Mike Reviews ECW — page 2

Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!

Today we’ve got some more ECW action from 1996, as Rob Van Dam takes on Sabu in the Main Event whilst Chris Jericho and Scorpio go at it in the under card. Steve Williams also appears, hence the name of the show

Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!

This is another ECW DVD that I have in my collection so I decided to give it the review treatment. We’ll probably get to Doctor Is In next month at some stage, which is a good show from memory.

The Main Event on this one is Sandman and Scorpio taking on Da Gangsta’s and The Head Hunters in a three way dance, whilst Sabu takes on Mikey Whipwreck and Raven defends the ECW Title against Damien 666 of all people in the under card. We’ve also got Taz Vs Chris Jericho, but I don’t think that one is as good as it sounds.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

This week we’re heading back to 1995 for some classic ECW action. This was a compilation of matches and angles from Hardcore TV put together by Laserlight video as they tried to recoup as much money as they could from the ECW tape library. As a result this has fake music dubbed in and we don’t even get the real ECW theme. This came out in 2003 but I’d be shocked if many more of these hit the shelves from that point. I know RF Video have the rights to some of the ECW stuff as they still sell some tapes but I think Laserlight were pretty much done with ECW stuff by the end of 2003.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

These ECW reviews don’t normally do that well but I do enjoy watching the shows themselves most of the time, so I’ll just be indulgent for today and do something for me.

ECW had a pretty hot summer in 1996 (pun not intended), with this show, Heatwave and Doctor Is In all being highly watchable shows with good storyline advancement and the odd banger of a match thrown in for good measure. The latter category could potentially be filled by Chris Jericho taking on Anthony Durante and Rob Van Dam taking on Sabu.

We’ve also got Taz taking on Paul Varelens of the UFC in an effort to enhance his “shooter” image by taking out a real MMA guy, so there’s plenty of intrigue to go along with what will hopefully be some good wrestling.

Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!

I decided to review this one as I remember the Main Event being a really good match, as well as being a historically important one as well for reasons we’ll get into as the review progresses.

Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!

I decided to dip back into my ECW collection this week, seeing as I haven’t watched this one in a while and it was ECW’s last big Arena show before their March 1998 pay per view Living Dangerously (Which I’ve reviewed on here before).

The Main Event is Rob Van Dam and Sabu taking on Bam Bam Bigelow and Shane Douglas, which could be fun if all the moving pieces fall into place correctly. No guarantee of that though. On the under card we’ve got continuation of the Credible/Dreamer and Candido/Storm feuds, along with Taz taking on Brakus from the WWF.

Happy Extreme Saturday Everyone!

I decided to fire off a review of one of my ECW DVDs again, mainly because I haven’t watched this particular show in a while and I wanted to see how it held up. ECW was due to be on pay per view in April of 1997, so this Arena show was mostly used as a way to hype that up.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

This is the final hole in my ECW Pay Per View reviews I believe, so I’ve decided to review it so I can complete the set. Our Main Event is Taz finally getting a shot at the ECW World Title, whilst Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible battle in a ladder match on the undercard.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I was going to do ECW Guilty As Charged 99 this week, but I couldn’t find my cut of the show anywhere and I don’t want to watch the WWE Network version with all the music dubbed out, so I’ll keep digging in an effort to find it.

This was a comp tape I had back in the day focusing mostly on Super Crazy and Tajiri, who had both come in to ECW that year and really gotten themselves over. Other international talent such as Masato Tanka, TAKA Michinoku and Antifaz Del Norte will be showing up over the course of the tape as well. It’s actually still available for purchase HERE. The dates for each match aren’t included on the match list annoyingly, but I’ll try and shout up when I recognise what show a particular match is from.

They’ve also stuck a few bonus non-ECW matches on at the end, meaning we’ll get to see Jushin Liger later on, which is nice. In the days before YouTube that was probably a genuine bonus to anyone who was considering picking up the tape.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I decided to do this one as I’ve only got two holes remaining in my original ECW pay per view archives, so I’ll do this one now and we’ll get to Guilty As Charged 1999 sometime in January. The big storyline going into this one is that Sabu, Rob Van Dam and Taz have formed an alliance because they’re just sick of Shane Douglas, Chris Candido’s and Bam Bam Bigelow’s nonsense, but it’s a loose alliance at best and liable to collapse at any moment.

I’m watching the Laserlight Digital home VHS version, which has a notable edit where part of the Tag Title match is cut out, but it does have the real music whereas the WWE Network version doesn’t, which makes it the superior cut of the show by default in my opinion.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Back with another ECW review today, as I fill in the holes in my ECW pay per view review archive. November to Remember 97 was ECW’s third pay per view event, and N2R was generally the equivalent of their WrestleMania. The big storylines coming into this one were Tommy Dreamer feuding with the WWF aligned Rob Van Dam, Sandman looking for revenge on Sabu after the latter had thrown fire in the eyes of the former, and the big Main Event is Shane Douglas trying to regain his ECW World Title from Bam Bam Bigelow.

Hello there you cheesy comestibles!

I decided to review this one as I wanted to re-watch the John Morrison Vs CM Punk match again as I had a lot of fondness for it back in the day. I haven’t got a clue as to what else is on this show though, so that could end up being a potentially nice or negative surprise.

Maffew has also reviewed this show during his EPIC journey through the history of WWE’s ECW brand and you can read what he thought by clicking HERE

What’s Up Docs!

Back to ECW again this week, as I haven’t watched this one in a while and it features a pretty famous bout between Bill Alfonso and Beulah McGillicutty. There’s also the debut of a certain more than credible gentleman…

Hey there chaps and chapettes!

Today we’re looking back at the first ECW show of the Paul Heyman Era, with Ultra Clash representing the moment the pencil switched between Eddie Gilbert and Paul. Paul E was kind of cut throat in the way he got control of things, but Gilbert had no interest in working with Jim Crockett or the NWA, so ECW joining up with them was a natural stepping off point for Eddie, with this show scheduled to be his last in the promotion.

I’ve never seen this show before but it has some historical significance to it. ECW was actually still Eastern instead of Extreme at this point and was also now a member of the NWA, but that would change when 1994 rolled around. Knowing Heyman he probably already had the gears whirring in his head for that spectacular screw job.

Hey there Gang!

Back with some more ECW this week, with a special Stinker review scheduled for next week, so if you like those then keep a look out.

Heat Wave 98 is often regarded as one of the best shows ECW ever put on, with it featuring a bunch of well-built issues and some quality wrestling for good measure. Even Scott likes this one, so that’s a good barometer of how good it is!

Our big issue in the Main Event is Tommy Dreamer gunning for revenge on The Dudley Boyz after they broke the neck of his girlfriend, but we’ve also got Taz looking to avenge his defeat to Bam Bam Bigelow at Living Dangerously 1998 and the final bout in the Summer Series between Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible.

So yeah, lots of good stuff on the docket, so let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Guten Tag!

We head back to the world of the Extreme today, with ECW’s second ever pay per view event in the form of Hardcore Heaven. ECW’s first pay per view event, Barely Legal, had been a good show for the most part, if a little bit underwhelming due to a couple of the major matches not delivering. Still though, the Main Event was good and there was an excellent Michinoku-Pro match on the undercard, which was more than enough for a thumbs up at the time and the show is still a mostly fun and breezy watch to this day.

For the second pay per view ECW decided to move out of its Philadelphia based home of the ECW Arena and branch out to another territory where they had been having some success in the form of Florida. Going in they decided to throw a cat amongst the pigeons by having Sabu win the ECW World Title at the ECW Arena, thus changing the Main Event to Sabu defending against both Shane Douglas and Terry Funk in a Three Way Dance.

The three men had originally competed with each other in a famous hour long draw back in 1994, which had been one of the earliest ECW matches to catch the attention of the hardcore fan base online. Repeating the match again but now on pay per view didn’t seem like the worst idea, although they could have done a better job hyping up and marketing it.

The main feud on the undercard was ECW Vs WWF/USWA, as Jerry Lawler had invaded ECW and began a rivalry with Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer had actually gone to the trouble of invading the USWA television show and beating a bunch of guys up, in an angle that probably did more to make ECW look cool than it did boost USWA’s falling fortunes.

Would everything come together for another good pay per view effort from the Extreme brigade? Let’s watch on and find out!

Bonjourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ya cheese eatin’ surrender monkeys!

Next week we’ve got a Stinker Review on the docket, but first we must close out our journey to the Summer of 1996 with a trip to our old friends from Philly. ECW was on a pretty decent hot streak at the time, although they couldn’t get on pay per view despite Paul Heyman’s many attempts. I used to have the Laserlight Digital cut of this show and I liked it so much I eventually shelled out for the RF Video version just so I could watch it with the real music left intact.

The big stories during this time period were Raven’s feud with The Sandman, which involved Raven quite literally stealing Sandman’s family from him in a super dark storyline that hit all kinds of nerves but never really had much in the way of a satisfying payoff due to Raven needing to divert course to feud with Terry Funk when 1997 came around.

Elsewhere, Taz was in the middle of his “Path of Rage”, where he’d destroy absolutely everyone on route to a big match with his nemesis Sabu. Shane Douglas was trying to connive his way to the ECW TV Title whilst also trying to avoid getting killed by the angry Pitbull’s. D-Von Dudley was trying to wrest control of The Dudley Family from his brother Big Dick.

And in the tag division Da Gangsta’s, The Eliminators, The Samoan Gangsta Party and The Bruise Brothers all hated one another and were feuding amongst themselves in various combinations, with it all building to a Four Way Dance on a future show for the tag belts themselves.

So yeah, lots going on and this show was sure to continue it. It also has genuinely one of the all-time greatest ECW matches on it, so let’s quit our jibber-jabber and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

Back with another classic ECW review, as I’ve been meaning to watch this one again for a while and now seemed like as good a time as any.

1996 was a hot year for ECW from a creative perspective, with Taz’s “Path of Rage” and Raven’s feud with The Sandman being notable highlights. Most of the year was spent trying to finally get the company on to pay per view, with things like the Mass Transit incident delaying it until 1997. The product had a good mix of brawls, character work and wrestling still though, and when I first became aware of the company in 1999 I had a lot of fun going back to hoover up some of the better shows from the companies 96 prime.

Going into this show, Raven was the ECW World Champ and was still embroiled in multiple issues with the likes of Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas. Dreamer had recently stolen Raven’s girlfriend Beulah away from him, so Raven had in-turn shacked up with Kimona Wanalaya, although he made it clear more than once that he was still in love with Beulah and didn’t have much time for Kimona outside of a purely physical relationship. As a result that relationship fizzled and Kimona actually ended up with Douglas, as this was before Douglas had taken on Francine as his valet.

Douglas had been kind of a tweener since coming back to ECW following a failed stint in the WWF, in that he was still as disgusting and despicable human being, but he also was feuding with guys like Raven and occasionally even helping out Dreamer from time to time, even though it was mostly for selfish reasons. It was very much “shades of grey, bro”, but in 96 that concept hadn’t been beaten into the ground yet, and because Raven was such a clear villain and Dreamer was a clear face, it worked having Douglas in the middle pulling the strings.

Elsewhere, Taz had gone heel at the end of 1995 due to the fans welcoming Sabu back to the promotion, and he was tearing through everyone in a vicious manner on route to an eventual collision with his former tag team partner. Sabu was a bit busy feuding with Rob Van Dam at the time though, so his eventual blow off with Taz would have to wait.

Going into Hostile City Showdown, the two main matches were scheduled to be Rob Van Dam facing off with Sabu and Raven defending his World Title against Douglas, with Tommy Dreamer taking on Raven’s hired thug “Bulldozer” Brian Lee in the under card. It was a pretty stacked show and there was good interest for it as a result, especially as Douglas had been teasing that he would reveal the identity of a supposed secret lover of Beulah.

Will the big matches deliver? Let’s watch on and find out!

Hey to the hey ya’ll!

This week we’re going to go way back to 1993, when ECW was yet to become “Extreme” and was still essentially a Tri-State territory called Eastern Championship Wrestling. It wasn’t until 1994 that they finally changed the name following the whole NWA World Title tournament thing.

I picked this episode mainly because it’s got Eddie Gilbert in all his wacky pomp, and indeed it wasn’t long after this that he got punted from the company and Paul Heyman got control of the pencil. I’ve always really liked Gilbert, so I’m welcome for any excuse to watch something involving him.

Hello You!

Here we are with the last pay per view of the original ECW, with it tying a bow on my 23 month odyssey of reviewing the ECW product from 99-2000. ECW had promised a big surprise going into the show online, with the internet being their main way of promoting the show due to them losing TV in most of their markets, including New York of all places. Paul Heyman was seemingly prepared to struggle on but, as Ok Go once put so eloquently, the writing was on the wall.