Posted July 30, 201015 yr comment_5453749 Nova/Kid Kash v. Danny Doring/Roadkill v. The Dupps For a match with a catfight spot, a Chris Chetti run-in, Danny Doring and Nova, this was pretty good. I really loved Kash in this as his big dive to the floor early looked awesome and his misdirecton tope later was a real markout spot. Roadkill going for his diving splash to the floor only to have everyone part like the red sea the minute he started to climb the ropes was a pretty great tease. Better than I expected. Super Crazy v. Ikuto Hidaka I remember loving this when it aired to the point where I kept my TNN aired version of this for years even after I'd gotten rid of a lot of other stuff from that era. This really is just a rapid fire sprint, but it's a really well done one with strong execution and some big spots. Hidaka's twisting moonsault into the crowd is really fucking great looking and Crazy seems to pair off better with Hidaka than he does with a lot of the other ECW regulars for whatever reason. This also benefits from having a strong decisive finish which was typical of Crazy matches. I'll move it on. Tracy Smothers v. Kentaro Kanemura I absolutely loved this. Both guys were spot on with Tracy working all the Southern tricks of the trade and Kanemura bringing the fat guy highspots and bumps. Really loved the wipeout spots in this as Kanemura nails Rich and Smothers with a dive early and later Smothers drills Kanemura with a baseball slide that sends him jaw first into the steel. Tracy gets a real control segment and openly fucks with the crowd when they chant "boring" during it. Enjoyed the spots with Kanemura working roll ups to get nearfalls during Smothers run and I enjoyed Tracy missing a top rope forearm smash, sidestepping a Kanemura dropkick and then hitting him with a falling forearm smash to the throat. Kanemura actually getting the win with his top rope senton after wiping out Rich was pretty great too. Tajiri v. Super Calo This might have gone five minutes but for the time given it was pretty spectacular. Tajiri fucking pelting Calo with a kick off of a teased handshake after the initial exchange was really awesome. He's not someone who gets a lot of credit for his facial expressions but he is absolutely tremendous in that regard - literally among the best I've ever seen. Every highspot in this was awesome, from Calo's wipe out flip senton, to Tajiri's bridge out of a sunset flip into a back kick, to Tajiri's punt of a diving Calo. The finishing brainbuster was also nasty, tight and appropriately to the point. One of the better matches of it's kind that I've seen. Jerry Lynn v. Little Guido Another good match. Lynn and Guido's early parity sections were really well done and when Sal E. crushes Lynn against the barricade it leads to a really well done and by ECW standards lengthy FIP run for Lynn with real hope and cutoff spots. Really love the spot with Guido hitting chops in the corner while the crowd woos and then pulling back and starting in with kicks to gain back their disapproval. Finish was a bit much with Crazy and Tajiri running in just to get to a relatively clean cradle piledriver finish, but this exceeded expectations. Mike Awesome v. Masato Tanaka Didn't watch this because it made the SC top 100 but it's worth noting that I think this is easily their best match and the set-up for the match really should be on the set as it really is great and adds to the match. Steve Corino v. Balls Mahoney Mahoney comes out having already bladed because of a backstage attack. Match is basically Corino working him over including a spot where he sets up two tables in the corner and teases putting Balls through them before hitting him with a russian legsweep and laughing. Rhino runs in when Balls gets the advantage, which leads to Sandman coming out, which leads to Sandman going through the tables in the corner and Balls stealing the fall after a typically brutal chairshot. Pretty decent segment, but nothing great as a match. Rob Van Dam v. Mikey Whipwreck Well this was strange. Match goes on forever. First part is Van Dam just killing Mikey with shit and Mikey taking it really great which is to be expected. Second part is Mikey trying to get in his shots and while a lot of it looks good, Van Dam appears to go out of his way to sand bag his offense multiple times. They don't really fuck up any spot, but Van Dam is constantly moving around forcing Mikey to redirect him and it's just odd. Then they do a bit where the whole locker room empties and Mikey gets tossed onto all of them which leads to Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich of all people beating down RVD which leads to Sabu running out and putting RVD through a table, which leads to Mikey coming back in and getting a nearfall before eventually losing after taking some more crazy shit. As a match this was actually pretty good, but Van Dam being a prick and the craziness of the finish put it below the cut off marker. Tommy Dreamer v. Lance Storm Tommy takes a really great bump into a wall during the crowd brawling but this is really flat after some of the other stuff that has been on the show. I'd hesitate to call it bad but it was a major come down. And fairly easily the "worst" match on a very good show.
