ktc

Dueling Chair Shots
by Kurt La Mont
column date 08/30/2000

Last weekend ECW made it's debut in Manhatten at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The first night was devoted to the Tag Team Tournament and the second was a regular taping. I believe that since there are no ECW shows this weekend the next 2 weeks of TV (4 hours) will be devoted to these two shows. If the shows come out half as well on TV as they did in person it will make great TV shows. If you do not want to know what will happen read no further.

Friday's Tag Team Tournament was a very solid show. There were many surprises throughout the show that helped make the show even better. My only disappointment in the show was the lack of the tournament producing a great match(es), especially in the finals. In the finals I was hoping for a number of near falls and there were none. Of the 10 matches I think there was only 1 match where there was a convincing near fall. The best match of the night was probably Whipwreck and Tajiri against the FBI in the first round which we would see a rematch of the next night.

Surprisingly, Jerry Lynn and Tommy Dreamer made the finals as they beat both RVD/Dreamer and Credible/Rhino. Jerry Lynn recorded the pin over RVD in the first match and over Justin Credible in the next match.

Mikey and Tajiri advanced from the second group as they beat both the FBI and EZ Money & Julio (Fantastico) Dinero.

Swinger and Simon Diamond advanced from the final group as they beat Chetti & Nova after a Chetti gaffe and then beat Doring & Roadkill with outside assistance.

Mikey and Tajiri won the tournament after Swinger and Simon first eliminated Dreamer in the finals.

Initially I had low expectations for the Saturday show. However, I have to say that this was the best show I have seen in person (or on TV for that matter) since the last Queens show, which ironically was on the exact same date one year ago (August 26). And this show was air conditioned as opposed to the steam bath at the Madhouse a year ago.

Part of the promo for this show was that all 3 titles would be defended. I didn't think too much of that since that's what you would expect. How many non-title matches have there ever been in ECW?

However, these three matches were easily the standout matches of the night. Mikey and Tajiri put the belts on the line against the FBI in the second match of the night. Their match on Friday I felt was the best one of the night and this match topped that one pretty easily in my book. While Mikey and Tajiri took it to the FBI (and if you saw the injury report you'll know what I mean), the FBI managed to squeeze out the victory with the aid of Sal E.

In addition to the title matches the other noteworthy event of the night was Chetti turning on Nova. While most people may be disappointed by this, I am glad to see it. I was hoping for a Nova singles push when The Blue Meanie left a couple years, and a couple hundred pounds ago, but then he was paired with Chetti. I think that Nova's niche in ECW will be as a singles wrestler now that he only needs to rely on himself to succeed.

The second title match was a showdown between babyface Steve Corino and the champ Justin Credible. Before the match Francine read a fax from 'The Network' that said that Jack Victory could not be ringside for the match. However, Mr. Old School himself had prepared for this and was one step ahead of the heels when he announced that in his corner would be the one and only Dawn Marie, much to the surprise and delight of the crowd. This match was the match of the night and one of the best matches of the year, if not the best so far. It had a little bit of everything in this match, including a hurricanrana by Francine that was Lita-esque, a guitar shot by Billy Corgan on Lou E that didn't break and looked sick, a cat fight, and a few near falls by Corino that had the crowd popping. A few 'Old School' chants even broke out which is something I never would have expected to hear at an ECW show. This is probably Corino's greatest match to date and has to rank up there as one of Justin's best matches.

Before the final match Cyrus came to the ring before being laid out by Paul E and his 10 pound cell phone. Rhino then gored Paul E through a table at ringside and all hell broke loose as virtually the entire lockerroom cleared and brawled outside the ring. Kid Kash's music then came on and he came to the ring to take on Rhino. With some additional help from the Sandman and RVD, Kid Kash pinned Rhino for the TV belt. Not bad for someone whose goal 4 months ago was to win an ECW lightheavyweight belt that doesn't exist.

All in all, it was a great weekend of wrestling for ECW in NYC. This is definitely must see TV if you are an ECW fan. And while this should make for great TV, witnessing ECW is even better in person. The energy and excitement of a live crowd is great. And if you're not careful (and sometimes even when you are) a wrestler is liable to fall into your lap. I almost was taken out this weekend by the Muskateer of all people, when he was thrown into the crowd during that final brawl. I tried to lay the boots into him but he wouldn't sell for my kicks that missed him by 3 feet. He'll be a heel in my book forever now.

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