ECW ON TNN

Taped 12/17/99

MIKE AWESOME © vs. MASATO TANAKA (ECW World Heavyweight Title)

The fact that this happened in Nashville, rather than in Philly or Queens, shows that ECW did have some respect for the network. The match itself is the usual fun show from Tanaka and Awesome, although there’s nothing that hasn’t been seen from them before, aside from maybe the Tornado DDT though the table that sets up the finish. It’s odd to hear Joey and Joel say that Tanaka has the advantage because of his history of beating Awesome, when Awesome won the title by pinning Tanaka in September, and then turned back Tanaka in a singles match the month before. So, if anything, the perception should be that Awesome is the one who has Tanaka’s number.

There’s a nice story aspect to this with Mike getting preoccupied with getting the tables involved, and Tanaka using the time to recover. The first time comes when Mike sets up the table on the floor, Mike climbs on the apron and gets hit with a dropkick from Tanaka. A bit later, Mike sets up another table in the corner, but, because he’s had a minute to rest, Tanaka winds up reversing it, and giving Awesome a German into it. Tanaka injuring his arm, and limiting his ability to hit the Rolling Elbow would have made for a nice story to the match, had either of them done anything to try to further it. It supposedly happens when Tanaka takes the first table bump, but, Mike doesn’t do anything to work it over, and Tanaka doesn’t sell it until he does the Tornado DDT through the table, and they go to the finish right after that, with Tanaka blocking a boot and clocking Awesome with the elbow to get the pin and the title.

The booking allows for a nice ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ storyline with Awesome. He won the title by inserting himself into Tanaka’s title match with Taz, and creating an impromptu three-way match. He lost the title by getting over anxious and demanding to fight Tanaka right then, instead of waiting for their scheduled match. The faux respect shown by Awesome also could have been done without. Between their history and the circumstances that led to the match, it seems unlikely that anyone believed that Awesome had been humbled by the loss. It’d have been just as easy to have Awesome exit stage left and let Tanaka celebrate with the babyfaces.

SUPER CRAZY vs. IKUTO HIDAKA

Aside from Hidaka’s dive into the crowd, and, arguably the finish, this is proof that Toryumon didn’t have the market cornered on juniors matches that looked positively choreographed. The opening sequence looks like something right out of a lower card Toryumon match, and Crazy and Hidaka always seem to be exactly in the right place to allow their opponent to pull something off. Hidaka’s baseball slide conveniently sends Crazy over the guardrail to set up the dive. Limb work doesn’t seem to matter all that much, Crazy’s surfboard and Hidaka’s legbar don’t factor into the match to any great extent. Considering that Hidaka was representing BattlArts here, this is particularly big failing. In fact, the only thing that seems to matter is Hidaka’s missed senton, which Crazy capitalizes on in order to hit the powerbomb and get the pin. It makes sense for ECW to put these two together considering how well received the Crazy/Tajiri matches were, but, that feud worked because the matches (at least the ones I’m remembering) had a certain intensity to them, which was lacking here. Considering Hidaka was representing BattlArts, I wonder if Guido would have been a better opponent than Crazy.

There’s supposed to be a tag titles match, with Raven and Dreamer defending against Da Baldies, but, it’s just a backdrop to keep Dreamer occupied while the Impact Players beat up Raven.

Conclusion: Overall, it’s not a bad hour of TV. A couple of fun matches, a surprise title change, and a hot angle to close the show.