ECW November to Remember 1997

For 1997, November to Remember finally made it to pay per view. Though Barely Legal stole a bit of its thunder, ECW was riding high on a wave of popularity, and anticipation for the show was strong – from casual fans, to ECW’s hardcore mainstays alike.

From Monaca, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles – as ECW holds its flagship show away from the ECW Arena for the first time, in front of a record crowd.


Opening Match: Chris Candido v Tommy Rogers: Both guys are cautious in the early going, and work a few stalemates off of lockups and trading holds on the mat. Rogers gets an armbar, but Candido starts powering out, so Rogers catches him with an enzuigiri, and dumps him for a baseball slide. He crotches Candido on the post for good measure, and gives him an inverted atomic drop for two. Candido lures him into a chase to turn the tide, and tries a suplex back in - but gets reversed, and suplexed to the floor. Inside, Rogers with a reverse chinlock, so Candido tries to counter with an electric chair - but gets caught with a well executed rana for two. Rogers with a front-facelock, but Chris catches him with a powerslam out of a criss cross. Hanging vertical suplex gets two, and a 2^nd rope legdrop for two. Chris chops him in the corner (making sure to do his best Ric Flair impression, in response to the fans' 'whoo-ing' - back before that was a completely mainstream thing to do), but that allows Rogers to fire back, and super-duperplex him for two. Rogers goes up top, but Candido crotches him, and brings him down with a rana for two. Flying rana, but Rogers counters with a powerbomb, so Candido's fellow Triple Threat member Lance Storm runs in for a beat down. They openly double-team him (the referee barely protesting) until Jerry Lynn runs in, and they segue into doing a tag match instead at 13:15. This was going fine without the 'look at us, ECW is unpredictable!!' non-ending. **

Chris Candido and Lance Storm v Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn: Lynn unloads on everybody, and gets Candido in an armbreaker. Storm breaks it up, and everyone dives out onto the floor with various planchas and presses. Inside, Lynn spinkicks Storm, but a rana attempt gets countered with a double-team powerbomb/neckbreaker combo. They try to take Rogers out with a missile dropkick, but he dodges, and Storm crashes into Candido. They continue to trade off, until Candido finishes Rogers with a Northern Lights suplex at 3:26. This was fun spotfest, if a bit extraneous. **

Mikey Whipwreck v Justin Credible: Credible tries to overpower him to start, but ends up Flair Flipping to the floor, and getting caught with a plancha. Whipwreck with a rana out there, and a whip into the guardrail. Inside, Whipwreck tries a backdrop, but gets DDT'd, and hit with a well executed seated dropkick. Credible with a missile dropkick for two, and he dumps Mikey to the floor for manager Jason to work in a few cheap shots. Back inside, Credible with a flying sunset flip for two, and he works a chinlock. They trade sleepers - with Mikey hitting a stunner to break, and a powerbomb for two. Rana off of the top, but Jason gets involved again to break up the pinfall. That allows Justin an inverted DDT for two, but a miscommunication with Jason ends with Whipwreck hitting a super-stunner for the pin at 7:16. Well paced back-and-forth match - though too light on psychology. ** ¼

ECW Television Title Match: Taz v Pitbull #2: Pitbull tries to maul him, and hits a powerbomb early on. Spinheel kick, and a flying shoulderblock get two, but Taz counters a press slam with an overhead suplex. Tazplex, and the Tazmission finish at 1:29. Quick and effective. ¼*

ECW World Tag Team Title Four-Way Dance: The FBI v The Dudley Boyz v The Gangstanators v The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks: This is like a who's who of ECW tag team wrestling. The Gangstanators (as per usual) don't show up for the ring introductions, leaving the other six to brawl amongst themselves for a few minutes. The Gangstanators finally join in (nice of them to show up for their title shot), bringing their usual trashcan full of plunder with them. Well, that makes sense - damn traffic on the way back from the hardware store during the holiday season was bound to fuck them over. Everyone trades weapon shots, until Buh Buh Dudley catches John Kronus with a cutter at 10:04 to eliminate the Gangstanators. The Dudley's handle the other four with ease, but a miscommunication with manager Joel Gertner sees a blinded Buh Buh hit D-Von Dudley with the cutter, and the Dudley's are gone at 12:26. Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney destroy the champs, but a referee bump distracts Balls enough for Little Guido to roll him up and retain at 14:31. The usual meandering brawl, though everybody put in a good effort. ½*

Flag Match: Tommy Dreamer v Rob Van Dam: Flags in question are the ECW Flag v WWF Flag - the winner getting to raise his. RVD tries to get a 'WWF' chant going, but Dreamer counters with an 'ECW' chant. Van Dam quickly sweeps him off his feet, but Dreamer counters into a reverse chinlock, so RVD starts hammering on Dreamer's bad ankle (he's competing in a walking cast). Tommy with a Russian legsweep, and a clothesline, but Van Dam slips out of the DDT, and bails to the floor. Dreamer follows, but gets caught with a somersault bodyblock off of the rail, so he pulls a chair to slow Van Dam down. Inside, Dreamer ties Rob in the ropes, and tries to brain him with a chair - but Van Dam manager Bill Alfonso breaks it up. To the floor, Van Dam crotches him on the rail, and springboards a chair into his face. Inside, Van Dam dropkicks a chair at him a couple of times, and hits a slingshot legdrop for two. Flying moonsault, but Dreamer crotches him on the top, and pulls him off with a neckbreaker for two. Tree of woe allows Dreamer to get some revenge with the chair, and he tries a flying splash, but Alfonso whacks him with a chair to the bad ankle to bring him down. Van Dam with a rolling splash for two, but a split-legged moonsault hits the knees, and Tommy punts him in the nuts, then DDT's him - but Alfonso pulls the referee out at two. The official objects, so Fonzie clobbers him with a road sign to shut him up, distracting Dreamer enough for Van Dam to spinkick. He tries another dropkick with the chair, but Dreamer wallops him, and schoolboys him - but the referee's gone. Another referee tries to make the count, but he gets decked by a third referee - one with WWF loyalties. This leads to a three-way referee brawl - ending with Beulah firing off ball shots on the WWF loyalist - and Dreamer with a pair of DDTs and a piledriver, but there's no one to count. He tries to declare himself the winner, but Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, and Stevie Richards run in to give RVD an assist. Five-Star Frogsplash on Dreamer, but there's still no referee, so Furnas and LaFon count the fall, and declare Van Dam the winner. Dreamer (and logic) object, so Van Dam covers him in the WWF Flag, and holds him for Sabu to drive through, but Beulah steps in, so Sabu takes her out instead. Dreamer scrambles to cover her over with his body during the beat down, as the whole thing gets thrown out at 16:00. This really should have been Dreamer getting the clean win - especially in a battle for the honor of ECW on the biggest show of the year. Overbooked mess, otherwise - with a huge lapse in psychology, when Van Dam doesn't even bother to go after the ankle of the guy in a fucking walking cast. ¾*

Tables and Ladders Match: Sabu v The Sandman: This sort of segued straight out of the last match, as Sandman staggered out to stop the beating on Dreamer, and since Sabu was already there, let's get started. Sandman - despite coming out to make a save - showboats on the floor with his usual excessive drinking exhibition, so Sabu fires a tope off to get things underway. Inside, Sabu with a springboard moonsault, and he goes for a ladder - but Sandman blasts him with a forearm. They stagger around for a bit, until Sabu ends up on the floor, and Sandman throws a ladder at his head like a dart. Whip into the rail reversed by Sabu, and he hits a springboard leg lariat. They stagger around a bit more to blow a table spot (earning them the third 'You Fucked Up' chant in five minutes), but a second try sees Sandman successfully put Sabu through a table with a flying legdrop. Sabu responds in kind, then hits Sandman with a springboard leg lariat for two. Sabu chucks a ladder at him, but Sandman won't stay down, so Sabu lays him across a table on the floor, and tries to dive off of the ladder to put him through it - only to botch it, and come crashing down about two feet short. More stumbling allows Sandman to try a somersault plancha through a table, but he misses (in the non-botched sense), and Sabu hits a ladder assisted moonsault for two. Up top, but Sandman crotches him, and slams him off, onto a ladder. They do a dueling ladders bit, but it goes nowhere, so Sabu finds a fork in his pants (Joey Tribbiani style!) to start stabbing him with. Well, Joey usually didn't stab people with his pant forks, but maybe this is, like, a bootleg gritty version of Chandler trying to get back all the money Joey borrowed over the years. Chandler hits Joey with a somersault senton onto a ladder, and a slingshot somersault legdrop follows. Sabu with a slingshot leg lariat, but Sandman catches him in an electric chair - in probably the first well executed spot/transition of the match. Sandman tries a somersault senton off of a ladder through a table on the floor, and hits it - though he misses his mark, and nearly breaks his neck on the ring apron. Sabu tries to throw a fireball to slow him down, but that fails, so he goes with a missile dropkick instead. Sandman kinda casually lays himself out on a table for Sabu to drive him through, and Sabu follows with a ladder-assisted Arabian Facebuster for the pin at 21:00. Match was an absolute train wreck - like watching two amateurs with a death wish. There were entire portions of the match that were literally both of them stumbling around - and not selling, but just looking lost out there, or trying to regroup from the last botched spot. The crowd responded accordingly - one of the rare instances where an ECW crowd was really on these two for their spot-blowing habits. ½*

Main Event: ECW World Title Match: Bam Bam Bigelow v Shane Douglas: Bigelow had turned on Triple Threat partner Douglas, and won the title off of him the month before to set this up. Big staredown to start, and Bigelow easily overpowers him during the initial lockup - throwing him to the floor. Inside, Shane tries to wrestle him to the mat, but Bam Bam bashes him with an array of headbutts and forearms. Avalanche, but a second try misses, so Shane goes for a belly-to-belly suplex - only to get swatted away with another headbutt. Shane tries a bodyslam, but gets toppled for two, and Bam Bam hooks a chinlock. Blind charge misses, so Shane tries a springboard bodypress, but gets powerslammed for two. Bigelow with a hanging vertical suplex, and a baseball slide sends Shane crashing into the rail. Bam Bam rams him into the post for good measure, and hits a suplex for two. Another chinlock, but Douglas struggles, so Bigelow press slams him to the floor. He hangs back for the countout, but Shane beats it in, so Bigelow grabs a table and tries a flying moonsault - but Shane counters with a powerbomb through the table. Slugfest goes Douglas' way, and he tries an inverted DDT, but Bigelow dumps him. Inside, Shane tries to outpace Bigelow, and starts throwing clotheslines to put the champ on the floor. Slingshot rana after him, but Bam Bam catches him, and powerbombs him through a table. Inside, Bigelow with another powerbomb for two, and he unloads in the corner on the battered challenger. Francine calls the Triple Threat down for backup, but Bigelow knows how that deal goes, and press slams Shane onto them like bowling pins. Shane is punch drunk, but keeps coming, so Bigelow obliges by beating his brains in. Francine tries to make the save, but Bam Bam shrugs her off, too, and hits a falling headbutt. Hiptoss, but Shane counters into a belly-to-belly suplex - only to get avalanched before he can properly capitalize. Bigelow tries a powerbomb through a table, but Shane counters into another belly-to-belly, and wins the title at 25:02 - kicking off the longest reign in the title's lineage. They were going for Flair/Vader at Starrcade here, but ended up with a really slow, dull outing. Their problem was that they were depending on us to tap into our happy memories of a better match, but made no effort to build upon it - instead leaving us thinking of the better match. *

BUExperience: 1997 was a groundbreaking year for ECW, and though November to Remember fell a little flat booking-wise (it wasn’t a particularly satisfying blowoff show), it was well produced, and featured the usual formula of excitement over quality wrestling well. **