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Living Dangerously boosts ECW

John Powell

 

I swear, you could give ECW owner Paul Heyman and his booking staff a volunteer fire department, a group of drunken sailors found staggering around the harbour, an abandoned parking lot behind a downtown construction site, a rusty ring and they would somehow turn it all into a phenomenal wrestling extravaganza. It’s that kind of creativity that inspires loyalty and dedication in the ECW locker room.

It is no fluke that ECW has been able to stay afloat all these years. They are the hardest working wrestling promotion in North America. At the risk of generating heat from fans and other wrestling journalists, I will go on record as saying that at the present time ECW has chokeslammed WCW out of its Big Two categorization. Based on viewer interest and pay-per-view buy rates alone, the WWF and ECW are the leading promotions in the business today. ECW has successfully forged ahead in spite of untimely injuries to its top stars whereas WCW can’t seem to bounce back from a similar set of circumstances. Drafting the final Living Dangerously card only a few days before the actual date, ECW still delivered a thrilling and intriguing broadcast.

The unofficial double main event saw two ECW titles change hands. In the finals of a tournament to crown a new ECW Television Champion, Super Crazy scuttled the “Network’s” plans to award the strap to their hand-picked successor, Rhino. Former champ Rob Van Dam, The Sandman and Scotty Riggs gave Super Crazy the support he needed to win his first ever championship in ECW. To get to the finals, Super Crazy beat Little Guido in an incredible bout while Rhino won by forfeit over The Sandman when he gored The Sandman’s wife through a table at the top of the show. Attending to his injured wife, The Sandman was taken out of the tournament by “Network” lackey, Cyrus.

Halfway through the final match, Tajiri interfered on behalf of Rhino blowing that green mist into Super Crazy’s eyes. Tajiri hung Crazy upside down in the turnbuckle. He did a running baseball slide on Crazy kicking him in the face. Rhino followed goring the prone Crazy. Rob Van Dam, who had his almost two-year reign as Television Champion cut short by a broken leg and the “political maneuverings” of Cyrus, arrived in the ring with Scotty Riggs. Riggs got rid of Tajiri. Rob Van Dam, sporting a cast on his still healing broken leg, took on Rhino. Manager Bill Alphonso distracted Rhino long enough for Van Dam to break a crutch over Rhino’s back. Rhino no-sold the blow.

Rhino charged at Van Dam. Van Dam backdropped Rhino face-first into a table set-up in the corner. Super Crazy nailed a body splash to win the match and the title. Rhino, Jack Victory, Steve Corino and Tajiri swarmed Riggs, RVD and Crazy. Rhino Gored RVD, Riggs and Crazy. Tajiri went to work on RVD’s broken leg stomping on it.

Enter Sandman blasted over the arena’s sound system announcing his return. The Sandman beat Rhino with his Singapore cane. The baddies were cleared from the ring and the faces shared in some brews courtesy of The Sandman.

In the second main event match, The Impact Players survived a chaotic three-way elimination battle for the ECW World Tag Team Titles to become as Johnny Diamond would say…two-time, two-time, two-time, champs. Mike Awesome and Raven, the belt-holders coming into the event, were the first to be sent packing when Tanaka pinned Raven with the Roaring Elbow Smash. A bleeding Tommy Dreamer taunted Storm and Credible to take their best shots. They were happy to oblige pounding on The Innovator Of Violence. Tanaka was hot-tagged in though eventually it was The Impact Players spike piledriving Dreamer to regain the straps. Cyrus heaped praised upon The Players inside the ring saying that the “Network” approved of their victory.

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