Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #389 – 07/10/2000

Hello You!

Well Anarchy Rulz 2000 is now in the books, and I quite enjoyed it!

We now have a new ECW World Champ in the form of Jerry Lynn, with Steve Corino supposedly next in line for a Title shot. That being said, Justin Credible and Rob Van Dam could all conceivably be in the mix too, so the next month or so of TV leading up to November To Remember could prove to be interesting.

November To Remember has always supposed to be ECW’s WrestleMania level event, but that hasn’t really been the case card wise in recent years, so hopefully this year they really push the boat out with the best card they can and then hype it up as much as possible on TV to get people interested in seeing it.

This week’s matches were taped from Salem, New Hampshire

Calling the action is Joey Styles

We open with Jerry Lynn celebrating his Title win at the end of the pay per view, followed by a backstage promo. He says he knows what it’s like to be passed over, so he’ll defend the belt against everyone. Justin Credible comes in and acts respectful, but it’s all a SWERVE as a Francine cheap shot leads to a beat down. I guess that means this feud MUST CONTINUE!

We get a video package detailing the history of the ECW World Title, where they run through all the Champions. I do always enjoy these, as they are a good way to let new viewers learn about the belts lineage, whilst also letting ECW shoehorn in footage of Mikey Whipwreck and Sandman defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Opening Match
Simon & Swinger Vs Christian York and Joey Matthews

Simon & Swinger have attacked the young lads more than once, so this issue has been heating up as a result. York and Matthews get a nice shine to start, doing tandem offence and even stereo dives. They look better every time we see them, as they’re a good young babyface team that probably would have gotten more of a push in 2001.

A Diamond cheap shot leads to the heat segment on Matthews, and that’s good as well, with nice tandem heel offence from Simon & Swinger combined with some solid face in peril selling from Matthews. York eventually manages to get the hot tag and runs wild with some good stuff. It’s been an abbreviated tag formula match this, but the work has been decent.

We get a good near fall at one stage where the faces seem to have it won, only for Swinger to hit York with the ring bell and drape Diamond on top for two. That was executed perfectly. Sadly for the faces though it’s just one last gasp show of defiance rather than the beginning of an improbable comeback, as the heels hit York with the Problem Solver (MNM’s “Snapshot” ironically) for the three.

WINNERS: SIMON & SWINGER
RATING: **1/2

Good TV match. It could have done with a bit more time, but it achieved what it needed to. ECW has a good roster of heel teams right now, of which Simon & Swinger don’t look out of place, and they continue to do a good job with making York and Matthews look like a promising young outfit without over pushing them.

We get clips of Joel Gertner defeating Cyrus at the pay per view thanks to The Sandman. We follow that with a Pulp Fiction Montage™ of Joel getting advice from wrestlers early in the day. Lou E. Dangerously gets annoyed at Joel not wanting his help and attacks him later in the show.

Main Event
Da Baldies (Spanish Angel and Tony DeVito) Vs Rob Van Dam and Kid Kash w/ Bill Alfonso

Angel stapled Balls Mahoney in the eye at Anarchy Rulz, so that is issue is now going to heat up, quite literally in fact. This is more of a regular match than a brawl to start, with the faces shining and RVD being super over with the crowd. It’s not bad either, as DeVito in particular is a sneakily good worker, so Da Baldies manage to carry their end. Kash and RVD both hit dives as we take a break.

COMMERCIAL

Back from the ads, Da Baldies are now in control of things and are doubling on Kash. At least show us a quick replay of the cut off FFS! Kash sells well and the work from Da Baldies is decent. It’s nice to see them working more of a normal match rather than just doing their regular brawl actually, as they are a solid mid-card heel duo who can hang in this sort of match, and you need those sorts of teams on a roster.

RVD eventually gets the hot tag, which is a role he works well in actually, and it gives him a chance to come in and hit all his hot moves to pop the crowd. Things break down and we get “Finisher Madness”, with everyone coming in to hit a big move for a near fall. The faces do a cool finishing sequence where Kash rana’s DeVito off the top and RVD follows up with the Five Star Frogsplash for the three count.

WINNERS: KASH & CARRY
RATING: **1/2

Another solid TV outing

Joey pushes the idea on commentary that RVD will still want vengeance on Rhino, so that feud is probably going to continue also.

In Conclusion

Nothing really advanced story wise, but it was an easy enough watch.