[2000-07-01-ECW-Wichita, KS] Tommy Dreamer & Sandman & Raven & Yoshihiro Taijiri vs Steve Corino & Jack Victory & Justin Credible & Rhino

[soup23]

I don’t know when Francine joined up with Credible but here she is. Scotty Anton is putting the moves on her. The way they build to the face team coming out with Corino on the mic is really well done first with Dreamer, then Raven and finally of course Sandman doing his whole spiel to a huge reaction. However, after that the heels retreat and we get a LONG bit of stalling. We are legit 19 minutes into the video and no one has locked up yet. Once the match starts, it is good Southern affair with everyone doing some clown spots and a decent FIP on Sandman. Some of the work is loose and the camera work is unbelievably bad at points considering this didn’t devolve into a brawl. Weapons come in for the finale and the faces win to make everyone go home happy. **3/4

[Migs]

Francine joined with Credible the night he won the title (it's her turning on Dreamer that gets him the win).

 

Rough one to watch with my wife - shockingly, she was not into the crowd chanting "she's a crack whore" at Francine. Awkward to explain how normal that was in 2000.

 

Corino is great here, not just setting up everything but getting heat all the way through.

 

Weird to see this not devolve into a brawl quickly, but the FIP sections work reasonably well (particularly the one on Dreamer, who if nothing else at this point is a good seller). Disappointing to see Tajiri barely get into this one, though. I was also surprised the finish wasn't more over the top, but it was impressive enough as a way to put Rhino down (although why he took the fall and not Victory is odd, considering their relative positions at the time).

[GSR]

Steve Corino informs everyone that Scotty Anton suffered a broken nose last night and he’s not going to be able to compete.  Cyrus has therefore acquired the greatest wrestler that is not already part of The Network to take his place, Justin Credible.  After nigh on five years in the company the fans still lose their shit at Francine bending over and showing her ass as she enters the ring.  The faces make their entrances one at a time and those same fans are chanting for the Sandman, and expecting him, long before he arrives.  While he never slipped at the PPV, Sandman does here as he jumps down from the guard rail after chugging a beer.  There is some serious stalling going on and the crowd, who are clearly as bored as me waiting for it to do so, start a classy “show us your tits” chant.  Presumably aimed at Francine, although Anton is the one who flashes his!  Twenty two and a half minutes after the video started we finally get underway.  Dreamer and Credible trade chops which seems like just an excuse to get the fans to “Whoooo” along.  After a neckbreaker Corino and Victory are claiming of a hair pull, which is even more laughable than usual what with Credible being as bald as a coot.  Raven thinks that he’s Rick Steiner before morphing into Shawn Michaels.  This is not what I expected at all from these eight as we get some Southern tag spots such as Corino and Victory colliding into each other after a Raven drop down, a comedic ‘Test of Strength’ where Corino’s interference doesn’t pay off and finally Corino blowing himself up on a criss cross spot, continuing to run the ropes long after Raven had hopped out the ring.  The picture then goes out of focus and I don’t know if RF had to change tape but we lose some of the match re-joining it with Raven now providing commentary over the house mic.  The heels get the heat on the Sandman until those picture perfect Victory right hands fire him up.  Dreamer snap mares Jacko onto a chair, but then misses the elbow drop off the middle rope as Victory moves out the way.  As Anton grabs his hands and starts getting him to do ‘the Clap’, Jazz is out from the dressing room and beats him all the way to the back.  Tag to the Sandman who blasts Corino, Credible and Victory over the head with his Singapore cane, however Rhino ducks out the way and gores him instead.  He props up a table in the corner, charges, but is cut off by a Tajiri thrust kick.  More out of focus camera work, this time returning just in time to see Tajiri put Rhino through the table with a double foot stomp.  Singapore cane assisted Russian leg sweep through what’s left of the table and surprisingly Rhino does the job.

A completely different match to what I expected going in as I thought this would be some almighty building wide brawl, not some comedic Southern tag.  Raven especially seems to be having way too much fun out there.  Disappointingly Tajiri is barely featured, only coming in for the finish, and talking of which, I certainly wasn’t anticipating Rhino being the one to take the fall.  A fun change from the norm and one I would go higher on if it wasn’t for RF’s camerawork meaning we miss portions of this.