The “OH MY GOD!” Review: ECW TV 1996-04-30 (matches taped Hostile City Showdown 1996-04-20 from The ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
Champions
World: Raven
TV: 2 Cold Scorpio
Tag Team: The Eliminators
Today’s episode is the 2nd week we get matches from Hostile City Showdown. Since I already reviewed the entire Hostile City Showdown this will mostly be a copy and paste job from that review. Last weeks episode ended with us finding out that Beulah was cheating on Tommy Dreamer with Kimona Wanalaya, the two women kiss and begin rolling around on the mat.
Dreamer grabs them both by the hair and picks them up, “I’ll take em both I’m hardcore” then they all make out. Raven looks very upset in the corner.
Opening video package.
ECW Champion Raven vs. Shane Douglas
Raven starts to walk down the aisle but turns and comes back to the ring. They tie up and trade hammerlocks. Douglas hits a hip toss and Raven just sits on the mat. Raven takes a knee to the stomach and a punch and again drops to the floor. Raven again to the floor and Shane knocks him into the guardrail and then throws his body over the top rope landing on Raven. Irish whip to the rail and Shane throws him back in. Sleeper but Raven quickly drops down with a jawbreaker. Douglas with a short arm clothesline. Raven jumps on Shane’s back with a sleeper and Douglas dumps them both over the top rope with Raven taking a nasty spill to the floor. Douglas with a crossbody off the top into the crowd. Douglas gets a cheese grater from a fan and runs it across Raven’s face. They brawl to the stage and we see that Raven has been busted open. Raven takes control and they brawl to the parking lot. No camera outside but we hear a lot of banging. Back in through the front door with Shane seeming to have the advantage. Back in the ring Shane hits a piledriver. Brian Lee and Tommy Dreamer end up in the ring fighting. Douglas hits his belly to belly but the ref is distracted and Douglas only gets a 2 count. Shane starts arguing with Dreamer. Dreamer lets him know what happened so they hug it out but Douglas turns on him and belly to bellys him. Tommy back up and they start brawling. The locker room empties to pull them apart. Douglas back in and Raven tries to suplex but Shane throws him onto the ropes. Shane puts Raven on the buckle and goes up for a superplex. Raven blocks it and shoves Shane to the mat and hits a double axe handle. Now Raven puts douglas on the turnbuckle and his superplex is reversed. Shane front suplexes Raven and then hits a crossbody Raven rolls through hooks the tights and gets 2. Shane with a figure four and Meanie comes in and attempts the Meaniesault but Shane moves. Single leg crab now and Stevie breaks it up with a Stevie Kick but it only gets 2. DDT by Douglas for 2. Shane hits a spinebuster and takes off Ravens boot. He puts the figure four back on but a Bruise Brother comes from under the ring and breaks up the hold. Shane hits him with a belly to belly but turns to get hit by Raven with the boot. Raven covers and gets the pin to retain his title at 16.43.
Hype Central with Lance Wright for the video of Hostile City Showdown and the return to the ECW Arena on May 11th.
Joey is in the ring with Shane Douglas. Douglas wants to know what he needs to do to defeat Raven. The ECW World Title is the only belt that means anything to him. 2 Cold Scorpio hits the ring with his TV Title over his shoulder. Scorpio says his belt is more important then the World Title. Scorpio tells Shane if he wants a belt to come get his. Shane doesn’t want his belt so he turns to leave. Scorpio turns also and Shane attacks him from behind and hits a belly to belly. Shane starts hit Scorpio with the belt until Sandman comes to make the save. Shane hits a belly to belly on him and starts using the cane on both men. Shane hits a piledriver on Scorp onto the belt.
We go to Joey in his booth and he recaps the interview we just saw before the commercial break. Joey tells us that next week we will see Rob Van Damn taking on Sabu. We see footage from Delaware last night with Fred the Elephant Boy and Missy Hyatt. Then we go to the streets. The Gangstas are walking the darks roads of Philly tonight talking about Tag Team Champions The Eliminators. The match has finally been signed and the belts are on the line. New Jack tells us they are going to “eliminate the Eliminators”. The champions are in the locker room packing their bags. Saturn says the street trash Gangstas can’t take the belts. They pick up the belts which are face down on a table and see that they have been spray painted with a “X” by the Gangstas while the Eliminators were showering.
Back from commercial Styles tells that Brian Pillman was recently in a very bad car accident and wishes him a speedy recovery. He hear music in the background as the FBI are in the ring.
Little Guido (w/ JT Smith) vs. Axl Rotten ref John Finnegan
Smith distracts Rotten back at ringside and Guido comes from behind with a chair. Back in the ring Guido gets a few pin attempts after some basic moves. Guido attacks the arm as he tries to lock in a fujiwara arm bar. Guido misses a leg drop and Rotten fires back. Rotten hits a big time clothesline and a dominator gets him the win. After the match Smith gets on the mic and tells Axl he better leave before Guido kicks his ass. Smith attempts to sing again. About 3 minutes of this match was edited from the beginning.
Taz (w/Bill Alfonso & Team Taz) vs. Devon Storm ref Jim Molineaux
Before the match, Alfonso gets on the mic and runs down Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Flyers. We get the bell and the match is underway. A few take downs and submissions from Taz to start. He hits a T-Bone Tazplex. Storm fights back and takes it to the floor. He sets Taz up in a chair on the floor and hits a somersault from inside the ring to the floor, it looks sick. Side slam by Storm followed by a moonsault for 2. Storm moonsaults with a chair in his hand but misses. Taz jumps out of the ring and sets up a table. Storm attempts an Air Sabu but misses. Taz belly to bellys storm out of the ring to the floor. Taz gets a countout victory at 4.51. Taz goes outside and locks in the Tazmission. Taz gets on the mic and runs Storm down as a Sabu wannabe but gives him credit for at least showing up with Sabu didn’t do.
Back from commercial Taz and Alfonso are backstage and they run down Devon Storm. Taz tells him that he should have been preparing instead of watching Sabu matches.
“Misirlou” promo time! Missy trash talks Fred the Elephant Boy, Dreamer with Beaulah and Kimona talk about Raven, The Dudley family are next and D-Von talks about vengeance, Blue Meanie does Shakespeare for his girlfriend Miss Patricia, New Jack says the belts belong to them and Mustafa laughs scarily, Meanie dances around Stevie Richards and sings Shawn Michaels music, Alfonso freaks out, back to the Gangstas who are leaving the building the doors close and we hear a loud crash. The cameraman opens the door and the Gangstas are down. The Eliminators stand over them and spray paint a “X” on their backs as the show comes to an end.
My thoughts on the show,
Remember Hostile City Showdown 1996 is one of my most highly recommended shows so far in ECW history. The first match today is part of the reason why. The rest was pretty much filer but we are moving on with the tag team title feud now that a match has actually been made between the Gangstas and Eliminators. Taz continues to talk about Sabu being afraid to face him. Thumbs in the middle on this one. Again, get a copy of Hostile City Showdown and you can skip this.
