Heatwave ‘98
August 2, 1998
Dayton, OH

There’s nothing special about ECW anymore.

Okay, that’s not exactly true, but with WWF Attitude changing the landscape of wrestling suddenly ECW looks bush-league. If anyone randomly caught ECW at 2 AM or whenever they were on, they would probably think it was a WWF rip off show. While it wasn’t their worst year, or even a bad year, 1998 was the year ECW lost its unique place in wrestling and ultimately the year where ECW stopped changing the business and just purely survived.

It didn’t help that quality wise, ECW was lacking. While still having many great performers, a terrible PPV back in May was something ECW could ill-afford. I assume Paul Heyman knew it too, because new talent was brought in for Heatwave ’98. There’s no random Bam Bam Bigelow vs. New Jack match here (what was Paul E. thinking with that one?) ECW still could survive at this point, it just needed to show it could put on a show at the level of the big leagues.

The Card

The Hara Arena looks pretty big for an ECW arena, which is a pretty good look.

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas is hurt, so he’s doing color commentary with Joey. Douglas being hurt for most of 1998 was another strange dynamic. The 1998 Triple H look in yellow isn’t doing Douglas any favors.

We get an f-bomb from Douglas right away. He hypes up the Taz vs. Bigelow rematch. Taz of course was chasing Douglas at this point.

Joey gets his face rubbed on Francine’s chest. Sure why not.

Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Jerry Lynn had put over Justin Credible for the better part of 1997 and most of 1998. I always felt the Credible-Lynn series did a good job elevating both guys to bigger things: Credible to the ECW main event and Lynn to the RVD feud. Joey hypes this as the rubber match to this feud, which means while Credible won all the house shows, Lynn and Credible must have split the big show matches.

Credible has an interesting group with him: Chasity, Nicole Bass and Jason.

Slight timing error for Lynn, but Lynn makes up for it with a nice twisting crossbody.

It’s hard not to notice how many ripoff characters we have here. Credible is a poor man’s X-Pac, Bass is a poor man’s Chyna and Jason is a poor man’s Buff Bagwell…and maybe a stretch but Chasity is a poor man’s Luna Vachon.

This match is pretty good so far though. A very good back and forth.

Pretty nice Bossman Slam from Credible.

Hurricanrana from the top rope through a table on the floor by Jerry Lynn? Nice!

Credible’s band of freaks gets owned by Lynn when they saved Credible. Bass gets a low blow and a chair shot, and Chasity gets Tombstoned.

Justin Credible pins Jerry Lynn in 14:36. That’s Incredible Piledriver from the top rope ends Jerry Lynn for the pin. Great finish to a very good opener. Heatwave is off to a great start. I think Lynn carried things here…but Credible did hold up his end of the bargain, and that’s all you need.

They also sell the finish like death for Lynn too, as they should, it being a tombstone off the top and all.

We must have skipped something on the Network because we go straight to the next match.

Chris Candido vs. Lance Storm

A well booked feud here. Storm tried to join the Triple Threat, but was double crossed by Candido. The only thing that really kept Storm and Candido from destroying one another was the fact they were tag team champions. They lost those belts (well, Candido and replacement partner Douglas) to RVD and Sabu. So now all that’s left is for them to go one on one.

Tammy Lynn Sytch is here with Candido too. Remember, at Living Dangerously Storm thought it was a good idea for Sytch to be his mystery partner. So that plays into this too. I assume Sytch had been fired from the WWF at this point.

Storm’s non-extreme style was perfect for him as a heel later.

Chris Candido has to be up there with most underrated wrestlers ever.

Suplex on Candido to the floor from the apron just looks like it hurts bad with the concrete floor in play.

Chris Candido pinned Lance Storm in 11:00. Sytch provocatively shoves Storm on the top rope and crotches him. Ref gets involved and accidentally pulls Sytch’s top off, which gets a big reaction. Blonde Bombshell finishes Storm, which is an awesome finish. Another really good match here.

Apparently The Dudley Boys and Jack Victory beat the crap out of New Jack in the parking lot earlier. That should tell you how that match is ending later.

Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka

AKA: the match that proved Paul E. needed to go into a new direction and did so.

RVD sneezing ”Hakushi” for some reason was hilarious to me when referring to Jinsei Shinzaki for some reason.

If seeing these two stiff the hell out of one another is what you want, this match is for you.

Tanaka no sells a release German where he landed on his head. Tanaka always seemed to do stuff like that and truthfully I never got it.

When someone the size of Mike Awesome does a springboard axehandle smash into the crowd, it’s hard not to be impressed, even if the landing wasn’t the great.

Tanaka no sells some chair shots. Again, I never really got it. It’s also quite cringe worthy today.

Tanaka drops Awesome right on his head through a table on the concrete floor from the ring. Sometimes I’m amazed I loved this stuff once. To me now it’s just scary.

Masato Tanaka pins Mike Awesome in 11:49. Tornado DDT on two chairs wins it. Very good brawl and the match of the night so far. I can’t stand Tanaka’s no-selling (it’s part of his character, not something he does maliciously) and Awesome seems to half-ass any moves that doesn’t involve killing his opponent (like clotheslines, big boots), but everything else was stiff as hell and it made a very good match. 3/3 for Heatwave so far! This was the future of ECW, believe it or not.

Taz was money on the mic in ECW and I’m surprised that didn’t translate to the WWF.

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Rob Van Dam and Sabu© vs. Jinsei Shinzaki and Hayabusa

Heyman brought in Tanaka, Awesome, Shinzaki and Hayabusa to draw for Heatwave (Well Tanaka and Awesome were there earlier) after the disaster that was Wrestlepalooza. And it worked, this match has a huge match feel for it and I’m surprised it didn’t main event.

Real sloppy start from RVD and Hayabusa. Two early botches, one off a roll up and the other off a springboard clothesline by Hayabusa.

There are some really smart spots in this one too. RVD with a cocky backflip to dropkick when Hayabusa was trapped in the Camel Clutch…but when he played to the crowd Shinzaki took him out with a springboard dropkick of his own.

Beautiful Asai Moonsault from Hayabusa!

Bow and Arrow by RVD on Shinzaki…then Sabu comes off the top with a chair!

Awesome twisting splash from RVD! The camera angle made it seem like he flew out of nowhere!

Perfect 450 from Hayabusa!

Van Daminator when Hayabusa was straddled on the top rope. Funny enough, Hayabusa no sells it.

RVD and Sabu when Sabu pinned Shinzaki pin at 20:51. It gets messy at the end, but Sabu and RVD drive Shinzaki and Hayabusa through a table and get the win. Sabu shoves RVD away for the pin, which a great little nod to their story. I know a lot don’t like this match because it boils down to such a spotfest…but it’s a damn fun spotfest and I loved most of it. I’d say it’s a great match, but it was quite sloppy at many points and some of the spots don’t quite hit the mark. But fun is fun.

FTW World Championship
Taz© vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The FTW World Title is the title Taz said meant he was the real World Champ because he couldn’t get to Douglas.

In Taz’s big monster push, Bigelow was the only man to beat him…at Living Dangerously when he put Taz through the ring. Bigelow is Douglas’ right hand.

I’m surprised this isn’t main eventing either.

We’re told that this is Falls Count Anywhere, which kinda gives away the finish.

Taz just no sells an immediately hard powerbomb from Bigelow which is whatever to me. That’s not a move that should be no sold.

We’re already brawling on the outside and Taz gets a kick that knocks Bigelow off the ramp into the crowd, which seems pretty dangerous for the fans.

This has been 70% in the crowd. This was the wrong way to go about this match.

Taz with a tornado DDT through the rampway, and this time I think it’s overdone. It was just done to go one step further from the finish at Living Dangerously.

Taz wins by submission in 13:21. Bigelow emerges from the hole…but so does Taz! Taz locks in the Tazmission and Bigelow seemingly reaches for the ropes, which is considered a tap out. Uh…even that was pretty terrible, since it seemed clear he was reaching for the ropes. I thought this match absolutely sucked. This should have been Taz suplexing Bigelow around the ring for 10 minutes and choking him out clean. And what’s the deal with two straight Bigelow matches on PPV that did a tour of the arena? Why are we wasting Bam Bam Bigelow here?

Dudleyville Streetfight
Bubba Ray, D-Von and Big Dick Dudley vs. Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and Spike Dudley

I loved the feud. The Dudleyz hit Beulah McGillicutty with 3D when Tommy Dreamer was handcuffed to the ropes. Beulah never came back. To say I bought the hatred Dreamer had for the Dudleys would be an understatement.

We get about 20 minutes of Bubba Ray and Joel Gertner promos/intros, followed by the Sandman, Spike and Dreamer’s entrance. I’m sorry, but that was a huge waste of time there.

Surprisingly good wrestling sequence with D-Von and Dreamer that doesn’t make any sense within the context of the story, but I’ll take it.

We actually get a bit of a wrestling match for the first half of this. Bubba throwing around Spike is always fun.

Once the Sandman got in there, all wrestling ended. It’s now a pier six.

Spike Dudley comes off a huge ladder in the ring and flies into many on the floor! Cool moment for Spike!

Somersault senton by the Sandman on the ladder. Some interesting ladder spots for 1998, messy as they are.

Bubba hits his own 2nd rope senton with Dreamer under a ladder. Bubba was huge then!

Somehow we get Judge Jeff Jones piledriving a blow up doll to mock Beulah. Dreamer spikes him for that.

Dreamer, Sandman and Spike win when Dreamer pins Bubba Ray in 14:26. DDT on a ladder gets it done. Jack Victory shows up and takes out Dreamer…and here comes New Jack of course! The Dudleys get the crap kicked out of them to end the show. Anyway, it’s just garbage wrestling, but I had no problem with any of this. An ugly old fashioned street fight where Tommy Dreamer got his revenge and some Dudleys got beat up. That’s ECW in a nutshell, isn’t it? There’s also a really cool visual at the end with Jack, Spike, Dreamer and Sandman all on ladders with their hands raised.

ECW needed a good PPV badly, and they delivered. The next step, Douglas vs. Taz, was set up. Dreamer can move on now (not sure if he does though), RVD and Sabu teased their eventually break-up. Credible and Lynn helped one another. Awesome and Tanaka injected some much needed new blood. This is easily the best ECW PPV so far.

I can’t put it in the A range, Bigelow vs. Taz was a mess and the time between that and the Dudleyville Street fight was absolutely wasted, killing the flow the show had. Why not give Candido and Storm a little more time?

But it was close and the right step for ECW.

Final Grade: B+