IMO, this was ECW's best PPV since Heat Wave '98!
This was a definite candidate for Match of the Year. There were so many high spots in this one that I don't think I can tell you about all of them. Some examples were Van Dam doing the split-legged drop-down and Lynn legdropping him, Van Dam applied the inverted surfboard while laying on a chair then tossed Lynn into the air so that he landed on it. One of the best was when Lynn executed a swinging DDT on Van Dam outside the ring. They hit a table on the way down, which didn't break, and RVD took a nasty spill. Eventually, the time limit expired. Referee John Finnegan was going to award the match and the title to Lynn (WTF????), but Jerry asked for five more minutes. He received them, and Van Dam applied the Vandaminator and a sideways Five-Star Frog Splash for the pin.
Rating: ****
These two had an excellent match. Taz challenged Sabu to make it a falls count anywhere match, and Sabu accepted. Taz executed a number of suplexes, including a belly-to-belly on Sabu who went over the top rope and through a table! Sabu got a little revenge as he set Taz up on a table propped up on the corner of the guardrail and splashed him through it. Even the Triple Jump Moonsault couldn't put Taz away. He came back with the Tazmission, but Sabu refused to quit. Eventually, he wore down enough that the ref did the hand-drop thing and Taz retained the title.
Rating: ***1/2
I'm just glad these two didn't wrestle the same exact match they've been wrestling for the past two months. We saw some new stuff in this one, as well as some old. The end came when Tajiri went for a hurracanrana into a pinning combination, but Crazy rolled through with a Sunset Flip and got the win.
Rating: ***1/4
This was different, because there weren't any weapons used till the very end. It was mostly a clean match, with Dreamer & Douglas taking the early lead and then Credible and Storm working over Tommy and then Douglas. Toward the end, "Beulah" got involved which brought in Francine, and we had a cat-fight! After the two were separated the four men brawled for a few minutes until Douglas raised the three fingers and motioned for Storm and Credible to do the same, and he shoved Dreamer aside. When they all had their fingers raised, The Franchise double clotheslined both Storm and Credible. Francine brought in a ladder, which was used in a teeter-totter manner, knocking both Lance Storm and Justin Credible off their feet. They brought in the cane, but when Justin tried to hit Shane, Francine took it away and landed a roundhouse kick in the side of Justin's head. That allowed Douglas to give him the Pittsburgh Plunge into a small package for the victory. However, The Jackyl (or Cyrus) appeared at ringside and helped Storm and Credible work over the winners. He then headbutted Francine in the groin before leaving.
Rating: ***
This was an ordinary New Jack match with the trash can full of toys, including crutches, two keyboards, a plastic bubble mower, cookie sheets, and of course, a guitar. The guitar however, broke at the handle before it hit Mustafa, and Jack had to retrieve the rest of it to smash it into Mustafa's head. They brawled to the bottom of the balcony, where Jack used Duct Tape to tape Mustafa to a table. He then ascended the balcony some 20+ feet in the air, and dove off of it, just barely catching Mustafa and putting him through the table. (The replay showed it from a different angle where we saw New Jack take the floor with his knee.) Referees helped both men back to the ring, where New Jack covered Mustafa for the win. Afterward, the Dudley Boyz beat down New Jack, and Gertner gave us an abbreviated version of his usual speech. Which led us to the Dudleys making an open challenge...
Rating: **3/4
This was a slaughter, with Buh-Buh Ray press-slamming Spike into the crowd early in the match. Nova endured a Buh-Buh Bomb and the Dudley Death Drop before being carried away by officials. Buh-Buh Ray got back on the mic and told everyone that there was no one left. Down came Jeff Jones with Sid in tow. The Dudleys cussed him out and worked him over for a minute before Sid rebounded and caught them with a double chokeslam. He pushed D-von out on a stretcher and worked him over. Meanwhile, Spike Dudley had made his way back to the ring, and executed the Acid Drop on Buh-Buh Ray and got the win for his team. He then made a mistake by putting his arm around Sid and waving to the crowd. Sid powerbombed Spike and then took him out onto the ramp where he powerbombed him all the way to the floor through a table.
Rating: **1/2
Corrino started on how much Tajiri and Super Crazy sucked, how he didn't need steroids to look good, and how he didn't need to use chairs or weapons. He issued an open challenge (and apparently the Dudleys didn't learn their lesson from this), and Balls Mahoney came down. He and Axl double-teamed Corrino for a few minutes and then Balls worked alone. Corrino didn't use the chair except as a seat when he had a reverse chinlock on Balls. Balls eventually got the chair and cracked it over Corrino's head and got the pin.
Rating: **
This was a nothing match and pretty boring. Antifaz is a good wrestler but Guido is the wrong opponent for him. The crowd didn't even pop when he executed a spinning moonsault. He tried diving onto Sal E. Graziano, but he caught him and powerslammed him through a table. Back in the ring, Guido locked on the Sicilian Crab for the win. Then Tommy Rich and Tracey Smothers walked down and got in Guido's face. A fist fight erupted, and Joey Styles said we've seen the end of the FBI. All I can say is, THANK GOD!
Rating: *3/4
Overall Rating: ***3/4
A good, solid card, with Lynn vs. Van Dam being the match that got me into the PPV after having suffered through Balls vs. Corrino and Antifaz vs. Guido. Taz and Shane Douglas had good separate matches as well.