The Night the Line Was Crossed was a
professional wrestling live event produced by
Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on February 5, 1994. The event was held in the
ECW Arena in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in the United States.
Excerpts from The Night the Line Was Crossed (including the unabridged main event) aired on the syndicated television show ''
ECW Hardcore TV'', while the full event was released on
VHS in 1994. It was made available for
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
on the
WWE Network in 2020.
The main event and the bout between
Jimmy Snuka and
Tommy Dreamer were both included on the compilation
DVD ''ECW: Unreleased Vol. 1'' released by
WWE in 2012.
Event
The commentator for The Night the Line Was Crossed was
Joey Styles.
The ring announcer was Bob Artese.
The referees were Jim Molineaux and John Finnegan.
The event was attended by approximately 1,000 people, selling out the ECW Arena.
In the opening match, which was not included on the VHS release, the previously unnamed
911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 911 ...
defeated
Chad Austin by pinfall following a
chokeslam.
The second match saw
Mr. Hughes defeat
Sal Bellomo by pinfall following a
sidewalk slam in a short
squash.
The third match was a
double dog collar tag team match pitting
the Sandman
The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.
Representation in traditional folklore
The Sandman is a traditional charact ...
and
Tommy Cairo against
the Pitbull and
Rockin' Rebel, with the Sandman chained to Rockin' Rebel and Cairo chained to the Pitbull.
The match ended when Cairo delivered a
belly-to-belly suplex to the Pitbull and pinned him, with the Sandman wrapping a chain around the Pitbull's legs to prevent him from kicking out.
The fourth match was a "no rules" tag team match between
the Public Enemy and
the Bruise Brothers. The Public Enemy won the bout after
Johnny Grunge hit one of the Bruise Brothers with a
2×4 then pinned him.
In the fifth match,
Jimmy Snuka faced
Tommy Dreamer. Towards the end of the match, Dreamer kicked out of Snuka's ''
Superfly Splash'' to the shock of commentator Joey Styles.
Snuka then gave Dreamer two more ''Superfly Splashes'' before pinning him with one hand. After the match, Snuka gave Dreamer yet another ''Superfly Splash'' - causing him to
cough up blood - then gave a
diving double axe handle to ECW president
Tod Gordon after he attempted to intervene.
In the next match,
Pat Tanaka and
the Sheik faced
Kevin Sullivan and
the Tazmaniac
Peter Senerchia (born October 11, 1967), better known by the ring name Taz (also spelled Tazz) is an American radio personality, color commentator, and retired professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a commentator and mana ...
. The match ended after the Sheik threw a
fireball
Fireball may refer to:
Science
* Fireball (meteor), a brighter-than-usual meteor
* Ball lightning, an atmospheric electrical phenomenon
* ''Bassia scoparia'', a plant species
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''The Fireball'', a 1950 film starring ...
at the Tazmaniac, enabling Tanaka to pin him with a
roll-up.
The penultimate match was a singles bout between
J.T. Smith and
Mike Awesome. Smith defeated Awesome in an upset after reversing the ''
Awesome Bomb'' into a
cradle
Cradle may refer to:
* Cradle (bed)
* Bassinet, a small bed, often on rockers, in which babies and small children sleep
Mechanical devices
* Cradle (circus act), or aerial cradle or casting cradle used in an aerial circus act
* Cradling (paintin ...
. After the match, Awesome attacked the referee.
He attempted to give the referee a
diving splash
Aerial techniques, also known as "high-flying moves" are maneuvers in professional wrestling using the ring's posts and ropes as aids, in many cases to demonstrate the speed and agility of smaller, nimble and acrobatically inclined wrestlers prefer ...
, but the ring rope broke.
The main event was a
three way dance
Three Way Dance was a professional wrestling live event produced by Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on April 8, 1995. The event was held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was a "double header" event with ...
for the
ECW Heavyweight Championship
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, WWE, World Wrestling Ent ...
, with the reigning champion,
Terry Funk, defending his championship against
Sabu and
Shane Douglas. The match arose after Sabu lost the Championship to Funk due to interference from Douglas.
The stipulation for the match was that Sabu and Shane Douglas would wrestle, with Funk joining after 15 minutes (or when one of the competitors had eliminated the other).
The match was a "wild brawl" with interference from
911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 911 ...
,
the Bad Breed
The Bad Breed was the professional wrestling tag team of Axl Rotten with his storyline brother/real life protégé Ian Rotten. The team achieved their greatest fame in the Philadelphia professional wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestlin ...
,
Paul E. Dangerously
Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, former promoter, photographer, and executive. He is currently signed to WWE, appearing on the SmackDown brand as manager for Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight ...
, and
Sherri Martel.
After 60 minutes, the match was declared a time limit draw.
The match received a
standing ovation from the audience.
Following the match, Douglas gave "a fiery interview, laced with
shoot comments",
then brawled with Funk.
Response
The main event of The Night the Line Was Crossed has been attributed with making "wrestling fans around the country take notice of the happenings in
South Philadelphia".
Journalist
Dave Meltzer noted "there are very few examples anyone can come up with of a one hour television show where a world title match would air in its entirety in North America".
The main event stood out for both its length and the then-rarity of
three way dance
Three Way Dance was a professional wrestling live event produced by Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on April 8, 1995. The event was held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was a "double header" event with ...
s, with the match helping popularize them.
ECW mainstay
Tommy Dreamer described The Night the Line Was Crossed as "a turning point" for ECW, stating "you knew something special was here, and we started running more and more towns after that."
Results
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Night the Line Was Crossed
1994 in Pennsylvania
1994 in professional wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling supercards and pay-per-view events
Events in Philadelphia
February 1994 events in the United States
Professional wrestling in Philadelphia