NWA (ECW) Eastern Championship Wrestling (October 5, 1993)

Original Airdate: October 5, 1993 (taped October 1)

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Joey Styles and Paul E Dangerously. All matches tonight are from night one of Bloodfeast

Public Enemy v Gino Caruso and Silver Jet: They’re really pushing the NWA association at this point, which feels so weird for what the promotion would become. This is joined in progress, with the Enemy dominating Gino. Rocco Rock misses an elbowdrop to allow the tag to Jet, and he gets some stuff in on Rock before getting clobbered. Johnny Grunge tags in with an inverted DDT, and Rock finishes with a flying somersault senton splash at 3:52 shown. Boy, Rock got some distance with that one. This was slightly clipped, but I think we can safely call it at ¼*

Tazmaniac v Sabu: This both men’s ECW debut, though only Sabu is hyped. The way they used to bring Sabu out (strapped to a gurney, and wearing a muzzle) was a genius flourish. Sabu with a sneak attack via spinheel kick, and he adds a flying legdrop from there. Sabu knocks him to the outside for a springboard moonsault press into the stands, and Sabu loses it out there, throwing chairs around, and generally acting like a complete maniac. They brawl around the arena, and Tazmaniac has control as they make their way back into the ring. Tazmaniac tries a backdrop, but Sabu lands on his feet, and sends Tazmaniac to the outside with a spinkick. Sabu dives after him with a plancha, and a slingshot moonsault on the floor follows. Back into the ring, Tazmaniac fights him off with a German suplex, and adds an overhead suplex for two. Sabu sweeps the leg and digs in with a leglock, but Tazmaniac fights him off again, and delivers a clothesline. Tazmaniac brings a table into the ring, but Sabu hits him before he can use it. Sabu puts him on the table, but the thing breaks before Sabu can even climb the ropes for a dive. Undettered, Tazmaniac suplexes him, but Sabu fights back with a dropkick, only to miss a slingshot legdrop. That allows Tazmaniac to bite him some, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Sabu follows in with an elbow. Sabu takes him up for a rana off the top, but Tazmaniac semi-blocks it (that looked bad), and then goes to the top with a dive of his own, but Sabu dodges it. That sequence was rough, but at least they were trying interesting stuff. Sabu capitalizes on the miss with a flying moonsault, and that’s enough at 8:59. This wasn’t good wrestling in a scientific or classical sense, but it was exciting and wild, and it felt like one of the first ECW matches of this young promotion. *

Rockin’ Rebel hopes Salvatore Bellomo comes back real soon… so Rebel can have the pleasure of putting him on the self again

Sandman v Metal Maniac: Sandman hooks a schoolboy right away, but they’re in the ropes. Sandman with a waistlock takedown into a headlock, which may be the most technical wrestling I’ve ever seen Sandman do. Sandman with a dropkick, so Maniac bails to regroup, and he sweeps Sandman from the floor, allowing Maniac to post the leg. Maniac with a sloppy sidewalk slam for two, and a clothesline is worth two. Backdrop, but Sandman blocks with a knee, and a clothesline of his own finds the mark. Leg-feed enzuigiri leads to a flying clothesline at 3:33. This was energetic. ¼*

Chris Michaels is no cartoon. No argument 

ECW Television Title Cage Match: Jimmy Snuka v Terry Funk: This is escape rules, though they make a point of noting how the object of the match is to beat your opponent to the point where they are so helpless that you can simply walk out, as opposed to a footrace type deal. Snuka gets control, and works Funk’s back, between feeding him the steel. Jimmy with a piledriver, and he goes to climb out, but Terry is still alive. They slug it out on the top rope, and Terry gets the better of it, but fails to escape. Snuka knocks him off the top rope to take control back, and some grating draws blood. That ends up backfiring, as it fires Funk up, and Snuka eats some steel. Funk with a piledriver of his own, and I can’t believe Snuka hasn’t bladed yet. Snuka recovers, and headbutts Terry, then uses a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope headbutt drop - only for Terry to roll out of the way. He climbs, but Snuka knocks him off, and delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Backbreaker follows, but Terry gets fired up during another slugfest, and wins it. He climbs, and makes it over the top, but Snuka is on his tail. They slug it out again, and Terry knocks him off, allowing Funk to drop to the floor to win the title at 12:43. They tried to make this interesting, but it was mostly punch/kick stuff. ½*

Backstage, Joey Styles catches up with new Television Champion Terry Funk, who gives a humble victory promo

Paul E tries to get a word with Jimmy Snuka, but Superfly refuses to open his dressing room door

BUExperience: This was a good episode, with no boring junk, instead focused on stuff from the supercard they’d been hyping for weeks.