ECW: Heatwave
July 15, 1995
Philadelphia, PA
ECW Arena

The current ECW Champs were as follows:
ECW World Champion: The Sandman (4/15/1995)
ECW World Tag Team Champions: Raven & Stevie Richards (6/30/1995)
ECW World TV Champion: Eddie Guerrero (4/8/1995)

Your host is Joey Styles.

To kick off the show, Bill Alfonso gets a ton of heat griping about something. Todd Gordon comes out and wants to fight Fonzie until a bunch of jobbers and mid-carders try to stop them. Fonzie gets in a good shot while Commissioner Gordon is being held back.

• Mikey Whipwreck vs. Mike Norman
  

Apparently, Mike Norman is a Desert Storm vet. This is 1995, so no one cares about army guys; especially the ECW crowd who chants terrible things at Stormin’ Norman throughout the whole match. Norman gets a bunch of heat on Whipwreck beating him up in and out of the ring, which is Mikey’s best role. He even hits a tope suicida at one point. Back inside the ring, Whipwreck punches him back and delivers the FRANKENMIKEY for the three-count. (6:43) Pretty standard Whipwreck stuff. ¾*

• ECW World Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards (w/Beulah) vs. Broad Street Bully & Don E. Allen
  

It looks like a squash to me, and it would have been had Stevie’s admirer (a.k.a. Francine) hadn’t invited him over for some making out. Being the cockblocker that she is, Beulah breaks it up and starts a catfight over the guardrail. Raven and Stevie are so distracted, that they get counted out. (2:10) Afterwards, Raven and Richards beat up Stetson and Allen, which brings out the Pitbulls. The Dudley family and Tommy Dreamer aren’t far behind to kickstart a 6-on-6 awesome brawl. Most notably, Big Dick Dudley no-sells Tommy Dreamer’s punch and knocks Dreamer right on his butt. Dreamer is amazing. Although I bet he’s very arrogant about not having an ego in the ring, which is interesting. Beulah and Francine end up having a catfight in the ring now where 1000 misogynistic deadbeats can enjoy the view. ½* for the match, but **½ for the wild brawl at the end.

• Hack Meyers vs. Val Puccio
  

This is the EXACT same match we saw at Hardcore Heaven. I’m not saying they worked the match the same way, I’m saying it’s the same match just copied over onto this tape and changed Big Malley’s name to Val Puccio. Meyers wins almost accidentally by avoiding an elbow drop and laying his arm on Big Val at 6:18. ¼*

• The Pitbulls & Tommy Dreamer (w/Luna Vachon) vs. Raven, Dudley Dudley, and Snot Dudley
  

It’s an impossible-to-follow brawl that goes all over ringside. Bill Alfonso comes out about mid-way through demanding order be restored. There is no such thing in ECW, bro. The Pitbulls reign supreme as they give Stevie Richards and Snot Dudley SUPERBOMBS. Pitbull #2 covers Snot for the win. (5:33) I do dig the Pitbulls, but there’s not much to their wrestling outside of that finish. *½

• Eddie Guerrero & Taz (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Dean Malenko & 2 Cold Scorpio
  

Since the ECW home video version cuts this down to about eight minutes, I’ll recap the full version from ECW Unreleased Vol. 1. LOTS of indiscernible trash talking between Paul E and Scorpio eats up some time. Scorpio and Taz start the match. Everything is going fine until Taz blasts Scorpio in the eye with an elbow and they tag out. We see some awesome Malenko-Guerrero feeling out stuff. Eddie is the first to strike with the Uranage and the Hilo. Malenko breaks up a chinlock with a back suplex. Tag to Taz, Malenko escapes a headlock and dropkicks the knee. Scorpio takes over and wrenches Taz’s knee real good. Taz makes it up to his feet and delivers a T-Bone Taz Plex. Tag to Malenko, he applies that awesome sleight of hand-style twisting knee bar. He switches gears to a Scorpion Deathlock, but Eddie earclaps him to break it up. HA! Over to the Scorpio corner, he and Malenko post the balls and knees of Taz. Nice powerbomb from Scorpio to Taz leads to a HUUUGE flying splash. He decides not to go for the pinfall and tags in Malenko for more knee work. Taz breaks free and tags Guerrero as he hits Malenko with a tilt-a-whirl sideslam for two. They fight over a suplex, but Guerrero wins that battle with the Brainbuster. FROG SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! Malenko refuses to take a superplex, so Eddie dropkicks him off the top rope instead. Back over to Scorpio, he and Guerrero trade powerbombs. Tag to Taz, he runs down Scorpio with a clothesline and hoists him up on his shoulders for Guerrero to catch Scorpio with a missile dropkick. Awesome. Not to be upstaged, Malenko and Scorpio deliver the ROCKER-PLEX for 1-2-NO! Guerrero surprises Malenko with a victory roll for two, but Scorpio makes the save. He catches Taz with a powerbomb and follows up with a Moonsault for another nearfall. The match breaks down as Malenko and Guerrero start flying. When Scorpio heads up top, Paul E bashes the phone over his head. Half Nelson Taz Plex on Scorpio gets the 1-2-3. (19:17) Hey wait a minute, here comes ref Bill Alfonso. He orders the match to continue due to Paul E’s interference, which leads to Taz taking a superkick from Scorpio and Guerrero receiving a Tiger Bomb from Malenko as Fonzie counts the double pinfall. (20:17) Crowd desperately calls for 9-1-1 to take care of Alfonso, but he apparently doesn’t hear them. Just a super fun balls to the wall contest from these four. ***¾

Afterwards, Paul E and Bill Alfonso trade verbal jabs. Again, the audio is too poor to make out anything. Suddenly, ECW videographer Rob Feinstein gets involved and throws a pretty decent punch at Paul E when he puts his hands on him. Fonzie helps Feinstein to trip up Paul E. 9-1-1 appears and instead of running for his life, Feinstein stands up to him and of course takes a CHOKESLAM as Fonzie barely makes it out of the ring in time to get away.

• ECW World Champion The Sandman (w/Woman) vs. Axl Rotten
  

Axl soon tires of being whacked with a kendo stick and goes to the back to bring out his barbed wire baseball bat. That certainly evens the score. Axl uses the bat to rip up Sandman’s shirt and whatnot. Sandman gets the bat away from Axl and wraps Axl in the barbed wire. They brawl in the front row for a bit as Sandman is in total control. Back inside, he delivers a Hilo to Axl who is still all wrapped up in barbed wire. Axl makes one final comeback and ties Sandman up in the corner with his shirt pulled over his head. Woman comes in and whacks Axl, but Axl gets the kendo stick away from her and hits Sandman a few times. Sandman fires back and breaks loose, hits a sloppy Flying Rocker Dropper, and stumbles onto Rotten for the win. (10:42) Well, it’s a step up from the Taipei death match anyways, but not much else. There’s no blood here either, so I would imagine the crowd is pretty bummed. ¾*

• Cage Match: Stevie Richards vs. Luna Vachon
  

Lots of Stevie face bashing into the cage to start. Stevie blades in the first 90 seconds. Bulldog and a swinging neckbreaker sets up a splash using the cage for two. Luna pulls STEVIE up off the mat. Stevie finally gets in some stuff like a powerbomb and hogties her in a hold. Now Vachon gets busted open. Luna comes back with a DDT, but Stevie hits her with another powerbomb. Richards tries the Snuka Splash off the top of the cage, but Luna brings her boot up to block. Luna splashes Stevie again and makes him give up to the testicular claw. (7:47) Yes, Stevie just sat there and let her crush his balls in her hands. He in no way tries to get her to stop. Weird. The six-on-six brawl starts over and spills inside the cage. Dreamer ensures that it’s just he and Raven at the end, which leads to Raven being handcuffed to the cage and walloped with a chairshot. This is what ECW fans nostalgically refer to as the “Chair Shot Heard ‘Round the World” as Tommy Dreamer finally gets a measure of revenge on his mortal enemy. Dreamer totally just got off, bro. Just an epic ECW moment here as Dreamer joins his fans to celebrate. The match was terrible though. ¾*

• Cage Match: Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas
  

Well duh, of course there are weapons inside the cage. Chairs, cookie sheets, screened windows, and skillets. Yep. All of these things are used ad nauseum. Near the end, Rocco Rock delivers a moonsault off the cage to put New Jack through a double stack of tables. That should be the end, but Mustafa sprays something in Grunge’s eyes and pins the blind man for the win. (14:28) Just a total mess. At least when it’s not a cage match, they can roam around the arena and beat each other up with weapons. Some cool, risky moments from Rocco Rock, but a pretty cheap finish. Guys in the white coats come out and stretcher out Rocco. *

Final Thoughts: Clearly the only match worth seeing is the Guerrero/Malenko tag match. If you dig the Dreamer/Raven stuff, the cage match is MUST-SEE VIEWING. The addition of the Pitbulls/Dudleys brawling is really fun too. Slight thumbs in the middle for Heat Wave 1995.

AND NOW FOR TWO VERY SPECIAL BONUS MATCHES:

• ECW World Television Champion Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko – (Tampa, FL 7/21/95)
  

From the Wrestling’s Highest Flyers DVD. Art Barr lives, ya’ll. That guy holding the sign in the front row looks like a Malenko. Styles says that if Malenko does not regain the TV title tonight, he will give up trying. Some excellent mat work to start. Any time the crowd even thinks about starting a “boring” chant, they get up and get going. Headlocks, headscissors, hammerlocks, test of strengths, and monkey flips. It’s all awesome, but doesn’t really transcribe well. Guerrero picks up the action with a Hilo for two. They pull back on each other’s arms, but Eddie escapes by catching Malenko with a back elbow in the corner. They trade lucha headscissors takedowns and then run the ropes, but Guerrero sends Malenko out to the floor with a big dropkick. Back in, Guerrero dropkicks the left knee and goes to town. Malenko fights back with a kitchen sink and then delivers an awesome gutbuster off the shoulders on the RIGHT knee. Guerrero comes out of an abdominal stretch and gives Malenko a pumphandle backbreaker for two. Eddie then applies a NASTY Gory Special. Malenko escapes into a sunset flip, but Eddie maintains control with a powerslam and delivers the FROG SPLASH for 1-2-NO! Malenko avoids a corner charge and hits a flying body press for two. Guerrero blocks a suplex and delivers one of his own. Malenko stops another Frog Splash, but Guerrero hits him with a sunset flip powerbomb for another nearfall. Crazy Awesome Powerbomb by Malenko gets two. Brainbuster garners the same result. Eddie fires back with a Hurracanrana for 1-2-NO! He heads up top again, but Malenko puts Guerrero up on his shoulders. That little chicken fight causes them both to tumble over the top rope to the floor. Back inside, Eddie missile dropkicks the back of the head and follows up immediately with a bridging German suplex for 1-2-NO! Fisherman’s suplex gets two! Malenko connects with the BEEAAUUUTIFUL Tiger Bomb, but only gets two. Guerrero tries another Hurracanrana, but Malenko rolls through, and blocks another rollup counter for the 1-2-3 to regain the title. (14:31) These two did not stop for 15 minutes. Just an incredible build to a fun “gotcha” finish. Malenko wins this round, but can he keep it going in Middletown? ****¼

• ECW World Television Champion Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero – (Middletown, NY 7/28/95)
  

You can check this out on ECW Unreleased Vol. 1 or the 8/8/95 edition of Hardcore TV. Arm wringers and headlocks are exchanged to start. Out of a test of strength, Eddie lands on his feet to avoid a monkey flip. Guerrero then hits a neck-tie headscissors and delivers another headscissors off the top rope for two. More headscissors takedowns are traded. Eddie hits a Hilo for two. Ab stretch by Eddie, but Malenko escapes and hits a back suplex. Nasty elbows and clotheslines from Malenko. Brainbuster and the Gutbuster off the shoulders pops the crowd. Guerrero wants to come back with a Tornado DDT, but Malenko tosses him away. Tiger Bomb gets 1-2-NO! Guerrero gives Malenko a Uranage out of nowhere and lands the FROG SPLASH, but he hurts his ribs! Malenko applies an ab stretch of his own to capitalize. Eddie comes back with a Hurracanrana for a series of rollups leading to a pinfall for Guerrero and the TV title. (11:49) Well, Malenko’s frustration got the better of him there. I think this was just getting good when they decided to go home though. ***¾