Hello You!
I wrote this up about a year ago as I didn’t plan I’d ever get this far in these ECW reviews. I’ve gone in and tightened some stuff up and added any additional bits I felt were necessary.
ECW made a big fuss in the build-up about how this was the first pay per view event of the new millennium, but it won’t mean much if the show itself isn’t any good.
The event is emanating from the Bouthwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama on the 9th of January 2000
Calling the action are Joey Styles and Cyrus The Virus.
Prior to the opening video, Joel Gertner comes out and insults Cyrus whilst he and Joey are doing the opening spiel. Cyrus refusing to shake Joey’s hand without applying a protective glove first is pretty funny. Joey makes sure to point out that ECW Hardcore Revolution is sponsoring the show tonight. Heck, never mind sponsoring them, Acclaim and TNN were basically keeping them in business during this period. Shame that the game itself was mince. It was just WWF Attitude with ECW guys instead of WWF ones, with a game engine that was old hat in 1997, let alone 2000.
We get the usual ECW intro: This evenings tagline is “Tonight January 9th 2000, ACCLAIM Hardcore Revolution The Video Game Presents, ECW Guilty As Charged Live On Pay-Per-View”
Opening Match
CW Anderson w/ Bill Wiles and Lou E Dangerously Vs Mikey Whipwreck
The story here was that the former Sign Guy Dudley had a mental breakdown of some sort and started dressing as Paul E Dangerously. Not merely satisfied with that though, he decided to start recruiting other lookalikes so he could form his own “Dangerous Alliance” stable. Hence we had “Beautiful” Bill Wiles in the Bobby Eaton role and CW Anderson playing exactly who you’d think. Mikey had spent 1999 in WCW, where he had got injured and then quietly left to return to ECW.
Mikey runs the heels together to start and then drop toe holds Bill right into CW’s crotch. Outside we go, where Mikey sends CW into the guardrail, but when he tries to springboard back in, Bill holds onto him, which allows CW to kick him off the apron into the crowd. Ouch! Back inside, CW goes after the arm in classic Anderson style, cutting off Mikey when he tries to make sporadic comebacks.
Mikey gets back into things with a Russian Leg Sweep and then heads up to the top rope, where he comes off with a big clothesline for two. Mikey slips out of a CW back body drop attempt and hits The Whippersnapper for the apparent three count, but Lou E drags the ref out of the ring to stop that.
Whilst the ref and Lou E argue, Bill comes into the ring and hits a big powerslam before draping CW on top. Mikey manages to kick out at two and then hits Bill with a Whippersnapper (Stunner) to take care of him. This allows Lou E to hit Mikey with his cellular phone however, which in-turn allows CW to drill Mikey with a pulsating spine buster for the three count.
WINNER: CW ANDERSON
RATING: *1/2
This was basically fine, but it was pretty short so I can’t really rate it any higher. It gave the fledgling heel stable a big win at least, which they were in dire need of after doing quite a few jobs on the TV building up to this.
Joey Styles and Cyrus hype up the title matches for later
Match Two
Simon Diamond w/ Mitch, Roadkill and Danny Doring w/ Elektra Vs Kid Kash, Nova and Jazz
Doring and Roadkill were starting to get a bit of a push here, after spending most of 1999 in minor roles, whilst Diamond was still pretty new to the company and had been doing the Andy Kaufman shtick with Jazz. Nova had been wrestling more as a single due to regular partner Chris Chetti suffering a back injury. Elektra already wasn’t long for the corner of Roadkill and Doring, owing to her legitimately hating Roadkill in real life and vice versa. Kash is actually wrestling with his jaw wired shut, which strikes me as a thoroughly stupid thing to do, but then again this was ECW and doing stupid things was kind of in vogue.
Jazz wants Simon to start, but Simon begs off and gets Doring to start instead. Doring heels it up against Jazz, but misses a charge in the corner and gets rolled up for two. Roadkill and Kash go next, as Kash runs wild with arm drags and a dropkick. Doring tries to help out, so Nova runs in to stop that and the four men brawl outside. This allows Jazz to bring Simon in the hard way, and she bumps him around for a bit before hitting the Jazz Stinger (X-Factor)
Jazz takes too long to cover however, which allows Diamond’s former bodyguard Dick to run down and drag him out of the ring. For those not au fait with this era of ECW, Dick was a big muscled up blond guy in tight pants and the fans liked to insinuate that he and Simon were overly close with one another. The joke was ultimately on the fans however as Simon was dating Dawn Marie in real life, a woman hotter than most of them could even comprehend of dating.
Simon is overjoyed by this development and quickly wraps his arms around his Dick. Kash doesn’t let this heartfelt reunion last very long however and dives out onto the two men, who proceed to barely catch him in the process. You know, if someone I was working with had a broken jaw I’d definitely go out of my way to make sure I caught them when they did a dive. Just saying.
Everyone brawls outside, whilst Nova runs through his overly intricate offense on Doring and Roadkill back inside. Joey Styles used to always complain that everyone stole Nova’s moves, but I honestly can’t think of anyone who did. I remember Mike Modest doing the Kryponite Krunch on Beyond The Mat for instance, which had to have been filmed before Nova started regularly using it and I’m sure Nova didn’t actually invent the Air Raid Crash. Anyway, Nova gets a Torture Wrack into a powerbomb on Doring, but Roadkill breaks the count at two, which allows he and Doring to hit Nova with the Lancaster Lariat of Lust (Hart Attack)
Whilst this has been going on, Jazz, Kash, Simon and his Dick have brawled to the back, leaving Nova at a one on two disadvantage against Doring and Roadkill. Nova gets worked over by Doring and Roadkill for a while and looks to be on a one way trip to defeatsville, until Chris Chetti comes down to the ring in his wrestling gear and jumps onto the apron. Nova doesn’t want to tag his injured partner in, but Roadkill knocks him towards the corner, which allows Chetti to tag himself in anyway.
Chetti runs wild with kicks and then dives out onto Roadkill. Nova and Doring follow with dives of their own, which causes the ref to get annoyed and do a dive as well for some reason. That was just weird. Elektra now decides to get involved and comes in to slap Chetti, so Chetti slams her and then licks her bum. I’m quickly losing patience with this match now. Doring lays out Chetti and brawls outside with Nova, which allows Roadkill to come off the top rope with a splash onto Chetti for the win.
WINNERS: SIMON DIAMOND, DANNY DORING AND ROADKILL
RATING: *
This started out as a standard and perfectly fine six person tag, and then ended up as a complete mess. Why on Earth was the referee doing a dive out onto everyone? There’s good chaotic and bad chaotic, and this one fell into the latter category. It just felt really bush league at points.
Roadkill has barely had his hand raised before he gets jumped by The Dupp Family, a troupe of redneck white trash. I believe one of them would go on to be Trevor Murdoch in WWE. Nova actually saves Doring and Roadkill with a chair. I think that was supposed to be Doring and Roadkill’s face turn.
We cut to a backstage promo from ECW Champion Mike Awesome and his manager Judge Jeff Jones. Awesome cuts a very goofy 80’s styled monster heel promo, which looks totally out of place in 2000 era ECW. Following on from that, we cut to Spike Dudley and his girlfriend. Awesome had attacked Spike’s girlfriend and knocked out her front teeth, so Spike is pretty mad about it. Paul Heyman, off screen, interrupts Spike mid promo to say it isn’t working for him. Spike isn’t having that though and goes on a massive tirade about how he’s going to hurt Awesome later, saying that this isn’t an act. That was a really good promo from Spike there, with some excellent intensity.
Match Three
Dream Partner Match
Yoshihiro Tajiri and ??? w/ Steve Corino Vs Super Crazy and ???
This is one of those moments where Paul Heyman was a little too cute for his own good, as Corino announces that Tajiri’s dream partner will be…Super Crazy?! So yeah, Tajiri’s partner is actually his opponent, which makes absolutely no sense and completely confuses the crowd. Little Guido then comes out, ostensibly annoyed that Tajiri didn’t pick him, and no one seems to know what is going on.
Cue Paul Heyman, who comes out and says he’ll allow Corino to pick Crazy as Tajiri’s partner, but that they’ll have to face Guido and Jerry Lynn. Why go to all that trouble when they could have just booked a Parejas Incredibles match and promoted it ahead of time? It’s not like ECW booking random stuff was unusual or anything and you might have been able to sell a couple of extra buys thanks to intrigue factor of these two teams going at it.
Guido seems happy enough to be tagging with Lynn here, and Big Sal even gives Lynn a big hug prior to the bout starting. I’ve watched enough episodes of The Soprano’s to know that Lynn should probably watch his back here. Just a hunch. Anyway, Lynn and Crazy go at it to start, with some nice counter wrestling, until we eventually get the Central American stand-off for the expected standing ovation from the crowd.
Tajiri and Guido go next, and they go straight to throwing strikes, because they’re both naughty heels and have no qualms in getting stuck in. Tajiri hits a nice handspring elbow and then unloads with some vicious kicks, which Guido sells in his usual excellent ragdoll manner. Guido replies by going to a Fujiwara arm bar, before bringing in Lynn. Lynn and Tajiri make a mess of a Tarantula attempt, but power through it like pros and get it on the second attempt.
Crazy and Guido go next, with Guido sending Crazy outside and Lynn following with a big dive. Guido and Crazy brawl into the crowd, which allows Crazy to moonsault off the bleachers onto Guido. Thankfully the camera managed to catch that spot, as it would have been depressing if it’d missed it. Meanwhile, inside the ring, Tajiri works over Lynn and sets him up for a superplex. Lynn fights off Tajiri however and brings him down with a sunset flip powerbomb for two.
Things break down, with all four men going at it in the ring, which leads to stereo ten punches from Crazy and Tajiri, which leads to stereo powerbombs from Guido and Lynn for a stereo two count from the referee. That was a really good sequence actually. Guido and Lynn hit stereo tornado DDT’s, which leads to Lynn getting a two count on Crazy. The spots keep coming, as Crazy gets a moonsault on Guido, which Lynn breaks at two. Tajiri spits mist in Jerry Lynn’s face, which allows Crazy to get a DDT for two.
For some reason at this point, Guido turns on Lynn and hits him with the Tomikazee/Unprettier. That really came out of absolutely nowhere, with no real spot to set it up. It wasn’t even like Lynn hit Guido by accident or refused to tag him or something. They’d been working perfectly fine as a team all match and looked like they had a good chance of winning, only for Guido to lay Lynn out and cost himself the match. Tajiri kicks Crazy down and the hits Lynn with a brain buster to pick up the win.
WINNERS: SUPER CRAZY AND TAJIRI
RATING: ***
That was turning into a really fun tag match there until the abrupt swerve. I wouldn’t have minded if the swerve had actually made some kind of sense, but it came out of absolutely nowhere with no build up or warning. It’s not inconceivable that the heel Guido would turn on the face Lynn, but it makes no sense that he’d cost himself the match like that without some sort of inciting incident first. At least with Tajiri turning on Crazy it was obviously because he wanted to hog the glory by pinning Lynn himself, which makes sense.
Corino, Tommy Rich, Jack Victory (High Spot!) and Tajiri attack Lynn post-match and Corino calls out Dusty Rhodes, who makes a surprise appearance to lay everyone out with Bionic Elbows, to a ridiculously big reaction from the ECW crowd. It still baffles me that the “too cool for school” ECW smark crowd lost their minds for Dusty like that. Before Dusty can bludgeon and destroy all of the heels by himself however, Rhino runs down and jumps him, which allows the rest of the heels to put the boots to him. The rest of the locker room runs down to help Dusty, not before Corino takes the opportunity to steal his hat. That was a pretty great angle actually, and led to Corino drawing actual heel heat as opposed to just cheap heat. That reaction for Dusty was really something to behold though.
We cut to a promo from New Jack in a stairwell somewhere. He says that no one in ECW has angered him as much as Angel and Da Baldies have, including The Dudley Boyz, Mustafa and even Public Enemy. He says that he’s taking out Da Baldies one at a time, and then tells a story about a friend of his stabbing him in the bottom back in the day. That was actually a really good promo. Say what you want about New Jack, but the nutter could cut a promo!
Match Four
King of the Streets
New Jack Vs Spanish Angel w/ Tony DeVito and Vic Grimes
The story here was that Angel had been continuously getting the better of New Jack thanks to his gang of “Baldies” always running interference for him. P.N News and Big Vito had also been members of the gang, but they’ve been run off and there’s only three left now. King of the Streets isn’t an official title or anything, and it’s more about respect and street cred.
Sadly I’m watching this on WWE Network, so Natural Born Killers is dubbed out, as well as Cyrus’ commentary as they always seem to get Joey Styles to re-record the commentary for the New Jack matches. If you’ve seen one New Jack match, you’ve seen them all, as he clobbers Da Baldies with an assortment of weaponry. Tonight’s weapons include a mailbox, a vacuum cleaner, a cheese grater and what looks like the hood of a car.
Angel doesn’t really do much in reply to New Jack and essentially just gets battered, which was par for the course in this feud. I get what they were going for here, with Angel really being all talk and just hiding behind his heavies, but it would have been nice if they’d at least tried to make him come across as some sort of threat to New Jack in a one on one situation. I guess we didn’t see Stringer Bell get his own hands too dirty in The Wire, but wrestling is a bit of a different dynamic.
Eventually Angel can take no more and looks finished, which is the cue for DeVito and Grimes to try and come to their bosses rescue. New Jack fends them off with reasonable ease, although you can see he’s already having issues working with Grimes, which is something that would carry more significance at the next pay per view event. Grimes and New Jack fight out into the crowd, where Jack follows his usual M.O by jumping off something high to put Grimes through a table.
Angel finally manages to get some stomps in on New Jack as he lies in the wreckage of the table and drags him back to the ring. It looks like Angel might finally get some actual heat on New Jack, but Jack foils him once again and looks to staple him in the eye, like Angel did to him previously. However, DeVito comes in to take the stapling for his boss, which allows Angel to hit New Jack with a snow shovel to defeat him once again.
WINNER AND KING OF THE STREETS: ANGEL
RATING: ???
I honestly have no idea how to rate that. It was really just three blokes getting hit with weapons by another much angrier bloke. There were no wrestling holds, no transitions and no real story telling either. It was just New Jack destroying Da Baldies until he slipped on a banana peel. It held my attention at least, but I can’t really rate it.
We cut to Bill Alfonso backstage. Rob Van Dam and Sabu are facing each other tonight and Fonzie manages both of them, so he does a promo with both of them to show that he’ll be calling it right down the middle.
Match Five
ECW Television Title
Champion: Rob Van Dam w/ Bill Alfonso Vs Sabu w/ Bill Alfonso
The story here is that Sabu has promised that he will leave the company if he can’t beat RVD tonight. Sabu and Van Dam were former ECW Tag Team Champions and had been aligned for nearly 3 years at this point, so this was the final blow off to that storyline. Van Dam had held the TV Title since April 1998 and was coming up to the two year mark. We see that RVD’s wife Sonya is in the crowd following a gnarly Jet Ski accident in 1999 that had left her in real rough shape.
We start things off with a slug fest, which ends with Sabu kicking RVD out of the ring. Well that took all of 45 seconds before they started brawling I think. Outside the ring, Sabu launches himself off a chair and squishes RVD against the guardrail. Back inside, Sabu works over RVD and gets a big slingshot leg lariat for two, but misses a somersault leg drop, which allows RVD to reply with a cartwheel somersault splash.
RVD heads up top, but Sabu pushes him off and he goes flying face first into the guardrail. Sabu throws RVD into the front row and then follows with a big dive into the crowd. Back at ringside, Sabu tries to set up a table, which gives RVD time to recover and cut him off. RVD lays Sabu over the guardrail now and follows with a corkscrew leg drop off the apron. This match has been all action so far, and they’ve been hitting all their spots as well.
RVD hits yet another dive to the outside, this one a forward flip, and takes out Sabu once again. Not to be outdone, Sabu catches RVD when he tries coming back into the ring and follows up with a big sunset flip powerbomb to the floor. With both men outside the ring, Sabu puts RVD onto a table and then drives off the top rope to put him through it. The fans are going absolutely nuts watching this and I don’t blame them as it’s been a thrilling spot fest thus far. I just hope that they don’t run out of steam.
Fonzie comes into the ring now and gives both men chairs, continuing to call it down the middle, which leads to a chair duel. RVD wins that and tries to throw his chair at Sabu for the Van Daminator, but Sabu catches it and flings it right back at him, before locking in a Camel Clutch. This is supposed to be a submission tease, but the fans don’t really buy into it, so Sabu lets go and drops a leg to RVD’s back instead. Sabu goes for another leg lariat, but takes the referee out in the process. Sabu follows up with a Triple Jump Moonsault on RVD, but there’s no ref to count.
Sabu hits a Triple Jump Leg Drop instead and makes another cover, which gets two from the revived referee. Sabu grabs a chair and heads up top with it, but RVD sprints over and kicks the chair right into his face for a double down. In a cute spot, RVD throws the chair at Sabu again, who catches it and ducks thinking that a Van Daminator attempt is coming. RVD pauses however and waits for him to stand up, before delivering the kick to complete the move.
I loved that as it showed that both men know each other so well that they’re both thinking 2-3 moves ahead of one another. RVD heads up for the Five Star Frogsplash, but Sabu gets up in time and fights him up top. Sabu goes for a rana from the top, but RVD holds onto the ropes to block it and then follows with a lovely split-legged moonsault for two. Heck of a near fall there. Some of the fans actually chanted that they f’ed up there, but it clearly looked like the planned spot to me.
Fonzie comes into the ring with a chair again and stands between both men, who both ask for the chair. Fonzie can’t decide what to do, so RVD makes the decision for him by kicking the chair into his face to take him out of equation. Sabu goes for a Triple Jump Splash, but RVD holds up the chair to counter and follows with the Five Star Frogsplash to pick up the win.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: ROB VAN DAM
RATING: ***1/2
I found that to be an exhilarating spot fest, with great looking spots that hit, good tight near falls and an interesting story with Fonzie not being sure who to help. I liked this way more this time around than I did in the past. Sabu was indeed done with ECW after this match, but did the right thing on the way out and put RVD over in a good match.
Post-match, we get a handshake from both men to end that chapter of their careers, although Sabu also flips RVD off despite shaking his hand.
We get an interview from Lance Storm and Justin Credible ahead of their tag team title shot tonight. Storm says he and Credible are younger and better than the champs and will win the titles tonight.
Match Six
ECW World Tag Team Titles
Champions: Tommy Dreamer and Raven w/ Francine Vs The Impact Players of Justin Credible and Lance Storm w/ Jason and Dawn Marie
Storm and Credible had been a team since early 1999, and hadn’t really had a proper shot at the belts prior to this. Raven and Dreamer were taking part in Paul Heyman’s favourite booking trope of “tag team champions who hate each other” with the storyline being that Francine was starting to feel sympathetic towards Raven, despite being Dreamer’s squeeze at the time. Speaking of Francine, her outfit is as close to classy as she was going to get in this era, but Dawn Marie still trumps her.
Credible and Storm clear the ring to start, but make the mistake of mugging for the camera, which allows Raven and Dreamer to get back in and jump them. Outside we go for some brawling (Yes, I’m as shocked as you are) and the fight moves over to the entrance way, where Raven and Dreamer fling the challengers off the stage through the merchandise tables. Back inside, Dreamer gets a slingshot splash onto Storm for two.
Raven and Dreamer shine on Storm with some nice double teams, but a Credible distraction allows Storm to clock Dreamer with a super kick for the cut off. Credible and Storm work over Dreamer for a while, as Raven tries to rally the crowd. Credible steals Raven’s drop toe hold into a chair spot, and then flips him off for good measure. Dreamer uses that move as an excuse to blade (Not that he normally needed much of an excuse) and fights out of a chin lock with a neck breaker for the double down.
Heel miscommunication sees Storm super kick Credible by mistake, which allows Dreamer to drag himself along the ropes so that he can make the tag to Raven, although he actually fell out of the ring before making contact with Raven’s hand. The ref doesn’t seem to mind however and Raven comes in to run wild, but it doesn’t get the reaction you’d expect from a hot tag due to them fudging the tag itself.
Jason tries to interfere with a chair, but Raven sees him coming and rubs his snot rag in his face. Credible takes a drop toe hold into a chair, whilst Dreamer baseball slides a chair into Storm’s face. Credible gets Raven with a Tombstone Piledriver, but Raven is able to kick out at two. Dreamer sends Credible outside, but this allows Storm to attack him from behind and hit a lovely piledriver for two.
Storm tries to suplex Dreamer out of the ring through a table, but Dreamer brings him back in and then back body drops him out through the table instead. This brings in Francine for the “Cat Fight, Cat Fight, Cat Fiiiiiiiiiiight” spot, which sees Franny give Dawn the bronco buster for a big pop. Credible tries to avenge Dawn by hitting Francine with the Singapore cane, but Raven pushes her out of the way to take the brunt instead. This allows Credible to hit another Tombstone for the titles.
WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: JUSTIN CREDIBLE AND LANCE STORM
RATING: **1/4
This was fine, but also felt a bit abrupt considering it was essentially the semi-main of the pay per view.
Steven Prazak(He’s still working for ECW at this stage?) is in the car park with Steve Corino and his stablemates. Corino says he doesn’t care about the legend of Dusty Rhodes and that he thinks Dusty is a piece of crap. Rhino lays out a challenge for the winner of the main event.
Main Event
ECW World Title
Champion: Mike Awesome w/ Judge Jeff Jones Vs Little Spike Dudley
Awesome attacked Spike’s girlfriend to set this one up. Spike had been getting a pretty sizeable push on ECW TV in the build up to the show, beating much bigger men in matches to plant the seed that he might have a chance of winning here. Spike sets up a number of tables around ringside in preparation for some attempted vengeance. He then grabs a microphone and calls Awesome a pussy, before demanding he come down to the ring.
Awesome wastes no time taking things to the extreme, by gorilla pressing Spike from the ring through one of his own tables. Spike bravely drags himself back into the ring, only for Awesome to fling him out again through two more tables. Hot Take: Spike Dudley was one hell of a bump machine! Awesome sends Spike into the crowd and then follows with a big running dive, as Joey is now requesting that the referee end the match. Cyrus is not having that though and demands that Joey shut up.
Back inside, Awesome hits a big slingshot splash onto Spike, but Spike is able to kick out at two despite getting destroyed. Awesome nearly takes poor Spike’s head off with a big clothesline and then calls for an Awesome Bomb. Spike fights off the move however and rana’s Awesome to the outside, where he follows with a dive off the apron and an Acid Drop onto the guardrail. Spike unloads with some stiff chair shots to Awesome’s back, but he looks to have hurt his knee doing one of the dives.
Spike tries a suicide dive, but he gets caught up in the ropes. Thankfully he’s okay however and hits a rana off the top onto Awesome, only for the champ to no sell it and flatten Spike with an Ultimate Warrior like clothesline and splash combo for two. Spike keeps fighting and comes off the top rope with a double stomp before spearing Awesome through the ropes to the outside. Outside the ring, Spike goes to hit Awesome with a chair, but the champ kicks it into his face and delivers a chair shot of his own. Spike thankfully got his hands up to block that somewhat.
Awesome then dives from the ring into the crowd onto Spike. Scarily he slips on the wet floor when he lands, but thankfully he doesn’t crack his head open on the concrete. Stuff like that is going to happen if you do multiple crowd brawling matches on the same show I guess. Spike is now bleeding and looks to be finished, but Awesome isn’t done and tries to Awesome Bomb him off the apron. Spike manages to fight out of that however and hits the Acid Drop off the apron through the table instead. This is one heck of a match!
Spike starts choking Awesome with a television cable and then adds some more chair shots, including one from the top rope. However, Awesome is outside the ring, so Spike isn’t able to make a cover. Spike manages to get Awesome back inside and goes for the Acid Drop again, but Awesome is able to block it this time and flings Spike out of the ring through a table. Awesome decides we haven’t seen quite enough tables yet however, and puts Spike through one more with an Awesome Bomb from the top rope to finally finish things.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: MIKE AWESOME
RATING: ****
That was one amazing performance from Spike Dudley there, as he took an unbelievable amount of punishment in an effort to have the best match he possibly could. Awesome looked like an absolute monster by hitting all his big moves and dives, but Spike was the one who held this together with his constant selling and scary bumps. All it was lacking really was a proper near fall for Spike, as he got Awesome with plenty of big moves but was never able to cover him in the ring. Spike getting a super close two count from something like a victory roll was all this was missing really. Aside from that, it was absolutely the best possible match you could get from these two in such an environment.
Awesome and Jones celebrate for a quick moment before the show abruptly ends. Maybe they were running low on signal time perhaps?
In Conclusion
Early 2000 is an interesting period for ECW, as there seemed like a genuine chance for the company to kick on thanks to the TNN and Acclaim deals, but behind the scenes things were not rosy with TNN at all, so much so that it would soon get turned into a storyline with Cyrus featuring prominently.
I found this show to be an easy enough watch, coming in at just over 2 and half hours, with some decent matches and a really good main event. If you want to get a better idea of why people liked ECW so much back in the day, you’re probably best off checking out one of their better pay per views like Heatwave 98 or Anarchy Rulz 99. That being said, there’s enough good stuff on here for me to feel happy recommending it, even though there are better ECW shows out there.
I’ll see you all next week for all the follow up edition of Hardcore TV!