NWA (ECW) UltraClash (September 1993)

Original Airdate: September 18, 1993

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles, in his ECW debut

Opening Match: Public Enemy v Jason Knight and Ian Rotten: ECW debuts for all four guys. The Enemy attack before the bell, dumping Knight to the outside, and giving Rotten a spike piledriver in the ring. They’re dressed like Men on a Mission here, and they have the same taunt, to boot. Rocco Rock does a dive on the outside on Ian, and a 2nd rope moonsault on Jason connects. They dump Jason to the outside for some abuse, as Ian returns to the ring, but Rock beats him up in the corner. Johnny Grunge gives Rotten an inverted DDT, and Rock finishes him with a flying somersault senton splash at 4:39. This was just spots, with no storytelling to speak of. ½*

ECW Pennsylvania State Title Match: Tony Stetson v Tommy Cairo: Stetson attacks before the bell, and he pounds Cairo down for some stomping. Stetson dumps him to the outside, and Tommy takes the time to regroup out there. Back in, Cairo wins a criss cross with a hiptoss, and a spinheel kick puts the champion on the outside. Stetson stalls, and he tries a cheap shot on the way back in, but Cairo blocks with a suplex for two. Stetson bails for more stalling, but manages to get control on the way back in, and he uses a chinlock to wear his challenger down. Stetson with a kneedrop, but Cairo comes back with another suplex, and he bootchokes the champion down. Cairo with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, and an overhead suplex is worth two, so Stetson bails again. Tony manages a cheap shot on the way back inside, and he delivers a bodyslam, but gets corner whipped, and Cairo avalanches him for two. Snap suplex gets Cairo another two, but Stetson fires back with a jumping clothesline for two. Stetson grabs the title belt as Hunter Q. Robbins III distracted the official, and Tony bashes Cairo’s head in for the pin at 7:32. And that was the last hurrah of the title, as they retired it after this show. *

Mask v Mask Match: Super Destroyer #1 v Super Destroyer #2: But whose corner is Paul Bearer in?! Destroyer 1 hooks a schoolboy for two in the early going, but Destroyer 2 kicks him in the gut, and delivers a pumphandle-slam. Destroyer 2 works the arm for a while, until Destroyer 1 manages to sweep the leg, and he works that part. He tries a figure four, but Destroyer 2 shoves him into the corner to block, and he goes back to work on the arm. Destroyer 1 sweeps him for more leg work, as the crowd wanders around, ignoring the match. Destroyer 2 misses a corner charge, allowing Destroyer 1 a senton splash for the pin at 6:30. This was really slow and dull for what was supposed to be a blood feud. Afterwards, Destroyer 2 unmasks, but then Dark Patriot runs out to help him beat down Destroyer 1 to get his heat back, until JT Smith makes the save. And that was pretty much it for both guys, as they each worked one more match in the promotion, and were never seen again. ¼*

Scaffold Match: Dark Patriot v JT Smith: We’re just segueing in following the last segment, and this is knockoff rules. Patriot nails him with a weapon as they reach the top of the scaffold, and he delivers a DDT up there. He tries shoving Smith off, but JT holds on, so Patriot bashes his head into one of the pipes coming off of the ceiling. They’re literally so high up that the air ducts are blocking their heads at points. Patriot chokes him with a rope as Smith teases another fall, but JT manages to grab the pipe to pull himself back up. Smith chokes him with the rope, but Patriot fights him off, and does more choking. Okay, time to move on. Patriot with a cool elevated DDT off of the pipe, but Smith fights back with a standing dropkick! These two are having the craziest Scaffold match I’ve ever seen! Patriot fights him off again, and throws a handful of powder into JT’s eyes to allow him to knock Smith off at 6:34. This was a surprisingly mobile Scaffold match, compared to the usual ‘crawl around and try not to die’ ones. Still not good, but better than expected, and the best one I’ve ever seen. And that was it for Patriot in the promotion. ¾*

Bunkhouse Match: Terry Funk and Stan Hansen v Abdullah the Butcher and Kevin Sullivan: ECW debut for both Butcher and Sullivan here, who is replacing Eddie Gilbert. Big brawl right away, with Funk swinging a chair around, and general chaos. Funk and Sullivan end up fighting on the scaffold, and Terry is busted open before long. Stan busts Butcher open with a chair, so Kevin grabs the timekeeper’s hammer to beat on Funk with. Butcher grabs a spike, but accidentally hits Sullivan, allowing Terry a spinning toehold on Kevin. Butcher saves, so Eddie Gilbert runs in, attacking Funk with a chair. And, apparently, that’s a DQ at 6:54. Not really my cup of tea, but it delivered what was needed, aside from the dumb finish. Unfortunately, all the heat was around Gilbert, and without him, the match felt flat. And that marks Hansen’s final appearance in the promotion, as well as Gilbert’s. ¼*

$5,000 6-Person Battle Royal: We've got: Sensational Sherri, Tigra, Angel, Don E. Allen, Hunter Q. Robbins III, and Jay Sulli. Sherri is dressed like Brutus Beefcake tonight. Sulli is out first, and I believe that’s it for him in the promotion as well. Allen and Robbins are next, leaving only the women. Sherri and Angel decide to work together, but that quickly falls apart when Sherri turns on her. Freddie Gilbert comes in, and like Eddie, he was supposed to be working on this show, and Sulli was his replacement. I don’t get why these guys are appearing, but not wrestling in their scheduled matches, especially when their matches were built around their participation. Sherri eliminates herself while chasing Freddie around, and Tigra (who has been sitting calmly on the top turnbuckle for the entire match) shoves Angel over the top to pick up the $5,000 at 3:52. DUD

Loser Receives Ten Lashes Match: Salvatore Bellomo v Sir Richard Michaels: Bellomo brings Sherri back out to stand in his corner to counteract Hunter Q. Robbins. Bellomo brings him in hardway, and delivers a standing dropkick, then ropechokes him for a bit. Michaels fights back with a snapmare to set up a legdrop, and he goes to a chinlock. Bellomo escapes and headbutts him, but Michaels counters a second one with a full-nelson. Bellomo fights free, and a snapmare allows him a chinlock of his own. Michaels fights him off with a standing dropkick for two, but Sal responds in kind, and Michaels ends up on the floor. Sherri attacks him out there, but Michaels comes back in with Hunter’s cane, and he bashes Bellomo with it. That allows Richard a suplex, and he works another chinlock, as Joey goes into overdrive with ECW hype. Didn’t take him long to find himself, did it? Michaels with a flying splash, but Bellomo rolls out of the way, and delivers a splash for the pin at 7:19. This was total junk, with no real direction to the action. Afterwards, Bellomo gears up with the strap, but Rockin’ Rebel makes the save. ¼*

ECW Title Match: Shane Douglas v Sandman: Sandman blitzes him at the bell, and a vertical suplex gets the challenger two. Douglas bails, but manages to sweep Sandman out with him to turn the tide, and he unloads with right hands on the way back inside. Sandman tackles him for mounted punches, and a cross corner whip sends Douglas to the apron. Sandman pulls him back in with a small package for two, but Shane clobbers him with a clothesline as they pop up. Douglas with an ugly superkick, and a snapmare allows him to apply a chinlock. Sandman fights free and hooks a sunset flip for two, but Douglas clobbers him before he can follow it up. Shane with a snap suplex for two, and he works a chinlock. Cross corner whip, but Sandman reverses, and Shane takes a bump over the top. Sandman drags him right back in for a bodyslam to set up a flying shoulderblock, but the referee gets bumped in the process, so no count. That allows Paul E. Dangerously to pass Douglas the cell phone, and Sandman gets brained for a dramatic two count. Sandman hits him down low to allow him to get back to the top, but Shane rolls through on a flying bodypress to retain at 8:15. Shane was definitely the right guy to carry the belt at this point, a much better choice than washed up guys like Don Muraco or Tito Santana. *

Main Event: Baseball Bat Match: The Headhunters v Miguel Perez Jr and Crash the Terminator: ECW debut for Crash here, who is a young Hugh Morrus. How is this the main event? So there’s a bat in the middle of the ring, and both teams start on opposite ends of the arena, giving us a foot race to reach the weapon first. Seems kind of unfair, considering one team is made up of two morbidly obese guys. And, indeed, Crash grabs the bat. He tries teeing off on the outside, but ends up hitting the post, and one of the Headhunters beats on him with the bat all the way up the aisle. Perez comes over, but he gets hit with the bat as well, and that’s basically the whole match: guys get hit with the bat, everyone bleeds. Styles is in all his glory calling this mess, basically calling it the greatest match in history, somehow with a straight face. Finish comes when one of the Headhunters misses a flying elbowdrop (despite Crash not even being where he was diving), and Crash powerslams him. Crash with a flying moonsault, but the Headhunter dodges. Headhunter delivers a bodyslam to set up a flying moonsault of his own, and he sticks the landing at 9:01. This was… something. ¼*

BUExperience: This was something of a transitional show, with Paul Heyman taking over as booker, and lots of debuts and final appearances throughout. It wasn’t good, and certainly didn’t deliver any workrate classics, but it was fairly entertaining for what it was, and everyone worked hard. 

*