Pat Tanaka vs Rocco Rock (lost footage of "Body Count" professional wrestling match; 1993)

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Pattanakavsroccorock1.jpg

The Public Enemy and Badd Company facing off in another match.

Status: Lost

On 26th December 1993, professional wrestling organisation Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) hosted a supercard titled Holiday Hell: The Body Count. One of the matches pitted Pat Tanaka of Badd Company against Rocco Rock of The Public Enemy in a "Body Count" match, which Tanaka ultimately won. Despite being hyped for ECW Hardcore TV, the match never ended up being aired because of the universal negative reception surrounding its finish.

Background

The tag teams Badd Company (Tanaka and Paul Diamond) and The Public Enemy (Rock and Johnny Grunge) were locked into a feud against each other since the latter cost the former a match for the ECW Tag Team Championship against Tony Stetson and Johnny Hotbody at NWA Bloodfest: Part 1 on 1st October 1993.[1] At NWA Bloodfest: Part 2 held the following day, Badd Company won the feud's first match by pinfall.[2] Later that same show, the teams competed in a triple threat steel cage match also featuring the Bad Breed, with Public Enemy being victorious.[1] An impromptu match between Diamond and Rock occurred on 12th November at ECW's Terror at Tabor, which Diamond ultimately won.[3] However, at the November to Remember show the next day, Public Enemy scored the win in a "South Philly Hood" tag team match.[3] The feud would continue however following a backstage assault from Public Enemy onto Badd Company during the 16th November episode of Hardcore TV.[4]

Thus, on the 7th December edition of Hardcore TV, the teams agreed upon a "Body Count" match featuring Tanaka and Rock at the upcoming Holiday Hell supercard. The stipulation would be that their respective partners, Diamond and Grunge, would be locked in separate jail cells. Whoever won the match would be able to free their tag partner. The loser would witness their partner's jail cell explode, and if there was no winner after 15 minutes, both jail cells would explode.[5] The explosion stipulation was likely borrowed from death matches commonly seen in Japanese hardcore wrestling at the time, which used C4 explosives.

The Match

The encounter took place on 26th December 1993, in front of 800 fans at the ECW Arena.[6] The second-to-last match on the card, it was heavily hyped beforehand on ECW television.[5] Match details, including what transpired and its duration, remain unknown. However, Tanaka picked up the victory via pinfall.[6] On paper, he thus should have been able to rescue Diamond, leaving Grunge to his fate.[5] In actuality, possibly because of kayfabe shenanigans, it was Diamond's cell that exploded.[7]

Ultimately, the "explosion" was deemed underwhelming. According to Diamond, ECW's Paul Heyman was not given permission to utilise special effects fireworks that would have created a bigger bang. Rather, paper was lit to create the smoke, and a recording of an explosion was used for the sound.[7] The poor quality finish led to outrage from the ECW crowd, leading to boos and chants of "Money back!". Despite the poor explosion, Diamond was still forced to sell the effects of it, claiming it was the "most embarrassing situation I was ever involved in.”[7] Joey Styles, the commentator for the show, summarised that “It went over like a fart in church.” Heyman was apparently concerned that ECW owner Tod Gordon would remove his role as booker following the finish, but he was ultimately kept on.[7]

Availability

Because of the universally negative reception among fans in attendance and ECW personnel, the match and aftermath were never aired on ECW television, despite being planned to air,[5] and was never mentioned again.[7] If footage still exists, it most likely is located somewhere within WWE's vaults, as WWE purchased ECW's assets and tape library in January 2003.[8] As of the present day, no footage or images of the match itself is publicly available, although two music videos promoting the match can be found online.

Gallery

Videos

Music video promoting the match.

Another music video promoting the match.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wrestling Recaps detailing the start of the feud and the triple threat. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  2. ↑ Wrestling Recaps detailing the first match between the two tag teams. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pro Wrestling History listing results of the Terror at Tabor and November to Remember events. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  4. ↑ Wrestling Recaps detailing the backstage assault on Hardcore TV. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Wrestling Recaps detailing the stipulations for the Body Count match. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pro Wrestling History listing the result of the match. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Ring The Damn Bell detailing the match, explosion, and aftermath. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
  8. ↑ Pro Wrestling Stories noting WWE purchased ECW's tape library in January 2003. Retrieved 16th Feb '22
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