NWA (ECW) Eastern Championship Wrestling (February 8, 1994)

 

Original Airdate: February 8, 1994

Your Host is Joey Styles from the studio

911 v Mikey Whipwreck: From Philadelphia Pennsylvania on February 4 1994. 911 with a chokeslam right away, and Whipwreck is done at 0:11. Not wasting any time here, that’s for sure. DUD

The Night the Line Was Crossed ad. Give it to them, they made these horrible shows look like something interesting with their marketing 

Johnny Hotbody v Chad Austin: From Philly on February 4. Joey references Goodfellas here, because, you know, he’s cool. I get why his act got over with the 90s fans, but he’s so obnoxious now. Austin dominates him early, so Hotbody takes a powder on the outside to regroup. Back in, Austin cradles for two, and a spinheel kick puts Hotbody back on the outside. Chad brings him in the hard way for two, but Hotbody manages to take a shot to buy a little time, and a clothesline turns the tide. Hotbody with a bodyslam, but Austin counters a vertical suplex into a cradle at 3:21. ½*

The Night the Line Was Crossed ad

Pat Tanaka v Keith Shearer: From Philly on February 4. Tanaka gives him a handshake at the bell, but Keith takes a cheap shot after accepting. That allows Keith a suplex, and he bootchokes Tanaka until Pat falls out of the ring. Keith follows to smash his arm into the guardrail out there, and Keith presses him back into the ring, Shearer following in to put the boots to him. Keith unloads in the corner, but Tanaka gets fired up, and turns the tables, before quickly finishing with a sitout powerbomb at 2:01. ¼*

The Night the Line Was Crossed ad

Matty in the House has an exclusive: various members of the locker room react to the one hour match at the Night the Line Was Crossed

Hunter Q Robbins III gloats about now holding the contract for Jimmy Snuka. Not sure I’d go around bragging about that one. Word to the wise

Jay Sulli catches up with Jimmy Snuka and Tommy Dreamer for a face-to-face ahead of their match at the Night the Line Was Crossed. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t the hype promos air before the matches they’re hyping? All that aside, good segment

Jimmy Snuka v Tommy Dreamer: From The Night the Line Was Crossed in Philly on February 5. To put in perspective what neckbeards the ECW mainstays are, a sign in the crowd taunts Dreamer by noting that ‘no pretty boys’ are allowed. They stall for a good several minutes to start, and it’s not even high grade stalling like Lord Steven Regal, or something, it’s just wandering around the ring and jawing at fans. Tommy looks like he borrowed Sabu’s gear tonight, they should have formed a team. No one would be calling Sabu a ‘pretty boy,’ I can assure you that. They finally make contact some four minutes in, and Dreamer escapes a headlock, delivering a pair of bodyslams. That has Snuka bailing to regroup, and Tommy tries a bodypress when he comes back in, but Jimmy ducks, and Dreamer takes a bump to the outside. Jimmy follows to whack him with a chair out there, and Snuka puts the boots to him on the way back in. Snuka with a knife-edge chop, and a backbreaker sets up the flying splash for two. He took fucking forever to get up there, it’s almost comical that Dreamer wouldn’t have dodged it. Snuka responds by pounding on Dreamer, and he goes up for the splash again, but opts not to cover this time. Instead, he goes up a third time, and that wipes Dreamer out at 10:15. This was especially disappointing, because unlike some of the other guys, these two could have probably had a decent match if they wanted to, but this was literally half stalling. Afterwards, Snuka gives him another splash, so Commissioner Tod Gordon runs out, but Jimmy beats him up as well. ½*

Mike Awesome vignette

We take a look back at ECW Champion Terry Funk’s emotional promo following the Night the Line Was Crossed, which Shane Douglas crashed. Another good segment

BUExperience: The episode sucked, but the big angles like Snuka/Dreamer and Funk/Douglas were strong, and give me hope for the coming direction.