[2000-08-12-ECW-St. Petersburg, FL] Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke

[soup23]

The tag division is the thing in ECW that feels the most fresh and has the most juice to me right now. This had Whipwreck/Tajiri finding their footing as a team but also told a great story of them not being there all the way just yet. I appreciated the mist going awry and the FBI winning the match helps set up stuff in the future given how the tag title pans out. Guido and Mamaluke can bump, wrestle the mat and provide a good base for the big comebacks. Overall, a tag that won't be remembered at year end but would be remembered for someone attending the show as a positive. ***1/4 (6.6)

[Migs]

Was hoping the run-time meant this would be a bit more fleshed out than their first match against each other, but there's a lot of stalling to start. Tajiri and Mikey are starting to work in some double teams, though, which is nice. I thought they were better as a team here than the FBI, who didn't get a lot of their more interesting stuff in - brings the heat segment down a bit, more generic than the other FBI matches I've seen recently. Tajiri is terrific in taking a hot tag. Good finishing sequence, too. I liked this, but it still feels like they're putting together the building blocks of the better matches they'd have.

[AstroBoy]

Big Sal takes a fan's beer and tosses it onto another fan in the front row. Awesome.

 

I thought this was pretty good but not a super standout performance. As much as I love him, I really thought Tajiri worked half speed and kind of lackadaisical early on with Guido. Really I came away pretty impressed by Mamaluke and Whipwreck out of the four. These four obviously mesh well and are developing more chemistry as a matchup and this was a nice spreading of the wings to move toward better things.

 

***

[GSR]

A bit of shtick and stalling before things get going here.  I should’ve known to not expect a carbon copy out of these guys and that we’d get something different to their previous tag.  Guido with a running crossbody, however Tajiri catches and sets him for a bodyslam when Guido counters into a Fujiwara arm bar.  He crowbars and wrenches back on that arm forcing Tajiri to go to the ropes for the break.  Double belly to back suplex by the FBI.  They briefly target that arm, including a nice hammerlock suplex, until Tajiri ducks the clothesline and kills Mamaluke with a superkick.  Boy does he sell those kicks well.  Some nice double teaming out of the ‘Unholy Alliance’ and when Mamaluke takes to the floor, the Sinister Minister is there to rake his nails down his back. Mikey with an O’Connor roll, however he completely misses seeing the tag being made and while he waits for the official to count, Guido with a dropkick to the head.  Fujiwara arm bar take down off the reverse crossbody.  Snap suplex into a Fisherman’s by Mamaluke as he adds a slight variation on that move to his repertoire.  STF, cross arm bar, the FBI are trying all sorts of submissions to get Mikey to tap.  Guido telegraphs the back drop, Mikey with a ‘Whippersnapper’ and he’s able to make the tag to Tajiri who kills Mamaluke for a second time with another of those kicks.  Tajiri ties Guido in the ‘Tree of Woe’, dropkicks him in the face and then whips him towards Mikey who comes off the top turnbuckle with a flying clothesline.  Big Sal wanders into the ring and the ref just stands by as he does so, doing nothing to try and get him out of there.  He doesn’t fair well anyway, the Sinister Minister low blowing him with his cane before the Alliance nail him with a pair of dropkicks.  Tajiri sits Mamaluke on the top turnbuckle for a belly to back, but he flips backwards over him and hits a Russian, sorry Italian, leg sweep instead.  Double axe handle off the top by Mamaluke, however he’s wide open and Tajiri lands a kick to the mid-section.  Tajiri blows the green mist, but Mamaluke ducks out the way and he accidentally blinds his own partner.  Guido provides some assistance as Mamaluke counters the brainbuster with a DDT, ‘Kiss of Death’ and a win for the FBI.

Good match and you can see the development, especially with the Unholy Alliance who have added a fair few double team moves to their arsenal.  I also like the way these teams don’t rest on their laurels, it was always evident in the Tajiri/Guido/Crazy three ways from early in the year, but it’s the same again here.  While most teams would be happy to re-do the match they did from just over a week ago, not these guys.  Constantly adapting, constantly adding new wrinkles and constantly mixing things up.