The Powerdriver Review

ECW Heat Wave
July 18, 1999
Hara Arena
Dayton, Ohio

The current ECW champions were as follows:
ECW Champion: Taz (1/10/99)
ECW Tag Team Champions: The Dudley Boyz (4/17/99)
ECW Television Champion: Rob Van Dam (4/4/98)

Your host is Joey Styles.

• Chris Chetti and Nova vs. Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill (w/ Miss Congeniality)

Doring had a revelation last night and decided he would propose to his newest chick, Miss Congeniality a.k.a. Lita, and he choses the romantic atmosphere of an ECW show to do so. Just brilliant, Danny. The crowd tries talking him out of it by reminding him that she’s a crack whore with herpes, but he ignores them and slips a condom on her finger to make it official. Nova rushes the ring and goes nuts while Chetti just prances around on the rampway showing off his new cartoon pimp look. Nova hits his cool sitout belly-to-belly suplex on Roadkill while Doring goes outside to nail Chetti. Inside, Doring and Roadkill give Nova a Hart Attack. Roadkill splashes him in the corner and Doring’s BAREBACK gets two. The G-SPOT SUITE sets up a splash off the top rope from Roadkill, who’s surprisingly getting cheered. Side slam follows and Doring tags in for a springboard elbow for two. Nova slips behind Doring and delivers the SPIN DOCTOR. Chetti tags in for a scissor kick on Roadkill. Powerslam on Doring gets 1-2-NO! Nova gets involved again and hits a DDT on Roadkill and a stunner on Doring AT THE SAME TIME for 1-2-NO! Two-on-two mayhem erupts and Nova monkey flips his own partner who hits a double clothesline! Sweet! Nova puts Roadkill in a figure-four but Doring and Chetti break it up with simultaneous leg drops. Chetti plants Doring with a sitout back suplex, then connects on a double springboard moonsault! Chetti decides to completely stop what he’s doing to dance to Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” What? Here comes the recently engaged Miss Congeniality to join the party. Styles~”Danny Doring’s new rat of a wife is bumping and grinding with Chetti!” Before Doring can do anything about it, Nova interrupts the fun to ask Chetti what the hell he’s doing. Miss Congeniality takes a slap at Nova, but he ducks and she hits Chetti. Well, Chetti doesn’t like that so he gives her the AMITYVILLE HORROR. Doring finally drops both guys with a double clothesline to return this mess to an actual match. Roadkill gets kicked off the second rope by Chetti while Nova hits the KRYPTONITE KRUNCH on Doring. Roadkill takes the AMITYVILLE HORROR, and Nova and Chetti go upstairs for the TIDAL WAVE and the 1-2-3. (7:03) About as entertaining as a squash match can get. **

On a recent TV episode, ECW champ Taz comes out after a dominant victory by Tajiri and tells him he’d be honored to give him a shot at the strap. Steve Corino comes out with Jack Victory and Rhino to distract Taz, which allows Tajiri drill him with kicks. Turned out they paid off Tajiri, somehow knowing that Taz was going to offer him a title shot, which obviously makes no sense. The moral of the story is that Tajiri is now a heel aligned with Corino’s crew.

• Jazz vs. Jason

Pretty simple story here: Jazz had enough of the backseat treatment when she was helping Justin Credible cheat on a regular basis. Credible and Jason found her to be so irrelevant that they didn’t even let ring announcers mention her name. Jazz wastes no time going after him to start, but her offense has no effect. Jason catches a crossbody and slams her after patting her on the booty. Jazz avoids one move after another and hits a drop toe hold, then scores a body slam and a springboard crossbody for two. She ducks a couple kicks and hits a nice back leg sweep for another two. Jason clotheslines her, but he misses a leg drop and takes a neck snap for yet another two. After some stalling, Jason hits a hard knife-edge chop. Jazz is still dodging like Houdini but eventually runs into a dropkick. Forearm drop from the second rope gets two for Jason. A stiff low dropkick follows and Jason is getting HEAT. Jazz comes off the ropes with a crucifix for two, but Jason takes the momentum right back with a leg sweep for two. Another chop by Jason sets up an elbow drop for two. Leg drop gets two. Jazz cartwheels away and uses some karate kicks to set up a suplex. An impressive Samoan drop follows for 1-2-NO! She delivers a headbutt to the groin, then brings two chairs into the ring, sets one over Jason’s crotch, and smashes it with the other one! Gotta love the oversell by Jason there. Jazz spends too much time soaking in the pops, and Jason scores an enziguri. He tries a powerbomb on a chair, but Jazz flips free and lands the JAZZ STINGER for 1-2-3! (6:33) What, you didn’t think these two could actually wrestle? Really fun match, although the finish doesn’t really surprise anyone. **1/2

• Super Crazy vs. Little Guido (w/ Big Sal E. Graziano)

Guido starts off trying to heat it up with a bunch of yelling into the crowd and he takes Crazy down with a hand full of hair. They jump into all kinds of mat work that ends with them trading arm drags and squaring off. Guido suckers Crazy in with the handshake trick and drives a knee to the gut. Why would Super Crazy fall for that? Maybe against Tajiri or Jerry Lynn, but Little Guido? C’mon. Crazy gets whipped and tries a springboard crossbody, but Guido catches him with an armbar. Crazy ends up on the apron and snaps Guido’s neck across the top rope and hits a sweet springboard moonsault for two. Guido moves away from another springboard and scores a swinging neckbreaker for two. It turns into a brawl and Crazy corner whips Guido for the diez-count corner punches. Guido tries coming back with the same, but Crazy powers out with a powerbomb. Standing moonsault gets two. Sal grabs Crazy’s foot from outside, but it does no good as Guido runs into a backdrop to the floor. Crazy takes him into the crowd for the PPV debut of the moonsault off the balcony. Back in the ring, Crazy is distracted by Sal and Guido sneaks in for a reverse neckbreaker for two. A short chopfest ensues until Crazy delivers a headscissors and a springboard spinning heel kick for two. He tries another yet springboard move, but Guido gets his feet up and hits a guillotine facebuster off the second rope. Guido resorts to tossing Crazy outside to take a pair of splashes from Sal while he distracts the ref. He goes for the kill with the SICILIAN CRAB, but Crazy easily grabs rope. I hate when I see that. Everyone knows you set up your hold in the middle of the ring if you can help it. Anyways, Crazy leaps onto the top rope off a corner whip, but Guido school boys him down for 1-2-NO! More referee distraction lets Sal mosey in and hit Crazy with a guillotine facebuster, then Guido hits a second rope diving headbutt for 1-2-NO! Crazy tries that nip-up headscissors that never works and gets planted for another 1-2-NO! Guido goes back to the arm, but Crazy boots him coming off the ropes and hits a big DDT for 1-2-NO! He misses a springboard moonsault, and Guido stomps away to take the momentum right back. He hits some chops then scrapes Crazy’s face against the ropes. Nice to see that 80′s-ish heel move make an ECW appearance. Crazy nips up from a corner whip again and plants Guido with a Michinoku Driver. The triple moonsault series gets botched before three, but three turns out to be a surprise plancha out onto Sal! Back in, Guido avoids the third moonsault and hits the KAMIKAZEE for 1-2-NO! Back up, Guido flips through a powerbomb, but Crazy kicks him and hits a tiger powerbomb for the 1-2-3. (12:31) The usual high-workrate outing from these two that made good use of basic crowd psychology, but also had some of that choppy “let’s skip the selling so we can fit more cool spots into our timeslot” stuff.  **3/4

Cyrus the Virus joins Joey Styles on commentary as we get the big news that ECW is coming to TNN! Cyrus hangs around for the rest of the show, fyi.

• ECW Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz (w/ Joel Gertner and Sign Guy Dudley) vs. Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley

The Dudleys try to set a world record for pre-match heel heat, including accusing a woman of teaching her daughter how to give head and getting into a spit fight with her. Now might be a good time to mention that there are a brother and sister in the front row who aren’t more than 10 years old. Real good parenting. Joel “whether the ladies are home or here in Dayton, they’re watching me and masturbatin’” Gertner is wearing a cheap makeshift mask after taking a fireball to the face from Balls at the last pay-per-view. By the way, this is the last Dudley Boyz appearance on an ECW pay-per-view. Balls makes it a Dayton Street Fight so falls count anywhere in the building. Spike gets launched out onto the rampway to start. Balls hits Bubba with some jabs but ends up getting blasted with a chair. Bubba goes after Spike and runs into a run-up bulldog. Spike dashes down the ramp but gets backdropped into the ring, where D-Von comes off the top with the ring bell. Spike hurracanranas D-Von out to the floor as Bubba and Balls get inside for a while, and Balls receives the CHEESE GRATER OF DOOM! He comes back with a superkick and returns the favor while D-Von and Spike brawl through the crowd. Now Balls and Bubba also go through the crowd, and it looks like we’re watching The Blair Witch Project. Spike appears on a balcony suddenly and takes a dive onto all three guys. Back in the ring, Balls reverses a whip and superkicks D-Von. When Spike and Bubba join the fun, it gets all awkward while they coordinate one of those simultaneous move spots, which turns out to be the Dudleys hitting a pair of powerbombs out of the corners. It’s all Dudleys for a while until Spike and Balls finally slip under a pair of clotheslines and hit reverse neckbreakers for twos. A spinebusterbomb from Balls and the ACID DROP from Spike get another set of two counts. NUTCRACKER SUITE and ACID DROP combo looks like it might do the trick, but the ref gets pulled out by Sign Guy. The Dudleys try for the DUDLEY DEATH DROP, but Spike puts D-Von in a small package while Balls school boys Bubba for the double 1-2-3! New champions! (15:41) The match is immediately followed by the Dudleys going all sore loser on us and nailing both guys with the DUDLEY DEATH DROP. They set up a pair of tables and prep them for a FLAMING TABLE SPOT! The first one on pay-per-view! Too bad Bubba botches a powerbomb on Balls and his flame just fizzles out while D-Von sends Spike through the other. Out comes NEW JACK! He of course obliterates the Dudleys with some weapons and celebrates with Balls and Spike. **1/4

Tommy Dreamer comes out along with Francine. He gives us a brief ECW history lesson and announces the TNN deal while getting more than choked up, but Steve Corino, Rhino, and Jack Victory show up to interrupt him. Corino lets everyone know Tommy’s career is over from all that silly hardcore wrestling that he’s done over the years. Not like Corino, nope, he’s 24 in the best shape of his life and has no scars because he only wrestles old school like they used to do back in Memphis. Tommy rejects Corino’s demands to lay down for him, which starts an impromptu non-match. Corino beats him down into the corner, but as soon as he turns his back, Tommy pops right up and runs him over. Francine wants at him, so referee Jim Mollineaux goes down and Francine hops off his back for a Bronco Buster, then delivers a DDT for an unofficial 1-2-3! While Dreamer celebrates, Tajiri sneaks up and drills him with some kicks. Francine slaps Tajiri, so he kicks her as well. He puts Dreamer in the TARANTULA as Taz’s music hits and the next match is on…

• ECW Champion Taz vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri (w/ Steve Corino, Rhino, and Jack Victory)

Taz looks to dominate early but Tajiri handsprings off the ropes for a nice back elbow and follows up with a spinning heel kick. To the outside they go and Taz gets tossed into the crowd for an Asai moonsault. Back inside, Tajiri wants the TARANTULA, but Taz powers out with a double-leg slam. Tajiri flips free of a German Tazplex and a low dropkick gets two. He grabs a trapezius hold and a chinlock, but Taz again powers out with a uranage. Tajiri wants to outquick Taz, but he can’t avoid a Side Head-and-Arm Tazplex. Taz slows it down to be cocky, and Tajiri catches him with a sneak enziguri. That gives him time for a barrage of stomps, but he gets caught going upstairs and is taken down with an OVERHEAD HEAD-AND-ARM TAZPLEX. Tajiri low blows him to get out of a waistlock and hits a trifecta of lethal kicks for two. He nails Taz with chops, but off a corner whip he ends up on the top rope trying a moonsault, and Taz shoves him off into Steve Corino on the rampway. For some reason, Rhino runs for cover, which leaves Jack Victory all alone, so Taz pushes his wheelchair toward the ropes and when Victory runs back toward him, Taz hurls the wheelchair at his head! We’re still out on the ramp, and Tajiri scores a superkick, but his hurracanrana is countered with a sitout powerbomb. Meanwhile, Rhino sets up a table on the ramp against the ropes. Taz asks Tajiri for kicks and no-sells them. Finally, he catches Tajiri’s leg and delivers a Capture Tazplex through the table! He chases Corino away and grabs some sort of weapon, but Joey Styles is begging the production crew not to show it so they don’t get thrown off pay-per-view. Whatever, the gist is that Taz puts on the TAZMISSION and it’s over. (10:06) Taz and Tajiri is actually a pretty intriguing matchup if you ask me, but this is the second pay-per-view in a row without a real main-event style ECW title match. **

• Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs. The Impact Players (w/ Dawn Marie)

Jerry Lynn is living to prove he can beat RVD, but here he’s his partner because Sabu is still banned from all wrestling events. Even so, Sabu wasn’t too happy that RVD and Fonzie didn’t try to get him in the match anyway. To start, Credible and Lynn exchange chops and tease their finishers before Jerry lands a facebuster. Storm gets dropkicked to the floor, then Lynn catapults Credible over the ropes onto Storm! Now it’s Storm and Van Dam, which means it’s time for a wrestling lesson, kiddies. Van Dam gets a small package for a one count just to upset Storm. More grappling leads to a monkey flip by RVD, but Storm settles for kicks and punches. Van Dam tumbles and flips his way out of everything Storm tries, but Storm finally catches him with his awesome single-leg Boston crab. Van Dam misses the enziguri but connects on a side kick. Lynn tags in and it’s a chopfest. He counters Storm’s ab stretch for one of his own, then they hiptoss each other across the ring and Lynn snaps Storm’s neck on the top rope. Credible slows Lynn down from the apron, but Lynn recovers and rolls Storm up for two, but he’s kicked off right into the Singapore cane from Credible! That’ll make Lynn the face in peril. Justin tags in and sets a chair on him for the corner running knee, then a sitout powerbomb gets two. Lynn fights through another chopfest, but Storm tags in and hits a dropkick. A nice sequence leads to the nearfall-after-nearfall spot, then Storm delivers a superkick for another two. RVD should be hanging over the rope begging for a tag, but instead he’s calmly chatting with Fonzie. Hilarious. Backbreaker follows, then Credible tags in for a vertical elbow drop for two. Lynn gets whipped to the guardrail outside, then back in he takes an Outsider’s Edge for two. Storm tags in and oddly sets a chair above the top turnbuckle, Lynn reverses a whip, Storm springboards off the corner with the chair in hand, and Lynn dropkicks him on the way down! Lynn desperately needs a rest, but Credible tags in and prevents him from making a tag. Now RVD’s mood has changed slightly to where he wants to get in, but he isn’t really bothered that Lynn is taking a beatdown. Credible seems more interested in embarrassing Lynn than anything else, so Lynn scores a DDT on a chair. Storm tags in just as Lynn makes the HOT TAG TO RVD! Forearms, double underhook gordbuster, spinning heel kick, flying side kick. An inverted atomic drop sets up the backflip/chair dropkick move. Outside, Lance gets draped on the rail for a chair-assisted guillotine legdrop off the apron. Meanwhile, Lynn and Credible go at it and Lynn bulldogs Credible from the turnbuckle onto the rampway. Van Dam tries a crossbody against the rail, but it misses and he flies into the crowd. Who cares, RVD pops back up and delivers a somersault off the rail. Across the ring, Credible hits a reverse DDT on Lynn. Back inside, Van Dam wins a sequence full of reversals and hits a corkscrew leg drop on Storm, but Credible breaks up the cover. He takes Storm upstairs, but he’s shoved off right onto the chair! Ouch! Storm hits his signature flying spinning heel kick for two. Another fancy sequence ends with a leg lariat for Van Dam and ROLLING THUNDER. Credible makes the save, but RVD reverses a whip and Credible goes flying to the floor. With a chair set up, Van Dam lands on his feet off a hiptoss and drop toe holds Storm into the chair! There’s a table set up between the ring and guardrail, and Fonzie sets Credible on it, so RVD climbs up for a big leap onto him, but out of nowhere comes Sabu, and he splashes Credible before RVD can. Off camera, Storm hit something on Lynn and covers in the middle of the ring, so RVD goes for the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH to make the save, but Storm moves and RVD splashes Lynn! Storm covers Lynn again, 1-2-NO! Storm tries cracking RVD with the chair, but he misses and receives the VAN DAMINATOR! Lynn follows with the CRADLE PILEDRIVER for the 1-2-3! (21:07) Van Dam, Sabu, and Lynn all end up in an argument after the match and a big brawl ensues, with Fonzie and all the refs and security trying to break it up. This may have been a letdown after two previous RVD/Lynn classics, but it’s pretty well-orchestrated for a bunch of singles guys and full of good wrestling. Easy match of the night. ****

Final Thoughts: That main event was the standout match this show needed, because everything else is just solid enough to be passable. Despite some mediocrity in the undercard, this show is full of landmark events, even though it seems to be somewhat forgotten. You’ve got the debut of the Nova/Chetti tag team, the first balcony moonsault from Super Crazy, the first flaming table spot on pay-per-view, the Dudleys’ last pay-per-view, Steve Corino establishing his “old school” gimmick, and of course the RVD/Sabu break-up. It definitely deserves the thumbs up for workrate if nothing else, but I’ll go with only a mild recommendation.