Repost - ECW Heatwave 98

This is so long ago that it's numbered. This was the 3rd review I ever did, ever. I'm pretty sure King of the Ring '98 was my first.

The Furious Flashbacks 3 – ECW Heatwave 98

Not everyone has had the joy of experiencing the ECW product. When I talk about my favourite matches I always mention an ECW match from this particular show – Awesome v Tanaka. It demonstrated the best of big man wrestling along with the wonders of Japanese wrestling. It never fails to make my top 10. But what was the rest of ECW like back in the day? Stay tuned gentle reader and find out.

This PPV will be graded on the Furious Grading Scale. FGS grades are as follows –

A One of the greatest matches anywhere, ever.
A- Damn near perfect
B+ Excellent
B Very Good
B- Good
C+ Average
C Mediocre
C- Bad
D Terrible
F Hulk Hogan
U or Ungraded = Hacksaw Jim Duggan v Ultimate Warrior v Goldberg in a submissions only Ironman match. My worst nightmare.

As per usual we are welcomed to the ECW PPV environment by commentator Joey Styles. We’re in Dayton, Ohio for the hottest event of the summer. Joey welcomes his co-commentator – Shane Douglas along with the head cheerleader Francine. The heel ECW champ Douglas is welcomed by a huge pop. Francine gets an equally massive pop when she does her Terri-esque top rope pose. “Cut the fucking music” – Shane Douglas. WWF this ain’t. Douglas claims Bam Bam Bigelow will put Tazz through the concrete floor here tonight. Segment grade – B. Douglas was always better in ECW but it’s hard to see what exactly he did differently.

Justin Credible w/Nicole Bass/Jason/Chastity v Jerry Lynn

As per usual Justin has a freaky entourage that serves no purpose but to cheat and distract which includes freak Nicole Bass. Urgh. Justin’s t-shirt reads “Got Blood?” This was right before Jerry Lynn really took off and Credible was a credible wrestler. They had a feud for a few months and this is the big blow off. Lynn starts matters off with a mat wrestling masterclass. Loads of arm drags and counters. Credible is more direct with punches and chops. Credible goes for his tombstone early but Lynn reverses it into a pin for a 2 count. Credible rolls outside from a headscissor takeover and Lynn leaps onto him from the top rope with a huge plancha. Credible hits a counter into an inverted DDT to turn the tide. Jason holds a chair in front of Lynn’s face and Credible gets a good run up before driving the chair into his face. Credible then nails a huge sit down powerbomb out of the corner onto the chair which gets a long two count. A frustrated Credible throws Lynn out to the entourage while Chastity distracts the referee. Justin is now back in control and introduces Lynn to a cold beer and takes it back into the ring. Credible misses a double axe handle from the top and Lynn counters into a flapjack. Credible gets back with a sidewalk slam and they go to a rest hold. They run a series of 2 counts with counters until Lynn bridges up and nails a powerbomb. Top rope frankensteiner from Lynn. Lynn gets caught trying a repeat of the same move and Credible gets a two and goes back to the steel chair. But Lynn uses it with a DDT on the chair for a 2 count before Chastity puts Credible’s foot on the rope. Lynn sets up a table on the floor and Credible on the top turnbuckle and frankensteiner’s him from the top through a table to the concrete floor. Jason breaks up the count with a steel chair but Lynn gives Jason a tiger bomb. Nicole Bass gets in but Lynn low blows her and hits her with a chair. He gives Chastity a tombstone but Credible has had time to recover. Lynn plants Credible on the top turnbuckle but gets caught coming over the shoulder and Credible nails a top rope tombstone piledriver for the win. Match grading – A-. Awesome stuff for an opening match but then that’s what Jerry Lynn was for.

“No Gimmicks Needed” Chris Candido v Lance Storm

“Storm was vanilla but now he’s full of flavour” – Douglas. Candido is accompanied to ring by Tammy Lynn Sytch aka Sunny which is a bit of a coup for ECW to bring out such a big star even if she is a crack whore. Again this match starts out at a quick pace. Storm removes Candido’s protective headgear. He’s wearing that to protect his surgerically re-attached ear that was ripped off by Sabu. Candido immitates Jerry Lynn’s top rope plancha but it’s not as good. Tammy interferes to help Candido out as she takes Storm down. Storm misses a hurracurrana and gets tiger bombed by Candido. Candido does one of the longest vertical suplexes I’ve ever seen. A New Jersey Jam gets a two count which Tammy complains about. Storm nails the superkick but Candido kicks out. Candido gets back with a big swinging neckbreaker. Candido with a powerslam for another two count. Storm lands on the apron and suplexes Candido inside out where he lands on the concrete face first. Storm nails a springboard plancha and they land in the crowd. Storm nails a superplex on Candido and then a spinning heel kick from the top rope. Tiger bomb from Storm that gets another two. Storm shows amazing agility to flip off the top ropes and change direction in mid air. Tammy gives Candido powder to throw at Storm and Storm knocks it back in his face. Candido flails wildly and knocks the referee down. Tammy interferes and knocks Storm over. Tammy nearly pops out in a confrontation with the referee and Candido nails the Blonde Bombshell from the top for the three count. Match grading – B. Good solid stuff but they forgot about the ear injury of Candido which hurt the psychology of the match.

Out in the parking lot New Jack is talking with the fans and gets jumped by the Dudley Boys and Jack Victory. Balls Mahoney, Kronus and Axl Rotten come out to even the numbers up and the Dudleys retreat. New Jack is busted wide open (when is he not?) Segment rating – C. The New Jack-Jack Victory match is off.

In the back RVD, Sabu and Bill Alfonso talk about their match with Japanese superstars Hayabusa and (Hakushi) Jinsei Shinzaki. RVD carries the promo which is an indication of how bad Alfonso and Sabu are. Not that Sabu speaks.

Mike Awesome v Masato Tanaka

Awesome and Tanaka have wrestled each other many times in FMW before tonight. They clearly hate each other from an angle standpoint. Awesome doesn’t take long to demonstrate his agility as he runs up the turnbuckles and flies backwards with an elbow. Tanaka can’t take Awesome over. Awesome throws Tanaka with a belly to belly suplex. Awesome slingshots over the top rope into a shoulder block and then splashes Tanaka off the top rope. Amazing agility. Tanaka is clotheslined out of the ring and Awesome dives over the top rope onto Tanaka. Holy shit. Awesome clotheslines Tanaka from the top rope. Awesome nails Tanaka with a release German suplex and drops him on his neck. Tanaka is finally in the match after he gets up and he brings in a chair. Awesome is on the ring apron and Tanaka takes the full length of the entrance ramp as a run up to belt Awesome with a chair. Awesome gets back into it by dumping Tanaka out of the ring again. Both men pick up chairs and have a chair duel on the floor which Tanaka wins before nailing Awesome in the back with a chair. Tanaka gets backdropped into the crowd and Awesome heads back into the ring and gets a run up before jumping onto the top rope and leaping into the crowd. Holy shit. Awesome is just unreal for a big man. Awesome nails a sit down Awesomebomb. Awesome picks Tanaka up and nails a big spinebuster. Frog splash from Awesome that gets a near fall. Awesome fetches another chair. He nails Tanaka twice, hard. Tanaka no sells the chairs. Tanaka gets nailed again and the chair is destroyed. Tanaka kicks out at two. Running release Awesomebomb. Awesome tells the crowd he’s going to Awesomebomb Tanaka over the top rope and through a table. Awesome chair shots Tanaka again. Tanaka fights out of the Awesomebomb twice and nails a couple of elbows before picking Awesome up and powerbombing him over the top rope to the floor. Awesome lands on his head. HOLY SHIT. How Awesome wasn’t crippled for life is a miracle. Amazingly Awesome kicks out at two. ROARING ELBOW!!! But Mike Awesome kicks out of the roaring elbow. Tornado DDT onto a pair of chairs and Awesome is dead. Match rating – A. Brutal, brutal match.

Tazz cuts a promo in all his towel wearing glory. Tazz is the FTW world champion. He calls Mike Tyson a punk and claims he’ll get his revenge on Bigelow tonight. Also backstage we hear from Joel Gertner and the Dudleys. Wonder where I can get one of those “Dreamer fears Dudleyville” shirts. Big Dick Dudley growls in the background for the whole promo. So annoying. Buh Buh Ray cuts an awesome promo. “Tommy Dreamer, the saviour of pro-wrestling. You will be crucified for the sins of Beulah McGillicutty”.

ECW Tag titles – Sabu/Rob Van Dam v Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki

It’s really odd to see one of the icons of the East walking around now I know, 3 years later, that his career is over and he won’t walk again. It’s also good to hear RVD come out to Pantera’s “Walk”. I count 8 “RVD 4:20” signs in the first 5 rows. Sabu hails from “Bombay, Michigan” and tells RVD to fuck himself before the match starts. They were a great tag team. Sabu wants to start the match and tells Bill Alfonso to fuck himself. RVD points to himself and Sabu concedes the start to him.

RVD starts out with Hayabusa. RVD taunts Hayabusa for a couple of minutes. Sabu keeps trying to get into the ring. RVD and Hayabusa counter each other with mat wrestling. RVD botches an arm drag so Hayabusa quickly turns it into a headlock. Japanese arm drag from RVD who taunts some more despite the fact he’s botched 3 sequences with Hayabusa. Hayabusa nails Sabu after taking out RVD’s legs. Shinzaki is in. Leaping sidekick from RVD after ducking the roundhouse from Shinzaki. Shinzaki inziguri’s RVD and this is a stiff looking match already. Shinzaki does a top rope walk of doom HALFWAY AROUND THE RING. Check that out Undertaker. RVD does a double rolling spin kick and catches Shinzaki with the second one. Sabu is in and I won’t be able to keep up with him. He kicks Shinzaki at least 8 times and covered him twice in 20 seconds before going to a submission. Hayabusa is in and he finally faces off with Sabu. Sabu wipes out the knee of Hayabusa. Sabu does a moonsault off the side ropes. Wow. Hayabusa nails Sabu with a drop kick. Sabu goes to the floor and starts throwing chairs. Sabu is completely nuts. Sabu starts working in a leg submission on Hayabusa to follow up those drop kicks to the legs. Sabu switches to a knee bar. Sabu slaps on something that looks a little like a tazzmission before riding Hayabusa into a camel clutch. RVD dropkicks Hayabusa in the face while he’s still in the camel clutch but Shinzaki takes exception and nails RVD with a slingshot dropkick. Onto the outside and Hayabusa nails an asai moonsault. Sabu is back in the ring but everyone else is in the crowd. Triple jump splash into the crowd from Sabu. RVD does his corkscrew guillotine legdrop onto the guardrail. Shinzaki is left one on two against RVD and Sabu. Hayabusa is soon back in though. RVD gets powerbombed by Shinzaki and Hayabusa nails the 450 splash perfectly. Sabu breaks up the pinfall and they double team Hayabusa with a rolling thunder and a slingshot legdrop combo. Sabu puts Shinzaki into a Boston Crab. RVD drops a leg across Shinzaki. Hayabusa is now left one one two and here comes the first table. Hayabusa knocks Sabu out with a huge right hand. Shinzaki is back up on the top rope. As soon as Sabu is back up Shinzaki nails a shoulder block on him. Shinzaki uses a camel clutch on Sabu and then dragon screws the leg of RVD. Hayabusa gets crotched on the top rope and RVD uses a Van Daminator from one corner to the next but as soon as he lands Shinzaki wipes out RVD’s leg again. The table collapses and Sabu throws a fit at it. RVD is set up on the remains of the table and Hayabusa nails a splash on it for a two count. Sabu breaks out another table. Arabian facebuster on Hayabusa and a Van Daminator on Shinzaki. The Japanese duo are set up on the table and up to the top rope go RVD and Sabu. Double leg drop through the table and both opponents and Sabu covers Shinzaki for the win. Match rating – B+. Hard to argue with these 4 guys.

Bam Bam Bigelow v Tazz (ECW Deathmatch – Falls count anywhere)

“This is the most miserable son of a bitch I’ve met in my life” – Joey Styles of Taz. Bigelow’s first move of the match is a massive powerbomb which Taz completely no sells. Taz uses a fireman’s carry on the big man and throws him with a Samoan drop. Taz gives Bigelow the Brooklyn boot on the rampway and Bigelow falls into the crowd. Taz attempts to jump onto Bigelow but gets caught and slammed into the guardrail. Couple of chairshots from Bigelow. “That’s my chair” – fan. They fight further into the crowd which means a bunch of punches that more than half the audience can’t even see. Taz gets whipped through a row of chairs. Bigelow throws a length of guardrail at Taz and clips his head before Taz uses a double leg takedown for a 2 count. As they make their way back to the ring Taz slaps on an armbar. As they get back to ringside Bigelow nails Taz with a chair. Taz is busted above the eye. Bigelow with a powerbomb and he goes for a table. He sets the table up in the corner and whips Taz straight into it. Face first. Bigelow sets the remains of the table up on the other side of ring. Taz gets back into it with a clothesline and t-bone tazplexes Bigelow through the remains of the table. A couple of Brooklyn boots from Taz. They fight out onto the rampway again and Taz is down after a big clothesline. Bigelow goes to suplex Taz into the crowd but Taz reverses into a DDT and they both go crashing THROUGH the rampway. Huge chant of “Holy shit” breaks out. Bigelow climbs out of the remains of the entranceway but Taz pops straight up after him and chokes him out. Bigelow taps out before he’s choked out and Taz wins the match. Match rating – B-. Entertaining but way too much time wasted in the crowd.

The ring crew come out to fix the ramp and Shane Douglas has walked out after Taz’s victory throwing a monitor at Taz as he did so. We get a video package of Beulah getting 3D’d by the Dudleys. Joey Styles has a few choice words for the Dudleys. In the ring Gertner leads out the Dudleys. Buh Buh Ray gets on the mic “I hate every single one of you people in here.” “We challenge anyone in the WWF. We challenge everybody in the WCW. We challenge each and every one of you. So if you’ve got the guts bring it on down to the ring and we’ll kick your asses.” Buh Buh continues to run the crowd down to draw even more heat onto the Dudleys. It’s time for brother Gertner to testify. Joel is “harder than Chinese algebra”. The Dudleys manage to absorb about 15 minutes of PPV time with a promo. Shocking. Segment rating – D.

Buh Buh Ray/D-Von/Big Dick Dudley v Tommy Dreamer/Spike Dudley/Sandman

The faces come out with a ladder each and Spike’s is really small – like him. Sandman’s intro takes up another 5 minutes of PPV time. I know this is the main event but Jesus. Actually that’s pretty quick for Sandman. Sandman is carrying his kendo stick and is busted open before the match even starts. We lose another 2-3 minutes on staredowns until Dreamer starts off with D-Von. Dreamer and D-Von do a perfect series of near falls. Dreamer nails a massive neckbreaker off the top turnbuckle on D-Von. Buh Buh Ray gets the tag and Spike wants in. Dreamer obliges. Buh Buh throws Spike around like a tennis ball. He goes to launch him into the crowd but Spike counters into a crossbody. Spike takes control and stands on Buh Buh’s chest but misses the hurracurrana and gets planted. Spike takes a few wicked back bumps from Buh Buh Ray’s clotheslines/backdrops. Spike hurracurranas his way out of a powerbomb but Buh Buh is in his corner and can make the tag. In comes big Dick Dudley. Sandman gets the tag for the face team. Big Dick wins a test of strength. Big Dick and Sandman fight to the outside where a schmoz breaks out. Tommy and D-Von fight halfway through the crowd. Buh Buh and Sandman are back into the ring. Sandman nails the Heinekenrana on Buh Buh. Sandman goes for a ladder. Big Dick is busted open and so is Spike. Spike climbs a 15 foot ladder in the ring and dives off to the floor where Tommy and a couple of Dudleys catch him. D-Von gets buried under a ladder and Sandman senton’s onto it. D-Von is busted. The Dudleys isolate Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer gets put under a ladder and Buh Buh senton’s onto it. Spike is back in and he gives Buh Buh the Acid Drop. Spike gets side slammed on the ladder. The Dudleys all get tied to ‘trees of woe’. Gertner comes in and gets put in a tree of woe too. Tommy puts a figure 4 on the injured Sign Guy Dudley. Tommy piledrives Jeff Jones. All the faces and the referee do drop kicks on the 4 Dudleys while they’re all tied in trees of woe. Great spot. Dreamer Driver on D-Von but Big Dick breaks the count. Double arm chokebomb on the ladder from Big Dick. Spike gets thrown over the top rope through a table and Sandman nails Dick with a kendo stick but Buh Buh nails Sandman with a stiff chair shot. Dreamer DDT’s Buh Buh Ray on the ladder and Dreamer gets the 3 count. The Dudleys beat on Dreamer post match along with Jack Victory but New Jack comes out and cleans house. Match rating – B-. Well put together hardcore brawl.

Best matches –
3. Rob Van Dam/Sabu v Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki. With talent in this match it couldn’t be bad and it certainly wasn’t.
2. Jerry Lynn v Justin Credible. Proof of why both men merited main event pushes 2 years later and another fine example of Jerry Lynn working an awesome match.
1. Mike Awesome v Masato Tanaka. Brutal hardcore Japanese style match. That powerbomb over the ropes is the most brutal thing I’ve ever seen in wrestling.

Overall event rating – A. With no bad matches my only complaint is the stalling that lead up to the main event. One of the best PPV’s ever done. Probably the best PPV ever that only had 6 matches.