TV 1996/08/06 (matches taped from “The Doctor is In” 1996-08-03 at ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
Champions
World: Raven
TV: Shane Douglas
Tag Team: Gangstas
The 8/6 review covers the unique angles and interviews from the fallout of The Doctor Is In Arena show. Match details for this specific show can be found in their entirety in my “The Doctor Is In” OMG Review found here.
The 8/13 TV episode features action from Japan will all new review material.
JT Smith comes out to the ring to open the show and tells us there is a great band in the arena tonight. Smith calls KISS to the ring. Out come Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, Super Nova and Don E. Allen in KISS face paint. They come out to “I Wanna Rock and Roll”. They strut, dance, sing, and pretend to play their instruments until the Sandman comes out and canes everyone. Raven comes out with Lori and Tyler Fullington. Stevie with a steviekick from behind and Raven hits him with the cane right in the eye.
We go to Joey Styles as he runs down tonight’s card, which features action from The Doctor is In. You can catch my full review of that show here.
We go to our opening match of Axl Rotten taking on D-Von Dudley. Buh Buh Ray attacks D-Von before the match even gets underway. Axl and D-Von form an alliance and leave together.
Joey again hypes the action that’s coming including the 4 way dance tag team title match. Raven says that he won’t be defending the title tonight because of Sandman’s injuries.
We head to the Raven interview which leads into Stevie Richards defending the title for Raven against Sandman. Raven ends up coming into the match at the very end and pins Sandman to retain the title.
Tonight’s main event is the four way dance. The Gangstas come out on top to win the ECW Tag Team Championships. The other participants in the match were the Samoan Gangsta Party, Bruise Brothers and of course the former champions Eliminators. After the match the Eliminators argue and push each other as the Gangstas celebrate in the ring.
My thoughts on the show,
As I was not a fan of the whole Doctor is In show I was also not a fan of this episode of TV. I have been into the Dudley family saga but I’m ready for the payoff to happen and adding Axl into the whole thing doesn’t do anything for me. The Sandman Raven stuff was ok. I hate New Jack so the Gangstas getting the straps doesn’t make me happy. Thumbs down.
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TV 1996/08/13 (matches taped 1996-08-11 at Korakuen Hall in Bunkyo, Tokyo)
Champions
World: Raven
TV: Shane Douglas
Tag Team: Gangstas
ECW is in Japan for their first international tour. Joey Styles is backstage at Korakuen Hall. Hmmmm, It looks a lot like the backstage area of the “ECW Arena” just with a promo poster for tonight’s show hanging from the ECW banner. We see brief clips of Buh Buh Ray Dudley against Tarzan Goto and some stills from Japanese magazines with pictures of Tommy Dreamer and Raven which is tonight’s main event.
Raven is outside and he says that it’s just them in Japan tonight no backup for Raven. Raven says he has always done it alone and doesn’t need backup. Even if Dreamer does beat Raven his life is a living hell anyway so it won’t matter.
Back to Joey and he hypes up the strides that ECW has made over the last three years and how big they have become. Tommy Dreamer and Terry Gordy are in the locker room. Gordy thanks Dreamer for calling in Dr. Death. The Eliminators come in and say that they are still the best tag team in ECW. They respect Gordy so they won’t start anything now but when they get to the states it’s on! A brief promo by the Eliminators airs where Saturn blames Kronus for them losing the titles.
The Eliminators vs. Takashi Okano & Kasuke Yamada
I’m fairly certain Saturn is going to kill these guys, he looks very angry coming to the ring. Saturn stats with Okano. Some nice back and forth mat wrestling to start and Saturn tags out. Kronus comes in and lands the handspring elbow in the corner. He misses a leg drop though and Yamada gets tagged in. Belly to back by Kronus and then he dumps Yamada across the top rope. Kronus and Saturn hit a backbreaker top rope knee drop combo. Northern lights by Saturn for 2. He tags in Kronus and they hit a double team spin kick. Clothesline by Kronus. Yamada able to make the tag. Kronus also tags. The match clips but I think its my disc and not the actual episode. Saturn has a cross face on Yamada. Okano tagged back in and Saturn tags Kronus and they land a double big boot. Slam by Kronus and a somersault legdrop lands. Kronus grabs the arms and belly to bellys Okano. Tag to Saturn Kronus hits a superplex and Saturn comes off the top with a splash for 2. Yamada gets tagged in and they hit double drop kicks on both Eliminators. Kronus and Okano back in the ring. Kronus gets slammed and Yamada comes back in. Spin kick lands and Yamada comes off the top with a cross body. Saturn breaks it up and gets dumped to the floor. Double STF on Kronus. Saturn back in to break that up. Saturn and Okano in now and Saturn gets DDTed. Okano comes off the top with a drop kick for 2. He goes up again for a double axe handle but Saturn drop kicks him on the way down and hits a falcons arrow and top rope head butt but its broken up by Yamada. Kronus dumps him and they hit Total Elimination for the win.
World Champion Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/ Beulah)
Paul E. Dangerously is at ringside representing ECW. Bell rings and our main event is underway. Tommy pushes Raven into a corner. Clean break but Dreamer spits on Raven. They lock up again and tumble out of the ring. Raven slams his face into a table and throws him back in the ring. Fist drop gets 2. Raven misses a dropkick and Tommy drops a knee in-between the legs. Raven on the floor and Dreamer leans a chair on the bottom rope and baseball slides it into Ravens face. On the floor Raven is busted open with a chair to the face and they fight into the crowd. DDT on floor by Raven. Raven with a chair and to Tommy’s head and he’s bleeding now. In the ring Raven puts a chair on Tommy’s face and leg drops him. Raven opens a chair and DDTs Dreamer on it. Back to the floor they go. Raven puts Dreamer on a table and jumps on him but the table doesn’t break. Dreamer throws Raven into the post and then suplexes the table onto him. Back into the crowd they go. Dreamer throws Raven down the stairs. Stevie Richards shows up dressed as a fan and Stevie-kicks Dreamer. Back in the ring Raven covers but only gets 2. Stevie into the ring and hits another one but Dreamer again kicks out. Raven holds Dreamer but Dreamer sorta moves and Raven gets hit. Stevie with a powerbomb and puts Raven on top but again only a 2. Stevie goes up top but Dreamer shakes him off and drop kicks him. Raven tries to dropkick Dreamer but he moves and Richards gets hit instead. DDT and Dreamer gets 2. Dreamer puts Stevie in the corner and beats on him. Dreamer bulldogs him onto a chair and he’s busted open. Raven with a school boy from behind for 2. Dreamer with a DDT but doesn’t cover. Frog splash by Dreamer. Patricia comes in and Dreamer piledrivers her. Raven from behind with two nasty chair shots for the win at 11.20.
My thoughts on the show,
I thought this show kicked ass. Thumbs way up. The tag match was good kind of expected a little more violence from Satur though. I really liked the main event. Dreamer almost got the 3 count on the DDT and you thought they were maybe doing something special for the big international show but Raven again steals one away. See this episode for sure.
