First ECW on TNN with KB

[klunderbunker]

First ECW on TNN
Date: August 27, 1999
Commentator: Joey Styles

From the title I think you get the idea here. This show is weird as it’s a lot like the old WWF TV shows as it’s a collection of previously aired matches thrown together here. The first show they taped was awful so they turned it into this. The main thing is Lynn vs. Van Dam from Hardcore Heaven 99 which I’ll re-review and see how it matches up with the original rating I gave it, which is something I don’t think I’ve done before. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of the Dudleys (who would leave for WWF in like a week) powerbombing someone through a flaming table as Joey says this isn’t WCW or WWF but ECW.

Cue theme song. The main focus is Tazz who would leave in like 2-3 months and everyone knew that was going to happen.

Joey lists off a bunch of people to have held the TV Title but says RVD might be better than all of them.

TV Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

I think this is new commentary here but I’m not sure. This is really just a way to introduce Van Dam and give us what they know is an exciting match. You can’t hear a word the ring announcer is saying. They start with a nice sequence where neither can get any real advantage but the fans love it. We actually get highlights of both guys in the middle of the match. I get that you want to showcase two of your top guys but dude, do it when there’s not a match on.

Van Dam gets knocked to the floor and Lynn takes over. Lynn gets a top rope bulldog for two. RVD is bleeding from…..something. I think at this point we go to a commercial as we get an ad for Anarchy Rulz. Joey suggests the Warrior could be coming to ECW. Oh dear. Yeah the commentary here is new. Lynn is bleeding too now after botching a fall to the floor and hitting his foot on the ropes. The replay has a rap song with it. Really?

Lynn gets a sunset powerbomb for two. What would an ECW match be without tables? Van Dam’s eye is messed up and black as hell. Van Daminator in the stands as this match is kind of hard to follow. Another commercial doesn’t help as they don’t stop the match for it, which is either a good idea or a bad idea and I’m not sure which. Lynn gets another sunset powerbomb through the table on the floor.

CUE THE RAP SONG REPLAY! After a clip or a commercial, Fonzie takes a chair pelted at his head. Lynn goes for a top rope belly to belly but he just falls off. You know the chant we get from that. Cradle Piledriver is blocked and both guys are down. Split Legged Moonsault hits Lynn. PAY ATTENTION MORRISON. THAT IS HOW YOU DO THE DAMN MOVE. And there’s the Five Star out of more or less nowhere but Lynn rolls through for two. Van Daminator and a HUGE Five Star ends it.

Rating: B-. The clipping hurts this a lot. It makes this look like far less of an ultra competitive match and more like RVD just breaking a sweat. It’s still good but at the same time it really makes Lynn look weak. At the same time though this was about RVD and that worked very well. This was still good but a different kind of good. I gave the PPV version a B as I still find these matches to be overrated by most ECW fans.

We plug Rollerjam (which as a kid I thought was a cool show. The women were hot if nothing else) and then talk about the ECW World Title, listing off guys that didn’t win it but tried to, such as Konnan, Benoit, Austin and Foley. I’m not entirely sold on talking about guys that USED to be here, but you could look at it like this: We had these guys before they were superstars. Imagine what kind of buried treasures we have here now. That makes sense.

Shane threw down the NWA Title, which meant nothing to most fans watching this show but whatever. That was 5 years before the debut of the TV show. Didn’t know that.

ECW World Title: Taz vs. Rhyno

This is from Hardcore TV or a house show. Rhyno hits a powerbomb 3 seconds in and Taz just pops up. Rhyno means nothing at this point which you can probably guess. Well we’re in Chicago if nothing else. Taz is massacring him here with Rhyno looking like a damn jobber. He’s hit two punches to the ribs and a no sold powerbomb. Tazz sets up a table and Rhyno hits new levels of offense with THREE punches to the ribs. Suplex through the table sets up the Tazmission. Total squash if there ever has been one.

Rating: N/A. This was DOMINANCE which is the idea I guess, but Rhyno looks like a damn joke here. The problem is that these matches are just random defenses with no meaning to them. We keep hearing about Steve Corino and how he’s Taz’s archenemy, but we never even see him.

Video on Sabu who is apparently awesome. No match or anything but just highlights.

Ad for Anarchy Rulz again.

Spike Dudley vs. Big Sal

Low blow and Acid Drop end it. Literally that’s the whole thing. Who is Spike? Who is Sal? “Spike has done it again!” What does he do? Apparently that’s not important. Ah ok they call him the Giant Killer.

The Impact Players introduce themselves and we have no idea if they mean anything or not. Cyrus pops up for no apparent reason as Jason makes gay jokes about Joey. We see clips of the Impact Players beating people up which helps a bit as we know they’re dominant.

House show ads.

We get a BUNCH of clips of guys and a brief description (as in their nickname) of them. It’s set to a Kid Rock song so what do you expect here?

Taz talks about how TNN and ECW are together now and how cool that is I guess. We get clips of famous people he’s made tap out. He talks for like three minutes and that ends this mess.

Overall Rating: D. This was a total mess. Considering this is the first show, this was just awful as you learn nothing about the guys other than Taz being a badass and RVD is awesome. Other than that though you get nothing at all here though and other than a single good match to start, this gave us nothing. We have no idea about any feuds or angles or anything like that as it was just a few squashes and one big match from months earlier. This just didn’t work as Heyman clearly didn’t know what he was doing, which became a theme here. Bad show and just a car wreck of an hour.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I was a pretty die hard ECW guy, and I remember waiting all summer for this show, and the Anarchy Rulz PPV, which I though would be huge, and I remember being dissapointed, and thought that they could have done much better. I agree that the RVD vs Lynn HH99 match is overrated too. It was a great match, but far from the best in ECW history as it is treated.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I will say that the second episode was probobly the best ECW show ever aired on TNN. You had the Dudleyz(Who everyone knew were on their way to the WWF) win the tag titles from Balls, and Spike, and brag about how they are going to give the belts to Vince Mcmahon(Mcmahon, and Bischoff were the two biggest heels in ECW history.)

Out comes Dreamer. The ECW's "Sting". The Dudleyz vs Dreamer was the hottest fued going in the ECW in 98/99. The Dudleyz tormented Dreamer(I loved the Beulah broken neck angle.).

Dreamer comes out, and looks to be done for until Raven comes out. It was very unexpected, and it really kind of made up for losing the Dudleyz(not really on paper, but the way they did it made you not give a shit about the Dudleyz bailing). Mainly because Raven vs Dreamer was the most heated rivalry in ECW history, and now they were tag champs together out of nowhere. It was great. I begged, and begged my parents to order Anarchy Rulz that weekend. Dreamer, and Raven were advertised to be defending the belts, and the possibilities of who could show up to challenge them where endless.

I was hoping for the Eliminators, but instead I got Steve Corino, and Jack Victory. Really? Oh well, at least RVD is in the main event. I whonder who he will be matched up against. Oh....Balls Mahoney?

Anarchy Rulz was a huge PPV, and they used it primarily to build up for November to Remember, which didn't turn out the way they planned. I remember beeing a bit let down with Anarchy Rulz 99, and expecting more. It was a good show, but should have been better. To make matters worse, ECW pretty much just replayed the PPV entirely over the next two weeks on TNN! What a waste of money if they were going to just give it away anyways.

Plus, does anybody remember the terrible episode centered around Tammy Sytch? What was Paul thinking? He definitely botched the first few months on TNN with some garbage(except for that classic second episode, which is some of the finest ECW tv ever.) I remember seeing, and noticing that they were holding back on a lot of things for the cable show, but I still liked it more than what the WWF was doing at the time with Stephanie Mcmahon & Test(and lets not get started with the WCW in late 99.)

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

He was on Network tv...what he was doing before wasn't going to fly with them. He needed to air his product on stations that would show Howard Stern and Jerry Springer. By the time they got on to tv they had lost most of their talent (storm, awesome, sandman, Douglas, taz and dudleys were on there way out) RVD, Raven and Dreamer were really the only thing left.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

The only thing I remember from the entire time ECW was on TNN was the horrible acting Cyrus did, the shoot interview Paul E did, and a really good match between Rob Van Dam and CW Anderson, which for some reason I taped to VHS and watched it repeatedly until my VCR ate the tape. I do remember those terrible Rollerjam commercials though.

 

[Perseus]

And to think ECW had Low Ki sitting in the stands begging Paul E to wrestle for him. How things would have changed if ECW could have stayed around. And in all honesty, it really should have.

 

[RIPbossman]

Since Heyman seemed set on giving Dreamer the title breifly, despite not wanting it, Dreamer should have taken the title from Mike Awesome after he jumped ship. He was the "Sting" of ECW, as an above poster put it, and him taking a stand to keep ECW's title in the company would have been epic.