[2000-09-23-ECW-Danbury, CT] Rob Van Dam & Kid Kash vs Da Baldies

[soup23]

I made coffee and toasted a bagel and ATE the whole thing in the time it took RVD to make his entrance. 10 fucking minutes for a 1,000 person crowd. Da Baldies are only able to take over on offense when Kash and RVD are obsessively mugging for the crowd. The heat sequence on Kash is easily the best part of the match but still doesn’t rise above the decent level. Hot tag to RVD and we get contrived double team spots and a bunch of flipping for not much execution. The finish is cool with the rana from Kash and Five Star Frog Splash from RVD timed perfectly. Overall, RVD has been one of my least favorite wrestlers of 2000 and this was a chore to sit through that only served to entertain the people that don’t watch the weekly tv. *1/2

[AstroBoy]

This was a snooze for me. RVD is nothing but flips and crowd interaction here and Kid Kash does an admirable job doing the heavy lifting for his team but Da Baldies are not credible at all against them and the crowd could care less. I really do love Kash's top rope rana, he gets insane height on it.

 

*

[Migs]

Oddly okay wrestling sequence at the start, although it's clearly not Angel's strength. RVD is really in the cruising phase here, as even his dive doesn't look very good. The Baldies work reasonably well here - as they'd mostly darn garbage brawls, I was pleasantly surprised. But there's really zero heat here, as there were for most RVD matches in 2000. Hot tag into a long series of spots, although I did like some of the RVD/Kash double team stuff. Okayish way to kill time, which is sort of a metaphor for ECW itself at this point.

[GSR]

RVD puts the Sandman to shame here, seemingly slapping hands and stopping for a chat with every fan in the front row.  When he eventually gets into the ring he’s still not done, proceeding to climb each turnbuckle in succession and play to the crowd some more.  Over ten minutes after this began Kash and Angel finally lock up.  Just like when Da Baldies faced Sandman and Chilly Willy they start with some pure wrestling, Kash getting a couple of two counts, firstly with a springboard sunset flip and then an ugly looking double leg cradle.  Angel complains to referee Jim Molyneux of a hair pull, something that for some reason I always find amusing when the guy doing the complaining doesn’t have a single strand on his head!  Van Dam and DeVito take over from their respective partners and if you’ve watched more than one Rob Van Dam match this year then you know how this goes.  Angel tries to attack RVD as he’s mugging to the fans but gets caught by a Kash flying lariat.  Fuck, yet more playing to the crowd after a pair of dives to the floor and now Kash is at it too, this is so fucking tedious.  Da Baldies are up pretty quickly and sensing an opportunity jump the two show monkeys from behind.  Double flapjack on Van Dam and a nice little double spinebuster into a double crab on Kash.  Heat section on Kash who gets in a couple of hope spots along the way.  Van Dam is paying no attention whatsoever to what is going on in the ring.  High full nelson slam by Angel.  DeVito runs into a big boot, Kash with a twisting somersault senton before ducking the clothesline and making the hot tag.  More of the norm from RVD although we do get a great looking ‘Van Daminator’ on Angel.  Talking of the norm, Fonzie interferes causing DeVito to crotch himself upstairs and a top rope rana/’Five Star’ frog splash puts him away for the three.

Only Kash saves this from being an utter stinker.  Van Dam is predictable in everything he does and his kicks look worse than usual, ‘Van Daminator’ aside.  I wonder how much of my life I have actually wasted just by watching him and the Sandman making their entrances this year.  Did anyone think Da Baldies had even the remotest chances of winning this?