The show kicks off with Joey Styles, Cyrus, and then Joel Gertner arguing in the ring before Tazz shows up to a split pop (some fans cheering and some chanting "You Sold Out"). To be honest, I thought Tazz had left the company by this point, but he was still hanging around ECW and was set to put Rob Van Dam over on this show. Tazz gets in Styles' face for calling him a cheap shot artist and then asks if he wants to fight him. The crowd chants "Fuck Him Up, Joey," but Styles obviously won't take him up on it. Tazz goes after Gertner next, calling him "Fat Shit" and then, as he tries to leave the ring, locking him in the Tazzmission for a few seconds.
Simon Diamond cuts a promo in the ring, backed up by "his Dick" (Dick Hertz), when his opponent, Jazz, shows up. Jazz slaps Simon and delivers a Facebuster, but before she can pin him, Hertz picks her up and slams her to the mat. This brings out "The Giant Killer" Spike Dudley. On commentary, over the past few shows, they built up Simon Diamond as being a "blue chipper," but he loses here in under 4 minutes. I'm not sure if it was planned or "hard way," but Diamond ends up busted open and bleeding a whole ton. This was a nothing match. (0.5/5)
The FBI show up and take out Spike Dudley, which leads to Nova vs. Little Guido. Given some time and maybe a recap of their back story, I would've probably been into seeing this...but we get neither as this goes less than 5 minutes. I know that having a string of matches sequenced really tightly together was one of ECW's trademarks and set the show apart and, at times, could be very, very entertaining...but this feels more like a waste of talent as some of the folks involved were capable of delivering good matches. After Nova gets the victory, Guido and Big Sal take him out, which leads to the return of Chris Chetti. Chetti takes out the FBI, but then gets destroyed by Danny Doring and Roadkill immediately after. I guess its impressive to feature 6 guys in a single 10 minute stretch, but nobody shined here or got enough time to really show their talent. All of this should be fast-forwarded through. (1/5)
Finally - a real match follows: Jerry Lynn vs. Tajiri vs. Super Crazy. This was a really impressive match featuring some terrific sequences. Though the psychology is not always sound - Tajiri breaks up a couple pins, which makes no sense considering the stipulation - even those mistakes can be explained away as all three men wanting to prove that they're the absolute best and not wanting to cut any corners. As I wrote earlier, there are some awesome moments here that are captured beautifully - or as close to "beautiful" as any ECW match can get - including an awesome splash from Lynn into the crowd and a Super Crazy moonsault off the balcony. Still, its Tajiri who is the heel glue holding this match together and I kinda wish this had just been a Jerry Lynn/Tajiri match as they would've torn the house down. Super Crazy is great and all, but ECW really needed to establish some sort of hierarchy of stars and Lynn and Tajiri were right there, doing terrific work, but kinda stuck on a midcard hamster wheel because they weren't traditional "stars." I wouldn't call this "must see," but its definitely the best thing on this card up to this point. (3/5)
After a video recap of Angel from Da Baldies staple-gunning New Jack's eye, its time for the next match - the aforementioned Baldies vs. New Jack, Axl Rotten, and Balls Mahoney. If you're expecting good wrestling, this match has none to offer...but what makes it worse is that it doesn't even have very good brawling. The only weapon shot that came off great was New Jack slamming a vacuum cleaner into one of the Da Baldies' groins and everything else is just slop. Oh, there's also New Jack doing his trademark stage dive, this time delivering a splash from atop a basketball backboard. I was shocked to learn that one of the Baldies was PN News as I remember PN being much heavier in WCW. Anyway, this was pretty atrocious save for the New Jack dive and the vacuum cleaner shot. (0.5/5)
Sabu vs. Chris Candido was our next contest. I haven't seen enough of Candido's work to pinpoint when his "prime" was, but he was very good in this match and on the previous couple shows. This is also one of the better beginning-to-end performances that I've seen out of Sabu, at least until the last third of the match or so when things get convoluted and psychology gets thrown out the window. As is par for the course we get some huge spots out of Sabu and some interference from Tammy and the crowd is very much into everything. At close to 20 minutes, they maybe got too much time, but I didn't think this dragged at any point as much as things just got a bit sloppy (I loathed the execution of the final guillotine leg drop spot from Sabu after Candido blatantly positioned himself after saving Tammy). I wouldn't call this a "must see" match, but it's quite good. (3.5/5)
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was on the line as Mike Awesome defended the gold against long-time rival and perpetual opponent Masato Tanaka. These two had so many matches against eachother over the years that there are very few that stand out (even to the most die-hard ECW fans). I liked this one because it felt like a "greatest hits" in front of a crowd that, by this point, fully saw these guys as deserving main event-level talents (as compared to the matches they had a year earlier). Hard-hitting strikes from Tanaka always work for me, Awesome's high-flying is always impressive, the powerbombs, the chairs...its all here and its all executed well. This may not be head-and-shoulders above any of their matches together, but this could arguably be the "go-to" match to see just because of the stakes and the environment. (4/5)
Rob Van Dam defended the ECW Television Championship against Tazz in the next bout. The build for this was interesting because everyone knew was Tazz was heading to the WWE (he'd debuted at the Rumble in January), but he was basically threatening to take RVD's title with him. It was also something of a consolation prize for longtime ECW fans as Rob Van Dam had clearly become the biggest star in the promotion by this point and absolutely should've been the one to dethrone Tazz, but for whatever reason, Heyman wanted to keep RVD separate from the World Championship scene and, in a very real sense, ended up with the TV Championship being the much more credible title. This is a good match - at times, maybe even great - but the finish is never really in question as this match was designed for Tazz to "pass the torch." It would've been a much bigger deal if Tazz hadn't already done a big "farewell match"-type thing at Anarchy Rulz. A hard-hitting match that shows that, in a better context with a less predictable result, they really could've had an all-time great ECW match. (3.5/5)
Main event time - Rhino and the Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm) vs. ECW's trio of hardcore icons, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, and Raven. The Sandman was making his in-ring return to ECW on this show after a not-so-hot run in WCW as "Hak." I'm not sure why this was the main event rather than RVD/Tazz match or even the World Championship match, but I'm guessing Paul E. thought that this match had more star power and appeal for the longtime ECW viewer. Anyway...this was more an actual match, with actual tags (at least at the start), than the wild kitchen-sink brawl I was expecting. This match was all about whether Dreamer, Raven, and Sandman could get along, but unlike in the WWE, the wrestlers had such layered histories with each other that it actually worked and made for some fun moments. The heels take advantage of the turmoil between the faces, at one point delivering a three-man super-powerbomb on Sandman for a 2 count. The match devolves into a series of big signature moves and collisions before ending before we even get to the 10-minute mark. I liked the finishing sequence, but wish Storm or Rhino got the pin rather than Justin Credible, who was still getting a monster push despite the company having better heels in Candido and, by this point, Steve Corino too. This kinda felt like a TV match, but the atmosphere lifted it and it did continue the rivalries that Raven had with both Sandman and Dreamer. (2/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.25-out-of-5, November to Remember 99' is saved by a really strong Awesome/Tanaka match and a bit of a hidden gem in Tazz vs. Rob Van Dam, as well as one of the better Sabu matches that I've seen. These three bouts are strong enough to lift up a show that is weighed down by an unfunny opening stretch, a surprisingly underwhelming Nova/Little Guido match (considering that these two were among ECW's better in-ring performers), and a hardcore brawl that was largely forgettable save for two cool moments out of New Jack. Recommended to only the biggest ECW hardcore fans.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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