January 1, 2009
Matt Peddycord

ECW: Hostile City Showdown
June 24, 1994
Philadelphia, PA
ECW Arena

The current ECW Champs were as follows:
ECW Champion: Shane Douglas (3/26/1994)
ECW Tag Team Champions: The Public Enemy (3/6/1994)
ECW TV Champion: Mikey Whipwreck (5/13/1994)

Your host is Joey Styles.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Hack Meyers

Everybody boos the pretty boy in Philly and Dreamer is no exception. Dreamer stomps a NY Rangers jersey to earn one enthusiastic woo from the crowd. Tommy throws his ring jacket on Hack’s face and bulldogs him to start. Dreamer slams Meyers from the top rope and grabs a headlock. Dreamer misses an enziguri, but hits a reverse neckbreaker. The mistake comes when Dreamer ducks low off a whip and gets his head slammed on the mat. Meyers hits a big clothesline and legdrops Dreamer on the bottom rope. Dreamer fights out of a nerve hold and hits a crossbody for two. He escapes a chinlock when his trick knee acts up and goes right into Hack’s balls. DDT! Dreamer gets a rollup for another two count. Meyers whips Dreamer hard into the corner. Dreamer reverses a second corner whip for a chest-first bump to set up a Superfly Splash for Dreamer to pick up the win. (6:49) Pretty much your token ‘94 Tommy Dreamer match. *½

Chad Austin vs. Don E. Allen

No match. 911’s still pissed at being DQ’ed by the ref at last month’s big show and CHOKESLAMS everybody, including the ref and Commissioner Todd Gordon. Tommy Dreamer runs in to avenge Gordon and takes a CHOKESLAM as well. This Philly crowd couldn’t be much happier.

The Pitbull #1 (w/Jason) vs. The Tazmaniac – Dog Collar Match

Taz cost Pitbull the TV title to Mikey Whipwreck back in May and now they get a match. Pitbull and Jason clothesline Taz with the chain when he storms the ring. Pitbull chokes and punches Taz with the chain to start. He tosses Taz out over the top rope and then forgets he has to go WITH the chain. These two continue to brawl around ringside using the chain when they feel like it. Back inside, they take turns tapping the turnbuckles. Pitbull dishes out a belly to belly suplex and Taz delivers a T-Bone Suplex with both men getting nearfalls. Pitbull tries to KO Taz with a powerbomb and then wraps the chain around Taz’s throat and carries him on his back. With every turnbuckle Pitbull reaches, Taz touches them right behind him. Once he makes his way to the fourth corner, Taz delivers the Half Nelson Suplex for the 1-2-3. (7:37) Afterwards, Pitbull #2 joins his old partner and the double-team ensues. Taz ends up being hung by the dog collar over the top rope. INSANITY! The Pitbulls are BACK! *

The Bruise Brothers vs. Shane Douglas & Mr. Hughes

Big brawl to start, which shouldn’t surprise you. Once they come together for a tag match, one of the Harris twins gets stuck in the wrong side of town with Hughes in control. Even as ECW champ, Douglas gets beat down because he’s much smaller. Back to the floor for more brawling. Chairs get involved. Back in, one of the Harris twins gives Douglas a suplex and tags who Joey says is Ron Harris. Shane avoids a corner charge and hits the BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX. Hughes gets a tag and we’re back to brawling. Back in, Hughes grabs a chinlock and uses his suspenders for choking. Back to more brawling. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so BORING. Meanwhile, Hughes hits the ANGRY BLACKMAN SLAM on one of the twins. The ref is out with Shane and the other twin, so we don’t get a count. Now the twin is back in the ring, stomps Hughes, and puts his brother on top for 1-2-3. Huh? (8:40) What a weird finish. A stomp just completely KO’ed Hughes to lose the match? Hughes and Douglas complain about a crooked ref for some reason. Terrible stuff. ¾*

Tommy Cairo (w/Peaches) vs. The Sandman (w/Woman) – Singapore Cane on a Pole Match

We see just about every kind of cane match Heyman could possibly dream up during this feud. Anyways, all you have to do is grab the cane and you win. Sandman tries to sneak up the pole right at the start, but Cairo’s wise to it and drills Sandman with a release German Suplex. Cairo nails Sandman with a cannonball splash from the top and goes for the cover, but that doesn’t work in this match. Sandman grabs hold of Cairo as he makes his attempt at the pole. Cairo kicks him back and throws him to the floor through the timekeepers table for a legdrop off the apron. They do the same thing on the other side of the ring. Back in, Sandman goes low and hits a back elbow to set up a slingshot splash. Sandman drops a bunch of knees and climbs up the pole. Cairo comes over to meet him and punches the crap out of him only to have the cane fall off the pole to the floor. TNA! TNA! TNA! Cairo delivers a superplex while ref John Finnegan just puts the cane in the corner. Cairo hits a DDT and goes after the cane when Woman pulls another cane out from under the ring and slides it into Sandman. He starts beating Cairo with the other cane, so Finnegan calls for the bell. (5:01) After the match, Cairo and Peaches receive more lashings with the cane. WHEN WILL THIS VIOLENCE STOP? Another pretty lame match. *

Recap of the Funk/Paul E feud.

ECW Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. – Non-Title Match

Styles overhypes this match saying that this is the first time the Funk brothers have worked together in over a decade here in the states. Doesn’t Joey remember WrestleMania 2? Wow, Dory sticks out like a sore thumb. The crowd is all over PE early. As with a lot of ECW brawls, it’s a formula of one wrestling move, brawl on the outside, one wrestling move, brawl on the outside. Most of the entertainment here is from Dory giving the PE no respect. They toss PE into the crowd, and that leads to a chair duel. Grunge and Terry brawl out into the stands, and then they switch off with Grunge returning to the ring to fight Dory. The PE tries a DRIVE BY of sorts, but Rocco Rock wipes out Grunge. Back in, Dory applies the SPINNING TOEHOLD on Rocco, but Grunge breaks it up. Terry is stuck on the outside trying to recover from a beating. Now we have Paul E. Dangerously and 911 run down for moral support – in the form of a CHOKESLAM on the ref. (13:35) Terry makes the save and counts Dory’s pin. The brawl continues, and no one really cares about the result. Terry and Rocco brawl up to the Eagle’s Nest where Terry ties up Rocco and hangs him off the balcony. No real flow to the match, not a lot of wrestling, and not even a lot of contact made really. About average for an ECW match. This also serves for a problem with most ECW television – it looks like it would be better in person than it is watching it on TV. **

ECW Television Champion Mikey Whipwreck vs. Rockin’ Rebel (w/Jason)

Rebel rips Mikey’s shirt off and starts chopping the crap out of him. Rebel hits a bunch of power moves on Whipwreck, but refuses to cover him. Mikey finally ducks a clothesline, but gets tripped up by Jason. Mikey leapfrogs over Rebel and knocks Jason off the apron which Joey sells as Whipwreck’s first offensive move ever. They go to the floor where Rebel wears Mikey out with a chair. Back in, heel miscommunication ensues as Jason hits Rebel with a chair to call for the DQ. (3:24) After the match, Whipwreck starts abusing Jason until Rebel cracks a chair over the back of his head. Taz runs in and makes the save until the Pitbulls come down and the numbers game takes him out. ½*

Cactus Jack vs. Sabu (w/Paul E. Dangerously & 911)

Looked at by ECW fans as a dream match at the time because of both men and their extreme hardcore styles. This was part of the potential working agreement between WCW and ECW, as Foley was still a WCW employee at this point. Sabu lands a trio of enziguri kicks and a leg lariat to start. He follows up with a back suplex and kicks him out to the floor. Cactus avoids a dive by hiding in the crowd. Sabu follows him out and grabs a chair from the front row to beat him down. Once that proves effective, he sits Cactus down in the chair and climbs back into the ring to kill him dead with a suicide dive. Sabu brings the chair into the ring for Air Sabu. He tries another, but flies into an elbow. HERE COMES CACTUS! He takes Sabu to the floor with a Cactus Clothesline and beats him with the chair to set up an elbow off the apron. Cactus grabs a frying pan from a fan at ringside and hits Sabu with it and then beats himself in the face with it a whole bunch. Back in, Cactus misses a cannonball splash and receives a Springboard Legdrop for two. Sabu gets crotched on the top rope for a back superplex. Both men are down. Sabu gets up to his feet first and dropkicks Cactus back. Sabu flips out of a suplex into a waistlock only for both guys to dump each other out on the floor. On the outside, Sabu backdrops Cactus into the crowd so he can set up a table. He puts Cactus on the table and puts him through it with a legdrop off the guardrail! Back in the ring, Sabu covers for two. Back on the floor, Cactus catches Sabu for a stungun on the railing. Ouch? Once they’re to their feet, Cactus grabs a headlock only for Sabu to back suplex him on the concrete. Sabu sets a table up in the crowd and climbs to the apron as 911 puts Cactus on the table. Sabu proceeds to SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT Cactus through the table! It actually appears to hurt Sabu more than Cactus, as Sabu hits his face on the guardrail on the way down. That’s just terrible. Cactus throws the broken table pieces into the ring and covers Sabu for 1-2-NO! He jabs the table piece into Sabu and goes for a corner clothesline as Paul E hops up on the apron to bash Cactus in the back of the head with his phone. Sabu falls on top of Cactus for 1-2-3. (12:30) It doesn’t end there as Cactus Jack fights off a 911/Paul E attack. Mr. Hughes runs down to save 911 until Shane Douglas flags him off. The Bruise Brothers show up to brawl with Douglas and Hughes as Sabu delivers a Triple Jump Somersault to the whole crew. After that, Cactus brings Sabu over to put him a table at the concession stand. It’s still not over yet, as they head back to the ring where Sabu breaks a beer bottle over Jack’s head. 911 puts a table in the ring. Sabu shoves Cactus through the table and then MOONSAULTS him on the broken pieces. With Sabu writhing in pain, Cactus attempts to suplex the table on Sabu like he did at Spring Stampede 94, but it doesn’t work too good as the table is completely broken in half. Okay, that’s enough. This felt like a WCW brawl more than an ECW brawl, but that’s cool. It’s still a good match. ***¼

We see the post-match interview where Cactus Jack spits on his WCW tag belt. Although the title belt really did mean a lot to him, on this night he lost his pride and the ability to call himself the most suicidal, ugliest, and Jack Kevorkian’s favorite wrestler. Of course, it’s an awesome promo.

Paul E. Dangerously puts over Cactus Jack’s insanity for smiling after the punishment he received at the hands of Sabu. He knows Sabu won nothing because Cactus Jack is breathing, but next time will be the last time. Once again, a historical interview from Heyman.

Final Thoughts: Total one match show and oh boy did they set themselves up for a big time rematch. Can’t say I would recommend the entire show unless you’re an ECW completist. Besides, the Cactus/Sabu match is on the Foley Greatest Hits and Misses DVD. It’s worth seeing though. Thumbs down for Hostile City Showdown 1994.

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