If you can put up with interference by Sabu and Fonzy at the very end this is a great match, maybe one of the ten best ECW matches I've ever seen. And it's a total Scorpio carry job. Right out of the gate this has a really awesome dynamic as you have the guy who sort of defined slick highspots and the ECW TV title v. the guy who fetishized slick highspots and elevated the tv title above the World title. It has a real clash of the titans feel to it and Scorp wrestles this almost like he believes the title still belongs to him and Van Dam has it on a loner basis. Early you get a bunch of cool shit like Scorpio going into a fighting stance leaning into RVD's kicks making them look like potential knockout blows before crumpling in the corner. Later when Scorp has Van Dam back pedaling with strikes, RVD goes for a standing jump kick and Scorp just sort of leans his head back before peppering him again. Scorp brings his A game and really unloads on Rob with his offense but the match never even enters spotfest territory because the pacing is so well and Scorp drops his staple "cocky guy hitting big moves and then not going for pinfall" gimmick which really helps the flow of this. I thought they structured this really well with even handed mat exchanges early, Van Dam winning the first battle, Scorp winning the second, a brief Van Dam comeback and then Scorp trying his damndest to win the match by any means necessary. Tables get turned for Van Dam off of Sabu interference, but Scorp makes another comeback only for Fonzy to intervene. Finish was pretty great as Scorp takes a jump kick/chairshot from Van Dam/Fonzy combo, RVD scrambles to the top and Scorp desperately tries to get to his feet before falling at the last second (with RVD in mid air) and getting hit with the five star for the finish. Easy nomination.

Oh fuck... Fonzie's whistle.

 

Anyway, great match with a crap finish. I really didn't need Sabu's interference as it took me out of the match. Plus, if he was going to interfere, it would have been smarter to pull Scorp off RVD after the chair leg drop. Anyway, Dylan hit the highlights and I agree it is a nomination but I liked the Jericho match better overall with its clean finish, cool matwork and big highspots. Solid nomination.

Jericho match didn't have the let down of Fonzy/Sabu shit, but I don't think it had anything as cool as Scorp's reactions to RVD's strikes or the actual finishing spot in this match which is probably the best looking five star frogsplash spot I've ever seen.

I thought the entire beginning matwork section was as cool as anything this match produced. Plus, after so many "Big" spots, it is a nice refresher to see guys twist each other up on the mat.

ECW World TV Title: Rob Van Dam © vs. 2 Cold Scorpio (4/3/99)

 

This is one of my favorite matchups in ECW history and this is one of their best matches which is a testament to Scorp who could walk into ECW every year and still put on one of the best matches in the promotion for that year. This had great action with Scorp looking pretty great and RVD being good RVD here not bad RVD plus a damn fun stretch run and this is a definite nomination. One minor thing though is that the crowd was too dead for my liking early on which surprised me a little.