[2000-04-13-ECW-Indianapolis, IN] Yoshihiro Taijiri vs Tommy Dreamer / Mike Awesome vs Tazz

[soup23]

Corino runs his mouth which brings out Dreamer and in turn brings out Taijiri so the match is on. I hate Tommy doing the Tarantula as that was such a unique looking move for Taijiri to execute that it loses some of it luster that Tommy can perform it without much of any problems. Action is good here but a big ol brawl breaks out with everyone from Rhino to Mikey Whipwreck, Guido and Super Crazy coming down. With everything cleared away, out comes Awesome to You Souled Out chants. Judge Jeff does the call out for anyone in the building. Tazz WWF music fires out and out he comes to a thunderous pop. Not much of a match as Awesome gets choked out in two minutes to head to WCW. Awesome gets right up and heads straight through the crowd. As a moment of on the fly booking, this wasn’t bad and certainly memorable. Awesome didn’t hold up well at all on rewatch and we may not be seeing him much at all anymore. ***

[Loss]

Most of this feels like an extended post-match beatdown with saves and such posing as a match, which is fine because the goal of all of this was to build to a moment more than it was to have a good match. It's interesting that we got a true WWF vs WCW match ... in ECW.

[Migs]

I've seen Tazz v. Awesome many times, but I don't think I've ever seen this whole sequence.

 

Love Corino invoking his feud with Taz in the opening promo to bring him to mind for the crowd. The actual Tajiri v. Dreamer match is their typical good brawl. I liked the visual of Corino being on the top rope with Tajiri before the double stomp through the table.

 

Sandman's music hitting always works when it's not totally expected (i.e. when he's not directly called out by the heels, which happened way too often). He even gets to the ring pretty quickly!

 

The escalating brawl is a Paul Heyman classic. This is one isn't as good as Wrestlefest '97, but it's still really effective in heightening the energy in the crowd. Love how the crowd is so hyped that Awesome walks right by people without them noticing, creating a holy shit moment when he actually hits the ring. Then the challenge, and the Tazz pop is massive. Nothing match, but an amazing moment. Well worth the run time.

[Tim Evans]

The Tazz/Awesome match is legendary. It's funny to see the ECW fans cheer a WWF guy but I guess that feud had been over for a while so it doesn't matter. Awesome entering and leaving through the crowd was a nice touch. Tajiri/Dreamer was alright but Dreamer can't really bump at all around this time. Was his back still screwed up?

[GSR]

Tommy Dreamer vs Yoshihiro Tajiri

A loud “you suck, you suck” chant, but Corino tells Indianapolis that they’ve got it all wrong and it is they who suck! He says that’s no way to treat an old school hero after all he’s done for them; he’s crippled Tommy Dreamer, punked out Limp Bizkit, retired Dusty Rhodes and he’s the reason Tazz left ECW. He was going to treat them to an old school Texas Bullrope match but he doesn’t see anyone man enough in the back… when ‘Man in the Box’ starts to play and out comes Tommy Dreamer. Corino tells him if he steps through the ropes he’s going to kick his ass, however those words have no effect whatsoever. Dreamer gets in a couple of shots when sprinting from the dressing room comes Yoshihiro Tajiri who nails Tommy with a kick to the back. Tajiri chokes him with the cowbell and Corino changes the rules, this is no longer a Texas Bullrope match but a Japanese Death match. Handspring elbow but Dreamer counters with a Russian legsweep. Tarantula by Tommy and a right hand from Corino breaks that up. Baseball slide dropkick and Tajiri accidentally hits Corino instead. Dreamer throws him into the guardrail and a chair shot across the back before taking him on a tour of the building. Back at ringside and Tommy hurls a couple of chairs into the ring followed by another of his favourites, ‘ring bell on the crotch’. Tajiri ducks a chair shot and a spinning back heel kick to his opponent. ‘Tree of Woe’ and he places a chair infront of Tommy’s face, however as he goes for the running dropkick, Dreamer picks is up and pulls himself out the way. He ties Tajiri in the ‘tree of woe’, stands on his balls and then puts the chair infront of his face before dropkicking it. Corino is still attached to the cowbell and Dreamer pull him into the ring. Irish whip is reversed, Tommy holds onto the ropes and Corino dropkicks the air. Punch to the balls and this is like a Tommy Dreamer Greatest Hits match! Dreamer calls for a table, sits Corino on the top turnbuckle, but before he’s able to complete what he’s got planned, Tajiri is back in the fray. Mist to the face and in a real hokey looking spot, the ‘blinded’ Dreamer ends up laying on the table. Double footstomp off the top and Tommy kicks out of the pin attempt. Corino clobbers Tajiri with the cowbell when Dreamer moves out the way and double DDT to them both. Jack Victory is in to break up the count before slugging the referee. It’s three on one as they continue to put a beating on the ‘Innovator of Violence’. The crowd are calling for the Sandman and Tajiri’s face is a treat when ‘Enter Sandman’ kicks in. A bit more urgency than usual from him as he gets to the ring in approximately sixty seconds and then breaks his Singapore cane over the heads of the three of them. This turns into an almighty brawl with, in order, Rhino, Super Crazy, Little Guido, Mikey Whipwreck, Tony DeVito, Angel, Danny Doring and Roadkill all getting involved. RF is on the opposite side to the action and you just about catch Rhino piledriving Sandman off the apron and through a table. Everyone eventually makes their way to the back and I’m guessing the official decision is a no contest or a Dreamer win by DQ.

 

I imagine that if I hadn’t watched everything else I would’ve enjoyed this, as it was it really did feel like a Tommy Dreamer Greatest Hits match, with all his favourite spots and an amalgamation of the various matches we’ve seen over the past couple of months. Again, when I’m calling spots before they’ve happened you know something is up. I was actually quite bored watching this due to that, although Tajiri’s face is an absolute picture when the Sandman’s music plays, a real look of ‘oh not him again!’ (As a quick note, it had been a while since I watched it so couldn’t compare direct, but think this was actually a very similar match to the one that the two had in Wichita on 3/25).

[GSR]

Mike Awesome vs Tazz

I wonder if RF new this was happening as he’s focused right on that back entrance almost waiting for Mike Awesome’s arrival. Awesome makes his way through the crowd and lots of “you sold out” chants aimed at him (which are even more ludicrous in hindsight). 'Judge' Jeff Jones says how it’s obvious that there is no-one who can beat the ECW champion, Mike Awesome, when Tazz’s WWF music plays. He steps out and gets an insane reaction, no “you sold out” chants for him. Thee really isn’t much to this; a quick brawl around ringside, ref bump, Tommy Dreamer’s out and DDT’s Awesome, Tazzmission, new ECW world champion. The whole thing lasts less than 75 seconds. Awesome heads out the way he came and Dreamer looks serious fucking miffed with him. Dreamer gives Tazz his approval, while Tazz then talks about doing business ‘the proper way’.

 

First time I’ve seen this in its entirety and its still mindblowing that it ever happened (WWF contracted wrestler defeating WCW contracted wrestler on an ECW show for the ECW World title). The double standards from the ECW crowd is laughable with Awesome getting the “you sold out” treatment and Tazz treated as the returning hero.

[TravJ1979]

Taz' music hitting and him coming out may be the very last great ECW moment. Too bad the 'match' was the shits. It should have been 30 seconds of him suplexing Awesome around and then a choke out.

[Sean Liska]

I've never seen the stuff that happened before the Taz-Awesome match. One of those classic Heyman multi-layered run-in deals. Love it as much as I did when I was fifteen. Memphis did a great one in 1981, I think it was in Loiusville, always works for me.