PHILADELPHIA — Lance Storm made an extreme impact by running in during the main event match at the Hardcore Homecoming November Reign show in Philadelphia’s ECW Arena on Saturday night.
Indeed, it was a full Impact Players reunion as Storm, along with Jason and Dawn Marie, helped PJ Polaco (formerly Justin Credible) defeat his long-time rival Jerry Lynn in their steel cage battle.
The match started off a bit tentatively, with some chain wrestling and some basic wear-down moves. Things heated up after ten minutes or so, and soon, both men were busted open, having had their heads smashed into the cage. After several attempts at finishing the match with their respective piledrivers, the two found themselves fighting on top of the cage. Lynn ended up hanging on the outside, and Polaco took advantage of his predicament. Smashing into the wall with full strength, he was able to knock Jerry off of the fence, and Lynn crashed hard through the ringside announce table on the outside. The ref tried to move the action back to the ring, but Polaco waffled him with the cage door, swinging it into the ref’s head with no mercy.
With the ref out, Jason hit the ring, but was promptly dispatched by a Lynn DDT. Lynn looked like he was going to come back and win it, when the lights turned off in the building. When they turned on again, Storm was front and centre. He superkicked Lynn out of nowhere, and then he and Credible hit Lynn with a spiked piledriver. Dawn and Jason got the ref awake and rolled him into the ring where he counted Lynn’s shoulders down for the three count.
After the match, Storm took the mic and thanked the fans for their support, and for coming out to November Reign. They celebrated and the show came to an end.
Other Results
A video package aired featuring clips from the last HH show to kick off the show. Yes, November Rain by Guns ‘n’ Roses was used in the video.
1) Danny Doring vs The Blue Meanie
Man, Philly crowds can come up with some funny chants. My favourites were “You’re a Jobber!” to Doring, and “F*** JBL!” in support of Meanie. Decent match with some usual comedy spots by Meanie. He wins with a Meaniesault.
A very pregnant Dawn Marie came out. She had no kind words for her former employers, but rather saved them all for the HH family. She will be acting as the key-bearer for tonight’s steel cage main event.
2) Kronus vs Balls Mahoney
The two big men brawled around the ring for much of the affair, using the steel ringside barrier and folding chairs to punish one another. Even a patented Balls chair shot couldn’t keep Kronus down. In the end, though, Balls was able to hit the Nutcracker Suite and get the pin.
3) CW Anderson vs Matt Hyson (formerly Spike Dudley)
Spike has a new look from his LSD character days. With his head shaved and his goatee, some fans were reminded of Gillberg. Though Spike feigned compassion for CW, who just recently had had some major health concerns, this was short-lived and soon the fight was on. Anderson hit a beautiful delayed superplex, but it was Hyson who ultimately got the pin, floating over a spinebuster attempt into a sunset flip pinning combo.
Tod Gordon inducted Terry Funk into the hardcore hall of fame. In typical fashion, Funk seemed almost grateful just to be there. He put over all the ECW roster and fans for making this evening come trie.
4) Tai Pei Deathmatch – Ian Rotten vs Axl Rotten
The match involved taping your fist with double-sided tape, and then dipping the fists into pieces of broken glass. This match took violence to new levels, as both were cut open within minutes. Ian clawed at Axl’s head with the razor. Axl got some revenge when he plunged a fork into Ian’s other arm when he could. It got even worse after they stapled dollar bills to each other – including one to Ian’s tongue – and slamming each other into a bed of thumbtacks. Axl ended the insanity when he powerbombed Ian through a row of chairs.
5) Dog Collar Match – Shane Douglas w/ Francine vs Pitbull Gary Wolfe
Another brawl here that spiled to the floor pretty quickly. Both men pounded the other with the chain, and whatever weaponry they could find. Wolfe manhandled Francine pretty roughly, even choking her with the chain. He reversed an attempt by Shane to send him through a table that was propped up in the corner. An overhead belly-to-belly suplex sent Shane there instead, and Wolfe covered him for the pin.
6) Team 3-D vs Terry Funk and Sabu w/ Bill Alfonso
Another extreme match that probably shortened the lives of all four men. This was complete carnage, and not a chair or table was safe. A funny moment when, after Sabu flew over the ropes to take out his opponents, Fonzie tried to convince Funk to do the same. Instead, Funk launched Fonzie over the ropes and onto Team 3-D. Then came a scary moment when Funk decided to try a big aerial move of his own – the moonsault from the ropes onto Team 3-D. He scaled the ropes, but simply fell backwards and dumped himself on them instead of catching air – luckily, they were there to keep him from missing anything!
The action was too much to get everything, but at different times, Funk breathed fire into Devon, chairs and tables were broken, and all four put on the crimson mask.
At one point, Tean 3-D were going to send Funk through a flaming table. Their ‘brother’, Matt Hyson tried to convince them to not do this to the legend… so instead, he was the one to get burned. Oh My God! Sabu missed an Air Sabu attempt on Devon, and the deadly boys used his consequent weakness to take over. They hit Sabu with the 3-D, and got the pin.
After the match, Ray cut a scathing promo against Vince McMahon, and a loving tribute to Terry Funk.
All in all, a great show. Any ECW fan should pick up the DVD when it’s eventually released. Arguably, this was an even better show than the last Hardcore Homecoming event, which took place in June.
RELATED LINKS
- June 11, 2005: Hardcore Homecoming a memorable night
“Bloodthirsty” Bob Kapur is the only guy on the SLAM! Wrestling staff who, on basically a spur of the moment, would take off from Toronto to Philly for a hardcore show. All praise “Bloodthirsty” Bob!