The Furious Flashbacks – ECW Fan Cam 11/11/00 Poughkeepsie, New York

The Furious Flashbacks – ECW Fan Cam 11/11/00 Poughkeepsie, New York

Scott Hall in ECW? It happened.

This is totally random. It just happened to be sitting on my desk so in it goes. It’s an RF video release so I’m guessing it was something Feinstein shot himself. It looks like a home video.

PROMO TIME – Scott Hall. Oh yeah, Hall in ECW. Just walking through the curtain gets him a massive ovation. He’s fresh off being fired by WCW and had nowhere to go. The crowd is really happy to see him there and the cheers go on for ages. “…hey yo”. And they pop huge. He talks about how he knew Paul Heyman for years and decided to come in here and wrestle his old buddy Justin Credible. This brings out Blue E. Dangerously or whatever he was calling himself at the time. It’s Sign Guy Dudley doing his best Paul Heyman impression. He runs his mouth and the crowd wants Hall to fuck him up. Dangerously books Hall in a match right now against Big Sal E. Graziano.

Scott Hall v Big Sal w/Little Guido/Tony Mamaluke

“You fat fuck” – the patient and tolerant ECW fans. Hall offers a handshake and Sal crotch chops at him. Hall crotch chops right back. It’s like Flair-Steamboat up in here. TOOTHPICK~! Crowd goes nuts for that. Sal wants a DQ for the foreign object. This might be the very definition of fun crap and they’ve not even locked up yet. Hall gets knocked on his ass a few times and looks a little out of shape. Big Sal isn’t anywhere near shape so you know this isn’t pretty. Sal gets punched a few times but Hall can’t pick him up for a slam. The Italians make a point of cheating and getting in cheap shots when Hall is down. Sal lumbers around and he’s badly blown up already. Hall picks him off with punches and just barely manages a slam. HALLAMANIA IS RUNNIN’ WILD! Crowd chants “holy shit”, which I think is sarcastic but it’s hard to say. Guido jumps in there to take a bump Fallaway Slam style but Sal saves Mamaluke from the Razor’s Edge. Sal wants to splash Hall to finish and that’s what they ACTUALLY book at 5.15. Hey, I’m as surprised as you! ½*. Well it was crap but what did you expect? Biggest win of Sal’s career. Dangerously books Hall against Credible later on anyway. I can think of a lot of guys I’d have chosen to put over Hall before Big Sal.

POST MATCH Joey Styles and Joel Gertner are out here to introduce the show. Joey abuses one of the fans for spelling Larry Zbyszko’s name wrong on his sign. “You’re the same illiterate moron that was out here last time”. Joey pulls no punches on house shows! Crowd rabidly chants “ECW” loudly while Joey introduces the name of the show. It’s Hardcore something or other. Gertner’s promo involves nailing Al Gore’s daughters. Classy. They bring out Justin Credible & Francine for an interview. Francine moans about the lack of title belt around Credible’s waist. Say what you like about Credible’s wrestling ability but in ECW he did at least have a really cool entrance. Francine pokes her arse into the camera during Credible’s promo where he whines about not having the title despite pinning the champion; Jerry Lynn. Crowd get on his case. He doesn’t seem interested in wrestling Hall tonight because his only priority is winning the title.

Mike Bell v Michael Shane

Shane would now be known as Matt Bentley. He’s Shawn Michaels’ cousin and therefore uses some of HBK’s patented moves. He’d just got into ECW and probably would have become a star there if the promotion hadn’t closed its doors early the following year. Bell is a jobber. Shane looks particularly green but is still better than the majority of Indy spot guys so the crowd like him. Especially after he hits a suicide dive inside of 30 seconds. Get the crowd on your side! Bell does a pretty cool backbreaker into a fallaway slam to show off his power advantage. Chokebomb gets 2. Bell is trying REALLY hard here. He heads up top but Shane moves. Shane’s flying forearm needs work. Shane escapes a powerslam but the superkick is caught and Bell sets for a powerbomb but Shane counters out into a springboard elbow smash, which looked shit, and that gets the pin at 3.05. *. Good effort from both guys. They were clearly out to try and win the crowd over but were already losing them after three minutes that had no real flow. Of course that’s nowhere near long enough to establish anything.

Hot Commodity (EZ Money/Chris Hamrick/Julio Dinero w/Elektra) v Unholy Alliance (Mikey Whipwreck/Yoshihiro Tajiri/Super Crazy w/Sinister Minister)

Hamrick gets himself triple dropkick sandwiched from the off. Ouch. You know at least one of them made contact. Double flapjack with a springboard bulldog from Hamrick on Crazy followed by the Washing Machine gets 2. I can see this is going to somewhat spotty. Mikey wants chairs and there hasn’t been anything approaching tag team wrestling so far. Money & Dinero get chairs dropkicked into their heads from both sides. Crazy hits a Yakuza kick on Dinero but then accidentally dropkicks Tajiri. Money does that slingshot clothesline and Hamrick adds a leg jam for the pin? No, really at 3.54. Well, that was…brief. *. Very rushed considering those involved. When you think about how little money Paul Heyman had by this point you’d think he’d want to milk his best talent for as much as possible.

POST MATCH Tajiri is pissed about the finish and slaps Crazy. Mikey tries to play peacemaker. Crazy hits back. Oh, now you done pissed him off. Everyone wants to see a fight so it’s on. Fuck it, ECW did have that deal where if they teased something they’d damn well do it. No pissing the fans off here. It’s such a radical change from WCW.

Tajiri v Super Crazy

Of course they’ve done this match so many times they could probably wrestle the spots in their sleep. Tajiri is surprisingly lucha-esque with a lot of armdrags before the handspring back elbow. Mikey is still trying to play peacemaker but he’s also entertained by this. Tajiri pulls out a table and kicks Crazy in the head twice. See, that makes the setup on the table more legit because Crazy has to be stunned by those kicks. Then Tajiri double stomps him through the table off the top rope. Crazy is in no mood to sell that shit and kicks out. He just jobbed to a fucking leg drop. Definition suspension of disbelief there. Now Crazy wants some table revenge. Mikey is still trying to reason with Crazy to no avail. Crazy’s set up for Tajiri is just to gently place him on the table, which is less believable before he moonsaults him through if off the apron. Well, they’re certainly keeping the crowd entertained. Tajiri gets the mist but sprays the ref with it by mistake. Like you need a ref bump in ECW. Mikey runs in and gives Crazy the Whippersnapper. Tajiri kicks Crazy in the head for the pin at 5.54. **1/2. Well that was fun albeit brief.

Billvis Wesley/The Prodigy v Danny Doring/Roadkill

Weird seeing the Prodigette (Angel Orsini) dancing to Elvis Presley on the way out here. They also have young boys for some reason. Wesley used to tag with CW Anderson in the New Dangerous Alliance as Billy Wiles. He’s a fat guy with sideburns who’s now adopted an Elvis gimmick of sorts. It doesn’t really work because he’s not living it. Wiles runs some comedy where he complains of a hair pull, he’s rocking a buzz cut, and then shows the ref a waistlock that he objected to. The latter gets him called a “faggot”. Especially when he runs for cover around the Prodigy’s waist. “You suck dick” claim the local rabble. Prodigy is a guy called Tom Marquez who ECW trained. Roadkill bounces him around with relative ease. Powerslam sets him up for Doring’s leg jam. Wiles jumps in there and gets beaten up again. These guys suck. Doring hits a dive wiping out both heels and their, for the lack of a better word, valet. Doring goes after the young boys for good measure. They go for the Hart Attack but Doring eats a chair shot from the floor. Roadkill goes after Prodigette leaving Doring open to a kicking from the entire squad of assorted villains. Heat on Doring follows for a while but he has enough left to hit the Bareback on Prodigy. Hot tag to Roadkill who cleans house. Formula tag in ECW, who’d have thought it? Roadkill picks off the young boys but that brings in Prodigette. The faces pile up the heels on top of Prodigette in the corner and Roadkill splashes them all into a serious comedy gay sex position. This finishes with Prodigette falling into a 69 on Marquez. Buggy Bang, on Prodigette, finishes at 8.43. Yep, they won by pinning the valet. **1/4. Good formula stuff capped off with amusing sex position comedy psychology. Not sure how legal that finish is though.

Oh, and you KNOW Doring busted out the sex pin. It’s like a law or something. Pin a girl in a match and you have to simulate sex. Prodigette looked like she was having fun.

POST MATCH the FBI run out here and kick Doring & Roadkill’s collective asses. They were feuding over the tag straps at the time. Big Sal gives Doring a haircut to put heat on the PPV and give Doring a lousy, but cheap, new hairstyle. Then they trim Roadkill’s beard as well for some serious heel heat. This ended up being a major talking point going into their PPV match and showed why they badly needed a TV show to show this stuff on.

We cut to New Jack signing stuff at Intermission. He points out he’s getting paid for this. In ECW? Makes a change I guess.

Little Guido w/Tony Mamaluke/Big Sal v Nova

I just can’t look at Nova anymore without thinking “Simon Dean”. Kinda sad. They run some pre-planned stuff to start with leading to Nova springboarding into the Fujiwara armbar. Ropes save him. Jawbreaker sets up the bicycle kick. Nova is going a hundred miles a minute here but there’s no focus at all. He fakes Guido out with the 619, which brings Mamaluke in to lariat him on the blindside. Guido tries to tap him with an armlock again. Sal trips Nova up when he gets out the Sicilian Slice gets 2. Mamaluke just strolls in there to help double team. Rules? What rules? They counter standing into a Nova version of the Flatliner, which he invented and called the Novacaine. Mamaluke has the referee distracted though so it only gets 2. This is all horribly rushed. It feels like they’ve just done 10 minutes worth of stuff in three minutes of time. Nova goes mental and stomps Guido down before blowing a step kick for 2. Somebody fucked up there. Nova heads up top but dives on Sal & Mamaluke instead to stop them interfering. Guido looks for the Kiss of Death but it’s countered into the Kryptonite Krunch for the pin at 4.46. Wow, did they ever cram a lot into that five minutes. *3/4. Guido was smooth, Nova less so but regardless they had fun and never stopped moving. A little too spotty for my liking.

POST MATCH the FBI put the boots to Nova. Crowd want Spike Dudley for some reason. Was he tagging with Nova then? I think he might have been. It’s Doring & Roadkill that make the save though in revenge for the barber work moments ago.

ECW title – Steve Corino (c) w/Jack Victory v Jerry Lynn

Corino just won the belt in a match involving Lynn who’d waited a long time for his short run. I guess the money is in the chase. The introductions are interrupted by Dawn Marie…yowser. Didn’t she turn on Corino? Lynn smacks Corino around with the title belt and yikes that looks painful. Lynn exposes the floor and then slams Corino on it. The crowd are bloodthirsty shouting encouragement like “fuck him up Jerry” and “throw him on the fuckin’ ground”. Yep, it’s an ECW crowd alright. Out comes Cyrus bringing the ringside participants to three. Lynn with a backbreaker and Corino looks hurt. That looked pretty painful actually. Either Lynn is working a little stiff or Corino is selling great. They run an ugly powerslam spot that looks blatantly set up. I hate telegraphing when it leads to a move. When it leads to a reversal its fine. Like when Lynn sets too early moments later and Corino catches him with a suplex. Ref is bumped. Some idiot in the front row is just shouting “boring” on his own. Another ref runs down here but it’s the heel ref and he’s got a chair. Corino superkicks it in his face though perhaps suggesting he doesn’t want to win that way. Lynn DDT’s him on a chair for 2. Credible is out here with the Singapore cane making it four guys at ringside. He canes BOTH wrestlers as to be impartial. Lynn is bleeding making it a bit of a switch to the usual blood from his opponent, which was probably on purpose. The ref’s pile in there to check on a tiny cut and Jack Victory is in the ring to hold Corino back. What? This is ECW! A world title match stopped for blood? Lynn gets led backstage and the crowd hates this. Corino runs the fans down saying they like him when he’s bleeding but that’s it. He reminds them he’s the champion. He says he doesn’t care who he faces because he doesn’t fear anyone from any company. He pretty much invites anyone to come out here and take him on, which brings out The Sandman. It’s just never a good idea to issue open challenges in ECW. Oh *1/2 for the match, which got cut short for a bullshit finish. Sandman actually takes SIX minutes just to walk from the crowd to the ring. Corino backtracks on his earlier statement claiming he didn’t mean he wanted a fight…tonight. Merely at some unnamed later date. But he totally would have if he hadn’t just wrestled Jerry Lynn and he has an injured appendix, which previously put him out of action for ten years. Corino appeals to Sandman’s kindness and compassion and points out his little boy Colby is watching. Lay it on thick Steve. Sandman spits beer at him, so he can’t be a real alcoholic, and Corino takes it personally dropping the comedy persona. Sandman canes him and we have an impromptu match.

Sandman v Steve Corino

No announcement so I assume it’s not for the title. Sandman looks drunk. Yeah, another shock in a string of them. “Watch his appendix damnit” – Jack Victory. Corino tries to crawl away from the match while Sandman beats up Jack Victory. Feinstein goes all pussy on the coverage by running up the ramp. Corino is dumped on the rail and Sandman blows a legdrop off the ropes. That was messy. Sandman goes backstage. Victory celebrates. “High spot”. But he was just going to get a length of guardrail to use as a weapon. Corino gets suplexed on it…for 2. The rail gets set up again and this time Corino is whipped into it. Sandman pulls out a ladder for additional hijinx and bulldogs Corino on it for 2. Slingshot hilo with ladder gets 2. Sandman goes for another ladder spot but gets reversed and superkicked…for 2. Sandman has another spot in mind though and is back up and suplex Corino onto the rail for 2. He’s now bent it back into shape but that doesn’t stop another suplex on the rail for 2. Sandman goes to his trusty cane and nails Corino in the head with it marking the second time he’s felt that tonight. Third if you include Credible’s cane. Corino does a great job of blocking the White Russian legsweep into the Old School Expulsion and that finishes at 9.43. **. Surprisingly strong. Sandman stuck to his strengths and only blew the one spot.

POST MATCH Joey Styles & Joel Gertner head back out to run down a few select fans. Joey is particularly vicious to one kid and the crowd appreciates it. Joey does another intro for Hardcore TV, which suggests this was a TV taping. Gertner can’t do another promo though because Simon Diamond has a problem. He also has CW and Swinger in tow. Diamond seems to have heat with Joey who bails as soon as the heels hit the ring. He doesn’t like Joey, or Joel, because they’re not wrestlers. Gertner points out they’re on TV as if that wins the argument. Joey cuts a killer promo on how Simon is a curtain jerker. Joel brings out Matthews & York to face the heels but he’s not done because there are three guys in the ring so out comes Tommy Dreamer as well.

Tommy Dreamer/Joey Matthews/Christian York v Simon Diamond/CW Anderson/Johnny Swinger

Dreamer makes this falls count anywhere thus eliminating any semblance of wrestling match we might have gotten and replaces it with a huge brawl all over the place. This is almost impossible to follow with one camera. Joey Matthews went on to be Joey Mercury in the WWE before he got fired. He and York were quite an exciting young team in 2000 but they never really went anywhere. Simon hits the Simon Series on York but Dreamer is right behind him for more brawling. Low blow and a neckbreaker. CW in with the Ferris Wheel on Dreamer. York & Matthews clear the ring but don’t hit dives making them look like wussies. Joey gets backdropped into the crowd. Feinstein, if it is him, follows Dreamer and CW as they brawl into the cheap seats. This kills a few minutes. Joey got busted wide open at some point during this and CW takes him down with the stalling superplex. Joey is a mess. York gets in there and Joey super rana’s CW to set him up for York’s Savage Elbow. That gets 2. York is also busted open. The kids are paying their dues. Problem Solver! Somehow Joey kicks out of the tag finisher, which makes no sense. That was an ideal moment for a save. Dreamer and CW counter and CW hits the spinebuster for 2. What’s with all the kickouts? It’s just killing the match for me. There’s no sense that the match could end at any moment. There’s no suspense. Dreamer counters and hits the Spicolli Driver through a table for 2. Another kickout? What the fuck? Joey runs in for a tope and York follows the other side. Simon escapes the DDT but Gertner runs in there and hits a pathetic chop on Simon. He’s unimpressed and lays Gertner out. That buys Tommy enough time to use the chair and the ring bell on a corner basement dropkick. Simon is out on his feet so even Gertner can get away with a splash and the DDT finishes at 9.49. *1/4. Quite the clusterfuck. Lots of effort though so it’s hard to fault it. It’s just a mess.

POST MATCH CW goes on a rampage with a chair and messes up Gertner’s arm. So much for the happy ending.

TV title – Rhino (c) v Kid Kash

Weird to think of these guys as promising rookies but that’s what they were at the time. Both had already amassed a following. Kash for his high flying and Rhino for his profane promos and violent matches. Rhino was in the process of putting the TV title on the same level as the world title although that had also been done beforehand by RVD. Kash starts out with a flying headscissors but is promptly decapitated by a clothesline. There’s your match in a nutshell. Kash’s stuff looks pretty but doesn’t do a lot of damage to guy like Rhino who is so thick set. Kash hits a plancha instead and that keeps Rhino down for a while. He goes for a springboard rana though, which is a mistake, and Rhino powerbombs the shit out of him for 2. Rhino starts working over the ribs in preparation for a gore later on. Kash flips around up top and hits a corkscrew senton press for 2. Kash is totally out of his weight class though and runs right into a huge shoulderblock. Crowd randomly chants “USA”. Both participants are American so I guess it’s a show of support. Kash gets a run up on a double springboard flying rana and that takes Rhino over. Rhino goes up top, which isn’t the brightest thing he could have done, and he gets dropkicked. Kash follows up but Rhino catches him and PILEDRIVES HIM OFF THE TOP. FUUUUUUUUCK! Obviously that’ll do it at 5.11. **. Clash of styles but in a positive way. I would have enjoyed a longer bout to see if Rhino was capable of carrying on at that level but the finish does make him look like the monster he should be booked as. So it makes sense.

POST MATCH Rhino goes to kill Kash for good measure but out comes Little Spike Dudley. Rhino misses the Gore and tables himself. He gets up from that but gets taken right back down with the Acid Drop. Crowd sings along to Highway to Hell. Heyman sure knew his audience.

Tony DeVito v Chilly Willy

This one seems pointless. Willy had a brief run with ECW where he got quite over but I never really liked him. DeVito has a small fanbase based on his willingness to get hurt, which is kind of how his popularity grew in ROH as well. The match is really amateur hour as DeVito has to control the pace and call stuff. Willy hits a Michinoku Driver for the pin at 2.19. Well that was entirely pointless.

POST MATCH Angel runs out here to chair shot Willy who does a horrible job of watching it happen. Angel isn’t careful with the chair shots, which backfires on him when Balls Mahoney runs out here for the chair swingin’ save. Mahoney tries to put Chilly Willy over by celebrating with him. Time would have told whether that took or not but time was one thing ECW was running out of.

Justin Credible w/Francine v Scott Hall

Francine gets all gooey eyed at the sight of a superstar. Lots of stalling to start. TOOTHPICK~! Credible should have seen that one coming. Hall backs up to avoid a lockup and laughs about it. Was that a rib? Hall works the arm and Credible seems dead set on bumping and selling like crazy to get this whole thing over. Crowd wants to see Francine’s tits. Hall too. Credible gets done again and CHOKESLAM. Hall mocks Paul Wight afterwards to the crowd’s amusement. Francine canes Hall and that sets up the superkick. It needs that x-factor that is Francine to turn the tide. “Raz-or Ramon”. Hall is actually prepared to sell and bump for Credible too. I know, I’m shocked. The Clique continues to work hard for each other. Francine gets in an eye rake. She’s feeling very motivated this evening. There’s a lot of punching in this but both of them have decent punches so that’s ok. Hall’s is particularly good and has been one of his most impressive moves over the years. The crowd even bites on a fucking SLEEPER spot. In ECW! They’re chanting for Hall like old-timey marks. And on cue he fights his way out with elbows before running Credible through the ropes. Francine jumps in the ring and canes Hall PERFECTLY. She nailed that sucker. Centre of the forehead. Credible does the Flair corner bump but Hall punches him off the apron through a table. See, it IS ECW! Back inside the fallaway slam scores but Francine jumps in for the save. Hall has had enough of this and ignores Francine’s pleas complete with Wolfpac hand gesture. He gives her an enormous wedgie. Credible misses with the cane and gets himself put away with the Razor’s Edge at 9.23. **1/2. Hard to ignore the effort there as well. Especially from Hall who gave it the old school try. I guess he was aware he was being scouted. He went to New Japan about a week later.

POST MATCH Hall chases Francine around ringside and strolls to the back. I’m conscious he treated it like an Indy appearance rather than a special company but he seemed to enjoy himself out there and gave this show a special vibe.

The 411: Considering the timescale there’s a lot of effort from the boys still. The company was headed in the wrong direction despite selling out every building they booked. The problems with TV and over reaching had taken their toll. It’s very cool to see this show though, not least for nostalgia purposes, as Scott Hall rubs shoulders with the guys in ECW. I could have done with a few of the less important matches being trimmed and the Sandman-Corino altercation coming down from 10 minutes to something more brisk to make some of the other matches run a bit longer and have more about them. It’s a very fast paced show. It’s like they didn’t want the crowd to get bored and had a lot of guys travelling with them who needed something to do. Did Balls Mahoney really need to be there? Tony Mamaluke? Dawn Marie? New Jack? He didn’t even wrestle. It’s an easy show to watch although nothing gets great in terms of snowflakes and an entertaining look back at a different time, albeit recently.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]