ECW Born to Be Wired (August 1997)

Born to Be Wired was a non-pay per view event produced for television/home video, which served as the ‘go home’ buildup show for ECW’s second pay per view offering – Hardcore Heaven – a few weeks later.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; Your Host is Joey Styles.


Opening Match: Little Guido v Prodigy: The FBI try to prevent Prodigy from entering the ring (The Full Blooded Italians - I have no actually knowledge as to whether or not the Feds were after the kid), but the referee steps in and forces them to play nice. Prodigy gets a quick rana to put Guido on the floor, and he follows with a tope sparking the first 'ECW' chant of the night. He tries to springboard back in, but Guido nails him, and unloads chops in the corner. Backdrop, but Prodigy maneuvers to the apron, and dives back in with a missile dropkick. Inside cradle gets two, so Guido dumps him to the floor for FBI member Tommy Rich to post. Inside, Guido with a suplex for two, but a blind charge misses, and Prodigy hits a Russian Legsweep for two. Sunset flip gets two, and a dropkick puts Guido on the floor again. He follows with a baseball slide through the middle rope, but the FBI go after him - leaving him crotched on the top rope for Guido to pull down and pin at 6:05. Energetic, back-and-forth opener. * ¼

Louie Spicolli v Mikey Whipwreck: Spicolli overpowers him with casual hiptosses and bodyslams early, so Mikey forces him to run in circles, before returning the favor with the same spots. Another criss cross allows Spicolli to slow him down with a stunner, but a backdrop attempt gets him sunset flipped for two. Spicolli nails him with an enzuigiri, and grounds him with a chinlock. Blockbuster gets two, and a legdrop for two. Flapjack, but a second try allows Mikey a rana and a Russian Legsweep. Flying rana, but Spicolli catches him with a powerbomb for a series of two counts. Flying somersault senton misses, allowing Mikey a pair of dropkicks, so Spicolli gets sick of him, and launches him to the floor - all the way to the rail. He follows, but Whipwreck reverses a whip to the rail, and nails him with a somersault plancha. Unfortunately, he nails himself as much as Spicolli (technical name for the move was 'the masturbator') - crashing into the rail on the way. Louie peels him off the concrete, but Whipwreck manages to pull himself together and stun Spicolli with a rana for the pin at 6:56. Fun stuff - I always liked Mikey Whipwreck's act as a kid. **

Bam Bam Bigelow v Spike Dudley: Bam Bam promises to press slam Spike into the first row, but kindly offers him a chance to choose which side of the ring he does it on. Spike goes right at him, but Bigelow swats him like a fly, and hammers away. Press slam teases putting Spike in the crowd, but I guess Dudley hasn't come to a decision yet - instead getting casually dropped to the mat. Bigelow with a hanging vertical suplex, and they end up on the floor for Bam Bam to post him/Spike to blade. Inside, Bigelow continues to use him as a football, but the flying moonsault misses, and Spike starts throwing dropkicks. Diving forearm for one, so he goes for the Acid Drop - but Bigelow counters with a side suplex. Bam Bam goes in for the kill, but Dudley hooks a fluke victory roll for the victory at 6:37. Dudley made a good ragdoll for Bigelow to throw around, but the match lacked any flow - with lots of milling around between spots. This was more about setting up a rematch for Hardcore Heaven. ¾*

Chris Candido v Chris Chetti: The bell barely rings before Candido starts complaining about hair pulling, and he dominates on the mat early - but Chetti catches him in an armdrag/armbar out of a criss cross. Fists of fury, and a springboard bodypress gets him two, before going back to the armbar. Powerbomb, but Candido counters with a rana - sending them both tumbling to the floor. Candido posts him, and inside, hits a baseball slide legdrop for two. 2^nd rope flying legdrop gets two, and Candido goes to the chinlock. Hanging vertical suplex, but Chetti counters a flying sunset flip with a cradle for two. He can't follow-up, however, and Candido slams him, but misses a flying axehandle. Chetti with a German suplex for two, and a well executed backdrop. Swinging neckbreaker for two, and a powerslam for two, but a flying somersault legdrop misses. He manages a superplex for two, but walks into a gutwrench powerbomb, and Candido finishes him with a butterfly superplex at 10:43. Candido was set to face Taz for the TV Title at the pay per view, and this was surprisingly competitive for what could have been Candido making short work of him. *

Lance Storm v Shane Douglas: Douglas tries to psych him out, but Storm keeps focused, and grounds Shane with a pair of shoulderblocks. He unloads chops, and a backdrop fazes Douglas enough to walk into an armdrag/armbar. Shane manages a stungun to slow him down, and a butterfly suplex gets two. He props Storm up in the corner, and hits a nice baseball slide right into his nuts before hooking a reverse chinlock. Meanwhile, Head Cheerleader Francine tosses in a pair of chairs, so Douglas lets off to suplex Storm onto them for two. Storm backdrops him to the floor, and crotches him on the rail for good measure before bringing him back in for a springboard bodypress. Handspring clothesline and an enzuigiri get two, and an inside cradle for two. Springboard sunset flip for two, and a spinkick sets up a diving shoulderblock. Spinheel kick, and a belly-to-belly suplex, but Douglas kicks out, and hits his own for the pin at 9:02. Total spotfest (Storm barely even sold stuff like the suplex through the chairs), but decent for what it was - particularly Storms well executed offense. * ¼

ECW Television Title Match: Taz v Al Snow: This was before Snow 'got Head,' and was still just a crossover jobber best known for his WWF run as Leif Cassidy. Snow stalls for a while as the crowd messes with him, before finally locking up, and getting taken right to the mat for a headscissors. They trade basic holds on the mat (headscissors to headlock to hammerlock to armbar to hammerlock to armbar), finishing with Taz hooking an anklelock. Snow makes the ropes, and bails to try and walk it off, but he gets powerbombed on the way back in. Taz looks for a suplex, but gets an enzuigiri from Snow instead, and Snow hammers him. Spinebuster bomb, and he unloads lightning kicks, but Taz counters with a single-leg takedown. He tries to mount him for some closed fist action, but Snow rakes the eyes and slams him. Inverted atomic drop, but Taz counters into a German suplex, and the Tazmission finishes to retain at 10:15. Really slow, dull stuff. ½*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Dudley Boyz v Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, and Hack Meyers: The entrances alone eat up almost fifteen minutes. What is this, WrestleMania? They start off as a standard tag with the Dudley's v Mahoney and Rotten (no thirds), but Big Dick Dudley keeps getting involved, so RottenBalls bring Hack Meyers in to even the score. Big brawl puts everyone on the floor, and Rotten takes D-Von Dudley into the crowd. Back in the ring, Mahoney tombstones D-Von, and hits an impressive flying legdrop for two. More brawling, and the Dudley's catch Meyers with the Dudley Death Drop at 12:00. They were going for a chaotic brawl, but it just came off as dull. Plus, who books this crew without at least a token Big Dick/Balls segment? ¼*

Rob Van Dam v Tommy Dreamer: Big staredown to start, and they go into a criss cross - which they manage to botch, with Dreamer tripping over a split-legged Van Dam's foot. They do it again - this time with the planned spot of Dreamer dropkicking him, and they end up on the floor, where Tommy plants a plancha. He crotches RVD on the rail, but gets caught with a sunset flip coming back in, and a roundhouse kick. Dreamer to the floor, so Van Dam dives out with a somersault senton, and returns the favor by crotching him on the rail. He follows it up by springboarding off of the rail with a spinkick, but heads into the ring to pose instead of polishing Dreamer off. Inside, he dropkicks a chair into Dreamer's face, and the Five Star Frogsplash gets two. Powerslam onto the chair, but the split-legged moonsault misses, and Dreamer dropkicks a chair into his face. Tree of Woe allows Tommy to do it again, and hits a nice frog splash of his own. DDT draws Van Dam partner Sabu out, which distracts Dreamer enough for RVD to kick a trashcan into his face for the win at 9:50. Afterwards, Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Chris Candido come in to save Dreamer, and suddenly we have a bench clearing brawl - with half the locker room running in. A lot of sloppy bits, but mostly decent. ¾*

Main Event: ECW World Title Barbed Wire Match: Terry Funk v Sabu: The ropes are replaced (not covered with, but actually replaced) by non-gimmicked barbed wire. Sabu tries to corner Funk towards the wire, but Terry puts his dukes up. They trade attempted whips into the wire - with both stopping short - until Sabu hooks him in a reverse chinlock. Sid offense is Hardcore! Funk with a neckbreaker, and an early piledriver gets two, so he follows up with a DDT. Sabu with a rana for two - but Funk kicks out so forcibly (think, Yokozuna/Randy Savage Royal Rumble) that Sabu ends up in the wire. Funk grates his face, and then crotches him on it - which tears his pants. Remember, the wire isn't gimmicked at all. This is getting uncomfortable to watch - so much so that even the ECW super fan freaks are starting to get anxious. Another whip into the wire, but Sabu reverses, and Funk hits it so hard he gets stuck. Sabu unloads with a chair, and then jams a shard of the wire into Funk's face. Sabu pulls off a piece to use as a shiv, and springboards off of the chair - knocking Funk into the wire for two. He tries it again, but Funk sidesteps, and Sabu goes flying into it - opening up a nasty, nasty gash in his arm. He desperately tries to wrap it up before he bleeds out, and Funk sympathetically gives him a neckbreaker across two unfolded chairs for his troubles. Sabu bails to tend to his arm, but Funk follows, and beats him on the floor. Inside, Funk tries a figure four, but Bill Alfonso gets involved – making sure we don't see any silly wrestling holds in the main event. Funk kills him with the shiv, and whips him with a chunk of wire before finally letting the poor guy slither to the floor. Terry gets a pair of wire cutters to free up another strand, and starts viciously whipping Sabu with it, but Alfonso gets involved again - allowing Sabu to nails Terry with the cutters. Rob Van Dam runs in for good measure (wisely wearing a shirt, and gloves), and literally wraps Terry up in a bunch of the loose wire. He lays the champ on a table that way, and Sabu leaps out with a senton to drive him through it. That draws out Tommy Dreamer to pull Van Dam away - but Funk is still wrapped in the wire - giving Sabu two. Sabu lays him out on another table, but before diving off this time, he wraps himself up in barbed wire, then dives onto Funk. Not surprisingly two guys wrapped in barbed wire stick together like a very painful piece of Velcro, and they have to carefully maneuver into the ring. They're still stuck together, however, and without anywhere to go, Sabu gets the pin at 20:40. Afterwards, they're still disgustingly entwined (like two of your friends making out - but bloodier), so Sabu's celebration involves laying on the mat until medics can cut them loose. Sabu's run would be short lived, however, dropping the title to Shane Douglas at the pay per view a week later - starting what would essentially be a year and a half long reign, rendering this whole thing even more pointless. Match was literally just two guys beating each other with barbed wire, and was uncomfortable to watch. The violence/bumps didn't add to the match - this was just violence for the sake of violence, and by the end, both men literally couldn't move - which didn't make for a very satisfying payoff. I once heard someone defend this mess by declaring that both men were heroes, and likening their performances to those who died on the beaches of Normandy for their bravery. There’s bravery, and there’s stupidity – and this was unquestionably the latter. Luckily, both walked away without suffering any career/life ending injuries.  ¼*

BUExperience: Though the main event has become somewhat notorious, and is still occasionally talked about – it is strictly for gore-freaks. The undercard features a couple of decent matches, but nothing especially notable – mostly just serving as a two hour commercial for ECW’s second foray into pay per view a week later. DUD