Kevin’s Random Reviews: ECW Heat Wave 2000

ECW Heat Wave 2000
July 16th, 2000 | Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California | Attendance: 5,700

I was way into ECW around this time. I had been watching it for a few years, but I was just getting old enough to understand more about the characters, and wrestling in general. I have fond memories of ECW in 2000, though looks back have garnered mixed reviews. With a lot of talent headed for greener pastures (most recently Lance Storm), ECW was on its last legs. They’d be closed within six months. Anyway, this was the seventh and final Heat Wave event.

The show opened with the Blue Boy and Jasmine St. Claire on the beach. Jasmine wore a barely there bikini. They insulted a regular Joe on the beach for being fat. Jasmine hit him with a low blow, then made out with the Blue Boy. For some reason, the Sinister Minster was also on the beach. He hyped the card and revealed that he buried Mikey Whipwreck up to his neck in the sand. They laughed and I was confused.

Joey Styles and Joel Gertner opened things in the ring with their usual introduction stuff. Gertner got to deliver one of his best openings ever. Cyrus interrupted to brag about deporting Super Crazy and to plug TNN’s ROLLERJAM. He traded barbs with Gertner about cancelling ECW and calling each other faggot. 2000 was a different time. Gertner eventually said he’d leave, but then attacked Cyrus and had to be pulled away by security. This feud was tiring and got SO MUCH time, though at least the crowd popped for it.

Balls Mahoney vs. Big Sal E. Graziano w/ Tony Mamaluke
For some reason, Mamaluke and Sal hit the ring after the scuffle. Sal took out an official, bringing out Balls. Sal no sold a chair shot. Balls delivered a bunch of punches, low blow and then broke a chair over his head. Sal still no sold. He hit a chokeslam, elbow and one of the worst belly to belly suplexes ever to win in 1:39. Total squash. I have no clue what this show is doing so far. [NR]

Backstage, a pissed off RVD (which was rare) hyped the debut of the Van Terminator tonight. It’s supposed to hammer home his issues with his former buddy Scotty Anton.

CW Anderson, Simon Diamond and Swinger vs. Danny Doring, Kid Kash and Roadkill
Roadkill was wildly over. Lots of fast-paced action from the opening bell. Everyone does cool offense and it all came off quite well. The faces cleaned house and Kash got to showcase a sweet rana. Anderson finally caught him with a great suplex to stall their momentum. Kash took a short heat to set up a hot Doring run. That wasn’t a sustained hot tag, though, so he found himself in trouble. The real hot tag went to Roadkill, who hit everything moving and the fans ate it up. The heels bailed, so Doring and Kash took them out with dives, capped by Roadkill hitting one. Back inside, the heels took over for a very short time. CW hit a spinebuster but Roadkill broke up the pin with a leg drop. Kash drilled Swinger with the Money Maker in 11:03 to win for his guys. Lots of fun and the crowd was rabid. A bit too one-sided to be great, though. [***]

Backstage, Rhino cut a venomous promo about how he enjoyed hurting Sandman’s wife. He was intense back then.

Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino w/ Jack Victory
Though ECW only had a few months left, both these guys would hold the ECW World Title before the year was up. Lynn started hot, attacking before the bell. He took out Corino and Victory with a plancha as the fight moved outside. He added a tornado DDT on the concrete, which busted Corino open. That dude bled like Flair. Corino took over, with help from Victory. He was bleeding buckets. He also got in some great verbal jabs at a fan. Lynn delivered a Van Daminator, another great call to his feud with RVD, to help stall his momentum. The always strange Lynn used Corino’s blood to paint his own face and then to write DIE on his stomach. Not a bad idea, but maybe not one that fit a lot of the action. Lynn survived Old School Expulsion and then we got a powder spot from Victory. That allowed Corino to whack Lynn with a boot, but even an added shot with a cowbell didn’t keep him down. Lynn rallied and won with the Cradle Piledriver in 15:25. Very good match that would’ve been better without all the extra Jack Victory interference stuff. Solid very solid back and forth, with a hot crowd. [***¼]

At Hardcore Heaven, Rhino put Sandman’s wife, Lori, in the hospital, where she remained for seven weeks. He put her through a table with a piledriver, for those wondering. Here, Sandman was obviously upset and cut a promo on it from his locker room. Sandman must not learn from the past, as Lori was sitting next to him. Rhino entered and whacked Sandman with a cane. He attempted to give Lori a swirly (hilarious) but Sandman got up and fought him until security broke things up.

Dawn Marie joined commentary.

For an unscheduled segment, out came New Jack, despite a broken leg. Da Baldies jumped him before he entered the ring. Chris Chetti and Nova made the save to trigger an impromptu match.

Chris Chetti and Nova vs. Da Baldies
The faces used quick offense and some planchas for the upper hand. The fans just chanted for New Jack. Once it calmed down to a traditional tag, it lost whatever was fun about it. Da Baldies worked a short heat on Chetti, though they weren’t any good. Nova got the highlight with rolling piledrivers that he capped with a spinning powerbomb. Amityville Horror and Tidal Wave hit to finish Da Baldies at 4:39. Thankfully, they kept it short. Da Baldies shouldn’t work normal matches. Chetti and Nova brought enough energy to keep this moving. [*½]

Backstage, Tommy Dreamer cut a promo about everything his love for the wrestling business has taken from him. He broke his back, lost friends and more due to it. He was pissed at TNN, Francine and Justin Credible. Tommy showed a lot of passion and even busted himself open by bashing his head into the locker in between words.

Little Guido vs. Mikey Whipwreck w/ The Sinister Minister vs. Psichosis vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri
It was scheduled as a three-way, but Mikey showed up to add himself. This marked Psichosis’ return to ECW for the first time in years. As expected, this got off to a wild start. There was a lot going on, though it all worked. Tony Mamaluke tried interfering and got taken out. Big Sal fared much better and it led to Psichosis hitting the Tijuana Jam. Guido pinned Mikey to eliminate him at 1:36. What was the point of adding him? The pace stayed quick with the three remaining guys. Tajiri nailed a German to eliminate Psichosis at 4:28. Tajiri delivered what looked like a Tarantula style slam for some near falls. He added the real Tarantula to a huge pop. A chair was brought into play for a Tajiri baseball slide and a Guido Sicilian Slice. Tajiri survived a bit more from Guido before spitting the mist and winning with the Brainbuster in 9:17. Back on track with a solid match. Lots of fast-paced action from guys who mostly worked often with each other. The Tajiri/Guido stuff was best and I still question the Mikey inclusion. [***]

Justin Credible cut a promo in the back about using barbed wire in the main event tonight.

ECW World Television Championship: Rhino [c] vs. The Sandman
Rhino no sold several shots with the cane at the opening bell. The battle spilled outside and a guardrail ended up in the ring. Sandman looked legitimately drunk and had no clue what to do at points. After several rough looking spots with it, Sandman laid it on Rhino and managed a decent looking somersault senton. With everything going Sandman’s way, Corino and Victory ran in to jump him. Injured Spike Dudley made the save and teamed with Sandman to hit Corino with 3D. Spike ended up taking a Gore and getting put through a table with a piledriver. Rhino was out of control. He escaped the White Russian leg sweep and retained with a piledriver on the guardrail in 8:39. A fine brawl that was kept under ten minutes as it needed to be. If Sandman didn’t look horrible during some of the guardrail spots, this would’ve ranked higher. [**½]

Rob Van Dam w/ Bill Alfonso vs. Scotty Anton
From seemingly out of nowhere, Anton was brought in as RVD’s close friend, who then turned on him, leading to this. The lesser American Male doesn’t make me excited for see an RVD match. Lots of general showboating from RVD. I know it was a big part of who he was, but it took me out of the thought process that this was some bitter, personal feud. Even when RVD would do something aggressive, like the guardrail leg drop with a chair, he’d follow it with stalling. Anton avoided a Van Daminator and took control. He kept doing his weird clap taunt. RVD did his best to bump around for Anton. He finally got his comeback going and hit the skateboard chair dropkick. Alfonso assisted him with Rolling Thunder onto a chair. Anton turned it around and applied the Clapper (Sharpshooter). Alfonso distracted him, so he got put in the hold. RVD interrupted that and nailed the Five Star Frog Splash. However, he wasn’t done. He debuted the Van Terminator to a great reaction from the crowd. It was awesome at the time, though lots of people do variations now. That got RVD the win in 19:02. One of the worst PPV matches for RVD in ECW. Lots of start and stop stuff, not as intense as it should’ve been and Anton’s offense was dull. [**]

ECW World Championship Stairway to Hell Match: Justin Credible [c] w/ Francine vs. Tommy Dreamer w/ George and Jazz
Tommy brought out his valets to combat Francine. Before the match, Francine got into some sort of scuffle with fans and it led to the locker room spilling out to keep things calm. I believe the group was from XPW. Anyway, this was a Ladder Match with barbed wire over the ring. They started with a strange basic exchange, which made no sense in this kind of match. Thankfully, it didn’t last long and they began to brawl around the arena. During that time, Dreamer was knocked over through a table. Back to the ring, Credible was sent into the ladder and got busted open. There was a scary spot where Francine hit a low blow on an ascending Dreamer, only for him to fall right on top of her. The other women got involved, but George betrayed Jazz and hugged Francine. No matter, Jazz blocked the bronco buster, took out George and then removed Francine’s top to expose her breasts, save for duct taped X’s. Tommy retrieved the barbed wire and wrapped it around the top rope. He knocked Credible over and crotched him on the barbed wire. OUCH. Dreamed kicked out of That’s Incredible on barbed wire, but then Credible kicked out of a DDT. Justin then slipped free and won with another That’s Incredible on barbed wire at 14:58. Weird finish and weird match. They made a big deal about barbed wire being on PPV, then barely used it. Most of the match was crowd brawling and stuff involving the people at ringside. It wasn’t bad, just strange. [**¼]

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

This show was a mixed bag. I didn’t care for the overly long opening segment and Big Sal stuff. The six man tag, Lynn/Corino and the Four Way Dance were all fun matches. The last three matches were all fine, but didn’t do too much for me. They all had entertaining aspects, just not enough to put the show over the top.