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Kevin’s Random Reviews: ECW November 2 Remember 1998

March 23, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
ECW November 2 Remember 1998
4.5
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Kevin’s Random Reviews: ECW November 2 Remember 1998  

ECW November to Remember 1998
November 1st, 1998 | Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana | Attendance: 5,800

The first ECW Pay-Per-View I ever saw was WrestlePalooza 1998. I remember it being bad outside of one match. Then, I saw Heatwave 1998 and it was the best ECW PPV ever. I also recall at least one thing from every ECW PPV from 1999 until it closed. In between those eras, lies this show. One I watched live, but don’t remember at all. That makes it an interesting one to review. This was the sixth November to Remember and the second to air on PPV.

Earlier tonight, Jack Victory was interviewed about what he did to New Jack. Jack showed no remorse (I’m not sure what he did), but then New Jack jumped him and bashed a weapon on his knee.

To the ring, Joey Styles introduced the show. He ran down some of the card for a bit. The fans started going nuts for something off camera. MIDDLE AGED AND CRAZY, IT’S TERRY FUNK! He came in through the crowd wearing a graduation cap. He took the mic from Joey and was pissed that he wasn’t invited to the show tonight. Terry turned his attention to Tommy Dreamer and their mentor/mentee relationship, yet Tommy didn’t call him when he needed a mystery partner tonight. Tommy showed up to say Terry wanted a lighter scheduled, so he did it for him. Terry threatened to slap him like he does to his daughters and wife, before walking off. Not my ideal choice to start a show, but hopefully it comes into play later.

The bWo vs. Danny Doring and Roadkill
Representing the bWo was the Blue Meanie and Super Nova. Jobber entrances for future Tag Champs Doring and Roadkill. Nova and Doring started for their teams. They’re kind of the same guy, because they had cool. Innovative moves, and not much else in their skillset. Terry Funk returned with a cameraman and took over the timekeeper’s table. The bWo hit what Styles called the Super Duper Double Looper. Their offense was getting plenty of pops. For example, Meanie calling for the People’s Leg Drop was greeted with cheers. Funk interrupted to slap Meanie, who shoved him into the table. It didn’t break, so Funk put himself through it to break it. HE’S HARDCORE. Back to the match, where Nova took a heat segment. He eventually hit Sledge-o-Matic (THAT’LL POP UP ON MONDAY NIGHTS) and made the tag to Meanie. The bWo busted out a frog splash/MEANIESAULT combo but the pin was broken. No worries, as Meanie hit the Blue Light Special to win in 10:54. It went too long and the early focus on Funk wasn’t good. That being said, they had the crowd and showed off some fun offense. [**]

Terry Funk returned to attack the bWo. Paul Heyman had to come out and plead with him to stop.

Tommy Rogers w/ Chris Chetti vs. Tracy Smothers w/ The FBI
Big Guido, Little Guido, Tommy Rich and Ulf Herman were all at ringside. I’ll always pop for hearing that Smothers is from Nashville, Italy. There were some truly weak promos before the bell, with Rogers stumbling through simply saying he’d kick his opponent’s ass. Smothers took control early and got relentless help from the various FBI members outside. Hilariously, Chris Chetti is one of only two legitimate Italians out there. Rogers fought back with some generic babyface offense. The FBI nearly collided when Little Guido got on the apron with the Italian flag. Though they didn’t hit, it was enough of a distraction for Rogers to win with the Kamikaze in 7:51. Nobody cared about this. A lot of wacky FBI antics could work in some situations, but not with a bland character like Rogers. [*]

An angry Smothers shoved Little Guido. Their fight turned out to be a sham, as they turned and jumped Rogers. Chris Chetti returned to make the save and hit a double jump moonsault. That fun was short lived as Herman came back out with ITALIAN MABEL. Ha, he even had an FBI shirt. He beat up Chetti until the “Giant Killer” Little Spike Dudley showed up. They tried putting Spike through a table, but he moved and Mabel crashed through it. That’s a bigger bump than he took in most of his WWF career. Spike planted Mabel with the Acid Drop and even got a three count from the referee. Oh, ECW. Chaotic little segment that you expect on these shows.

Backstage, Axl Rotten cut a loud promo alongside Balls Mahoney and Masato Tanaka about their heart. He threw a bunch of threats at the Dudley Boyz.

Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm w/ Tammy Lynn Bytch
Tammy Lynn Sytch is the special referee (top three ref attire ever), while Mikey Whipwreck was more of a guest ringside enforcer. They opened with a lengthy fast paced sequence of counters. It was quite funny to hear the crowd pop so hard with each near fall, as referee Tammy bent over in her skirt. Jerry busted out a baseball slide head scissors and apron somersault to keep a quick pace. At one point, Mikey got in the ring purely to lift Tammy’s skirt. Bytch got in a cheap shot, causing Sytch to threaten to eject her. Storm took over, grounding Jerry with the surfboard. Tammy counted slowly for Storm and quickly for Jerry. Jerry came back with a Pedigree that nearly spiked Storm. Bytch got involved, so Sunny stripped her. Mikey hit her with a Whippersnapper and went to do one to Sytch, but Jerry intervened, so he got one instead. Storm covered but Tammy counted so slowly, Jerry kicked out. Storm went after her, but ate a Stunner from her. Mikey returned to nail Tammy with a Whippersnapper! Jerry pulled Storm into a small package, but Mikey turned it over and counted quickly for the finish in 16:48. There was an oddness to this. The guest ref angle gave the babyface the unfair advantage, making for a strange setup. It just came off awkwardly. The focus on it distracted from some very good in-ring work. They’d have a much better match at Anarchy Rulz the following year. [***]

Backstage, Terry Funk got in Joey Styles’ face to apologize for his actions earlier and said he was leaving the building.

A Justin Credible video package aired.

ECW Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boyz w/ Big Dick Dudley, Joel Gertner and Sign Guy Dudley vs. Balls Mahoney and Masato Tanaka w/ Axl Rotten
Joel Gertner got in a great line, “Hotter than tobacco sauce, but loads easier to swallow,” before Axl shouted a bunch in his pre-match promo. He basically asked for a Bourbon Street Fight, where chairs are legal. Isn’t that basically all ECW matches? The Dudleys began with an attack from behind. Despite the talk of a Street Fight, this got worked like a traditional tag. Tanaka took a heat segment until he avoided D-Von’s People’s Elbow parody. Balls got the mild tag, setting up the expected brawl. In the midst of this, Bubba hit a goddamn tope. We got vicious chair shots from everyone, except Gertner, who hit a hilariously weak one and celebrated. The challengers delivered stereo Roaring Elbows and should win, but referee Jeff Jones faked a shoulder injury. Tanaka argued, so Jones pulled out a translation dictionary. Amazing. He ate a chair shot for his actions. Tanaka surprised everyone by kicking out of the 3D, which led the Dudleys to argue. That set up quality false finishes, including one on a Nutcracker Suite and tornado DDT being hit at the same time. The Dudleys set up tables in the ring, but got attacked by former champs RVD and Sabu. They put the Dudleys through the tables with a leg drop and Frog Splash, but awesomely went after the far tables, so seeing RVD hit his frog splash OVER Sabu’s leg drop was excellent. Balls covered to win the titles in 15:01. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but that was a lot of fun. The fans ate it up and the run-in spot was rad. Plus, Bubba did a tope. [***]

Backstage, the Triple Threat got promo time. That meant Shane Douglas did the talking and ran down their opponents tonight. This was followed by a video package to hype the main event.

Jack Victory and Justin Credible w/ Chastity, Jason, Lance Wright and Nicole Bass vs. Jake Roberts and Tommy Dreamer
Justin and Tommy got to pick mystery partners for this match. Honestly, neither chose well. All four men brawled at the start, highlighted by Tommy taking a powerslam on the ramp. Once things calmed down, it turned into a more traditional match, with Tommy getting worked over. Roberts eventually got the tag and Jason was also tagged in, for some reason. Victory was down outside, so I guess they allowed Jason in. Tommy and Jake hit stereo short arm clotheslines and called for DDTs, but out came Rod Price and One Man Gang. WHAT IS THIS MATCH? OMG flattened Jake with the splash and then New Jack’s music hit. He and Kronus hit the ring, leading to the typical New Jack stuff. Lots of weapon spots, though Kronus did nail a nice 450 splash. Dreamer busted out a frog splash for a near fall and New Jack’s music stopped playing. Chastity hit Jake with a low blow, so Tommy drilled her with a piledriver. Nicole Bass entered, so Jake hit her with a low blow and then the DDT. Credible got planted with a DDT on a ladder for the finish in 12:26. This would’ve worked better without the mystery partner stuff. It went too long and didn’t need that. [*¼]

Terry Funk returned after the match and chastised Tommy for picking Jake and not him. Tommy said he would never hit Terry. He turned his back, so Terry attacked him. He continually shouted, “SAY YOU’RE SORRY!” as he beat him up.

RVD cut a promo in the back with Sabu and Bill Alfonso, bragging as he usually does. Taz cut a more serious promo about the main event.

ECW World Television Champion Rob Van Dam, Sabu and FTW Champion Taz w/ Bill Alfonso vs. The Triple Threat w/ Francine
During RVD and Sabu’s entrance, the Dudley Boyz jumped them. Luckily, Taz showed up and annihilate the Dudleys with various Tazplexes. With them out of the way, the match officially got underway. RVD connected on a high plancha, before Sabu got the triple jump moonsault for two. The Triple Threat took over and cleaned house. Sabu got isolated with the usual heel tactics in these matches. They even gave us the old “tag behind the referee’s back” spot, though it didn’t have the desired effect because RVD ignored the ref’s wishes. Taz was put through a table off-camera. A big brawl commenced, leading to the big moment of Taz being left alone with Douglas. He applied the Tazmission and Sabu came off the top with the Arabian Facebuster. He covered Douglas to kind of steal the win in 12:57. Boy, that finish got next to no reaction. The match was a massive disappointment, as I’d expect much more from everyone involved. Outside of RVD and a slew of spots, this felt like something you’d see on a house show or TV. [**¼]

Taz and Sabu, who still hate one another, argued after the match and rightfully so. RVD and Alfonso managed to keep things from getting out of hand.

4.5
The final score: review Poor
The 411
A disappointment of a show. Heatwave was incredible, then we get this. It felt like it wasn’t a special show, mostly due to there being so many tag team matches. The disappointment came from several issues. For one, the main event didn’t deliver. Then, things like the mystery partners and the over focus on shenanigans in an otherwise strong Lynn/Storm match didn’t help. I didn’t see the point of Rogers/Smothers, but was pleasantly surprised by the Tag Title match.
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