Steamboat v. Savage, WrestleMania III. Lockup to start, and Savage bails. Armdrags abound, and a high choke by Steamer. Savage turns the tide, and works Steamer on the ropes, and clotheslining him for two. Macho misses the blind charge, and Steamboat works the arm like a medieval fire-beast. More work on the arm. A whip to the corner lets Steamboat take a bump over the turnbuckle to the outside.e Macho Man kicks him off the apron, and then brings him back up. This time he hits Steamer's throat with an elbow. He kicks at Steamboat on the apron, and then snapmares him in the ring.

Cover gets two. Kneedrop gets two. Steamboat chips him until he's tied up in the ropes and wails on the Macho Man. Bodypress gets tow for Steamer and that leads into a badass sequence that gives Steamer a few tow counts off elbows, until Save knees him in the back and tries to toss him. Steamer skins the cat, and flips back in the ring only to be clotheslined out. Steamer is bumping like Shawn, as he goes over the barrier. George "The Animal" Steele brings Steamer back into the ring, but Savage mercilessly tosses him again and follows with a flying double axe.

Savage rolls back in, Back in the ring, the flying double axe and a running elbow get two. Jumping stungun gets two. Atomic drop gets two. Vertical suplex gets two. Savage cuts off a comeback and hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Steamer flips out of whatever and chops Savage, but a nice sequence leads to a back body drop from Steamboat to Savage, who takes a cool bump.

Flying clothesline gets two for Steamboat. Elbow gets two. Sunset flip gets two. Schoolboy gets two. Bridging roll up gets two. Small package gets two. Scoop slam into a slingshot to the post gets two. Roll-up off the ropes for two, reversed by Savage for two. Savage tosses Steamer to the post to retake the advantage. Ref bump. Savage gets a clothesline , and Savage goes for the elbow. He hits it, but the ref's down. That's an early example of protective booking right there. Savage gets the bell, but Steele takes it away from him. Savage retakes the bell,, but Animal tosses him off the top rope. Savage tries a slam but gets reverses into a small package for three at 14:25 ***3/4, tops.

The match had tremendous heat, but by today's standards it's nothing to write home about. In the time period it's pretty great stuff, but we've seen so, so much stuff since then. Also, the structure of the match is so elementary: Savage kicks ass, Steamer kicks ass, interference, pinfall. It's like every RAW match we've seen since then. Besides that, it's still a really good match, but its mark-out value has ballooned its importance.

Rob Van Dam v. Jerry Lynn from Hardcore Heaven 99 for the ECW World Television Title. This is taped from the first episode of ECW on TNN. The tape cuts out the heavy, heavy stalling at the beginning of the match. They do their little sequence to start, and then Van Dam leapfrogs off the top rope to the apron, as Lynn hits a springboard drop-kick on RVD to the floor. Plancha, and then Lynn rocker droppers him back in viciously. Chops, as Alfonso's grating voice hits the mike. Lynn bulldogs RVD from the top rope for 2. RVD chants start up, and real loud, because this was awhile ago. Lynn to the top, but Alfonso crotches him. Missed VanDaminator, and then Lynn hits Van Dam in the face with the chair and gets boos. Lynn to the corner, but Van Dam moves and he gets crotched again. RVD then hits a leaping sidekick. Lynn to the mat and hits his face, not very realistically, although he sell it well. Some time passes before the tape comes back with RVD hitting a jumping leap (?) onto Lynn on chairs in the crowd. Back in the ring, and Lynn goes for the Tornado DDT but gets northern lights suplexed. RVD! RVD! RVD puts him on the turnbuckle from the northern lights suplex position but Lynn sunset flip powerbombs him to the mat for two.

Short-arm clothesline lays Van Dam out. Lynn goes for the table, a guaranteed time waster that will likely add nothing to the match. On the outside whip to the guard rail, and then Lynn is back body dropped into the crowd. Going for the VanDaminator., RVD hits a vicious one, and Lynn sells like a champ. ECW chants abound. Back in the ring as Van Dam does a stupid little bit to kick a chair into Lynn's face. Jerry goes for a tornado DDT to the outside, but RVD reverses with a clothesline him back in the ring. Comes in with a legdrop for two. This tape cuts out a little resting, but otherwise action is constant. RVD is winded as hell, whip to the corner. Charge, Lynn drops him to the outside apron. Sunset flip powerbomb through the table. Oof. That was a nice spot. There was much resting here, but the tape cuts back in again. Both men look beat as Lynn gets kicked in the face on a charge. Little sequence with the chair results into Alfonso getting it in the face.

German suplex from Lynn for two. Jerry back with a scoop slam, to the top turnbuckle. Lynn kicks him in the face, punches him in the head and climbs the turnbuckle but not before being set up for a steel chair sidekick. But, once they are on the to turnbuckle, they both blow the spot. What a shame, looked like it would have been a superplex on a chair. They don't try it again, as the crowd chants some chant with the word fuck in it. RVD gets two off of that, but Jerry comes back with a VanDaminator to turn the tide. That gets two, then Lynn staggers up and they do an ugly pinning sequence that leads into Lynn going for the piledriver. RVD tries to sit on him, but Lynn schoolboys for two. RVD to the top and he does the split legged moonsault for two. RVD is spent. He's gone way too long. Signals to the crowd to buy time, Van Dam goes for a scoop slam but Lynn reverses to try an inverted DDT. RVD flips him over instead, and Van Dam hits a legdrop. Van Dam to the top rope - ***** star frog splash. But Jerry rolls over and gets two. Little German suplex reversal gets Jerry Lynn to another VanDaminator, then hits a second five star frog splash. It's over. ***1/2

I can't help but think everyone who likes ECW overrates the matches because of the overactive Philly crowd and everyone who dislikes ECW underrates the matches because of the Philly crowd.

The match was too long for Van Dam, who's better when he keeps it under fifteen. Otherwise, the table spot was not excessive, and I was able to live with the uses of the chair. The match moves quick, especially on this tape. The story sells some of the resting. On the negative side, the story is basically Jerry gets his ass kicked. On some level like or dislike of this match is purely a preference thing. I apologize for the stupidity of the previous sentence.

Hit me with feedback at gould41@aol.com.

Later.