Chris Chetti/Spike Dudley v. Danny Doring/Mike Lozansky

 

This was a mess at times but at other times pretty good. Lozansky is really out of place in ECW but he looked fine here for the most part. I enjoyed Spike in this both offensively and as FIP. Liked the double plancha spot a lot. This was a decent opener despite being fairly sloppy in parts.

 

Bam Bam Bigelow v. Jerry Lynn

 

Bizarre as Bigelow comes out with a pretty nasty shiner and then easily crushes Lynn.

 

John Kronus v. Mike Awesome

 

I get the feeling this was supposed to be Awesome looking like a monster, but Kronus was so cooperative on the big spots that it came across as two guys running through there routine of stunts. Kronus doesn't really get anything in. Pretty blah.

 

Chris Candido v. Lance Storm

 

Boy Storm is terrible. His punches looked like utter dog shit here which I could forgive if he did anything else of note. He doesn't. All of his offense looks weak and he either oversells shit that barely connects (a weak enziguri for example - Storm always brought out the worst in Candido) or undersells shit that looked good. Finish is overbooked bullshit. This was a real disaster.

 

Tracy Smothers v. Masato Tanaka

 

This was really Tanaka v. The FBI. All the typical spots you've come to expect from them, all done pretty well. I liked Smothers running from the chairshot late and taking the plancha. This was not as good as Tracy v. Kanemura because Tanaka is less convincing during the heat segment. Just short of being nomination worthy but worth watching.

 

Mikey Whipwreck v. Sabu

 

I liked this a lot. This was sort of a throw back to the old Sabu v. Mikey matches in terms of style but with the story being Mikey escaping the wrath of Sabu every time. This was a really fast paced match, with several good dives and a crazy table bump from Sabu. Mikey was at his reckless best here, especially with his planchas. Finish with Van Dam hitting a Van Daminator behind the refs back leading to a Sabu moonsault was sort of flat but believable enough where it doesn't sink the match.

 

D-Von Dudley/Bubba Dudley v. Axl Rotten/Balls Mahoney

 

This was a lot better than I thought it would be. Axl is a shockingly good FIP in this and his team with Balls is one of the real "I can't believe these don't guys don't suck" finds of this project so far. Really enjoyed Axl's slugfest spots and Balls took a couple of huge bumps. Another good match albeit just short of nomination worthy.

 

Jack Victory/Ulf Herman/The Equalizer v. Tommy Dreamer/Blue Meanie/Super Nova

 

This was presented as a six-man tag, though it was basically worked as Dreamer v. Victory. It was actually a really spirited brawl. The show was outside and they brawled out onto a baseball diamond. The punches look really great in this. Dreamer always brings intensity to these. I liked some of the outside of the ring stuff more than normal here as well. Fun.

 

Justin Credible v. The Sandman

 

Another overbooked Credible match. Sandman looked good early but this ultimately went nowhere and fell flat on its face.

Tracy Smothers v. Masato Tanaka

I really loved this. The FBI stuff was on point. These guys stiffed each other and Smothers' southern shtick didn't seem out of place against Tanaka. In fact, I get joy out of seeing the Japanese guys get the better of the Southern boys pretending to be Italians. I am going to nominate it because I can't see putting some of the other nominated stuff on the set while leaving this one off.

 

Mikey Whipwreck v. Sabu

Well, you were right, it was reckless. I watched this match twice trying to see what you were seeing but I couldn't get into it. I thought it was going along fine until Sabu jumps into a table that clearly had no Mikey around... not even close. It was like torturing himself becasue that is what he is expected to do. Again, like the RVD match where Sabu interfered, I wasn't feeling the RVD interference. I tried to like it twice but I just didn't. No vote.