Let’s go ahead and close the books on the first month of ECW on TNN with episode four. Who knows, we might end up doing a review of all 59 episodes. After all, it’s a one-hour show and one of the most digestible ones.
Airing on September 17, 1999—September is a magical month for wrestling TV—it was main evented by RVD defending his TV title against Jerry Lynn!
There was a promo from Raven about his and Tommy Dreamer’s former feud and why he is back in ECW.
Basically, it’s to give his life and career meaning and help him get his edge back. It was shorter than promos that would’ve been on Hardcore TV so I was with it.
There’s been an ambulance at the arena all night and we find out that Jerry Lynn was attacked by Lance Storm and The Impact Players!
Storm aims to face RVD for the TV title here. Eventually, Justin Credible runs in and just turns the main event upside down alongside Lance Storm.
Lynn comes out to help RVD only for Impact Players member Johnny Smith to come in assist. RVD and Lynn would still go through with their title match.
Let’s break down the matches on ECW on TNN #4.
Low-Tier
Off the bat, former early 90s WCW star PN News showed up doing an edgier version of his rapping gimmick. He tried to get that cheap heel heat but the Philly crowd had heard it before.
Spike Dudley comes out to fight PN News, is downed, avoids the big man’s splash attempt, then rolls through him with the Acid Drop.
I don’t even think this was 30 seconds but whatever.
Mid-Tier
Tajiri vs. Super Crazy didn’t have nearly the length to get something going to see to really be mid-tier or exotic-tier. However, this wasn’t a squash as both were evenly matched in this rivalry.
It was just a straight-up, clean match with no botches, nothing extra, and a badass powerbomb from Super Super Super Crazy.
It fit the pace of this edition of ECW on TNN perfectly but I can’t rightly move this into the mid-tier. The only reason it’s mid-tier because of how the show was presented.
See, the match itself was short as hell but it was presented as joined-in-progress. If there’s one thing I love from wrestling TV presentation it’s a joined-in-progress bout.
Exotic-Tier
Obviously, RVD vs. Jerry Lynn for ECW TV Title was exotic tier. After The Impact Players ran in to ruin the main event, RVD challenged Lynn to continue the match as a fighting champion.
Lynn accepted of course and they delivered a dope, shorter—but still a good length—title match. The next challenge for Rob Van Dam’s title is Johnny Smith.
ECW on TNN #4 Verdict: Exotic-Tier (8/10)
Those first four episodes of ECW on TNN were really good. It was the fastest one-hour wrestling show I’ve ever sat through and the fourth episode proved to be the fastest.
Sure, they were all had roughly the same runtime but Heyman and his production team mastered pacing to the point you feel like the show was only 30-minutes and change.
It’s a definite difference from say the first month of ECW Hardcore TV where you knew this was running long. Then again, ECW had six years and PPVs to perfect TV pacing.
Also, we might end up doing episode five since we have another episode left in September 1999 and the show started on the last week in August.
Should we do a fifth one this show, recap the show series, or just move on? Let us know in the comments!
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE! Don’t forget to check out Gamestingr for gaming news and reviews and TV Rocker for recaps and the latest gossip!
