GSR

Tazz is of the belief that Edge & Christian are the Conquistadores, although Michael Cole thinks he’s nuts. Christian talks about them being on MTV and how there is a new number one request from all the pimply faced teenage reakazoids who want to see Mick Foley waive his ruling and once again allow them to challenge the Hardy Boyz for the WWF World tag team titles. Speaking of Mick Foley, he’s promised to bring a WWF legend live to WWF New York later in the show. Tazz thinks it’s going to be ‘the Unpredictable One’ Johnny Rodz and if it’s not him it will be the Haiti Kid, which leads to Cole making a crack about him being the same height as Tazz. Too Cool whips Christian into Edge and they do the spot where they both fall to the mat, Edge ending up in Christian’s crotch. GMS takes too long dancing prior to a middle rope dropkick and, from the apron, Edge clotheslines him across the top rope. A quick heat section until Edge misses and elbow drop from the second turnbuckle. The Grandmaster makes the hot tag and a double flapjack on Edge. Scotty hits the bulldog followed by the W-O-R-M, but then turns into a spear. The Conquistadores are out and the distraction causes Christian to be rolled up by Scotty. Tazz can’t believe that he’s been fed duff information and that the Conquistadores aren’t Edge and Christian after all.

Balls is wearing a patch over his eye after the events at Anarchy Rulz where Da Baldies took a staple gun to it. Tajiri takes advantage of that lack of vision, bringing him to his knees with a bevy of kicks. Not fancying his chances he crawls over to the corner to grab his steel chair. He swings at Tajiri who ducks out the way and blows the mist in his face, blinding his other eye. Tarantula, when out from the back runs the FBI who jump them both. Tajiri is the one they’re interested in, attacking him like they had done to his partner Mikey Whipwreck previously, while it’s a case of wrong place wrong time for Balls. Chilly Willy makes the save and he takes care of Guido and Mamaluke with a ‘Butt Butt’ and Falcon Arrow respectively. Big Sal looks to have him cornered but Willy avoids his charge and, as he staggers, Balls kills him with a chair shot. Da Baldies are next out but they too get drilled, only after getting a shot in on Chilly first. Balls collects a table from under the ring which he drenches with lighter fuel. He’s got DeVito set for a powerbomb when Angel clocks him from behind with a chair. That looked hideous as the shot was too high and part of it caught Balls on the back of his head. DeVito empties what’s left of the lighter fluid onto the table before setting it alight and then powerbombing Balls through it.

Simon has a problem, doesn’t he always? Haha, Joey Styles must’ve been reading my mind! Johnny Swinger is unable to wrestle tonight after having surgery on his orbital so Simon has been looking for a replacement; someone who has the same blue chip athletic ability as himself, someone who has the same clean cut All-American boy good looks, and there is no-one in the ECW locker room that fits that criteria better than Chris Chetti. Does Styles ever not mention Chetti being a graduate of the House of Hardcore training school and being a cousin of Tazz? Chetti refuses to shake the hand of Simon and it’s not long before they’re arguing amongst themselves. The action makes its way out to the arena floor and York and Matthews with stereo stage dives off the stage. Simon blocks being whipped into the guard rail, grabs York by the hair and then slams him backwards into it instead. Nice superkick by Chetti to Matthews. The dissension between Simon and he continues as they both tag themselves into the ring against their partner’s wishes. After a delayed vertical suplex Simon again tags himself in, stealing a pin which Chetti breaks up himself. Matthews counters the double backdrop with a double DDT and makes the hot tag. ‘Future Shock’ on Simon and Chetti has seen enough, leaving Simon to it. All alone he’s easy pickings as the top rope rana/flying elbow combo gives York and Matthews the win. Chetti hasn’t made his way back to the dressing room yet, still loitering in the aisle, and gets jumped from behind by Nova. It looks like security manage to separate the two and calm the situation, when one of the personnel reveals himself to be Lou E. Dangerously who clocks Nova over the head with his oversized phone.

I imagine Lynn got an unreal ovation, what with this being held in his home town, but due to the over dubbing, imagining is what I’ll have to do. Both tease hitting their finisher in the opening couple of minutes as they look to make it an early night. Credible runs into a big boot and the challenger then picks up the first two count of the match after a middle rope bulldog. Lynn reverses the whip to the corner and Credible goes flying over the turnbuckles to the outside. Top rope plancha to the floor, although I’m not sure how much of that he got as it appeared Lynn hit his elbow hard on the guard rail. The action returns to the ring and Credible with a ‘Bubba slam’ as he looks to slow down his opponent’s momentum. Francine passes him a chair which he slams Jerry’s head into, followed by a short powerbomb onto the chair. Credible tosses him to the floor and the champion goes right on after him. The two trade blows up the aisle and towards the dressing room, not making it that far, Credible ramming Lynn’s’ head into the steel mesh before grinding his face into it. Back inside, reverse DDT and when that doesn’t get him the three he’s in the face of referee H.C. Loc questioning his count. Credible goes full on Jerry Lawler, grabbing the ring mic and insulting Lynn whilst at the same time putting the boots to him. This is getting great heat as the fans start pelting the ring with litter. Lynn counters the backdrop with a DDT onto a steel chair as Styles wonder whether he can capitalise. Very un-Lynn like, he collects a table from ringside and lays Credible across it. He heads upstairs, however Francine grabs his leg to prevent him from doing anything. Credible is now back to his feet and slams him through the table. There’s a good pop as Lynn kicks out after that. He does so again after a sunset flip and you can sense Credible’s frustration growing at the challenger’s resilience. Lynn escapes the attempted ‘That’s Incredible’, hits the cradle piledriver but this time Credible is the one doing the kicking out. He goes for a ‘That’s Incredible’ of his own, Credible reverses and that’s kicked out of as well. Loc is accidentally floored by a Credible superkick (although as is often the case with these you knew it was coming because of how close he was stood to the wrestlers) and Lynn rolls him up. Danny Daniels appears out of thin air to count the fall only to stop his count at two claiming Credible got a shoulder up. Fuck, not this shit again. Lynn is about to give Daniels the cradle piledriver when Francine cane him across the back. Credible KO’s him with the World title belt and, as Cyrus starts cackling thinking this is over, Lynn kicks out while Daniels was attempting to fast count him. More crap involving Daniels, even caning Lynn between the eyes at one point. A second ‘That’s Incredible’, Daniels, who decides to now count normally, stops at two to give Lynn the middle finger, then as he goes to bring his hand down for the third time New Jack’s horribly dubbed music starts playing. Rather than continuing the count he freezes in his tracks. New Jack destroys a baking tray over Daniels’ head, completely ignoring his advice that he’s the referee and not to put his hands on him. Credible saves him from getting his head cut open by New Jack’s scythe, but in doing that he forgets about his opponent. Lynn from behind, cradle tombstone piledriver and Loc has recovered to count the fall as we have ourselves a new ECW World Heavyweight champion. The face locker room empties to celebrate with the new champion, who wants to address the crowd, however mic issues mean he can’t do so. This built well and was pretty darn good from when Credible grabbed the mic mid-match and channelled his inner Jerry Lawler… that was until all the crap with Danny Daniels. I suppose it did lead to him getting his ultimate comeuppance after everything that has gone on recently, and it played off the previous bout, but it properly took something away from the match for me. Oh and don’t start me on how ridiculous it was that he stopped his count at two, both in giving Lynn the finger and then even after New Jack’s music kicked in not finishing the count. Hopefully this is the last we see of him in this terrible heel referee role. Lynn finally wins the big one in his home town to end an enjoyable PPV, although personally this would’ve worked better for me without the Daniels involvement.

A very brisk entrance from ‘Mr PPV’ tonight which is unlike him, guessing he’s been given strict instructions in the back to keep it short and stick to their timings. Van Dam avoids a charging Rhino, who goes sailing out over the top rope, as this one gets going on the floor. Both men take turns whipping the other into the guard rail, however when RVD leaps up onto it, Rhino gives him a shove sending him flying into the fans. The fight continues amongst the crowd, Rhino whipping Van Dam with force into another security barrier. He presses him overhead and drops him face first to the concrete as they return to ringside. Rhino is climbing back over the railing when he’s caught by a RVD kick, crotching himself and in perfect position for one of his fancy kicks, Fonzie of course on hand to provide assistance with the chair. There has been no playing to the crowd out of him yet so he makes up for that now. A great flip dive to the floor, Van Dam easily clearing the top rope. More highly convoluted Van Dam offense, Rhino collapsing in the corner after an inverted atomic drop. Yeah you guessed it, Fonzie chucks him a chair which he dropkicks into his face. Rhino, whilst sat on the middle, cuts off this random forward roll with a flying clothesline and then gores him against the turnbuckles. All impact no give according to Joey Styles. Rhino collects a table from under the ring, which he slides inside, before looking to slow the pace with a rear chinlock. Van Dam frees himself and an enziguiri only stuns Rhino, leading to the step through kick. Blah, blah, this is so contrived. RVD lifts Rhino onto his shoulder (those strong legs of his!), forward roll slam, straight into a middle rope moonsault and finally the ‘Five Star’ frog splash. He slightly delays making the cover and, when he does, Rhino kicks out. There’s no reaction at all to that, just a hush over the arena. I don’t know if the fans were stunned to silence or what but I was shocked at the lack of response. At least they couldn’t hear Styles though who was overselling things on commentary so much that it was pretty obvious Rhino was going to kick out. Van Dam is in disbelief and when he turns around he turns straight into a gore. Rhino drags him out onto the apron, from where he piledrives him through a ringside table. I always wince at that spot. He shoves RVD’s limp body back inside but somehow he gets a shoulder up on the cover. Fonzie is now in the ring and slams a chair across Rhino’s back, right in front of referee Jim Molineaux who just lets it go (by the way I’ll be amazed if I haven’t confused him and John Finnegan at various points throughout the year). Fearful of what might happen to him, he tosses the chair to Rhino, who catches it, and RVD with the ‘Van Daminator’. Quelle surprise he falls into the corner (have I said how contrived this is yet?) then has to lie there, Fonzie holding a chair in place while Van Dam plays to the crowd. Justin Credible is out, canes RVD, but he instantly shakes that off and hits the ‘Van Terminator’. Unbeknown to him though Rhino had pulled Fonzie in front of him and he took the brunt of it. Rhino picks Van Dam up, gores him through an upright table in the corner, piledriver onto a chair and Danny Daniels appears, fast counting the pin. I genuinely have no idea what happened to Jim Molineaux as he didn’t get bumped or anything and can’t see why a replacement official was even out there. Watching the house show footage you can really see how they try stuff out, see what works, and then bring that to the TV or PPV matches. A prime example here is with the brawling at ringside; it worked at the Cleveland house show from last month and it worked again here, an ideal way to kick this off. There is absolutely nothing from when Rhino’s on top, however it’s a different matter altogether when Van Dam is in charge. The showboating is kept to a minimum but his moves looks worse, as in co-operative, totally unbelievable, than ever. Everything seemingly involves Rhino conveniently falling into position for his next spot. The kicking out of the frog splash was a cool moment but Van Dam is probably my least favourite regular performer of the year at this point.

The Sandman slingshots Cyrus into the ring and signals for the bell to get this match underway. ‘Joelberg’ with a spear followed by some dreadful looking punches from the mount. Gertner takes off his jacket and he’s got his chest all painted up like a white Kamala. Running splash in the corner and as Cyrus falls to the mat in the centre of the ring he signals for ‘the Studmuffin elbow’, throwing his neck brace into the crowd as opposed to an elbow pad. Cyrus trips him up as he jumps over him and then starts kicking and stomping away at him. Even though he has never wrestled in ECW you can clearly tell that Cyrus is trained just by the way he throws those shots. He intermittently mocks Sandman during the beat down until doing so one time too many, at which point Sandman spits beer in his face and Gertner schoolboys him for the three. The Sandman, Kid Kash and Spike Dudley all join ‘the Studmuffin’ to celebrate the win with a beer although Gertner ends up getting it in his eyes when he tries to crush the can on his forehead a la Sandman!

I’m not feeling Dawn Marie as a regular part of Corino’s entourage. It was fine when she was used to counteract Francine, but in a match like this, when Corino already has Jack Victory in his corner and C.W. is out on his own, it just comes across as finding something for her to do. The two men are evenly matched and it’s not long before they start trading punches and knife edge chops, the fans irritatingly “Whooo’ing” along with each one. Corino runs into a back elbow but C.W. ducks the clothesline and drops him with a superkick. He collects a chair from the outside only to decide against using it when he climbs up to the apron, throwing it back down to the floor. Modified T-Bone suplex by Corino and then he collects one, somehow I can’t see him throwing it away! Of course not, he busts C.W. open after cracking him in the head with it. The action spills out to ringside where Anderson launches a chair at Corino and now he’s bleeding too. Well it is an ECW PPV what do you expect! Back inside C.W. wedges a chair between the turnbuckles, hammerlocks the arm and then rams Corino shoulder first into the chair. He meticulously goes about attacking that arm, stomping away on it as his opponent is forced to fight with just the one good upper limb. Each counters the other’s finisher and C.W. with that cool looking Ferris Wheel suplex. Corino escapes the sleeper hold and crotches ‘the Enforcer’ on the lip of an upright chair. Bionic elbow. Simon & Swinger are out but are beaten to the back by Victory before they can interfere in proceedings. Quality looking superkick by Corino floors C.W. The Irish whip is reversed, Anderson goes for a spinebuster onto the chair, however Corino counters with the ‘Old School Expulsion’, winning the match and also becoming the number one contender to the World title. A similar match in structure to the Danbury house show from a week ago, only with the addition of blood. My thoughts on this are similar to that, although this did start to lose my interest as it went on. Similarly, whilst not bad or anything, when you think of Steve Corino PPV matches in 2000 you’ll say 5/14 vs Tajiri, 7/16 vs Lynn, you won’t be remembering this one.

Yeah, it's been years since I watched his shoot interview but I'm sure in that he claimed he was considered for being The Undertaker in WWF! I remember posting on another board at the time about what a great interview I thought it was and then someone (who I have a hunch was Tony Myers) said to take whatever Bart says with a pinch of salt.

The Network versions of these ECW shows with the generic dubbed music takes so much away as you’d have no indication whatsoever how over Doring and Roadkill are at this point if this is all you had to go on. Joel Gertner claims that he’s been to see Roadkill about training him for his upcoming match against Cyrus, a blatant untruth and said for no other reason so that he can use the phrase “choking his chicken” on air. Doring ducks under a clothesline, kicks Matthews between the legs and then drives him to the mat with the ‘G-Spot Sweep’. Both men tag their partners and Roadkill snatches York as he goes for a dropkick. He looks to slingshot him into the corner however York grabs the ropes and comes back with a springboard legdrop. Nice idea although not the smoothest looking in execution. Roadkill catches him on the running crossbody, slams him in the corner and drops an elbow from the middle. Matthews tries to get the jump on Roadkill as he plays to the crowd although misses seeing the blind tag. Tick off ‘Lancaster Lariat of Lust’ if you’re playing Danny Doring Bingo. York and Matthews take a powder to the floor, Doring vaults off his partner’s back out towards them but they step out the way and he crashes to the concrete. Roadkill is around to check on him and, as he does so, the pair are nailed by stereo suicide dives. ‘Future Shock’ on Doring. York front superplexes Matthews onto a prone ‘Dastardly One’ and comes off the second turnbuckle with a senton. Doring escapes the inverted suplex, boots York in the mid-section and hits ‘Wham, Bam, Thank You Mam’. He makes the hot tag to Roadkill as they then run through the rest of their repertoire, getting the pin on York after the ‘Buggy Back’. Post-match as the two teams show each other some mutual respect, they’re jumped by Simon & Swinger who leave Doring laying following a ‘Problem Solver’. After the previous two weeks of TV this feels like a backwards step for Doring and Roadkill. The only reason they’re not the World tag team champions is because of Big Sal’s interference and I think they should have got another shot here and also booked the title change. I know the FBI/Unholy Alliance is always a strong match but we’ve passed that bridge in my eyes and what TV has proven is that Doring and Roadkill are more than capable themselves of bringing the goods opposite the champions. After the post-match angle I hope we’re not delaying things even more and now going down the Simon & Swinger route for them.

I’m not quite sure how this became an ‘impromptu’ World tag team title match; you had Jim Molineux following Doring and Roadkill into the ring after they came to the rescue of Mikey Whipwreck and Psicosis who had been jumped by the FBI, next thing you know, World title match. The challengers with the shine until Guido knees Doring in the back as he’s whipped into the ropes. I’ll quickly mention that during that shine section there was one moment I really liked where Roadkill makes the cover after a side slam, Mamaluke goes to break it up with a legdrop off the top but Roadkill sees him coming and he lands on his own partner. Unlike the TNN match these teams had, this time it’s Doring as the FIP. Mamaluke with a drop toe hold and he then locks in a variation of the camel clutch, turning around to face Roadkill as he applies it almost as if he’s teasing him to do something. Doring ducks the swinging arm and hits a ‘Rocker Dropper’ (how has that not got a daft name yet?). He makes the hot tag to Roadkill who takes Mamaluke’s head off with a clothesline. A huge powerbomb on him and a ‘Barn Burner’ for Guido. The FBI avoids the double splash in the corner and Roadkill goes sailing out over the turnbuckles to the floor. ‘Dastardly Danny’ with a double bareback to the wannabe Italians. As Molineux tries to get him out of the ring Roadkill climbs the ropes setting himself for a double clothesline, however Big Sal grabs him by the pants and yanks him backwards. An awesome looking ‘Wham, Bam, Thank You Mam’ spiking Mamaluke but there’s no official, again, as Guido has him tied up. Sal is in, gives Doring a Samoan Drop, puts Mamaluke on top and the FBI escape with the belts by the skin of their week for the second week in a row. I feel like I’ve watched so many segued matches recently and that trope is long played out. Not as good as the TNN match but the tag team division in ECW is real highlight in these dying days. Tony Mamaluke has been a complete revelation and these two teams have great chemistry together. Big Sal is the difference again, saving his team as Doring & Roadkill looked to have the belts won.

These two are off their game early as there are a couple of ugly miscommunications until Mikey catches a kick and plants Psicosis to the mat. He counters the quesadora with a waistlock and Psicosis throws some back elbows as he looks to escape. Mikey ducks the third and hits an inverted atomic drop into a Russian legsweep. Floatover DDT by Psicosis but this is really disappointing so far. The leaping huracanrana that follows doesn’t do much to change that thought. As Mikey heads to the floor, Psicosis with a big running dive over the top rope out onto him. He appears to be in a bad way, however still has enough about him to snatch Psicosis and dump him across the metal railings before picking up a near fall after a flying clothesline. The attempted backdrop is telegraphed and Psicosis with an up kick followed by a spinning heel kick. He sits Mikey on the top turnbuckle but that turns out to be his downfall, Mikey elbowing him in the mid-section and hitting a ‘Super Whippersnapper’ for the win. Post-match Mikey offers Psicosis his hand, which is accepted, and as they raise each other’s arms they’re jumped by the FBI. The fans aren’t even watching this, looking towards the entrance way waiting for the run in. They don’t have to wait too long, Roadkill and Danny Doring sprinting to the ring as this segues into an impromptu tag title match. A disappointing match with the two being way off when it came to working with each other. The ‘Super Whippersnapper’ is a cool looking finisher but I think it’s something that should be used sparingly and on big occasions, such as in the World tag team tournament final, not something to be busted out in a nothing match like this.

Kid Kash vs Mikey Whipwreck (ECW Hardcore TV 9/24/00) After what fees like the hundredth stand off the year, Kash backdrops Mikey over the top rope to the floor before launching himself at him with a suicide dive. He lays a couple of chops in, however as he then tries to rush him, Mikey dumps him face first into the ring apron. Kash avoids the slingshot elbow drop, scoots to the top turnbuckle and hits a flying clothesline. Mikey counters the tilt-a-whirl with a side slam, lifts Kash up in a double underhook when Rhino is in the ring and ready to pounce. He sacrifices Kash to try and save himself, but that makes no difference as he ends up getting gored too. Rhino with a piledriver on Mikey and as he ducks out the ring to look for something we go to a commercial break. Kid Kash vs Rhino (ECW Hardcore TV 9/24/00) We return from the advertisements to see Rhino running towards the ring, he doesn’t make it inside though, Kash taking him out with a tope suicida before he gets there. Joey Styles informs us that the previous bout was declared a no-contest and Kash challenged Rhino to this match. Kash dumps the ‘Manbeast’ into the front row and leaps off a chair over the guard rail onto him. He takes too long climbing back to ringside however and Rhino hurls a chair at his head. The action momentarily returns to the ring where Kash just about lands a double jump springboard rana before Rhino retreats to the outside again. Twisting top rope quebrada! Kash fires off some chops, but is cut down by a short armed clothesline. Rhino sets up a table in the corner and an almighty gore separates Kash in half. He picks his limp body up and then drives him through the table to regain the TV title. Post-match Rhino breaks a piece of the table over Kash’s head, busting him open, and then calls out Rob Van Dam, telling him that if he wants the ECW TV title to get his ass out here now. I’ve never seen such urgency out of RVD with the speed he’s moving down the aisle! They go back and forth for a bit, infuriatingly Van Dam still managing to get a crowd pose in, until security are in to separate them as we go off the air. I didn’t think much of the Kash/Mikey match, but it was a different matter altogether for what followed. ‘Balls to the wall’ is a perfect phrase for what we got and it was also the perfect presentation of Rhino in the way that he regained the TV title.

It does feel like they are trying to push C.W. up to the next level in the way that Joey Styles talks about him, I suppose that could also account for him getting the victory over Steve Corino last night in Danbury. Another ten plus minutes of my life wasted watching a Rob Van Dam entrance. This one might be the most preposterous yet and I almost feel sorry for C.W. having to just stand there and watch all of this. The wrestling here isn’t too bad, RVD eventually using the ropes to back flip his way out of the arm bar. C.W. lands on the apron after being backdropped over the top rope but is immediately forearmed across the face. Van Dam then leaps to the top turnbuckle and jumps off, attempting some sort of bulldog/face jam into the apron although it looked really sloppy in execution. He drapes C.W. over the guard rail, Fonzie puts the chair in place and Van Dam with a corkscrew legdrop off the apron. Fuck following up on that when you can play to the crowd! Moonsault press off the guard rail and yet more showboating. A cool little sunset flip out of the corner by Van Dam for a two. RVD mistimes the leapfrog as C.W. hangs on to the ropes and ‘the Enforcer’ then floors him with a superkick. He clotheslines Van Dam to the outside, follows him out and whips him into the metal railings. Fonzie is in his face blowing that wretched whistle so C.W. does us all a favour, whipping him into the railings too, Alfonso sailing over them and into the front row. Fisherman’s Buster for a two count, dropping Van Dam right on his head. Anderson continues to pick up near falls after both a Ferris Wheel suplex and a clothesline off the middle. He whips RVD into the corner however Van Dam avoids the charge and C.W. crotches himself across the second turnbuckle. I though that was the beginning of the end as Van Dam starts running through his trademark stuff but C.W. ducks the ‘Van Daminator’ and hits a spinebuster onto the chair. That only briefly delays the inevitable as one Fonzie assisted ‘Van Daminator’ off the top and ‘Five Star’ frog splash later this one is over. I wouldn’t blame anyone for switching off this before they even got to the match. The entrance was beyond a joke, slapping hands with all the fans as usual, entering the ring and climbing up every turnbuckle to acknowledge them, leaving the ring to slap more hands, back inside and another ascent of all four corners, several “Whole Fucking Show” crowd participation spots along with also bowing to the audience. I dread to think what he’ll be like come Anarchy Rulz. C.W was the highlight of the match, looking far more competitive than I expected and even getting several near falls on Van Dam. I especially liked his taking out of Bill Alfonso and I’m more convinced after watching this that there is a definite shift in how they’re trying to position him. Van Dam does what Van Dam does when it comes to RVD.

Johnny Swinger is seconding C.W. tonight and he’s been in the wars; a badly blackened eye and some tissue handing from his nose indicating that it is probably broken. Dawn Marie is out with Corino, so her being with him on last week’s TNN show wasn’t a one shot deal. She takes offence to Gabe (Sapolsky) looking up her dress with the camera, threatening to tell his girlfriend what he’s been doing! Corino gets the better of the opening exchanges and a couple of great looking rights drop C.W. who ducks to the floor before Corino can land the bionic elbow. Back inside Anderson dropkicks thin air as Corino holds onto the ropes, however fails to connect on the elbow drop and C.W. kills him with a superkick. They’re not in the ring for long as Anderson tosses Corino back out to ringside, although this time ‘the King of Old School’ reverses the Irish whip sending C.W. crashing into the guard rail. Corino grabs a beer from a fan which he blasts C.W. with, a spot that looks effective with the beer flying everywhere and covering those fans in the proximity but is as safe as houses. C.W. with a sharp elbow to the ribs and he then throws Corino shoulder first into the railing. That leads to some nice focused limb work, Corino forced to fight with one hand on his comebacks. Swinger pulls out a table from under the ring which he passes to his man and you should hear the reaction that gets. The two trade hard knife edge chops with Corino still selling that shoulder as they do. He’s forced to go low and puts Anderson through the table with a release Northern Lights suplex. Corino runs into an uppercut but then drops C.W. with a superkick as he comes charging in. Swinger is now up on the apron having words with referee H.C. Loc and as Corino is setting up for the ‘Old School Expulsion’ Justin Credible runs out and canes him between the eyes. Stunned by that, C.W. takes advantage and plants him with a spinebuster for the upset win. A good little house show match although probably not one that you’d remember come the end up the year. Both throw really solid looking punches and neither was holding anything back when they were laying in those chops. Nice to see some limb work in there and, even moreso, see it being sold after. Pretty huge upset as while C.W. was on a par with Corino in there, with where we are heading I wasn’t expecting him to get the win at all.

Candice to turn on Io in/after the women's title match?

Only caught the last five minutes of the opener but what I saw was real good, Riddle even doing the Gary Goodridge/Paul Herrara 'elbows of destruction' from one of the early UFC's. Ladder match was great and Kyle O'Reilly is something else. That first bump he took onto the ladder cutting his back open must've hurt something rotten. Forgotten Sons were killing themselves in this and Jaxson was portrayed way stronger than I expected (I rarely watch the TV show). Awesome finish with the Ford springboard as Blake then takes another crazy bump. Dude's got some serious potential although I see absolutely nothing in Dawkins. I'm actually enjoying Beth on commentary and I like how she doesn't feel the need to constantly speak/scream like Mauro and to a lesser extent Nigel, the former has been pretty insufferable at times. Props to Oney here too before I forget him, understated but a more than solid hand. I've no interest in the North American title match so am having a break to check out the thread and I'll switch back for Shayna/Io. Not bothering with the main either.

RVD puts the Sandman to shame here, seemingly slapping hands and stopping for a chat with every fan in the front row. When he eventually gets into the ring he’s still not done, proceeding to climb each turnbuckle in succession and play to the crowd some more. Over ten minutes after this began Kash and Angel finally lock up. Just like when Da Baldies faced Sandman and Chilly Willy they start with some pure wrestling, Kash getting a couple of two counts, firstly with a springboard sunset flip and then an ugly looking double leg cradle. Angel complains to referee Jim Molyneux of a hair pull, something that for some reason I always find amusing when the guy doing the complaining doesn’t have a single strand on his head! Van Dam and DeVito take over from their respective partners and if you’ve watched more than one Rob Van Dam match this year then you know how this goes. Angel tries to attack RVD as he’s mugging to the fans but gets caught by a Kash flying lariat. Fuck, yet more playing to the crowd after a pair of dives to the floor and now Kash is at it too, this is so fucking tedious. Da Baldies are up pretty quickly and sensing an opportunity jump the two show monkeys from behind. Double flapjack on Van Dam and a nice little double spinebuster into a double crab on Kash. Heat section on Kash who gets in a couple of hope spots along the way. Van Dam is paying no attention whatsoever to what is going on in the ring. High full nelson slam by Angel. DeVito runs into a big boot, Kash with a twisting somersault senton before ducking the clothesline and making the hot tag. More of the norm from RVD although we do get a great looking ‘Van Daminator’ on Angel. Talking of the norm, Fonzie interferes causing DeVito to crotch himself upstairs and a top rope rana/’Five Star’ frog splash puts him away for the three. Only Kash saves this from being an utter stinker. Van Dam is predictable in everything he does and his kicks look worse than usual, ‘Van Daminator’ aside. I wonder how much of my life I have actually wasted just by watching him and the Sandman making their entrances this year. Did anyone think Da Baldies had even the remotest chances of winning this?

There’s an odd story to this of Tajiri and Paparazzi teaming up against Juvi, Pap double crossing him, back to working together, Pap crosses him again and so on. When it’s just the two of them Juventud and Tajiri cut a breakneck pace at times and just like last night in Juana Diaz there’s no coasting from ‘the Juice’. Unlike last night though where he held his own Paparazzi dragged this one down, even tripping over the ropes at one point, and you were clamouring for him disappear and leave Tajiri and Juvi too it. Juvi avoids the Paparazzi running splash in the corner and then levels Tajiri with a thrust kick. He clotheslines Pap over the top rope to the floor, a victory roll on Tajiri but Pap is back inside to make the save. The powerbomb is countered with a cradle and this time it’s Tajiri breaking things up with a great shotgun dropkick to the head of Juvi. ‘The Juice’ lands on his feet from a belly to back, looks for the ‘Juvi Driver’ but Tajiri escapes and goes to town with an assortment of kicks that put him down for the three. From what we saw of them working together this would have been so much better as a singles match without Paparazzi.

I don’t know what Regal has been up to, but going by the state of his chest it looks like he’s been trading chops with someone in the dressing room. Joe, who looks so young here, reverses the wristlock into one of his own and as Regal tries to work an escape transitions to a hammerlock. A swift back elbow brings that escape and a European uppercut staggers Joe. Regal goes back to the wristlock but again Joe reverses it. There is a definite ‘Regal feel’ to how this is developing. Another escape and this time he grounds Joe with a leg trip. The fingers get interlaced and there’s a nice neck bridge by Joe, withstanding all of Regal’s weight as he tries to flatten him out. As Joe looks to be getting the upper hand, Regal boots him in the mid-section and applies a Japanese stranglehold which they work the next minute or so around. Regal sends Joe shoulder first into the ring post and locks on a seated abdominal stretch as he looks for the submission. He doesn’t get it and Joe with a superkick for a two count. His Lordship fires back with some forearms and then bring the knee strikes. Butterfly suplex. Joe catches him with a release belly to belly for another near fall, before an enziguiri and a spinebuster, neither which is able to put Regal down for the three. As Joe charges Regal clips out a leg and immediately applies the ‘Regal stretch’ forcing a weary Joe to tap. Naked Mideon makes an unwanted appearance after the match kissing Regal, although Regal’s facials almost, almost, make it worth seeing a semi-naked Dennis Knight. Disappointingly that leads to Regal getting “faggot” chants though. He shows what a proper pro he is when his microphone isn’t working, collecting a replacement from the ring announcer whilst questioning whether he is “attempting to make a bloody fool out of him!” Regal says how the Undertaker couldn’t be here and how they only got Mideon instead, when Triple H’s music plays and out walks ‘the Game’. The two go at it with Hunter coming out on top and seeing Regal off. HHH address the fans, explaining how he’s a student of professional wrestling and came to UPW as he heard they have some of the best independent wrestlers in the world and wanted to check out who he might be facing in the future. He goes onto insult the ‘scab’, aka Big Schwag, which leads to him coming out. Schwag tells HHH that this is “the house that Schwag built” and sends in the Drunken Irishman to teach him a lesson. The Irishman gets handled and pedigreed in double quick time so he calls on the rest of the Schwag Army, however they’ve already hightailed it to the back. With no-one to do his dirty work and left all alone, Triple H decks and finally pedigrees Schwag to great delight from those in attendance. Joe does loses his way in there a couple of times but there’s probably not a better person to lose your way in there against, especially as this was a ‘Regal style’ match and it turned into a very solid first look at him. Angle last month, Regal and Triple H this, the WWF were certainly looking after UPW around this time that’s for sure.

An overmatched Julio Dinero tags out to his partner to see if he can fare any better against the former tag team champions. E.Z. looks to be in control of the test of strength until Tajiri bridges back up, breaks the grip and transitions beautifully from a hammerlock to a takedown to a stretch submission, tying Money up like no-one’s business. Standing moonsault gets him a two. E.Z. turns the tide by booting Tajiri in the mid-section, lands a standing moonsault of his own before locking in the ‘Pendulum of Pain’ rocking horse submission. Tajiri floors Money with a thrust kick after the tip up, but then becomes the latest male to be blinded by Elektra’s apparent ‘charms’. Money with a low blow, some mocking of Tajiri followed by a double team inverted DDT. ‘Jalapeno Popper’ (which is a variation of the neckbreaker) for a near fall and that is right up there when it comes to daft names. Tajiri isn’t moving and it looks like he’s done for, however he’s only playing possum, suckering Money in and kicking him in the head when he leans in. A nice call back to earlier in the match as Tajiri low blows E.Z. and starts mocking him. Chris Hamrick breaks up the Tarantula and E.Z. hits ‘Money in the Bank’ forcing Mikey to make the save. Hot tag and Mikey with a ‘Whippersnapper’ on Money as the ‘Unholy Alliance’ then go to work on his partner. They tie Dinero in the ‘Tree of Woe’ and Tajiri with the baseball slide dropkick. E.Z. has recovered and positions himself for the ‘Money Clip’ when the Sinister Minister pulls his legs out from under him and he crashes to the floor. Hamrick gets misted as he tries to interfere again and then takes a hellacious flip bump from the apron onto the concrete after Mikey clubs him in the back. Double brainbuster on Dinero and the Alliance come out on top. A really fun TV bout that proves that the ‘Unholy Alliance’ don’t have to be in there with the FBI to have them. Dinero is noticeably some way behind the other three while Tajiri is just so good in everything. We’re only half way through September but this is turning into some month for Tajiri and Mikey.

Added stipulations for the title defense in that if the FBI don’t win the belts tonight then they must split up as a team forever. Mikey boots Mamaluke in the mid-section after he’d mistimed the tip up, grabs him around the neck for the ‘Whippersnapper’ but it’s too early the match for that and the attempt is blocked. The two exchange lovely high hip tosses before a Mamaluke short arm scissors. ‘Gotch lift’ by Mikey, powering him up with the one arm and dumping him into the ropes. Guido blitzes Tajiri around the side of the head with a slap, the ‘Buzzsaw’ replying in kind. A gorgeous double arm cradle from Tajiri and the crowd are giving these two a standing ovation already. Tajiri destroys Mamaluke with kicks and I’ll say it again, there really is no-one better at selling them. The ‘Unholy Alliance’ are killing him with the double teams, a unique one seeing Mikey holding him upside down in a piledriver position as Tajiri dropkicks him in the face. More standing ovations. A dropkick takes the legs out from under Guido, stereo basement dropkicks to the FBI followed by a pair of STF’s. They throw the challengers to the outside where Tajiri nails them with an Asai moonsault. Mikey collects a table, which he and Tajiri set up inside, and when Guido climbs up on the apron Tajiri dropkicks it into his face. Big Sal is now up and they’re firing chairs off the table at him, one catching him in the gut. With the big man now doubled over, Mikey leaps off his back and out onto Guido and Mamaluke. Tajiri ties Guido in the ‘Tree of Woe’ who then gets busted open courtesy of a Mikey chair shot. Guido can barely stand at this point. Mikey places the chair over this face and blasts it with another one. The champions are just decimating these two. Guido eventually makes the tag to his partner after avoiding another chair shot. Mamaluke dropkicks Tajiri off the apron while Guido repositions the table upright in the corner. Double belly to back superplex for a two. Mikey counters the Mamaluke headscissors with an awesome looking hot shot. Both men make the tag and Tajiri with a handspring elbow as he then goes to town on Guido. A shotgun dropkick sends him crashing backwards into the table before Mamaluke, who had gotten back to his feet, gets crotched on the top rope. ‘Whippersnapper’ from the apron through a table on the floor!!! Big Sal tries to interfere but Tajiri mists him however, with his back to his opponent, Guido cracks him across the back with a chair. ‘Kiss of Death’ onto the chair and not only do the FBI live to fight another day, they are also the new ECW World tag team champions. This was so good and it was like all the matches that these two teams had was leading up to this one. Tajiri looks like one of the best wrestlers in the world and Tony Mamaluke really is something else with his bumping and selling (the way he took that hot shot, just wow!). I’m not sure the added stipulation of the FBI being forced to split if they don’t win was necessary as that pretty much gives the result away beforehand. Still this was an awesome TV match with some incredible moments and one that is absolutely worth a watch.

Segues from the previous match where Rhino attacked Sandman and Chilly Willy and then called out Van Dam. He attacks RVD as he’s slapping hands with the fans, but after whipping him into the metal guard rail runs into a big boot. Van Dam goes for a moonsault off the rail, however Rhino shoves him in the backside and he goes flying into the crowd. They fight around the back of, and even out of the building, although it is pretty dark and the camera often goes out of focus. RVD fires back and a thrust kick drops Rhino. Rather than follow up he starts posing to the crowd. It gets worse, as after a double axe handle off the fence he proceeds to take a bottle of water from a fan and drink from that. Bad move as Rhino had already hopped over the fence and suplexes Van Dam over it and onto the hard wooden floor. That’s gotta hurt Gorilla. They finally make it into the ring and Rhino with a thunderous powerbomb for a two. RVD ducks the clothesline and lands a spinning heel kick, although it looked more like he just flung himself into Rhino. He rattles through his offense, finishing by dropkicking a chair into Rhino’s face after he collapsed in the corner following an inverted atomic drop. Of course he then has to bow to the fans! Forward rolling slam into a middle rope moonsault. Rhino reverses the Irish whip and gores Van Dam against the turnbuckles. Fonzie is up on the apron and as Rhino whips him towards him, Fonzie throws his man a chair. ‘Van Daminator’, frog splash and put another in the win column for Mr Van Dam. Any match which limits all the extracurricular Rob Van Dam nonsense automatically gets a thumbs up from me. Enjoyed the brawling and even when it was dark and the camera went out of focus it did add to things. Van Dam’s crowd appreciation shit bothers me every time he does it, although at least it wasn’t as nauseating as it has been, or no doubt will be. A strong way to close out the event.

This is from 3/16/87 house show in London, ONT, not from the 2/17 Challenge taping.

Simon, C.W. and Swinger have a problem, one which they eventually get around to informing us about after throwing some insults towards the various local sports teams. Mikey Whipwreck and the Sinister Minister are already out and Simon says that there is no way Tajiri and he should’ve beaten them in the tag team tournament final. He knows that Tajiri is in Japan and Mikey is going to have to take the butt kicking that the three of them are about to dish out. The Sinister Minister refers to the three of them as “Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Da-Fuck” and says how they clearly never went to Sunday school because if they did they would know that if you mess with the devil you get the horns. He’s got a couple of friends with him who are still pretty pissed off with Simon & Swinger from the tag team tournament, and those friends are Jerry Lynn and Tommy Dreamer. The match commences with everyone going at it on the floor although C.W. and Lynn, the more proficient wrestlers, quickly move into the ring where they’re more comfortable. There is just so much going on here, too much for the lone cameraman to keep up with. Simon with a Russian legsweep on Dreamer as things appear to have slowed down after that chaotic start. The Sinister Minister grabs Simon’s ankle from ringside, however as he reaches down over to get him he slides his cane into Tommy who then hooks it between Simon’s legs. He ties him in the ‘Tree of Woe’ and the Minister is in to apply a testicular claw. Dreamer places a chair in front of Simon’s face and dropkicks it but is caught by a C.W. exploder. The heels get the briefest of heat on Dreamer including hitting a double flatliner. Anderson straddles himself across the middle which gives Tommy the chance to make the hot tag. Lynn with a tornado DDT on Simon and then C.W. with a spinebuster on Lynn. Dreamer is doing his best to help his partners, but is more of a hindrance in there at the moment. The attempted ‘Problem Solver’ is broken up and the faces each hit their finishers concurrently for the win. Dreamer rushes out of there as soon as the match is over, still holding that shoulder, so maybe he wasn’t selling it and was genuinely hurt. Agree with the comments that multiple cameras would’ve been beneficial here due to how much was going on. I doubt I’ll ever fully come to an opinion on Simon & Swinger; one minute I’ll see something in them, next minute time out “what was I thinking, they’re as dull as dishwater” and so it continues. I’ve not been huge on this house show, but if you’re going to check out something make sure it’s this brawl which was a nice surprise among the mediocrity of everything else on the card.

And we’re down to the final three in the tournament to crown new ECW tag team champions. Despite being piledriven through the table in the semis, Tommy Dreamer is out for the final, although wearing a neck brace. We get a recap of the Lynn/Dreamer vs RVD/Kash match from earlier in the tournament that will air on Hardcore TV in two days, Joey Styles hammering it home how Lynn pinned both Rob Van Dam and the ECW World champion on the same night. Three way dance rules are in operation, meaning that it’s three men in the ring at the same time. Tajiri and Lynn work the opening stretch while Simon looks on leaving them to it. Good stuff here, they eventually tag their partners and it gets a tad awkward. Dreamer tries to rip off the neck brace and while he does so Mikey and Swinger look to capitalise. All six very quickly end up in the ring before the action spills out to the floor. There’s a nice snap suplex by Tajiri to Dreamer on the steps, but the camera is cutting back and forth trying to keep up with everything. In a rather odd moment amongst this brawling, Lynn and Simon return to the ring where Lynn puts him in a sloppy looking bow and arrow hold. Jerry knows more than we do, Simon apparently having a history of lower back problems! Tajiri joins Lynn in putting a beating on Simon who then, along with his partner, gets tied in the ‘Tree of Woe’. Chairs are placed in front of them and four person baseball slide dropkicks. As Tajiri puts a ‘Tarantula’ on Lynn, Tommy with one of his own on Mikey. Stereo tornado DDT’s for Simon and Swinger. Dreamer counters the ‘Whippersnapper’ with a DDT, but as he makes the cover gets pulled from the ring by C.W. Anderson who blasts him over the head with a chair. He throws him back inside, ‘Problem Solver’ and he and Lynn are out of there. ‘Swing Thing’ on Tajiri and a double flatliner for Mikey as the locker room empties to add some gravitas for the closing moments. There’s none of the big guns, maybe naturally, and it’s mainly your opening card types like Chris Chetti, York & Matthews, Jazz etc. Swinger sits Tajiri on his shoulders as Simon heads up top for something. What, we’ll never know, as Tajiri mists him before he gets the chance and then dumps Swinger on his neck with a German suplex. ‘Super Whippersnapper’ on Simon and the ‘Unholy Alliance’ are the new ECW World tag team champions. I found this a disappointing final and all a bit underwhelming. I really enjoyed Tajiri and Lynn at the start but with the tag team titles as the prize it didn’t half get hokey at times. You’ve got some decent stuff on the floor involving Dreamer and Tajiri (starting to notice a theme yet?), such as Tajiri suplexing him on the stairs and also standing on a chair which he’d placed over Dreamer’s head, next thing they’re all working together against Simon & Swinger with the contrived ‘Tree of Woe’ stuff and don’t get me started on the double ‘Tarantula’ spot. The finish looked great and at least we’re guaranteed a strong run of matches with the 'Unholy Alliance' as the champions.