Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome (ECW, 6-12-2005)

ECW One Night Stand, New York, NY

Before the match, Joey Styles runs over Mike Awesome leaving ECW for WCW years ago. Says Awesome was making six figures in ECW. I’ve heard stories, but woo.

As Styles whines about Awesome, these two just start clubbing the fuck out of each other after a couple shoves. Side headlock from Tanaka, Awesome sends him off the ropes and catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex. Awesome to the apron, and he slingshots back in with a shoulder to Tanaka, then flies out with a dive over the top to the floor.

Joey Styles: “Suicide dive by Mike Awesome, and it’s a shame he didn’t succeed in taking his own life!” I actually expected that line to be edited out on the Network, since, y’know, less than two years later Awesome did commit suicide.

Awesome whips Tanaka into the guardrail, then charges but gets backdropped into the crowd, and Tanaka has a chair. Tanaka gets a running start and smashes Awesome over the head. Awesome whipped into the guardrail, gets a boot up on Tanaka, and then clotheslines him down onto the floor.

Foley keeps trying to get Styles back on track, but Joey’s off on one here. Awesome sets up a table leaning against the railing outside, then gets Tanaka set on the apron. Oh, boy. AWESOME BOMB THROUGH THE TABLE! The crowd, which started cold on Awesome, are warming up to him again, as Foley notes.

Back in, Awesome hits the Awesome Splash on Tanaka, getting huge air on it. But only a two count because Tanaka is a madman. We keep getting shots of the Anti-ECW Crusaders from RAW and Smackdown reacting to the match like a bunch of jerks. Everyone up there played their role real well all night.

Awesome goes for a power bomb, Tanaka flips over and gets a pin, but Awesome rolls and deadlifts him with another power bomb. Awesome outside looking for more plunder. He finds a chair. JBL is excited.

Awesome swings, hey Tanaka has a chair too! They both miss. Awesome lands. Awesome lands again. Awesome lands a third time. All clean headshots. I know I am supposed to be appalled by this in 2018, and I am sorta, I guess, but also I’m not. This shit is crazy.

And Tanaka, as always, won’t stay down. Awesome charges the corner, Tanaka gets the boots up and hits Diamond Dust! Tanaka piles the two chairs in the corner and walks Awesome over. Tornado DDT onto the chairs! Cover, two, kickout.

Tanaka puts a chair on Awesome’s head, then smacks it with the other chair. Tanaka up top with the chair now. Elbow drop with the chair to the other chair to the head! Cover gets two again.

Even Joey is softening on Awesome.

Tanaka misses the forearm, eats a German, springs up, and gets cut in half with a spear. Awesome going up top with a chair in hand. Flying chairshot! Awesome finds another table under the ring. We keep checking in on drunk chickenshit JBL who would later shoot on Blue Meanie and then spend years running scared from Tracy Smothers’ challenge to fight him, and even later in life would get knocked the fuck out by Joey Styles of all the people.

Awesome sets up the table near the corner, and up we go again. Tanaka hits a DDT through the table instead of Awesome doing anything. Two count! Foley and Styles both misread JBL finding this match hilarious.

Up top again, AWESOME BOMB ON THE BROKEN TABLE AND DAMN IT REALLY WENT ALMOST WRONG. Cover, two, TANAKA GETS A SHOULDER UP!

The crowd is now standing and cheering as the two guys try to recover. They chant ECW up at the WWE guys in the balcony. Awesome sets up another table outside and then looks to get more room by pushing the front row back. “This match rules” chant.

Awesome back in, goes for the Awesome Bomb out through the table. Tanaka blocks once, BUT NOT THE SECOND TIME! AND AWESOME DIVES ON HIM TO THE FLOOR, WHERE THE REFEREE COUNTS THE PIN BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK NOT?

Awesome power bombs poor referee Jim Molineaux after because, again, WHY THE FUCK NOT?

Rating: 4.5/5. ECW One Night Stand was an excellent show in terms of pure entertainment, an amazing celebration for people who loved ECW and the wrestlers who made it what it was. But there were three matches coming in that I was especially looking forward to. One was Rey-Psicosis, one was Benoit-Eddie, and the other was this one. This is the only one that lived up to the promise. The other two were arguably the worst matches on the show, in fact. This stole the show, as these two pretty much always did when they got together. They had phenomenal chemistry, both reckless lunatics who brought it extra hard with one another, and to do it one last time on a WWE-produced show was terrific. This would be the last match of Mike Awesome’s career. I’d say he went out on a pretty high note.