Next up - Lance Storm vs. Rob Van Dam. Before the bout begins, Chris Candido comes out with his arm in a sling and says that even though he can't compete tonight (he was advertised as Storm's opponent), he is still going to make an impact at some point in this show. Okay, sure. RVD comes out to audible "You Sold Out!" chants from the ECW crowd as he had been showing up on Raw around this time as "Mr. Monday Night," a gimmick that didn't really make a ton of sense to me at the time or even now. In another case of me misremembering things, I had no idea that Lance Storm was already in ECW in 97'. Anyway, this is actually an arguably better match than their match at the Guilty As Charged PPV in 99' as Rob Van Dam, while less over with the crowd, is also less reliant on his signature moves and "getting his shit in." This feels a bit more like an RVD showcase than a true back-and-forth match, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as RVD's moves were very fresh and less predictable back then (and the crowd responds to it all). I liked that Van Dam's usage of the chair throughout the match came across as more wild and vicious than it would later be (when some of the set-ups became pretty convoluted and would hurt him just as much as it hurt his opponent). Speaking of chairs, Lance Storm's two chair shots are laughably bad and hesitant, but the fact that they are so weak kinda makes RVD's Van Daminator look even more vicious. Not at the level of must-see, but plenty entertaining for a 10-minute bout. (3/5)
Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, and Men's Teioh (the Japanese version of the bWo) took on Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji, and The Great Sasuke in the next contest, a match essentially "borrowed" from Japan's Michinoku Pro promotion. At this point, none of these guys were even close to being household names in the US as not even Taka Michinoku had made his WWE debut yet (in fact, among mega-wrestling fans, Sasuke was the most well-known due to tape traders fawning over the first Super J Cup tournament, which Sasuke had won by defeating The Wild Pegasus [aka Chris Benoit] in the final). It didn't really matter how much or how little fans were aware of these teams because the match they put on is an absolute clinic, comparable only to the very best of what WCW was offering in their cruiserweight division. Yakushiji's Power Ranger-inspired garb gets some laughs from the audience at first, but his resiliency wins over the crowd. I really loved Taka, Togo, and Teioh's taunts and triple-team maneuvers and its really unfortunate that their run in the WWE together fizzled out. Imagining what that trio would've been like in today's AEW, for example, is real "dream match" fodder, but back then, their peak was either trying to chop off Val Venis' dick or getting squashed by the Oddities at SummerSlam 98'. Gran Hamada was the veteran worker of the bunch but he doesn't slow his team down one bit. Its incredible that he was 47 years old in this match and would go on to wrestle for another decade-plus. The fun of this match too - not just for myself but for the fans watching at the time - is that unless you were super familiar with all of these guys' various finishers and signature moves, the false finishes were all terrific and many seemed like would-be match-enders (including Taka hitting his Michinoku Driver). Nowadays, you can expect a dozen false finishes before you get to the "real" finish, but back then, and especially with a match like this, it was practically impossible to predict which way it would go. I could see some fans not liking the "exhibition style" match, but the heels did enough taunting to make this feel more than just a competitive contest and actual part of a genuine rivalry that was being played out on foreign soil. Worth checking out. (4/5)
The somewhat infamous Television Championship match is next as "The Franchise" Shane Douglas defends the title against "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. Before the match, Douglas provides some context via a lengthy promo to draw more heat and let fans know that the man whose neck he'd broken - "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolf - was sitting in the front row. Douglas also mentions the masked man that had been tormenting him and that everyone by this point knew to be "Ravishing" Rick Rude. The match itself isn't terrible, but at over 20 minutes, it is at least 10 too long for how limited Durante is and for how somewhat "generic" Douglas is - and I don't say that as a knock against Douglas, who was more seasoned and capable than most on the roster, but was also not the flashiest or the most hardcore or the most high-flying guy in a company that often benefitted tremendously from having guys who were those things (and would simply "play the hits" for 10 minutes before the audience could recognize that the matches didn't have much logic). Here, Douglas tries to lead Durante through a match that - aside from the use of weapons and table breakage - wouldn't necessarily be out of place in one of the mainstream companies. But the ECW fans only have so much patience for front facelocks and camel clutches and repeated atomic drop-into-clothesline sequences. The previous match filled 20 minutes with breathtaking aerial maneuvers and hard-hitting action, while these can't seem to fill 5 minutes with anything fresh or exciting (and the audience notices it too, spending most of the match chanting derogatory comments about Francine). Simply put, this match overstays its welcome and then just sorta ends with a thud as Douglas gets the relatively clean win. During the aftermath, we do get the arrival of "Ravishing" Rick Rude and the unexpected face turn of "Primetime" Brian Lee, who had been a part of the Triple Threat stable. Its a crowd-pleasing moment and maybe the best part of this entire segment. (2/5)
After some promos from Raven and Taz, its time for one of the night's main events - Sabu vs. the aforementioned Taz in a grudge match. At the time, this was a huge "event match" for not just ECW fans, but any US wrestling fan with even a little bit of knowledge of the independent scene through the Bill Apter mags. Taz and Sabu were arguably the most well-known ECW characters (along with Raven and The Sandman) and both had a tremendous aura and mystique. They start things off with a staredown and the crowd is absolutely lit and I'm not sure they ever quite hit that peak again. Its not that the match doesn't feature some awesome moments - Taz countering Sabu's attempt at a Tornado DDT by dropping him through a table, Sabu busting out a Tazplex, the way they work the Tazmission attempts - but the hype for this match was so incredible that it may have just been too high of a bar to reach for guys that were very good at a specific style but not necessarily fully masters of telling a grand story in the ring. To be fair, not everyone is Bret Hart or Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels or Mick Foley, but there's just something missing here that makes this match just good and not the all-time classic that I think many fans were hoping it would be. The match goes a bit long, but isn't nearly as exhausting a watch as the previous bout, mostly because both Sabu and Taz were hugely over with the crowd. The post-match angle sees Taz and Sabu showing some class and shaking hands until Rob Van Dam shows up, sucker punches the Human Suplex Machine, and then participates in a beatdown that eventually leads to Bill Alfonso revealing that he has been in Sabu's corner all along (which made no sense considering that Alfonso didn't do anything during the match to help his new client). I kinda wish they had had Alfonso's interference play into the finish as that would've been a much more dramatic and shocking way to end this, but I'm guessing that Taz wanted the clean win to establish himself as the better wrestler? The story suffers a bit from wanting that clean ending, but I can also see not wanting to screw over the crowd with bullshit shenanigans. Regardless, a good match, but not a great one. (3/5)
The first half of the double-ECW World Heavyweight Championship match is next as Terry Funk, The Sandman, and Stevie Richards (in full "Big Stevie Cool" bWo form) compete in a Threeway Dance to find out who will challenge Raven immediately after. This is a sloppy mess of a match with only brief moments of psychology, but this is exactly the type of match that the fans in attendance were expecting and craving by this point. It is bloody. It is loaded with weapons. At one point, a ladder practically gets launched into the crowd and could've seriously injured a fan. Terry Funk is still mesmerizing, but his first moonsault (off the ladder) onto Stevie is a big whiff and there are other moments - including Richards nailing The Sandman with a superkick while he has a trashcan on his head - that don't necessarily "pop" the way they should. Credit where its due, these three guys took some big risks by incorporating so many weapons and trying to be innovative with the use of "see-saw" stuff, but to really nail that style (as the Hardys and Edge and Christian would in the WWE), you need a level of athleticism that nobody in this match had. (3/5)
Main event time - Raven vs. Terry Funk for Raven's ECW World Heavyweight Championship. This isn't so much of a "match" as Terry Funk is super beaten up before the bell even rings and is bleeding profusely. Still, as a match/angle, it is entertaining and an excellent way to cap off the show. Despite not needing their assistance, Raven can't help himself from enlisting his flunkies (the Raven's Nest), including AJPW performer Reggie Bennett (there was no way that most fans watching this show would have any idea who she was), to run interference and get involved when Funk was already a bloody mess. Bennett hits an awful sit-out powerbomb, but the crowd is so into everything that it doesn't really matter. Raven calls out Tommy Dreamer, who was on commentary and refusing to intervene because his mentor had told him not to, which leads to the return of Big Dick Dudley. Dudley looks like he may chokeslam Dreamer off the stage and through a bunch of tables, but Dreamer counters it with a piss-poor chokeslam of his own. Again, it looks like shit but the crowd is so excited by all the craziness that they chant "ECW!" anyway. Dreamer makes his way to the ring and nails Raven with a DDT. I'm guessing Raven wanted a quicker pinfall because he's forced to sell the damage for a tad longer before a referee shows up and counts 1...2...kickout? But the bell rings anyway. Funk immediately hooks Raven up in a small package and gets the victory. What was with that kickout/bell ring screw-up? Anyway, this entire "match" is saved by the electric crowd and the smart booking of letting Funk get the feel-good win to end the show. (2.5/5)
A Kwang Score of 2.86-out-of-5 might not seem like much - but, remember, this show took place in 1997, a year when both WCW and WWE often struggled to piece together entire cards that were consistently good from top-to-bottom. While WCW had a string of good shows in the late winter/early spring of 97' (UnCenSored 97', for example), the WWE's Kwang Scores around this same period hovered in the 2-and-a-quarter range, "supercards" in name only that were often saved by a good performance out of Steve Austin, Bret Hart, or Mick Foley. The point is - a 2.86 was a damn good score for any company's pay-per-view, let alone a company with a roster like ECW's. Obviously, it helped tremendously that Heyman was wise enough to bring in some ringers from Japan, but this show also featured every other superstar Heyman had at his disposal, making sure that the Philly faithful got to see Taz, Sabu, Raven, Terry Funk, the bWo, The Sandman, The Eliminators, and, for better or worse, Shane Douglas and the Pitbulls in all their glory. Plus, they even found time to spotlight the next wave of rising ECW stars in Rob Van Dam, The Dudleys (despite getting buried in the opener), Chris Candido, and Lance Storm. Unfortunately for ol' Paul E., this "Dream Team" era of ECW getting nationwide exposure on PPV was rather short-lived as, by the end of the year, a number of the show's best performers and most over characters would find themselves in WCW. In a weird way, this show is the peak of ECW in that sense - the company's greatest triumph but also the moment when the ball started to roll down the other side of the mountain that Paul E. had climbed. If only that darn Douglas/Pitbull II match hadn't eaten up 20 minutes, this might actually be considered a Hennig Level production, warts and all. Still, for what it is, its essential viewing for any true student of the wrestling game.
FINAL RATING - Watch It
No comments:
Post a Comment