[1995-05-13-ECW-Enter the Sandman] Tommy Dreamer & Mikey Whipwreck vs Raven & Stevie Richards

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Of course, before the match starts, Shane Douglas is going on and on, shooty shoot shoot despite not being part of this match, and we get the debut of Bill Alfonso. I love strict enforcing of the rules in ECW. This was better than I thought it would be, mostly thanks to Whipwreck, although Raven is even better than usual here. I like both Raven and Dreamer DDTing their seconds before finally building to a brawl between the two, only for Alfonso to DQ Dreamer within seconds for throwing a closed fist! FAN-TASTIC! Great finish. I wish I could make out what Cactus and Douglas were saying after the match on the house mic, but that was the biggest weakness in ECW production at this point.

[El-P]

Agree the house mic sucked at this point.

Agree Bill Alphonso enforcing the rules was pure gold.

[Tim Evans]

Why would Shane want to be in this match? He was feuding with Cactus at the time? I agree that Alfonso was good in this role.

[PeteF3]

This was AWESOME. Awesome awesome awesome. Shane Douglas comes out before the match and at first I'm groaning, as Douglas rants about the state of ECW thinking that chairs and tables are more important than wrestling. Then he says he made a call to his lawyer...who made a call to Harrisburg, PA and I *immediately* do a 180 on this once I figure where this is going. Yes, State Athletic Commission referee Bill Alfonso is here, and if Tod Gordon and the wrestlers don't obey him, he'll shut ECW down! Bill is right at home in this role from the start--I love him harrassing Bob Artese over the apparently non-regulation height of the bottom rope. Once the match starts, Alfonso immediately cuts Dreamer off from going after Richards on the outside, instantly pissing off the crowd, establishing where Alfonso stands, and forcing the wrestlers to work a straight match. This isn't the tag match of the year or anything, but it's another match where an aptitude of the basics goes a long way. Dreamer is okay, Raven is better, Richards is good, and Mikey is REALLY good. Whipwreck still bumps like a loon but now has a few offensive wrinkles he can bust out as well as a few other neat crafty tricks to get his shots in, like grabbing the ropes to send Raven flying when he attempts a neckbreaker. Really good, slow build to Dreamer finally facing off with Raven, and the stereo DDTs on the floor to take the partners out were cool. They go at it...and Dreamer ignores the warnings to open his fist and immediately gets disqualified. FANTASTIC.

 

Afterward, Alfonso again threatens to shut the promotion down if Dreamer touches him, Douglas comes back to gloat, and Cactus Jack is out and they yap again about their past. Jack wants Douglas out of ECW and there's yet another pull-apart. They're STILL dropping qualifiers about their past friendship and Styles talking about it "hanging by a thread" instead of just fucking letting them go at it, which is infuriating but not enough to take the shine off the rest of this segment. This is one of the best ECW matches and segments of the year and I can't wait for more Alfonso. He was used absolutely perfectly here--he shows just enough ostensible objectivity during the match not to overwhelm it, and only takes over at the finish. That's how heel referees should ideally be booked.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Raven & Stevie Richards vs Tommy Dreamer & Mikey Whipwreck - ECW Enter Sandman 5/13/95

Ahhhh yes back when Heyman was actually a booking genius. I love how they weave Shane Douglas' grievances with the company & the state of pro wrestling into Fonzie storyline so that the Raven/Dreamer can have a match but not give too much away and then leads to Douglas cutting a great post-match promo trying to goad Dreamer into smoking Fonzie so that Fonzie can sue and shut the promotion down. Here's Catcus, pre-anti-hardcore Catcus, coming out to tell Shane to knock it off and Shane just gets right back up in his face. At the time, I think Sandman was the heel and these two were babyfaces. I dont know I need to go back and watch ECW TV. 1995 was such a great year for ECW. I love how the characters are all woven together. 

The match is nothing special. A lot of people seem to like Mikey Whipwreck but he is very meh to me. Stevie Richards is where it is at. I love a good comedic idiot act and Stevie's one of the best. I remain a Raven mark mostly for the character, angles and promos, but he was not as bad people make him out to be in the ring. I like how his sloth-like characters will get shown up by the DIY punk Whipwreck and then he would get pissed and immediately tackle Mikey because his pride got injured. I like how tried to really hurt Mikey by hurling him off the top onto the concrete. Then stereo DDTs by Raven and Dreamer on each other's partner on the concrete was a great mirror touch. 

In reality, the match was a backdrop to establish and get over the new mega-heel in ECW, referee Bill Alfonzo. ECW was all about disestablishment, anarchy, DIY, no rules. So Alfonso enforcing rules and AUTHORITY really pissed off the fans. So when Dreamer is going to give chase to Richards at the beginning of the match only for Fonzie to stop him drew HUGE Bullshit chants. The other thing they were trying to get over was that Dreamer wanted to beat Raven. He had Richards dead to rites with a DDT but refused the cover wanting to pin Raven, another important plot point. Imagine that actual plot points in the middle of matches! What happened to pro wrestling! After the mirror DDT spot on the concrete, they start brawling and Dreamer throws a punch and Fonzie calls for the bell. Disqualifying Dreamer for using a closed fist! YES! YES! A MILLION TIMES YES! Fonzie says he has "an open hand policy". I love it. As an angle this damn near *****, really genius stuff, as for a wrestling match it is very ok, pedestrian. But who cares? Give me a great damn angle with great characters any day!