Posted August 4, 201015 yr comment_5453900 Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten v. Danny Doring/Roadkill This was actually a really fundamentally sound tag match. Crowd was super into, chanting "fuck the Amish" at Roadkill, and generally being into Balls/Axl. Axl was a good FIP again here. I really liked how they led into the FIP segment with a really hot brawl on the floor. It only lasted a minute or so but it was a good tempo reset and seemed like a good bridge from the first part of the match to the second. Roadkill bumped well again here and his banter with the crowd was entertaining. The hot tag to Balls was well delivered though I thought the babyface comeback at the end came off a little weak. Still this was pretty good. Doug Furnas v. Ulf Herman The crowd didn't care about this, there was a badly blown spot down the stretch and the finish was out of blue and sucked, but I actually liked parts of this a lot. Good back and fourth match with two guys that were working heavy hitters gimmicks. If they had worked this as a three minute bomb throwing sprint it might have been EXTRA worthy. Spike Dudley/John Kronus v. FBI The opening exchange with Guido and Spike is really awesome and makes you wish they had a singles match together as it is the perfectly blend of comedy and mat wrestling leading to an entertaining highspot. Smothers is a guy that has a lot of good spots and can work his ass off but in ECW he's all schtick all the time, so when he starts off his segment with Kronus as a workate segment it is a unique departure of sorts. The match goes from there and I really liked it. In general one could quibble with parts of this - the execution isn't that great, Kronus as FIP seems illogical, an ECW tag ending when a ref refuses to count out the illegal man in the ring, et. But by and large if you don't derive some sort of enjoyment from this there is something wrong with you. It's a well laid out match, with some really good spots. Spike almost kills himself on a springboard plancha off of Kronus. Smothers bust his ass entering the ring twice for good pops. There are some good false finishes. It's a perfect length and the punch drunk selling of Smothers after stealing the pin with the Don's help is great. I admit that I spent most of the match wishing this was Mikey/Spike v. FBI, but this was still really good. Al Snow v. Bobby Duncam Jr. This is the first time Duncam has shown up on one of these and he's a guy I'm looking forward to seeing more of after this. I remember liking him more than most at the time, but I don't remember him being such an agile big man and versatile bumper. He bumps with flare and impact all throughout this and sells the bumps well to boot. Really loved his bump off the diving clothesline in particular. This was a pretty basic match with lots of "head" bullshit, but it was a good basic match. Justin Credible v. Mikey Whipwreck Justin's offensive run in this was pretty terrible and I didn't like the Jeff Jones fast count finish,but Mikey looked pretty great here. He sold his ass off for the shitty offense of Justin and I thought his offense was the perfect combination of underdog fire and reckless backyarder stuff that makes Mikey so great. Credible was a bump machine in this to his credit. Chris Candido/Lance Storm v. Chris Chetti/Jerry Lynn This was at the height of the Storm and Candido are tag champs who don't get along period. This was fucking terrible. TNA level spot running, few of which looked good. Chetti actually may have been the best guy in this. The Sandman v. D-Von Dudley Well this sucked. I swear Sandman is booked to fail sometimes. Too Cold Scorpio v. Rob Van Dam There previous match is probably the best match I've watched so far so I was amped for this and I wasn't disappointed. Scorp really brings out the best in RVD as the early mat exchange here was fluid, flashy and felt like a struggle which is something you never see out of RVD matwork. There was a lot of RVD stalling in this early but I enjoyed his playing to the camera and while it probably went on too long it made sense in the context of the match. I've always though Van Dam's best asset was his bumping and he is a bump machine in this. Scorp is the kind of guy that is going to crush you with his offense one way or the other but RVD just goes with it and the result is lots of spectacular well paced shit. Van Dam comeback is off of a really brutal top rope van daminatoresque move that is actually executed really well and sends Scorp flying to the floor. Of course there are lots of dolled up counters in this and the end is really your turn, my turn, but it comes across as two guys firing on all cylinders trying to wipe out the other and not like two Senate candidate vying for equal time on an NPR debate as is usually the case with segments like that. Finish with Sabu running in and murdering Scorp with an Arabian facebuster while Scorp has RVD rolled up post-450 will irritate some, but it was so well executed I hardly minded at all. This was pretty great. Tommy Dreamer v. Bam Bam Bigelow This wasn't bad. Another bullshit finish,but Bigelow beat the shit out of Tommy and Tommy is a guy that can take and sell a beating. Respectable showing.
