ECW Heatwave (July 1996)

For 1996, ECW turned Heatwave (released the year before as a home video compilation of matches and angles over the summer of 1995) into a proper show for the iPPV market – following up on the events at Hardcore Heaven.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles.


Opening Match: The Gangstas v The Samoan Gangsta Party: They get right to brawling, with the Gangstas going ballistic with weapons - still upset at the Samoan's for costing them a shot at the ECW Tag Titles at Hardcore Heaven the month before. They beat them so badly, in fact, that the referee loses any semblance of control, and throws it out at 2:55. Afterwards, New Jack calls out ECW Tag Champions the Eliminators, but gets nothing. Just a beat down, but it served its purpose. DUD

Mikey Whipwreck v Paul Lauria: Lauria tries to jump him on the way in, but eats dropkick, and Mikey dumps him to the floor for a slingshot somersault bodyblock. Into the rail, but Paul counters with a stungun, and takes him in for a flying splash - but gets crotched on the top, and rana'd off to give Whipwreck the quick victory at 1:33. DUD. Afterwards, the Eliminators show up to beat both guys down, then offer Whipwreck a shot at the titles (sorry Gangstas!), providing he finds someone to tag with, and that they're ready right now. That leads to...

ECW World Tag Team Title Match: The Eliminators v Mikey Whipwreck and Sabu: Perry Saturn starts with Sabu, and a slugfest ends with both guys trading headscissors on the mat. Sabu hooks a leglock, but Saturn makes the ropes, so Sabu hits a springboard moonsault for two. Slingshot moonsault, but Saturn dodges, and superkicks him, then follows with a flying splash for two. Tag to John Kronus for a handspring elbow, but he wastes time playing to the crowd, and Sabu tags Whipwreck to come in with a flying legdrop for two.  Armbar, but Kronus powers out, so Sabu charges in with a bulldog. That brings Saturn in to brainbust Mikey, and hit a savate kick to really take the pep out of his step. Lariat gets two, and a suplex/flying bodypress combo gets two - when Sabu saves. Kronus with a pump-handle slam, and he hooks an armbreaker - but again, Sabu saves. Saturn German suplex gets two, but Mikey counters a superplex attempt, and hits a sloppy flying rana to allow him the tag. Sabu's a house of arson with a chair, but badly botches a springboard, and ends up flat on his ass. Luckily, Mikey's there to cover it up by taking the champs down with a flying clothesline, and Sabu recovers to take Saturn off of the top with a rana for two. Saturn with a gutwrench powerbomb for two, so Sabu tries a slingshot sunset flip off of the apron (supposed to end in a powerbomb onto the floor), but botches that, too, and they fall in a heap. Another springboard spot ends with Sabu crashing through a table, and the champs take Mikey out with the Total Elimination (a spinheel/legsweep combo) for the pin at 12:00. Good pace, but lots of sloppiness. ¾*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Dudley Boys v The FBI: D-Von Dudley (still feuding with the others Dudley's in his introductory angle) distracts the family from the crowd, and the FBI jumps from behind - triggering a brawl. A long brawl. D-Von gets involved to help take out Dudley's with chairs, but Big Guido gets in the way, and Big Dick Dudley whacks him with his own chair for the pin at 6:38. I wasn't into this. DUD-ley.

Axl Rotten v Tarzan Goto: Goto looks like Bumblebee Man come to life. He unloads a kick to the gut to slow the eager Rotten down, then backdrops him to take control - but eats spinheel off of the ropes. Rotten bodypress misses - smacking him into the ring ropes - and they spill to the floor to do a dueling chairs bit. No one wins (really, when does anyone win when a metal chair is swinging at your head?), so Goto whips him into a table instead. Into the crowd, they do a tour of the arena, until finding their way back to the ring for Goto to smack him with a chair. He absolutely unloads with it (hitting some fifteen consecutive shots, until the chair's seat is broken off), then grabs a fresh one - but Rotten reverses, and returns the favor. DDT gets two, so he tries another onto the chair, only to have Goto drop him onto it with a brainbuster - and that's enough to finish at 7:15. No classic, but they kept the pace going, and it didn't overstay its welcome. *

ECW Television Title Four-Corners Match: Chris Jericho v 2 Cold Scorpio v Pitbull #2 v Shane Douglas: Douglas wastes no time, jumping Pitbull in the aisle during his entrance to kick start the match, as Scorpio does a criss cross with Jericho, ending in Chris spinkicking him to the floor. Shane, meanwhile, chuckles from the apron - giving Jericho the finger from time to time. Well, considering how things turned out, I'd say Jericho's tax returns are giving it right back. Every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. Scorpio tries a somersault legdrop on the way back in, but ends up getting butterfly-powerbombed, and hooked into an armbreaker on the mat. Scorpio counters into a reverse chinlock, but Jericho gets uppity, and it turns into a slugfest, until Scorpio tells him to fuck off, and tags Shane. Chris takes him to the mat with a side-headlock, and hits a slingshot splash before unloading on Shane in the corner with turnbuckle smashes. Chopfest goes Jericho's way, and a dropkick puts Shane on the mat for a springboard moonsault - getting two. Tag to Pitbull, and Shane scrambles to pass to Scorpio - so Pitbull takes it out on him instead. Press slam and a powerbomb get two, so Scorpio starts passing out crotch shots like it's his birthday, and a rana puts Pitbull on the floor for Scorpio to beat with a chair. Tag back to Shane, and with Pitbull subdued, suddenly he's a tough guy. Side suplex gets two, and he tags Jericho before Pitbull can return fire. Awkward transition, as Jericho sort of plods around for a bit, before getting caught in a powerslam - then turning the tide right back with a spinheel kick. German suplex gets two, but a rana attempts gets Jericho powerbombed, and Pitbull tags Scorpio instead of trying for the pin. Scorpio goes up top, but Jericho has had time to recover by this point, and brings him down with an impressive super-duper rana. Shane tags himself in to get the pin off of it, but Scorpio kicks out at two, and nails him with a spinheel. They spill to the floor for Shane to get whipped into the rail, and Scorpio bulldogs him onto the seat of an unfolded chair for two. Tag to Pitbull, but again Shane ducks him - bailing to Jericho. Chris manages to schoolboy him while he's distracted with Shane, but a bodyslam attempt gets him toppled for two. Powerbomb gets Pitbull two, and he tags Scorpio for a savate kick. Butterfly suplex, but Chris lures him into a chase, and DDT's him on the way back in. Tag back to Pitbull for a super-blockbuster, but Shane tags himself in while Pitbull's going for the cover - and he's less than thrilled, brawling to the floor with Douglas. Jericho and Scorpio fly out of the ring to dog pile, and everyone brawls around ringside - Jericho and Scorpio pairing off, and Pitbull going with Douglas. Shane ends up bulldogging Pitbull through a chair for two, but he's POUNDING UP!! Fists of Fury! Press Slam! - but Jericho cuts him off with a missile dropkick on Douglas to get a two count of his own. 2^nd rope axehandle gets two, and he tries a spinning-toehold, but Douglas won't give. Figure four nearly does it, but Shane manages to push him off just long enough to tag Scorpio. Undeterred, Chris tries another springboard moonsault, but Scorpio nails him on the way down, and hits a powerbomb for good measure. Tombstone sets up a sloppy flying corkscrew legdrop, and Jericho is eliminated at 27:02. Shane comes in and tires to make a deal to work together to eliminate Pitbull first, but when Scorpio seals it with a barrage of fists, well, it's a shaky agreement, at best. Scorpio with an abdominal stretch (Really? Thirty minutes in?), but walks into a belly-to-belly suplex, and Shane heads upstairs. He's dazed, though, and Scorpio manages to bring him off with a sunset cradle off of the top for two. Flying moonsault misses, however, and Pitbull Superbombs him out of the match at 31:36. Shane and Pitbull end up on the floor after the fall, and Pitbull beats him with a water bottle. Well, at least the bottle was full at the time, otherwise that would have just been ridiculous. He grabs a chair for a more appropriate weapon, and powerbombs Shane through two of them for good measure. Table gets involved, but Shane hits a belly-to-belly before Pitbull can use it. Pitbull manager Francine gets involved, but when he goes to press slam Shane, throws a handful of powder in his eyes, and takes her skirt off to reveal 'Franchise' underwear. Aww, now she matches Shane's panties perfectly. The blinded Pitbull still knocks Shane out of the ring, as Pitbull #1 joins us, and they Superbomb Francine through a table for being a conniving bitch. That doesn't really go a long way in winning the title, though, and Shane jumps him from behind to win it with a belly-to-belly at 39:37. This could have been half as long, and equally effective - though Francine's turn is historically significant enough. Match was well paced, and made good use of tags to keep it going, but outside of the turn - nothing that warranted forty minutes. **

Sabu v Louie Spicolli: The referee pleads with Sabu not to wrestle (hey, we all have at some point), because he's sporting a neck brace for this. That doesn't stop him from charging Spicolli, but he gets taken to the mat, and hit with a Hennig-necksnap. Neckbreaker gets two, and a swinging version for two. Slingshot side suplex puts Sabu down right on his neck for another two count, but a second try sees Sabu counter with a spinkick to put them on the outside. Sabu with a springboard chair shot literally into the third row, and he drags Spicolli back in for a flying legdrop - only to miss. Louie's still too dazed to properly capitalize, however, so Sabu hits a rana. Another springboard, but Spicolli desperately swings a chair to knock him out of the air. Dueling chairs bit ends with Sabu hitting a springboard leg lariat to knock him to the floor, and a baseball slide to put him up against the rail. Sabu with a flying moonsault through a table, and inside, a springboard moonsault gets two. Rana off of the top gets blocked, however, and Spicolli with a flying somersault bodyblock for two. He heads to the top again, but Sabu brings him down with a DDT, and hits an Arabian Facebuster to finish at 11:36. Match was the usual spotfest - the psychology completely abandoned after the first minute, or so. *

Main Event: Cage Match: Raven, Brian Lee, and Stevie Richards v The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Terry Gordy: Raven and Sandman start alone in the cage, and, surprise surprise - it's a brawl. Well, unapologetically stealing a dude's wife and kid from him generally doesn't end in trading hammerlocks. Meanwhile, everyone else brawls around the arena for a while (Lee/Dreamer, Richards/Gordy), until the others join in on the cage fun - though they go in and out at will. Dreamer 'cuffs Raven to the cage to try and recreate the 'chair shot hear 'round the world', but Sandman's son Tyler steps in between. Dreamer's still all for bashing the kid (!!), but Sandman's fatherly instincts kick in (‘I need that kid for my welfare!’), and they have a stand off - ending when Raven gets free, and everyone trades DDTs. Brian Lee ends up battling Dreamer to the top of the cage, and throws him to the concrete floor with a chokeslam - through three stacked tables on the way. Meanwhile, Sandman and Raven are still trading DDT's, and Sandy gets the pin with one at 15:00. The usual bloody ECW brawl, that happened to have a cage there for when they felt like using it. ½*

BUExperience: Despite a couple of memorable moments (the Francine turn being the most notable), this one doesn’t hold up too well (it was wild stuff compared to what the WWF and WCW usually put out at the time), and is certainly not one of the better ECW shows. *