ECW November to Remember 1997 (Version II)

Original Airdate: November 30, 1997

From Monaca, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles

Opening Match: Chris Candido v Tommy Rogers: They size each other up to start, until Tommy catches him with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and Candido ends up on the outside. Tommy tries a baseball slide, but Candido dodges. He dives with a flying axehandle on the way back in, but Tommy block, and crotches Chris on the post. Tommy stays on him with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline for two, so Candido bails to break the momentum. He suckers Tommy into a chase, and tries a suplex back into the ring, but Rogers reverses him over the top. “We don’t have any mats here in ECW,” notes Joey, despite there clearly being mats on the floor. Stop gaslighting us, Styles! Inside, Tommy works a reverse chinlock, but Candido powers to a vertical base for an electric chair - only for Tommy to counter with a rana for two. Rogers works a front-facelock, but Candido fights free, and powerslams him. Hanging vertical suplex gets two, and I’m honestly shocked that Candido was only twenty five years old at this point. He looks at least a decade older. 2nd rope legdrop gets Candido two, so he works Tommy over with chops in the corner, but Rogers responds in kind. Tommy with a vertical superplex for two, but a trip to the top ends in him getting crotched, and Rogers takes a bump to the outside from there. Candido takes him upstairs for a rana off the top for two, but a flying dropkick gets caught in a sit-out powerbomb. That draws Lance Storm in to attack Tommy, with the referee just kind of hanging back. So Candido and Storm go to work, until Jerry Lynn runs out to make the save. Lynn takes Chris down in a fujiwara armbar, but Storm saves, so Lynn hits him with a baseball slide, then adds a springboard bodypress on the floor. Candido responds by doing a dive of his own at Jerry, and Rogers with one of his own for good measure. That’s enough for the referee, and he decides to allow all four guys to work the match. So things pick up right where they left off, with Lynn sprinboarding at the heels, but getting caught in a combo. Rogers saves, and rolls Chris up for two, so Storm tries a missile dropkick, but ends up hitting Candido. That allows Tommy and Jerry a combo on Lance for two, and Lynn goes up, but Lance crotches him. He tries a superplex, but Candido objects, wanting to do it himself. Kid’s gotta learn to delegate. Candido with a powerbomb off the top on Lynn for two when Rogers saves, so Candido hits him with a bridging northern lights suplex at 16:42. They were delivering with decent spots and bumps, but the match had no flow to speak of, and went on for way too long. This match may also hold some sort of record for how many times Joey could work the name ‘Sunny’ into seventeen minutes. * ½ (Original rating: **)

Mikey Whipwreck v Justin Credible: Mikey outmoves him in the early going, and a corner whip sends Credible flipping to the apron, and Mikey sends him flying into the guardrail from there. Whipwreck on him with a dive, and a rana on the floor follows. Mikey whips him into the rail before taking things back inside, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Credible DDTs him. Snapmare sets up a seated dropkick, and Justin unloads in the corner. Bodyslam sets up a missile dropkick for two, and a pointed elbowdrop is worth two. He dumps Mikey to the outside for Jason to abuse, and Credible keeps pounding him after Jason rolls his victim back into the ring. Credible with another snapmare/seated dropkick combo for two, and a sunset bomb is worth two. Credible works a chinlock, but Mikey escapes, and hits a jawbreaker and a superkick for two. Powerbomb gets two, as he runs through the offense of every recent WWF Champion, apparently. Rana off the top gets two, so Jason tries a distraction, but Mikey suplexes him. The distraction allows Credible to recover, however, and he drops Mikey with an inverted DDT for two. Jason holds Mikey for Justin to dive at, but Mikey whips Jason into Credible to prevent the dive, then brings Justin off the top with a cutter at 7:13. This was fine. * ½ (Original rating: ** ¼)

ECW Television Title match: Taz v Pitbull #2: Pitbull slugs at him at the bell, and quickly delivers a nice powerbomb. Spinheel kick follows (so loose that I think Taz may have went down from the breeze it caused), and a flying shoulderblock gets two. Press-slam, but Taz counters with an overhead suplex, and a t-bone suplex follows. Tazmission finishes at a brisk 1:29. ½* (Original rating: ¼*)

ECW World Tag Team Title Four-Way Dance: Tracy Smothers and Little Guido v The Dudley Boyz v The Gangstanators v Balls Mahoney and Axel Rotten: This is elimination rules, and the Gangstanators are nowhere to be seen as the match begins. Mahoney and Rotten clean house with chairs to start, and everyone kind of trades off until the Gangstanators join us. Lots of weapon shots, blood drawn, Joey making middle schooler jokes - you know the drill. John Kronus wastes time going to the top to dive at Tommy Rich, so Guido throws his flag at him to knock John off the ropes, and right into a cutter from Bubba Ray Dudley at 10:05. Unfortunately, with the Gangstanators gone so is the rap music, and the match loses its frat party atmosphere. Which is one of the few things this mess had going for it, if we’re being honest. Powder gets thrown to blind Bubba, and he ends up hitting partner D-Von Dudley with a 3D, and Axl pins D-Von at 12:28. Axl hits Guido with an inverted DDT, and Mahoney gives him a sitout brainbuster, but the referee gets bumped. Another referee runs in to help, but he tries to revive the first instead of counting. That draws the ire of Mahoney, and Guido is able to schoolboy the distracted challenger at 14:33. Not my cup of tea, but the crowd loved it. ¼* (Original rating: ½*)

Flag Match: Tommy Dreamer v Rob Van Dam: This is ECW versus WWF, and the winner gets to raise his promotions flag. It might help if Rob was even vaguely associated with the WWF outside of on ECW TV, but whatever. Dreamer is sporting a cast on his leg, and Rob immediately targets it. Tommy tries to turn it into a wrestling match on the mat, but gets out worked. He manages a Russian legsweep and a clothesline, but Rob blocks the DDT, and bails. Dreamer responds by barreling into him with a baseball slide, and RVD eats the rail. Tommy clotheslines him into the crowd, but Rob rebounds with a somersault senton on the floor. He tries whipping Dreamer into the rail, but that gets reversed, and Tommy crotches him across it. Tommy bashes him with a chair out there to draw blood, but Rob comes back with a springboard sidekick - kicking the chair right into Dreamer’s face. Rob dropkicks a chair at him as they go back inside, as Joey laments the thought of Rob waving a WWF banner on ECW TV. I guess checks don’t count as ‘banners,’ noted. Rob with a slingshot legdrop for two, but an attempt at a moonsault gets Van Dam dropped with a neckbreaker for two. Dreamer ties him in a tree of woe for some abuse with a chair, but a trip to the top ends badly when Bill Alfonso shoves him off the ropes. That allows Van Dam a rolling splash for two, but Tommy blocks a splitlegged moonsault. DDT on a chair, but Rob blocks. He tries another splitlegged move, but Dreamer counters with a DDT, only to have Alfonso pull the referee out to prevent a count. Bill takes the official out with a weapon, and the distraction allows Rob to recover with a chair shot. He tries the chair assisted sidekick, but Tommy nails him with the weapon to block - only to have the heel referee from the tag title match stop the second official from counting. Tommy goes to take him out, but Rob saves with a chair, so Tommy schoolboys him for two. That leads to a fight between the referees, so Beulah kicks the evil one downstairs, and the two normal officials tandem DDT him. That draws Bill in to hit them each down low, so Beulah returns the favor, as the overbooking really kicks into high gear. Dreamer with a piledriver (cartoonishly sold by Van Dam, but in a good way), and Dreamer adds a DDT. That draws Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon out, apparently also as representatives of the WWF. Really sending in the big guns there, aren’t they? They help RVD get control, and suddenly Stevie Richards shows up as well, back from his cup of coffee in WCW. Rob with a flying frogsplash, but there’s no referee, so Stevie counts the pin. That doesn’t count, but since there’s no one to argue, the heels declare victory, and Bill comes in to bury Dreamer in the WWF flag. Sabu shows up to help them put Dreamer through a table as a finale, and the whole thing ends in a cheap no contest at 17:00, though no official decision is actually announced. This wasn’t a good match, but it was an entertaining one, carried by loads of overbooking. ** ¼ (Original rating: ¾*)

Tables and Ladders Match: Sandman v Sabu: Sabu hits him with a tope during the entrances to kick start the match, and a springboard flying moonsault gets him two as they go inside. Sabu grabs a ladder, but Sandman knocks it away before he can use it, as Joey reviews some of the stuff that’s led to this match, and it sounds like the most over the top 90s junk imaginable. Vince Russo may have taken it mainstream, but he had nothing on Paul Heyman. Sabu ends up on the outside, so Sandman chucks a ladder at his head. He follows for a whip into the rail, but Sabu reverses, and hits him with a springboard leg lariat out there. Sabu sets up a table, but Sandman fights him off before he can use it, and delivers a bodyslam on the floor. Joey is still trying to convince us that the floors are unpadded, which may have worked in 1997 when TVs were smaller and lower definition, but definitely does not in 2022. Sandman suplexes a table onto Sabu, and then (gently) puts him through another one. Well, he less ‘puts him through it’ than the table just broke. Sandman puts him on another table to set up a flying legdrop, and they both end up going through it, and I’m honestly unsure if that was meant to be Sabu dodging it, or if Sandman’s aim is just terrible. Considering he downed, like, six beers on the way to the ring, I’m betting on the latter. Sabu chucks Sandman through a table, then puts him on another one to set up a springboard legdrop, and at least that one finds its mark. Inside, Sabu with a corner whip, followed by a springboard kick for two. Back to the outside, Sandman misses a dive through a table, allowing Sabu a springboard moonsault for two on the way back in. Sandman comes back with a superplex onto a ladder, but Sabu fights him off again, as the match continues to just sort of putter along without any real direction or story. Sabu finds a fork to attack him with, so Sandman dumps him to the outside to buy time, then chucks a ladder at him. Sandman with another dive that I’m again unsure if was meant to be a miss or missed as a botch, and a flying somersault senton splash on a ladder connects as they head back inside. Slingshot somersault senton splash follows, so Sandman puts him on another table he has planked between the apron and the rail, and dives from a ladder in the ring to drive him through it. The table was already sagging before he even dove, but luckily held up long enough to cooperate. Sabu tries throwing a fireball at him, but Sandman blocks, so Bill Alfonso comes in with a cane. Sandman blocks him as well, but the distraction allows Sabu to recover, and he leaps with a missile dropkick. That puts Sandman on another planked table, and Sabu dives with a ladder to drive him through it. Sabu with an Atomic Arabian Facebuster on the way back in, and that’s enough at 21:12. Like most everything tonight, this was just way too long for what it was, but at least it had a finish. It’s interesting, back in 1997 everyone hated it for how it was just table spots with no actual wrestling bridging them, and nothing but punch/kick stuff as transitions, but that sort of thing is basically par for the course in TLC matches today. But at least modern workers make it look so much less amateurish. ½* (Original rating: ½*)

Main Event: ECW World Title Match: Bam Bam Bigelow v Shane Douglas: Styles is working hard to get this one over as an epic, and the crowd is firmly behind the hometown challenger here. Bam Bam chucks him out of the ring during the initial lockup, and Shane regroups. He tries a takedown on the way back in, but Bigelow uses his size advantage to block, and the champ unloads on him in the corner. Shane turns the tables, but Bigelow swats him away, and drills him with a headbutt. He puts Shane down for a bootchoke, and a corner whip sets up an avalanche. Shane bails to catch a breather, but gets pounded again as he re-enters. He tries a belly-to-belly suplex, but Bigelow easily blocks, and goes back to hammering him. Douglas tries a bodyslam, but Bam Bam topples him for two, and the champ works a chinlock. Another avalanche, but Shane dodges. He goes up with a flying bodypress, but Bigelow catches him in a slam for two, and a vertical suplex follows. Shane bails, so Bam Bam barrels into him with a baseball slide, and Bigelow avalanches him against the rail out there. Shane beats the count, and manages to go low to buy some time, but Bigelow reverses a suplex on him for two. Back to the chinlock, but Shane fights to a vertical base, so Bam Bam press-drops him across the top turnbuckle, and the challenger falls out of the ring. Shane valiantly beats the count again, so Bigelow brings a table into the ring, and sets up a flying moonsault through it - only for Douglas to powerbomb him off the top and through it! Shane tries making a comeback, so Bam Bam dumps him over the top (in the most gentle way imaginable), and Bigelow is showing some signs of wear for the first time in the contest. That allows Shane to get some shots in as he returns to the ring, and a big clothesline knocks Bigelow over the top! Shane dives with a plancha, but Bigelow catches him, powerbombing his challenger through a table out there! Douglas beats the count, so Bam Bam powerbombs him again, and he covers for two. Bigelow unloads in the corner, and Shane is busted open now. Francine tries calling the Triple Threat in, so Bigelow presses Douglas out of the ring to take them out in the aisle! That was a pretty crazy and awesome spot, though it fell flat for some reason. Shane still beats the count, and he just won’t stay down, no matter how much Bam Bam pounds him. Francine comes in with a crutch to try a distraction, but Bigelow fights off Shane’s sneak attack, and then uses the crutch on his challenger. Bigelow with a biel, but he loses a reversal sequence to a belly-to-belly suplex. Shane has no follow-up, however, and Bigelow avalanches him to keep control. He tries a powerbomb onto half of a table/chair combo, but Shane counters with a belly-to-belly through it, and we have a new champion at 25:01. The finish felt kind of out of nowhere, but it worked within the context of the story being told. They were going for the Vader/Ric Flair formula from Starrcade ‘93, and while it worked to a degree, it was far too long, and Bigelow just didn’t bring enough to the table with his basic and limited offense. For all their hatred of the Clique and Flair, those guys could deliver this sort of thing in their sleep. The crowd was into it, though. ** ½ (Original rating: *)

BUExperience: This was a pretty big letdown, actually. The promotion was pretty hot at this point, but they didn’t deliver at all with this pay per view effort. Not only was the quality of the work weak throughout, but everything outside of the Flag match felt relatively unenthusiastic, and the effort just wasn’t there. 

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