ECW Hardcore TV #8 25/05/1993

HD Ryder vs Super Destroyer #3

 SD3 is a barely disguised Sal Bellomo, who even takes his mask off for breath throughout the bout. This is played for comedy, which is about the best use of Sal. Bellomo’s offence is super soft, the only highpoints being a decent standing dropkick and Ryder selling an eyerake by wildly swinging at the air. A splash gives Bellomo the win, at which point the real Super Destroyers come in and obliterate him.

Suicide Blondes vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

Good to see the Blondes rewarded for their clean loss in a non-title match with a title shot. This isn’t great, though I really liked Stetson’s full-force flying clothesline. Winters is briefly worked over as face-in-peril, but when he hits a DDT, he opts not to tag out. This sets alarm bells ringing, and Hotbody causing a ref bump moments later do nothing to silence them (though Hotbody is dumb enough to try a small package on Winters, despite knowing he caused the ref to be down). More shenanigans lead to Hotbody nailing Winters with a chain to pick up the titles. Winters & Stetson being used as transitional champs to transfer the belts to the Blondes makes sense, as Hotbody and Candido are the best team in the company at this juncture.

Ernesto Benefico vs Don Muraco

Benefico is someone I’ve never seen look competitive and has zero chance. Muraco knows it too, as he plays this for laughs, barely putting any effort in. Muraco kind of awkwardly drops Ernesto over his head, then catches him coming off the top rope with a piledriver for the win.

JT Smith & Tommy Cairo vs Max Thrasher & the Canadian Wolfman

This was set up by Thrasher abandoning Smith the previous week, though given that he’s now paired with the obese, slovenly Wolfman, it looks a short-sighted decision. Enjoyed Cairo and Smith here, as they work as a knock-off Steiner Brothers, even down to the colourful singlets and Stevie Wonderful comparing Cairo to Rick Steiner on commentary. They both hits some nice suplex variations on the shambolic Wolfman, with Thrasher deciding to stay out of the match, before finishing with a nice Cairo powerslam and a Rocket Launcher sending Smith on top for 3. This was pretty fun.

Jimmy Snuka vs Glen Osbourne

TV title defence, though given that Osbourne’s offence is almost entirely monkey flips and snapmares, you don’t see the title changing hands. Snuka sells a clothesline in an embarrassing manner, taking a soft limb to the chest and turning to slowly leap over the top rope. An Osbourne roll up after Snuka misses a corner charge is SO close and actually had me going for a second. After Osbourne controls the bout, a soft Snuka backbreaker seems to put him out of action, giving Snuka time to slowly climb the ropes and hit a Superfly Splash for 3.

WWF Raw 09/05/1994

Razor Ramon vs Kwang

King of the Ring qualifier here, and a pretty entertaining match. The Kwang gimmick was goofy, but he’s been having fun bouts on 94 Raw. Both guys exchange some nasty chops, and this is worked at a high tempo. Loved Ramon twice punching Kwang off the apron, only for Kwang to leap back up to take another blow to the face. Even better, the third time he ducked the swing and dropped Ramon over the top rope to take over. Great little spot. Ramon briefly works over Kwang’s shoulder after a missed corner charge and though it doesn’t lead to much, it was nice to see Kwang occasionally favour his shoulder during the bout. Also liked Kwang blocking the trademark second rope back suplex, using just a sharp back elbow to the nose. Ramon struggles to hold Kwang up for the Razor’s Edge, and just in case there were any doubts it wasn’t intentional, they do one Irish whip and then repeat the spot. That minor flub aside, good bout.

Crush vs Raymond Roy

Curiously, Roy is allowed to hit a dropkick from behind and roll up Crush for two at the start of this bout. Feels odd, as Crush is getting a decent push at this time. The advantage is brief, as Crush hits a vicious superkick, a few big blows to the spine and a heart punch to win. Decent squash.

Doink vs Mike Terrace

Terrace wins me over early by bumping a Doink legsweep onto the back of his head in a big bump. Dink keeps getting involved in front of the ref, eye-poking Terrace and then running all over him whilst Doink has him in a hold. No idea why that’s not a DQ. Dink is a little twat. Whoopee Cushion finishes.

Mabel vs Mike Bell

Mabel is a super fun squash worker, in a very literal sense. Here, he hits a few stiff slaps on Bell, flattens him with a corner splash and a huge legdrop, then nails the Boss Man slam to win. Mo is apparently injured here, so I’m looking forward to more Mabel squashes in the future. 

CHIKARA Young Lions Cup II Night 1 2004

Ash vs Shane Storm

This was awful. Everything about it felt disjointed and clumsy, especially in the performance of Storm. He sets a bad tone by going down too early on a neckbreaker and is constantly out of position. Ash tries hard here, liked his running knees to the corner and his trio of sentons, but Storm is so bad. They blow a collision spot, before Storm hits a Shining Wizard to advance. At this point, Storm needed to stick with working guys he’s trained with, as he looked so lost in this one.

Larry Sweeney vs DJ Skittlez

This is probably the best Skittlez match I’ve seen, mainly because it comes across as a Poundland version of a Ric Flair vs Sting match. Sweeney (who was accompanied by 3 unnamed henchmen) controlled the match, with Skittlez making comebacks, and did some fun basic heel shtick – begging off before a poke to the eye, pinfalls with feet on the ropes and distracting the ref to allow his henchmen (who were no Anderson or Blanchard) to beat up Skittlez. Sweeney’s execution isn’t perfect, but he’s a magnetic personality already. To further the Flair/Sting allusion, Skittlez hits a nice Stinger Splash, a decent top rope clothesline, catches Sweeney on the top rope to slam him off and hits an inverted DDT. That has to be deliberate, right? He does botch a spinning slam, but his diving clothesline over the top rope to wipe out Sweeney’s goons looked great. However, a distracted ref allows one of them to come in, nail him with a chokeslam, and Sweeney picks up the victory. This was fine.

Spider vs Gran Akuma

Spider is just a normal looking guy, but he hits a big dive to the floor as Akuma makes his entrance to grab some attention. Quite a decent showcase for Spider here, as he seems happy to commit to taking bumps, both on moves taken and moves given, leaping off the mat as he delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Aside from one awkward flub, he doesn’t botch anything, though he does have a goofy way of selling some early strikes. Akuma looks good too, loved the big spinebuster he hits. There is a lack of transition to offence from both guys though, as if a switch has flicked and it’s the guy in perils time to go on the attack. Akuma finishes it with a slingshot powerbomb and complicated submission, and this was better than I expected.

Arik Cannon vs Jay Lethal

For two more experienced guys, this wasn’t particularly great and had a pretty ugly ending. Not as ugly as Cannon’s ring gear, which is terrible pleather binbag gear. The structure here was pretty weak, with Cannon basically dominating 75% of the match before Lethal just decided to go on offence. Cannon’s stuff looks good though, and there appears to be a focus on Lethal’s back. I mean, Lethal never sells his back as hurting, but Cannon hits a big spinebuster, a knee to the spine and a back-cracker in quick succession, so at least there’s intent. Cannon also drops a vicious knee across Lethal’s throat. Then, after hitting 2 suplexes, a third is blocked and Lethal just takes over. Simple as that. Then, the sudden ending. Cannon runs into a Lethal back elbow, and this seems to knock him spark out. Lethal takes ages to cover him, Bryce Remsburg only counts two, then realises Cannon aint getting up, so counts three.

Mike Quackenbush, Mister Zero & Icarus vs Skayde, Ultramantis Black & Hallowicked

Fun trio match to break up the tournament. This is 2/3 falls, but seeing as how the whole match goes 10 minutes, they could just have made it one fall to a finish. This is as fast-paced and action-packed as you’d expect, with lucha tag rules meaning there’s no resting. Loved the Skayde/Quack section at the start to lead to a sweet Quack dive, and Ultramantis takes the Hamrick bump to a matless floor, which had to hurt. The rudos win the first fall with a Black/Hallowicked slingshot/big boot combo on Icarus. The heat is maintained on Icarus in the second fall, until a fun spot where the rudos keep hitting a triple team move, only to let the technico out and having to repeat the spot on his replacement. This obviously end with Quack being the last technico involved and reversing the move. A trip on Hallowicked is followed by stacking Skayde in a submission on top of him for the equalising fall. The third fall fair breezes by, though Skayde looks pretty sloppy throughout it. He seems to stumble his way through a sequence with Quack, before rolling him in a crucifix to win the match for the rudos.

American Gigolo vs Anton Arakis

No idea who Arakis is, but he doesn’t impress here. He moves really oddly, and his standing moonsault looks naff. In contrast, Gigolo seems to be working hard here, a few stiff strikes and some nifty work on the mat, tangling up Arakis’ legs, help carry the match. He also eats turnbuckle on a missed splash with gusto. Gigolo gets the rope-assisted pin after Arakis misses a top rope legdrop

Eddie Kingston vs Jolly Roger

Probably the best Roger match I’ve seen to date, mainly because Kingston really forces him out of his comfort zone. Kingston is vicious here, chopping nastily in the corner, hitting double-foot stomps and nailing a tough Yakuza kick in the corner. Roger seems to be aware of the risk of being eaten up, so fires back with his own nice blows, and gets great height on his own stomps. A top rope cutter is a bit clumsy still, and Walk The Plank is a move that never looks good, but I liked his big dive to the floor. Still, Kingston rightly wins, kicking ref Bryce Remsburg into the ropes as Roger goes to the top, and nailing a top rope exploder to pick up victory.

Blackjack Marciano vs Jimmy Jacobs

Marciano is so much fun as a stooging heel here, really playing up to the antics of Jacobs (who was in full “Barbaric Berserker” mode here). Loved him heelishly putting Jacobs on the top rope, then doing a muscle pose despite his entirely average body. Marciano initially outwrestles Jacobs, so Jacobs retorts by biting him on the arse. Marciano is a lot of fun in control, posturing and showing off, and I like how Jacobs’ comeback wasn’t just due to his speed, but also because he was striking Marciano pretty stiffly. A big boot to the face looked great. The end sees Jacobs try the Contra Code, but Blackjack stops it and nails a reverse powerslam to win. All good stuff.

Sabian vs Niles Young

These guys both come from the CZW wrestling school, and you can tell by the early going, which is all pretty slick in a “we’ve practised this every week in training” kind of way. Sabian decides to focus on Young’s spine, hitting a dropkick to the back, followed by a rolling senton and a penalty kick all to the spine. I loved Sabian’s smarts when, after getting locked in a half grab, he pulls at Bryce Remsburg to pull himself to the ropes for a break. Sabian hits a dropkick to Young’s face so nasty it earns applause. A back-cracker and a sweet looking straitjacket Camel Clutch give Sabian the win.

Jigsaw vs Rorschach

Big sign of Quack’s faith in Jigsaw, as he gets the main event and against a guy who’s been pretty unimpressive in previous shows. One of the fun things about watching CHIKARA from the start is seeing the guys who evolve quicker than others. At first, these two guys felt very similar, thanks to their near identical look, but before the bell rings, you can see Jigsaw has better poise, a better looking physique and better gear, showing an improvement. Here, he works a pretty decent match and Rorschach has never looked better. This is leagues ahead of the Jolly Roger stinker from a few shows previous. Both guys bump big, Jigsaw eating an overhead suplex to the corner and tumbling to the floor, whilst Rorschach takes a nasty spill to floor from the top. Both guys also take big dives, which were impressive. They even get perfect timing on Jigsaw springboarding into the ring, and into a dropkick from Rorschach. Not everything looks good – we’ll not talk about Jigsaw’s twisting moonsault that barely touches Rorschach – but this was a good main event with a great ending, as Jigsaw hits a middle-rope Jig’N’Tonic to definitively put away Rorschach.

WWE 205 Live 17/01/2017

Drew Gulak vs Cedric Alexander

Seems to be a running trend of Alexander’s 205 Live matches revolving round him selling a body part. The Dar series has seen him selling his arm, and here Gulak worked over his leg, following a chop block on the floor. Really loved Cedric’s selling throughout this one: right at the start he hits a dropkick, and goes to the floor yelling in agony, as if he’d not been aware just how hurt his leg was. Gulak goes after the leg in a few fun, vicious ways, really liked his dragon screw around the ropes. Alexander was really good at putting over the leg work, even adjusting his body position as Gulak charged him, ensuring he used the good leg to power Drew to the floor. Gulak countering a back suplex attempt by just holding onto the headlock and grinding Alexander to the mat was choice. Cedric does hit a split legged moonsault, but the impact to his knee slows down the cover attempt, only getting two. Gulak chop blocking the other leg spells the end, with a bridging suplex finishing. This was really good.

Tony Nese vs Mustafa Ali

Ali is a guy who seems to be getting better every week. Here, he had some great early flourishes, breaking a knucklelock by leaping to the top rope and grabbing an attempted Nese kick to hit his own spinkick. Nese fires back with a gutbuster, and either Ali is terrific at selling or this really hurt him, as it seemed to bother him all match. Ali’s rolling neckbreaker still looks great, but Nese German suplexes him into the corner and hits a running knee to the face to win. Good, but a touch short.

Jack Gallagher vs Ariya Daivari

This is an “I Forfeit” match. I felt like I was going to like this match more than I did, and that was mainly due to Daivari. It’s hard to explain – I liked some of the things he did here: his side slam on the apron looked nasty, and his continued focus on Gallagher’s back made sense with a Camel Clutch stretched over the ropes. I liked him grinding a knee into Gallagher’s head and then using his turban to tie up Jack, but something about his execution felt off. There didn’t feel like an urgency to these moves, they were interesting and innovative moves performed without any aggression. Daivari dominated a good chunk of the bout too, so it was hard to get passed. Gallagher was more fun to watch – even tied up, he was able to plant a few iron headbutts to Daivari, and his flexible escape from being tied up fits with how he uses the same flexibility to escape holds. His thrashing with an umbrella and warning Corey Graves before throwing Daivari into the announce table both looked painful and fit his character. Daivari’s Cobra Clutch looked good, but Jack breaks it with an umbrella clasped in his free arm, and then locks in an umbrella-assisted chicken wing for the win. Not dreadful, but didn’t meet the expectations I had.

3PW United We Stand, Divided We Brawl

Lovefilm obviously felt that it was too long since I reviewed any 3PW shows, so decided to send me one as my latest rental. Thanks guys (I think)

CJ O’Doyle vs Rob Eckos

Not really much to this, good or bad. It’s just perfectly ok wrestling. O’Doyle has a nice looking powerslam and Eckos’ superkick looked good enough to have won the match (though it only got 2). I enjoyed Eckos’ character work, posing after hitting an Alpine Line, then realising he could pin O’Doyle and rushing to try and get the pinfall. The end sees O’Doyle hit this clothesline that the commentary team have been hyping up (it’s just a clothesline), which only gets two, before Eckos hits a sloppy Alpine Line from the second rope for the pin.

Jack Victory vs Rockin’ Rebel

This was rubbish. As usual in 3PW, Rebel seems to get paired with someone so bad that the Rebel is the worker of the match. Both guys are working heel here too, and for some reason end up trying to double team the ref, only to both eat a double clothesline. This doesn’t earn a DQ however, and the bout continues with Victory not actually being able to Irish whip his opponent properly! How is that possible? Rebel tries a pin with his feet on the rope, but gets caught by the ref. Victory tries the same, and gets the three count. Afterwards, both guys beat up the ref. Just terrible.

Gary Wolfe vs Damian Adams

Apparently, this was set up Wolfe assaulted Adams, who had beaten him in a previous match. This explains why Adams attacks Wolfe as soon as he hits the ring, working a sustained assault, until a single Wolfe clothesline seems to basically kill him. Like, Wolfe picks him up for a suplex, and Adams is barely on his feet, arm dangling dead by his side. Believe me, the clotheslines certainly didn’t look that impressive. Adams is able to come back with a nice dive to the floor, before Wolfe hits 2 powerbombs in the ring (before the second powerbomb, the commentary team seem aghast that Wolfe is going to try a second powerbomb. “This is inhumane” is uttered, right before Adams kicks out on 2). A Burning Hammer gets the win, and the whole thing is less than four minutes long. Really odd booking, as Adams looked like a chump, despite apparently winning the last match.

There’s another match on the DVD listing, which is supposed to be a bra and panties match between Jasmin St Claire and Gorgeous George, which is basically just them stripping, kissing and spanking Velvet Sky over Tod Gordon’s knee. I’m just glad my fiancée didn’t come in while in was watching this nonsense. Moving swiftly on…

Low Ki vs Ruckus vs Joey Matthews

This is elimination rules, and that actually makes this a really enjoyable bout. The reason being, Joey Matthews wisely stays outside and allows Ruckus and Low Ki to wrestle, only entering when Low Ki has beaten Ruckus, essentially giving us two Low Ki singles bouts instead of the usual three-way nonsense.

Ki/Ruckus, in this situation, is like an appetiser, and is pretty fun in that respect. I enjoyed their little section on the mat, where Ruckus was surprisingly competent, and whilst both guys had some fun offense, Ki’s stuff just looked nastier, finishing Ruckus off with the Tidal Crush and a Ki Krusher.

Ki/Matthews was really good stuff, loved Matthews using the ref to block a Tidal Crush and poking Ki in the eye over the ref’s shoulder. Matthew’s offense is a bit nastier than Ruckus’, and Ki misses a corner charge to give Matthews a focal point to work on. Matthews may not be flashy, but you can tell he’s got a brain for wrestling, everything looks professional and shows no sign of breaking down. You can see why WWE would want him as the anchor for the MNM team. He also isn’t scared of Ki’s blows, taking a big kick right to the jaw. Ki’s rolling kick in the corner looks vicious, and I loved the fluidity of Matthews trying a reverse suplex and Ki quickly countering with a Dragon Clutch. Ki goes for the Ki Krusher, but his shoulder can’t support the weight, and Matthews reverses to a small package for the win. Loved this whole deal.

Monsta Mack & Mike Kruel vs Roadkill & the Blue Meanie

Thought Kruel looked excellent in this match, easily the standout. He schools Meanie on the mat, working a series of holds that actually made “Blue Meanie matwork” seem ok. The heels work a decent enough heat on Meanie, and I loved Mack standing in the middle of the ring, smugly posing to draw in Roadkill, whilst Kruel choked Meanie in the corner behind him. Kruel works over Meanie’s back, with some nasty kneedrops and painful looking forearms. Meanie’s comeback is pretty unexciting, as it consists of him in a Mack sleeper that he just casually escapes from and reverses. Roadkill doesn’t display a single emotion in this bout, even when a tag is disallowed because the ref didn’t see it. He’s equally inexpressive in the terrible finishing run – Roadkill brings out a chain, gets it taken away by the ref, so instead whips out a sock for a mandible claw. As the ref removes this, Mack clocks Roadkill with a chair. Hilariously, the ref definitely sees the chair in his hand, turning around to find Roadkill knocked out in the middle of the ring and Mack still holding a chair. Despite this, he seems happy enough to count the three. Sigh….at least Kruel was decent.

Matt Striker vs Jimmy Snuka

Striker comes out doing an excellent impression of Roddy Piper, you can tell he’s loving himself out there. Striker blindsides Snuka, and hits some weak offence, but gets caught with a REALLY soft backbreaker that puts him down for about 30 seconds and unable to avoid the Superfly Splash. This made Snuka’s 1993 ECW matches look like Iron Man matches.

Sabu vs Jerry Lynn

Sometimes, you just have to accept things aren’t for you. This was very much a case of two aging pros giving the crowd what they want, it just happens to be that I don’t enjoy what they like. Sabu injures his leg early on, which gets briefly worked over by Lynn, but has no impact on the rest of the match. This was really a bunch of spots loosely welded together. Some of those spots were pretty spectacular (Lynn hurling Sabu into rows of chairs and then diving in himself with a big crossbody was nuts) and some were pretty fun (Lynn getting up as Sabu tried the triple jump moonsault, causing Sabu to fall face-first into the chair). But there were no transitions to comebacks, no real sustained selling…just no glue to really hold it all together. As I said, the crowd loved it, so it did what it was supposed to. There’s one terrible spot right at the end, where Sabu is supposed to rana Lynn off the top through a table, but what actually happened is Sabu backflipped off, then a second or two passed before Lynn frontflipped himself onto a table, which didn’t break. A top rope Sabu legdrop got the job done.

Raven & the Sandman vs John Zandig & the Wifebeater

This….this was an utter mess. The basic gist is that 3PW commissioner Raven hates Sandman, taking away his Metallica entrance, his beer and smokes, but still orders him to be his tag partner for this bout. Seems like a partner you can rely on. Raven then accepts it when Zandig asks for a stipulation that he be put in charge if his team wins. For a supreme thinker, this seems like an idiotic request to accept.

So anyway, the bout starts with Sandman and Wifebeater working armdrag and hip toss exchanges. This lasts maybe a minute, before we get a punch-walk section, where they head to the balcony and the Raven/Sandman team throw Wifebeater off the balcony through a table. They return to Zandig, who’s somehow bleeding from the head and work a mild heat on him. After a while, Wifebeater returns and waits on the apron patiently to make a tag. Seems to me like the rules went out of the window when you got slammed off a balcony, mate. He gets in and works over Sandman…then somehow we end up with Sandman playing face-in-peril and Raven coming in as the fired up hot tag. The fuck is going on? Raven bulldogs Zandig through a table, but Sandman decides it’s time to DDT his partner and give the CZW boys the win. This is so Zandig can give him back his beer, fags and Metallica music….only the DVD doesn’t have the licensing for that, so we get a pissy muzak version of Enter Sandman dubbed in for 5 seconds, then the DVD abruptly goes to the credits. It wasn’t boring, I must admit, but certainly not what I would call “good” either.

WWE 205 Live 10/01/2017

Noam Dar vs Cedric Alexander

Their last match on 205 Live was really good, but this, whilst still decent, wasn’t on the same level. I liked Alexander’s initial aggression, owing to all the aggro Dar has caused for him and Alicia Fox, even to the level that he chased Dar to the floor when he tried to catch a breather. Like last time, Dar decides to focus on an arm, this time kicking out Cedric’s arm on the springboard kick. Dar does hit a nasty uppercut, but his armwork isn’t as vicious as last time and he also switches which arm he’s working on. This does seem to be in part due to him working the left arm, but having to grab Alexander by the right arm to counter a flying clothesline with a Fujiwara armbar. To this extent, I liked Dar grabbing Cedric in a straitjacket in order to work on both arms. Alicia Fox stops Noam from crushing Alexander’s arm between the ring steps, which would have been a nice Finlay-esque touch, and this gives Cedric time to recover. The end is interesting, with Fox pulling Dar out of the way of an Alexander moonsault (and not being sure why herself) before Dar finishes with a running kick. Like last time, it’s a shame the armwork wasn’t paid off in the finish, and the fact it was less intense and alternated focus on the two arms means I preferred the earlier bout.

Brian Kendrick vs Sean Maluta

Kendrick cuts a fun promo before the match, complaining about his misting at the hands of Tajiri last week, and saying that, if Tajiri beat Maluta last week, then it would only take him 30 seconds. In a nice touch, it takes him nearly twice as long as Tajiri and with Maluta controlling most of the match. Maluta very nearly wins 30 seconds in with a crafty roll up, and is able to maintain control, looking decent in the process. Dug his cannonball off the apron. A frog splash, however, sees him only eat canvas, and allows Kendrick to lock on the Captain’s Hook to win. This was fun.

Rich Swann vs Tony Nese

Nice booking here, as Nese is the closest you’re going to get to Neville on 205 Live, bar the man himself. Liked Nese’s game plan here, getting Swann out of the ring, hurling him into the barricades, then throwing him back inside in the hope of getting a quick pin. Nese’s focus on the previously injured ribs of Swann was nice, with him draping Swann over the turnbuckle, punting him off them with a kick to the ribs, then catching Swann straight into a gutbuster. Looked really great. Nese misses a swank springboard moonsault to give Swann an opening and, after some back and forth, Swann nails a back kick to pick up the win. Ending felt a bit sudden, but I enjoyed this.

ECW Hardcore TV #7 18/05/1993

Every week, it feels like the show is clawing it's way towards a somewhat watchable match, and this week we get two sorta-ok tag matches, which feel like manna from the Gods in this watching project. I keep seeing the thumbnail on the WWE Network where Stan Hansen makes an appearance and that feels like the only thing spurring me on to continue watching...

They actually start this broadcast by showing the previous week's tag title change in it's entirety. A match I wasn't planning on watching again and certainly not one I'm going to write about again. It's still not very good.

Jimmy Snuka & Eddie Gilbert vs JT Smith & Max Thrasher

Another week, another match where Smith faces off against Gilbert. Liked the early going where the faces worked the arm of Gilbert – they may not have done it in an interesting fashion, but I loved how both Gilbert and (on the outside) Paul E Dangerously sold it as the most painful thing on earth. Also like Gilbert gaining control through the medium of a poke to the eye. The end is odd, as Thrasher accidentally drops an elbow on Smith whilst trying to break up a pinfall, then Smith accidentally knocks Thrasher off the apron trying to knee Gilbert. This causes Thrasher to turn on Smith, tripping him from the apron and leaving him prone for a Superfly Splash (literally, the only move Snuka does all match).

The Suicide Blondes vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

Non-title match here. This is four of the better guys in ECW at the time, so it’s no surprise that this is a perfectly functional tag team match. Nothing amazing, but certainly good enough. I enjoyed the opening quick teamwork by Winters and Stetson, and the Blondes also look good when they get control. They work a decent heat on Winters, but don’t wear him down enough before the Rocket Launcher, sending Candido down onto Winters knees. The champs hit stereo sunset flips on the Blondes for the three, with commentator Stevie Wonderful fucking up by yelling “They’ve beaten the champs”.

Don Muraco vs Glen Osbourne

Osbourne is really poor here, his armdrags are woeful and he hits an incredibly soft clothesline on Muraco. Muraco hits a stun gun and a one-armed tombstone to pick up a quick win in a bad bout.

The Sandman vs Rockin’ Rebel

Another match for Sandman’s ECW title, with their respective valets (Peaches and Tigra) banned from ringside. Rebel does a lot of stalling early on, making Sandman come to him. Every time Sandman builds momentum, Rebel rolls outside. Smart wrestling. Big difference in execution levels between the two, Sandman hitting crap dropkicks and almost falling over hitting a back elbow, whilst Rebel at least has a nice looking clothesline to drop Sandman. Yet another shitty ending between these two, as both men get knocked down and both valets come to ringside, get in a fight and the match is called off.