[2000-09-01-ECW-TNN] Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Roadkill & Danny Doring

[soup23]

TNN starts us off with the semi finals of the ECW tournament although hardcore tv gives us some glimpses at the earlier rounds. These shows are generally regarded as the last stand of ECW as a company that could be something. This was a generic match that could have displayed the younger grouping of ECW talent but it felt like the crowd didn’t really resonate with any of these guys therefore the heat was quiet. Even Roadkill didn’t get as large of a reaction as he has elsewhere. Roadkill does get the hot tag and runs through his arsenal of power moves and springboard clothesline. Doring is back up top and hits a leg drop. Roadkill goes up top but Swinger throws him through the ringside table. CW Anderson gets involved providing enough of a distraction for Diamond to regain and hit the Problem Solver allowing Swinger/Diamond to advance to the finals. *

[AstroBoy]

They sure did a lot of stuff in the time they had but none of it really resonated with the crowd. Simon and Swinger are impossibly bland. At least Doring and Roadkill were kind of crowd pleasing and stood out a little bit. There are so many ridiculous signature move pun names here that Joey Styles calls with enormous amounts of pride and vigor -- it becomes nauseating. Fine match though to push Swinger and Simon through to the final.

 

*1/2

[GSR]

The semi-finals of the World tag team title tournament.  Joey Styles says how Simon & Swinger were considered a comedy act until they aligned themselves with C.W. Anderson (who is out seconding them).  ‘Panty Drop’ elbow on Diamond who then rolls to the outside to join his partner who had been despatched there earlier.  Roadkill gets down on all fours and Doring vaults off his back out over the top onto the three of them, surprisingly that one hasn’t got a ridiculous name like most of Doring’s offense.  ‘Lancaster Lariat of Lust’ or the old Hart Foundation finisher, but the official misses the cover as he’s too busy trying to get Roadkill back onto the apron.  Swinger reverses the Irish whip and Anderson trips Doring and pulls him out to the floor.  Although he is able to fight off C.W. and Simon, he’s caught by the Swinger baseball slide.  Cobra clutch Russian legsweep aka ‘the Swing Thing’ followed by a double flatliner for a two.  This is getting no reaction from the crowd who’re sat there with their arms folded.  Doring ducks the double clothesline and hits a double ‘bareback’.  There’s a bit of a reaction to the hot tag, but not much.  Roadkill plants Simon with a ‘Dirt Road slam’ and just a bog standard side slam for Swinger.  Doring drops ‘the Danaconda’ (top tope legdrop) and as Roadkill ascends the opposite corner Swinger gives him a shove and he falls through the time keepers table at ringside.  As the official checks on Roadkill, C.W. is in but ends up accidentally decking Simon.  Doring looks for the ‘Wham, Bam, Thank You Mam’ when Diamond stomps on his foot and then kicks him low.  C.W. assists on ‘the Problem Solver’ and Swinger is in to make the cover as he and Simon advance to the final.

I’m struggling to think of any move that has a worse name than the five Danny Doring ones in my write up, and he didn’t even do the ‘G-Spot sweep’ or the ‘Buddy whatever it’s called’ tonight!  A flat match with a disinterested crowd, Roadkill got a bit of a response on his hot tag but not as much as he usually gets.  I would’ve expected Simon & Swinger to have been first round eliminations so surprising to see them go this deep in the tournament.