ECW on TNN, now known as ECW Wrestling is a television show by Extreme Championship Wrestling. While the company had Hardcore TV, a syndicated program, this was ECW’s big time shot on a national television channel. With the WWE Network adding the entire program’s history I thought it would be a great time to relive some of the episodes and very likely watching some of them for the very first time.
Joey Styles is once again on commentary by himself it seems. I know at some stage this changes, but I’m not exactly sure when he gets a partner, who I won’t mention. Either way, while Joey may be loved or hated depending on the individual, going alone certainly deserves credit. Now let’s get on with the show!
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Tajiri (with Steve Corino and Jack Victory) vs. Taz
So far in two episodes Taz has delivered big time in both. Taz was “the guy” of ECW at this point and while the matches may not be ultra competitive, they are so fun just for his offense and presence alone. Tajiri had a little offense and Steve Corino made sure he go his nose in Taz’s business, but ultimately this match focused on one thing: Taz being Taz.
And really, that is all you need here. Taz was a beast and his offense would be fun today. Even though I’m not crazy about the “only one man throws a Taz-plex” stuff, never have been, his suplexes are fun but more than that I just enjoy his brawling. Those crossfaces were vicious and looked great. Really fun short match that the ECW Champion would obviously win.
Winner: Taz
After a very brief celebration we had our intro video followed by Joey Styles in the ring introducing ECW on TNN with a red hot crowd in Queens. Then suddenly he was interrupted by Joel Gertner who revealed he’s the new color commentator of ECW on TNN! Wasn’t I just talking about this? Anyway, after a few comments from both guys Joey welcomes their guest: Jerry Lynn. I’ve discussed before that I’m not, nor have I ever been super high on Lynn.
Lynn did some typical boring trash talk towards WWF and WCW, which I know was ECW’s thing but I rarely ever liked it. Plus he wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire on the mic. Either way, he then challenged RVD for another match but Bill Alfonso comes out instead and trashes him. Lynn pushes Alfonso around and RVD makes the save. They brawl and they go to break. This was alright. I mentioned in the previous review that I don’t really enjoy the feud or either guy too much, so I can’t say this appealed to me much. It wasn’t bad at all, though.
ECW Tag Team Championship
The Dudleys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley, with Sign Guy) vs. Little Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney
This was pretty short but fun as well. This was definitely ECW as a casual fan would expect it to be. It had chaos, it had a table, it had tacks. This was everything people think of when they think ECW, whether that is fair or not.
Personally, I liked the story here a lot. The Dudleys are going to WWE and everybody knows it. They made their intentions clear: They want to take the ECW Tag Team Titles to the World Wrestling Federation. To do so, they have to beat Balls and their own little brother Spike. Basic story but a really fun one.
The action here was fun. Spike was the underdog who ultimately ate the loss thanks to a 3D. Balls Mahoney put tacks on a table only to eat them. They would lose the titles and now what? The Dudleys have the gold and they’re out of here. Is that it for the ECW Tag Team Titles? My only real criticism here is ECW had more of the weird production with cutting to highlights early on. Otherwise, this was a lot of fun.
Winners: The Dudleys
“If God was a heel, he’d be the Dudley Boys”. The Dudleys came back out and cut a great promo. They just said so many despicable things, even going as far as to say they taught an injured Beulah the real meaning of “double team” all to get Tommy Dreamer to fight them. They want to kill ECW once and for all, and this was just so excellent. How could you not hate these two?
ECW Tag Team Championship
Tommy Dreamer vs. The Dudleys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley with Sign Guy)
While I liked the story to the match, the actual match itself kind of got tiring for me. It was basically what we’ve been seeing but now with Dreamer. It was perfectly fine, but it wasn’t very exciting. Some decent hardcore action and a good story of Dreamer defending ECW, defending Beulah, and defending himself.
Of course, the big story here wasn’t the match. The action was simply a way to make Dreamer look more like an underdog when all of a sudden Raven returns! Tommy Dreamer’s arch rival shows up and drops the Buh Buh and pins him, allowing Tommy Dreamer to pick up the win. The referee then reveals that Raven is his “official partner” and as a result, Tommy Dreamer and Raven are the new ECW Tag Team Champions!
This was great. Everybody who followed ECW much at all knows of this moment and it really made the entire Dreamer and Raven feud feel complete. It was just such an excellent moment and having Raven back in ECW is huge, especially right as the Dudleys are on their way out. Okay match, excellent moment.
Winner: Tommy Dreamer
Raven leaves with one of the titles as the crowd goes crazy. This would wrap up the show, but what an ending!
Match List
ECW World Heavyweight Championship: Tajiri vs. Taz
ECW Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley with Sign Guy) vs. Little Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney
ECW Tag Team Championship: Tommy Dreamer vs. The Dudley Boys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley with Sign Guy)
Closing Thoughts
While I thought that most of the debut episode for ECW on TNN made sense and was smart to showcase what ECW is and was, I thought this episode was much more enjoyable from a fan standpoint. We had another fun Taz match. We had two title changes. And of course, we had the huge return of Raven.
ECW is delivering thus far on TNN. Looking ahead, we have more RVD and Jerry Lynn, which should appeal to most more than it will appeal to me. Beyond that, where does Raven and Dreamer go from here? What will ECW be like without the Dudleys? A lot of questions are in the air, but the crowd is excited to see where it all leads.
So what did you think of ECW Wrestling or ECW on TNN? Does it hold up almost two decades later? If you haven’t seen it, maybe you should give the show a shot! Be sure to leave your thoughts on the show down in the comments section. As always, stick to WWE Network News for the latest WWE Network news, rumors, reviews, and more!