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Listen to our November 1997 ECW podcast, reviewing November to Remember 1997.

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It had been a transitional period for ECW in the time since we'd seen them last on pay-per-view. After a show that was widely derided for its low-level of in-ring quality and the even lower level of lighting quality Paul Heyman sought to freshen up a roster than had become desperately lacking in better than average workers.  

Of course, that was before former owner Tod Gordon got involved in a deal with WCW that attempted to use Gordon's sway and contacts book as a way to attract essentially every member of the ECW active roster to Atlanta to help WCW expand from one weekly live show to two, as they would at the beginning of 1998. You can read more about how that all went down in the intro to my last ECW show review – As Good As It Gets.  

The transition after the pay-per-view had seen Shane Douglas return to the main event and Tommy Dreamer start a feud with Rob Van Dam defending ECW's honour against Van Dam and the WWF – despite the fact Van Dam hadn't appeared on WWF TV much since the original angles earlier in the year. Sabu and Sandman were paired together in a battle of two of ECW's bigger names and the tag division was going through its own reset, dominated by the The Dudleys and increasingly the FBI.  

The only major development since the September event was Shane Douglas losing his ECW Title to former Triple Threat stable-mate Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow's turn was as a result of Rick Rude – who's bizarre run in ECW in 1997 had finally found some kind of purpose, disassociating himself with Douglas and becoming the provider of a series of challengers subsequent to Douglas' title win. Guys like Phil LaFon and Al Snow were bought in by Rude as challengers. But Bam Bam defeated Douglas during a TV taping in New York. It was a strange match, strange in the sense that it was actually quite good – Bam Bam and Douglas seemed to pair well together, and the mish-mash of Douglas the heel and Bam Bam the face worked really well. 

That bought us to this show. We're in Monaca, Pennsylvania – about 250 miles west of Philadelphia and, perhaps more importantly, around 4 miles from where Shane Douglas was born. It might be preposterous to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, having the usually hated Douglas in his-home town was ECW's version of having the anti-American Bret Hart in Canada. That is to say, it's quite fun. 

 
Tommy Rogers vs Chris Candido 
A reminder of what in 1997-ECW I've called the "new-normal" - good wrestlers having good matches and that being their ceiling. That is to say this match was perfectly fine, at least it was while it was 1 vs 1 – Candido isn't really capable of having a stinker and neither is Rogers. There's a big spot early where a Candido apron suplex gets blocked only for Rogers to reverse it and suplex Candido straight to the floor. Candido comes off the top, gets caught in a sit-out powerbomb but is still able to kick out. Then out comes Lance Storm (who's on Candido's side as the soon-to-be third wheel of the Triple Threat) and Jerry Lynn to back up Rogers. The ref sees all this interference, Teddy Long's the whole thing and just calls for a tag match. So... 


Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn vs Chris Candido and Lance Storm 
… we just carry on. We get a couple of "dive onto all the bodies" spots from the top. Candido hits a sueprbomb from the top which Rogers just about breaks up. Rogers hits a tomakaze (spinning spike neckbreaker) onto Storm which leaves us with the original two left. Candido hits a norther lights suplex – bridges a pin and wins the match. Nice, harmless, not especially memorable but file it under: good opener. 


Justin Credible (w/ Jason) vs Mikey Whipwreck 
Well, colour me surprised. Firstly, former ECW Champion Mikey Whipwreck is back after seemingly 18 months on the sidelines with a string of injuries. Secondly – he actually won, ending Credible's undefeated run since debut. The match wasn't much of note, the crowd were very flat for it for the most part. Credible hits a sunset flip from the top and Mikey channels former challenger Steve Austin by countering a sleeper with a jawbreaker. Mikey throws Jason into Credible who's on the turnbuckle, causing him to lose his footing. Mikey hits a sitout stunner for the three. Surprise.  


We cut backstage to see Al Snow shouting at a mannequin. Snow says "the head screwed the head" and Joey Styles fumbles over a line suggesting that snow had just got a bit of head in the locker-room. Of course. 


Taz vs Pitbull 2 (with Pitbull 1 and Lance Wright and his "entourage" - one absolutely giant-by-ECW standards guy) 
Paul Heyman is on commentary, I'm not particularly sure why. A typical short Taz match, he gets beaten up for a bit, decides he's going to stop selling, hits a few suplexes and then puts his opponent down in the Tazmission. After the match, Taz picks a fight with a security guy (Heyman's appearance seemingly is for this bit). Heyman says "Oh great, another lawsuit" as Taz puts him in the Tazmission and Heyman quickly calls for them to air anything else.  


The Dudley Boys (D’von and Buh Buh Ray w/ Joel Gertner and Big Dick Dudley) vs The FBI (Little Guido and Tracy Smothers w/ Tommy Rich) vs The Gangstinators (John Kronus and New Jack) vs Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten 
This was... not great. After a typically long and quite funny intro promo from Joel Gertner, we start the match without Kronus and New Jack – who come out shortly afterwards. ECW give them the treatment they usually give the Gangstas where they play music right throughout their match (something that I suspect hasn't aged well in the overdubs of the WWE Network).  

 
Rob Van Dam (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs Tommy Dreamer (w/ Beulah McGillicutty) in a Flag Match 
Tommy Dreamer matches really do have a ceiling… they’re pretty predictable, pretty one dimensional but sometimes predictable is fine. And that’s what this was. The “flag” stip wasn’t actually a case of having flags on a pole, but more about marking your territory; Fonzie and Van Dam had been parading around with the WWF flag and obvious Dreamer was Mr ECW so who better to represent the force?

We get a lot of vintage Dreamer early doors, lots of guardrail spots as fans chant “Van Dam swallows”. Dreamer is wrestling with a protective cast on his foot – of course he is – it makes no discernible difference to his wrestling style as he puts Van Dam in a tree of woe and does a running dropkick into a chair. We get the dodgy ref involved, as are multiple others. Beulah gets involved, kicks him in the bollocks, the two refs put him down then Fonzie does a double low blow on them – Beulah takes care of Fonzie.  

We that spot that’s been GIFd since when Dreamer piledrives Van Dam and Van Dam somehow gets huge air off of it. Despite Beulah counting the pin, Van Dam kicks out. Dreamer hits a DDT, then Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon and (of all people) Stevie Richards come out. Stevie busts out a superkick, Van Dam hits a frog splash from the top and wins.  


Sabu vs The Sandman in a Tables and Ladders match 
A properly barmy match. That’s not to say it was good, or to say it was bad just… fucking out there. We start the match with a table on each side of the ring bridging the gap between the apron and the guardrail – they’ll come in handy. Sandman dives off the turnbuckle through one of the tables, Sabu seemed to be on the move but they both go crashing through it.  

Sabu lays Sandman on a table on the aisleway, then goes on the turnbuckle and attempts to use a ladder as a pole vault… he missed. Sandman, if I’m being polite by his own standards, isn’t all with it during this match. At one point Sabu gets on the top rope and sets for something, Sandman staggers into the ladder propped against the ropes and completely fucks the spot.  

Sandman puts the ladder on top of Sabu, then hits the one move he’s shockingly good at (a rolling senton from the top) onto the ladder. We get another table spot with Sabu putting Sandman through one on the floor, then a fireball spot that Sandman apparently “blocked”. Sandman goes through another table, before Sabu finishes it off with an atomic Arabian facebuster using a ladder (rather than a chair). And absolutely crazy match. That’s not necessarily a compliment but it really was out there.  


Bam Bam Bigelow vs Shane Douglas (w/ Francine) for the ECW Heavyweight Title 
I’m perhaps overstating it, but I think after three pay-per-views in 1997 ECW had finally found a match worthy of the name.  Watching Douglas in the weeks leading up to the show as the ultimate heel in Philadelphia, only for him to turn up as the babyface underdog in his home town.  I mean, any match where the fans are chanting “We love Francine” is worthy of the mention. 

The atmosphere was the match though, with Douglas the favourite it basically gave them cart blanche to have Bam Bam dominate most of the match. It’s only when Douglas is able to powerbomb Bam Bam through a table (throwing Bam Bam from the turnbuckle) where the match even has a semblance of parity. Douglas hits a belly to belly, but starts selling as the ECW fans rally behind him. Bam Bam assembles a broken piece of table across two chairs, Douglas hits a belly to belly through it and gets the quick pin for the win and once again to become the new ECW champion. This was surprisingly good. The perfect setting and the perfect match for what it was. 

Score Rating: 5/10 
Go Back and Watch: The final two matches.  

Listen to our April 1997 ECW podcast, reviewing ECW's first PPV and Funk's "last shot" at gold.

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Sentimentality isn’t something you can usually accuse Paul Heyman of, certainly the promoter Paul Heyman. In ECW he infrequently had the chance, most of the guys who came through Philadelphia had either already been spat out of the big two or were on their way there in some way shape or form. There was one exception, though: Terry Funk.

Heyman has often spoken since about his booking philosophy. He came close to taking a managing interest in TNA sometime prior to the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff in the company, and in interviews since has explained what his booking philosophy may have been. One of them, famously, was to clear out anyone over the age of 40 and focus on making TNA younger, fresher and not full of guys who were stars from a decade prior. The one exception to that mantra was Kurt Angle. Never mind the fact Angle was probably the only guy over the age of 40 who was a serious star in TNA, the idea was quite simple – if everyone else were young up and comers, then you could present Angle as this legendary gate-keeper.

The same, to a point, was true in ECW. Funk’s role there was slightly different, in part because he was important in the time before Heyman arrived in headlining shows – at aged 49 he was already an old-hand but having a legendary name on top helped a promotion attempting to get off the floor. When Paul Heyman took the book, he found the perfect opponent for him in the form of the brash, arrogant “Franchise” in Shane Douglas – who viewed Funk in the same light as he did “Dick” Flair. At a pair of shows in the first two months of 1994, Funk first wrestled a 45 minute match with Shane Douglas, before a three way dance between the pair and Sabu went an entire hour without a winner.

But it was the segment after that which really grabbed hearts and minds – in what was dubbed “The Night The Line Was Crossed” a faux press conference descended into a war of words between Funk and Douglas – with Douglas proclaiming that he deserved to be declared champion simply by virtue of being the only man to last the distance in the match, and Funk being more than happy to give him the title. Douglas would need to wait until the month after to win the title, but Funk’s job was done as he slipped out for a mid-card run with WCW for most of the rest of 1994, allowing Douglas and the rest of ECW’s crew to thrive without him.

For the next couple of years he was used an occasional worker, being used on short 2 or 3 show shots alongside or opposite the likes of Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Cactus Jack. He was a nice extra addition on a few shows but the promotion was firing on so many cylinders he wasn’t really a necessity. Still, even as he entered his fourth decade in the business he was capable of providing some memorable moments – like being involved in an exploding barbed wire board match with Cactus Jack, or another where he traded places with Sandman in an extremely memorable segment once again against Foley.

Heyman had one more run left for Funk to make. In the two and half years since Funk had last been ECW’s World Champion a lot had changed. “Eastern” became “Extreme”, Shane Douglas had built himself up to a WWF contract, only to crash and burn so badly he was back within the year and Paul Heyman had taken two absolute nobodies in Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge and turned them into an act that the WWF had looked at before they would eventually sign with WCW. More pertinently though, was that Heyman had taken ECW to the cusp of pay-per-view.

Pay per view really was ECW’s next barrier in some respects. I’ve written about their less than ideal preparation for it here, but Terry Funk was a big part of ECW’s push into that domain, with Paul Heyman originally wanting to schedule the show to coincide with 20 years since Funk had lost the NWA World Heavyweight Title. It says a lot about how disjointed and bumpy ECW’s road to pay per view was that Heyman missed than anniversary by two months. Still though, Funk was going to be a big part of the show.

The delays in the show did really cause ECW some problems, such was how long it had taken that many of the feuds felt like they were running on fumes come showtime. The Sabu and Taz program (often hailed as on the great ECW storylines) was essentially put on ice until the show became a certainty, and the feud between Shane Douglas and the Pitbulls peaked in October... by the time the show came around it was struggling for a purpose.

Funk’s role was to be the focal point – twenty years on from losing the NWA World Heavyweight Title, whether it was to the day or not – this was one last hurrah from one of the greats of the industry. And Heyman wanted to present it as such: “Can the legend win the big one for one last time?” It was an obvious ploy, but it did mean that ECW’s big title match on its big show didn’t really have a hot feud built into it. In fact, in part in an attempt to create another big match on the show, Funk wasn’t even formally the challenger for the title - nobody was. Raven was slated in the main event against the winner of a three-way-dance between Funk, Sandman and of all people Stevie Richards.

It created a little bit of intrigue – Sandman had been feuding with Raven for the most part of the previous year (even if the matches were often terrible, and the idea of putting it the main event of their first pay per view was unthinkable). Richards was easily the best wrestler of the three, and his character had come on leaps and bounds in the year prior – but putting him in the main event felt like a massive jump even considering his history with Raven.

Funk’s run into the main event was a little unorthodox, after answering the call to team with Tommy Dreamer at a show in February, he would end up going so crazy during the match that Dreamer ended up having to protect Funk from himself. The idea was to present Funk as a legend whose powers were fading, problem was they overdid it so much you wonder whether it actually did some damage. Funk *was* over the hill, so presenting him in that spot kind of made people believe it.

And that was felt in the box office too. Funk’s return to ECW’s full time touring crew did business on ECW’s ever expanding set of tours in the North East and Florida – but on the second time around it had much less impact. People went for Funk, but you generally can’t sell a greatest hits album twice – and it seemed like they saw the legend and realised he didn’t quite have it anymore.

Which was perhaps a tad unfair – Funk as a promo was still as good as they come, even if he was a little barmy. As an in-ring act he was always a throwback to a different era, one of psychology and less being more. But where ECW perhaps made a mistake was focusing on Funk’s and tenure – even a battle of the generations would’ve been more palatable, or better yet a battle of styles between Funk and Raven.

All this – and nevermind the fact that Raven had a readymade opponent in Tommy Dreamer. ECW’s reluctance to put an end on that feud was strange – perhaps it was one they felt that while both men were around they could always go back to, surely if ever there was a time to have it culminate it would be at their first big show? As it was Dreamer and Raven never really got the conclusion it deserved, ending at a live event in June as Raven hastily made a move to WCW.

It also left Dreamer without a spot on the pay per view card, one which knowing Dreamer he would probably be more than happy without – he’d have a big enough role to play in the main event. The final build to the show – which had been going for so long really had nothing left to give, involved a promo from Terry Funk dedicating his pursuit of the title to his dad – as if it wasn’t obvious enough what was going to happen.

Funk’s involvement in the final two matches in both instances was quite minor. The triple threat was dominated by a ladder Sandman bought into play almost straight away and a stellar performance from Stevie Richards – who filled his purpose perfectly as the worker of the trio. After being eliminated first, Richards provided the superkick that preceeded Funk hitting a moonsault onto Sandman to predictably book his spot in the main event.

By design or necessity, the main event was basically a non-event. After being put through a table by Raven, Funk spent most of the match selling – it was one dominated by outside interference as Big Dick Dudley took a ridiculous bump off the stage through three tables and a female called Reggie Bennett came out and did a bad job piledriving Funk before Tommy Dreamer comes down and DDT’s Raven giving Funk enough for the win and to win the title.

The pay-per-view ended up being a mild success for ECW. Given how much they’d go through just to get there they’d essentially written off any hopes of the first show being profitable after a disaster of a run-in that almost saw the show never make it to air. They chucked a lot of things at the wall, including an unofficial partnership with the WWF in the lead up to the show, whether Funk’s inclusion made a significant difference is probably too difficult to tell.

The problem with bringing Funk in for a roll like this is that, really, he probably should’ve forfeited the title at the next show – there wasn’t exactly a runaway train trying to see him win the title, let alone to discover what he might do next. Perhaps the most logical next step would’ve involved Funk defending the title against Tommy Dreamer, or even a more natural opponent would’ve been Shane Douglas.

The move they went with, perhaps logically, was a move towards Funk vs Richards. Richards made sense – he was one of the best workers ECW could credibly put in the main event and it was the logical progression in his rise, the main issue being that the pairing with Funk didn’t really help either guy. Funk needed a bully to work off, and Richards needed to be bullied.

That match never made it to the ECW arena, although it did make it to a touring show in Buffalo, a strange setup where the pair would face off twice in the same night: firstly in a tag match where Richards teamed with Raven and Funk with Tommy Dreamer – won when Richards superkicked Funk. Then in the main event, a 4 way elimination match involving Raven, Sandman, Funk and Richards – Richards eliminated Sandman with a superkick before Funk picked up the win by hitting Richards with a section of guardrail. The victory saw Funk get booed and also temporarily caused Richards to lose feeling within his legs.

That whole thing would’ve nicely setup Funk vs Richards at June’s Wrestlepalooza show, but as it was that match never took place. Richards essentially withdrawing due to an injury that was allegedly going to see him out for the rest of the year. Funk instead wrestled a cold match against Chris Candido where Candido beat the living piss out of Funk for the majority of the match before Funk kicked out of no fewer that four piledrivers and still won by roll-up. It was bizarre presentation, reminding the audience once again that Funk scarcely belonged in the position he held – once again it got a less than favourable reaction from the ECW crowd.

It lead into ECW’s second pay per view in August. After a reshuffle with the departures of Raven and Richards it left Funk against Shane Douglas – probably his most logical foe given their history and given where the other puzzle pieces lay. Douglas’ run in the 18 months since his ECW return had been odd – after pursuing Raven’s ECW title for months and getting screwed out of it repeatedly his eyes were drawn by Too Cold Scorpio and the TV Title. It moved Douglas out of the title picture, providing a seemingly never-ending stream of Raven/Sandman matches and kept Douglas there until he decided he wanted another shot at the title – which was now.

Except, Funk never made it into the show as Champion. After an injury ruled Sandman out of a match with Sabu, they needed a way of getting Sabu onto the show – and so into the main event he went. Of course, they needed a reason to crowbar him into the match – the easiest way of doing so was to have Sabu win the title, which he did in a gory match against Terry Funk. And – let's be clear, when I talk about gory, I'm talking: so gory that the match had to end five minutes earlier than planned as the pair were so intertwined in barbed wire that they couldn't be separated. So gory that, after the match, Sabu was actually supergluing some cuts shut to stop the bleeding – which while a bit wild apparently isn't terrible advice.

It's perhaps telling, also, that Funk losing the title really wasn't met with any fanfare. It had probably come two or three months too late and Sabu wasn't really setup as a natural champion either. The pay-per-view itself was a weird one, marred by weird lighting and a truly bizarre show-long angle that involved Sandman hijacking his own ambulance before being tailed by Lance Wright in an actual paid for helicopter – tailing an Ambulance that Sandman was literally driving around Fort Lauderdale.

The match was a bit of a non-event really – they were trying to recreate the famous three-way dance and, to an extent, they did. But there just wasn't really any drama – Douglas was such a likely winner that there wasn't really any anticipation. Even moreso when they did the classic Paul Heyman move of having the champion be eliminated first – which ordinarily would've been a good idea but Douglas/Funk just wasn't a money match up. And it showed, Douglas hit his belly to belly suplex (as questionable a finisher as I've ever seen) only for Dory Funk Jr of all people to come out. Douglas sells for him a bit, he and Funk fall through the timekeepers table then Douglas hits a second belly to belly for a really flat finish.

It was a sad end really. You kind of came to the conclusion that it wasn't a case of life imitating art when it came to the booking of Funk in 1997, but more of a case of art imitating life – the reason that Funk was being presented as the vet who was over the hill and on his last legs was because he was exactly that. And while it was a nice send off, in many was it was a really non-ECW thing to do, go to the "draw" who's past his prime over the much better, younger and in a lot of cases more logical choice. Without Funk they could've gone with Raven vs Dreamer at the first pay per view, without Funk they could've gone with literally anything else throughout the summer.

-

Epilogue
It was telling, perhaps, that three weeks later Funk had another match under the auspices of ECW. Although this one was at the Fairgrounds in Amarillo, Texas and while ECW were putting the show together Paul Heyman literally had to introduce himself and ECW to the 4,000 strong fans who'd turned up to a show titled "50 Years Of Funk", the retirement match that would be featured in Beyond The Mat where he faced off against Bret Hart. It was a lovely throwback match, perfect for the audience and one that ended perfectly too, Funk hit Bret with a belly to back suplex, both men's shoulders hit the mat – Bret got his up, Funk didn't. Amarillo knew Funk's time was up, ECW did too, they had just realised too late. 

Listen to our September 1997 ECW podcast, reviewing As Good As It Gets

​Subscribe to the podcast via: iTunes | RSS Feed | Email Newsletter
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One month removed from ECW's second outing on pay per view, one that was undoubtedly less impactful than the first, and ECW had some rearranging to do. With Terry Funk, as it turns out, having wrestled his final match for the promotion, it was time to reset things a little bit a couple of months out from their third pay per view event.

The emphasis on reset was more about change – in the six months prior it really wouldn't be much of a stretch to say the work-rate in ECW had plummeted as Paul Heyman's overseas contact book had ran dry as WCW and the WWF had finally got around to scooping up all of the overseas talent that had made ECW so great down the years. Not to say it was the only thing that had made ECW great between 1994-96, but sometimes they were the counterweight to some angle/brawl heavy shows.

But a couple of things had begun to change – ECW's uneasy relationship with the WWF had turned to being a formal farm/redevelopment system for some under contract Fed talent needing somewhere to gain a little extra. Leif Cassidy was sent back down for the pay per view returning to his old moniker of Al Snow, Aldo Montoya debuted on this show as the preposterously named "Justin Credible" and, even if it was for a very short period of time, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon would appear on this show as the WWF attempting to reboot an expensive tag team that had floundered since debut.

It was an in an attempt to raise the batting average of the roster, as was the move to bring back Lance Storm along with a WCW reject in Jerry Lynn. The best way to ensure that the big two wouldn't want any of your talent would be to sign guys they'd just rejected. But that, perhaps, brings us to the biggest story between the two shows and perhaps one of the most famous ECW stories ever.

September 1997 marked the month where ECW founder Tod Gordon was let go by the promotion. He'd long been bought out by Heyman on the financial side, but he still carried an involvement as a regular feature backstage, an on-screen character and even someone who helped out locally (tickets and other admin were done at his jewellery story in Philadelphia).

Gordon was contacted by WCW to act as a go-between to ECW's talent to sound them out about heading to Atlanta. WCW had recently formalised an extra show in the form of what would become WCW Thunder – a second live TV show per week that would add significant demands on WCW's roster, even if it would also provide greater financial rewards. The move essentially saw WCW go in for everyone ECW had to offer: from Shane Douglas to Rob Van Dam, from Chris Candido to even New Jack (oh the parallel universe where New Jack becomes a nationally televised wrestling character!).

It was strange really. Not in the sense of WCW making the moves but more how widely rejected those overtures seemed to be. It was said that ECW talent weren't exactly thrilled with the pay per view pay-offs from the first show, and the lack of buzz around the show surely should have suggested to some that perhaps pay per view wasn't the panacea that some had hoped.

But reject it they did, for various reasons. Sabu had a cup of tea in WCW 18 months prior and WCW found him difficult to work with, Shane Douglas demanded Scott Hall/Kevin Nash money – which was his way of saying: "I'm only coming in if I get the same level of influence as they do" (or, in English, "No"), others just didn't seem to like the opportunity. Tommy Dreamer got a call from Raven – said no and immediately alerted Heyman, although it's not impossible to imagine Heyman already had wind of this prior to that.

As it was the only mover was Perry Saturn. Saturn had long wanted a singles run but was convinced to stay with Eliminators partner John Kronus so Heyman could promote as the best tag team in the world. Still, that was the extent of the departures – Gordon's ties with the company were severed (the most mobster it got was apparently ECW "cleaning out" his jewellrey store – although I believe only for ECW related paraphernalia!). Whether there was an animosity from Heyman's side, it didn't show either in interviews or for that matter on television; the only mention of it was a respectful 45 second promo from Heyman saying that they had parted ways and that ECW would hope to continue on in his vision.

The only other major news of the month was the latest retirement match for Terry Funk. This show was in Amarillo, and wasn't really an ECW show (Paul Heyman introduced himself and ECW to the fans prior to the main event) but it was an event put on by ECW and featured many of their talents at a packed Fairgrounds in Texas as nearly 4,000 people turned out for what in theory was Funk's last match in the area. And for the occasion he was facing Bret Hart (you'll remember this as the match featured in Beyond The Mat).

Heyman and many of the ECW talents serenaded Funk prior to the match, proclaiming him the "Lifetime Heavyweight Champion of the World". The match itself was special in some ways, even watching 20 years removed this felt a throwback to a time beyond weekly live television and even pay per view as the pair wrestled a mechanical, methodical, old-school style that perfectly fit the environment it was in. In the end after a belly to back suplex turned double pin, Bret kicked out and Funk didn't. You'd expect nothing less from those two.

 
The Full Bloodied Italians (Little Guido and Tracy Smothers w/ Tommy Rich) vs Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney
As someone who really isn't a fan of the FBI and (let's be honest) Axl and Balls aren't up to much either – this is shockingly decent. A lively crowd and match that seemed to set the tone for the tweak in direction Heyman wanted (less unnecessary brawls outside the ring/in the crowd). We get a bionic elbow from Axl, a horrid Dusty Rhodes impression from Joey Styles, a kiss on the cheek celebration from the FBI (which, naturally, gets "Faggot" chants from the ECW fans) and the usual dualing "Balls"/"Nuts" chants when Mahoney is in the ring. Balls pins Guido with a sitout bodyslam and gets the win, but they decide his foot was under the ropes. Guido rolls up Balls for the win after the rushed restart and we end the segment with an odd segment involving an arrogant new ref getting nailed with a chair. ECW ladies and gents!
 

Justin Credible (w/ Jason) vs “Dynamic” Jerry Lynn
We get Jason come out – who's been back previously but always nice to see him. He introduces his new find "Justin Credible" - the usual puns out of the way he's facing another new ECW debutant in Jerry Lynn. Dare I say it, this was exactly what Paul Heyman wanted when he bought these two guys in – a properly competitive, good wrestling match. Sure both of these characters are cold as anything, but ECW fans and viewers give them a lot more leeway because you know that generally – even cold characters are likely to go somewhere (compared to say the WWF or WCW where they're just forgotten about).

Some action outside the ring as Credible hits the guardrail and Lynn hits a plancha. Back in the ring, the pair exchange rest holds, Lynn hits a lovely sit out powerbomb, Credible nails a sunset flip from the top, Lynn a very impressive hurricanrana. We finish it with a spinning DDT and a jumping tombstone from Credible for the win. This match is probably more significant than it is great, but given the lack of real quality in ring action this year in ECW this was a major plus.
 

Lance Storm vs Chris Candido
Not that these two would be far behind in the wrestling stakes. Storm has been here a few times before (including ECW's first PPV). He's still got that bloody rat-tail too! Another strong match – Candido catches Storm attempting a leapfrog and smashes him with a powerbomb (that was great), Candido slips attempting to dive into the first row onto Storm – he still makes it and the crowd chant EC-Dub in response. Really good action here, Candido hits multiple powerbombs, Storm a nice springboard back elbow before Candido picks it up with a superbomb for the three.
 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Spike Dudley
This is, I think, the third time they've paired these two off, which is probably at least two times too many. The third edition exists solely, it seems, for the purposes of the crowd to crowd surf Spike – including early chants of "We Want Spike" from the Philly regulars. It’s the usual matches, Spike rallies after an initial beatdown, Bam Bam then hits a suplex, launches Spike into the crowd who do a pretty piss poor job of surfing him. Back in the ring, Bam Bam hits a splash from the top for the win.
 

Shane Douglas (w/ Francine) vs Phil Lafon (w/ Doug Furnas)
Lafon and Furnas are another act on loan from the WWF so they can get their shit in order. In theory, at least, this was meant to be a much shorter stay than guys like Justin Credible and Al Snow. This was good, a motivated Douglas against someone as good as Lafon was always going to be good even if nobody bought Lafon as a credible challenge. After a good amount of time Candido and Bam Bam come out, they get dealt with by both Furnas and Lafon but Douglas is the extra man and he picks it up with a spinning toe hold.
 
A weird last-minute segment is put together involving the Pitbulls, who are back after being phased out following some legal issues. They wheel out Lance Wright, who's turned heel (to save the company releasing him) after being attacked by Taz. Fans chant "Just say no" to the Pitbulls after their drug escapades. Quite what the plan here is I don't know... Taz comes out, sees off the Pitbulls, then ends up brawling with cops (ECW do a really good job of not exposing how short Taz is a lot more often). Taz eventually escapes, Sabu beats up what's left of the BWO and the whole thing doesn't really go anywhere. For now, at least.
 

Sabu (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs Sandman
Given the tenure of both of these guys, this match took a long time to get any kind of heat behind it. It was, exactly what you'd expect for a while – Sabu vaults off of a chair into a hurricanrana and Sandman is... well, Sandman. He suplexes a table onto Sabu, then buggers off and (like always) comes back with a ladder. And this was where the match got real good – Sandman's work with the ladder is shockingly good, including a remarkable rolling senton off of the apron sandwiching the steel between himself and the downed Sabu. Fonzie smashes Sandman with a chair, Sandman goes to hit Sabu with a cane and Sabu throws fire in his face... as you do. That brings the match to an abrupt end and the fans respond to the major angle by chanting "Sabu sucks dick".
 

Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso vs Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty
So, I think Dreamer actually gets hurt during this match (which given that he's a bit of a case means he probably was really hurt). He gets put through a table by Sabu and Van Dam and gets lead away, not to be seen again during the match. Van Dam then fucks off leaving Beulah and Fonzie to go through a shockingly good sequence which included Fonzie doing a ridiculous blade job. Beulah pulls an oven tray from under her tee-shirt, which she smashes over his head, before going through Tommy's greatest hits (DDT, guardrial shots, low blow). Fonzie attempts to powerbomb Beulah off the top, she counters it with a hurricanrana for a three. That was really great.
 

The Dudleys (Buh Buh and D'von w/ Joel Gertner, Big Dick and Sign Guy) vs The Gangsitnators (John Kronus and New Jack)
The intro for this match took... I dunno, ten minutes maybe? Felt like forever as the Dudley's went through their stuff before declaring there was no tag team in ECW that could hang with them. This was a weird match to watch, ECW went with their usual production decision of just playing music over the match – eventually Kronus hits a 450 splash onto D'von and the newly formed tag team are the new champs.
 
Score Rating: 6/10
Go Back And Watch: Decent show front to back, but very little remarkable. If you're a fan of "holy shit" wrestling I'd go with Sandman/Sabu and RVD/Fonzie vs Tommy/Beulah. The rest is good but pretty skippable.