks Simon right to his shoes. Swinger's attempt to ornament the top turnbuckle with Mikey Whipwreck gets stymied when Mikey and Lynn both nail their respective opponents with Tornado DDTs. Double cover, but both Swinger and Simon kick out. Now Tommy Dreamer's back in, and he blocks Mikey's "Whippersnapper" attempt with a Dreamer DDT. Cover by Dreamer, but C.W. Anderson yanks him out of the ring, wallops him with a steel chair, then tosses him back in the ring. Simon and Swinger double-team their "Problem Solver" finisher on Dreamer, and Simon gets the pin, eliminating Dreamer and Jerry Lynn. This brings in Mikey and Tajiri, who really crank a huge face-buster on Simon Diamond. Mikey presents Simon's head for Tajiri, who promptly nails it with a buzzsaw kick. This enrages Swinger, who clobbers Tajiri from behind with his "Swing Thing" finisher. Simon & Swinger splatter Mikey's puss on the mat with a double-team face-buster variant. While this action is going on, the rest of the ECW wrestlers make their way to ringside to cheer on the contestants. (Man, try finding that kind of camaraderie in WCW or the WWF, huh folks?) C.W. Anderson, up for another interference, runs into a buzzsaw kick from Tajiri, and down he goes. Swinger wallops Tajiri, then boosts him up on his shoulders, while Simon Diamond goes up to the top of the near-side turnbuckle stack. Looks like they're about to nail Tajiri with a "Frankensteiner", but Tajiri counters with a blast of "Green Mist" right in to Simon's face. Simon, blinded and digging at his eyes, takes a tumble. Unfortunately, he lands crotch-first across the top turnbuckle. Yeowtch! Tajiri spins free of Swinger, then hits a quick-release German suplex that has Swinger ending up in a heap in the far corner. Mikey Whipwreck is there to receive him, and nails Swinger with his "Whippersnapper" finisher. Mikey rolls him over, hooks the far leg, 1...2...3 !! Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri are the new ECW World tag-team champions! The crowd's cheering like crazy, the wrestlers at ringside are cheering like crazy, heck, even Joey Styles and Joel Gertner are cheering like crazy. That was a PPV-quality Tournament, without a weeks'-old, long, elaborate story line hand-holding it every step of the way. A show that, nevertheless, built the excitement level slowly and deliberately to a satisfying climax. This is where ECW shines as a promotion, and why the "Big Two" are constantly stealing ideas and talent from Paul Heyman's talented organization. It would be a real shame if, later this month, when ECW's contract with TNN expires, there would be nowhere for this show to go. A real shame. Of course, looking back at that Upcoming Events Calendar, there's a whole lot of TV tapings listed. Way more than would be needed to support the "ECW Hardcore TV" show, alone. Hmmmm. Maybe Heyman's hedging his bets. Or maybe he knows something we don't. Next week, results from the exciting Day Two of the Big Apple's Hammerstein house shows, with a whole lot more fun and surprises. Again, my thanks to Larry Musso; check out his eyewitness reports here at /Slash Wrestling. You won't be disappointed. See you next week. E.C. Ostermeyer [slash] wrestling Mail the Author |
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