Sabu a Day 9 vs Taz Blackwood New Jersey December 27th 1997

Way back in 2009 I talked about a Sabu vs Taz match from Halloween 1997. http://drvictatorpresents.blogspot.com/2009/09/taz-vs-sabu-10-3197.html

I really love it and it ended up number 2 on my ECW Top Twenty list. They ran this match around the horn. But as Fancams are slightly difficult to come by online. It was the only one I could find.

Recently I found two more. One is from February 1999 and the other from December 97. I will talk about the 12/97 one here.

One thing I love about watching a long running series is seeing how it evolves. Watch the Hulk Hogan/Macho Man feud and every match in 85 and 86 you see things being added and things subtracted. Until finally you get the perfect Boston Garden match.

This is similar in some ways. The thirty minute draw from 10/31/97 Sabu and Taz ran out of spots early on. Taz hit most of his suplexes and Sabu his big aerial stuff. So they had to fill up time in the match. Which leads to neat stuff like Sabu going after Taz's knee. Even locking on a good looking figure four leglock.

This match they learned their lesson. Taz is very careful to space out his suplexes. Using them in the same context. Basically he nails Sabu with one, anytime Sabu is building up momentum.

But this match is not as good. A few minutes in, Taz hits Sabu with a nasty clothesline. Sabu broke his jaw a month before, and he messed up here. The rest of the match he is trying to recover from that.

Every thing he hits looks a bit off. At one point he leg drops Taz thru a table and hits his head on the guard rail.

He hits Air Sabu and kinda does a Flair Flip over the turnbuckle.

Later Taz T-Bone suplexes Sabu thru a propped up table and lands at a bad angle. He gets flap jacked on the table and it does not break.

It is one of those nights where nothing goes quite right.

Taz is TV Champ so he is not jobbing and Sabu is not jobbing on a house show. Sabu is the only guy I can think of more willing to lose on Television than on House Shows.

So they are obviously working toward a draw. The submission stuff is not as fun here. It does look like they are cranking it on. But you also know its more to fill time. Since unlike last time its not building up a story like the Halloween draw.

I still enjoyed the match. It has some rough charm. Also its fun contrasting it with the other matches.