Raven was the only competitor from my last eligible ECW review in this match, and even that's only from dumb luck. Raven and Tommy Dreamer are the most extreme (forgive the pun) example of strange bedfellows there has ever been in wrestling. These two men had a long-running blood feud that ended up branching out to the whole of ECW. It's no exaggeration that there are only a handful of iconic ECW matches and moments that can't be linked to it. Raven had returned from a stint in WCW to help Dreamer out against The Dudley Boyz, ensuring they didn't leave WWF with the title belts. That match aired on TNN 16 days ago and now it's ancient history as the new ECW Tag Team Champions now have to defend them against "The King of Oldschool" Steve Corino and Rhino.
Joel Gertner interrupts the ring announcements and the Chicago crowd goes nuts for him. Maybe they thought he was bringing the Dudleyz back though, who knows. There's a fan with green hair front row so now I'm distracted. Anyway, Gertner wants to bring out Tommy Dreamer and Francine for an interview. Joey Styles is on commentary with Cyrus the Virus. Cyrus says he and Francine have been close on previous Pay-Per-Views which Styles clarifies was him taking a Bronco Buster. Tommy Dreamer says he isn't here to cut a babyface promo..... Before cutting a babyface promo. He makes a baseball reference and talks about his back injury not stopping him from wanting to please the fans. This brings out Steve Corino and Rhyno, who's wheeling Jack Victory out in a wheelchair. Steve Corino says he'll make Dreamer bleed and sends Rhyno after him.
RAVEN & TOMMY DREAMER © VS.STEVE CORINO & RHINO
(ECW Tag Team Championships)
ECW Anarchy Rulz (19th January 1999)
Rhino and Dreamer swing lefts and rights in the ring. Rhino clubs at Dreamer's back and beats on him in the corner. Dreamer reverses an irish whip, sending Rhino into the turnbuckles. Rhino gets his boot up but Dreamer catches it and kicks Rhino low. He perches Rhino on the top turnbuckle and hits a Hangman's neckbreaker, but it takes its toll on his back. Corino swings from the elevated walkway but Dreamer ducks it. Corino backs off and Dreamer follows him. Corino bails to the back, leaving Jack Victory alone with Dreamer. Dreamer pushes Jack Victory into a chair shot from Francine. Dreamer nails Rhino with the chair too before he can get out of the ring, Dreamer hits a slingshot plancha but only gets a nearfall. Tommy Dreamer lifts Rhino for a Spicolli Driver but gets sent off the ropes and caught with a spinebuster. Possibly literally in this case. Rhino covers but Tommy gets his shoulder up at 2. Rhino stomps on Dreamer as Steve Corino reappears with a ladder. Tommy reverses an irish whip and Rhino gets sent into the ladder! Corino'a sent flying and can someone send Raven a message that he has a title defense tonight!?
Tommy Dreamer grabs the chair and sets Rhino up for the DDT, but Rhino trips his heel. Tommy Dreamer lands back-first on the chair. Francine is up on the apron and she kicks Rhino in the head. He lifts her into the ring and drops her with a powerslam! Rhino sets Dreamer up with a piledriver and that brings out Raven! Raven runs into the ropes and has to sheepishly roll in the ring. Evenflow DDT drops Rhino and he rolls out of the ring, but Jack Victory's in the ring. Joey Styles knew he wasn't injured! Jack Victory jabs at Raven as Steve Corino makes another appearance to beat down on Tommy Dreamer. They work to opposite corners and the champions collide. Raven shoves Dreamer. Victory and Corino both get right hands blocked before getting hit with what should have been stereo DDTs.
WINNERS: TOMMY DREAMER & RAVEN (STILL ECW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS)
Alright. I can do this... The pre-match stuff with Tommy Dreamer took too long, they could have cut that out and doubled the match length and it still could have worked. Jack Victory got pinned when he wasn't in the match. Steve Corino had some AWESOME character work throughout the match, proving to be the best chickenshit heel he can be. Raven's tussle with the ropes was a nice bit of unintentional comedy, unfortunately, it set the tone for the shambolic ending of the match, where nothing came off right. The fans loved it and as a moment at-the-time it was probably unbelievable. I get the idea, just didn't like the execution. – WORKRATE: 1/5 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT 2/5 OVERALL 3/10
No comments:
Post a Comment