The talk of the pro wrestling world is last night's ECW Heatwave PPV, which eminated from Los Angeles, California... Not just for the wrestling that occured last night, but because of what we didn't see during the Tommy Dreamer/Justin Credible main event, and the aftermath that followed. Welcome to TPWW.net and The People's News and Rumors for Monday, July 17, 2000.
I guess I'll quickly give a run down of the PPV, and even as an ECW die hard, I thought the show was good, but only decent in ECW Standards. The best match of the night was in my opinion was the Steve Corino/Jerry Lynn match, even with some awkward moments (Lynn smearing Corino's blood on his face, and writting DIE on his chest) was a solid contest, showing that Steve not only has potential on the mic, but also in the ring. While on the other hand, the worst match by far was the opening contest between Big Sal and Balls Mahoney which saw Sal sqaush the Hardcore Chair Swining Freak in minutes.
Mixed feelings on the Van Terminator, while it is an amazing move by an amazing athlete, something about it makes me crave for more, after seeing it, I was like "That's it?" But after review, it's quite spectacular, and Van Dam takes a lot risk with that spot, as if he lands short, the move is blown. I still perfer the 5 Star Frog Splash over the Van Terminator as it always gives Mr. PPV a clean finish, while with the Van Terminator, a chair will always be involved. Still, Rob's the most over guy in ECW, so he could pretty much do anything as his finish, and get a hell of a pop.
Both title matches came off missing something, as after Heatwave 2K, everything remained "Status Quo" so to speak, as the Sandman jobbed to Rhino for the second PPV in a row, and Justin Credible stole another victory over the Innovator of Violence, Tommy Dreamer. This really isn't a knock against Rhino or Justin, but for some reason or another, I'm not belieiving either as credible (No Pun intended) champions. Both if given time, and beating opponents other than usual suspects (Dreamer, Sandman, Lynn), they could have nice runs as Champions and monster heels. But I think it's almost about that time for Paul E to start the Van Dam World title push which seemed eminent before he was injured back in February.
Moving on to what seems to be the most controversial moment of the night came as XPW seemingly invaded ECW last night as several XPW workers including Supreme, Kristi Myst, Homeless Jimmy, Kris Kloss, Kid Kaos, and The Messiah were sitting in the front row of the event. The controversy occured during the main event bout between Dreamer and Credible right as the match was about to get under way... Apparently, XPW's Kristi Myst got into a confrontation with Francine which saw many in the ECW's locker room break kayfabe by running out to Francine's aid. Atlas Security than ran out and escorted the XPW crew out of the building but the controversy didn't end there...
A wild fight between ECW and XPW erupted outside of the arena which included the likes of New Jack, Mikey Whipwreck, Big Sal, Roadkill among others while XPW had several wrestlers and workers with ECW reportedly coming out on top.
If you're thinking this is a work like ECW's Invansion of the World Wrestling Federation back in 1997, you're compeltely wrong. ECW worked with the WWF at a time when the WWF was getting dominated by WCW in the ratings war in hopes to add some extra viewers. The ECW invansion angle was also a way to get ECW some added viewers as ECW was about ready to debut their first Pay Per View, Barely Legal in '97 which was headlined by Taz/Sabu and Terry Funk defeating Raven for the ECW title. While last night, XPW didn't work with ECW, it was just an extension of the bitter rivalry between the two promotions which dates back a couple months ago... XPW purchased their front row seats in order to get the California based promotion some publicity.
XPW issused a press release explaining the whole situation from their point of view... You can read it by clicking HERE. It's definitely worth a look, as this situation is definitely one of the weirdest things on PPV in a long long time.
TPWW's own Derek Sabato has a nice article explaining the ECW/XPW rivalry from the problem over the word, Xtreme to several former ECW workers wrestling at one time or another in XPW (Shane Douglas, Chris Candido, Sabu)... To read it click HERE.
We also have live notes from Heatwave 2000, which also details the whole XPW/ECW situation from the perspecitve of a fan in attendance... Huge Thanks to Victor C for sending in the report.
Jordan Redmond is back with another one of his famous Report Cards. Jordan takes a look at Heatwave with his own unique style in something no ECW or wrestling fan should miss out on.
Changing gears for a moment, just a quick reminder that WCW Nitro will not air tonight due to TNT's Original Mini Series, Nuremberg. Have no fear WCW fans, as Nitro will air tomorrow live at 8 PM eastern. WCW has a great oppurtunity to step up to the plate with this Tuesday Nitro as they are going unopposed. Will they hit a home run or strike out? We'll find out tomorrow night.
As many of you know, there will be a US Title Tournament tomorrow night on Nitro with Lance Storm vs. Buff Bagwell, Shane Douglas vs. Billy Kidman, Mike Awesome vs. Positively Kanyon, and Vampiro vs. Great Muta. Aside from Muta, this tournament can be won by almost any one, as I can see almost every wrestler with the US title. It's a tough call on who's going to take the strap, so I'm gonna have to go with either Mike Awesome or The Franchise, Shane Douglas.
With that tournament, and hopefully some great booking, WCW could put on a hell of a show on Tuesday. Let's just hope that the word gets out, and WCW draws a nice little rating, in hopes that the own sided ratings war between the WWF and WCW starts to get back on track with WCW showing some signs of life.
Couple of WWF notes for today...
First off, Commisioner Mick Foley makes his return to television tonight after his highly publicized tour of South East Asia. WWF TV seemed to lack something last week, and it was definitely Foley, as he is and always will be one of the most entertaining characters on WWF Television.
Tonight, the WWF puts on the final touches on Fully Loaded, and from what we saw last week, I'm assuming that we'll be seeing the faces (Rocky, Jericho, and Undertaker) get the upper hand on the heels (Chris Benoit, Triple H, and Kurt Angle). With Foley back, it's pretty obvious that The Crippler, The Game, and the Olympic King are going to have a long night.
If anyone is attending Raw tonight at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, or Smackdown tomorrow night at the Nassau Collisuem in Long Island, feel free to send in results whether it be dark matches, Jakked results, and what happened after Raw went off the air, or Heat and Smackdown tapings. We would really appreciate it.
That does it for today... A lot of news out there today, so feel free to check our Newsboard through out the day for late breaking news. Enjoy Raw tonight and Nitro tomorrow, so until next time, Ciao...
Big Ry
BIGRY214@aol.com