It’s February 1996 and we’re looking at ECW Big Apple Blizzard Blast as we head Into the Vault! That is such an early 90’s name for a super card. I’m not going to knock it too much because those ECW faithfuls made it to Lost Battalion Hall for this one!
We have further developments in the Dreamer-Raven feud, Shane Douglas’ in-ring return in ECW, and developments on Cactus Jack in sell out mode. He and Mikey Whipwreck are Tag Team champs and it’s trouble in paradise, folks.
Not only that, it looks like The Sandman is done with Woman and won’t be going to WCW with her. It looked like she snookered 2 Cold Scorpio in to return to Atlanta but she failed.
When one window closes, another opens as Missy Hyatt—who has legal troubles for “assaulting” Stevie Richards—choose The Sandman as her client. Hak just had a charm the women loved.
Oh yeah, Current Affair is here filming the show as well. Let’s get into the action!
Low-Tier
ECW Big Apple Blizzard Blast kicks off with Taz running through The Shark Attack Kid in under four minutes. I can’t even say that this was a decent squash to open the show. It was definitely a squash and Taz looked good in it.
In the second bout, The Headhunters—yes, the two super heavyweights who can do moonsaults and stuff—ran through the team of Axl Rotten and El Puerto Riqueno.
It wasn’t a bad match, just boring. You knew the Headhunters were going to eat Axl and El Puerto Riqueno alive. Axl got in the bulk of the little offense his team managed.
At least Axl Rotten had some pretty righteous gear for 1996. He looked like a member of the Nasty Boys if the Nasty Boys were a lucha libre tag team with cool gear.
I dig the Pitbulls and I can tolerate the Headhunters. The match between the teams was something I could do without on this show. It just did nothing for me.
Buh Buh Ray vs. J.T Smith was a brief comedy match that didn’t eat up the time in the show. Actually, the pre-match stuff ate up more time. That said, the pre-match stuff was pretty funny.
I still don’t know how Smith was able to get away from Hack Myers for a match against Buh Buh.
Mind you, the match had nothing to it. I can’t say it was good or bad since it could’ve easily been a beat down that wasn’t actually a match.
Sabu’s bout against Mr. Hughes was…this wasn’t good. I’m not going to crap on the match and say it was all the way lousy but it probably would’ve benefited from being shorter.
Instead, it was the longest 12-and-a-half minutes I’ve sat through. When the pace in a match, TV show, film, or PPV is decent or good you don’t feel like you’ve been there for a long time.
However, when the pace is bad, you’re aware you’ve been here far too long or this has gone on a while. To put a button on this, Sabu vs. Hughes dragged on and that torpedoed the match.
Mid-Tier
The World Tag Team title match saw champions Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck defend against The Eliminators. While they were a solid unit before, recent developments have made this team a mess.
Cactus’ ego shattered the team’s chemistry and Mikey’s trust in him as a partner. This allowed The Eliminators to score their first reign as champions.
Raven was rolling with Cactus Jack and Mikey and knew Mikey got beat up afterward. Solid match with a good running story there.
WWA World Welterweight champ Rey Misterio Jr took on Juventud Guerrera in a short but solid match. This was just a teaser of their match at Big Ass Extreme Bash months later.
A bit after this, we had a fight—not a match—between Taz and Rey Rey. They messed up the first part of their exchange but it ended with Taz flexing his dominance and laying Rey out with a suplex.
Exotic-Tier
Though this match really dragged on, the Stevie Richards and Raven vs. Shane Douglas and Dreamer bout was good. Stevie really did the damn thing for his team and Raven was in effect here as well.
He was totally a putz outside of in-ring action but once a match started, the guy went to work. Raven worked extremely well with Dreamer and mixed it up with The Franchise.
There were points of overbooking with a lot of chaos and some run-ins, a good deal of interference. As I said earlier, it dragged on as well. Like this should’ve been a couple of minutes shorter but it wasn’t.
Another tag team main event headlined by The Gangstas and yes, it was another wild brawl! While The Sandman and 2 Cold Scorpio came out victorious in this one, they kept the match short at under ten minutes.
This match should’ve flipped times with the Sabu vs. Mr. Hughes match before it. I don’t even think this was meant to be a street fight but it had the same energy as Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas from House Party 1996.
I knew 1990s 2 Cold Scorpio was athletic and skilled as hell but this match and the main event from last month’s show really showed that Mustafa was nimble for his size and would actually wrestle a bit.
He didn’t have the best dropkick but for a guy who was 6’4, he had a nice one. The main event was live, well-paced, didn’t drag—good main event bout even without being tied to a larger story or having stakes.
ECW Big Apple Blizzard Blast Verdict: Mid-Tier (5/10)
This show was smack dab in the middle. ECW’s formula is to give you a mix of everything from comedy to flying to mat classic to blood and guts.
Heyman knew some of this stuff wouldn’t stick to the wall and made sure at least two or three matches featured guys who could deliver bangers. Pepper those bangers throughout the show, don’t have them all in one place.
Then you have a few solid matches that some will enjoy and some will find decent but uninteresting. Finally, if anything sucks well you have enough of the first two with some entertaining angles mixed in.
On any super card or PPV you want bangers that are strong enough to carry the show. ECW Big Apple Blizzard Blast had two but they didn’t have the muscle to carry this show far, just over the line.
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!
