NWA (ECW) When Worlds Collide (May 1994)

 

Original Airdate: May 14, 1994

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles

Opening Match: Rockin' Rebel v Tommy Dreamer: A slugfest goes Tommy’s way with a koppou kick, so Rebel tries chopping him in the corner, but Dreamer no sells like he’s Sting in there with Flair. Tommy with chops of his own, and a cross corner whip allows Dreamer to follow in. Tommy with a snap suplex to set up an elbowdrop for two, and Tommy goes to a guillotine choke from there. Rebel fights, so Dreamer switches to a front-facelock. Rebel escapes, but misses a charge in the corner, and Dreamer uses an armdrag into an armbar. Dreamer with a sunset cradle for two, but Rebel manages to throw a clothesline to shake him off. That allows Jason to lay in a cheap shot, and Dreamer takes the bait, chasing him. Rebel saves, and delivers a legdrop to the groin for two, and a snapmare sets up a legdrop for two. Rebel with a spinebuster for two, but a flapjack gets countered with a Thesz press to give Tommy three at 6:21. They were going for a Bret Hart style flash pin there, but it felt so out of nowhere that it didn’t properly register. ¾*

ECW Television Title Match: Mikey Whipwreck v 911: Mikey won the title from Pitbull literally a day before this, though it hadn’t even aired on TV yet. 911 chokes him down right away, and delivers the chokeslam in short order. He’s got it won, but instead of covering, 911 decides to deliver a second chokeslam. A third, but the referee protests, so 911 chokeslams him as well, getting disqualified at 1:49. DUD

Jimmy Snuka v Kevin Sullivan: Snuka attacks before the bell, and it spills to the outside right away. Snuka dominates, so Sullivan grabs a chair, and uses it to turn things around. Kevin finds a frying pan to do some more damage, then a golf club, then a wrench. There’s nothing of note here, they’re just hitting each other with various weapons, there’s no ‘work’ to speak of. Jimmy catches him with a few headbutts on the way back into the ring, and Snuka keeps going, unloading in the corner. Snuka with a cross corner whip, but the charge in hits a boot, and Sullivan hammers on him. Hunter Q Robbins III trips Sullivan up as he runs the ropes, however, and Snuka covers at 4:33. These were two of the biggest ‘name’ guys on the card in 1994, but this was a completely amateurish effort. DUD

Singapore Caning Mixed Tag Team Match: Sandman and Woman v Tommy Cairo and Peaches: Sandman and Cairo start, and Tommy catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex. Sandman responds by going after Peaches, so Tommy suplexes him again, and Sandman bails. Tommy chases with an axehandle from the apron, and a snap suplex on the floor follows. Cairo with a flying axehandle for one on the way back inside, and Tommy adds a butterfly suplex for one. Sandman fires back with a backelbow, and a vertical suplex follows, between Sandman shooting dirty looks at Peaches. Sandman with a bodyslam to set up a flying elbowdrop, and a piledriver follows. The delivery there looked dangerous as fuck. Sandman chokes Tommy down, but telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. Tommy with a powerslam, and a DDT looks to finish, but Woman dives in to prevent a pin. That draws Peaches in to brawl with her, but Tommy breaks it up. As he holds Woman back, Peaches dives onto the still down Sandman, and gets the pin at 4:59. This was decent enough. *

Pitbull v Tazmaniac: Tazmaniac charges in to brawl right away, and it spills to the outside within seconds. Tazmaniac sends him into the guardrail out there, and then into the crowd to continue the brawl out there. Back to the ring, Pitbull takes control with a suplex, and he works a nervehold from there. A bodyslam sets up a kneedrop, and Pitbull ropechokes him a bit. Tazmaniac fights back with a suplex of his own, and he adds a clothesline, going on the comeback trail. Tazmaniac tries a dive off the middle rope, but Pitbull knocks him over the top before he can deliver it. Pitbull drags him back in to hit with a savate kick, but a short-clothesline misses, and Tazmaniac suplexes him. Tazmaniac with a pair of turnbuckle smashes into an overhead suplex, so Jason tries a distraction. Tazmaniac takes the bait, allowing Pitbull to grab a chain, and he knocks Tazmaniac cold for the pin at 8:47. ½*

Handicap Elimination Match: JT Smith and The Bruise Brothers v Shane Douglas, Mr. Hughes, and Public Enemy: Road Warrior Hawk is out with a knee injury, making this into a Handicap match. Everyone brawls in the aisle to kick start things, and Smith ends up in the ring with Douglas and Hughes. He holds his own for a bit, but it ends badly, and the dust settles on Ron Harris in with Hughes. Ron ends up in the heel corner for some abuse, and they cut the ring in half on him for a long while. Smith gets a tag, but immediately falls prey to the heels, and gets worked over. Finally, everyone comes in for a big brawl, and it ends with both Bruise Brothers, Douglas, and Hughes all simultaneously counted out at 18:05. So that leaves Smith alone with the tag champs, and they dominate him. Smith manages to catch Rocco Rock with a rollup at 24:16 to make it one-on-one, and he hooks Johnny Grunge in a schoolboy at 24:53. Way too long. Whatever positive attributes existed here were largely negated by the extreme length. It also didn’t help that the match was essentially a twenty five minute heat segment, with little else. ¼*

Main Event: Terry Funk and Arn Anderson v Sabu and Bobby Eaton: Funk and Sabu start, and Sabu hits a corner splash for two very quickly. Sabu puts the boots to him, and a kneedrop gets him a two count. Sabu goes to a side-headlock, and he tags Bobby in to unload on Terry with punches. It spills to the outside, where Eaton cracks Funk with a chair, and Sabu hits a springboard corner leg lariat as it goes back into the ring. They fail to cut the ring in half, however, and Arn catches a tag in. Anderson takes him down and delivers a knee to the groin, and a bodyslam sets up a kneedrop. He throws Sabu into the corner to make him tag Eaton, but Funk grabs Bobby, and beats him up on the outside, not waiting for a fucking tag. Arn puts Bobby in a figure four, but Paul E Dangerously breaks it up. Funk responds by piledriving Bobby, but Sabu tags in before the babyfaces can cut the ring in half. Arn bodyslams Sabu, and goes to the top, but Sabu dropkicks him off, with Arn taking a bump down to the floor. That draws Funk in to bodyslam Sabu to set up a flying moonsault, but Sabu rolls out of the way. Meanwhile, Eaton backdrops Anderson on the floor, as Sabu hits Funk with a legdrop for two. Sabu adds a flying moonsault of his own for two, but Terry fights back with a powerbomb for two. Funk with a neckbreaker for two, and a DDT follows, but Terry gets into a shuffle with Eaton instead of finishing him. No matter, Arn comes in to choke the life out of Sabu himself, and Terry pops him with a headbutt that does as much damage to Funk as it does to Sabu. Funk ends up on the outside, where Sabu dives with a somersault plancha, so Arn comes over with a chair to swing at anything that moves out there. Sabu manages a bodyslam on Anderson in the ring, and he lands a flying moonsault, but lets off his cover at one. Tag to Eaton to finish up, and a bodyslam sets up the flying legdrop, but Funk saves at two. Sabu grounds Arn in a chinlock, and another bodyslam sets up a slingshot somersault senton splash. A slingshot moonsault gets him two, but Arn dodges a dive against the rail on the outside, and he drills Sabu with a series of DDTs, as Funk and Sabu brawl onto the Eagle’s Nest. In the ring, Anderson uses a rotating spinebuster, as Public Enemy materialize to take out Funk. Arn chases them off with a chair, but the damage is done, and Sabu puts Funk in a spinning toehold. Funk manages a cradle for two, but he has no follow up, and Sabu slaps it back on. Funk manages to fight him off, so Arn grabs Sabu for Funk to hit with a chair, but Terry ends up hitting his partner. Funk shakes it off, and puts Sabu in a spinning toehold, but Sabu uses the chair to fight free. Arn comes in to save, but then takes the chair to beat on Funk himself! After beating the piss out of his own partner, Sabu puts him in a half crab for the win at 19:24. Not surprisingly at all, this was the best match of the night. ** ¼ 

BUExperience: The card was well developed, and the crowd was very energized throughout, but the actual wrestling was nearly universally bad. I did enjoy the main event, but I wouldn’t sit through the rest of it.

DUD