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Here we are at the ECW Arena for the fourth annual November 2 Remember. We start out with Taz making his way to the ring with Fonzie. Taz takes the mic and “ruins” Paul Heyman’s surprise announcement of the first ECW PPV. He berates Heyman and declares that he (Taz) will be in the main event of that show. Taz then goes on to challenge Sabu for the main event of Barely Legal.
Davey Morton Tyler Jehrico vs. Stevie “Big Stevie Cool” Richards
This match is significant for two reasons. The first one is that Davey Morton Tyler Jerhico is the man that is known today to ECW fans as Kid Kash. The second is that this is the debut of the infamous BWO angle. Big Stevie Cool, Hollywood Nova and Da Blue Guy make their way to the ring and do hilarious impersonations of their respective counterparts. Crowd is chanting “B-W-O”. Basic wrestling by both to start. Davey gets on the mic and er….insults Stevie’s masculinity. Davey goes up top with a cross-body block to the outside on Stevie. Nice field goal low blow by Stevie. A number of near falls follow on both men’s part. A Kevin Nash-powerbomb isn’t enough to put away Davey, and neither is a Stevie-kick. A second Stevie-kick does the job though. *1/2
Axl Rotten vs. Hack Myers
Brawling to start. The famous “Shaw” chant rings out early as Myers pelts Rotten with a number of fists to the head. Chair to the back of Myers on the outside. Myers returns the favor on the inside. Myers sets up a chair in the ring and goes up top, but gets thrown into the chair by Rotten. A pedigree by Rotten onto the chair does in the Shaw. *
Buh-Buh Ray Dudley vs. Devon Dudley
The battle of the Dudley’s here as Buh-Buh is the face while Devon is the heel. Buh-Buh storms the ring and brawls with Devon to start. High cross body by Devon misses and goes sailing to the outside of the ring. Brawling on the outside leads back into the ring. Leapfrog by Devon and he hits a reverse DDT on Buh-Buh. Back on the outside again, Buh-Buh gets thrown into the crowd and Devon follows. Someone hands Buh-Buh a stop sign as Devon gets nailed with it. HARD chairshot to Devon’s head as an “E-C-W” chant follows. Buh-Buh goes for another chairshot, but Devon blocks it and waffles Buh-Buh. Devon somehow gets a hold of a ukulele and hits Buh-Buh over the head with it. The action finally makes its way back to the ring. Superplex by Buh-Buh off the top rope but it’s not enough to hold Devon down. Buh-Buh bomb is hit but Devon kicks out again. Reversal into the ropes and Buh-Buh presses Devon into the air and hits a Buh-Buh cutter out of nowhere. 1…2…3. Post match Joel Gertner, who is still a ring announcer at this point, steals the mic away from regular ring announcer Bob Artese. Gertner proceeds to insult Buh-Buh and declares Devon the winner of the match. Buh-Buh goes for the Buh-Buh bomb on Gertner as Axl Rotten hits the ring and nails Buh-Buh with a chair. This brings out Spike Dudley as he hits an acid drop on Rotten. Axl and Devon get the advantage as Big Dick Dudley enters the ring. Axl and Devon high tail it out of the ring as Gertner is smugging for the camera. Buh-Buh bodyslams Gerter and Big Dick moonsaults onto him. Very good match. **1/2
Sabu/RVD vs. The Eliminators
The winners will get a tag title shot against the Gangsters later on in the evening. Sabu and Saturn start. Lots of countering each other’s moves that brings an applause from the crowd. Saturn wants RVD in the ring, and he obliges. RVD gets the advantage on Saturn early. Kronus is in as he takes over on RVD. Things break down quick as all four men brawl. Eventually things are back to normal as RVD exhibits some of the famous moves he is known for today. Sabu waffles Kronus on the back of the head. A chair is set up as Sabu jumps from the chair to the top rope and hits a leg drop. He follows it with an arabian face buster. RVD is in as he falls victim to the Eliminators double team maneuvers. Saturn with a chin lock on RVD. Sabu throws a chair wildly from the ouside into the ring that hits Saturn. Saturn is hot as he rushes out of the ring and leaps onto Sabu in the crowd. This is were things really pick up. All four men brawl on the outside. Air-Sabu onto Kronus in the corner. Sabu gets crotched on the rope as Saturn hits a flying clothesline sending both men to the outside. Kronus hits an awesome Great Muta-like moonsault from the inside of the ring to the outside onto Sabu. “E-C-W” chant for that one. RVD hits a flip of his own onto the men on the outside. Sabu then goes into the ring himself and hits a springboard plancha onto the Eliminators. A table is set up on the outside bridged between the ring and the guardrail. After a series of reversals, Sabu DDT’s Saturn through the table. Too much hot action to call here and all four men are hitting maneuvers out of nowhere. The bell rings signaling that the time limit has expired. The crowd is not happy, so commissioner Todd Gordon signals for 5 more minutes to decide a winner. Once again the action is hot and heavy with both teams hitting a variety of double team moves on each other. Just non-stop action on all fronts. The time limit expires again. The Eliminators ask for another five minutes and Todd Gordon agrees. The crowd is hot! Sabu hits a plancha on Saturn on the outside and goes sailing into the crowd. These two teams just keep going and going! Yet again the time limit expires and Todd Gordon grants the fans wishes and announces a 3-Way Dance for the titles later on. Simply put, that was one of the greatest tag team matches I have ever seen. Just awesome! *****
Chris Candido vs. Mikey Whipwreck
Hookups early on and Candido gets frustrated. He takes the mic and announces that Tammy Lynn “Sunny” Sytch isn’t there because the WWF made her go to their Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. This draws the ire of the crowd. A ton of counters by both men. FrankenMikey brings both men to the outside as Mikey hits a clothesline from the top turnbuckle into the crowd. Back in the ring, Candido gains the advantage. Mikey soon gains control and hits a series of near falls. Mikey goes for a superplex off the top, but Candido reverses and hits a powerbomb off the top for the pin. Post match Candido congratulates Mikey on a great match and raises his hand in a surprising show of sportsmanship. Great match. ***
World
Tag Team Title
RVS/Sabu
vs. The Eliminators vs. The Gangstas
RVD/Sabu brawl with The Eliminators as The Gangstas music eventually hits. Out they come with their trash can full of goodies. The Gangstas dismantle the two other teams with the weapons. We have everything from a hubcap, to a 2x4, to baking sheets, and much more. Kronus is busted open early from New Jack’s repeated blows to the head with a chain. RVD and Mustafa are brawling in the crowd as the action is all over the building. Saturn and Sabu brawl to the stage in the ECW Arena. New Jack and Kronus trade chair shots on the outside. As usual, Kronus is a bloody mess. RVD with a somersault onto the outside. Saturn with a plancha to the outside to follow. Kronus and Mustafa are then set up on a bridged table on the outside by RVD. After two failed attemps by Sabu to hit a leg drop onto them from inside of the ring, he frustratingly hits a somersault and goes crashing through the table when Kronus and Mustafa move. Suddenly Taz is out and hits the Tazmission on RVD on the outside. Sabu then sees this and is distracted in the inside of the ring. Total elimination is hit on Sabu and he is pinned, eliminating Sabu/RVD. New Jack then hits a chairshot off the top rope onto Saturn and pins him, this retaining the belts. Great brawl. ***
Joey is now in the ring. He talks about all the great athletes who have competed in ECW in the past. 2 Cold Scorpio is brought out for his final farewell in ECW before heading off to the WWF. Joey talks about 2 Cold’s accomplishments and 2 Cold takes the mic. He only has one thing to say. He says that he won’t miss anyone in ECW, including the fans. He says he’s not going anywhere and he wants to wrestle in both ECW and the WWF at the same time. He says if someone wants to come out and challenge him, and can beat him, that he (2 Cold) will leave ECW for 15 days. If 2 Cold’s opponent looses, he must leave ECW for 15 days as well. Out comes Crowbar, er…Devon Storm. Storm is squashed in about a minute. He challenges for someone else to come out and ups the ante to 30 days. Out comes J.T. Smith and Little Guido, the FBI at the time. J.T. is the opponent. He’s squashed in about a minute as well. Scorpio is having a blast as he ups the ante once again to 60 days when Hack “Shaw” Myers comes out. Myers gets some offense, but Scorpio prevails with the Scorpio splash off the top rope. The late Louie Spicolli is out to help Myers. Scorpio challenges him and ups it to one year. Both trade offense and Scorpio misses the moonsault off the top rope. Louie eventually hits the Spicolli driver and gets the upset victory. Scorpio can’t believe it and says he’s staying until someone runs him off. Out comes Taz and tells Scorpio to get out of his ring. Scorpio insults the ECW Arena as well as the fans and leaves the ring without incident.
Taz moves on to his earlier challenge to Sabu. He wants him right now. He says he isn’t leaving until Sabu comes out. Ring announcer Bob Artese tries to talk Taz out of the ring. Taz pushes him into the corner and holds him “hostage”. Out comes Todd Gordon and Taz puts him in the Tazmission. Last but not least, Paul Heyman is out to check on Gordon, and Taz T-Bone’s Heyman. With that, the lights go out and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy. The lights come on and Sabu is in the ring with perhaps the loudest ovation in the history of the ECW Arena. Sabu and Taz circle each other, tie up, and the lights go out again. When they come back on, both men are gone. The crowd isn’t happy to say the least. One of the greatest angles in ECW history.
ECW World
Title
The
Sandman vs. Raven w/ Lori Fullington and Tyler Fullington
Stevie Richards is out with the BWO and says he’s going to do commentary with a live mic for the match. Sandman rushes the ring and Raven pulls out a number of basic wrestling moves. Joey is peeved at Stevie’s commentary. Raven works heavily on Sandman’s arm. Sandman gets the advantage and throws Raven to the outside. Sandman pummels Raven and busts him open. Raven bulldogs Sandman through a table. Back in the ring, Sandman gets the advantage. Sandman knocks the ref out and Stevie comes in to help Raven regain the advantage. The entire BWO brings a table into the ring. They put Sandman onto the table. Sandman battles his way off the table and the Meanie moonsaults himself through the table. Sandman is thrown into another table set up in the corner. Both men trade punches and Raven is sent reeling into the corner. Tyler comes in front of Raven to prevent any further damage as Lori comes in to hit Sandman with the cane. She can’t seem to find Sandman’s head, so Raven simply DDT’s Sandman. Sandman kicks out after two DDT’s. Sandman with a rollup, but Raven kicks out. The BWO brings a guardrail into the ring. Raven goes for a DDT onto the guardrail. Sandman reverses it and hit the DDT himself and pins Raven to retain the title. Not one of their best matches. * 1/2
Terry Funk/Tommy Dreamer vs. Shane Douglas/Brian Lee
Douglas and Funk to start. Lee trades places with Douglas and Dreamer trades with Funk. Lee gains the advantage early. All hell breaks loose as all four men brawl with each other. Funk grabs a hold of a scantily dressed Francine, but Douglas nails him with a chair. He does the same to Dreamer. All four men brawl all over the building with a variety of weapons. Dreamer sets up a guardrail in the corner and both Douglas and Lee are thrown into it. Douglas is crotched on the guardrail as is Dreamer soon after. More brawling and Francine hits a nice cross body block on Dreamer off the top rope. She goes for another one, but gets caught by Dreamer, who atomic drops her into the corner. Dreamer is taken out on the outside and Funk and Lee double team Funk into oblivion. Finally, Dreamer is back in and brawls with Lee. Now it is Tommy that is being double teamed. Francine slaps Dreamer as Beulah hits the ring for a good old fashioned catfight. Lee grabs Beulah and headbutts her. Douglas then gives Beulah a belly to belly suplex. Douglas and Lee proceed to dismantle Dreamer on the outside when Funk hits a moonsault off the top rope to the outside. Funk goes nuts with a chair on the knees of Douglas and applies the spinning toehold. Lee stops that with a fist to Funk. Lee goes for the chokeslam, but Funk reverses into a DDT and gets the pin. Douglas and Lee aren’t done though as they beat down Dreamer and Funk. ‘Thunderkiss 65’ blares as Pitbull #2 hits the ring and takes out Douglas and Lee. Great brawl. ***
For my money this was the best November 2 Remember in ECW history. With a number of *** matches and the amazing Sabu/RVD vs. Eliminators match, you can’t go wrong.
By Craig King