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Colling It In The Ring: ECW House Show 12/27/1996

September 28, 2015 | Posted by Bob Colling
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Colling It In The Ring: ECW House Show 12/27/1996  

Extreme Championship Wrestling House Show
Date:
12/27/1996
From: Dowington, PA

Opening Contest: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Chris Candido: Early on, Whipwreck nails Candido with a dropkick and sends Candido over the top with a hurricanrana as they both go to the floor. Mikey sends Chris into the crowd and tosses Candido into the railing. Whipwreck hits a slingshot somersault dive from the ring onto Chris in the crowd! Back in the ring, Candido drops Whipwreck across the top rope gut first and focuses his offense on Mikey’s midsection. Candido hits a vertical suplex and delivers several leg drops followed by an elbow drop for a near fall. They trade several pin attempts with neither man getting a three and Candido nails Whipwreck with a quick clothesline. Candido drives Whipwreck down with a slingshot back suplex but Mikey kicks out at two on the cover. Mikey comes back with a springboard cross body but Candido quickly comes back with a clothesline.

Candido runs into a big boot in the corner and Mikey plants Candido with a tornado DDT and a backdrop. Whipwreck continues with a head scissors but only gets a near fall. Candido stops Mikey with a low blow. Whipwreck hits a northern lights suplex for a two count. Candido heads to the top rope but is crotched by Mikey. Whipwreck hits a top rope hurricanrana but Chris gets his boot on the bottom rope. Candido crotches Mikey on the top but is backdropped off the top rope! Mikey gains footing on the top and hits a crosss body but Candido rolls through and pins Whipwreck! (***. This is one of the better opening matches I’ve watched on an ECW house show. The action was pretty much non-stop and kept my interest throughout. I really enjoyed the bout.)

Second Contest: Balls Mahoney vs. Louie Spicolli: The fans appear to be behind Spicolli 100% here, which would be a drastic change come 1997. Spicolli hits a backdrop and dropkick early on to send Mahoney to the floor. On the floor, Spicolli knee lifts Balls and whacks Mahoney over the back with a chair. Spicolli hits a snap suplex but can’t get a three count on the cover. Mahoney misses a cross body attempt and Louie gets a near fall with a leg drop. Mahoney fights back with a spinning heel kick sending himself and Spicolli over the top to the floor. Balls uses a chair on Spicolli on the floor to maintain control of the match. Spicolli hits an impressive German suplex after avoiding Balls in the corner. Balls gets out of an inside cradle and clotheslines Spicolli. Mahoney comes off the middle rope to punch Louie on the groin. Spicolli hits a middle rope superplex and both men are down on the canvas. Spicolli drops Balls several times with clotheslines and heads to the top rope. Mahoney punches Louie in midair to regain momentum in his favor. Balls misses a middle rope leg drop as Louie moved out of the way. Louie ducks a clothesline and hits a Death Valley Driver for the win. (*1/2. There wasn’t much going on here. Spicolli is an underrated talent and showcased some good stuff here. Mahoney was pretty much just a guy in there to make Louie look good.)

Third Contest: The Bad Crew vs. Bubba Dudley & Spike Dudley: At this point, Bubba is the happy go lucky Bubba Dudley who has a big grin on his face most of the time. Hardly the riot-inducing character he would be years later. As for the match, it is more of an extended squash match with Spike leaping off of Bubba’s shoulders to hit a big splash and get the win. Spike got some really good air on the dive, too.

Taz comes out with Bill Alfonso calling out Sabu. Taz calls Sabu a coward and wants him to come out to the ring for a confrontation. Sabu runs to the ring but is held back by several officials and wrestlers.

Fourth Contest: The Gangstas vs. D-Von Dudley & Axl Rotten: As it had to be expected with the wrestlers involved, this match is just a brawl with various weapons while New Jack’s theme continues to play during the brawling. Jack tried to piledrive D-Von through a merchandise table but the table couldn’t hold their weight and thus they just collapse, but the fans don’t care. Most of the time these matches go a long time, but this time around it was kept fairly short and less than ten minutes. Jack pinned Rotten after hitting Axl with a metal weapon from the top rope.

Fifth Contest: GQ Gorgeous vs. Stevie Richards: GQ Gorgeous is actually Chris Chetti, who was trained at the ECW school. Joel Gertner came out as his manager. Gorgeous wears a mask during the match as if to protect his good looks. Gorgeous misses a top rope leg drop and Richards gets the win following the Stevie Kick.

Sixth Contest: ECW World Tag Team Champions The Eliminators vs. Sabu & Rob Van Dam: Van Dam and Saturn kick off the title match. Van Dam takes Saturn down to the canvas early on to get the early advantage. Saturn comes out of the corner and Van Dam hits a backdrop. Van Dam monkey flips Saturn but misses a springboard cross body and the champs get control as Kronus tags in. Kronus decks Sabu on the apron and scoop slams Van Dam followed by a somersault leg drop for a two count. Van Dam power bombs Kronus and here comes Sabu for the tag. Sabu hits a springboard heel kick on Kronus to keep control of the bout. Saturn enters and connects with a good huricanrana on Sabu. Saturn also hits a scissors kick after Kronus kicked Sabu in the midsection. Kronus takes Sabu over with an arm trapped suplex for a two count.

Kronus kicks Van Dam on the apron and brings Van Dam into the ring with a suplex. Van Dam ducks a kick and nails John with several kicks and strikes. Van Dam botches a springboard cross body as he didn’t get enough spring on it. Kronus casually power bombs Van Dam and Saturn runs over Sabu with a clothesline. Saturn drives Van Dam down with a sit out vertical suplex. Sabu and Van Dam hit a double slingshot leg drop on Saturn for a two count. Sabu and Van Dam hit springboard heel kicks on Saturn. Van Dam nearly wins following a rolling thunder splash. Saturn gets a two count on Sabu following a fisherman suplex. Van Dam has a chair and hits Saturn from the apron. Saturn gets kicked to the floor by Sabu who follows up with a triple jump dive to the floor. Van Dam takes Kronus and Sabu out with a somersault dive over the top to the floor.

Saturn takes everyone out with a springboard cross body. Saturn power bombs Van Dam and heads to the top to hit an elbow drop for a two count as Sabu uses a chair on Saturn. Sabu hits a triple jump moonsault but only gets a two count. Kronus rams Van Dam face first into the chair as the fans are chanting they want blood. Saturn hits a big splash off the top but Van Dam kicks out at two. Kronus power bombs Van Dam across the top rope and Rob drops to the floor. Van Dam comes back with a slingshot leg drop from the apron. Sabu enters and dropkicks Kronus on the knee and sends John to the floor. Sabu takes Kronus out with a suicide dive on the floor and places Kronus on a table. Saturn prevents Sabu from hitting a triple jump moonsault with a kick. Saturn hooks Sabu on the apron and slams Sabu through the table on the floor! Kronus gets kicked off the top rope by Van Dam. Van Dam follows up with a slingshot leg drop across the apron. Van Dam hits the Five Star Frog Splash but Kronus kicks out at two. Van Dam gets nailed with several kicks but Sabu breaks up the cover. Total Elimination on Van Dam and that’s good enough for the win. (***. It’s mostly just a spot fest with some brawling thrown in, but the fans were into it completely and it was an enjoyable encounter.)

Seventh Contest: Brian Lee vs. Pitbull #2: Lee tosses Pitbull around using his chain to hang Pitbull over the top rope. Pitbull uses the chain to toss Lee over the top and they brawl on the floor with Lee being sent into the railing. Lee backdrops Pitbull over the railing into the crowd where Lee rams Pitbull head first into the wall. They have gone outside brawling with the fans going nuts that they’ve gone outside. Lee hits Pitbull over the back with a trash can as they return to the building. Lee puts Pitbull through a table with a suplex. Lee clotheslines Pitbull but only gets a two count as they have returned to the ring. Lee leg drops Pitbull with a chair and whacks Pitbull over the back with the chair. Pitbull avoids Lee coming off the top with the chair but runs into a big boot. Pitbull no sells it and is clotheslined. Lee hits a middle rope clothesline and sets up for a choke slam but Pitbull crotches Lee on the top turnbuckle. Lee fights back but Pitbull hits a middle rope fallaway slam for the win. (1/2*. The match wasn’t good with the ending sequence coming across horribly planned. The only highlight was that they brawled outside, but they didn’t do anything out there, anyway.) After the match, Lee is a poor sport and attacks Pitbull. Lee grabs the referee and hits a choke slam.

Eighth Contest: ECW World Champion Raven vs. The Sandman: Raven comes to the ring with Sandman’s wife and son. Sandman tosses his wife down to start the match and Raven whacks Sandman several times with the kendo stick for a one count. Raven sends Sandman to the floor and backdrops Sandman through a table on the floor. Sandman sends Raven into the broken piece of table. Sandman folds Raven into the table and Sandman comes off the apron to hit an elbow drop. Raven drop toe holds Sandman face first into the chair and continues to deliver several chair shots for a two count. They go back to the floor where Sandman sends Raven into the railing. Sandman whacks Raven with a chair on the floor to maintain control of the match. Sandman uses a piece of railing to whack Raven over the head. Raven sends Sandman into the railing that is setup against the apron. Raven kicks Sandman back in the ring and sets a chair up in the corner.

Sandman sends Raven back first into the chair but Raven quickly comes back to kick Sandman and maintain control of the title match. Sandman sends the champ again back first into the chair. Sandman low blows Raven but Tyler gets in the ring and screams for his Dad. Sandman and Tyler embrace, but Tyler slaps him and Sandman goes to spank his son, but Raven hits a DDT! The Blue World Order makes their way to the ring to confront Raven. Sandman spits beer in Raven’s face and Raven decks the referee and the BWO while blind, but doesn’t hit Richards. Richards shoves Raven and Sandman nearly wins with a rollup. Sandman is met with the Stevie Kick and Raven pins Sandman. After the match, Richards says he saved Raven again and notes that Raven will have to defend against him sooner or later. (**. It’s a fine match between the two, but the finish didn’t seem like a good way to go. The angle with Tyler and Lori makes the feud really interesting and using Tyler here was effective.)

Main Event: ECW Television Champion Shane Douglas & Francine vs. Tommy Dreamer & Beulah: They tease Francine blowing Douglas, which I’ve never understood. The tape goes dark for a second and we see Douglas hitting Dreamer over the back with a steel chair, so I don’t know how much action was missed. Douglas scoop slams Dreamer and Francine delivers a leg drop, but Dreamer rubs her face into his groin. Francine misses a slap and hits Douglas on accident to allow Tommy to get a near fall. Francine chokes Dreamer while the referee is distracted. Douglas takes Dreamer down with a delayed vertical suplex. Douglas taunts Beulah to tag in but she is standing on the floor instead of the apron. Douglas continues to work over Dreamer with basic strikes. Douglas plants Dreamer with a piledriver for a two count. Douglas continues to control the match with a leg drop and taunts the fans and Beulah. Shane takes Dreamer down with a gut wrench suplex and continues to taunt Beulah, who enters the ring and walks over Dreamer to get in Shane’s face. She decides to tease Douglas with oral sex and low blows the champ. Dreamer atomic drops Douglas and hits a power slam for a two count.

Dreamer comes off the ropes to hit a swinging neck breaker but Douglas kicks out at two. Dreamer plants Douglas with a DDT but only gets a two count thanks to Francine putting Shane’s boot on the bottom rope. Dreamer brings Francine into the ring and holds her for Beulah to enter for a cat fight. Douglas low blows Dreamer from behind and grabs Beulah. Dreamer rolls Douglas up from behind for a two count and clotheslines Douglas. Dreamer has Francine for a piledriver, but Douglas makes the save attempting a belly to belly suplex but Tommy counters with a DDT for the victory! (**. I have no idea how much of the match was missed, but from what was viewable, the match was fine and entertaining for what it was.)

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7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
There were several filler matches on this card, but there were a few good matches that made the show very easy to watch for me. It comes in just under three hours, but the action, even if it isn’t all that good, is at least covered up with hardcore action making it easier to get through. I’ll give the show a mild thumbs up, though there isn't anything you have to see.
legend

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ECW, Bob Colling