Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #340 – 30/10/1999

Hello You!

I enjoyed last week’s show as The Impact Players of Justin Credible and Lance Storm did an excellent job of making Danny Doring and Roadkill look good in their match before ultimately defeating them. It seems like ECW has finally found the right way to book the team (They’re heels who show a lot of ass but then eventually prevail because they’re resourceful villains) and their feud with Raven and Tommy Dreamer seems like it could have some mileage.

As always, you can read a recap of the previous episode of ECW on TNN prior to this issue of Hardcore TV from Mr. Scott Keith by clicking right HERE!

So with all that dealt with, let’s order a pizza and then hit the delivery boy with a flaming chair as we once again take things to The Extreme!!!

Today’s matches were taped from The Arena in Philly

Calling the action is Joey Styles

We open up with Joey Styles in the ring as he welcomes us to the show. The Arena is loud and pumped for the show, as you would imagine. However, before Joey can do the intro, Sign Guy Dudley comes down to the ring, much to The Arena crowd’s consternation. Joey reveals that Sign Guy’s name is actually Lou, which causes the artist now known as Lou to tell him to shut up and hold the mic for him. Lou says he did anything he could to be a part of ECW, including driving people to the show, taking pictures and setting up chairs in The Arena because he knew ECW was special. Lou says he was part of the hottest act in wrestling (The Dudley Family) but it meant he was left in the shadows, so tonight he’s going to prove that he is the greatest manager in wrestling. Lou now adorns a strangely familiar baseball hat and jacket and declares that his name just happens to be, Lou E. Dangerously! Joey’s look of bemusement at this is pretty great, as the camera pans up to the Eagle’s Nest where we see Paul E. Heyman (Subtitled as “He’s The One Who Owns Dis Here Ting”) looking equally confused at what’s going on. The crowd wants Paul to attack Lou, but we would have to wait until 2000 for that to happen. Lou says he’s brought a former ECW Champion back to the company, at which point Mikey Whipwreck makes his return from WCW. Joey hypes up a cat fight between Francine and Dawn Marie later, as well as Tajiri Vs Jerry Lynn and The Impact Players Vs Raven and Dreamer.

Show Intro: This week’s tagline is “If You Miss This Year’s November to Remember, It’ll Be A Regret You Never Forget”.

Opening Match
ECW World Champion Mike Awesome w/ Judge Jeff Jones Vs Mikey Whipwreck w/ Lou E. Dangerously

Joey is now doing the whole “you have to see this guy live to see just how big he really is” deal with Awesome, which just sounds so corny when it’s coming from an ECW commentator. I thought this company was supposed to be above that sort of stuff? Joey hypes up on commentary that this was the very arena where Mikey defeated The Sandman to become the ECW Champion back in 1995, and ponders if he can do it again. I’m going to guess no on that front I’m afraid.

Awesome easily demolishes Mikey, getting an Ultimate Warrior styled splash for two before sending Mikey outside for a dive. Mikey moves to avoid that, but Awesome is able to stop himself and instead comes off the apron with a clothesline before flinging poor Mikey into the front row for another dive. The ECW Arena crowd absolutely loves this demolition job from the Champ, as Awesome puts Mikey back inside and then folds him up with an Alabama Slam.

The fans want a table to be used next, and Awesome attempts to oblige with a powerbomb to the floor. Mikey counters that into a rana, but Awesome no sells that and then heads up top. Mikey manages to cut him off however and gets a top rope rana followed by a spinning neck breaker for two. Missile dropkick gets another two for Mikey, but when he heads up again Awesome stops whatever he has planned and then powerbombs him over the top rope through a table. Mikey is out like a light following that, but Awesome isn’t going to let him off easily and heads up top with a big frogsplash for the win.

WINNER: MIKE AWESOME
RATING: **

This did a great job of making Awesome look like an absolute monster but also gave Mikey a couple of two counts as well so that he didn’t look like a complete chump before getting destroyed by Awesome’s killer finisher. Note they also had Awesome add the frogsplash as well so as to sow the seeds for an eventual collision with TV Champ Rob Van Dam. I like how the frogsplash was just an addendum for the whole thing and Mikey was clearly finished before it, with Awesome more doing it just to jab at RVD rather than anything else.

COMMERCIAL

Joey is in front of the ECW Banner, where he hypes up November to Remember by mentioning that Mike Awesome will be defending his Title against Masato Tanaka, The Impact Players and ??? Vs Raven, Dreamer and ???, and Rob Van Dam defending his TV Title against Taz.

Match Two
Yoshihiro Tajiri w/ Steve Corino and Jack Victory Vs Jerry Lynn

Lynn’s ribs are still taped as his case of DDPitus was intensified when Tajiri attacked him in New Orleans, thus setting up this particular scrap. Tajiri wastes no time throwing kicks but Lynn keeps getting back up because he pretty much wrote the handbook on being an injured babyface gutsily fighting back. The Arena crowd chants “Hiroshima” like an absolute bunch of tossers, but it doesn’t prevent Tajiri from hanging Lynn in the Tree of Woe and delivering a baseball slide to his face.

Lynn keeps fighting however, getting just the right balance between defiance and agony, but Tajiri takes the fight outside and hits his opponent with a chair off the apron. Lynn starts bleeding from that, as his autumn is just going from bad to worse, and Tajiri sticks a wrench into the cut back in the ring. I think we just might have hit peak “Evil Tajiri” here everyone. Tajiri tries choking Lynn with part of his ring attire, but Lynn grabs it off him and does some choking of his own before bringing a chair into the ring.

Tajiri manages to counter that with a kick however (Not before Lynn uses the chair to block the green mist) and then goes for a brain buster on the chair, only for Lynn to counter it into a reverse DDT for two. German Suplex gets another two for Lynn, but he’s too tired and beaten up to follow up immediately and we have a double down. Lynn goes to the Gory Guerrero Special, but Tajiri slips out and then gets a low blow followed by a back breaker.

Lynn keeps trying to fight back by trying to stop Tajiri when he goes up top, but Tajiri brings him down with a sunset flip bomb for two and then starts biting Lynn’s cut. Lynn counters that into a Liger Bomb for two and both men are down again. Lynn ducks a Tajiri kick and manages to get the Cradle Piledriver, but this brings in Steve Corino for an attack and he targets the mid-section. Lynn manages to Cradle Piledrive him as well, before dropkicking Victory off the apron and following with a dive. With both managers dealt with, Lynn comes back in to finish Tajiri, but finds red mist and a brain buster waiting for him to give Tajiri the win.

WINNER: TAJIRI
RATING: ***1/2

Darn fine professional wrestling there, as Lynn sold his injury throughout the match but also kept fighting throughout as well, so as a viewer you always thought he had a chance. Meanwhile Tajiri was in his element as a sadistic heel targeting Lynn’s weak points. The finish also gives some legitimacy to Corino as a manager as well, as he was key in his client’s eventual victory. Great stuff all round and this should hopefully lead to some more matches between the two, which I’m all for. It’s just nice to see Tajiri wrestling someone OTHER than Super Crazy or Little Guido to be honest.

COMMERCIAL

Main Event
ECW Tag Team Titles
Champs: Raven and Tommy Dreamer w/ Francine Vs The Impact Players of Justin Credible and Lance Storm w/ Jason and Dawn Marie

Dawn is wearing a pretty skimpy black outfit with leopard print boots and looks simply outstanding. Francine is equally skimpily dressed with a fluorescent lime green outfit, but I’d say Dawn wins the battle on the attractiveness front. We’ve seen Dreamer Vs both Credible and Storm a copious amount of times now but Raven hasn’t really worked with the two of them yet, so that holds some possible intrigue. Raven and Dreamer tease fighting with one another but eventually team up to shine on the heels, as the match descends into a brawl around ringside. Raven lays Credible on a table and urges Dreamer to go up, but Raven then crotches him and puts Credible through the table himself in a funny spot. Francine and Dawn Marie want to go at it, but Raven and Storm hold them back as we take a break.

COMMERCIAL

Back from the ads, Raven is working over both heels by himself in the ring and doing a good job of it, getting a head butt to Storm’s groin for two before getting cut off by Credible. Stereo DDT’s look to end it for the Champs, but Dawn attacks the ref to stop the count and that leads us to the mandatory cat fight. Dawn escapes a Francine DDT attempt, but that merely leads to Dreamer doing what he always does and get distracted by the possibility of beating up the opposing wrestlers’ valet, which allows Rhino to come down and attack him. The heels lay out the faces three on two and all seems to be lost, at which point the lights go out and THE SANDMAN makes his return to ECW for the big rescue.

WINNER: NO CONTEST
RATING: **

Match had lots of energy and I’ll forgive the finish because The Sandman returning was so great.

Sandman comes into the ring and takes out Jason whilst the rest of the heels hold back Rhino. Rhino and Sandman would go on to have a big feud for the first half of 2000. The crowd goes absolutely nuts for Sandman’s return and it’s a really great moment. Sadly the fact “Enter Sandman” has to be dubbed out means we don’t get the full benefit of the crowd reactions, but you can tell just by watching them how much they’re into it. Raven is hardly happy to see The Sandman and just walks away, which makes sense considering the brutal rivalry the two had, but Dreamer by comparison is delighted to see him and reacts like a kid getting a present from Father Christmas when The Sandman offers him a beer. Dreamer and Sandman drink beer and embrace to close us out, as we now appear to have our main event for November to Remember. Heck, even Francine drinks some beer as well!

In Conclusion

A great Tajiri/Lynn match and a big time angle to close the show makes this week an easy thumbs up.