[spacer height=”20px”]The ECW “OH MY GOD!” Review!
TV Pilot #2 “The Best of Eastern Championship Wrestling Volume 2”
Back in early 1993 ECW was shopping their product around to try and get a TV deal. Four different pilots were created using matches filmed in 1992. This footage is the only known footage from 1992 to exist outside of the WWE vaults.
We get an opening video and go right to the ring introductions for the first match
Johnny Hot Body (w/ “Devious” Don E. Allen) vs. “Hitman” Tony Stetson ref John Finnegan (1992/10/24 from Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia, PA)
Before the match Hot Body makes the ring announcer announce him twice so all his “fans” can cheer for him. Hot Body stalls to begin and gets into it with the crowd on the apron. Back in the ring Johnny continues to jaw with the crowd. Stetson and Hot Body start arguing now and exchange some shoves and slaps. Hot Body hits a shoulder tackle and hip toss. Stetson with an arm drag and drop toe hold. Stetson goes after Allen, which allows Hot Body to hit a knee to the back. Allen hits Stetson with a chair, as the ref is distracted. Stetson rolls to the floor and is busted open. Hot Body goes after him with the ring bell and hits him again with a chair. The two man fight in the crowd with Hot Body maintaining control. Back at ringside Hot Body hits a suplex on the floor and then dives off the ring apron with two elbow drops. Body suplexes Stetson back into the ring. Irish whip Body drops his head but Stetson grabs it and drives him backwards to the mat. Swinging neck breaker and top rope leg drop follow from Stetson. Stetson throws Body to the floor and goes after him with a chair. Back into the crowd and the two start fighting at the bar. Heading back to the ring Stetson hits another chair shot and nails Allen as he gets into the ring. Hot Body back into the ring and Stetson catches him with a flying forearm. Stetson climbs up top but Allen knocks him onto the buckle. Body hits a superplex but only gets 2. Corner whip but Stetson moves and Body hits his shoulder on the post. They both go to the floor and get counted out at 15.46. The two men brawl all the way to the back
Kodiak Bear & Canadian Wolfman (w/ Cosmic Commander) vs. Hell Riders ref Joe Dinolli (1992/10/24 from Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia, PA)
The Hell Riders are E.Z. and H.D. Rider. The Riders get attacked before the bell. Hot Body and Stetson show up at ringside still brawling and our tag match gets put on pause. Back to the match and Bear is in an arm bar on the mat. H.D. whips Bear arm drags him and has him back in the arm bar. Tag to E.Z. who hits a clothesline as the ring announcer lets us know Hot Body and Stetson have been fined $1000 each. Back elbow by E.Z. and he tags back out. The Riders work over Bear in the corner but Wildman comes in to break it up. E.Z. now corner whips Bear but Bear gets up the boot on the charge. Irish whip and Bear with a clothesline and elbow drop for 2. Tag made and in comes the Wolfman with some headbutts. Clothesline gets 2 and the Wolfman chokes. Double team brings E.Z. into the ring. Bear gets tagged. E.Z. hits a clothesline for 2. Commander gives something to Bear he hits E.Z. with it and gets the pin at 7.34.
“Iron Man” Tommy Cairo vs. “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff; Russian Chain Match ref John Finnegan (1992/10/24 from Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia, PA)
The two men get attached together and we get our bell. The match immediately gets edited and Koloff is in control choking and hitting Cairo with the chain. Koloff with throat thrusts and he bites Cairo’s forehead. Corner whip is reversed and Cairo wraps the chain around his fist and goes after Koloff. Belly to Belly by Cairo and he gets three buckles hit but Koloff blocks him on his way to the fourth. Koloff trips Cairo and throws him to the floor. He yanks on the chain pulling him into the apron. Cairo pulls back on the third time and Koloff hits his throat on the top rope. Back in the ring and Cairo is in control again. He hits two buckles and Koloff kicks him low. Irish whip and Cairo gets hit in the forehead with the chain and is cut. Koloff gets three buckles but Cairo fights back and hits Koloff with the chain. Cairo bites Koloff who is now busted open. Irish whip and Koloff gets back body dropped. Koloff hits a low blow again and starts to climb up top but Cairo pulls on the chain and brings him back down to the mat. Cairo goes to three buckles but Koloff stops him by biting his thigh. Koloff hits a clothesline and again the chain across the forehead. Irish whip and Cairo comes off with a flying chain attack. Cairo hits the buckles at gets the win. Match was announced at 10.04 with about a minute edited out.
Tony Stetson vs. Salvatore Bellomo (w/ Stevie Wonderful) ref Jim Molineaux; Lumberjack Match (1992/08/12 from Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia, PA)
Lumberjacks at ringside are; Larry Winters, Jimmy Jannetty, Hell Riders, Gino Caruso, Soul Train Phillips, Tommy Cairo, Sandman, Canadian Wolfman, Damien Stone, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Perez
Bellomo and Stetson get into it outside the ring before the bell. Stetson is busted open immediately. In the ring Sal hits a standing drop kick and bites Stetson on the forehead. Sal dumps Stetson outside and all the lumberjacks begin to fight. Stetson gets back in and Sal continues to work him over. The lumberjacks pull Stetson out of the ring and stomp him. Stetson fights back and takes over. Stetson continues to get objects from his tights to hit Bellomo with. Bellomo gets dumped out and the lumberjacks fight again. Stetson hits a flying forearm and goes up top but Sandman pushes him off and comes in the ring the ref calls for the bell as all the lumberjacks get in the ring to brawl. The match ends in a no contest. Stetson remains in the ring after it clears and Bellomo starts to throw chairs into the ring. Stevie Wonderful ends up getting hit with one by Stetson as everyone continues to brawl at ringside
My thoughts on the show
So we get a 15-minute opening match that is WAY better then the entire first pilot. Very strange ending however as the referee let them brawl all over the building twice but decided the third time to count them out. Still of to a good start. The tag match I could do without, but I think it was included as it continued the first match. The chain and lumberjack match were both also good and gave us some of our first looks into what ECW would be all about. The lumberjack match specifically had the wild brawl with everyone at the end that we would see time and time again over the years. This is recommended to view so you can see some of the early hits of what ECW would become.[spacer height=”20px”]
