Mega Powers Running Wild!

The legendary 'Macho man' Randy Savage teams up with 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan to take on Ted Dibiase and Andre The Giant in the first ever WWF Summerslam!

Shawn Micahels vs. Mankind

The Heartbreak Kid defends the WWF Championship against Mankind in a thrilling main event at WWF In Your House: Mind Games.

The Birth of the nWo

From Hulk Hogan's shocking turn at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 to the addition of Ted Dibiase, THe Giant Syxx and more, relive the very beginning of the New World Order.

Austin 3:16 Says I Just Kicked Your Ass

It's one of the most famous promos of all time; Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the 1996 King of The Ring and serves notice on all the WWF superstars. Check it out in our complete review

Wrestlemania 12 Review

The boyhood dream comes true as Shawn Michaels battles champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart in a classic 1-hour iron man match. Plus, Diesel vs. Undertaker and more.

WCW Fall Brawl 1996 Review

Was Sting in cahoots with the New World Order? Would Lex Luger be able to get along with the Four Horsemen as they faced the nWo in War Games? Find out in this review

Showing posts with label Woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Woman. Show all posts

Friday, 25 November 2022

EVENT REVIEW: ECW Heatwave 1994

ECW Heatwave 1994 Review - event dvd cover



July 16, 1994,
ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ECW Heatwave '94 saw Eastern Championship Wrestling on the cusp of something groundbreaking

The company had gone from strength to strength since a lacklustre 1993, with each major show they produced throughout 1994 adding more and more of the 'extreme' elements that would make the company legendary and -perhaps as a direct result- producing shows which got better and better every time. 

By the time Heatwave rolled around, the company were only one month away from rebranding themselves as Extreme Championship Wrestling, but we'll get to that another time. 

Here's what went down on this fateful July night back in the summer of '94.

The Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten) vs. The Rockin’ Rebel & Hack Meyers

I honestly expected to hate this match, but it was surprisingly good.

 

ECW Heatwave '94: Hack Myers prepares for battle

 

 

With Rockin’ Rebel playing the role of the babyface, he and Hack Myers gave a good account of themselves while Ian and Axl Rotten proved that they could actually wrestle rather than just brawl, something Joey Styles reminded us of on multiple occasions.

 

The match wasn’t anything particularly special or unique, but it was a solid and enjoyable opener which ended with a win for The Bad Breed courtesy of a top rope bulldog to Myers.

Your Winners: The Bad Breed

 

Post match, Rebel berated Hack for the loss. The two appeared to make up as Joey Styles gushed over what a great team they could be, only for Rebel to immediately burst Style’s bubble by attacking Myers.

 

This being ECW, the two then gave us the obligatory brawl to the back before our next match.

 

Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship

ECW TV Champion Mikey Whipwreck vs. Chad Austin

 

Chad Austin had apparently turned heel recently and aligned himself with manager Jason, who he introduced before the bell.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 Review - Mikey Whipreck battles Chad Austin

 

Once the match got started, Austin and reigning champion Mikey Whipwreck gave us one heck of a match.

 

Usually, Whipwreck would get whooped around a bit and then find some fluke way to win, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

 

Both champ and challenger looked evenly matched, resulting in an exciting contest that only got better the longer it went on.

 

After a great back-and-forth, Austin drilled Whipwreck with a guillotine leg drop to win the title.

Your Winner and New ECW TV Champion: Chad Austin

 

In a bizarre move (especially for a bad guy), Austin took to the mic after the match and announced that he had cheated to win by using brass knuckles, even though he hadn’t.

 

That prompted the referee to reverse the decision, meaning Mikey retained via DQ.

 

As everyone scratched their heads wondering why the new champion would have willingly given up the gold, he and Jason beat down on Whipwreck because ECW were incapable of booking a match that didn’t have some kind of post-match violence.

 

Joey Styles tried to explain the dumb booking here by saying that Austin hated the fans so much he didn’t want them to enjoy seeing a title switch hands.

 

Right then.

 
Tommy Dreamer vs. Steve Richards (w/ Angel)

 

Steve Richards and his mullet were newcomers here, going up against Tommy Dreamer in a decent but entirely forgettable match.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 Review - Tommy Dreamer gets set to face Steven Richards


 

Richards looked good, but was easily beaten by his more experienced opponent.

Your Winner: Tommy Dreamer

 

Post match, Dreamer ejected Richards from the ring then took to the microphone and called Shane Douglas a “no good piece of Pittsburgh sh*t.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 Review - Tommy Dreamer calls out Shane Douglas

 

 

This brought Douglas to the ring along with Mr. Hughes, who promptly stepped between the ropes for an impromptu match with Tommy.


Tommy Dreamer vs. Mr. Hughes (w/ Shane Douglas)

Despite Hughes’ limitations, this was a marginally more entertaining affair than Dreamer’s last match.

 

The man formerly known in WCW as Big Cat attacked Dreamer and beat him down in the corner, only for the valiant babyface to make a strong comeback.

 

Alas, such comeback was short lived. Douglas blasted Dreamer across the back of the noggin as he ran the ropes.

 

Hughes made the pin, and that was that.

Your Winner: Mr. Hughes

 

After the bell, The Franchise congratulated Hughes, then called on Angel (who was still helping Richards outside the ring) and invited her between the ropes.

 

Douglas asked Angel to be in his corner for his match tonight. The young manager accepted, after which Douglas vowed to prove that he -not Sabu- was the future of wrestling.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 Review - Shane Douglas (w/ Mr. Hughes) makes an offer to Angel


Naturally, Shane couldn’t resist having a pop at Ric Flair too, and he also verbally slammed Hulk Hogan for good measure.

 

Let’s all Just Brawl

 

Up next, we were supposed to see The Tazzmaniac teaming with a mystery partner to take on The Pittbulls.

 

However, ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon came out and announced that, since Tazmaniac’s partner couldn’t make it due to travel issues, he was postponing the match.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 - The Pittbulls (w/ Jason)

 

 

The Pitbulls didn’t much like that idea, and set about attacking Taz, while outside of the ring, a bunch of wrestlers randomly appeared.

 

Rockin’ Rebel and Chad Austin came out to help their manager Jason and their stablemates The Pitbulls, Mr. Hughes came out and brawled with somebody unknown, and then 911 answered the fans who were chanting his name by putting in an appearance.

 

The problem was that ECW was still shooting everything from a single hard camera which meant that you couldn’t really see what was happening outside the ring other than a group of wrestlers hanging around.

 

Worse yet, there was no Joey Styles on commentary (at least not on the Network version of this event), so there was nobody to try and help you as a viewer make sense of it.

 

The result was a confusing mess that ended when Sabu ran in to help Tazzmaniac and the bell randomly sounded.



Dueling Singapore Canes
The Sandman (w/ Woman) vs. Iron Man Tommy Cairo (w/ Peaches) 


The Sandman and Tommy Cairo had been feuding since the dawn of time. Tonight, the two looked to settle their lengthy, bitter, and violent rivalry once and for all by basically smashing the crap out of each other with singapore canes for ten minutes.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 - Woman (Nancy Sullivan)

 


If you were expecting actual professional wrestling here, you’d be greatly disappointed, but if you’re the sort of person who enjoys the kind of extreme brutality that helped set ECW apart in the 1990s, you’ll find a lot to like here. 


Neither man held anything back as they wailed on one another with cane shots that only got louder and more punishing as the match went on.


I must admit, it was a joy to watch. 


After a good bit of violent fun, Sandman knocked Cairo down, at which point Woman and Peaches both entered the fray and the referee got knocked down.


As Sandy took peaches to the corner, Cairo threatened to bash Woman’s head with the cane, only Sandman to come to her rescue and take out Cairo with the cane.


That was enough for Sandman to pick up the win.

Your Winner: The Sandman


Post-match, Woman lit Sandman’s victory cigarette and the two posed with singapore canes before taking to the microphone to ask Cairo who had won their war. 

 

ECW Heatwave '94 - Woman and The Sandman

 


When Iron Man was unable to respond, the victor smacked him across the back one last time and declared “I guess you haven’t paid your bill,” a reference to the fact that this whole thing started because Sandy insisted Tommy should pay him money for sleeping with his wife, Peaches.


Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship 
ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas (w/ Mr. Hughes and Angel) vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911)


Billed as a match to determine which man was the future of professional wrestling, this heavyweight title match between reigning champion Shane Douglas and former champion Sabu was -in this writer’s humble opinion- the best thing on the show so far. 

 

ECW Heatwave '94 - Sabu vs. Shane Douglas

 


Starting off with some mat-based offence and technical wrestling, the bout eventually spilled outside and into the crowd for the kind of wild brawl that was a hallmark of ECW’s product before the two men got back between the ropes for more old-school wrestling.


Add in Sabu’s usual death-defying offense and some good work from Paul E. Dangerously on the outside, and this was exactly what you’d want a heavyweight title match to be.


It was entertaining, compelling, and a lot of fun to watch.


Towards the end, Sabu went for a moonsault off the apron to the outside, but missed his opponent and crashed into a propped up table.


That was enough to knock the challenger out, leading the ref to award the match to Douglas by technical knockout.

Your Winner and still ECW Champion: Shane Douglas 


Post match, Paul E. clocked Mr. Hughes with his ever-present cell phone, but the burly brute simply popped back up and laid waste to the loud-mouthed manager. 


That brought in 911, who first took out Douglas with a chokeslam then went to do the same to Mr. Hughes.


Hughes seemed to have no idea how to take the move, and at one point, you visibility saw 911 (himself not the most gifted of workers) having to put Hughes into position and give him some instructions before sending him down to the mat like the proverbial sack of potatoes.


Finally, 911 took out Angel with another chokeslam, causing the crowd to errupt and chant his name. Yes, a guy who wasn’t even in the match emerged as the most over dude in the whole thing. 


Barbed Wire Match for the ECW Tag Team Championship
ECW Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr.


Proving how hardcore they were, all four men came to the ring wearing about 29 layers each to protect them from the barbed wire.

 

ECW Heatwave '94 - The Public Enemy vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr.

 


The Public Enemy further showed what bad asses they were by hiding in the eagle’s nest until Terry Funk called them cowards and the match was on.


I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of these types of matches and it took me a while to get into it, but I can’t deny that it was a fun, wild, and incredibly violent brawl:


At one point, Terry called for a chair from the crowd, who responded by tossing almost every chair in the arena into the ring.


It was a cool scene, but clearly dangerous, so dangerous in fact that the ring announcer had to declare that the match would be stopped if the fans continued to throw chairs.


Public Enemy won the match to retain their titles by piling on Terry as The Funker lay writhing on the mat in a tangled mess of barbed wire.

Your Winners and Still ECW Tag Team Champions: The Public Enemy


Post match, Terry and Dory Funk Jr. battered Flyboy Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge I til the two could no longer stand as Joey Styles wished us a good night.


———


Heatwave 1994 wasn’t the best ECW show I’ve reviewed so far, but from the enjoyable opener to that crazy and bloody barbed wire main event, there was certainly a lot to like here.


The Sabu/Shane Douglas match was the highlight of the night, though the TV title match and Singapore cane matches in particular also helped make this a very good show. 





Monday, 25 July 2022

EVENT REVIEW: ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994

June 24, 1994 
ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Event poster

The first ever ECW Hostile City Showdown event featured a hotly anticipated cross-promotional dream match between WCW's resident lunatic, Cactus Jack, and ECW's own mad man, Sabu. 

It was a main event that would prove to help everybody involved. 

Freed from the constraints of World Championship Wrestling, Mick Foley would use his stay in Philly to build the foundations of his legacy as a Hardcore Legend while Sabu -already one of ECW's top players at this point- would continue to see his star rising also. 

Not that it was only the combatants who benefited. 

If you go back and watch the first ECW show I reviewed, 1993's ECW Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular, then continue to watch in chronological order, you can literally see the company evolving from just another indy to one of the top three promotions in the business. 

By booking a match of this magnitude and loading it up with other stars like The Funnks, Extreme Championship Wrestling's rise to prominence took a big leap forward. 

Here's what went down.






Tommy Dreamer vs. Hack Myers


As Hack Myers walked around the ring doing very little, Joey Styles reassured us that this wasn't a show that was going to end up on the Disney Channel. 

Joey was obsessed with Disney. He seemed to spend every single show telling us how un-Disney Extreme Championship Wrestling really was.

Yes, I get it was a dig at WCW, but it always came across as a little desperate and cheap. 

I thought I'd start with that because honestly, this match was boring as hell. 

The two did what they did fairly well, it's just that what they did was kind of lame and not very interesting at all.

After a rather underwhelming start to a show that you definitely wouldn't find on Disney, Tommy Dreamer came crashing off the top rope, splashing Hack Myers for the win.
Your Winner: Tommy Dreamer

The crowd were so unimpressed that they booed babyface Tommy out of the building after his match.

Chad Austin vs. Don E. Allen

Chad Austin and Don E. Allen both came to the ring looking like the biggest pair of indie jobbers in history. 

Before they could compete, however, 911 came down with Paul Heyman in tow and destroyed everybody with multiple chokeslams. 

ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon then came down but he got chokeslammed so many times that Joey Styles cried out "This man has children!"

Next, Tommy Dreamer came in to make the save but yes, you guessed it, he got chokeslammed to oblivion.

This was actually a lot of fun, and probably far more entertaining than the match itself would have been. 

Dog Collar Match
The Pitbull (w/ Jason) vs. The Tazmaniac 

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Tazmaniac chokes The Pitbull



The rules of this dog collar match were that you could either win by pinfall or via touching all four corners ala a standard strap match.

Not that either man seemed concerned about winning at first. 

Tazzmaniac and The Pitbull spent the first half of the match engaged in a wild and exciting brawl on the outside of the ring while Joey Styles tried to convince us that this was what real wrestling looked like.

Once back in the ring, the two tried to get the better of one another until The Pitbull dragged Tazzmaniac to three corners until the future FTW Champion suplexed him in the middle of the ring for the pinfall.
Your Winner: The Tazzmaniac

Post match, Anthony Durante returned to the company after a two-year absence, adopting the name Pitbull #2 as he and Pitbull #1 laid waste to The Tazzmaniac.

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - The Pitbulls Reunite



Both the match and proceeding attack may not have been the finest examples of pro wrestling ever, but they sure were a lot of fun. 

The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris) vs. ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas & Mr. Hughes

One of the criticisms levied at ECW from a product standpoint is that their stars had to resort to crazy brawling and wild stunts because they weren't very good wrestlers.

I'm willing to accept that this was definitely not true, though watching The Bruise Brothers take on Shane Douglas and Mr. Hughes, you'd be forgiven for agreeing with the company's detractors.

While I take nothing away from Shane Douglas who was at least a skilled performer, Mr. Hughes and the Harris boys weren't exactly known for being good wrestlers. 

Put them together, and you got a match that was structured almost identically to the previous outing -brawl around the outside for a bit then get in the ring and work to a finish- but was nowhere near as good.

After lots and lots of reptetitive brawling and almost nothing else, The Harris Brothers got the win by pinning Mr. Hughes.
Your Winners: The Bruise Brothers

Afterwards, Mr. Hughes argued with the official while Shane Douglas got a "Ric Flair Sucks" chant going. Honestly, I kind of liked Shane Douglas, but making his hatred for Ric Flair his entire gimmick was always kind of stupid.

Hughes then grabbed a microphone and cut a horrible promo in which he declared himself the real winner of the match and promised that Ron & Don Harris would be going down for good.

Although the Tazz/Pitbull match was pretty good, this show sucks so far.

Singapore Cane Match
The Sandman (w/ Woman) vs. Tommy Cairo (w/ Peaches) 

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - The Sandman and Woman


Before we begin, can we just take a moment to appreciate what a beautiful woman Nancy Sullivan was? I don't mean that in a sleazy way, I mean she was genuinely beautiful.

There was, however, nothing beautiful about this match.

Though it was at least a step up from their mixed-tag encounter back at When World's Collide, it was still a fairly uninspired match with nothing exciting, or even all that interesting, happening until the finish.

At that point, The Sandman and Tommy Cairo brawled near the corner, causing the Singapore cane to drop to the floor in an embarrassing moment.

Woman then threw a second cane into the ring and Sandman hit Cairo with it.

For some reason -probably because the whole match had gone skew-whiff- the referee simply declared it a "no decision."
No Contest

Afterwards, Sandman and Woman beat down on Cairo and Peaches with their Singapore canes. 

Non-Title Match 
ECW Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) vs. The Funk Brothers (Terry & Dory Funk)

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Terry and Dory Funk



I hate to speak ill of two all-time legends like Terry Funk and Dory Funk, but this whole match was slow and stupid.

It started off as a standard tag match which, although it felt like you were watching in slow-motion- was decent enough.

Then it all spilled outside for the inevitable arena brawl which was decent but again, incredibly slow and nothing that hadn’t been seen in every single ECW match ever to this point.

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Terry and Dory Funk vs. The Public Enemy



At one point, Johnny Grunge and Terry Funk got lost in the crowd, turning the footage dark, grainy; and terrible. As it did so, Master Bullshitter Joey Styles tried to convince us that the cameraman was doing an amazing job.

In the end, 911 came down and destroyed the referee, so The Public Enemy beat up Dory and made their own count.

In retaliation, The Funks hit back, pinned their opponents, and made a self-count of their own.

This wasn’t good.
No contest

Post-match, the brawl continued. Terry Funk took Rocco Rock up to the ‘eagle’s nest’ where Joey Styles did his commentary, tied a cable around the tag champ’s ankles then pushed him off, head first towards the ground.

It was a super dangerous spot. That cable only had to be an inch longer and Rock would have cracked his skull on the floor.

As dangerous as it was, it was the most entertaining thing on this whole show so far.

Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship
ECW TV Champion Mikey Whipwreck vs. The Rockin’ Rebel (w/ Jason)


As per Mikey Whipwreck’s gimmick as the reluctant champion, he didn’t get a single offensive move in against Rockin’ Rebel, instead getting his ass kicked from pillar to post until Jason got up on the apron to interfere.

At that point, Whipwreck hit his first offensive move ever when he drilled Jason with a forearm smash, only to get rattled over the back with a chair.

Jason then went for a chair shot of his own, only to hit Rebel instead.

A two-on-one beat down then followed, causing the ref to call for the bell and give us our third non-finish in a row.
Your Winner via DQ: Mikey Whipwreck 

Afterward, The Pitbulls and Taz ran in, but the latter got beaten up by the former and Jason’s stable stood supreme as we finally went into our main event of the evening.

Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously & 911) vs. Cactus Jack

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Cactus Jack



This wasn’t the greatest match in the world, but compared to the rest of the show it looked like a five-star classic.

Yes, there was a lot of brawling on the outside as there was in every ECW match, but it seemed to make sense here whereas in other matches it looked like it was being done to avoid coming up with a decent idea for a match.

Both inside and outside of the ring; the two craziest stars of WCW and ECW gave us some entertaining spots and well-put-together action until it all ended when Paul E. cracked Cactus Jack with his trusty phone, allowing Sabu to get the fall.
Your Winner: Sabu

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Cactus Jack cuts a promo



The two inevitably continued brawling for a while after the match, with Mr. Hughes, Shane Douglas, and The Bruise Brothers all putting in cameos and fighting among themselves

Eventually, the others disappeared, leaving Cactus and Sabu to finish things off by nearly killing each other in the middle of the ring.

The War is Not Over

Finaly, we finished things up with promos from Cactus Jack and Heyman.

ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994 Review - Paul Heyman and 911



Cactus started by giving us the now famous moment where he spat on his WCW tag team title belt and threw it to the ground, claiming that it now meant nothing to him as he was focused only on bringing about Sabu’s demise.

Then, Paul E. insisted that Sabu was going to be used to being about the demise of not only Cactus Jack himself but the entire  Ted Turner-owned organisation that paid him.

Both promos were amazing and were the best things on the entire show by a mile.









I mentioned in my last ECW review that if you watched the company’s shows from 1993 onwards, you saw a company lifting itself up from being another low-rent indie company to a major player.

I also said how each show was getting better than the last.

This wasn’t the case with ECW Hostile City Showdown ‘94, which was a major step back after the significant improvements made at When World’s Collide.

Make no mistake about it, this show sucked about as bad as any wrestling show could ever suck, though the main event and those two gripping promos at the end were at least worth watching. 


Thursday, 2 June 2022

EVENT REVIEW: ECW When World's Collide 1994

May 14, 1994
ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review


ECW When World's Collide was the first of two events to take place under that name in 1994. 

the name referred to a cross-promotion between Paul Heyman's ECW and World Championship Wrestling, with the two companies agreeing to exchange talent. 

Heyman wanted The Hollywood Blondes on his show but had to settle for Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson, while the likes of Terry Funk and other ECW mainstays would find themselves on WCW programming.

Later, WCW apparently thought that "When World's Collide" was such a good name for a PPV that they used it for their presentation of AAA's first US PPV, a show that still stands up as one of this writer's favorite PPVs of all time. 

Unhappy with that, ECW sued WCW for copyright infringement, leading to an out-of-court settlement in which World Championship Wrestling once again agreed to supply Heyman's company with more talent.






So, that's the background out of the way, but was the show any good?

Let's head to Philly to find out. 

Rockin’ Rebel (w/ Jason) vs. Tommy Dreamer

After the standard ECW TV intro, we went straight into our first match as Tommy Dreamer made his return from injury after his match with Jimmy Snuka back at The Night The Line Was Crossed.

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - Tommy Dreamer confronts Rockin' Rebel


For the time period, this wasn’t a bad opener.

OK, so it was a little bland, but it was short and inoffensive, ending when Dreamer caught his opponent with a Thesz Press for the three.
Your Winner: Tommy Dreamer

Post match, Rockin’ Rebel got into an argument with his manager, Jason, but the two patched things up and left together.

ECW Television Championship
ECW TV Champion Mikey Whipwreck vs. 911 (w/ Paul Heyman)

The story here was that Mikey Whipwreck was a perennial loser who couldn’t win a match to save his life but had fluked his way to a recent win over then-champion The Pitbull.

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - Mikey Whipreck



Tonight, he would make his first title defence against 911, a man who had regularly pulverised the champion on TV.

The match was hardly a match at all, but it was a cleverly done segment in its own right.

After the match began with Paul Heyman shouting at Whipwreck, the challenger pushed his opponent into the corner then choke slammed him twice.

He was about to do it a third time but instead chose to also grab the referee and chokeslam him too.

Naturally, the battered official called for the bell.
Your Winner via DQ and Still TV Champion: Mikey Whipwreck.

That was smart booking if you ask me. The Whipwreck flukey title reign continued while 911 looked impressive despite his limited in-ring ability.

Afterward, 911 posed with the Tv title before chokeslamming the referee while a distraught Joey Styles yelled “911 does not care about this official’s soul! Who is going to pray for the souls of 911 and Paul Heyman?”

Superfly Jimmy Snuka (w/ Hunter Q. Robins) vs. Kevin Sullivan (w/ Woman)

Kevin Sullivan made this one work and saved it from being a bad match. Instead, he took Snuka on a typical ECW brawl that was good enough to watch without being overly impressive.

Towards the finish, The Sandman came down and convinced Woman to leave with him. Of course, this being early ECW, the cameraman missed the whole thing so it was hard to tell what Sullivan was distracted by.

The distraction allowed Hunter Q. Robbins to trip him up and Snuka to pin him. 
Your Winner: Jimmy Snuka 

Up next, this:

Singapore Caning Match
The Sandman & Woman vs. Tommy Cairo & Peaches

Loser revives six lashes with a Singapore Cane

With the women hanging out on the apron for the majority of the match, The Sandman and Tommy Cairo fumbled their way around the ring in a fairly sloppy and uninspired match.

As they did so, announcer Joey Styles tried to sell us on the extreme and brutal nature of ECW, promising us that this was a company like no other professional wrestling promotion on Earth.

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - The Sandman



I know Joey was well-respected as an announcer and all that, but he made himself sound kind of stupid here.

How was anybody supposed to take him seriously when he was making ECW sound like the wildest promotion in town while watching Sandman bumble his way into a lacklustre clothesline.

Eventually, Cairo got the better of Sandman but Women dove in to save her man from being pinned and a cat fight with Peaches inevitably ensued.

As Cairo backed Woman into a corner, Peaches pounced on a prone Sandman and won the match.
Your Winners: Tommy Cairo & Peaches

Post match, Peaches exposed her estranged husband’s bare bum and proceeded to whack him with the cane but could only manage three lashes before Woman once again came to the rescue.

A wild brawl broke out until Sandman and Woman got the better of their opponents and absolutely obliterated them with the cane.

Honestly, the post match stuff was a thousand times more entertaining than the actual match.

The Pit Bull (w/ Jason) vs. The Tazmaniac

Prior to the match, 911 came out and chokeslammed the referee again, much to the delight of the ECW faithful.

The match then began with a wild and entertaining brawl around the arena before making it to the ring where The Pitbull began systematically wearing down his opponent.

It made for a decent -though hardly spectacular contest- that came to and when The Tazmaniac made a comeback and busted out a barrage of suplexes.

He even suplexed Jason over the ropes but this distraction allowed The Pit Bulk to take his opponent down and win this good-by-1994-ECW-standards contest.
Your Winner: The Pit Bull

Before the next match, The Franchise Shane Douglas informed us that his rival, Road Warrior Hawk had injured his knee and wouldn’t be getting involved tonight.

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - Shane Douglas



The ECW Champion then said something about Ric Flair, but loud music was playing so it was impossible to hear him because early-ECW’s production values were atrocious.

Handicap 4 vs. 3 Elimination Match
ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Franchise Shane Douglas, Mr: Hughes, and The Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) vs. J.T. Smith and The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris)

With Road Warrior Hawk no longer able to compete in this match, it became a handicap match.

The bout started slow but soon developed into a gripping contest.

The heels spent most of the time kicking J.T. Smith’s leg out of his leg but the valiant babyface refused to quit.

Although this dragged at parts, it was mostly compelling.

The only real complaint was that the camera man once again missed an important moment as Douglas, Mr. Hughes, and The Bruise Brothers all started brawling on the outside.

The first we became aware of it was when the camera cut awkwardly to the four brawling in the stands as the referee counted them all out for a mass elimination.

Back in the ring, The Public Enemy continued their assault on Smith’s dodgy wheel, but the youngster caught each one with a quick roll-up and miraculously emerged as the sole survivor of the match.
Your Winner: J.T. Smith

Honestly, I’m surprised at how good that was, but not as surprised as Public Enemy were about losing.

Naturally, the two attacked Smith after the bell and left him down and out.

Sabu & Beautiful Bobby Eaton (w/ Paul E. Dangerousy and 911) vs. Terry Funk & Arn Anderson

Before the match could commence, Paul E. Dangerously took to the microphone to rile up the crowd and put his men over.

Terry Funk and Arn Anderson then made their way out and engaged in the best match of the night and the most enjoyable ECW match I’ve seen since I first started reviewing the company’s early shows.

In true extreme fashion, this was wild and out of control in the best possible sense.

At one point halfway through the match it was also pretty funny.

Arn Anderson called his former tag team partner Bobby Eaton into the ring to fight him, but Terry Funk ruined his partner’s plans by attacking Eaton on the outside. It was so typically Funk that I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Even funnier was Joey Styles listing Bobby Eaton’s credentials.

“And he was in the Midnight Express with Stan Lane who is now…well I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing, but he shouldn’t be doing it!”

I don’t know why but that was so funny and redeemed Styles from trying to convince us that the piss poor Singapore cane match was extreme wrestling at its finest.

Stan Lane was, of course, commentating for the WWF at the time.

Enough about him though, this was a hugely entertaining brawl which came to an end following an attack on Terry Funk by The Public Enemy.

Anderson saw off Rock and Grunge the way nu-metal would a few years later, only to turn on his partner and attack him with a chair.

Sabu then applied a half crab and this one was done.
Your Winner via submission: Sabu & Arn Anderson

Backstage after the match, Paul E. paid off Public Enemy for their run-in and then cut a brilliant promo questioning why on earth Terry Funk would want to get involved in a match with The Public Enemy.

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - Paul E. Dangerously w/ The Public Enemy



Though this would have made more sense if we’d actually seen Funk challenging Flyboy and Johnny to a match against he and his brother, Heyman’s promo was absolutely incredible.

Offering a response, Terry Funk ended When Worlds Collide with a single, solemn line:

ECW When World's Collide 1994 Review - Terry Funk



“Who are we? We’re the Funk Brothers.”







/——-

Watching the evolution of ECW from their early 1993 shows onwards has been absolutely fascinating.

Those first few shows that I watched sucked, and while this one was hardly perfect, you can see the company get better and better with every show as they continue to morph into the game-changing extreme revolutionaries they would go down in history as.

The main event was awesome and the elimination match was better than anticipated, but there was also some boring stuff here like the Singapore cane match.

ECW still had a long way to go then, but they were clearly getting there.

Still, if you really must watch an event of this name, watch AAA/WCW When World’s Collide because not only was it far superior to this event, it was one of the greatest Pay Per Views of all time.


Retro Pro Wrestling

New reviews of classic WWF/WWE events recalling every moment from Wrestlemania 1 - 30. You'll also find reviews of WCW, ECW, TNA and the occasional indie event, along with a look at old school magazines, merchandise and more.