WHAT IF? Doring & Roadkill vs Mikey & Tajiri at ECW Living Dangerously 2001

I think it’s safe to say that I am a massive history buff when it comes to the late 1990s and early 2000s as it relates to professional wrestling. I mean, the guy who runs Hardway HQ purchased The Big Bang May 6 domain solely to say he owns a piece of WCW.

So I always found it amazing that there was one topic never touched as it came to the final days of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001.

As we all know, ECW’s final pay-per-view was Guilty As Charged on January 7, 2001. Six days later, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the promotion ran its last live event. However, in spite of the impending hiatus, there was still one pay-per-view on the docket listed: 

Living Dangerously at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan, New York City on March 21, 2001.

All fears were realized when Paul Heyman surprised the wrestling world on March 5, becoming Jim Ross’ new color analyst on Raw Is War from Washington, DC. ECW was done.

Even so, many held out hope that the PPV would still take place. However, the 21st came and went with no show, and a few weeks later on April 4, 2001, Mr. Heyman, on behalf of HHG Corporation, filed for bankruptcy, officially closing Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Within months, it went from “the Big 3” to the WWF being the only one left standing.

Similar to my views on “WHAT IF?” regarding The Big Bang for World Championship Wrestling, I have something similar in mind as it comes to Living Dangerously 2001 for ECW. Simply, it’s because there WAS one match scheduled for that pay-per-view on that night had ECW continued.

There would have been a match for the ECW World Tag Team Championship.

That’s right.

ECW World Tag Team Champions “Dastardly” Danny Doring and Roadkill would have defended the gold against the Unholy Alliance of Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri!

—

ECW really rededicated themselves to tag team wrestling in the final six months of the promotion. 

After Justin Credible broke up the Impact Players with Lance Storm and threw down the ECW World Tag Team Titles at Cyberslam 2000 on April 22, 2000, en route to winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship against Tommy Dreamer in an impromptu match, the belts were vacant. Over the next few months on both ECW on TNN and Hardcore TV, the promotion began rebuilding the division. Young tandems like Nova & Chris Chetti, Simon Diamond & Swinger, Joey Matthews & Christian York, Hot Commodity and the F.B.I. were working their way up the ranks, putting on great matches.

Two of the stand-out teams from this time were the Unholy Alliance and Doring & Roadkill.

—--

Mikey Whipwreck, an ECW Triple Crown winner, recently returned to ECW after spending 1999 in WCW. Almost immediately, Mikey began to go down the depths of despair. In turn, he linked up with the devilish Sinister Minister. The Minister made Mikey his “unholy alter-boy” and the pair began stealing the show each week on television with their promos.

A few weeks after Heatwave 2000 in July, Mikey, who was embroiled in a rivalry with Little Guido Maritato, Tony Mamaluke, & Big Sal E Graziano, lost on the July 29 edition of ECW on TNN to Guido. Finally, after a three-on-one assault, Tajiri shocked everyone by making the save, taking out his longtime rival Guido, Mamaluke, and Big Sal, misting him in his good eye (the other one was burned backstage by Mikey via a fireball earlier in the night). Tajiri shook hands with both the Minister and Mikey, and an “Unholy Alliance” was born.

After defeating the F.B.I. and EZ Money & Julio Dinero in the first two rounds of the ECW World Tag Team Title Tournament on August 25, 2000, Mikey & Tajiri shocked the world and defeated Simon & Swinger and Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn in the finals to win the rejuvenated belts in the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Although the duo lost the belts the next night to the F.B.I in a shocker, Mikey & Tajiri were consistently stealing the show over the next few months.

—--

Meanwhile, Danny Doring & Roadkill literally worked their way up from the bottom of ECW to the top.

Both men trained under Taz and Perry Saturn at the ECW House of Hardcore wrestling school However, it was quickly determined that both men had immense chemistry as colleagues. Doring once told a story on a shoot interview that during training, he and Roadkill would run “blow-up drills” against their other training partners.

After graduating the school in 1997 (only four graduated - Chris Chetti & Tom Marquez were the other two), Paul Heyman officially put them together in 1998. “Dastardly” Danny, the playboy from Pepper Pike, Ohio, and Roadkill, the Angry Amish Chicken Plucker from Lancaster, PA, were one of the oddest pairings in wrestling history, but it worked. Looking back, Doring & Roadkill were very reminiscent of the Hart Foundation in both look - Doring with the Bret Hart style gear, Roadkill with the beard - and style. They even did a Hart Attack, which they dubbed the Lancaster Lariat of Lust.

The duo paid their dues, working their tails off for the next eighteen months. Finally, their hard work paid off, wrestling on the Heatwave 1999 pay-per-view, with Miss Congeniality (a relatively unknown Lita) as their valet, against their rivals Nova & Chris Chetti. After a great tag team match, Doring & Roadkill continued to excel throughout the rest of the year and into 2000.

In the ECW World Tag Team Championship Tournament on 8/25/00, the pair defeated Devito & Angel of Da Baldies in a 90 second first round match, but fell in the second to Simon & Swinger, thanks to interference from CW Anderson. However, the next night in the Hammerstein Ballroom, Doring & Roadkill pulled off the biggest win of their career at that point, defeating Simon & Swinger and Nova & Chetti in an impromptu three-way dance.

In late November, Doring & Roadkill got involved with the F.B.I., with Little Guido and Mamaluke pulling off the ULTIMATE disrespect, cutting the Dastardly One’s hair and Roadkill’s BEARD (an absolute no-go in the Amish community). The pair stated that if they were unable to win the ECW World Tag Team Titles at the Massacre on 34th Street pay-per-view on December 3, 2000 in NYC, they would split up as a team for good.

SPOILER ALERT: They won the belts.

In a fantastic match, Doring & Roadkill delivered the Buggy Bang to Maritato to win the match and the belts. The truest of ECW Originals made it from their beginnings and culminated with extreme gold endings.

—--

At Guilty As Charged 2001 on January 7, 2001 in the Hammerstein, both teams were in action that night. Doring & Roadkill successfully defended the ECW World Tag Team Titles against EZ Money & Julio Dinero, in spite of interference from Chris Hamrick and Elektra, nailing Dinero with a Buggy Bang to get the duke.

Meanwhile, in a #1 Contender Three-Way-Dance, the Unholy Alliance defeated Super Crazy & Kid Kash and the F.B.I., finishing off both Guido and Mamaluke with stereo Tiger Suplexes for a pinfall victory.

After the match, Joey Styles on play-by-play said, “Whipwreck and Tajiri will get a shot at Danny Doring and Roadkill and the ECW World Tag Team Title belts.” The vile Cyrus followed up with “It’ll be one Hell of a match.”

With Hardcore TV no longer on the MSG Network and in syndication, the implication was clear: the two top teams from the reborn ECW tag team division would be facing off for the belts at Living Dangerously 2001, the next available televised opportunity

Sadly, this match never happened. In fact, I don’t believe this match has ever taken place.

—--

I hate fantasy booking, but what I can say is this: Mikey & Tajiri’s renegade style in the ring would have meshed incredibly well with the old school stylings of Doring & Roadkill. Plus, with the Unholy Alliance’s insane popularity facing off with the champs, who were heavily respected from the fans due to their true ECW beginnings to the top, it would have been a great crowd reaction.

Sometimes in life, you look back at what could have been had ECW continued. This match was one of them. ECW had done a tremendous job rebuilding the tag team division, putting emphasis on the young talents stealing the show every night out.

Mikey & Tajiri vs Doring & Roadkill for the ECW World Tag Team Titles? This might actually be one of the underrated “WHAT IF’S?” to me of all time.

#BANKONIT

Bankie Bruce

BankieBruce@gmail.com