November to Remember 1993: ECW's Future Flagship Started as a Rough Draft With a Great Name

The inaugural November to Remember begins with a chairs match that never becomes a match at all. Rockin' Rebel forfeits, Salvatore Bellomo gets the victory, and the feud receives a result without giving the live crowd the advertised payoff. There is historical value in seeing how early ECW still treated stipulations as extensions of weekly angles rather than guarantees of substantial bell-to-bell wrestling. That does not create competitive value, however. A forfeit is a story beat, not a wrestling performance, and the score has to reflect what actually happened rather than what the stipulation promised. The segment belongs in the event chronology, but there is essentially nothing here to recommend as a match.

Sandman against Jim Neidhart is an odd collision between ECW's still-forming house style and a recognizable national veteran. The match is more conventional than later Sandman work, with both men leaning on clotheslines, basic power offense, and crowd recognition rather than weapons or spectacle. The double-pin ending gives neither man a decisive victory and immediately shifts attention to Jason and Mr. Hughes attacking Sandman afterward. That angle creates future material, but it also prevents the six-minute match from having a satisfying finish of its own. Neidhart's presence lends the card some outside credibility, while Sandman continues moving toward the rougher character that will eventually define him. The result is useful D-plus television-era wrestling.

Public Enemy and Badd Company finally receive enough time to make their rivalry feel like more than a sequence of television interruptions. Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond bring the cleaner tag structure, while Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock bring the brawling personality that is quickly becoming Public Enemy's signature. Sixteen-plus minutes is a major commitment by 1993 ECW standards, and the contrast between the teams gives the match more texture than most of the card. The South Philly Hood label is more atmosphere than formal rules architecture, but that atmosphere matters because the feud is being built around Philadelphia accepting Public Enemy as one of its own. The match is rough, energetic, and one of the night's better complete efforts. C-plus fits both the work and the momentum.

The so-called shoot match between Kevin Sullivan and Tommy Cairo lasts barely more than two minutes, which is probably a blessing because the stipulation is more marketing than sport. Sullivan is presented as dangerous and unpredictable, while Cairo supplies enough resistance to keep the segment from becoming a pure squash. There is no time for a layered competitive story, and the match ends before any genuine sense of escalation can develop. What matters is the image of Sullivan as somebody who operates outside normal wrestling expectations, a characterization ECW will continue using more effectively in later settings. As a piece of a live card, the bout is short and functional. As a standalone match, it is D-minus material with a memorable label and very little substance.

Malia Hosaka versus Sherri Martel has more personality than polish, especially after Madusa fails to appear and Hosaka becomes the replacement opponent. Sherri remains a magnetic presence who can make a six-minute segment feel larger than the wrestling underneath it, while Hosaka brings enough speed and technique to keep the exchanges credible. The finish is pure chaos: Sherri strikes referee Jim Molineaux with a chair and gets disqualified, turning the match into another angle rather than a decisive contest. That fits Sherri's volatility but undercuts Hosaka's opportunity to earn a meaningful victory through wrestling. The bout is notable for its place on a male-dominated early-ECW card and for the presentation surrounding it. The actual match settles at D.

The Suicide Blondes defending against the Bad Breed is a compact championship match that benefits from four wrestlers who already understand the basic hierarchy of the feud. Johnny Hotbody and Tony Stetson work as established champions, while Axl and Ian Rotten provide heavier offense and enough aggression to make a title change plausible. Six minutes is not enough for a deep tag structure, but the match is cleaner than many of the night's short bouts and reaches a proper conclusion before the next angle begins. Its real importance comes immediately afterward, when Johnny Gunn and Tommy Dreamer challenge the champions on the spot. That makes this defense feel like the last conventional breath before a nine-second title change. C-minus is fair for a solid transitional title bout.

Johnny Gunn and Tommy Dreamer winning the ECW Tag Team Championship in nine seconds is not really a match, but it is unmistakably a booking moment. The exhausted champions swing the title belts, miss, collide with synchronized counters, and are pinned almost immediately. Dreamer therefore captures his first ECW championship only weeks after debuting, while Gunn gets a sudden elevation of his own. The crowd receives a surprise and the television audience receives an easy clip to remember. None of that creates enough bell-to-bell content for a strong match score. The historical significance is much greater than the competitive substance, so the result belongs in the F range as wrestling while remaining an important chapter in Dreamer's rapid early development.

Tazmaniac and Tommy Dreamer revisit the pairing that introduced Dreamer to ECW at Bloodfest, and the rematch demonstrates why both men are becoming useful pieces of Heyman's new roster. Tazmaniac's suplex-heavy offense gives the match a clear physical identity, while Dreamer continues to build his appeal around taking punishment and refusing to disappear. Seven minutes is enough for the audience to understand the contrast without exposing either man's limitations. Tazmaniac wins again with the Northern Lights suplex, preserving his momentum while allowing Dreamer to remain sympathetic after already winning a championship earlier in the evening. The match is not yet the fully developed Taz presentation of later ECW, but the ingredients are obvious. A solid C and one of the safer watches.

Mr. Hughes against Johnny Gunn is a curious nine-plus-minute singles match placed after Gunn has just become one half of the tag-team champions. Hughes has size and menace, but asking him to control a match for this long exposes the limited variety in his offense. Gunn can move and sell, yet the bout never develops enough urgency to make the champion's status feel especially important. The result gives Hughes another meaningful win and keeps Jason's group dangerous, but it also makes Gunn's earlier title victory feel less like a launch and more like a plot device. There are competent stretches, and the length gives the match more substance than the evening's squashes. The overall effect remains flat enough for a D.

The inaugural November to Remember main event has the correct ingredients for a landmark even if the wrestling never becomes a classic. Sabu enters as Heavyweight Champion, Terry Funk enters as Television Champion, Road Warrior Hawk adds national-star electricity, and King Kong Bundy is revealed as Funk's mystery partner. The stipulation gives every exchange immediate stakes because Sabu and Funk are effectively carrying championships into the same fight. Bundy eventually turns on Funk with the Avalanche Splash, allowing Sabu to pin Funk and leave with both titles. That finish sacrifices competitive purity for a powerful image: Heyman's newest daredevil standing above the company's most respected veteran with another championship. C-plus for the match, much higher for what the booking announces about ECW's future.