[2000-07-28-ECW-Dallas, TX] Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke

[soup23]

The Tajiri/Whipwreck team is one that I’m an interested in watching develop even though a tag title run in 2000 ECW feels well beneath Tajiri at this point. This match was pretty fun with both teams working well together. The highlight for me was Guido jumping over Mamaluke when he was in a giant swing. Tajiri locking on the Tarantula continues to get a huge reaction and it was easy from the crowd reaction in this match that this pairing at a minimum will be very over. **1/2

[AstroBoy]

This was a ton of fun. Mamaluke brought lots of intensity to this and Tajiri and Whipwreck get to have a lot of fun with crowd-pleasing spots in a tag match that goes off without a hitch. Good house show match.

 

**1/4

[Migs]

Is this the first match these two teams had?

 

What's apparent really fast here is that the dynamic is pretty good - you have two over babyfaces up against heels who can generate real heat (a bit of a rarity in ECW at the time). They start with the most reliable pairing in Guido-Tajiri and build pretty quickly from there. The speed is the main critique here - everything feels a little bit rushed and the heat doesn't build quite as well as it could (of course, they'd get more time later). Finish was wonderfully put together.

 

Side note: I kept getting distracted by the super polite looking people in the first row, who seem so un-ECW.

[GSR]

The “Where’s my pizza?” chant has progressed to the fans adding a “Big Sal ate it” after the question is asked.  An eager Tony Mamaluke has to be held back by Guido after Tajiri flips the bird at his partner.  A spinning heel kick drops Guido and Tajiri goes to town with those quick fire kicks and punches.  Guido reverses the go behind and catches him with a neckbreaker.  Double clothesline by the FBI who then taunt Mikey on the apron.  Tajiri ducks the swinging arm and flattens Mamaluke with an awesome looking and sounding superkick.  Deserved “Holy shit!” chants for that!  The ‘Unholy Alliance’ fold Mamaluke up like an accordion after a double clothesline of their own before giving it back to Guido just like how the FBI were previously giving it to Mikey.  Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Mikey and Guido is in to break up the pin.  Slingshot guillotine leg drop for a two.  ‘O’Connor roll’, although Mikey misses seeing the tag and Guido with a shotgun dropkick to the head.  Double Russian leg sweep off the middle.  Guido gets a near fall after the ‘Sicilian Slice’ and Mamaluke with that nice combination snap suplex into a Northern Lights.  Mikey makes the hot tag and Tajiri with a pair of dropkicks to the knee, taking the legs out from under the FBI.  A giant swing on Mamaluke, which is a new one for him, forces Guido to hurdle over his partner to avoid being tripped.  The Tarantula, just like the handspring elbow moments earlier, pops the crowd and Mamaluke has regained his bearings enough to make the save.  He comes off the top but is caught with a ‘Whippersnapper’ and Tajiri with a brainbuster for the win.

If this is only a taste of things to come, I can’t wait to see what is to come!  Tajiri and Guido have been working together all year so no surprise everything involving them looks so good, but Mamaluke and Whipwreck are right with them and the timing on spots is already there (see the finish).  Real enjoyable house show match and my favourite ECW one for the month outside of what took place on the PPV.