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July 16th
On this day in history in ....
1983 - Butch Reed defeats Junkyard Dog for the Mid South North American Heavyweight Title in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1988 - Frank Goodish, better known as Bruiser Brody, is stabbed in a shower stall in the locker room of Juan Lobriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico by wrestler (and WWC part-owner) Jose Gonzalez (aka Invader I) prior to a WWC event. Brody is taken to a hospital, but dies on the operating table later that night (technically the morning of July 17th) from blood loss. Gonzalez is charged with first degree murder, but is later acquitted. Brody, a true legend in the business, particularly in Japan, was 42 years old.
1994 - Sid Vicious defeats Jerry Lawler by forfeit for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Lawler's 19th run with the title.
1995 - WCW held their Bash at the Beach Pay-per-view at Huntington Beach in California, setting up a ring on the beach and allowing fans and beachgoers to see the show live for free. Footage was also filmed during the event for an episode of Baywatch. Here are the results:
In matches shown on TBS' Main Event:
- Johnny B. Badd defeated Chris Kanyon.
- Road Warrior Hawk defeated Mark Starr.
- Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck defeated Marcus Bagwell & Alex Wright.
In matches shown on the Pay-per-view:
- United States Champion Sting defeated Meng when Meng missed a kick and Sting rolled him up for the pin. Meng attacked Sting after the match, until Road Warrior Hawk made the save.
- WCW Television Champion The Renegade defeated Paul Orndorff when he floated over a vertical suplex and delivered a back suplex for the pin. The crowd booed the babyface Renegade, who didn't give them much to cheer for, totally missing a dropkick (that Orndorff then had to sell). Post-match, Orndorff hit a piledriver on Renegade, to cheers, but Renegade but bounced right up and and hit Orndroff with a cross bodyblock, to boos.
- Kamala defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan when the Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake) hit Duggan with a foreign object.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Dave Sullivan with a Diamond Cutter after distraction from Max Muscle.
- WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat defeated The Nasty Boys and Bobby Eaton & Steven Regal in a Triangle match when Booker T pinned Regal after a Brian Knobs splash.
- Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair in a Lifeguard Lumberjack match (Lifeguards, actually Baywatch extras, and wrestlers acted as the lumberjacks) with the top rope elbowdrop.
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, with Dennis Rodman, defeated Big Van Vader in a steel cage match after two legdrops and kicking Vader away as he climbed out. This was the first time that WCW used the "escape the cage" rule, as they traditionally only had pinfall and submissions in the cage. The reason for the rules change was that Vader would not do a pinfall or submission job for Hogan (because Hogan said he wouldn't do the same for Vader when their program began)
2000 - ECW Heatwave 2000 Pay-per-view took place at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show.
Last week's WCW PPV will be remembered more for the Hulk Hogan incident with Vince Russo than for any action in the ring. We still don't know for sure if that incident was a shoot or a work. This week's ECW PPV, Heat Wave, may likewise be remembered more for an out-of-the-ring shoot incident involving wrestlers from the Los Angeles-based XPW promotion. There has been heat between ECW and XPW for some time, over both the XPW name (Xtreme Pro Wrestling) and their use of Sabu as a wrestler after Paul Heyman let it be known that he was still under ECW contract. Throughout the week, XPW wrestlers had been indicating they would create a disturbance of some sort at the PPV. And they did. A group of XPW performers bought ringside tickets, with the wrestlers identified as Supreme, Messiah, and Jimmy the Homeless Guy, along with valet Kristy Mist. Until the main event, they behaved themselves, but as the main event began, a confrontation occurred involving them and Francine. Apparently Mist grabbed at her, or something along those lines. The guys then got involved and the ECW locker room (heels and babyfaces alike) emptied and a brawl broke out. On commentary Joey Styles tried to explain it as some drunken fans getting out of control. Atlas Security also got involved and the brawl was fairly quickly subdued on camera. But in the parking lot it continued with the XPW guys taking a major beating before escaping in their limo. Paul Heyman was reportedly involved in the outside brawl. From all indications this was not a work. (Note from Buck: I was backstage at the show, and I can assure all that this was not a work)
As for the show itself, it was a clear thumb's up with solid action and a good crowd at the historic Olympic Auditorium who were into the action in a big way. ECW has taken some hits in recent months but they still deliver with workrate and intrigue at their big shows. Commentary from Styles and Cyrus was strong. There were a ton of shots at TNN throughout the show.
The show opened with Blue Meanie, who now calls himself Blue Boy (does he know what that means?), and Jasmin St. Claire on the beach. They picked out some guy who wasn't fat at all and accused him of being fat. Jasmin gave him a low blow. Sinister Minister arrived and did his usual style of promo saying L.A. isn't really a City of Angels but is better known for rioting and violence and is the devil's playground. The camera then showed Mikey Whipwreck buried in the sand with only his head sticking out and the tide coming in.
Styles & Joel Gertner introduced the show from the arena. Gertner went further than he has ever gone before in his lewd opening promo. Cyrus came out to an incredibly loud "a$$hole" chant and took credit for getting ECW cancelled by TNN, for deporting Super Crazy, costing Rob Van Dam and Yoshihiro Tajiri the TV Title, and using the ECW ad budget to promote Rollerjam. Gertner said Cyrus was also known for looking through the glory hole when George Michael was caught spankng it. Cyrus said the only good Gertner has ever done for ECW was to bring in the fat faggot demographic. Gertner said Cyrus enjoys fat faggots and said he was tired of Cyrus running him down all the time and acted like he would leave. Cyrus called him gutless. Gertner then attacked Cyrus from behind and took him down as security hit the ring. Gertner was "arrested". For the rest of the show, Cyrus made jokes about Gertner being, shall we say, used as a sex object down at the L.A. county jail.
BIG SAL GRAZIANO beat BALLS MAHONEY in 2:07. This was an "unscheduled", very brief match that began as Gertner was being hauled out. Sal and Tony Mamaluke came out to sort of see him off, and Balls then arrived and the match just began. Balls plastered Mamaluke but Sal attacked him. Balls broke a chair over Sal's head, which he didn't sell. Sal then squashed Balls with a belly-to-belly on the chair and got the surprisingly quick pin.
Rob Van Dam did a promo promising to debut his new Van Terminator move in the main event. Actually, it was debuted on some recent house shows but this was the TV premier.
Footage aired from the recent ECW Arena show where Bobby Eaton debuted and was cleaning house on Simon Diamond, Swinger, and C.W. Anderson until they eventually overpowered him and left him laying.
DANNY DORING & AMISH ROADKILL & KID KASH defeated SIMON DIAMOND & SWINGER & C.W. ANDERSON in 11:02. Anderson sent Lou E. Dangerously & Electra away, to signify his new alliance with Diamond & Swinger. The commentators kept noting that Eaton was Kash's wrestling idol and that he was out to avenge him. Kash stayed in for most of the match and he was great. He hit some great moves, including a springboard huracanrana and a moonsault. Kash traded chops with Anderson. Doring came in and was on a roll until being caught in the wrong corner. Diamond and Swinger got some near falls on him. Anderson floored Doring with his left handed punch, which they are selling big since Eaton has a right punch. Doring was nearly pinned but Kash made the save. Roadkill got the hot tag to a really big pop and sent all three opponents out, where Doring hit them with a somersault plancha. Kash then did a high springboard plancha, and finally Roadkill dived on them. Back in the ring, Diamond & Swinger double suplexed Roadkill off the top but Kash broke up the pin. All six began brawling and the match got lost for about a minute but Kash then hit the moneymaker (piledriver) on Swinger for the pin. Good match!
JERRY LYNN beat STEVE CORINO in 15:25. Lynn attacked before the bell and lariated Corino over. They brawled on the floor. Lynn kicked a chair into Corino's face and tornado DDT'd him on the floor. Corino juiced a major gusher from this. He came back despite the blood loss with the announcers putting over his courage again for an eventual face turn. He used Dusty Rhodes' bionic elbow to put Lynn down and got some near falls. Lynn kicked yet another chair into Corino's face. They messed up a corner spot but quickly recovered with Lynn DDT'ing Corino on a chair for a near fall. Lynn smeared Corino's blood on his face like war paint and wrote "die" on his chest in blood. Corino did another comeback with his face literally the proverbial Gordon Solie "crimson mask". Corino hit the old school explosion for a near fall. Jack Victory threw powder but it missed Lynn and hit the ref. Victory then KO'ed the ref. With the ref out, Corino used his boot on Lynn and Victory used a cowbell on him. They still only got two when the ref revived. They then went to some fast spots where they traded a ton of two counts back and forth before Lynn finally hit the cradle piledriver for the win. Another good match.
Sandman did a promo talking about avenging his wife Lori. Rhino flattened him with the cane and dragged Lori into a bathroom and tried to shove her face in a toilet until security broke it up.
Dawn Marie joined Styles & Cyrus on commentary. She really didn't say much during the matches (other than a few verbal shots at Francine during the main event), but between matches Cyrus got in a lot of double entendres about her.
NEW JACK came out on crutches (he busted his leg up doing a balcony dive on a Milwaukee house show), which isn't the smartest thing to do on an ECW show. Angel & Tony DeVito attacked him and used the staple gun on him. Nova & Chris Chetti made the save, which led to the next match.
NOVA & CHRIS CHETTI beat ANGEL & TONY DEVITO in 4:38. Chetti hit a springboard plancha and Nova did a tope. DeVito flattened Chetti with the Bronx Bomb but missed a moonsault. Nova gave DeVito two piledrivers and a powerbomb in sequence. Chetti nailed Angel with the Amityville Horror and they pinned him with their double team Tidal Wave move. Good short match.
Tommy Dreamer did a promo talking about how much he has lost and suffered because of wrestling but said he'd do it all over again and rammed his head several times into a locker to draw blood, which is kind of sick.
YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI won a four-way elimination match over PSICOSIS & GUIDO MARITATO & MIKEY WHIPWRECK in 9:16. This was originally a three-way but Mikey just strolled in and it became a four-way. Mikey was mopping up the floor with everyone. He hit the whippersnapper on Tajiri and a plancha on Guido and Psicosis. He then tried to dive on Big Sal (who was there with Guido), but got caught and posted. Psicosis legdropped Mikey and Guido (formerly Little Guido, now using his full name) pinned him at 1:38. Tajiri traded fast spots with Psicosis (this was his first match back in ECW in several years). Tajiri hit the Asai moonsault. Psicosis did a somersault legdrop on Guido. Guido retaliated with the Kiss of Death on Psicosis. Tajiri kicked Guido hard and hit a German suplex on Psicosis to pin him at 4:26. Tajiri and Guido went at it and Tajiri did a cool move where he sort of hooked the tarantula hold coming off the ropes and nearly pinned Guido. He also hooked the tarantula on the ropes. Tajiri did a somersault elbow. Guido kicked a chair into Tajiri's face and hit a legdrop. Guido brought in a chair but Tajiri sprayed the mist in his eyes and DDT'd him on the chair for the pin to end a very good match.
Justin Credible did a promo to put over the barbed wire stips for the main event.
RHINO beat SANDMAN in 8:38 to retain the TV Title. Sandman did his usual long intro with the beer. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want Sandman spitting beer on me. Cyrus said Sandman should be given a breathalyzer. Styles replied that Sandman's wrestling, not driving. Try telling that to his opponents. Sandman broke a cane on Rhino, but Rhino didn't sell it despite taking numerous shots. Rhino then stomped the hell out of Sandman. Sandman got the upper hand long enough to bring a guard rail into the ring, and Rhino took several bumps on the rail. Sandman scored some near falls as Rhino sold these shots. Victory & Corino ran in and laid the ref out. Spike Dudley arrived to help Sandman and Victory got tossed out and Corino was 3D'ed. Rhino gored Spike and piledrived hm through a table off the apron. That spot always looks scary as hell. Rhino then hit a legsweep on Sandman and piledrived him on the rail for the pin. Sandman is very limited in what he can do now but there were enough props and run-ins to keep it interesting.
ROB VAN DAM defeated SCOTTY ANTON in 19:01. This one was too long, not because of Van Dam, but because Anton really isn't over at this level. Anton's offense was one of the few points in the show where the crowd heat died. They were big into Van Dam's offense, though. Anton quickly bailed out but Van Dam hit a moonsault off the rail and a legdrop from the apron onto Anton on the rail. Van Dam did a cool spot where he simply lifted Anton up and dropped him, and then did a backflip on him. Van Dam hit a quebrada for a near fall, one of many in this match. Anton used a chair on Van Dam and bulldogged him from the apron onto the rail. Van Dam juiced from the mouth. Anton scored several twos with DDT's and other moves but got no heat. Bill Alfonso tossed Van Dam a chair which he kicked into Anton's face. Van Dam did his split-legged moonsault. Alfonso climbed to the top and leaned back with a chair, with Van Dam using it on Anton in an intricate spot. Anton used a chair on Van Dam's bad leg, hooking the Clapper (Scorpion or Sharpshooter) but broke the hold to go after Alfonso on the apron. He put the hold on Alfonso but Van Dam made the save with a Van Daminator and a five star frog splash. Van Dam then hit the Van Terminator, which is a dropkick from off the top all the way across the ring (which is amazing) into a chair, which then hit Anton's face like in the Van Daminator. The spot is awesome. Van Dam got the pin to end a good match.
JUSTIN CREDIBLE beat TOMMY DREAMER in 14:57 to retain the ECW World Title. Barbed wire was hanging above the ring and could be legally used by whoever retrieved it. Francine was there with Credible, and whatever happened between her and the XPW crew occurred and the dressing room emptied for the scuffle with security, which spilled off camera out into the parking lot. Jazz & George came out with Dreamer, with Jazz being his "surprise". The commentators kept saying she was gorgeous, but couldn't say Gorgeous George due to copyright. Dreamer, like Sandman, is too banged up to do much but they kept it interesting enough. They brawled through the crowd, with Credible juicing. Dreamer took a scary bump off a ladder. The ladder got set up at ringside and both guys took bumps into it. The ladder then made it into the ring for more bump spots. Dreamer tried to climb up to get the wire but Francine pulled him down and he landed right on her, which apparently legit hurt her but she was saying she was okay afterward backstage. Jazz was about to go after Francine but George turned and attacked Jazz from behind. Jazz recovered quickly and sent George from the ring and stripped Francine's top off. She was wearing electrical tape over her nipples. You mean she knew she was going to be stripped ahead of time? Wink, wink. She ran to the back and put on a T-shirt. Credible tombstoned Jazz. Dreamer hit the Tommyhawk on Credible and got a near pin. Dreamer climbed up and got the wire. It wasn't used all that much. Credible got crotched on it. Credible then recovered and DDT'd Tommy on the wire, followed by That's Incredible on the wire for the pin.
2001 - Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy (Terry Ray Gordy Sr.), who with Michael Hayes founded the Fabulous Freebirds tag team in the late-1970's and rose to fame as the heel foils for the Von Erichs in Texas in the mid-1980's, then went on to become a huge star in Japan, was found dead in his home of a heart attack. He was 40.
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