June 17, 1995
ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Welcome to my ECW Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams review, documenting what was easily Extreme Championship Wrestling's worst show of 1995 up to that point.
The company certainly had a talented cast of characters on hand around this time but, tonight, they all played second-fiddle to evil referee, Bill Alfonso.
Fonzy had debuted a month earlier back at Enter The Sandman, threatening to close ECW down on behalf of the Philadelphia State Athletic Commission if the renegade wrestling promotion didn't clean up their act.
Tonight, he would be everywhere, and I mean EV-ER-Y-WHERE, much to the detriment of the show.
Still, it wasn't all bad.
We also had an ECW appearance from Gangrel, a solid main event (until Fonzy ruined it), and the debut of former Smoky Mountain Wrestling tag team champions.
Let's get to it, shall we?
The Broad Street Bully vs. The Jersey Devil
Tonight’s event cut right to the ring for an opening match between The Broad Street Bully and The Jersey Devil.
As the ring announcer began his introductions, commentator Joey Styles noted just how much the Devil (who was this ick) was hated here in Philly after New Jersey had recently knocked the Philadelphia Flyers out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
So you can imagine how delighted the fans were when Bully (wearing a Flyers Jersey) beat the ever-loving sh*t out of Devil and pinned him in about 15 seconds.
Your Winner: The Broad Street Bully
Afterward, The Jersey Devil retaliated by whacking Bully from behind with a hockey stick. Not about to let him get away with it, Paul E. Dangerously led 911 to ringside, where the latter destroyed Devil with a couple hundred t seriously massive chokeslams.
From there, Dangerously took the mic and riled up the crowd, but this footage is too poor for me to make out what he said.
All being said, this wasn’t much, but if you want to get your crowd worked up and ready for a show, playing up the local sports team is certainly a way to do it.
Mikey Whipreck vs. Big Val Puccio
As the crowd serenaded Val Puccio with a chant of “You Fat F**k!!" it looked as though the giant grappler would have an easy time disposing of Mikey Whipreck.
Indeed, in the early moments, he tossed his opponent around with ease until Whipreck, ever the valiant underdog, returned fire by repeatedly smacking Puccio in the goolies.
One DDT later and it was all over in just over three minutes.
Your Winner: Mikey Whipreck
Like the opener, this wasn’t much of a match at all, but the crowd loved Whipreck and it was good enough for them.
Hack Meyers vs. The Vampire Warrior
Here, we have an early appearance by the man who would later be better known as Gangrel, taking on ECW stalwart Hack Meyers in an impressive showing.
The Vampire Warrior took the fight right to Meyers, beating him around the ring and hurling him to the outside.
There, Warrior -who looked far lighter than he would during his WWF run- launched himself off the top rope onto his opponent and continued his assault.
Back in the ring, it wasn’t long before Warrior finished off his opponent with a DDT.
This wasn’t a great match by any stretch, but it sure was fun seeing the future Brood leader kicking ass with gusto.
Your Winner: The Vampire Warrior
Post-match, Steven Richards gloated about bringing Vampire Warrior to ECW as the duo confronted Tommy Dreamer.
Dreamer offered a handshake, but Warrior was mad that his estranged wife, Luna Vachon, had aligned herself with Tommy, and thus proceeded to attack him.
This all led to an impromptu match.
The Vampire Warrior vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/ Luna Vachon)
Well, I say 'match.'
This was mostly a wild and thoroughly entertaining brawl around the arena which eventually culminated back in the ring.
There, Dreamer charged out of the corner, springboarded off a chair, and planted Vampire with a flying DDT for the win.
For an impromptu contest, this was the most enjoyable thing on the show so far.
Your Winner: Tommy Dreamer
Up next, Todd Gordon continued his rivalry with referee Bill Alfonso.
Fonzy interrupted the ECW commissioner as he addressed the audience and began harping on about being the senior official. The two got into a shoving match which was eventually broken up by a gaggle of officials, Cactus Jack, and 2 Cold Scorpio.
I’m certain all this was leading somewhere, but, for now, it wasn’t very interesting.
What was interesting was this extract from the ECW Extreme Encyclopedia which tore into poor ‘Jungle’ Jim Steele for simply having the gall to exist.
Of course, this was simply a way to announce that the “former star of the Ted Turner-owned WCW organization” was about to be obliterated by 911.
‘Jungle’ Jim Steele vs. 911 (w/ Paul E Dangerously)
Sure enough, 911 destroyed his opponent in a bout Joey Styles mockingly referred to as a dream match of Steamboat vs. Flair proportions.
It wasn’t.
Steele flew at 911 in the corner, missed, and immediately ate a chokeslam.
After a brief moment in which 911 looked like a doofus as he tried to pin Steele while he lay on his front, the one-move wonder quickly figured things out, flipped his foe onto his back, and pinned him.
Your Winner: 911
Afterward, he obliged the rabid crowd by nailing Steele with more chokeslams, one of which the anti-WCW Paul E Dangerously dedicated to ‘The folks in the CNN tower,” another he dedicated to Ultimate Warrior knock-off, The Renegade.
The final chokeslam, Heyman dedicated to “Bill ‘Motherf**king’ Alfonso" before holding aloft a fan-made sign that read “Alfonso: Vince’s Boy.”
Beulah McGullicutty (w/ Raven & Stevie Richards) vs. Luna Vachon
Billed from ‘the pages of Penthouse magazine,’ Beulah McGullicutty beat Luna Vachon in about five seconds flat.
The second the bell rang, Stevie Richards walloped Luna from behind with a chair. Beulah made the cover, and that was that.
Your Winner: Beulah McGullicutty
Tommy Dreamer immediately ran down to help his fallen ally, but he too was promptly massacred by Raven and Richards.
Raven planted Dreamer with a DDT and set about methodically snapping his fingers before he and Richards handcuffed Luna to the ropes on the outside.
It was an engaging angle for sure, but as the 45-minute mark crept up, this fan was dying for an actual wrestling match.
Handicap Match
Raven & The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 & Pitbull #2)(w/ Stevie Richards & Beulah McGuillicutty) vs. 2 Cold Scorpio & Taz (w/ Paul E Dangerously)
Wouldn’t you know it, I got my wish.
Although tedious in parts, the efforts of Taz and Scorpio made this a largely enjoyable contest.
Scorpio in particular looked impressive here, repeatedly taking down both Pitbulls through a combination of technical and arial offense.
All the while, Raven remained on the outside. He let his henchmen do most of the dirty work before giving up altogether and heading backstage, dragging Beulah along by the hair.
Back in the ring, Taz took out one of the Pitbulls with a top rope belly-to-belly and got the three count.
Your Winners: 2 Cold Scorpio and Taz
Up next, this:
Extreme Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship
ECW World Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy (‘Flyboy’ Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) vs. Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten)
You may have just read that heading and thought “Hang on, I thought the Rotten brothers were feuding? Haven’t you spent the last several ECW reviews talking about how monumentally boring their series of violent matches against one another were?”
Well, yes I have, and yes they were.
Axl Rotten and his brother, Ian Rotten, had spent months beating each other up but apparently that no longer mattered.
Axl had been given a title shot against The Public Enemy and got to choose a mystery partner. So, of course, he chose Ian.
However, before the two could challenge for the belts, Bill Alfonso came out and forbade the match from taking place.
His reasoning?
The Bad Breed had previously lost a match in which the stipulation was that they would have to split up and never team together again.
Defeated by logic, Ian inexplicably turned on Ian again and the two went off fighting into the crowd, leaving Public Enemy as the winners.
That was dumb.
Your Winners via Forefeit and still ECW Tag Team Champions: The Public Enemy
Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock didn’t get long to celebrate as former Smoky Mountain tag team champions The Gangstas showed up, making their ECW debut by murdering Public Enemy.
Eventually, New Jack and Mustafa were arrested and that was that.
Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship No-Rope Barbed Wire Match
ECW World Heavyweight Championship The Sandman (w/ Woman) vs. Cactus Jack
Not to bang on about the Rotten Boys again, but this match reminded me why I hated their performances so much.
That might sound strange given that neither Axl nor Ian were anywhere near this one, but hear me out:
The main event of Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams saw Cactus Jack and The Sandman prove that you could use barbed wire and barbaric violence while still injecting plenty of drama and storytelling into a match.
The Rotten Boys never did that. Their matches were senseless shock fests in which the gratuitous violence came in such a constant flurry that it quickly lost its excitement.
Here, Jack and Sandman showed them how it was done, interspersing those bloody and gruesome spots with emotion, intensity, and drama.
Not at first, of course.
At first, the ECW Champion wanted nothing to do with this whole thing, at one point rolling to the outside for a beer and a smoke break.
With a little liquid courage inside him, Sandman finally got into the action and gave the best performance he was capable of.
Don’t get me wrong, this was far from my favorite type of match, but it showed that - when done right - this kind of extreme ‘death match’ style contest could be both effective and entertaining.
Both men made liberal use of the barbed wire, dropping each other face first (and, at one point, crotch first) onto the stuff and using it to mutilate one another.
However, there was enough going on between each big barbed wire spot that when they did occur, they mattered. They felt important, like a big deal, something shocking rather than just gratuitous violence for the sake of gratuitous violence.
Of course, it helped tremendously that both champ and challenger sold their hearts out, creating a compelling match that culminated with a Cactus Jack chair shot to Sandman’s noggin.
Both men went down.
The referee started a ten count.
One…
Two…
Three…
Cactus Jack and The Sandman lay motionless on the mat, the rabid crowd urging them to get up.
Four…
Five…
Six…
Woman paced frantically at ringside, desperately imploring her man to move.
Seven…
Eight…
The champion remained motionless.
His opponent began to stir.
Nine…
With a fraction of the time left, the challenger got to his feet.
Ten!
Cactus Jack was the new ECW champion!
Or was he?
Apparently not, because Bill Alfonso arrived on the scene and claimed that the rules stated the title couldn’t change hands in such a manner.
Original referee, Jim Molineaux was livid, ripping off his zebra uniform and challenging Fonzy to a fight.
As Cactus held Molyneux back, Sandman attacked his opponent from behind with the barbed wire.
The fans erupted with a loud chant of “BULLSH*T! BULLSH*T!” while Sandman choked his rival with the barbed wire and tossed him off the ring.
Alfonso then declared that Cactus Jack could no longer compete, and the swerve was complete.
Your Winner and Still ECW World Heavyweight Champion: The Sandman
Afterward, Todd Gordon came down to confront Alfonso, but the crooked official clotheslined him out of his boots.
That left Cactus Jack, blood-soaked and adorned in barbed wire, to savor the respect of the audience as the show came to an end.
There really wasn’t much to like about ECW Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams.
Personally, I enjoyed The Vampire Warrior vs. Hack Meyers match and the main event exceeded expectations, but otherwise, this was more miss than hit.
Ultimately, the focus here was on casting Bill Alfonso as Public Enemy Number One. It worked, but only at the cost of the in-ring stuff.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Other ECW Reviews:
- ECW Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular
- ECW Ultra Clash 1993
- NWA Blood Fest 1993
- ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed 1994
- ECW When World's Collide 1994
- ECW Hostile City Showdown 1994
- ECW Heatwave 1994
- ECW Hardcore Heaven 1994
- ECW November to Remember 1994
- ECW Double Tables 1995
- ECW Return of the Funker 1995
- ECW Three Way Dance 1995
- ECW Hostile City Showdown 1995
- ECW Enter The Sandman 1995
- ECW November to Remember 1999
- WWE - ECW One Night Stand 2005
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