ECW: Holiday Hell
December 29, 1995
Queens, NY
Lost Battalion Hall

The current ECW Champs were as follows:
ECW World Champion: The Sandman (12/9/1995)
ECW World Tag Team Champions: The Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio (10/28/1995)
ECW World TV Champion: 2 Cold Scorpio (8/25/1995)

Your host is Joey Styles. This is the ECW debut in NYC and there’s red, white, and blue ropes for some reason.

Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie meet Joey in the ring. Stevie feels everyone is here to see him. Since the crowd calls him a faggot, Stevie returns the favor by sexually harassing the crowd. Speaking of sexual harassment, Missy Hyatt makes her ECW debut as Stevie spots her in the audience. After she calls him a “clueless putz”, Stevie reminds her that he sent her countless letters while she was in WCW and asks her to join him in Raven’s limo after the show to see how his sundial points up to noon. Well, Missy has a big laugh about that. Stevie says he’ll get her a date with Raven if she’ll go with him tonight. Missy then takes her jacket off (it’s December in Queens) and sticks her tongue down his throat. Once she’s done, she tells Stevie to give him “the message”. Joey says he knows Raven too.

• Taz (w/Bill Alfonso) vs. Koji Nakagawa
  

Nakagawa is an FMW guy. At the time, he was the current FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight champion. When Fonzie slaps Nakagawa, Taz shoves him back, so Nakagawa slaps Taz! Nasty German suplex by Taz. He throws Nakagawa out to the floor so that Alfonso can yell at him some more. Back inside, Taz turns into a human suplex machine and knocks out Nakagawa with the TAZMISSION. (2:39) Now that Taz has turned heel, this is where he gets awesome killing dudes with these suplexes. Kudos to Nakagawa for being game. Afterwards, Taz calls Sabu a “pussy hiding under a table”. ¾*

• Hack Meyers vs. JT Smith
  

Fahgettaboudit, it’s the Italian Stallion JT Smith. Headlocks and headscissors to start. Hack fights back and punches Smith around until JT goes low on him. On the floor, Smith drops an elbow onto Hack from the top rope. Might have been a headbutt. Not sure. Because this is ECW and it’s 1995, Smith delivers a powerbomb. He tries another top rope move, but slips and falls on the back of his head. Knee bulldog by Hack gets the three-count. (4:43) Good for Hack. *½

• ECW World Tag Team Champion and ECW World TV Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Mikey Whipwreck
  

So 2 Gold Scorpio puts BOTH championships on the line. If Whipwreck wins, he gets both championships and gets to choose his own partner. Scorpio weighs in at a CHISELED 235 pounds. I love this man. These two do some wrestling to start with Scorpio outshining Whipwreck. To the floor we go for some guardrail violence. Back inside, Scorpio lands a sick bicycle kick. Mikey then starts running the ropes and hits Scorpio with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. To the floor again, Whipwreck hits a baseball slide and follows up with a somersault plancha. Whipwreck gets some payback with some guardrail action of his own. In the ring, Whipwreck misses a flying bodypress, but counters a powerbomb and delivers a monkey flip. We get a shot of Missy Hyatt enjoying the match. Clearly a video edit though. Scorpio delivers a couple knees and drops Whipwreck with a Tombstone Piledriver before catching him with a Moonsault. He doesn’t stop there as he follows up with a MOONSAULT LEGDROP. Cover, 1-2-NO! Scorpio lifts off the pin and stands up Whipwreck for a superkick. He goes up top again, but Whipwreck crotches him for a FRANKENMIKEY! Cover, 1-2-NO! Scorpio kicks out. Mikey avoids a corner charge and rolls up Scorpio for another nearfall. We get a ref bump as Mikey gets kicked back into Finnegan. Scorpio tries a flying splash, but Whipwreck moves and Finnegan gets destroyed. More splashing from Scorpio, which is pretty awesome. Next thing we know, Cactus Jack appears and shoves Scorpio off the top to set up a DOUBLE-ARM DDT. He puts Whipwreck on top of Scorpio, wakes up Finnegan, and the ref counts three. (11:56) So Whipwreck regains both the ECW TV title and tag team titles with his partner Cactus Jack. Loving the way Scorpio is handling himself in the ring for the past six months. Afterwards, Whipwreck gives back the titles to Scorpio not wanting to win this way. YOU’RE IN ECW, PAL. Cactus Clothesline takes Scorpio to the floor. ***

• The Eliminators (w/Jason) vs. The Pitbulls (w/Francine)
  

Saturn and Pitbull #1 suplex each other to start. Pitbull #2 powerslams Kronus, but then receives a release dragon suplex. Pitbull #2 gets caught on the wrong side of town as Saturn hits his springboard clothesline to take #2 off the apron to the floor. Kronus then helps Saturn flip over the top rope onto Pitbull #2. When #2 NO-SELLS, Jason grabs him only for Saturn to fly again and land on Jason by mistake. The Pitbulls gets a hold of a chair and lay waste to the Elims and Jason. Back inside, the Pitbulls deliver a drop toehold and flying elbow drop for two. Again, the Elims dominate #2. Kronus hits #2 with a cartwheel into a moonsault. All of a sudden, Pitbull #2 starts NO-SELLING and tags Pitbull #1. Rinse, wash, repeat. The Elims finally nail #2 with STEREO SPINNING HEEL KICKS to the face. Kronus continues the violence with a Finlay Roll and a Flying Splash by Saturn for two. While the ref is busy with Saturn and Pitbull #1, Kronus and Jason do the Quebecers finish. Pitbull #2 NO-SELLS and scares Jason out of the ring. Rocker-Plex to #2 gets two. Demolition Decapitation scores a nearfall as well. Moving on. Pitbull #1 receives a tag. The Pitbulls hit the DOOMSDAY DEVICE to take Kronus to the floor. Saturn gets the SUPERBOMB, but Jason hops up on the apron. Francine grabs Jason and starts beating him up, which brings Pitbull #1 to the floor to suplex Jason onto a table. Meanwhile, the Elims deliver TOTAL ELIMINATION to #2 for the win. (16:16) Way too long, but the Eliminators do some pretty cool stuff. **½

This may or may not be the debut of the EC-F’N-W t-shirt that Tommy Dreamer is wearing. He comes out to face Raven, but Stevie Richards, the Blue Meanie, and Beulah come out to announce that Raven can’t make it tonight. His *ahem* leg is broken. Third leg, maybe. Crowd thinks it’s bullcrap. Instead of Raven, Stevie gives Dreamer his Blue Meanie. Dreamer says he just thinks Raven is a pussy. Meanie attacks Dreamer and the match begins, but Meanie is almost immediately put down with a DDT for a pinfall. Stevie Richards receives the same treatment. In comes Beulah, and Dreamer wants to stuff her…with a piledriver. Boy, will they have a funny story to tell their kids! With his back turned, Raven appears and throws what looks like some sort of baby changing table at Dreamer. No piledriver, by the way.

• Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven (w/Stevie Richards, the Blue Meanie, and Beulah)
  

Raven beats up Dreamer in the aisle way and splashes him through a table. When they head in the ring, Dreamer fires back with right hands a plenty and delivers a DDT. Dreamer then goes DDT CRAZY until he wears himself out as Stevie jumps into the ring to help his buddy. Back to the floor, Dreamer wastes Raven with a chair and uses a cheese grater courtesy of a ringside fan to bust open Raven. Eww, Dreamer licks the blood off! Lots more ringside violence as Dreamer is in total control. They even go outside and back into the arena as now Dreamer is busted open. Once the ref gets bumped, Raven holds Dreamer so that Beulah can spray hairspray in his face, but Dreamer ducks and Raven gets blinded. When Stevie comes into the ring to check on Raven, he gets DDT’d. Dreamer hits a DDT and just when it looks like he will finally pin Raven, the slow count from ref John Finnegan only scores a two-count. Over to the corner, Dreamer sets Raven in the tree of woe and punches what is left of his testicles. RAVEN CAN’T BE BEAT. Skip ahead to the ref getting bumped AGAIN. Stevie jumps in the ring and STEVIEKICKS Dreamer. Blue Meanie tries the Moonsault again, but misses. While Dreamer is punching away Stevie, Raven walks over and DDTs him onto a chair for the three-count. (11:27) This is always a fun feud and I think it always gets a free pass for being so well-booked. While the ECW style is pretty much the same in every match, these two and their supporting cast always find a way to take it to the next level and make their matches stand out above the rest. ***

• Bruiser Mastino vs. El Puerto Ricano
  

Mastino is MANTAUR after he left the WWF. He’s also the cousin of PN News. El Puerto Ricano is JTTS fodder until 911 comes out. Can he CHOKESLAM him? Of course he can. Bill Alfonso comes out to blow the whistle in 911’s face. That brings out Todd Gordon, but he’s blasted by Taz. We get a face to face showdown until other jobbers and midcarders try to keep them separated. In a pretty awesome bit, Hack Meyers starts the Terry Funk jabs on Mastino, which brings out the SHAH chants. 911 chokeslams JT Smith away from him and leaves with Todd. This leaves the Sign Guy Dudley, Dances With Dudley, Stevie Richards, and the Blue Meanie to dance the night away.
Hit the music. Here comes Buh Buh Ray Dudley and Big Dick Dudley to show them all up. Once
everything chills out, Stevie tells Buh Buh that Raven is going to be happy about this. When Buh Buh starts to reply and stutters, Stevie slaps him across the face. Buh Buh then says quite plainly and without stuttering, “F*** you and your Blue Meanie.”

• Buh Buh Ray Dudley (w/the Dudley Family) vs. The Blue Meanie (w/Stevie Richards)
  

Meanie attacks Buh Buh from behind and hits the moonsault. Cover, 1-2-NO! Buh Buh RETARDS UP and tries the BUH BUH BOMB, but Meanie is too fat. He does manage to slam Meanie and splashes him from the top for the win. (1:08) Afterwards, the Dudleys continue to do a number on the Meanie. Stevie tries to make up with them and puts down Meanie, but the Dudleys decide instead to just leave. Screw you, Stevie. Realizing he now has no friends, Stevie gets down to help Meanie. ¼*

• ECW World Champion The Sandman vs. Raven (w/Stevie Richards & Beulah)
  

Since Raven has been beaten up so bad, he should be easy pickings for Sandman. Stevie tries to outdrink Sandman so that Sandman could be all distracted. Raven blindsides him and takes Sandman to the floor for some guardrail action. When Sandman takes over, he delivers the legdrop to Raven while he’s draped over the guardrail. Not exactly as pretty as anything RVD has done, but effective nevertheless. Sandman beats and kicks on Raven in the ring. Back to the floor, Sandman runs and whacks Raven from over the top rope. More craziness from Sandman as a table gets involved. He dumps the table onto Raven and then throws him through the table. Clearly Raven was jumping and taking a bump into a table. Just ludicrous. Moving on. He whips Raven from corner to corner, but then the ref gets sandwiched. Stevie jumps in to beat on Sandman, but then Woman canes Stevie. Once Richards is back on the floor, Woman canes Raven in the face a few times. Raven takes the cane away and gets blasted from behind by Sandman, but then Stevie whacks Sandman with a wet floor sign. As Raven canes Sandman in the head, Tommy Dreamer appears (with his head wrapped) and canes everybody. MUFF DIVING PILEDRIVER to Beulah! It should be in the bag for Sandman, but then Cactus Jack appears and DOUBLE-ARM DDTs him. Raven covers and the slow count gets 1-2-NO! Sandman fights off a superplex and slams Raven’s face onto the wet floor sign for the three-count to retain the title. (13:18) Pretty bleh until Tommy Dreamer showed up. Can anyone explain to me how there can be no rules, but ref bumps ALWAYS mean interference? Doesn’t anyone else find that frustrating? **½

• Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas
  

We get another one of these. While Grunge and New Jack are on the floor, Mustafa and Rocco try to wrestle. Quebrada by Rocco gets two. Now that’s over, the chairs and tables come out to play. Is this ever a standard tag match? Nope. After all that, Rocco gets whacked with a chair from New Jack and backs up into a schoolboy by Mustafa for the win. (8:28) Yep, just another one of these. ¾*

• Cactus Jack vs. Sabu
  

Cactus gets cheap pops from the NYC crowd that turn into boos once he talks about a kid in a wheelchair. Tonight, Cactus refuses to break any tables or use any chairs. In fact, he wants to have one HECK of an Olympic rules match. Here comes Pee Wee Moore to explain the rules. Yeah, this looks like a job for 911. He CHOKESLAMS Pee Wee away. How about one more. He then makes himself the referee and who is going to argue with him? Cactus avoids Air Sabu and rolls out to the floor, but then takes a somersault plancha. Back inside, Sabu is all legdrops and leg lariats. He tries Air Sabu again, but Cactus meets him with an elbow. DOUBLE-ARM DDT on the chair gets two. He hits another, but Sabu kicks out at two. Back to the floor, the Cactus Elbow with the chair connects. Some more ringside violence continues. In the ring, Cactus gets his head stuck in the ropes. VINTAGE FOLEY! Air Sabu breaks him free. Cactus looks to splash Sabu through a table, but Sabu throws a chair at him and biels him to the floor. With Cactus sitting in a chair, Sabu delivers a tope suicida. Back in the ring, Sabu hits a couple Arabian Facebusters. Over to the apron, Sabu bodyblocks Cactus as they both go crashing through the table. Back in the ring AGAIN, Sabu puts a chair on Cactus and gives him a split-legged moonsault. With that, Cactus gets ANGRY, but Sabu blasts him with a chair a bunch. ATOMIC ARABIAN FACEBUSTER gets 1-2-NO! Cactus tries to slam Sabu, but Sabu falls back on top of him for the three-count. (14:38) Wow, pretty cheap finish. All of that violence and Sabu wins by falling on top of Cactus. **

Final Thoughts: Pretty fun show, but nothing makes up for the Philadelphia crowd. This wasn’t exactly an amazing show however. Thumbs in the middle for Holiday Hell 1995.