October 5, 2008
Matt Peddycord

ECW: When Worlds Collide
May 14, 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. Rockin’ Rebel (w/Jason)

Dreamer has yet to gain any real respect from the Philly fans, so this is before he gets willingly caned by Sandman to earn their respect. Rockin’ Rebel was an early ECW mid-card mainstay with a poor man’s Chris Jericho gimmick. He still wrestles in the northeast indies from what I understand. Dreamer controls to start with basic holds. He slips out of a slam and gets a nice rollup on Rebel for two. Jason hops up on the apron and gets chased around so that Rebel can surprise Dreamer with a clothesline. Back in, Rebel whips Dreamer hard into the corner for only one. Dreamer comes back and falls on top of Rebel off a slam for two. DREAMER DDT connects, but he misses a flying splash. Something happens to Rebel’s knee once he tries an inverted atomic drop (I think), and he ends up settling for a spinebuster. Slow cover gets two. For some reason, Jason gets back up on the apron to distract the ref during that pinfall attempt. Rebel whips Dreamer into the ropes and gets caught with a Thesz Press for 1-2-3. (6:21) Rebel teases a turn on Jason after the match, but Jason hands Rebel something from his pocket and everything is good between them. *½

ECW TV Champion Mikey Whipwreck vs. 911 (w/Paul E. Dangerously)

The cult favorite Mikey Whipwreck defeated the Pitbull the night before and now his first defense is against 6 foot eight 911. He comes out and delivers CHOKESLAMS to Whipwreck. When the ref pleads for 911 to just cover Mikey, he gets a CHOKESLAM too for the DQ. (1:50) Well, that’s 911 does. He chokeslams people for fun. Can’t call that a match, but the crowd was sure into the action.

Jimmy Snuka (w/Hunter Q. Robbins) vs. Kevin Sullivan (w/Woman)

They brawl to the floor where a skillet goes across Snuka’s head. Sullivan also beats Snuka down with a crutch around ringside. In the ring, Snuka headbutts Sullivan back, but runs into a boot. At this moment, Woman LEAVES and goes back to the dressing room. With Sullivan distracted as he comes off the ropes, Hunter Q. Robbins trips up Sullivan and holds his feet down as Snuka covers for the win. (4:29) Sullivan brings Hunter Q. Robbins back into the ring and beats him in the balls with his own walking cane. Sullivan even goes as far as to pants Robbins to continue the testicle smashing. Sullivan has some choice four letter words for the USA calling his style too hostile. DOUBLE STOMP to Robbins! Sullivan continues on his raid of insanity by throwing chairs at cameramen at ringside. Sullivan would return to Philly a week later as part of WCW to win the tag belts from the Nasties. *

The Sandman & Woman vs. Tommy Cairo & Peaches – Singapore Cane Match

With Sullivan leaving for WCW, Woman stays in ECW with the Sandman. Peaches is supposedly Sandman’s wife who he punched by accident during a match with “Ironman” Tommy Cairo, so now she’s trying to get revenge. This is the feud that made Sandman into the legend that he would become. Winner gets to dish out six lashes with the Singapore cane on their opponents after the match. Sandman tries to get his hands on the cane before the match. Cairo gives Sandman a pair of Belly-to-Belly Suplexes to start. They go to the floor where Cairo delivers a snap suplex. Back in, Sandman goes low to take over. He hits a flying elbow drop and a Piledriver. Cairo catches Sandman ducking low off a whip and delivers a powerslam for two. Cairo hits a DDT and covers, but Woman runs in to stop it. That brings Peaches over for a CATFIGHT! Sandman’s still unconscious. While Cairo restrains Woman, Peaches covers Sandman for the 1-2-3. (5:00) Peaches starts lashing Sandman with the cane until Woman runs over and throws salt in her face. Cairo wants to get his hands on Woman, but Sandman stops him with a low blow and starts caning Cairo. Oh, it’s a massacre, folks. Cairo happens to blade, by the way. **

The Pitbull (w/Jason) vs. The Tazmaniac

The same ref who was annihilated by 911 in the Mikey Whipwreck match is now being annihilated again. He was scheduled to ref this match, but no longer thanks to a pair of 911 chokeslams. Haha, John Fennigan replaces the poor guy. Anyways, the Tazmaniac cost the Pitbull the TV title the night before, so now it’s REVENGE TIME! Lots of brawling in and out of the crowd to start. They make it back in the ring where Pitbull delivers a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Pitbull works an extended chinlock. Taz finally gives Pitbull a back suplex to get out of that. Pitbull catches Taz up on the top turnbuckle with a jumping kick out to the floor. Back in, Pitbull delivers an arm wrench heel kick. Taz blocks a short-arm clothesline and hits a T-Bone Suplex. After an Overhead Belly-to-Belly Suplex from Taz, Jason gets up on the apron and takes a German suplex of sorts into the ring. While the ref is busy with Jason, Pitbull wraps his chain around his fist and clocks Taz for the 1-2-3. (8:48) They should have stuck to a brawl. Pitbull was way too reliant on that chinlock. Taz had some nice suplexes in this one though. **¼

The Public Enemy, Shane Douglas & Mr. Hughes vs. The Bruise Brothers & JT Smith – Handicap Elimination Match

With Ric Flair’s good friend Arn Anderson here tonight, Shane Douglas makes a challenge to Ric Flair. Road Warrior Hawk was supposed to be part of the Bruise Brothers/JT Smith team, but had to bow out because of a nagging knee injury. In case you’re unaware, the Bruise Brothers are the Harris twins. Big huge seven man brawl to start. Once that’s over, Ron Harris becomes face-in-peril and the heels work over his knee for what feels like forever. Solid leg work, but just boring. The crowd makes up for it by yelling obscenities at Shane Douglas. Don Harris nails Shane from the apron when he tries a running headscissors out of the corner to get himself a tag from his brother. He Big Boots Douglas and then throws him into his own corner for a tag to Johnny Grunge. JT Smith tags in and gets clipped from behind on his bad knee by Rocco Rock. We get more leg work until it breaks down into a brawl that goes deep into the crowd. I mean, we never see those guys again here. Everybody but the Public Enemy and JT Smith are counted out. Whoops. (18:53) Public Enemy continues to work on JT Smith’s bad knee. Smith manages to reverse Rocco Rock’s figure-four and surprises Rock while he’s doing the cabbage patch dance with a rollup for 1-2-3. (25:00) Heel miscommunication ensues between Public Enemy and JT Smith gets a quick rollup on Grunge for the win. (25:52) Some decent legwork, but mostly dull and long with a totally cliché ending. **½

Terry Funk & Arn Anderson vs. Sabu & Bobby Eaton (w/Paul E. Dangerously)

Sabu and Bobby Eaton? What a deliciously evil tag team! Eaton is more of a controlled chaos type wrestler while Sabu is just completely uncontrollable. Not to mention that their personalities and everything about them are entirely different. Since Eaton and AA are both part of the WCW roster, they are what make this show a “When Worlds Collide”. The WCW world meets the ECW world. Get it? Got it. Good. Eaton’s wearing some funky pink and neon green tights, which reminds me of the Dynamic Dudes for some reason. Sabu and Funk start the match. After Funk takes a walk right at the bell, he comes back in and takes a running shoulderblock in the corner from Sabu. Eaton tags and punches Funk out to ringside. Anderson comes over and chases Eaton away with a chair. Back in, Sabu tosses Funk from inside the ring out through a table, which is actually our only table breaking activities of the night. Afterwards, Eaton jabs a chair in the side of Funk’s skull. Back in the ring, Air Sabu is delivered to Funk. As Anderson gets a tag, Eaton tags Sabu much to AA’s dismay. Funk regroups and pulls Eaton off the apron for some brawling, so Anderson dumps Sabu. Funk posts Eaton and goes after Sabu, allowing Anderson to apply a figure-four on Eaton inside the ring. Woo! Paul E breaks that up with some eye gouging, but Funk tilts a piece of wood of sorts on the bottom rope and puts Eaton through it with a PILEDRIVER. Anderson flips Sabu inside the ring and heads up top, but takes a dropkick down to the floor. Funk comes in and slams Sabu for a Moonsault, but there’s nobody home. Sabu connects with a nice Moonsault of his own for 1-2-NO! Funk hits a powerbomb (!) on Sabu for 1-2-NO! Reverse neckbreaker by Funk gets another nearfall. DDT by Funk! Instead of covering, he grabs Eaton and punches him off the apron. Funk then headbutts Sabu so hard, that he stumbles back through the ropes and down to the floor! Wow. Sabu follows him out with a Somersault Plancha into the guardrail. Since his partner Terry Funk is being double-teamed, Arn comes over for the save with chairshots. Back in the ring, Arn tags Funk. Sabu kicks at AA and slams him for a Moonsault, but doesn’t go for the cover. Eaton tags and hits the ALABAMA JAM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Funk pulls Eaton off AA as he’s wrapped up in the ring apron. Haha. With Eaton and Funk going outside to brawl, Sabu hits a slingshot senton inside the ring on Arn. Arabian Press to AA gets 1-2-NO! Anderson rolls out and sidesteps a double ax handle from Sabu, which lands him on the guardrail. Back in, AA hits a pair of DDTs! Meanwhile, Funk and Eaton are up in the Eagle’s Nest where apparently Joey Styles is at. Funk delivers a PILEDRIVER to Eaton onto a table I presume. Back in the ring, AA delivers the SPINEBUSTER! Yes. I love it. As Funk starts to make his way back to the ring, Public Enemy attacks Funk and beats on his knee with 2×4s! Arn makes the save with a steel chair and scares them away. Funk makes it back in the ring to Sabu, but Arn turns his back on PE and gets beaten down. Sabu applies a spinning toe hold to Funk, but that gets countered into a small package for two. Sabu now has a chair. AA escapes and grabs Sabu from behind. Funk grabs the chair and looks to hit Sabu, but Sabu ducks and AA gets whacked. While Sabu is in the SPINNING TOE HOLD, Sabu grabs the chair and beats Funk several times in the face with it to break loose. AA comes back in and takes the chair away from Sabu…and starts hitting Funk in the knee with the steel chair! SWERVE~! Horsemen Rule #1: You should never trust Arn Anderson. Sabu grabs a half crab and Funk ends up submitting. (19:36) I think Terry Funk sent Bobby Eaton all the way down to Florida at Universal Studios with that piledriver. He was never seen from again. This was just a fun, intriguing match with a dose of psychology mixed in that really meant something in the long run. Real solid main event. ***¾

After the match, we cut to the back to see Public Enemy counting their money they received from Paul E. Dangerously for taking out Terry Funk. Enjoy that while it lasts, boys. Dangerously cuts a great promo (to no one’s surprise) on Terry Funk and puts him over for being a lunatic 50 year old man that still wrestles. WHO IS THIS MAN?

Next time, Terry Funk says he’s bringing his brother with him. Somebody call my momma. That’s at Hostile City Showdown in June, but Matt does have that show? Pfft, no. What a loser I am.

Final Thoughts: This included two strong points that were important to 1994 ECW. You have the Sandman/Woman vs. Cairo/Peaches feud and then Terry Funk vs. Paul E. Dangerously. If you’re a Bobby Eaton mark like me and you enjoy ECW, the main event alone should be cool to watch. I’ll go with thumbs in the middle if you can get your hands on a copy. Pretty cool show, but not must-see TV.

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