NWA (ECW) Hostile City Showdown (June 1994)

 

Original Airdate: June 24, 1994

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Joey Styles

Opening Match: Tommy Dreamer v Hack Meyers: This is starting to look like what we remember as the ‘classic’ ECW set here, compared to some of the earlier shows. Hack tries intimidating him at the bell, but Tommy brushes it off, and Hack ends up bailing after a bulldog. Inside, Dreamer unloads in the corner, and delivers a backdrop, ahead of holding Hack in a headlock. Hack rolls it over into a few two counts, but Tommy sinks his teeth in, and delivers an earringer. Tommy tries a leg-feed enzuigiri, but Hack blocks. Hack tries a slam, but Dreamer topples him for two, and delivers a neckbreaker, then a snap suplex. Backdrop, but Hack counters with a matslam, and puts the boots to him. Hack with a clothesline for two, and a pointed elbowdrop is worth two. Hack with a guillotine legdrop, but Tommy manages a bodypress for two as they criss cross. Hack cuts him off, and gets a reverse chinlock on. Dreamer uses a mulekick to shake him off, and that allows Tommy a DDT. Elbowdrop, but Hack dodges. He tries a bodyslam, but Dreamer escapes, and sunset cradles for two. I thought that was the finish, and apparently Hack did too, because he forgets to actually kick out. Hack with a cross corner whip, but a second one gets reversed, and Tommy hits a flying splash at 6:50. This was mostly fine, even with Hack forgetting to kick out of the sunset cradle spot. *

Don E Allen v Chad Austin: No match, as 911 comes out and kills both guys. That draws Tod Gordon out to protest, so Paul E. Dangerously orders 911 to chokeslam him as well. Gordon takes two chokeslams, so Dreamer comes back out to try and help, but 911 kills him as well. 

Dog Collar Match: Pitbull v Tazmaniac: Tazmaniac runs in, so Pitbull and Jason clothesline him with the chain, and we’re underway. Pitbull hooks him to the dog collar, and he hammers on Tazmaniac with the chain from there. Pitbull tosses him over the top, but it backfires, when Tazmaniac’s weight pulls Pitbull over as well. Tazmaniac uses the guardrail out there, and he grabs a chair - knocking Pitbull silly, before choking him with the chain. It’s so funny/strange to see people smoking in the crowd, like ain’t no thang. They spill into the crowd, where Tazmaniac keeps beating on him with weapons, but Pitbull turns it around as they head back in. Pitbull hits three corners, but Tazmaniac yanks him down to block the fourth. That looked pretty vicious. Tazmaniac with a clothesline, and he hits three corners, before Pitbull cuts him off. Pitbull with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, but he argues the count, and Tazmaniac recovers with a suplex of his own for two. Pitbull with a savate kick, and a powerbomb follows, but no cover. Instead, he wants to drag Tazmaniac by the neck to four corners, with Tazmaniac - of course - touching them all along the way. So they get through three, and Tazmaniac grabs him in a German suplex for the pin at 7:44. Ha, I dug the fake out of the usual cliche finish there. I wish the rest of the match was as creative. Afterwards, Pitbull Rex returns for the first time since May 1992 (though now known as Pitbull #2), and they hang Tazmaniac with the chain. ½*

The Bruise Brothers v Shane Douglas and Mr. Hughes: The Brothers attack to kick start the match, and everyone immediately spills to the outside for a brawl. The dust settles on the Brothers working Shane over, but Ron Harris misses a charge in the corner, and Douglas delivers a belly-to-belly suplex. That allows the tag to Hughes, but Don Harris comes in to attack, and manages to dump Hughes to the outside to trigger another brawl between everyone. Hughes catches Ron with a scrapbuster, but the referee is distracted, and Don saves. He clobbers Hughes, and puts Ron on top for the pin at 8:39. Just a brawl. DUD

Singapore Cane on a Pole Match: Sandman v Tommy Cairo: The first person to get the cane off of the pole wins the match. Joey makes a point of noting that Tommy - giant beer gut and all - looks as if he’s ‘chiseled from iron.’ Sandman goes right for the pole, but Tommy pulls him off, and dumps him out of the ring. Tommy dives with an elbowdrop from the apron, and a flying corkscrew bodyblock hits on the way back in. Cairo goes for the pole, but Sandman stops him, so Tommy stomps his head. Sandman gets dumped to the outside, and Cairo dives from the apron with a legdrop on the floor. Sandman gets control on the way back in, and delivers a pair of kneedrops, but Tommy blocks him from getting the cane. They slug it out on the top rope ahead of Cairo superplexing him off… as the cane detaches, and just falls to the mat. Luckily, the referee is able to get it back up, as they sell the superplex. Cairo with a gourdbuster and a DDT, so Woman passes Sandman a second cane, and he whacks Tommy with it for the DQ at 5:28. Sandman unloads on Tommy with the weapon, so Peaches comes in to try and save, but gets shoved down by her husband. Woman responds by grabbing her own cane, and she whacks Peaches in the head with it. The angle remains good, but the match was shit. I can understand not wanting to do a decisive finish, though, as the angle still had legs. ½*

Public Enemy v Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr: The ECW Tag Team title is not on the line for this. Rocco Rock starts with Terry, and they scuffle. Rock wants Dory instead, so the Funks oblige, and Dory wins a criss cross with a forearm. Tag to Johnny Grunge, and Dory wins another criss cross with a backelbow. The Funks continue dominating, so the Enemy grab chairs, and turn things around. All four guys brawl it out, and Grunge manages to hook Dory in a few cradles for two counts each. The dust settles on the Enemy working over Dory, but a miscommunication allows him to turn it around on Rock. Dory gets the spinning-toehold on, but Grunge saves, as Terry is left down, out, and bloody in the first row. The Enemy try putting Dory away, but he keeps fighting, so Paul E. Dangerously leads 911 out. 911 takes the official out, and the match is thrown out at 13:30. Good angle, shit match. Noticing a trend? ¼*

ECW Television Title Match: Mikey Whipwreck v Rockin' Rebel: Joey notes that Whipwreck is ‘like the Buffalo Bills, he just can’t get it done.’ He’s literally the champion. Rebel attacks, and goes to work, unloading with Whipwreck unable to respond. Rebel with a suplex, a piledriver, a spinebuster… but he won’t cover. Rebel delivers a sidewalk slam, and Jason wants to get his shots in, but it backfires. Rebel dumps Whipwreck to the outside to smack with a chair, and Jason wants to try a swing, but ends up hitting Rebel, and the referee finally calls a DQ at 3:26. Afterwards, the heels double up on Mikey, but Tazmaniac makes the save. He cleans house, but now the Pitbulls show up to back Rebel and Jason up, and they heels are able to gain control with their four-on-two advantage. ¼*

Main Event: Sabu v Cactus Jack: Jack is the reigning co-holder of the WCW World Tag Team title at this point. Sabu attacks with a trio of enzuigiris to take Cactus off of his feet, and Sabu delivers a leg lariat. He grabs a front-facelock from there, but it goes nowhere, and Sabu starts working on the bad shoulder. He uses a Saito suplex to drop Jack on his shoulder, and a spinheel kick knocks Jack out of the ring. Sabu teases a dive, so Jack jumps over the rail to distance himself. Sabu responds by going to the outside and beating on Jack’s shoulder with a chair, and that softens Jack up enough for a tope. Inside, Sabu springboards off of a chair with a leg lariat in the corner, but another springboard gets blocked. Cactus clotheslines him over the top, and Jack heads to the outside to beat on him with a chair. Jack with an elbowdrop from the apron, and another elbowdrop on the way in gets two. Jack tries a flying somersault senton splash, but Sabu dodges, and hits Jack with a slingshot legdrop for two. Sabu goes up for a moonsault, but Jack side superplexes him off. Both guys stagger up, and Sabu manages to throw a dropkick. A reversal sequence ends in both men tumbling out of the ring, and Sabu puts him through a table out there. Sabu tries a charge, but gets caught with a hotshot into the rail, so 911 nails him. That allows Sabu a springboard moonsault through a table out there, but he hurts himself on the way, and Jack is able to cover for two on the way in. Jack grabs a broken piece of the table to beat on Sabu with, and he adds a corner clothesline, so Paul E. Dangerously nails him with the cell phone, and Sabu scores the pin at 12:46. This was entertaining enough, though pretty unfocused for the most part. Afterwards, 911 and Dangerously attempt to do a beat down, but Jack fights them off. That draws Mr. Hughes out to attack Cactus, but Shane Douglas stops him. As Shane and Hughes sort that out, the Bruise Brothers show up to attack both guys, and everyone out there does a wild brawl. And then backstage, Jack cuts a promo where he spits on the WCW tag belt, making a point that gold belts aren’t the titles he’s interested in: he wants to be known as the most hardcore and dangerous wrestler in the world. That little promo apparently got him into some hot water in WCW, and became infamous as a result. ¾*

BUExperience: A well developed card resulting in a somewhat entertaining show, though the actual wrestling left a lot to be desired.

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