Random Wrestling Match Review (December 17, 2011)

Welcome to another random wrestling match review. All of my wrestling reviews will be matches that are randomly selected from my DVD collection. The number I randomly selected for this review was 267. The match I will review is...


The ECW Originals (Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, The Sandman and Rob Van Dam) vs. The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker and Kevin Thorn) from WrestleMania 23- April 1, 2007

Wow, only my second Random Wrestling Match Review and I get to review a WrestleMania match. This is not one of the most famous WrestleMania matches but I am happy with this selection. I recently watched The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD for the first time so it's nice to see that I will be reviewing a match featuring four original ECW wrestlers.

The Facts

• This match took place at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.  Ford Field is the home of the Detroit Lions. WrestleMania 23 is currently the only WWE Event that happened at Ford Field.
• All four of the ECW Originals appeared during ECW's first PPV called Barely Legal on April 13, 1997 at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The attendance was 1,170. The attendance at Ford Field for WrestleMania 23 was 80,103 which is the second highest WWE attendance of all-time behind WrestleMania III which was also in Michigan.
• The time for this match was 06:25.
• Joey Styles and Tazz were the announcers for this match.
• This match followed the Undertaker vs. Batista match which was one of Undertaker's best WrestleMania matches. 
• This was Rob Van Dam's final WrestleMania match. Van Dam is from Battle Creek, Michigan which is only 122 miles (a two hour drive) from Ford Field.
• Sabu, Sandman, and Rob Van Dam were no longer in the WWE at the end of 2007.
• Elijah Burke is now a TNA Wrestler and is known as "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero.
• Marcus Cor Von was released from the WWE on September 19, 2007. His real name is Monty Brown and he is a former NFL player. Brown played in four NFL seasons as a linebacker from 1993 to 1996 and he played for the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. According to the Hartford Courant, one of the reasons Brown signed with the Patriots was to be closer to the World Wrestling Federation headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. He stopped playing football due to an ankle injury, and decided to train as a professional wrestler.
• Kevin Thorn was off WWE television before the end of 2007. It has been reported that former WWE writer Dave Lagana once sexually harassed Thorn and flicked Thorn's nipples in a bathroom of a WWE Event.
• Matt Striker is the only wrestler from this match who is still a WWE employee. Striker is currently a commentator for the WWE and has done several backstage interviews with WWE Superstars during WWE TV broadcasts this year. 

The Match

Sabu and Matt Striker start the match. Sabu takes control of the match right away with several springboard attacks. Sabu gets Striker on the ropes and tags in The Sandman. Striker is standing outside the ropes with his feet on the bottom rope. Sabu is pulling Striker's head down over the ropes and meanwhile, Sandman has climbed to the top turnbuckle. Sandman jumps off the turnbuckle and does a leg drop right on the back of Striker's head. Nice move. Sandman goes for a pin but Marcus Cor Von breaks it up by kicking Sandman in the head. Striker then quickly tags Elijah Burke into the match. Sandman immediately knocks Burke down and tags in Tommy Dreamer. Sandman and Dreamer do a couple double-team attacks on Burke. After Sandman leaves the ring, Striker distracts the referee which allows Cor Von to hit Dreamer without tagging in. Then, Burke hits Dreamer with a clothesline. Burke tags Cor Von into the match. Cor Von is able to get in a lot of offense against Dreamer.

Cor Von tags Burke back into the match. Burke and Cor Von do a double-team back drop on Dreamer. The New Breed are in complete control of this match right now. Dreamer needs to make a tag. Burke goes for a pin but Sabu breaks it up. Burke picks up Dreamer, drags him to the New Breed's corner, and tags in Kevin Thorn. Right away, Thorn is able to knock Dreamer down and he applies a hold to Dreamer's head. Dreamer stands up and tries to fight out of the hold but Thorn rams Dreamer into the turnbuckles. With Dreamer in the corner, Thorn tries to slam into him but Dreamer is able to kick Thorn in the face. Dreamer tries to knock Thorn down but Thorn is able to hit a nice move that looks like a spinebuster. Thorn tags Cor Von into the match. Cor Von stomps on Dreamer and then hits a nice suplex. Cor Von goes for a cover but Dreamer kicks out. Cor Von applies a hold to Dreamer right under his chin. Dreamer tries to break out of the hold but Cor Von hits Dreamer in the back and tags Burke into the match. Cor Von tries to perform a move on Dreamer but Dreamer reverses it! Dreamer sets Cor Von up for a reverse DDT! Burke runs at Dreamer and tries to clothesline Dreamer but Dreamer ducks. Dreamer then catches Burke with his other arm. He's holding onto both Burke and Cor Von!

Dreamer hits a combination DDT/neckbreaker! Awesome move! Can Dreamer make a tag? Burke tries to stop Dreamer from reaching the corner but Dreamer kicks Burke. Dreamer makes the tag to Rob Van Dam and Burke tags Striker. Rob Van Dam takes control of the match. RVD knocks down Striker and goes to the top turnbuckle. It looks like he's going for the Five Star Frog Splash but Kevin Thorn enters the ring. RVD jumps off the turnbuckles and kicks Thorn in the face! Striker is now in the corner and RVD performs a great corner monkey flip on Striker. With Striker on the mat, RVD hits a rolling thunder. Then, Cor Von is able to pull RVD out of the ring and knocks RVD down. Sabu enters the ring and flips over the ropes onto Cor Von! Wow! Dreamer then hits a DDT on Striker. RVD and Striker are the legal men in the match but RVD is still down outside the ring. After the DDT, Burke hits Dreamer from behind and Dreamer rolls out of the ring. Sandman enters the ring and clotheslines Burke out of the ring. Sandman's momentum causes him to fall out of the ring too. RVD is now up and he climbs the turnbuckles. Striker is still down after the DDT. RVD leaps off the top turnbuckle and hits Striker with the Five Star Frog Splash. RVD goes for the cover and gets the win.

Winners: The ECW Originals

Rating: ***

I liked this match. Most of the match was The New Breed attacking Tommy Dreamer but the final two minutes of the match was very exciting. The ECW Originals looked good. The New Breed wrestlers were okay but I can see why their WWE wrestling careers ended shortly after this match. I want to give this match a higher rating but this match was a little bit too short and most of this match was boring. It's an enjoyable six minute match but I think it would have been better if weapons were used and if Sandman, RVD, and Sabu had more time in the ring. I thought this match could have been a lot better. I will say that they did a good job making it look like Tommy Dreamer had no chance to make a tag which made the match interesting when Dreamer finally did make a tag.

This Tuesday is the start of Chicago Week because RAW will be in Chicago on December 26. Chicago is my city and this is my blog so I'm having a Chicago Week. In honor of Chicago Week, I will do a Random Chicago Wrestling Match Review next week.