ECW November to Remember 1996

By late 1996, awareness of regional promotion ECW was expanding rapidly, to the point where both the WWF and WCW (the two biggest promotions in North America) had worked cross promotional deals, and started openly raiding their talent pool for guys like Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Mick Foley, and Steve Austin.

ECW’s popularity was expanding so much so (based on strong word of mouth, and their exciting, gritty television programming), that they were angling to move their internet-pay per views onto proper cable. Though concerns about the violent and profane nature of the product would delay their ambitions for a few more months, by the time flagship show November to Remember had rolled around in ‘96, wrestling fans everywhere were starting to get behind the ‘little Indy that could.’

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles. Taz comes out right away to cut a promo on Sabu and Paul Heyman. This was in the midst of a long feud with Sabu, that was supposed to be paid off here - but which Heyman wanted to save for ECW's pay per view debut. It was an intense, well worked feud (going as far as having Taz 'unofficially' on WWF programming to promote it), but ended up having one of the absolute most disappointing blowoffs of all time when ECW did finally get onto pay per view for Barely Legal, and couldn’t live up to the hype.


Opening Match: Stevie Richards v David Tyler Morton Jericho: Richards debuts the bWo (Blue World Order) - his brilliant take on the nWo - with fellow members Hollywood Nova (Hogan), Da Blue Meanie (Scott Hall), and himself as Kevin Nash. Richards powers him into the corner (doing a pitch perfect Nash impression, complete with shit-eating grin), but Jericho gets him on the mat with a side-headlock. Richards wrestles out, but Jericho schoolboys him for two, and hits a backdrop. Series of armdrags, and he drops a knee to the nuts. He works the part by literally cupping his balls, and dumps him with a beautiful flying bodypress to the floor. Springboard clothesline on the way back in, and a springboard legdrop gets two. He keeps firing off nut shots (Stu Hart would have loved this match), but Stevie makes the ropes on a Boston crab attempt. More nut shots, so Stevie finally returns the favor, and goes for the powerbomb, but Jericho slips away. Richards with a sidewalk slam, and a cutter gets two. Richards tries a Nash arrogant cover off of a backdrop, but Jericho cradles him, and hits a nasty botched double-underhook piledriver. He hits a sloppy rana off of the top for two, but walks into a powerbomb off of a backdrop for two. Stevie revs up the band for a Superkick, but Jericho counters with yet another ball shot, but still ends up getting nailed with it off of a criss cross, and pinned at 9:32. The bWo was fun stuff, but the match was super sloppy, and way, way too many nut shots. ¾*

Hack Meyers v Axl Rotten: Rotten jumps him on the way in, but a slugfest goes Meyers' way, so Axl bails to the floor. Meyers follows for some fun with a chair, but gets nailed with a can of beer (taken right out of the hands of a fan, of course), and whacked with a chair. Inside, they continue to beat each other with chairs, until Rotten hits a Pedigree onto one, and we're done at 4:25. Complete crap from bell-to-bell - it was just two guys punching each other, with a few chair shots peppered in. DUD

Buh Buh Ray Dudley v D-Von Dudley: This was early in D-Von's run, as he appeared urging his kayfabe half brothers to get their act together. Urged with his fists. In that vein, they start with a big slugfest - won by Buh Buh with a faceslam. Ten-punch count, but D-Von reverses an Irish whip, and slams him. Leaping headbutt, and a backdrop, but a missed bodypress puts him out onto the floor. Buh Buh rams him into the rail, but gets caught with an inverted DDT coming back in, and D-Von tosses him back out to return the favor with his own rail shot. Into the crowd, they trade shots with various weapons (Chair! Sign! Guitar!) as the fans eat it up like the freaks they are. Back in, D-Von tries to come off of the top rope with a chair, but Buh Buh crotches him up there, and superplexes him off for two. Powerbomb for two, but a 2^nd rope headbutt misses, so D-Von hits a flying version for two, and chews Buh Buh out. That allows Buh Buh to recover, and he kills D-Von with a gorgeous flapjack into a cutter at 10:20. Decent, well paced match - with a nice finish. The two 'brothers' would join forces a few months later, and go on to become one of the most successful, enduring tag teams of all time. * ¼

#1 Contender's Match: Sabu and Rob Van Dam v The Eliminators: Winner gets an ECW Tag Title shot later in the show. Big staredown to start, until Sabu starts unloading closed fists on Perry Saturn, and we're off. Sabu tries to sweep Saturn, but Perry nicely turns it into an armbar, and they fight over that for a bit until doing a dropkick stalemate. Both men tag, and a big criss cross ends with Van Dam taking John Kronus down with a series of kicks. Another (botched) criss cross ends with Kronus suplexing him, and he follows with a pumphandle-slam for two. That triggers a four-way brawl (no more than a chain of two spots are allowed in any ECW tag match before something has to break it up), with Saturn powerslamming Van Dam as Kronus pounds Sabu on the floor. The dust settles with Saturn hitting RVD with a springboard moonsault for two, but Kronus gets powerbombs off of a rana attempt, and RVD nails him with a 2^nd rope backelbow for two. Sabu with a springboard legdrop, and the Arabian Facebuster - but Saturn breaks up the count. RVD with a flying legdrop for two, but another four-way breaks out, and Saturn catches Van Dam with a fameasser for two. Everybody goes flying out of the ring to trade assorted springboards, with Sabu putting Saturn through a table with a tornado DDT. More back-and-forth brawling, until everybody starts throwing moonsaults, and the time limit expires at 20:00, before they can cause a tsunami in Japan. Commissioner Tod Gordon comes down to sanction five more minutes, and now it's powerbomb season (moonsaults are so three minutes ago). RVD and Sabu kill Saturn with an electric chair/fameasser combo, but it only gets two, so Van Dam tries a frogsplash - only to miss. Saturn misses a moonsault, and RVD gets slammed by Kronus when he tries his own (what's old is new again!), but the time expires again at 25:00. Gordon really wants to sort out that whole title shot business, so he sanctions five more minutes. Sabu nearly kills Saturn (and himself) with a tope into the third row, but gets nailed with a gorgeous flying kneedrop back inside. Everyone trades near falls, until Saturn and Sabu do a springboard stalemate - both colliding with each other. Everyone’s down, so the referee starts counting them out - but the bell rings at 27:00, supposedly because the five minutes have passed, so Gordon gives them both a title shot later in a three-way dance. Tons of highspots here (some very well executed, some incredibly sloppy), but zero psychology, and very disjointed/overlong overall. ** ½

Chris Candido v Mikey Whipwreck: Candido tries to overpower (!) him in the early going, but Mikey wrestles him into the ropes to calm him down. Candido switches gears and tries a takedown, but Whipwreck uses his speed to evade, and takes Chris to the mat with a headlock. Another reversal sequences ends with Whipwreck hitting a Northern Lights suplex for two, and a rana sends them both tumbling over the top. Whipwreck dives off of the top rope and into the third row after Chris, so Candido gets tired of him, and cracks his jaw. Powerslam gets two, and a snap suplex sets up a 2^nd rope legdrop for two. Candido with a bow-and-arrow, but Whipwreck won't give, so Chris gives him a baseball slide legdrop for two. Ugly sequence, as they botch a whole handful of moves (leapfrog, facebuster, sunset flip), until Candido shuts it down with a sloppy gutwrench powerbomb for two. Whipwreck with a dropkick for two, but he gets crotched on the top rope, and taken down with a rana for two. Flying headbutt misses, so Whipwreck tries a magistral cradle for two. Spinheel kick gets two, and a flying version for two. Missile dropkick for two, and a tornado DDT gets two, so Candido blows him low to slow him down. Tombstone, and a powerbomb off of the top finishes at 11:54. I like both guys, and they gave a good effort, but this was disjointed and sloppy. ½*

ECW Tag Team Title Three-Way Dance: The Gangstas v The Eliminators v Sabu and Rob Van Dam: Really, now? The two challengers pick up right where they left off, until the champs run out with their trashcans full of plunder to get the party started proper. Everyone trades weapon shots, and brawl into the crowd to give the fans a chance to see crap up close and personal. The mindless brawling goes on without any particular direction (including Sabu botching a springboard TWICE before abandoning it altogether), until Taz runs out, and puts Van Dam to sleep in a Tazmission on the floor. That gets Sabu's attention, and distracts him long enough for the Eliminators to eliminate at 9:30. The honeymoon doesn't last, however, as New Jack comes flying off of the top rope with a chair, and pins Saturn at 9:40. Punch, Punch, Punch, Blown Spot, Punch, Botch, Punch. ¼*

Loser Leaves Town Match: 2 Cold Scorpio v Devon Storm: Impromptu match, as Scorpio comes out for an in-ring interview with Joey Styles to 'say goodbye to the ECW Arena' (he had signed with the WWF to come in as Flash Funk), and starts off sweetly enough - but quickly starts gloating about his new WWF deal, and how he won't miss this crowd. With a wink and nudge, he says someone should come out for a Loser Leaves Town match, since he's saying goodbye anyway. Storm comes out ready to get his rub, but makes the mistake of shoving Scorpio, and gets leveled with a dropkick, and pinned after a flying corkscrew legdrop at 0:53. Wait, what? DUD

Loser Leaves Town Match: 2 Cold Scorpio v JT Smith: Okay, so that didn't go as planned, so JT Smith comes out to give it a go. They're both black, naturally Scorpio's gonna do the right thing. Smith goes right at him, but gets caught with a sidewalk slam, and a flying moonsault finishes at 0:32. DUD

Loser Leaves Town Match: 2 Cold Scorpio v Hack Meyers: Welcome contestant number three! Meyers tries slugging it out, but gets reversed into the corner, and leveled with a spinkick. 450 Splash sends Meyers home at 1:15. DUD

Loser Leaves Town Match: 2 Cold Scorpio v Louie Spicolli: Finally, Louie Spicolli (out to check on Meyers) gets talked into going next, and gets quickly powerbombed. Flying legdrop for two, so he tries a flying moonsault - but misses, and Spicolli hits a spinebuster for two. Irish whip, but Scorpio counters with a savate kick, and hits a flying clothesline for two. Criss cross, but Spicolli catches him with a Death Valley Driver, and Scorpio's gone at 2:14. He refuses to leave, however, so Taz comes out to give him the boot. Afterwards, Taz calls out Sabu again, and they tease the fans with another showdown that doesn't happen. Sure, it was essentially a bunch of 'DUDs,' but it was a fun segment. Scorpio debuted for the WWF the very next day at Survivor Series. ¼*

ECW World Title Match: The Sandman v Raven: This was during the 'Raven brainwashes Sandman's wife and son' angle, which was well worked - but I'm not big on angles that exploit families, particularly bringing young children into an environment like ECW. Sandman charges in, but Raven wrestles him to the mat, and cradles him for a couple of two counts. Hammerlock, but Sandman starts to wrestle free, so Raven posts his shoulder to nip that in the bud. He goes after the shoulder, but that's Sandman's beer drinkin' arm, so he dumps the challenger, and follows with a plancha. Raven goes into the rail, but reverses a second shot, so Sandman catches him with a Cactus Clothesline into the rail. Raven keeps after the arm (with Sandman's half assed selling in full gear), but they go to the floor again for the champ to abuse him with various weapons. Inside, Sandman with a DDT for two, and he goes ballistic on Raven with right hands, so the Nest get involved. That allows Raven a chair shot, and a DDT of his own - as the Nest set up a table for him. It sends up backfiring (both in the kayfabe manner, and because they botched two spots along the way), so Raven regroups, and throws him through the table for two. Slugfest goes Sandman's way (leaving Raven cowering in the corner, a bloody mess), so he uses Tyler (Sandman's young son) as a human shield. That distraction allows his wife to run in with Sandman's Singapore Cane to take him down, and Raven hits another DDT for two. Suplex onto a piece of the guardrail, but Sandman counters into a suplex, and retains at 15:07. Again, really disjointed, tons of blown spots, and not particularly exciting. ¼*

Main Event: Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer v Shane Douglas and Brian Lee: Funk starts with Douglas, but Shane quickly changes his mind, and passes to Brian Lee. Funk responds by tagging Dreamer in, and we're under way with Lee unloading on Tommy in the corner. Dreamer with a Russian legsweep to trigger a four-way brawl, and it quickly spills to the floor. Shane starts swinging a chair, but Dreamer catches him with a cutter, and the brawl continues. The highlight here is, without question, Francine (dressed in something that would make most Vegas strippers blush) bouncing around to avoid Dreamer and Funk. They spill into the crowd for a bit, and back inside, Dreamer and Funk bring a piece of the guardrail with them to properly abuse Douglas and Lee. Francine helps turn the tide to allow Douglas to suplex Dreamer onto a chair, but she ends up taking an atomic drop for her troubles. With Dreamer down, Funk goes ballistic on both men, but ends up getting piledriven by Shane. Spiked version follows, and Douglas gives him a single-arm DDT for good measure. They destroy Funk with a piledriver through a table, and declare themselves the winners - though they haven't gotten the pinfall yet. That brings Dreamer back in (thank you for joining us), but he gets quickly choked out by Brian Lee. Lee with a tombstone for two, so Beulah runs out to try to make the save (nice thought, but seriously babe?), and gets predictably suplexed by Douglas.  They keep brawling around, until Funk starts wildly swinging a chair, and he finishes Lee with a DDT at 26:12. I've never been a fan of chaotic brawls going nearly a half hour, and this was no exception. Less sloppy than a lot of the other matches, but still basically a half hour of punching, kicking, and weapon shots. ½*

BUExperience:  The best ECW shows don’t always have to necessarily provide great in-ring action, because they’re loaded with fun, exciting, and memorable angles, or entertaining brawls/spotfests. However, this one fails on almost every level, and is actually a chore to sit through, at points. DUD