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April 22nd
On this day in history in ....
2000 - The final stage in Tazz' return to ECW took place at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tazz, who was now a WWF wrestler, had returned to the company and defeated Mike Awesome (who had attempted to jump to WCW with the ECW belt) to become the ECW champion once again. For that incredible story, click here.
Following the win, Tazz wrestled several non-title matches on WWF shows, losing to Eddie Guerrero. He then wrestled WWF Champion Triple H on Smackdown, losing the match when Tommy Dreamer attempted to help Tazz, but accidentally hit him with a chair. This led to this match in the ECW Arena, where Tazz defended the title against Dreamer in their first meeting since August of 1996. The match would never air on television, and to date has not been released on video or DVD. Here is a description of the bout.
Dreamer applauded the champion as he made his way to the ring, and the fans greeted Tazz with a "Welcome Back" chant. They locked up, and traded headlocks, with no one getting an advantage. Tazz hit a Tazzplex, then delivered some crossfaces. They battled to the floor, and Dreamer caught Tazz with a chair after missing the initial swing. Dreamer then set up a chair on the bottom rope for a baseball slide, but Tazz pulled it away, and smashed Dreamer with it. Dreamer was sent flying over the guardrail, but he came back with a whip of his own, sending Tazz into the steel. Back in the ring, Tazz hit the head and leg Tazzplex, but Dreamer kicked out at two. Tazz went for the head and arm Tazzplex, but Tommy turned it into the Dreamer Driver for a two count. Dreamer set up for a superplex, but Tazz locked in the Tazzmission, which Dreamer broke with a low kick. Tazz got a two count with a Northern Lights suplex, but Dreamer came back with a Tiger Driver attempt. As he hooked him, Tazz pulled Dreamer's legs out from under him for a pin attempt, which Dreamer reversed into a sunset flip for the pin. Tommy Dreamer is the New ECW World Heavyweight Champion.
This would be Tazz' final appearance in the original ECW. An emotional Dreamer, who had never wanted to be World Champion (feeling it went against his underdog character), gave a heartfelt promo about his win, and was congratulated by friends and fellow ECW wrestlers, including longtime rival Raven. As Raven and Dreamer hugged, Justin Credible attacked both men with a Singapore cane, gave Raven a piledriver and challenged Dreamer to a title match. Dreamer accepted, and Credible beat Dreamer with the That's Incredible spinning tombstone piledriver after Francine (who was with Raven until this point) hit Dreamer with a low blow as he was about to give Credible the Spicolli Driver. As a result, the ECW World Tag Team Championship that Credible held with Lance Storm was vacated.
Other results from the show:
- Masato Tanaka defeated 2 Cold Scorpio.
- Lance Storm & Dawn Marie defeated Nova & Jazz after interference from Justin Credible.
- Little Guido defeated Super Crazy and Kid Kash in a Three Way Dance.
- CW Anderson & Bill Wiles defeated Roadkill & Danny Doring.
- Steve Corino defeated Dusty Rhodes in a Bullrope match.
- Rhino defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri to win the ECW Television Title with two piledrivers in a row following interference by Steve Corino and Jack Victory.
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