[1997-09-20-ECW-As Good As It Gets] Rob Van Dam & Bill Alfonso vs Tommy Dreamer & Beulah McGillicutty

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I thought the setup to this match was pretty good, but the Fonzie vs Beulah portion of this is the best part, obviously. This is such a great display of wrestling psychology, has as much heat as any ECW match ever and is really well laid out. I am being totally serious. How did I know that Joey Styles would call the finish a Beulahcanrana before he said it?

[Kevin Ridge]

Sabu and RVD couldn’t get the full timing down on their double tag team move. RVD has more important things to do. Hanging out with Kevin Nash? He just walks out on match which makes things so much better. And it becomes a single match. Hat guy is totally lusting for Beulah. So the story is Bill was part of the mole business and was told to go out there and get his ass kicked or he would get fired? Is that true? Fonzie is fucked up bloody. He does a Hennig type sell off a Beulah clothesline. Very entertaining stuff with Fonzie bleeding like crazy. Cue damage control. Enjoyable garbage.

[soup23]

This was good fun. The opening stanza with dreamer and RVD was sloppy at points but effective. I wonder how good Sandman vs. Sabu was? Pretty big first time match that they may should have held off for November to Remember. Sabu and RVD do stereo dives eliminating Dreamer and they head to the back. That leaves Beulah vs. Fonzie and things really heat up. One thing about FOnzie is that he is not afraid to take an ass kicking as he bleeds a gusher here and commits himself. Felt like Sable at WM 14 with how over Beulah was.

[PeteF3]

I'm pretty sure that if my GWE rankings went deep enough, I'd rank Bill Alfonso ahead of RVD. In fact, I don't think I'd even have to think that hard about it. The man has a better grasp of fundamentals and psychology than RVD ever did--and he was absolutely game here, bleeding a sick gusher, taking some wild bumps, and even unleashing some High-End Offense. This is at least twice now that he's had a match with a fellow non-wrestler that's about 907 times better than it had any right to be, but Beulah is a better worker and more over than Tod Gordon. Legitimately one of the more enjoyable ECW segments of the year, and I'm not entirely sure this isn't the best match of '97 for the promotion. Dream match that I never knew I wanted until now: Bill Alfonso vs. Mark Curtis.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Rob Van Dam & Bill Alfonso vs Tommy Dreamer & Beulah McGullicutty - ECW As Good As It Gets 9/20/97

I have always heard about the fabled Fonzie vs Beulah match where Fonzie taps a gusher. But I have never been able to find it because I kept searching for it as a singles match. I never realized it happened under the guise of a tag team match with RVD and Dreamer. I am really unfamiliar with ECW in 1997 and onwards. I am pretty sure this is an offshoot of RVD as Mr. Monday Night wanting to work for WWF and Tommy Dreamer being the pious defender of all things EXTREME. I am pretty sure Dreamer is shoot injured because ain't nobody that good at selling. He is hobbling around with a significant limp. He kicks RVD's ass. RVD is a total load. He is terrible at bumping and feeding for Dreamer. Sabu comes out. Now the double team begins on Dreamer. They do a Legdrop/Frogsplash combo through the table. RVD & Sabu are gonna hit the showers and tell Fonzie take care of their light work. This is where the fun begins...

Fonzie turns his hat backwards and he is total cocky prick thinking he has got this. I got give the ECW mutants credit  they were 100% behind Beulah from jump. They were molten for her. I was afraid they would be a bunch of He-Man, Woman-Haters, but I am happy to be pleasantly surprised. Beulah CRACKS Fonzie with a steel pan that she was hiding under her shirt. Fonzie gigs himself real good and it is a Five-Alarm Bladejob. Beulah is a trooper for letting that man bleed all over her that's pretty gross. If they stayed away from Irish Whips, this would have been great. Beulah just has no strength. Fonzie makes up for it by throwing himself into each bump. They even let Fonzie get some heat. When he went for the low, blow I thought they play it for comedy, but she sold it. Choking with the whistle cord was great. Beulah blocks suplexes better than 90% of the modern roster. DDT->1,2,NO! They did a false finish I love it! Fonzie's selling is so damn great and gets cocky going for a moonsault. Tree of Woe with a dropkick into the chair into the face is great. These are the perfect Beulah spots! Great setup for the Beulah-canrana and 1,2,3! Awesome bloody spectacle. Beulah doing Dreamer's spots and working the crowd was great. Fonzie was the star of this show. He was the ultimate stooge! I cant believe it took me this long to see this match, but yes this deserves its reputation. A great piece of pro wrestling! ****