Announcers: Joey Styles

The 5th (and first on PPV) annual NTR kicks off with Joey Styles in the ring surrounded by the (then) largest rabble in Extreme Championship Wrestling history.

Match #1: Chris Candido vs. Tommy Rogers

Commentary: Veteran Rogers is out first to no response. I wonder if anyone in the arena knew who he was? Triple Threat member (and former WWF Body Donna, Skip) Candido gets a good pop. The match is pretty un-noteworthy apart from a Rogers Suplex from the apron to the “concrete floor” to which Joey Styles comments “we don’t have any aesthetic looking mats here in ECW”. In fact it is clear to see that this is one of the few ECW shows where they do have matting of some description on the outside. Also, Rogers looks as if he is about to have a heart attack. The match descends into extreme slow-mo in order to give him extra breathing space. Midway through, with the bout going nowhere fast, fellow Triple Threat member, Lance Storm (sporting that awful blonde ponytail) attacks Rogers. Jerry Lynn then enters the fray to even the odds. This being ECW the match was turned into a tag affair by the referee, no DQs here. The fresh faces brought the contest to life and nice spots included a Lynn Springboard Plancha, a high Cross Body-Block by Jerry on Storm (who is perched atop Rogers), Candido’s “Blonde Bombshell” finisher (top rope Powerbomb) and a devastating Tamikazee (Christian’s “Unprettier” finisher) by Tommy.

Finish: From out of nowhere, Candido hits a good-looking Northern Lights Suplex for the 3 count.

Comments: A decent enough opener, Storm and Lynn were probably sent out to avoid Rogers passing out of exhaustion. Tommy was always a good worker though, and his effort can never be doubted. But on this night (and probably many others since) he just looked like he was on the verge of collapse. Match Rating: **1/2

As a singles contest, it looked to be going heading down ‘What do we do next? Avenue’, but the inclusion of Jerry and Lance brought the bout to life and made it interesting viewing from then on.

Match #2: Justin Credible vs. Mikey Whipwreck Commentary: Before the match, footage of Mikey pinning Steve Austin (yes the Steve Austin) at NTR two years prior to this event is aired.

Credible is accompanied by “The Sexiest man on earth”, Jason. Mikey is accompanied by the 50lbs of excess ‘puppy fat’ that he has brought to the ring ever since I can remember. Ouch! Seriously, if he would/could have lost that excess weight he may have secured a job with the WWF at one time, because he is a tremendous worker.

Whipwreck takes early control of the bout with a Plancha to the outside and a well-executed swinging Frankensteiner on the floor. Back in the ring, the obnoxious Credible nails a DDT and a Missile Dropkick. He slows the pace down, but keeps the flow of the match going well with Mikey making occasional comebacks with a Superkick, Powerbomb and tope rope Frankensteiner, all of which earn 2 counts. Jason interferes which allows Justin to hit an inverted DDT…

Finish: With Jason still in the ring, Credible goes to the top rope. Mikey pushes Jason into the turnbuckles who in turn knocks Justin off balance. Whipwreck then hits the Whippersnapper (top rope Stonecold Stunner) for a popular victory.

Comments: A solid bout, but nothing special. Nothing wrong with it by any means, both men put the effort in as they always do, it’s just that they have had better bouts than this and should have been given more time. Match Rating: **1/2

Match #3: ECW TV Title match – Taz (c) vs. Pit Bull 2

Commentary: In between bouts, Al Snow gets interview time and goes absolutely skits with Head in the locker room.

We return to the arena and The Pit Bulls are in the ring awaiting TV Champion, Taz. “The Human Suplex Machine” enters to a healthy pop while Paul Heyman joins Joey Styles on commentary. Pitball jumps Taz from behind and nails a big Powerbomb, a spinning heel kick and a top rope shoulder block in quick succession, all of which cumulate in a 2 count. Inevitably, Taz fires back with a Belly-to-Belly Tazplex and a T-Bone Tazplex…

Finish: After his Suplex exhibition, Taz locks on the Tazmission and Pitball 2 taps. The match barely passes the 2-minute mark, and is just a pointless squash.

Comments: After the match Pitball 1 takes a Pumphandle Tazplex and the champ gets on the mic. At this point I notice a fan in the front row holding up a large sign reading, “World’s Toughest Midget”. Bwahahahaha. Midget man then rips on “WWF employee” Lance Wright who is at ringside with “his boyfriend” as Taz eloquently puts it. No names are mentioned and to this day am still unaware of who he was. At a guess I would say Achim “Brakus” Albrecht who had a brief (and wholly uneventful) run with the WWF in the mid 90’s. “Boyfriend” is massive, Taz says he sticks needles up his ass, which I’ve got to say I agree with. Things get heated as Taz challenges the guy (yeah, like you're gonna kick his ass), but before they can come to blows, “The Human Suplex Machine” brutally beats on a member of security (ah, should have known Taz would beat on a helpless crew member to look like a badass) who intervened. As Heyman screams to “get out of this” we cut to a pre-recorded Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley match at the ECW Arena. Match Rating: *

Match #4: ECW Tag Team Title match - “4 Way Dance of Death”: The FBI (Tracy Smothers & Little Guido) (c) vs. New Jack & John Kronus vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney.

Commentary: Before the match, Joel Gertner runs through his hilariously crude routine. Balls and Axl start things off with chairshots all round and in the early going some tidy moves are traded. Natural Born Killaz hits the PA system and New Jack and Kronus enter the fray. Inevitably the bout degenerates into your typical run-of-the-mill New Jack weapons and bloodletting affair. What else do you expect the “Original Gangsta” to do? Wrestle? Ha, he’s never heard of the word. It’s foreign object mayhem as far as he is concerned.

Noteworthy moments include Buh Buh Ray using a cheese grater on Mahoney, Big Dick Dudley interfering with his lameass Chokeslam, and Kronus returning fire with a beautiful 450 splash on Dick then going for the pinfall even though Big Dick isn’t in the match. By this stage everyone barring Little Guido and Buh Buh is busted open including FBI manager Tommy Rich who bleeds hard-way after an extremely stiff top rope guitar shot from Jack.

First to be eliminated are the team of NJ and Kronus when Bubba catches the former Eliminator coming off the top rope with a good looking Buh Buh Cutter for the pin. Shortly after, Gertner accidentally throws the ‘pro wrestling powder of eyesight blinding mystery’ into the face of Bubba who in turn accidentally nails partner D-Von with the 3D (with the help of Balls). Axl Rotten capitalises to eliminate The Duds. It’s down to Rotten & Mahoney vs. Guido & Smothers (AKA Freddy Joe Floyd of WWF jobber fame).

Finish: Balls attempts his Nutcracker Suite finisher (Michinoku Driver) but in doing so knocks the official down. Heel referee Jeff Jones dashes to the ring and counts to 2 then checks on his fellow referee instead of counting the 3 count for Mahoney. Balls grabs Jeff who nails him with a low blow and Guido rolls Mahoney up for Jones to count a very quick 1-2-3.

Comments: ‘Weapon infested brawl’ can only be used to describe this match. It kept the interest going and there were some nice spots. Tommy Rich was busted open on impact (of the guitar hitting him) and by the end of the match his entire face was a crimson mask. Match Rating: *3/4

Match #5: Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer

Commentary: This was a WWF vs. ECW flag match with ECW ‘heroin’ Dreamer fighting for his ‘beloved’ promotion against Van Dam’s WWF Monday Night exploits. To win you have to raise your flag in the ring, which seems simple enough. Van Dam is out first with the Bill Alfonso, while the ever-beautiful Beulah accompanies Dreamer. With the contest ready to begin, the video cuts the opening exchanges for some reason and we resume with both men on the outside and RVD has somehow busted open his eye. At this moment I’d also like to say that I lost commentary for the rest of the show (well it went VERY quiet indeed). Typically crap ECW production values for ya.

RVD runs through his usual selection of flamboyant spots including a well executed Van Daminator with Dreamer perched on the guardrail. It is all Van Dam until Tommy hits a hard top rope neckbreaker that flips “The Whole FN Show” over on impact. As the crowd chant “break his neck, break his neck”, Dreamer nails a dropkick into a chair into Van Dam’s face while in the Tree of Woe position. His advantage does not last long however as Fonzy nails the “Innovator of Violence” with a chair to the ankle, and the two trade a few moves until Dreamer spikes RVD with a nasty looking tope rope DDT. He then makes a cover (I thought this was a flag match?) but Alfonso pulls the official out of the ring and lays him out with a metal sign. Chairshots are traded in the ring and as a second referee counts a Dreamer pinfall attempt, Jeff Jones is back out to save “Mr Monday Night”. As Tommy blows an attempted Van Daminator, Beulah nails Jones where it hurts most and officials Jim Molineux and John Finnigan lay him out with a double DDT. As they pose like complete dorks, Fonzy hits a double low blow on them then Beulah nails him with one. Geez. Back to the real action and Tommy lands a Piledriver, which RVD sells by amazingly jumping a good foot or so in the air after impact.

Finish: Dreamer raises the ECW flag but the referee is still taking a nap. Phil LaFon and Doug Fournas run interference which keeps Dreamer distracted long enough for a returning Stevie Richards to hop into the ring and nail the “Innovator of Violence” with a Stevie Kick. Van Dam executes the 5 Star Frog Splash and Fournas, LaFon & Richards all count to 3, As Alfonso holds up the WWF flag. Rob announces himself as the winner (no official decision was ever made so I guess it was a no contest) and Sabu comes out and knocks down Beulah. As they all beat on Dreamer, The Sandman comes to the rescue, everyone bar Sabu leaves and our next bout is underway…

Comments: A good match with some stunning spots and generally smooth action, which is a rarity with these two. I didn’t like the flag stipulations and in the end they didn’t matter anyway so why did they even bother with them? The finish was overbooked and took away from what was otherwise a strong contest. Match Rating: **3/4

Match #6: Sabu vs. The Sandman (Tables & Ladders match)

Commentary: Sabu starts things off with a Suicide dive to the floor and the always-impressive Triple Jump Moonsault. Sandman returns fire by getting reckless with a ladder but Sabu quickly regains control with Air Sabu on the outside. “The Extreme Icon” hits the first big move of the match; a leg drop off the top rope through a table, which looks like it hurt him more than it did Sabu. Sabu hits exactly the same move moments later. First blown spot coming up…

With Sandy on a table at the top of the aisle Sabu attempts the Arabian Facebuster with a giant ladder off the turnbuckles. He realises in mid-air that the table is too far away and falls short by a few feet leaving the ladder to topple over onto Sandman who just falls off the table. Oh dear. “The Drunken Master” then throws himself through a table after missing a somersault Senton off the top. Only a few minutes gone and they are already running from spot to spot. Sabu hits another Triple Jump Moonsault this time with a ladder on top of his opponent. Next up, another blown spot, this one made me laugh rather than groan. With a ladder leaning against the ropes, Sabu went to the top turnbuckle. Sandy then staggered into the ropes knocking Sabu off the turnbuckles. Sabu was supposed to fall onto the ladder, which would slingshot into the face of The Sandman. The timing and execution was awful however, as Sabu ended up tumbling off the turnbuckle and Sandy decided to just fall on the ladder which brought about a collective groan in the arena, and backstage too I suspect. Really, these two are just no good for each other. It was SO bad that I found myself rewinding the tape just to watch it again and laugh. Oh the joy.

I’ve also got to note that at this point, Sandy’s main offensive move has been his elbow, which he continually drops ungracefully from out of nowhere. They actually look rather painful too as he just sticks the point of his elbow right into the kidneys of the main from Bombay, Michigan.

Sabu tries to retrieve the match from the depths of utter disaster by getting out a spike to lay into “The Extreme Icon” with. Sandman fights back however and sets up a ladder on the outside but makes a terrible mess of some sort of ‘move’ with the flimsy metal. They have almost totally lost the crowd at this point but Sandman continues to hurl his body at Sabu without caution (well, do you do anything with caution when you’re totally hammered?) and with the aid of the ladder that wakes up the crowd. Just. He then lays Sabu out on a table on the floor (that notably almost gave way under Sabu’s modest weight) and in an insane moment (that you’d only do if you’d drank so much you could no longer feel any sense of pain. Yes that’s Sandy’s secret all right) somersaults himself off the ladder, over the top rope and through the wood.

Finish: Sabu puts Sandman though yet another table on the outside and hits the ladder assisted Arabian Facebuster back in the ring for the pinfall.

Comments: A complete mess of a match. In fact because of this debacle, ECW decided to pre-record their next PPV outing so they could edit any blown spots if necessary! Sure they both took risks, but they took risks and botched virtually all of them. The match sequence was spot, spot, blown spot, blown spot, blown spot, spot, blown spot etc (I know that is Sabu’s style, but on this night it was beyond just being sloppy). Disjointed to say the least, the spots they did hit had little impact on the viewer because had missed so many beforehand. Match Rating: DUD

Match #7: Bam Bam Bigelow (c) vs. Shane Douglas (ECW World Heavyweight Title match)

Commentary: Former Triple Threat member, Bigelow beat champion Douglas for the gold at a show in Buffalo and in doing so, turned babyface. Now Threat leader “The Francise” gets the opportunity to reclaim the ECW World Title in his hometown. Douglas has Francine (who is on crutches after injuring her pelvis) with him as ever and is playing the typical hometown face role. Bigelow overwhelms the challenger in the early going with some heavy blows and stays in control by using his power and strength to his advantage. A Power Slam earns “The Beast From The East” a two count and Shane is in big trouble as the champion hits a vertical Suplex and a Baseball Slide to the outside. Douglas makes a short-lived comeback as he does not have the strength to Suplex Bigelow and the move is reversed. Triple B sets up a table in the ring and climbs the turnbuckles to Moonsault Douglas through the wood. Shane recovers however and Powerbombs the champion off the top rope crashing through the table. Douglas is in control with kidney jabs but once again it is short-lived as Bam Bam overwhelms him in a slow but methodical manner. No, it’s just slow.

Shane sneaks a clothesline in but can’t get the big man off his feet. Another clothesline sends Triple B over the top rope. Shane gets caught jumping to the outside and is driven hard through a ringside table. As Francine attempts to motivate “The Franchise”, Bigelow is in the ring selling the kidney blows he received early in the bout. Douglas slowly rolls back in and Bam Bam continues the assault with a Powerbomb for which he earns a 2 count. Douglas has been busted open from the pummelling he has endured.

As Triple Threat cardholders Candido and Storm come to ringside to the aid of their fallen leader, Bigelow picks up Douglas and tosses him over the turnbuckle and onto his buddies. Seeing her man in danger of losing the contest, Francine throws her crutches into the ring only for Bam Bam to punish the challenger with them. Douglas fights back with a big Belly-to-Belly Suplex to the delight of the fans but he cannot capitalise as Bigelow crushes him in the corner.

Finish: Bam Bam sets up a broken piece of table against a chair in the ring and goes for a huge Powerbomb through it. Douglas counters and executes a brutal Belly-to-Belly through the wood and metal for a pinfall from out of nowhere. [sarcasm]Didn’t see that one coming[/sarcasm]. Douglas captures his third ECW World crown to the delight of his hometown fans, but no one else. Candido, Storm and Francine tend to a beaten but victorious “Franchise” as the show fades to black.

Comments: A passable main event, Douglas isn’t the most versatile of workers in the world to say the very least, but neither is Bigelow. Bam Bam’s powerful offensive carries things to a watchable contest with a very popular conclusion in Pittsburgh. Match Rating: *3/4

Overall: Far from being the best ECW PPV, NTR 1997 was a very mediocre effort on the part of Paul E. and co. There were no stunning standout matches, yet barring Sabu vs. Sandy nothing was really bad. The wrestlers put in the effort, worked hard as usual, yet nothing really stood out for me as must see TV. On the whole, there was nothing at all wrong with the action on show (except Sabu and Sandy, of course) but I’ve just seen so much better from ECW on PPV that NTR ’97 just looks ‘normal’.

High points:

Van Dam vs. Dreamer – Strong action with some tasty spots.

Er…next please (It wasn’t that bad, honest) …

Low points:

Terrible booking of the RVD vs. Dreamer finish.

Poor production values (I mean, come-on I had no Joey Styles for the last 3 matches!)

Sabu vs. The Sandman botching every spot known to man involving metal and wood.