[2000-09-07-ECW-Cleveland, OH] Chilly Willy & Sandman vs Da Baldies (Angel & DeVito)

[soup23]

Your generic Sandman brawl. Good heat, below average brawling and it usually segues into something else. The entrance of Sandman continue to get more absurd and absurd as this match doesn't start until 15 minutes into the video. Chilly Willy is an interesting wrestler in history lore as someone that had something and was over but was out of the business almost as soon as it started. I had forgotten completely about him until watching him here. Da Baldies were never my favorite generic goon brawlers in ECW and this didn't change that. **

[Migs]

Chilly Willy definitely had an odd thing. Feels like he could have gone somewhere, but Wikipedia indicates he enlisted in the military after 9/11, which would explain why he sort of disappeared after ECW. He's another guy, like Simon and Swinger, who feels like they could have been something in ECW if they'd had a real plan for them, but they sort of got into ECW too late for that.

 

This match tries to keep things in the ring for a bit, which really feels like stalling in the context of these workers. Like, there's no way Sandman and the Baldies are going to have a mat wrestling match. The work is surprisingly pretty decent in this section. The brawling is actually a bit slow, which ends up working okay in the context of a fan cam, as it makes it easier for the camera to follow everything relevant. Surprisingly rewarding as a watch because of how weird it was, but not really good.

[GSR]

A good seven and a half minutes after his entrance began, some five cans of beer later, most of which did end up down the throats of fans to be fair, the Sandman finally steps into the ring.  If the introductions hadn’t started when they did there is every chance he could still be doing that entrance now as he seemed in less of a hurry than usual.  I spoke too soon, the fans are already chanting for tables so he steps out to get one and throws it into the ring.  Da Baldies immediately toss it to the floor which leads to the Sandman disappearing to the back and returning with a ladder which he sits upon.  Over ten minutes have now passed and no action.  Chilly and Angel open with some actual wrestling, which lasts longer than expected, until the tags are made to their respective partners.  DeVito is in the face of Sandman yelling “WTF do you want?” which results in Sandman open handing him hard across the jaw.  That’s the sign for things to move up a notch.  In the surrealist of moments Sandman sits on a rear chinlock while the crowd chant “fuck him Sandman fuck him up”, anyone else even attempting that would be getting booed out the building but he can get away with it.  Chilly with a pair of clotheslines followed by the Iceman Parson flying butt attack.  He’s not paying attention though and gets clocked from behind by Angel who then distracts referee Loc so DeVito can choke Willy with the tag rope.  Willy catches DeVito with a powerslam and then makes the hot tag to Sandman.  A ‘Drunkensteiner’ on Angel at which point the match takes the route you expected going in.   Chilly throws DeVito over the guard rail into the crowd, while Sandman suplexes Angel onto an upright ladder, snapping it in half.  Da Baldies swipe their opponents’ Singapore canes but can only get a couple of shots in before stereo low blows stop them in their tracks.  Sandman with a Russian legsweep on Angel, Chilly with a Falcon Arrow on DeVito and as he makes the cover Sandman piles on for added weight to prevent the kick out.  Post-match Rhino is out and puts Sandman and Willy through a table which had been propped up in the corner and then calls out Rob Van Dam for costing him the Television title as this segues into the next match.

I remember seeing Chilly Willy in OVW and it turns out he got a developmental deal with the WWE after he’d finished military duty.  Call me a cynic but I imagine it was one of those deals where they saw someone who was a forces vet and wanted to piggyback and promote that side of him.  It never amounted to anything anyway as he was cut after just twelve months.  The match itself didn’t go as expected with the opening wresting and then the weird Sandman rear chinlock that the crowd didn’t shit on.  Eventually the brawling began and another match on this card that isn’t bad, but is hardly memorable either (six-man tag aside).

[SmartMark15]

For those wondering about Chilly Willy, he is currently residing in the Philippines helping to train the fresh batch of indie workers that took root here starting in 2014.