Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!
We’ve got another ECW show this week, as I’ve only ever seen the Main Event for House Party 1998 previously, but I was intrigued to see the rest of the show as some of the matches on the card sound like they might be fun.
Our Main Event is Sandman and Sabu trying to do better than their horrid match at November to Remember 1997 when they battle in a Stairway to Hell match. On the under card we’ve got Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa and The Great Sasuke coming over from Japan, so the show should have an international flavour to it.
You can view the card by clicking below;
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=387&page=3
The event is emanating from The Arena in Philly on the 10th of January 1998
Calling the action is Joey Styles
Opening Match
Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido, Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich) Vs Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney and The Innovator of Violence Tommy Dreamer w/ Beulah
Kind of a random match for Dreamer to find himself in. The gag with The FBI is that none of them aside from Guido are actually Italian but they pretend they are. Guido has a trophy of some kind with him that Joey alludes to during The FBI’s entrance. Axl Rotten is of course a fake Englishman as he claims he’s from Newcastle, although his accent certainly isn’t a Geordie one. Joey does at least reference that during Axl’s entrance.
Rich cuts the usual cheap heat promo to start, saying that the trophy Guido has is the World Six Man Trophy. Hilariously Rich declares that The FBI defeated the Von Erich’s to win the trophy and then defended it against The Freebirds a couple of weeks later. Smothers adds that they also defeated The Russians as well as Dusty Rhodes and The Road Warriors. I notice they didn’t manage to defend the trophy against Giant Baba, Mitsuo Momota and Rusher Kimura though. Pfft, amateurs. Anyway, the crowd suggests that Rich cease speaking, although they do so in a less polite manner of course.
That was a fun promo, but there’s been a LOT of filler here for an opening contest. Finally about 12 minutes into the tape the bell rings to signify the beginning of this here opening contest. The FBI had been feuding a bit with Balls and Axl, so this was just continuation of that. Axl adds ANOTHER promo, as we’re nearly 15 minutes into this tape and no one has actually made contact yet. That all being said, stalling and cutting promos is probably the best use of most of these guys when you take age, injuries and other stuff into consideration.
Guido and Dreamer eventually do some wrestling, and it’s quite fun as Guido is a solid worker and Dreamer is over with the crowd. The babyface trio works a shine on The FBI and its entertaining stuff for the most part, as The FBI were a decent opening match act around this time and the Arena crowd is into the babyfaces. The work is okay as well, so it’s a good opener once the actual wrestling starts. It’s a very southern styled match in a lot of ways, what with the babyfaces getting the elongated shine and the Heels stooging around for them, but the Arena crowd buys into it.
Eventually Rich manages to get a cheap shot in on Dreamer, which would appear to signify the beginning of the heat segment, especially when Rich gets some further cheap shots by using the Italian flag. However, that’s instead the cue for things to break down into a brawl, with Heel referee Jeff Jones running down to throw white powder in the face of Axl (Hey, make your own jokes, I’m typing here) which would seem to make Axl our Punk in Peril for the evening. Axl does sell that well for the most part and The FBI has good chemistry as a team, so this is a decent heat segment.
Balls eventually gets the hot tag and things break down, with Balls body slamming all of the Heels. Dreamer goes after Heel ref Jones, which leads to Jones breaking up the pin when Dreamer has Guido down from a DDT. Beulah comes into the ring to clobber Jones right in his magistrates court though and that leads to the referee assigned to contest, Jim Molineux, to get a DDT on Jones and make a cover(?). Beulah counts the pin and, by wacky ECW logic, that means the babyfaces win.
WINNERS: BALLS, AXL & DREAMER
RATING: **
Thoughts: Normally I’d complain about a finish like that but the fans went wild for it, so it would seem churlish to complain about it. For a comedy opener this had a decent amount of actual wrestling once the entrances and pre-match promos were over with. I had fun with it, although I can see the finish angering some. Dreamer did have Guido pinned at the same time at least
Rich cuts another Heel promo post-match and explains that the Six Man trophy wasn’t on the line. The babyfaces are unmoved by this.
Match Two
ECW World Tag Team Champion Mr. No Gimmicks Needed Chris Candido Vs Dynamic Jerry Lynn
Candido was currently Tag Champs with Lance Storm at the time, but they weren’t getting along, because that was Paul Heyman’s favourite booking trope. Lynn had been wrestling for quite a while prior to this, with spells in the GWF and WCW being his most notable career chapters. It took a while for him to get over in ECW due to years of bad booking elsewhere, but by the middle of the year he’d begin a hot feud with Justin Credible that would see both competitors elevated by the end of it.
This one has some solid wrestling in the early stages, as both wrestlers are technically sound and can also work at a quick clip, meaning there is good action. Candido also does a good job riling up the crowd in the early stages, so the match has reasonable crowd heat as well. It’s quite back and forth in the early going, with Lynn getting plenty of offence and Candido making him look like a viable opponent whilst also getting his own stuff in.
Candido eventually cuts Lynn off by countering a leapfrog into a Powerbomb and works some heat, with Lynn selling it well and making sporadic attempts to fight back in order to show he’s still alive in the contest. Lynn eventually makes the comeback and Candido takes some nice bumps for him. Lynn busts out the big dive off the top rope into the crowd onto Candido at one stage, which gets the expected big pop from the Arena regulars.
Sadly Lynn then botches a dive off the apron into the crowd by hitting the metal railings, earning him the dreaded “you messed up” chant. Although the fans do then applaud when it’s revealed that Lynn survived the ordeal. Candido’s left arm is braced, meaning that Lynn leg drops it back inside and then applies an arm bar OUTTA NOWHERE for the upset submission victory.
WINNER: JERRY LYNN
RATING: ***
Thoughts: I actually didn’t know who was going to win this match coming in and they kept me guessing at points. I thought Candido would pick up the win in the end so the finish took me by surprise. The finish was a bit out of nowhere but it at least showed that a finish could come at any time. The match itself was good, Lynn’s botched dive aside, and it was nice to see the clean win in order to actually elevate someone
Candido gets attended to by medical personnel following the match and shows Lynn respect when Lynn checks on him.
Match Three
Gran Hamada Vs Gran Naniwa
Hamada is a legendary Japanese wrestler who became a big star in Mexico and whose daughter, Ayako, became a wrestler as well. Naniwa is a crab themed wrestler who sadly passed away young in the 00’s. Both of these wrestlers called Michinoku Pro home and ECW had a good relationship with that company at the time. Naniwa actually has his real M-Pro theme here in a nice touch. Credit to ECW for actually having real hometowns for these guys as well rather than just using the generic “From, Japan” that you saw so often during this timeframe.
It sounds like some idiots in the crowd chant “USA” prior to this one starting, which is a bit disrespectful seeing as the Japanese guys stole the show at the Barely Legal pay per view the previous year and Hamada was in that match. There are also some “boring” chants mere minutes into the match. Joey annoys me also by acting like Naniwa was in the Barely Legal match, when he was actually replaced by another wrestler because he couldn’t make it.
Thankfully some of the Arena crowd aren’t absolute cretins and get into the match, which features some decent wrestling. Hamada gets a wonderful leaping snapmare at one stage and then follows it up with a big body press to the floor. That snapmare seemed to defy gravity. Naniwa is deliberately trying to work Heel here, which is an interesting tact, but I guess he felt it was worth leaning into the catcalling the two were getting so that Hamada could get some pops for beating him up? Naniwa even spits at Hat Guy at one stage.
Naniwa is a good Heel actually, which he may have done quite a bit in Japan but I’m not entirely sure as I haven’t seen a lot of his work outside of bits here and there. Hamada is someone I’ve seen a bit more of, although I should really hunt down more of his stuff in Mexico where he was a big star. Naniwa continues to work over Hamada in heelish ways, including the ring post Figure Four, some arrogant posing before stomping on the leg and the crab walk elbow.
Hamada eventually makes the comeback, countering a clothesline off the second rope into a Fujiwara Arm Bar at one stage. We get some decent near falls, although they sadly botch the finish when Naniwa doesn’t kick out on time. Hamada still gets a rana off the top following that and a second three count, as I guess the language barrier played a part there. I’m not sure if Naniwa didn’t get the kick out in time or if the referee didn’t get his call right, but the finish didn’t go how it was supposed to at any rate.
WINNER: GRAN NANIWA
RATING: *1/2
Thoughts: They focused more on doing a clear Heel Vs Face match here rather than just doing hot moves, which made sense considering the indignant nature of some of the crowd. It was a tough situation to be in for them but they did their best. I’d like to give some of the folks in the crowd a hearty raised eyebrow of disapproval though, as they never gave this match a chance to begin with and it led to a toxic atmosphere for most of it, even though the wrestling was mostly fine. I do sometimes defend the ECW fan base, but the Arena crowd around this timeframe was starting to get a bit entitled and it showed in matches like this. I think the crowd reactions threw them off a bit and it hurt the match
Some of the crowd then standing up and applaud both wrestlers following that, as I ponder what a bizarre place to wrestle the ECW Arena could be sometimes.
Match Four
Amish Roadkill w/ Chastity Vs Al Snow w/ Head
Roadkill was still a rookie who had recently graduated from Taz’s wrestling school, whilst Snow had recently found Head and was starting to get it over. Snow’s entrance to “Breathe” by The Prodigy whilst the crowd waves Styrofoam heads around and weird camera tricks try to make it look like a rave is going on is a good example of ECW could still feel counter-culture and cutting edge even after the WWF and WCW had pinched most of their concepts.
Roadkill didn’t have his white shirt with suspenders look yet, as Joey mentions that Roadkill is replacing Paul Diamond tonight, but he did have the makings of his Amish beard going on. The repackage made him stand out a bit more, as here he just looks like a generic indie guy. Roadkill gets an offensive flurry to start, with his stuff looking okay if generic. Paul Diamond tries to help out, as it turns out he isn’t injured at all, but Snow manages to fend Diamond off and then clobber Roadkill with Head.
Chastity gets involved and the crowd wants Snow to undress her, as this is starting to get more than a bit uncomfortable. Snow settles on just giving Chastity a Northern Lights Bomb instead and then clocks Roadkill with the Head a couple of more times before allows Head to get the winning pin, which is allowed because ECW.
WINNER: AL SNOW
RATING: ½*
Thoughts: Impressive crowd heat aside, this was a whole lot of nothing from a wrestling perspective
The fans fill the ring with their heads following that. I totally get why you’d try pushing Al Snow seeing the sort of reactions he was getting here. The Head really was an incredibly important aspect of him fitting in during the Attitude Era as “crazy guy who speaks to an inanimate object” is a character anyone can easily understand and works in any era if executed with the level of commitment Snow would display.
Match Five
Justin Credible w/ Jason and Nicole Bass Vs The Great Sasuke
Paul Heyman loved Credible and saw him as a big prospect, so they’ve brought in Sasuke here in order to give Credible a rub. Credible had defeated Sasuke towards the tail end of 1997, so Sasuke has asked for revenge here. Bass was a Chyna-like muscular woman gimmick, but Chyna did it better and was the more enduring character as a result. It wasn’t like it was a new concept as Baby Doll did it with great success in the 80’s of course.
Interestingly they play up to the idea that Bass is Jason’s boyfriend here, even though Jason is dressed in such a manner as to make George Michael look straight. Jason and Bass then share a smooch, which of course Joey is prepared for with a serious of jabs at Jason’s expense. Sasuke plays up the revenge aspect of the bout by starting things at a quick clip and flinging Credible out to the floor for a flipping TOPE CON HILO.
I like how Sasuke didn’t try doing lockups or whatever to start. He hates Credible in storyline and wants some payback, so he immediately attacks Credible straight from the bell and tries to beat him up. That’s good storytelling. We actually get some crowd brawling, which Sasuke would do during his big feuds in Japan, including a wild senton off the top rope onto a sitting opponent sometimes, so it’s not like this is out of character for him and it adds to the grudge match feel they want this bout to have.
Sasuke appears to be targeting the arm and shoulder of Credible, possibly with the idea of injuring one of Credible’s limbs. Credible sells all of that well and Sasuke applies some nice holds in order to try and injure the body part. If the match with Dirtbike Kid taught us anything, it’s that Sasuke could put a real beating on you if he wanted to, so I totally buy that he could batter Credible like this. The only critique I’d give it is that there are periods where Credible is sitting in arm bars and whatnot that would be an instant submission if used in MMA, so it looks phony that he could survive them.
Sasuke busts out the Space Flying Tiger Drop, but Jason then provides a distraction and that leads to Sasuke missing a follow up dive attempt and injuring his knee in the process. Credible viciously attacks the injured appendage, complete with chair shots and ramming it into the ring post. Notably Sasuke was going after Credible’s arm legally with holds, whilst Credible isn’t even entertaining the notion and is going straight to weaponry, because he’s a despicable Heel who isn’t man enough to work over the body part legally. That’s a nice contrast between the two.
Sasuke sells well whilst Credible goes after the leg back inside the ring, with Credible displaying a killer instinct. I think with Credible they possibly tried to move him up the card too quickly, as they’d spent a couple of years booking him like this in the undercard and mid-card I think he might have gotten over more organically, as he was a solid worker who knew how to get his Heel character over. I like how Credible utterly dedicates himself to being a bad guy in a company like ECW where the Face/Heel divides could sometimes be blurred.
Credible continues to destroy Sasuke’s leg, including laying it on a chair and delivering some splashes. Sasuke eventually dodges one of the splashes and makes a one-legged comeback, selling the limb well and allowing it to effect his performance. Sasuke stupidly heads up top with his bum wheel and of course misses, which allows Credible to catch Sasuke with a Tombstone Piledriver straight afterwards for the three count.
WINNER: JUSTIN CREDIBLE
RATING: ***
Thoughts: This was a good match, with them doing a solid job of getting across the heated nature of the rivalry with Sasuke coming straight out of the blocks looking for the victory and Credible viciously trying to take out his opponent’s leg with assorted weaponry. It was nice to see the clean finish as well, with the idea being that Sasuke had one big move left in him and when it didn’t work he was easy pickings for the three count. The only change I would have made is that I would have gone the whole hog and had Credible either win by submission or referee stoppage
Credible and Jason put a further beat down on Sasuke following the match, with Credible even trying to unmask Sasuke at one stage. Gran Hamada eventually runs down to try and help Sasuke, only for him to get beaten up as well. Eventually the locker room empties and the Heels bail, with Joey mentioning how Credible has essentially taken out the two top babyfaces in M-Pro in one fell swoop. You’d think the payoff here would be Credible going over to Japan for an M-Pro tour and returning the favour, but that didn’t ever appear to happen.
Match Six
The Beast From The East Bam Bam Bigelow Vs Mr. Monday Night Rob Van Dam w/ Bill Alfonso
Bigelow’s gimmick at the time was that he’d fling guys into the crowd so that they could be bodysurfed by the crowd, whilst RVD was doing the Pro-WWF gimmick at the time whereby he was working on the sly for Vince McMahon against the resident ECW wrestlers. These two would go on to have a great match in April for the TV Title and they worked surprisingly well together considering their differing styles, which is shown here as well.
Bigelow flings RVD around in the early stages, getting the better of things in close quarters and just generally giving RVD a battering. RVD tries to use his speed and keeps his distance whenever he can, but Bigelow is usually able to find a way past RVD’s defences and inflicts some serious pain whenever the opportunity allows. RVD eventually manages to give Bigelow a head scissors into the metal railings, before mugging to the camera in his usual cocky manner.
RVD obviously did a lot of exciting high flying offence and that played its part in getting him over, but what also helped was that he actually had a character to go along with it as well, with his arrogance and showboating being a great accoutrement to his exciting big moves. We see that here as RVD dives out onto Bigelow in the crowd a few times before stopping to taunt when he gets back into the ring. It works well as a strategy as well, as it makes up for the size difference between the two as RVD is quick enough to just keep diving out onto his opponent until Bammer is significantly weakened and RVD can actually get a period of control back inside the ring.
Bigelow eventually makes a comeback and tries a senton splash off the top, but RVD is able to dodge it. Parts of this match have been kind of sloppy, but elements of it have worked well and it’s felt like a fight at points, which RVD matches didn’t always feel like as he was more into the acrobatic side of things rather than the brawling aspect. Things get a bit messy in the closing stages, with RVD supposedly catching the ref with a Van Daminator and not the referee, although it looks like he got Bammer as well and he just shrugs it off.
Bigelow destroys RVD with the chair, which brings in Chris Candido to attack Bigelow as they were feuding at the time. Sunny runs in to protect her boyfriend Candido, leading to Bigelow teasing that he’s going to deliver the Greetings Frim Asbury Park to both Sunny and Francine. ECW World Champ Shane Douglas runs down to make the save however, which leads to RVD getting a flying kick and the Five Star Frogsplash onto the distracted Bigelow for the three count.
WINNER: ROB VAN DAM
RATING: **1/4
Thoughts: This had some good parts to it, but some of it was pretty sloppy and the finishing sequence was pretty messy. Still, there was some enjoyable stuff in there amongst the bits that didn’t really work, as RVD and Bigelow tended to have better chemistry than you’d think they would
Joey Styles does the Hardcore TV opening in the ring. Joey welcomes the ECW World TV Champ Taz down to the ring for some promo time. Lance Wright, someone else doing the Pro-WWF gimmick at the time, joins us and gets goaded into the ring by Taz. Wright takes the mic and says that he’s recruited Too Cold Scorpio for a match with Taz tonight.
Match Seven
ECW World Television Title
Champ: The Human Suplex Machine Taz Vs Too Cold Scorpio w/ Lance Wright
Scorpio was actually working for the WWF at the time but they’d let him wrestle on some ECW shows seeing as they weren’t really doing anything with him. Taz at the time was defending the TV Title and was trying to start a narrative that his belt meant more than the ECW World Title. Joey ends up doing the ring introductions and announces Scorp by his ECW name and not Flash Funk, which annoys Wright no end. Cute gag. Scorp then lays out Wright for good measure.
They do some nice stuff on the mat to start, trading holds and whatnot, until upping the pace, leading to Scorp coming off the apron with a clothesline. Taz actually gets the Alleyoop/Tori Bomb at one stage by flinging Scorpio backwards with a Powerbomb, and it looks pretty great. They fight outside on the floor for a bit, because ECW, and it’s solid brawling. Honestly I think they might have been wiser to just keep it in the ring, as we’ve already seen crowd and ringside brawling tonight and keeping a match mostly in the ring as technical battle would have made it feel different.
A chair gets involved inside the ring, leading to Scorpio giving Taz a bulldog onto it before getting a Powervomb and heading up with a big splash for two. That was a nicely executed near fall and showed how Scorpio could run the gambit of styles by doing hardcore, power and high flying moves in a three move sequence. Taz manages to snap off a T-Bone Suplex OUTTA NOWHERE to bring Scorpio’s period of control to an end and then suplexes Scorp from the apron into the ring.
Some of these suplexes from Taz have looked really brutal, but thankfully Scorp appears to have survived them all. We get some more back and forth between the two in the closing stages, with Scorpio getting a delightful looking Moonsault at one stage for two. It was like Scorp hung in the air briefly before landing the move there, it was incredibly graceful. Scorp follows up with the 450 Splash, but he doesn’t go for the pin and that allows Taz to regain his footing and catch Scorpio with the REDRUM straight OUTTA NOWHERE for the submission win.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: TAZ
RATING: **3/4
Thoughts: This was a fun outing. Scorpio was still a bit rusty working the ECW style and that’s why it didn’t quite reach the level it might have done, but it was a solid effort from both wrestlers and I enjoyed the match overall
WWF wrestler Doug Furnas runs down to attack Scorpio following the match, leading to Taz making the save. Brakus runs down following that, leading to he and Taz having a brief skirmish. Ultimately Taz and Scorp are left standing tall whilst the WWF guys are led away by Wright. Taz then puts Scorpio over on the mic.
Semi-Main
The Dudley Boyz (Buh-Buh Ray, D-Von and Big Dick) w/ Joel Gertner and Sign Guy Dudley Vs Da Gangstanators (The Original Gangsta New Jack and Eliminator John Kronus) and Little Spike Dudley
The Dudleyz had run both Jack and Kronus’ partners out of ECW, so they have united in order to take them on. Spike was always feuding with his half-brothers in ECW as well, so his inclusion makes sense here. D-Von cuts a promo to start where he insults a crowd, leading to them suggesting that he might be a tad bit overweight, although in a less polite fashion of course. D-Von gets part of his promo bleeped out as well, so he must have said something REALLY gnarly there.
Gertner states that as The Dudley Boyz defeated The FBI at one stage, it is in fact THEY who are the liner Six Man World Champions and The FBI are just pretenders. I notice that Akitoshi Saito, Kishin Kawabata and Masao Inoue weren’t mentioned as one of the teams The Dudleyz defeated, so I find it quite presumptuous that The Dudleyz could pronounce themselves as linear Champions. The gag where Gertner proclaims that D-Von is actually a Cruiserweight during introductions is always great.
This is the usual New Jack match, in that everyone hits one another with weapons whilst “Natural Born Killaz” plays over the sound system. Weapons tonight include a plastic bin, a crutch and what I think was an Atari 7800, but don’t hold me to that one. If that sounds entertaining to you then you’ll probably be entertained by this. If it sounds like something you’d hate, then you’ll probably hate this. New Jack is very much wrestling Marmite.
New Jack gets handcuffed to the ropes at one stage and gets cheese grated by Buh-Buh, but he’s cuffed in such a way that he can’t be pinned, so The Dudleyz have kind of played themselves there. Spike makes a bit of a comeback with the Acid Drop onto both D-Von and Buh-Buh, but Big Dick manages to block it and flings Spike through a ringside table. That leaves Kronus essentially on his own against The Dudleyz, but he holds his own relatively well and heads up with a 450 Splash on Big Dick for two.
Sign Guy gets involved and finds himself on the wrong end of a 450 Splash as well. Gertner tries rescuing Kronus, but he gets beaten up as well, as there is human wreckage all over the place in this one. Kronus gets shoved off Big Dick into a Buh-Buh Cutter though for two, which would have been a better near fall if it hadn’t taken a long time to set up, thus making Kronus look dumb for falling for it. Kronus keeps kicking out of pin attempts whilst New Jack is unable to help and Big Dick takes care of Spike outside the ring. 3-D follows to Kronus and that’s three.
WINNERS: THE DUDLEY BOYZ
RATING: NEW JACK MATCH
Thoughts: The Dudleyz taking out each babyface individually until it left Kronus all by himself and he eventually got worn down by pin fall attempts was a bit of a different spin on these sorts of matches and it was entertaining for what it was, but there was nothing here to make anyone who doesn’t like this style of wrestling enjoy this bout to any real capacity
Main Event
Stairway to Hell
Sabu w/ Bill Alfonso Vs The Sandman
These two had one of the worst pay per view matches in ECW history back in November 1997, so they’ve got a chance to redeem themselves here. There’s barbed wire hanging above the ring, and if you use the ladder to grab it then you can use it. I think this was the third official singles match meeting between them. The first one had been a no contest when Sabu threw fire at Sandman, the second had seen Sabu winning, so this is Sandman’s chance to finally get a win over Sabu.
This is a better match than the pay per view one in November 1997 because it’s less built around them setting up a series of intricate spots and more about them trying to destroy one another with a series of weaponry. What spots they do go for, such as Sabu diving out into the crowd onto Sandman, mostly go off without a hitch. As a result, it’s a brawl that flows better than the pay per view bout and the two wrestlers do a better job of making spots land when they try them.
They fight over to the stage area at one point, which sees Sabu setting up a table and putting Sandman on it before leaping off the top of the stage with a leg drop. The ref has followed them out there, which would seem to suggest that falls count anywhere, but Sabu doesn’t try for a pin there and Sandman is soon back up fighting again, which kind of minimises the big move we just saw, especially as Sabu executed it perfectly. Still, I guess that’s an issue that comes with these sorts of matches sometimes.
We see that some tables have been set up at ringside whilst the two wrestlers brawled in the crowd, which Joey explains as being something Bill Alfonso arranged. Sandman flings the ladder into the crowd onto Sabu at one stage, and thankfully the fans scattered enough that it didn’t land on any of them as well, as the last thing ECW needed at the time was yet another lawsuit to go along with the load of them already had on the go.
We eventually do get a botched spot at one stage, as Sandman puts Sabu on some tables and then tries to leg drop Sabu through them by jumping off the apron. However, Sabu ends up falling between the gap of the two tables and neither of the tables break as a result. Undeterred, Sandman sets one of the tables up between the ring and railings alongside the ladder and then leg drops the head of Sabu through the table part of his unworldly contraption of pain. I’m guessing that might have hurt Sandman a bit more than Sabu, but it certainly looked and sounded impressive.
Sandman manages to successfully retrieve the wire following that, but then Sabu knocks the ladder over and Sandman goes flying off through two tables at ringside in another big spot that was executed correctly. Sandman annoys me again though by essentially shrugging that big bump off and taking control again when he dodges a follow up Sabu attack. Sabu comes up with a bleeding jaw following that, but he still manages to wrap Sandman’s head in the wire and then follow that up with a chair assisted dropkick.
Sabu even uses a pair of scissors as a weapon at one stage, but Sandman is able to dodge a Sabu attack in the corner, leading to Sabu going flying into the barbed wire. Sandman hits Sabu with a stiff shot from his Singapore cane following that, leading to Alfonso taping up Sabu’s jaw and chin. Sabu tries coming off the top with an Arabian Facebuster, but Sandman seemingly dodges it and then clobbers Sabu with the Singapore cane once again for the three count, complete with barbed wire being wrapped around Sandman’s head.
WINNER: THE SANDMAN
RATING: **1/2
Thoughts: A lot of the spots here looked great, as their execution was far sharper here than it was at November to Remember 97. However, some of the selling was almost non-existant and it took away somewhat from the big spots to see guys taking car wreck bumps and then being up a few seconds later because it was time to do another spot. If they’d spaced the spots out a bit better and sold them properly, then this could have been a really dramatic and exciting contest. As it was, it was an impressive spot fest but none of the spots were ever really given time to sink in, meaning the overall match quality suffered. Still, this was an actual match at least and not the absolute disaster the match at November to Remember 97 was.
Sandman is a bloody mess following that, but he raises his cane and leaves victorious.
In Conclusion
There’s some decent stuff on this show but there’s nothing that breaks the *** barrier by my watch and there are better shows from this era you can watch. Living Dangerously from March 1998 is hardly an amazing show overall, but it has a great Bigelow Vs Taz match and an entertaining wild hardcore match with The Dudleyz, Balls/Axl and New Jack/Spike. Those two matches alone are better than anything you’ll see here, so if you want an ECW show from the early months of 1998, then I’d recommend going for that event rather than House Party 1998.
Not a recommended show
