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Extreme Championship Wrestling made it’s debut in Lake Grove, Long Island, New York, drawing an estimated crowd of 1,300 paying about $28,000, which is strong house. The show was held at SportsPlus, a large sports entertainment venue with an arcade, a bowling alley, kiddie rides, a bar, and a restaurant. The actual show was held in a ballroom, and the place was packed.
The show opened with Axl Rotten pinning Spike Dudley in a good, competitive match where Spike bounced off whatever Axl had to deliver and hit some good moves off the top rope.
Billing himself as the “Extreme Stud,†Little Guido was next pinning rookie Chris Chetti, formerly GQ and Chris Vandelay, who I guess is pulling a Davey Morton-Jericho-Tyler-whatever deal. It was an OK, classic style wrestling match with Guido basically getting heat until Chetti made his comeback. But Guido got the pin after Chetti missed a senton off the top. The crowd was yelling that they wanted J.T. Smith for most of the match. I’ll proudly say that I was among them. If anyone deserves a spot on that PPV, it’s him.
Buh Buh Ray Dudley killed Roadkill next. Kill is almost the correct word because after like a minute, Dudley hit a Buh Buh Bomb and Kill was hurt, suffering a concussion, and was unable to continue. Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer, and the entire medical staff checked on him in the ring after the pinfall. “Roadkill was an appropriate name,†someone behind me remarked. Sheesh, have some compassion folks!
Next up was a match with a ton of potential, Mikey Whipwreck meeting Rob Van Dam. Both guys got monster pops and after some nice chain wrestling, Rob spinkicked Mikey. Van Dam hit a split while ducking under Mikey in a crisscross, and Mikey leapfrogs over Van Dam, blowing out his oft-injured knee and falling in pain. After several minutes of motioning to the crowd, waiting for Mikey to recover, Van Dam wisely rolled up Mikey for the pin. Mikey went to the hospital and will be out for somewhere in the area of six weeks. I’d really like to see Mikey take some time off and heal because he is like a walking M*A*S*H unit. Anyway, Taz and Bill Alfonso hit the ring and knocked Van Dam out. Sabu hit the ring behind Sabu. Taz turned to face him and the place erupted. The locker room emptied before the two could touch each other, and we saw a pull apart as the two vainly tried to break free to get at the other, but couldn’t. There was a chant of “Let them fight.†Taz was dragged out of the ring by the Eliminators, but Sabu dove over the top rope, hitting the Elims as Taz got away. Excellent angle.
Following intermission, we saw the first-ever meeting between Sabu & D-Von Dudley. Sabu hit air Sabu into a spinkick, but when he attempted another, he was clotheslined by D-Von. D-Von then hit Air D-Von into a splash. Air D-Von? D-Von then worked over Sabu, mostly with a chair. D-Von hit a legdrop off the second rope but Sabu made a comeback by throwing a chair into D-Von’s face and hitting a slingshot somersault legdrop into the ring. Sabu hit an Arabian Press as the place chanted for a table. Sabu hit a spinkick off the top rope but D-Von returned with a Curtain Call. Sabu got D-Von outside and went for a dive, but stopped as he saw D-Von get a chair. It didn’t help though as D-Von cracked him in the face with it. Sabu made his comeback and hit a Triple Jump Moonsault for the pin. Joel Gertner then hit the ring, getting the most heat of anything on the show, and of course, announced D-Von as the winner on points. Sabu attacked Gertner, hitting several stiff punches and setting him on a table that was bridged between the rail and the ring. He prepared to jump off but Taz came out and shoved Gertner off and dared Sabu to dive on him. Sabu does, but Taz ducked. This sent Sabu crashing and burning through the table. Taz mocked Sabu and walked off.
Next up was my pick for the best match of the evening, the first ever meeting of the ECW World Tag Team champs, the Eliminators, against Triple Threat members Brian Lee and Chris Candido. This was a hot, competitive match where all four worked hard. How hot? I had nine minutes of highlights on my tape recorder! Lee chokeslammed both guys early and Candido hit a slingshot suplex on Saturn. Lee set Saturn up for a Suicide Bomb by Candido, but Saturn hit an enziguiri on Chris while both men were standing on the rope. Saturn ducked a big boot by Lee and tagged Kronus. The Elims took over with a flurry of martial arts kicks on both but Candido powerslammed Saturn. Candido, with help from a Lee press, hit a Rocket Launcher on Saturn for a two count. Saturn hit a dropkick in the mouth, followed by Total Elimination on Lee for the clean pinfall. Saturn got the mic and said he told everyone that they’re the best team in the world and if anyone else wanted to fight, come on out.
To the surprise of no one, but still getting a big pop, “Natural Born Killaz†blared over the speakers and the Gangstas hit the ring, carrying a trashcan. There was some psychotic brawling before the Elims hit Total Elimination on both Gangstas at once and left them laying.
We followed this with ECW World Television champ Shane Douglas defending his title against Pitbull Two. It was pretty much the standard match we have seen between these two, with a bit more mat work. A funny moment was when some fans were yelling at Francine, “Sunny’s got bigger tits†and Francine responded, “But mine are real, assholes.†The match went back and forth. After Douglas had captured Pit Two in an abdominal stretch for a bit, the masked man was heard on the mic and then came to ringside. He told Douglas to give him Francine and he’ll let Douglas go free, but Francine slapped him. Pit Two reversed the hold and Shane was forced to watch as the masked guy “rudely†spanked Francine, then gyrated to the crowd. A distracted Douglas got knocked around until Lee and Candito hit the ring. Pitbull One made the save, to a big pop. Pit Two is the winner by DQ.
This left the main event: ECW World champ Raven and Stevie Richards meeting Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman. The Blue World Order hit the ring first, to a standing ovation. On the mic, Richards said that Long Island is “BWO Country,†and invited Tommy Dreamer out to “endorse†the BWO, like several others have. Dreamer came out, sans Beulah McGuillicuty who was not there, and offered him a BWO shirt. Dreamer rubbed it in his crotch and threw it down. Stevie said he doesn’t blame Dreamer because for the last two years Richards has done a lot to hurt Dreamer, but swore that this was not a trap and this was legitimate. Dreamer hesitated, trying to decide what to believe, but Raven hit the ring and attacked him. Richards was really pissed, screaming on the mic, “What the hell are you doing? This wasn’t a trap, this was legitimate.â€
Raven gave Stevie the finger. The two went face-to-face, and Stevie shoved Raven down, and Dreamer rolled him up. Raven kicked out and the two went face-to-face, but Dreamer threw powder into Raven’s face, blinding him. Raven DDTd Stevie, then Blue Meanie, and Super Nova when they entered the ring. The Sandman then hit the ring with his Singapore cane, cracking Raven hard in the head with it. Sandman and Dreamer double-teamed the champ, inside the ring and out. They finally drug him in the ring and Dreamer broke a crutch on him at ringside. Dreamer held him up and Sandy asked a recovered Stevie if he “wants a piece of this action.â€
Stevie threw a Steviekick but Raven ducked and he hit Dreamer. Raven hit Sandman and demanded that Stevie hit him. Stevie threw another Steviekick but Sandy ducked and this time Raven got hit. A pissed off Sandman caned Richards. Richards came back to Steviekick Sandy. The Blue World Order stormed off in disgust. Sandman and Dreamer recovered and they double-teamed Raven, with Sandman finally pinning him. Sandman and Dreamer celebrated in the ring. Sandman then jumped into the crowd with Raven’s ECW title belt and celebrated with the fans, who loved every second of it.
Notes:
Personally, I found the show very enjoyable. It was a great change of pace to see guys working matches in front of a crowd that popped for hiptosses as big as they did table spots. There were several sights of unruly behavior but the offending fans were immediately removed, at times by force. This was a welcome sight. The only problem I had with the venue was there were no bleachers, so those who bought general admission had a hard time seeing the show when the crowd stood. The venue did not want any fan interaction (as in handing over objects) or brawling in the crowd, so everything was kept inside the rails.
I was told ECW was looking into whether they could bring bleachers for their return here, Friday, March 7.
It becomes increasingly apparent to me that the Sandman is truly an American Atsushi Onita. No matter what the guy does, the crowd can not get enough of him. The relationship he holds with his fans is like no other. He was out with the fans before the show, signing autographs and taking questions, and was immediately out there again as soon as his match was over following the show.
The Fire Marshall showed up halfway through the show and refused to let the show continue until the crowd cleared the aisles and stopped standing against the back wall.
Sunny was at the show and mobbed by idiot fans who cut her off by the merchandise tables. She actually had to jump on the tables to get around them and into the locker room.
They have added Chris Candido T-shirts to their merchandise. The shirt says, “No Gimmick Needed.â€
ECW returns to NY at the Elks Club #878 in Rego Park, NY, an awesome venue, on 2/21. If anyone intends on attending that show, get your tickets soon because with the size of that venue, it will sell out soon.
On a personal note, I’d like to
wish a fond congratulations to the Blue Meanie and his fiancé Angel on their
recent engagement.
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