Views from the Hawke’s Nest: ECW November to Remember 1997

November 30, 1997
Monaca, Pennsylvania

Joey Styles welcomes us to the show.

Tommy Rogers vs. Chris Candido
They went back and forth a lot. Rodgers gave Candido a suplex from the apron to the floor. Ouch. Rogers was in control after that. Candido cut him off shortly after that though and then worked Rogers over. Rogers came back with a superplex. Candido then cut him off again. He went for a diving butt attack, but Rogers reversed it into powerbomb. Lance Storm came out to attack Rogers though. Apparently, Storm was a prospect for The Triple Threat at the time. Jerry Lynn ran in for the save. We basically had a tornado tag for a few minutes. Lynn hit a dive on Storm. Candido hit a dive onto both of them. Rogers hit a dive onto all three of them. The referee decided that this was now a tag match. Ok.

Chris Candido & Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn & Tommy Rogers
There were a lot of nearfalls on pinning combinations. Lance Storm ate the Doomsday Crossbody: 1…2…NO! Candido didn’t want Storm to finish off Lynn, because he wanted to do it himself. Candido hit Lynn with a top rope powerbomb, but Rogers made the save. Rogers gave Storm a Killswitch, and Storm managed to take an awesome bump for it. Candido then gave Rogers a bridging Northern Lights Suplex: 1…2…3.

There were some good moments in this opener, but it was unfortunately way too long. If they were going to switch this to a tag match, it probably should have happened sooner. For a match with so much talent, this was very underwhelming.
Match Rating: **

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Justin Credible (w/ Jason)
Whipwreck got off to a fast start. He hit a dive and a ringpost-assisted hurricanrana on the floor. Credible was able to cut Whipwreck off though once they got back into the ring. At one point, Credible distracted the referee so that Jason could do some damage to Whipwreck. Eventually, Whipwreck reversed a sleeper into a jawbreaker and then made a comeback. Jacon tried to interfere again, but Whipwreck gave him a suplex and a kick to the balls. Credible then hit a reverse DDT for a nearfall. Whipwreck caused Jason to crotch Credible, and Whipwreck then hit the Whippersnapper: 1…2…3!

That was the end of Credible’s undefeated streak. This was a very solid undercard match. Whipwreck has always been enjoyable in the matches I’ve seen from him, and he had solid chemistry with Credible (who is not someone I tend to enjoy).
Match Rating: **1/2

Al Snow did a promo in the back with Head. The promo was very “real.” Was it a shoot???

Taz© vs. Pitbull #2 (w/ Pitbull #1) [ECW Television Championship]
Taz has had two underwhelming PPV matches so far. I’m not sure if this is going to turn it around.

Taz was very over. Pitbull hit a quick powerbomb and a spinning heel kick. Taz came back with a belly-to-belly and an exploder. Tazmission! He tapped out! Yay, the match is over!

Pitbull #1 tried to attack Taz after the match, but he failed. Paul E. Dangerously tried to put over Taz as the best wrestler going today. Taz used some homophobic humor to try to bait Lance Wright’s bodyguard. More homophobic humor. The bodyguard’s name was Brakkus. The security guard tried to prevent a confrontation from happening, but Taz beat him up.

This was quick and decisive, and I am more than fine with that.
Match Rating: Squash

They aired a Bam Bam Bigelow hype video. Bam Bam was awesome.

The Full Blooded Italians were cutting a ringside promo. Tommy Rich got racist in regards to D’Von Dudley. ECDub. Joel Gertner then cut a promo. “What a marvelous night for an evening.” Five stars.

FBI (Little Guido & Tracy Smothers)© vs. Dudley Boys (Bubba & D’Von) vs. Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten vs. The Gangstanators (John Kronus & New Jack) [ECW Tag Team Championships]
Balls and Rotten started the match with some chairshots. There was a ton of interference early on from people not in the match. It took a while for New Jack and Kronus to show up. New Jack and Kronus make everything better. This was a weapons brawl. Bubba used a cheese grater. Kronus gave Big Dick Dudley a 450 and tried to pin him, but it obviously did not count. Bubba hit a dive onto almost everyone involved in a match. The Big Don got hit with a guitar, but Guido pushed Kronus into a Bubba Cutter: 1…2…3. Gangstanators got eliminated in a serious miscarriage of justice.

The match was awesome once Kronus and New Jack joined. I suddenly no longer care about anything. Balls Mahoney used powder to cause Bubba to accidentally give D’Von the 3D: 1…2…3!

Balls and Rotten vs. FBI for the tag belts. Balls had the match won but there was a ref bump. The second referee refused to count to three, and he then kicked Balls in the…balls. Guido caught Balls with a schoolboy: 1…2…3

Well, that was an absolutely wretched finish for any match let alone a PPV match. This started out poorly and ended dreadfully, but the middle portion was incredibly entertaining. New Jack and John Kronus were tremendous and added so much to the proceedings.
Match Rating: **1/4

Rob Van Dam (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/ Beulah McGillicutty) [Flag Match]
During the entrances, Joey Styles talked about how he would never work for Vince McMahon. El oh el.

Dreamer had some momentum early on. RVD came back though, and Fonzy helped with a chair-assisted Van-Daminator. RVD was in control after that for a while. Dreamer finally came back with a hangman’s neckbreaker and the Tree of Woe dropkick with a chair. Fonzy hit Dreamer with a chair on his broken heel. RVD then hit Rolling Thunder. Dreamer came back with a Hangman’s DDT, but Fonzy pulled the referee out and hit him with a road sign. They traded chair shots. The referee who ruined the tag title match showed up to ruin this match as well. There were three referees in the ring. Oh my fucking gawd. What the fuck is this shit. Beulah kicked the crooked referee in the balls. The other two referees hit him with a double DDT. Fonzy hit them in the balls. Beulah hit him in the balls. Dreamer hit RVD with the spiked piledriver: 1…2…NO! Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, and Stevie Richards interfered on behalf of RVD. The three of them counted the pinfall on RVD after a frog splash with a trash can: 1…2…3

I found this match to mostly be insufferable. I’ve never been a fan of Tommy Dreamer, and RVD had not figured out to have good matches yet.
Match Rating: *

Team WWF called for Sabu to put Dreamer through a table, but he attacked Beulah instead. Dreamer covered her up. That was the transition to…

Sabu vs. The Sandman (Table & Ladders)
I have heard that this match is hysterically bad.

Sandman was taking his usual long-ass time to enter the ring. He posed on a ladder, and Sabu took him out with a tope suicida. Sandman came back with a botched dive where he threw a ladder at Sabu. Sandman is great. Sandman then fell over when he threw a table at Sabu. Sandman placed Sabu on a bridged table, and it basically broke right away. He tried again with a different table. He then sort of grazed Sabu on a diving legdrop through the table. Sabu sent Sandman through a table and then hit a triple jump legdrop through another table. They did a sloppy springboard leg lariat thing in the ring. In the biggest Botchamania moment so far, Sabu tried to ride a ladder into a splash that would send Sandman through a table. It failed. Sandman came back with a senton through a table where Sabu kind of got out of the way. They did some spots with ladders in the ring. I can’t even describe how badly botched one of these spots was. I could not do it justice. Sandman went for another dive, and it was so badly blown that I literally let out a high-pitched cackle. They continued to do things in the ring. Sandman tumbled off a ladder in the ring through Sabu on a bridged table. Fonzy began to taunt Sandman with the cane. Sabu threw fire at Sandman, but Sandman either avoided it or no-sold it. Sandman went to attack Fonzy, but Sabu saved him. Sabu sent Sandman through another table and then hit an Atomic Arabian Facebuster with a ladder: 1…2…3

This was bad, and everyone knows it was bad. I refuse to give it a DUD, because there was a ton of unintentional comedy going on. I will always value that more than boring.
Match Rating: ¼*

Taz challenged Bam Bam to a title match on the next PPV.

Bam Bam Bigelow© vs. Shane Douglas (w/ Shane Douglas) [ECW World Championship]
There’s a chance this is better than a typical Douglas match since he’s in his hometown.

Bam Bam was mauling Douglas at the start. Bam Bam was in complete fucking control forever, and it was so boring. Douglas hit a low blow, but Bam Bam got a chinlock to put me back to sleep. Bam Bam foolishly tried to moonsault Douglas through a table, but Douglas came back with a powerbomb through the table. Bam Bam came back by gently placing Douglas on the floor when he realized he was about to accidentally drop him. Douglas came back again and sent Bam Bam to the floor. He went for a slingshot hurricanrana, but got powerbombed through a table. Bam Bam hit a folding powerbomb in the ring for a nearfall. Bam Bam continued to dominate. Chris Candido and Lance Storm were called out by Francine when Bam Bam threatened to throw Douglas into the crowd. That would have been a DQ, but Bam Bam threw Douglas onto them instead. Francine, who was on crutches, tried to save Douglas almost got hit with a crutch for her trouble. Bam Bam used the crutches on Douglas. Douglas managed to hit the belly-to-belly out of nowhere. The crowd rallied behind him. If this was WWECW, they would be chanting “Change the channel!” Bam Bam set up a broken table and chair contraption, but Douglas gave him a belly-to-belly through it: 1…2…3!

I’ll hold back the DUD again, because the finish got the biggest reaction of anything on the show. Even with the sinfully boring proceeding twenty five minutes, the fans still cared enough to be excited for that. Thus, the match was not a complete failure. It was still awful in every other way though. This was a fitting way to close out ECW’s 1997 year in PPV.
Match Rating: ¼*

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The 411: This was another awful PPV from ECW. The unintentional comedy of the Sabu/Sandman match absolutely made this whole show worth watching.
Final Score:  2.5   [ Very Bad ]