Man did the crowd shit on this. This one started with a handshake which is not a good way to win over an ECW crowd but I thought for a pretty colorless face v. face match that got less than ten minutes this was pretty good. Lots of roll ups and typical babyface spots before Spike targets O'Grady's arm. Spike did his diving arm hotshot and dropkick to the arm combo which I liked a lot in the Axl match and thought worked well here too. O'Grady ends up throwing Spike to the floor as an act of desperation and they sort of work a strange deal where the guy working a quasi-lerpochaun gimmick is the power act in a power v. speed match. O'Grady hits a big powerbomb at one point for a nearfall. The Acid Drop was done as a desperation nearfall. The finish was O'Grady missing a turnbuckle charge hurt arm first and getting rolled up. This was not the sharpest match, but there was really good psych, some nifty mat work and Spike doing a Fujiwara take down. For those reasons, and the novelty of seeing Spike v. Crash Holly in 97 ECW, I will pass this forward.

Erin O’Grady vs. Spike Dudley (11/15/97)

- Man, a young Crash Holly. I have never seen a non-Crash Crash match before. Bonus points for Spike working the arm and Erin selling it. After the Spike drop to the floor, it seems like they go right to the stretch run although Spike does go back to some arm work. This was fun and I am glad I saw it but the real question is do we need Crash Holly on the set. If so, this would be a good match to put on there. Still, the lack of build to the stretch run and the on-again, off-again arm stuff hurts it. Low level nomination.

Spike Dudley vs. Erin O'Grady (11/15/97)

 

Two of Roland Alexander's early prize students squaring off in ECW is fun especially seeing Erin in his original state. The crowd totally shits on this because it is a scientific match which the mutants surely didn't want to see. This felt like an opening match to me nothing special and doesn't warrant a nomination.