History of ECW 4/28/1998

Taped from Philadelphia, PA

Airdate: April 28, 1998

Hosted by Joey Styles

 

Joey welcomes us to another installment of the History of ECW. Highlights of Shane Douglas’ winning the NWA title back in ’94 will be shown. Also the saga between RVD and Sabu continues heading towards the PPV.

We get the opener plus a promo for Wrestlepalooza on “enemy turf.”

Joey welcomes us to the show asking the question: Which corner will Fonzie be in during the RVD versus Sabu match at Wrestlepalooza? As he promotes the matches for the PPV he states that Douglas’ match will be “his last title defense for a while if not ever.”

Highlights of the match between Shane Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpio from August 1994 are shown. Basically Douglas took advantage of a mistake by Scorpio (missed moonsault) by giving him a belly-to-belly suplex and then pinning him. After the match Douglas cuts an historic promo. “In the tradition of Lou Thesz…Jack Brisco…Dory Funk, Jr…Terry Funk, the man who will never die…the real Nature Boy Buddy Rogers…from the Harley Races to the Barry Windhams..to the (pause) Ric Flairs…I accept this heavyweight title…Wait a second…Kerry Von Erich…the fat man himself Dusty Rhodes…this is it tonight, Dad. God, (the belt)’s beautiful. And Rick Steamboat…and they can all kiss my ass!” He throws down the belt. “Because I am not the man who accepts a torch to be handed down to me from an organization that died (RIP) 7 years ago. ‘The Franchise’ Shane Douglas is a man who ignites the sport of professional wrestling.” He grabs the ECW heavyweight belt. “Tonight before God and my father as witness I declare myself…as the NEW ECW heavyweight champion of the world! When you set out to change the face of professional wrestling, so tonight the new era begins…the era of the sport of professional wrestling…the era of ‘the Franchise’…the era of the ECW.” Crowd chants “ECW!”

A long list of past highlights of Shane Douglas is shown. Perhaps this was Paul Heyman’s way of tipping his hat to Shane Douglas because he wasn’t sure if recovery from his elbow surgery (among other physical issues) would enable him to re-enter the squared circle.

Heyman gives a voice-over for a video package of “Scott Charles ‘Bam Bam’ Bigelow” then New Jack. Yes, Paul actually said Bigelow’s full name in case no one already knew it.

Highlights of a victory for the tag champs over Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney are shown including a double superplex to seal the deal.

Back on January 31 the Triple Threat came to fruition when BBB nailed Taz with the TV title belt. After Taz was demolished Candido hammered Storm with the tag title belt. Heyman’s excerpt regarding the mandate for the tag champs is then shown in full.

The introduction of a match between the tag champs versus Chris Chetti and Jerry Lynn is shown. As you would expect Candido asks for his own entrance music and bitches out the ring announcer for not naming him first. We cut to where Axl trashes Candido using Sunny as his pawn then gives him a chair shot to the head. After Lance attacks both Rotten and Mahoney he gets crowned with a chair shot as well!

Next we get highlights of the match between the tag champs versus Rotten and Mahoney from Fort Lauderdale. Storm gives both Mahoney and Rotten chair shots. After Candido re-enters the ring and gives more chair shots to Mahoney Storm wallops Candido with a chair shot to the head! Ultimately Storm hits a springboard back elbow and Candido steals the pin. When Storm confronts him about it he receives a belt shot to the head.

Our next recap is Justin Credible and his feud with Mikey Whipwreck. Highlights of previous matches are shown including Credible’s decimation of Mikey’s knee in Buffalo. Also Mikey gives the Whippersnapper to Nicole Bass. We return to Queens where Credible grabs Beulah by the hair. Upon trying to give her That’s Incredible she escapes and low blows him. Chastity and Beulah get into a quick CATFIGHT before Jason breaks it up and clotheslines her. Mikey hits the ring and gives the Whippersnapper to Jason, Chastity, and then Justin. Dreamer follows with a DDT on Credible and gets the pin. Following that we get Justin’s “4 Life” promo from last week then Mikey’s Super-Whippersnapper. Jason pulls out the referee and the heels trio gets the best of Mikey finishing with That’s Incredible.

Joey mocks DX’s invasion of WCW with ECW’s invasion of Marietta, GA for their PPV.

Our next recap begins with Joel Gertner’s disgusting promo about Dreamer, Sandman, and Lori Fullington. After that we get the clip of the Dudley Boyz’ stalking Beulah before Sandman, looking like he just fell off the EMT gurney, scares the bejeezus out of all of the Dudleys and informs them of their impending receipt at the PPV. Joey mentions Sandman and Dreamer’s invasion of the WWF at Mind Games in September 1996.

Our next recap (smell a theme here?) begins with the match between BBB and RVD. The Van Daminator gives RVD the victory and the TV title. Then highlight of RVD’s match with Al Snow where Sabu costs him the victory is shown. Next Heyman informs Fonzie that Sabu gets his title shot at the PPV…against RVD! After that we get the ECW Fan Cam footage of Sabu versus Fatu. Winner gets to keep his four letter name. RVD masquerades as Sabu and takes his place in the match. RVD steals the glory and the pin. Our next highlight features Snow versus Sabu. Snow tries the Super Snow Plow, but Fonzie breaks it up. Snow and Sabu fall through the table. Before Sabu can easily pin Snow RVD throws in the towel costing Sabu the match.

Joey promotes the matches at the PPV.

Our next recap (sick of this yet?) features the highlights of Shane Douglas. Not only does Joey mention Douglas’ psychological handicap but also his physical handicap in his match against Al Snow. The promo war between Douglas and Taz is shown. Shortly after his match against Al Snow at the PPV Douglas will have bone spurs removed from his elbow. Also he has a cracked bone in his upper palette. On top of that he boarded a plane against doctor’s orders, and his sinuses “exploded” according to Joey. “This is the last stand of a great champion” bemoans Joey. I heave my dinner. Joey basically counts Douglas’ chances of retaining the gold at the PPV as slim and none.

Styles closes out the show with an interesting fact: “Snow gave us all…HEAD!” Somewhere Mick Foley is snickering.

On the one hand you have a HARD SELL for the PPV here. On the other hand you have a clip show of ALL the angles since Living Dangerously back in March. If you haven’t been paying attention to the show for the previous couple of months this show catches you up and makes you want to buy the PPV. However, if you have been watching all along this show is a mere refresher and a chore to recap again. Nonetheless I did enjoy seeing Douglas’ speech from 1994. Next week’s edition will be the actual Wrestlepalooza PPV itself. Stay tuned!

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