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The following is a report originally published here 20 years ago this week…
ECW Live Event Report
October 27, 2006
LaCrosse, Wisc. at LaCrosse Center
Report by Nate Brueck, PWTorch.com correspondent
I went to the Extreme Championship Wrestling house show at the LaCrosse Center, and there were probably 1500 to 1700 people there. RVD was by far the most over guy on the show, and the end of the show was just tremendous, with RVD 5 Star Frog Splashing Paul Heyman through a table.
Everything else, however, was just, I don’t know, too tame, even for WWE.
(1) Little Guido Maritato pinned Rene Dupree. Surprise finish, and a good surprise. Dupree just didn’t care. What happened to this former superstar? He missed spots, just walked away after losing, didn’t even bother playing heel.
(2) Sabu beat Stevie Richards with the Camel Clutch. Crowd was into Sabu. Good match. You can tell they have worked with each other before. Stevie is underutilized.
After the match, Paul Heyman’s Security Guards came out and delivered a beat down on Sabu. Heyman then delivered a strong promo about the fact The Big Show was injured and could not compete, so the main event would be a “No Disqualification, No Count Out, Anything Goes, No Holds Barred, Extreme Rules Match” between RVD and Heyman himself. Heyman offered refunds to anyone who wanted them. I didn’t see anyone leave after the announcement.
(3) Rodney Mack pinned Balls Mahoney in about 15 minutes. Bad match. Balls was very over, but seemed injured or sluggish. Rodney Mack was pretty impressive. Finish looked all screwed up and you could tell Balls was pissed. I don’t believe I just wrote that.
(4) Brad Armstrong pinned Eric Peres. The hecklers had a good time because this match features two people not on TV. Brad Armstrong looks great for any age. Eric Peres doesn’t have much, and showed very little.
(5) Extreme Body Contest hosted by Matt Striker. Kelly Kelly vs. Trinity vs. Amy from Diva Search. This was atrocious. Striker went on and on forever. Kelly has an amazing body. Amy tried to dance and was so bad you just felt bad for her being there. Trinity looked like she was having fun. Before Striker could announce a winner, Kevin Throrne’s music started playing.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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(6) Tommy Dreamer and Sandman beat Striker and Thorne (w/Arielle in their corner). This took way too long to set up, and the post-match beer bash went on for 10 minutes, maybe longer. Some fun spots, and the crowd ate it up when Dreamer was kissing their ass. Arielle’s boobs are absolutely freakishly huge in person, and she was wearing something that just highlighted their enormous size. Sorry to be so sexist, but her outfit was designed to make you notice her boobs, and obviously it worked.
They took an intermission. I thought the beer bash was the intermission. I was wrong.
(7) C.M. Punk beat Mike Knox via tap out to the Anacanda Vise in about 15 minutes. Kelly Kelly was ringside. Good match. Seemed like a fight. The crowd loved Punk, and Knox was eating it up when the crowd was chanting Punk’s name while Knox was kicking his ass. This was much better than I expected it to be. Both guys were really good.
(8) Hardcore Holly pinned Test in like two or three minutes. I don’t know why, maybe it was a screwup. Test is huge in person.
(9) Rob Van Dam pinned Paul Heyman in an Extreme Rules Match. Heyman cut a promo, different from the first one, and had people ready for an execution. He can rile up a crowd. Van Dam came out and got by far the loudest reaction of the night. Heyman’s security worked the whole match, beating down RVD. Every time RVD got near Heyman, the crowd was going nuts. The security would jump on RVD. Van Dam would hit a big move, go for Heyman, security stops him from getting to Paul. After about 10 minutes, RVD hit a cool looking bodypress from inside the ring to the security guards, who were on the apron, and they all three fell to the floor.
Heyman, who was still in the ring, was watching, and then Sabu returned and threw a chair at the back of Heyman’s head. Heyman went down, and Sabu hit this move where he jumps up in the air with the chair and comes crashing down on Heyman’s head. The kid in front of me called it The Arabian Face Buster, which I’ve heard Styles call it on tv. Sabu went and got a table, and the place is jumping up and down.
Heyman on the table, Sabu calls for RVD, who goes to the top rope and nails this wicked 5-Star Frog Splash on Heyman, and they go through the table. RVD covers for the 1,2,3. They play RVD’s music, and he was high-fiving everyone, as Heyman stayed down until 10 minutes after RVD left. The doctor came out, and Heyman was helped out by the doctor and the security guards. I don’t know if he was legit shook up or just selling the awesome finish. Looked cool to me.
