ECW house show in Poughkeepsie, New York, 8.28.06
Written by Erik Carlson, rajah.com reader
Well, here it is. My first ECW-esque show. I say ECW-esque because, and chances are
you already know this, nothing can replicate the original ECW. Moving forward is
good, but there's still gotta be someone to show you how it's done. You know, that's
kinda the theme for me tonight: no school like the old school.
Let's get to it. Right out of the gate, after Justin Roberts makes the obligatory
rules and regulations, the lights go out, Sabu's music hits, and when the lights
return, he's in the ring doing his pose while standing on a chair. He wants another
title shot right now, he tells Roberts. (Obviously to compensate for Kurt Angle
leaving over the weekend. He and Sabu were originally set to go.) And there's
nothing like spiking a steel chair like a football to get your point across.
Extreme Rules for the World Title: Sabu v. The Big Show
And as you can see, Show obliged. No Heyman in his ear to pull the rug out. This was
just like your TV Extreme Rules match: they start off tame, basic wrestling, Show
showing his dominance, and what not. Then, Sabu gets near the corner where he put
the chair "in storage" and throws it at Show's head, which turned the tide for him
in the match to this point. He couldn't pass up pulling out the tables when the fans
started chanting for them. He bulldoged Show into one he set up in the corner. It
didn't put the champ away, so he got another and set that up side-by-side with the
chair. He was thinking a DDT through it with the chair acting as a springboard. Show
hung on, though, and turned it into a chokeslam through it. Definitely a hot opener.
Balls Mahoney d. Rene Dupree
Sadly, not Extreme Rules. Would have loved to see Balls waffle Dupree with a chair.
(Just being sadistic.) Dupree looks better with hair, I'll admit, but I couldn't
pass up a retort about it... "Hey Dupree! Your hair looks like something my dead cat
coughed up!"; said it during a quiet time in the match, too, so I got quite a few
laughs from just about everybody sitting near me. (Probably within a 6 seat diameter
at least.) Things went about as normal; Dupree couldn't keep Balls down, so a
comeback came in. It wasn't a clean comeback, meaning that Dupree wasn't getting run
over left and right. Even the finish was leaving me guessing until it happened:
Balls crotches Dupree, then pulls him off and hits the Nutcracker Suite.
Full Blooded Italians d. Derrick Neikirk & Ryan O'Reilly
Of course, being that they haven't debuted on TV yet, nobody outside of internet
world knew who Niekirk & O'Reilly were. I know the names, I just couldn't tell who
was who (Found out later that O'Reilly's the one with the sideburns.), that's about
the extent of that. I was totally prepared to give Guido a shout-out for Fuze Energy
Drinks, being that his brother is an exec for their local offices in this area, but
I just couldn't find a way to fit it in. (More references from my day job later.)
Just your basic tag match here, everybody applying the formula and not doing too
much. Mamaluke was doing a hell of a job selling a knee injury during the match.
Then came Guido's run to the finish like. He couldn't finish it with the Sicilian
Slice, unfortunately, but it did afford him and Mamaluke the opportunity to hit a
double dropkick to I think O'Reilly's head while he was on his knees.
Kevin Thorn d. Stevie Richards
The subtle use of red lights make for a cool entrance for Thorn. (Too bad this was
overshadowed by the Mordecai gimmick by a few of the guys sitting a few seats down
from me.) And Ariel... man, what a temptress. I could go on about her... but some
things you don't need to know about it. It was clear that Richards was playing the
underdog role in the match. I wasn't sure if Thorn was just taking his time to make
every move hurt BAD or if he was toying with him... or maybe what's behind door #3:
that Richards really IS that tough? (I'll admit it now: I never did like Richards
that much.) Well, Richards almost made Thorn pay for not putting him away sooner...
almost. Like I said, he was the underdog here. Ariel grabbing his leg before the
Steviekick doesn't hurt Thorn's cause, either.
Bikini Contest: Kelly Kelly d. Francine
Lemme cut right to the chase: Francine was hot in two ways. The first way should be
obvious. The second way was not being declared the winner... That's it. I'm going to
her mySpace page later to tell her that she was robbed. That being said, you could
feel it coming... she got in Kelly's face. You could see it coming... CATFIGHT!!!!!!
lol Francine motions that she was going for Kelly's top. Enter Captain Mike
Buzzkill. He wraps a towel around Kelly and intimidates Francine out of the ring.
Now enter Sandman.
Brief synopsis of Sandman's entrance: he's spotted on the stage... right behind
where I was sitting. He then does a lap around the Civic Center climbing on the
chairs chugging his beers. I only brought this up because his first stop on the
Poughkeepsie Prematch Binge Drinking tour was right in front of me! Pat him on the
back, sure, why not? And of course, take a beer bath. Yeah, I'm used to taking one
of those. Usually I'm in a grocery store in uniform when I do, but this I'll take,
even though I'm too old for the frat party scene now.
The Sandman d. Mike Knox
Again, no Extreme Rules. The differences from Balls & Dupree is 1) Balls didn't go
for a chair at all, and 2) Sandman was ready to change Mikey's last name from Knox
to Fay. (I know. It's so 1994.) While Sandman is not known for his wrestling skills,
he didn't need a whole lot of them. He kept things simple on offense in the
beginning, and sold Knox's blows in the middle. The end saw a few of Sandman's
signatures: the (work reference here) Heinekenrana, a guillotine leg drop, and the
Russian Leg Sweep. (I can't call it a White Russian Leg Sweep unless the cane's
involved. It just doesn't feel the same.)
Intermission is here. I barely made it back for Matt Striker's diatribe, which
prompted a "You suck dick" chant. Striker: "I suck what?" I didn't think I would be
heard here, but I said it anyway: "You suck penis. How about that?" He goes into
talking about tattoos and piercings, saying that nobody that has those can beat him.
This lead me to believe that he was taking on Shannon Moore. I'm glad I was wrong.
CM Punk d. Matt Striker
A good back-and-forth affair here. Punk decides to get into Striker's head by
playing around with his sweater vest. He grabs it and waves it around in Striker's
face, which prompted me to start going "HA! TORO! C'MON!" He did that for a couple
minutes until Striker decides to bail to the floor. Punk then wipes his ass with it.
That probably got Striker pissed enough to hurt Punk's leg, which, by the way, he
did an excellent job of selling as well, even after the match was over. It looked to
get worse when he got hung in the Tree of Woe, but when Striker decided to go big
and do a baseball slide to the head, Punk sat up, and Striker... "Right to the
uvula!" I said. lol I screwed up, though. That's in the mouth. Anyway, bummer that
Punk can't give anybody the Pepsi Plunge (Pepsi would probably sue if they used that
name, anyway.), but the Anaconda Vice is just as effective. As soon as it was on, I
got the Tap chant going. At least Striker knows how to follow directions.
Tommy Dreamer comes out and reflects on the history of wrestling in Poughkeepsie,
particularly when ECW started promoting in the Civic Center in '96. Basically, it
was a big thank you and a "show you what it's all about" moment.
Test d. Tommy Dreamer
Test got the crowd under their skin, and vice versa. Seems like he spent more time,
particularly in the beginning of the match, arguing with the fans, flipping them
off, giving someone at ringside a snot rocket, etc., than taking it to Dreamer. So
nothing's changed since I first saw him live. As usual, though, once he gets going,
it's bad news for Dreamer. Bad news made worse once Test decided to take off the
turnbuckle pad. Both jockey to try and get the other rammed into the bolt. Dreamer
finally wins that battle and hits the DDT to follow, but Test doesn't stay down. He
signals for the Dreamer Driver, but once Test was on his shoulders, he pulls the ref
(One of the kids. Not sure which one.) close to them, which gets him to slide behind
Dreamer and shove him into the bolt. He then follows with the Big Boot. To
celebrate, Test made it a point to have the ref raise his arm on each side of the
ring while he flips everybody off with the free hand. So we flip him off right back.
No biggie. Once he was gone, a bunch of "Thank You Tommy" chants for the Pride of
Yonkers.
Rob Van Dam d. Hardcore Holly
Holly was always well liked in Poughkeepsie. Hence, a warm response during his
entrance. Throw that out the window once RVD enters the hall. It all goes according
to plan: RVD starts out like gangbusters, Holly finds a way to take the wind out of
his sails, and the token comeback with a few more of RVD's signatures. Sensing that
things were almost out of hand for him, Holly decides to get a chair. Everybody, or
at least me, was seething for a Van Daminator, but Scott Armstrong confiscated it
and got it out of there. I think was here that RVD caught him with a spinebuster to
set up Rolling Thunder. He then thought Five-Star, but Holly rolled forward to send
him crashing down. Yeah, he didn't wanna come back down from THAT cloud like that.
Holly gets a hold of him, but RVD ducks down and pins him with an Oklahoma Roll.
Surprise, surprise. Or in Holly's case, livid, livid. So livid, he grabs RVD
afterwards and hits the Alabama Jam, then mounts him and punches away. The Sandman
races out and punches Holly off of him. Knox follows to Pearl Harbor him, with Test
to follow HIM to lead to a double team in the corner. Leaving me to call for
Dreamer, which he comes, and with a trash can lid to boot. Test gets his brains
scrambled with that, while Sandman finally canes Knox to the head. Holly would
escape to the floor in the meantime. RVD challenges him to get back in there with
him. Typical heel action here: Holly entertains the notion before heading back to
the back. Leaving the huge photo op of 3 of the big names of the old ECW.
Like I said, yes, we gotta move forward, but there's still no school like the old
school. You won't know where you're going without knowing where you've been.
And I gotta stop using so many clichés.
Three Stars
Third Star: CM Punk
Second Star: Sabu & The Big Show
First Star: Rob Van Dam
And I'm giving Tommy Dreamer an Honorable Mention.
E.C.
(Carlson 3:16 Wrestling: www.carlson316wrestling.net )
Report by: PJJC101, rajah.com reader
Hey Rajah Great site here are the results from the 8/28 show
Match 1.
ECW Title Match Sabu vs Bigshow
Most of the match was show insulting with the crowd. But there were a few
arabain facebusters to go around but sabu tried a ddt through a table but show
chokeslamed him through 1-2-3.
winner big show
match 2
Balls Mahoney vs Rene Dupree
Rene was being a pretty boy and got a few Balls punches and lost after a
spinebuster.
Winner Balls Manhoney
Match 3
Little Giudo Maritado & Tony Mamaluke vs Jobbers
Crowd hated the jobbers manevers and F.B.I won with a double dropkick to the
skull.
Match 4
Kevin Thorne vs Stevie Richards.
Good pschology with Thorne working on Stevie's arm
Winner Kevin Thorne
Bikini contest Francine vs Kelly Kelly
Kelly won, Francine tried to take kelly's clothes off but Mike Knox came in
to attack but then Sandman Made an appreance
Mike Knox vs Sandman
Sandman had some shocking moves for the crowd tonight, wrestling moves I
mean.
Sandman wins with Russian Leg Sweep
Intermission
CM Punk vs Matt Striker
Good match with Punk winning
Test vs Tommy Dreamer
Dreamer makes emotional speach on how the civic-center meant to him
Winner Test with a Powerbomb
RVD vs Hardcore Holly
RVD wins with small Package
After the match holly attacks RVD out comes Sandman followed by Knox and
Dreamer then Test big brawl breaks loose faces clear the ring end show
Bigest Pops
1. RVD
2. Sabu
3. Sandman
4. Dreamer
5. Punk
Heat
Striker
Dupree
Jobbers
Test
