Tag Archives: Paul Heyman

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Summerslam 2013

WWE Summerslam 2013
August 18, 2013
Los Angeles, CA

YES!

YES?

YES!

Daniel Bryan is finally getting his moment.

We’re a year and a half removed from Bryan getting kicked in the face and beaten by Sheamus in 18 seconds. Ever since then fans all over the world have chanted YES! Louder and louder for Bryan. When John Cena announced he picked Bryan to be his opponent at for Summerslam the Barclays Center came unglued (trust me, I was there). Bryan has a chance to truly break the glass ceiling and follow in the footsteps of CM Punk. It was a hot storyline and a huge win over Cena that took Punk from jobber to the stars to top level star. It could be Bryan’s turn now. It SHOULD be Bryan’s turn now.

Speaking of Punk, he wasn’t happy. Punk had burnt himself out over the last year as the top guy and felt he was screwed out of the Wrestlemania 27 main event (I agree). He looked to take some time off, only to be asked to come back early (he wanted to be off till Summerslam, but he came back at Payback). Worse yet, he was upset that he had to job to Brock Lesnar because Lesnar was a part time guy.

Still, Summerslam had two really hot main events here with Cena vs. Bryan and Punk vs. Lesnar.

The Card

The Miz is our host and he hypes out main events. Why are we hyping main events when the show already started? Not sure.

Fandango comes out and the Miz mocks his dancing. Unfortunately, this was a good representation of why face Miz sucked.

No idea why Fandango was out dancing though. It’s not like he had a match.

We get the National Anthem too. No problem with that, but it seems like we’re wasting time early on.

Ring of Fire
Kane vs. Bray Wyatt

The Wyatts had just debuted and of course WWE put Kane against them. The Wyatts were an exciting new addition though, especially Bray.
I guess lighting someone on fire isn’t PG, so even though there is fire around the ring, the match ends by pin or submission. Oddly, Kane would be on fire next May anyway.

As with all Inferno matches, the match gets a lot of easy pops because the flames expand on all the big moves.

While funny at some points, the story of the match seems to be “how will Harper and Rowan get by the flames”, which sucks to be honest.

Harper and Rowan find their way in and destroy Kane.

Bray Wyatt pins Kane in 7:49. Sister Abigal (although it wasn’t called that yet) for the win. The whole Ring of Fire deal seemed pointless. Match wasn’t much of anything either. Harper and Rowan slam the stairs on Kane’s head in a way where there’s no chance it actually hit him. This would be the last we’d see Kane until he returned as Corporate Kane. Interestingly enough, Bray Wyatt may be one of the worst booked characters in WWE history if going by wins and losses (and how those wins were earned). I mean Kane pretty much destroyed him here. Not a good way to start the show.

Even Paul Heyman can make the story of David vs. Goliath seem interesting. And it’s a revisionist history nonetheless!

Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow

Team Rhodes Scholars broke up when Sandow stole the MITB match where Rhodes had it won, then declared Rhodes the “holder of the case”. This feud was great for both, and while Sandow was buried a few months later it allowed Rhodes to become one of the most popular stars on the roster…but he never got a big push out of it.

Sandow with a great line before the match: “I’m going to send Cody back to his family of carnival acts.” He’s not wrong there.

Cody Rhodes busts out a Muscle Buster. Take that Samoa Joe.

JBL on commentary states that statistically Sandow will be the next World Champion due to owning the MITB briefcase. Poor Sandow.

Cody Rhodes pins Damien Sandow in 6:40. Cross Rhodes for the win. Really fun and fast paced, but too short for sure. If this went double the time we would have had a great match here for sure. This should have been the opener.

World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio© vs. Christian

For both Wrestlemania and Summerslam in 2013, the World Heavyweight Title basically held the role of a midcard title. The World Heavyweight Title soon was merged with the WWE Title, so at least WWE was recognizing it. Anyway, the World Heavyweight Title was pretty hot in the months between Mania and Summerslam, as a red hot Dolph Ziggler cashed in MITB and won the title from Del Rio, but injuries and strange booking ruined that. Any popularity Del Rio got from his face turn in late 2013 died in the Ziggler feud, and people were sick of him as a heel.

Oddly, this match is being promoted as possibly Christian’s last big match. I actually don’t know when Christian retired as that was never made clear. While Christian’s 2011 run was fun, and he was still over in 2013, it was a little too late for fans to really believe he could be a top guy with a top belt.

This is when Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez were on the outs, which was the end of Ricardo (although there was a terrible feud with RVD involving him after this).

Pretty good so far. Del Rio has controlled, but he takes a huge bump to the outside that turns the tide.

Christian comes flying off the top and takes out Del Rio on the floor!

Backstabber off the turnbuckles! Really fun match so far.

Top rope hurricanrana from Christian! Fans really want Christian to win the title here.

We get a “This is Awesome” chant and the fans are right. This is awesome.

Huge pop for a spear from Christian, but he sells the injured shoulder!

Alberto Del Rio retains via submission in 12:30. Del Rio takes advantage of Christian’s injury and locks in the Cross Armbreaker (and put his hand on Christian’s eyes/face to lock it in which was a great touch). Really good match. I wish it was longer! Del Rio needs more opponents like Christian these days.

We get a Del Rio promo about Mexican fans needing a hero. Since we’re in LA, the fans get behind him. This was odd considering he was a heel at this point.

Brie Bella vs. Natayla

Basically a Total Divas commercial.

We get a JBL chant which tells you how much the crowd cares here. A Michael Cole chant follows…then a Jerry chant!

Brie Bella broke the Sharpshooter! There’s a spot I didn’t expect.

Natayla wins via submission in 5:19. Sharpshooter wins. Fans didn’t care for this obviously. No worse than any other Diva matches. Maybe a bit long.

Ryback bullies some cook in the back. There was an ill-advised heel turn.

No DQ
CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar

Story is this: Paul Heyman believes that the Best in the World was him and Punk, and that Punk ruined that by losing the WWE Title and losing to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Punk meanwhile tried to distance himself from Heyman. Heyman betrayed Punk at Money in the Bank and the next night brought out Brock Lesnar to punish Punk.

Off to a great start highlighted with a suicide dive by Punk! Crowd is clearly pro-Punk here.

Punk is hitting Lesnar at all angles with flying clotheslines. Great booking to allow Punk to get tons of offense in early on and not just get killed.

Lesnar is now destroying Punk. He puts a piece of table on Punk and jumps on it! Then a belly to belly on the floor. Great match so far.

Lesnar beats the crap out of Punk for about 5 minutes and it’s awesome. What a match.

Punk comeback time…although Lesnar almost gets an F5 out of Punk high knee. That was a creative spot.

Lesnar counters the Go 2 Sleep with the Kimora Lock! Great reversal!

Punk counters into a Triangle Chock! Great wrestling!

Lesnar counters with a running powerbomb and both men are down. What a match!

Top rope elbow drop with a chair from Punk…and Brock still survives!

One of the most creative counters to the F5 ever…Punk holds onto Heyman’s tie!

GTS…but Heyman breaks it up!

Punk nails the F5 into a DDT counter perfectly! Lesnar still kicks out!

Brock Lesnar pins CM Punk in 25:17. Punk knocks Heyman out and locks him in the Vise, but Lesnar beats the living crap out of Punk with a chair and hits the F5 for the win. There was only one thing I didn’t like about this match, which was that Punk kept turning his back on Lesnar to deal with Heyman. Other than that, this is a Match of the Year contender for sure. This was CM Punk’s last great match and it’s a shame WWE decided to waste him on Curtis Axel and Ryback after this.

Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee and Big E. Langston

Somehow Ziggler went from hottest young guy in the company to midcard fodder in the span of a few months. Worst part is Ziggler never would recover. This feud began when Ziggler broke up with AJ Lee.

Really…how did Ziggler at this point of his career end up in the death slot between Lesnar-Punk and Cena-Bryan? Baffling. Crowd is dead for this obviously.

Kaitlyn did have a great spear, that’s for sure and she levels AJ with it.

Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn win when Ziggler pinned Langston in 6:45. Zig Zag wins it. Nothing really notable here. Crowd’s just waiting for the main event here.

I admit Fandango interrupting Miz all night is a bit funny…but Miz disappointingly knocks him out.

WWE Championship-Triple H is the Special Referee
John Cena© vs. Daniel Bryan

After being pretty much the most entertaining performer in WWE since Wrestlemania 28 a year and a half earlier, WWE listened and finally gave Bryan the shot. The rest of the story after Cena announced Bryan as his opponent, Vince McMahon thought Bryan had to change his look to be a major star. This was the start of the B+ player angle.

Awesome monkey flip sequence early on.

Cena counters the surfboard by using his strength, which I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before actually.

Cena suplexes Bryan off the top of the steel steps, also an original spot.

Cena’s subtly heeling it up here, which only adds to the story that Bryan is the underdog.

We get some rolling German Suplexes, but Cena again uses his strength to get out of it.

Bryan begins to bust out the moveset with a front choke. While I thought the match did get a bit slow, it’s really picking up here.

Bryan superplexs Cena off the top rope, but hooks his legs so he doesn’t crash to the mat, which is brilliant. Flying headbutt follows up! Cena kicks out.

Cena hits his flying legdrop on a standing Bryan. That was awesome.

Another example of Cena’s strength, as Bryan goes for a top rope hurricanrana but Cena just blocks it and jumps down…then locks Bryan in the STF. Good storyline with Cena’s strength vs. Bryan’s wrestling here.

AWESOME clothesline from Cena that Bryan sells by spinning in the air. Wow!

Bryan goes for his top rope flip again, but Cena catches him for a AA…but Bryan counters that into a DDT!

Daniel Bryan wins the title by pin in 26:55. Bryan nails a flying dropkick (Shining Wizard) to win the title. Crowd was a little surprised there as this was the first time Bryan used it, but the fans are happy enough. Cena puts Bryan over clean. Another great match tonight…it would be match of the night probably any other PPV except this one because of Lesnar-Punk. Cena and Bryan shake hands and really Bryan couldn’t have been more put over.

During the celebration…MITB holder Randy Orton shows up…and referee HHH suddenly turns on Bryan! HHH pedigrees Bryan, and Orton cashes in!

Randy Orton wins the WWE Title by pin in :08. Pin is academic and Orton wins the title to close the show.

We had two or three great matches (depending on how you feel about Del Rio-Christian) and another really good one in Rhodes vs. Sandow. All the main events hit their marks for sure. There were some tough parts too…the Diva’s match was meh, Kane vs. Wyatt was meh and Ziggler was wasted. And then there’s this, despite how great the main events were nothing changed in WWE. In fact, historically this card practically meant nothing. WWE almost didn’t give Bryan his run on top…somehow we almost got Orton vs.Batista at Wrestlemania until the fans forced their hand. Despite the fact that Bryan had crazy momentum here they let Orton win their feud and moved Bryan down to a feud with the Wyatts. Punk feuded with Ryback and Axel, Heyman’s guys, which honestly was a huge step down from where Punk was. Lesnar should have been Punk’s end boss and instead Punk was just there to put Lesnar over. Unfortunately, that didn’t matter either since Lesnar’s feud with HHH killed his star power a bit…and Lesnar had to cheat in this one anyway (Lesnar would have to break Taker’s streak to get that star power back). Del Rio-Christian meant nothing as Del Rio dropped the World Title to Cena a couple months later, leading to Cena vs. Orton again. The only thing that seemed to matter was that HHH turned heel. What a waste.

Still a great show. Too bad WWE failed to capitalize.

Final Grade: A-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF InVasion

WWF InVasion
July 22, 2001
Cleveland, OH

When Vince McMahon bought WCW it was obvious wrestling was going to change forever. Fans hoped that it would be in a good way. Afterall, the WWF had been doing amazing business for years behind Vince’s booking and the year 2000 alone received critical acclaim in the ring (compared to ’98 and ’99, where despite the great business there was some horrible wrestling out there).

Now it’s not Vince’s fault that he couldn’t get all of the big players in WCW. Because of the outlandish deals with Ted Turner, there was no Sting, no Goldberg, etc. The biggest names the WWF received were Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page. To be honest, with the WWF hype machine behind each of them both could have been major players and the disappointment of no top WCW guys could have been at least lessened. And while the WWF completely missed with Page with the whole stalker of Undertaker’s wife angle, the WWF actually did a really good job with Booker T for the most part. Booker came in at King of the Ring 2001, dropped Stone Cold on his head through a table (which probably was a big reason he didn’t get the super push, as he legitimately hurt Austin here) and actually looked like a big deal. He was clearly the wrestling leader of this pack. The only thing that went wrong really was that match against Buff Bagwell that was pretty awful. Why they couldn’t just put Booker against someone like Chris Jericho orKurt Angle early on is a mystery to me. We really needed to have “authentic” WCW guys? The failure of the Booker-Bagwell match changed the angle big time, but it should be pointed out that Booker T was the leader of this Alliance team heading into the PPV.

When ECW entered the picture, it seemed really cool for one night until we realized these were all WWF guys sans Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. For the record, as underrated as Rhyno was at the time, it should have come as no surprise that Rob Van Dam would be crazy over. RVD in the main could have helped. Nonetheless, when Stephanie McMahon was introduced as owner of ECW…well, it should have been obvious that this angle just wasn’t going to be what we were all hoping for.

Still, InVasion posted one of the biggest buyrates in WWF history, so despite the mess of booking, WWF vs. WCW and ECW was the main draw here. So let’s see how it goes.

The Card

Lance Storm and Mike Awesome vs. Edge and Christian

One of the issues with the InVasion: some guys turning when their role was working out so well. Not sure, it looked like an Edge face turn was in the works, but we loved Edge and Christian as a heel team.

Christian nearly kills himself early on by not getting enough height jumping over the top rope onto Storm and Awesome.

One reason J.R. is amazing on commentary: he sees the botch and after explaining how important InVasion is, explains that Edge and Christian have pre-match jitters. Just really smart.

If there was ever someone who had all the physical tools but who’s mic skills held him back, it was Mike Awesome. His frog splash was just incredible.

Christian really works as a face-in-peril.

Edge and Christian win when Edge pinned Awesome in 10:10. Awesome went for an Awesome Bomb on Edge, but Christian speared him and Edge landed on top for the win. Good opener for sure. During the match, Michael Cole and J.R. really put over this match as one of the most important ever due to it being the opener for the InVasion. The effort is great. Problem is, as we’ll see later, those words were very overblown and made Cole and J.R. look stupid.

Pretty funny promo with Vince and William Regal as Vince wants Regal to be like the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Not only is it funny on the surface because Regal is British, but it’s also funny because the idea that the WWF is the underdog here is ridiculous.

Nick Patrick vs. Earl Hebner
Mick Foley is the Special Guest Referee

Vince had access to so much talent now that we needed referees to wrestle. Great.

In all those wrestling magazines, how many “dream WWF vs. WCW card” articles had Patrick vs. Hebner on there?

We get an referee brawl on the outside! Foley throws the WCW referees out.

Earl Hebner pins Nick Patrick in 2:50. Patrick argues with Foley, allowing Hebner to tackle him for the three. This was awful but at least short. What was Vince thinking here?! 2-0 WWF. Foley blasts Patrick afterward and gets Mr. Socko on him.

Tough Enough commercial! Weird that the first one was 14 years ago.

Ugh, stalker DDP was so awful.

Sara (Taker’s wife) calls Taker Mark when talking to Debra. That was pretty unexpected.

The APA vs. Sean O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo

WWF vs. WCW Tag Champs here. I do like how the APA were like the midcard leaders on-screen. O’Haire and Palumbo were only the tag champs in WCW as WCW was finally trying to use their younger talent. They definitely had potential though.

Fun fact: Faarooq is a former WCW World Champion. I thought that could have been a fun little turn during the InVasion storyline.

The APA win when Bradshaw pins Chuck Palumbo in 7:17. Clothesline From Hell takes out Palumbo after Palumbo “hit” Faarooq with a superkick. This was okay I guess. I do think the wrong team won, but then again the WWF never went with Palumbo and O’Haire. 3-0 WWF, which seems ridiculous at this point.

Billy Kidman vs. X-Pac

Kidman was the WCW Cruiserweight Champion and X-Pac was the WWF Lightheavyweight Champion.

X-Pac is booed out of the building. And you know, that’s a good example of the WWF NOT changing someone’s alignment just because they’re team WWF. Not that they could at this point anyway.

It should be pointed out that it was a really good idea for the WWF to put the WCW Cruiserweight Title on Kidman. I considered Kidman to be in the top tier of WCW Cruiserweights, and in fact he was the last guy to get to that point in 1998.

Weird dynamic here as I think the fans want to cheer for Kidman…but can’t quite bring themselves to do it because he’s a WCW guy.

Another weird dynamic: X-Pac’s trying to wrestle a riskier, high flying style but can’t quite do it (he had stopped after his neck injury in the mid 90s). It really makes for a mess of a match unfortunately.

Billy Kidman pins X-Pac in 7:12. Kidman hits the Shooting Star Press and the fans pop. And rightfully so, that move is awesome. So much for not cheering Kidman. Give X-Pac credit too, he let Kidman kickout of an X-Factor and jobbed to Kidman’s best move. Still not a good match though.

3-1 WWF! The Alliance is on board!

DDP quote: “Debra is sweet but she’s no Sara.” Yeah, like we don’t know DDP is married to Kimberly. Come on now.

Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler feel disappointed for the fans that they’ll have to settle for seeing Trish and Lita in their panties. I mean, it’s win-win either way, but I do agree Torrie and Stacy are hotter.

William Regal vs. Raven

Before watching this I could predict that this would be a huge clash of styles.

And that’s exactly what we get. Face Regal wasn’t really working either.

The timing for everything is just off. A clothesline from Raven is timed incorrectly. A bulldog from Raven, same thing. It’s not actively bad, but it is noticeable. Crowd is completely quiet as well.

Raven pins Regal in 6:34. Tazz runs in and hits a T-Bone Suplex to Regal…and Raven hits a sloppy Evenflow DDT for the win. 3-2 WCW.

Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert vs. Sean Stasiak, Kanyon and Hugh Morrus

I know the WWF was quite low on Big Show at this point, but Show on the WCW team would have made a lot of sense and helped the star power issue.

Nice Meat chants for Stasiak.

Morrus, Stasiak and Kanyon win when Morrus pins Gunn in 4:23. Match can be described this way: WWF guys destroy WCW guys, WCW gets a cheap win. What a joke. Also, the Big Show destroys the WCW guys after the match too. Real waste of Kanyon here too. But we’re tied!

Oh, sorry, WCW/ECW is up 4-3 now. Apparently Chavo Guerrero Jr’s victory over Scotty 2 Hotty counts. Way to ignore than when the WWF was up 3-0.

Tazz vs. Tajiri

Tazz is ECW, Tajiri is WWF. Isn’t it crazy how just two years prior this was an ECW PPV World Title Match?

By the way, I would have put Tajiri in X-Pac’s spot here.

Tajiri pins Tazz in 5:44. Tajiri gets the Green Mist and kicks Tazz in the face for the win. Fun little match here where Tajiri took a lot of Tazz’s offense. Too bad it wasn’t longer. 4-4.

RVD takes Matt Hardy out with a chair right in Jeff Hardy’s face. Pretty awesome segment.

Hardcore Holly berates a WCW fan at WWF New York. Also a funny segment.

WWF Hardcore Championship
Jeff Hardy© vs. Rob Van Dam

Really…the first match on this card that really makes of sense. RVD vs. Jeff Hardy in a battle of the daredevils.

I wish after RVD just took Matt Hardy out that Jeff ran down to take out RVD.

HUGE RVD chants.

A really creative start, including Jeff legdropping RVD in a way where RVD ends up crunched like an accordion.

With all the hotdogging he’s doing, I can’t help but think RVD would have made for an awesome WWF heel. Of course, he’d be cheered, but who cares!

Seeing RVD in the WWF for the “first” time was crazy. All these crazy moves that worked in ECW…worked in the WWF too! For example…a moonsault off the barricade in the crowd. This was true for Tajiri as well, but it really got RVD over big time.

Spinning heel kick off the apron onto a hanging Jeff Hardy on the barricade. Years later people would complain it was the same old shit with RVD, but in 2001 on a global stage: holy shit.

Jeff Hardy with a sunset flip powerbomb from the ring onto the floor! RVD just gets slammed on the floor. Sick spot.

In one of my favorite spots ever, Jeff beats RVD down with a chair, leading RVD to beg from his knees for Jeff to stop. In a split second, RVD hops to his feet and hits the Van Daminator and sends off flying off the stage. Just wow.

RVD takes a DDT and a German Suplex and sells it the only way RVD can. Great stuff here.

RVD pins Jeff Hardy to win the title in 12:24. Jeff misses the Swanton…and RVD hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. A really fun spotfest that seemed revolutionary at the time. Great match. The first (and ultimately, only) match on this supercard that really felt it belonged.

5-4 WCW/ECW!

Bra and Panties Match
Trish Stratus and Lita vs. Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler

In the funniest moment of the entire event Mick Foley comes out to referee. That was pretty good.

There’s a pretty good story surrounding this: Torrie and Stacy tried to seduce the Hardyz.

Lita and Trish win in 5:03. There’s actually some decent fighting in this, although clearly that’s not the purpose. Fun of course. Oh and we’re tied!

The Inaugural Brawl
Team Alliance (Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rhyno and the Dudley Boyz) vs. Team WWF (Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho)

One of the big selling points of this match was that the old Stone Cold was coming to InVasion. After being a cowardly heel for four months, Austin’s return to being a bad ass was nothing short of amazing. Just listen to that crowd reaction on RAW. It’s crazy. Honestly, if you told me that really sold the show instead of the actual InVasion I actually might agree.

Obviously Austin’s pop is amazing, but Angle gets a big one too. One positive of the InVasion: Kurt Angle getting to that next level.

I can’t help but think that this InVasion could have worked with DDP as the top heel. He’s getting great reactions and he’s a huge name of course.

The match is about 20 minutes of back and forth and while it isn’t bad it is pretty boring overall. Crowd is really into it though.

The match takes a strange turn to get to the finish. Kurt Angle is your Team WWF member in peril, but oddly he’d never make the hot tag as Undertaker just runs in to attack Page. A huge ten man brawl breaks out from that.

Stone Cold hurt his knee! Oh no! Also, everyone else gets taken out somehow. Angle suddenly begins to kick serious ass and the crowd is electric for him.

Team Alliance wins when Booker T pinned Kurt Angle in 29:30. Angle has Booker T locked in the Ankle Lock and tapping, but Stone Cold comes in and hits Angle with a Stunner and turns on the WWF. Booker gets the pin, but it’s Austin who celebrates with Shane, Stephanie and Heyman. Man what a stupid decision that turned out to be for the storyline and Austin’s career (although it helped make Kurt Angle). Match was good I suppose, but it seemed a bit boring at times and the finish sucked.

The angle really could have worked if they went with Booker vs. Rock and Page vs. Austin, but Page apparently pissed too many people off, including Undertaker and it never worked out for him. Booker did go on to fight Rock but after getting beat twice he dropped to the midcard. As for Austin, this was his last chance to regain that babyface level only he and Hogan (and I guess Rock) ever reached, only it was thrown away with this re-turn. When Austin turns face again in December the crowd reaction for him isn’t the same as it once was.

As for this show, I feel like only one match really delivered and that was RVD vs. Jeff Hardy. Yes the opener was good and the Bra and Panties Match was fun, but everything else really left you disappointed. What a shame.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews ECW Heatwave ’98

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+