TV 1996-12-10 (Taped Holiday Hell 1996-12-07 at ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
Champions
World: Sandman
TV: Shane Douglas
Tag Team: Gangstas
We open up and see Raven getting a pinfall on World Champion Raven in their barbed wire match to win the title.
Opening video.
Joey Styles welcomes us to the show and we get a video package on the history of the ECW World Title starting from Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA Title. We get photo stills of the the match from Holiday Hell. Raven got the win with a DDT through a table.
D-Von Dudley and Axl Rotten are in the ring when the bWo come from the crowd to interrupt. They are joined by a new member 3 1/2. Stevie talks shit about Axl and D-Von and it gets them attacked. Tag Team Champions The Gangstas hit the ring.
Tag Team Champions The Gangstas vs. D-Von Dudley & Axl Rotten, ref Jeff Jones
New Jack hits the ring with a garbage can full of actual garbage this time. Oh wait there are like two cookie trays in it. Axl gets the sickle and sticks Jack with it. We have a few clips in the action. Everyone but Mustafa is a bloody mess. New Jack dives off the eagle’s nest and puts D-Von through a table all the way on the floor! Stevie Richards returns and hits a Stevie kick on Axl. Jack comes off the top with the 187 to retain. Jack puts on a bWo shirt to plug the merch. 3.56 of the match was shown.
Joey hypes some upcoming shows in NY
TV Champion “The Franchise” Shane Douglas and Francine are celebrating the holiday season. Douglas talks about his legacy in ECW and how Pitbull 1 should be thankful for all he has even though he is injured and will never be the same he still has his memories. The bWo interrupts Joel Gertner during Hype Central. Stevie says they need an announcer and want Joel to be his Bisch. Gertner storms off and Stevie plugs the bWo shirt some more. It’s working as I am now buying a bWo shirt on eBay.
Rob Van Dam says he has nothing but respect for Taz and when their match is all over Taz will have nothing but respect for him. Joey talks briefly about what has happened between Van Dam and Taz. Taz says Van Dam was at the wrong place at the wrong time. That match is coming up next week on ECW TV.
Chris Candido shows up with Joey and says his match tonight was canceled because he is too sick to wrestle. Joey says the next match is going to be “Primetime” Brian Lee against Louie Spicolli. Candido says he has tagged with both those men and would like to stay on commentary with Joey. HAHA Candido asks Joey to hug him because he is so cold.
“Bulldozer” Brian Lee vs. Louie Spicolli, ref John “Pee Wee” Moore
So Shane Douglas had been calling Lee “Bulldozer” for a while now but this is the first time I’ve seen him announced with that nickname. They trade blows back and forth and Lee hits a big boot followed by three elbows. Spicolli ducks a line and hits a flying forearm. Spicolli gets Lee in the corner and the ref tries to break them up but Spicolli pushes him down. Lee pulls something out of his pocket and stabs Louie in the head with it. Spicolli is busted open. They go to the floor and Lee comes off the second rope with the weapon into the face of Louie. Lee suplexes Louie through the merchandise table. Back in the ring Louie throws a chair at Lee. Lee fights back and pokes Louie in the eye. Louie can’t see from the blood and eye poke and DVDs the ref. Candido says he is going to go stop Lee right now and help Louie. Lee goes for a chokeslam but Louie hits a DVD. Candido hits the ring and puts the boots to Louie! Shane Douglas now hits the ring and takes the shirt off the ref and puts it on. DVD on Candido. One more for Lee. Shane makes the count so Louie thinks he won. Louie still doesn’t realize its Shane but then Shane turns around and they come to blows. Louie picks up Shane for the DVD but Lee grabs him and chokeslams him. The actually ref is back up now and makes the 3 count. Lee gets the win in 9.47. Pitbull 2 makes the save but the three on one is much for him. Fans are going nuts. Lee chokeslams Pitbull from the inside of the ring over the ropes through a table on the floor!!
Joey is in the arena after the show and is with Raven. Raven says he won the title by himself. The same way he has done everything his entire life. Raven talks about how he was in rehab when Stevie lost his title. Paul E and Tod Gordon thought it would be a good time to get the belt off Raven. Raven says Paul and Tod thought he had nothing left and would never win the title back and just put the matches together for the money. Raven says to put anyone in front of him. Raven says he is the only one that can beat himself. Raven hugs the title and just curls up in a ball as Joey looks at him awkwardly and leaves. We see clips of the title match to close out the show with “Come Out and Play” playing over it.
My thoughts on the show…
Enjoyable show here tonight. Really glad to see the title back in Raven’s hands. Looks like we have a new Triple Threat with Douglas, Lee and Candido. I imagine that this was planned to be released on home video and that’s why they didn’t air the whole match. Unfortunately that never happened so we only got the brief clips and some stills.
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TV 1996-12-17 (Taped Holiday Hell 1996-12-07 at ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
Champions
World: Raven
TV: Shane Douglas
Tag Team: Gangstas
Joel Gertner talks about how he predicted Raven would win the title weeks ago. He then talks about all the ways he is better then the fans.
Opening video.
Joey Styles welcomes us and we go to our first match.
TV Champion “The Franchise” Shane Douglas & Francine vs. Tommy Dreamer & Beulah, ref Jim Molineaux
“Cut the fucking music”. After some bantering back and forth with lots of it being beeped out Douglas attacks Dreamer from behind. Douglas sends Dreamer to the floor and he hits his knee on the guard rail. Douglas follows and attacks with a chair as we go to commercial. Back from break and Douglas hits a swinging neck breaker onto a chair. Douglas works on the knee of Dreamer. Francine gets in on the action. This fires Tommy up and he gives Francine a claw to the crotch. Douglas attacks from behind and hits a piledriver. Douglas goes up top but Beulah distracts him enough for Dreamer to slam him off the top. Powerslam by Dreamer gets 2. Dreamer hits Douglas in the ankle with a chair. Douglas goes for a single arm DDT but Tommy counters into a belly to back and then hits a DDT. Dreamer covers but Francine buts Douglas’ foot on the rope to stop the count. Dreamer pulls Francine into the ring and tags Beulah. Cat fight but then Dreamer pulls Francine off and goes for a piledriver. Douglas breaks it up and drop kicks the knee of Dreamer. Douglas with a figure four. Dreamer gets irish whipped and it knocks Francine off the apron to the ground. Dreamer stops to look out and Douglas again takes out the knee. Douglas again locks in the figure four but Beulah comes in and rakes his eyes. Dreamer with a roll up for 2 and then he locks in the figure four. Francine comes off the top rope with a cookie tray to the head of Beulah. Dreamer lets go of the figure four and hits the piledriver on Francine as the fans explode. Beulah goes up top and sorta hits a moonsault. Dreamer and Beulah celebrate. Douglas lays out Dreamer and hits Beulah with a belly to belly. Douglas covers Beulah and hooks both legs just in case. Douglas gets the pin in 10.24. The best mixed tag match I ever remember seeing.
Douglas and Francine are backstage and Douglas talks about how he took out Beulah mocking her by saying how tough of an opponent she was. Joey talks about the history of Douglas and Francine and we see clips of what they have done since joining forces. We also see the history of the Douglas Dreamer feud dating all the way back to 1993. Douglas used a chain a bunch of times in their feud and Dreamer apparently had that chain during the mixed tag match but never got to use it.
Rob Van Dam vs. Taz (w/ Bill Alfonso & Team Taz) ref Jim Molineaux
Taz with a release dragon suplex. First time he’s used that move. Sabu chant breaks out and Taz gets pissed. Van Dam uses the distraction to his a monkey flip and then comes off the top rope with a kick. Taz goes to the floor and Van Dam follows with a dive. Van Dam with a pedigree and he goes for a rolling thunder splash but Taz gets the knees into the stomach of Van Dam. Taz with a t bone and then a northern lights for 2. Van Dam ducks a clothesline and then hits a spin kick. Van Dam brings a chair into the ring and then flings it right into Taz’s face. Things break down and it turns into a fight. Van Dam again throws the chair and Taz and kicks it into his face. Taz has never been challenged like this. Taz manages to duck a kick hit a german and lock in the tazmission. Van Dam fights it and gets into a standing position but Taz again takes him down. Van Dam fights up a second time and tries to turn out of it but Taz pulls him back down. Van Dam again fights up and this time kicks off the turnbuckle and ends up on top of Taz. Taz just barely gets his shoulder up before the three count and still has the submission on! Van Dam fights but can’t hang on and passes out in 10.22.
My thoughts on the show…
Awesome show here. Beside the World Title story these were the only other matches that had anything behind them going into Holiday Hell. Both of them delivered. The main event was particularly good and had a nice finish to it. Check this episode out.
