Mike Reviews ECW — page 7

Hello You!

So here we are, the first Hardcore TV following the woeful debut of ECW on TNN. You can read Scott Keith’s review of that show by clicking right HERE.

As you can see from reading that, the first TNN show ended up being more of a “Welcome to ECW” kind of episode, which not only proved to be rather dull but also angered the TNN execs, as they had made it clear that they wanted original programming from the very first episode.

Despite the shaky start, I’m sure today’s Hardcore TV will be chock full of TNN recaps and references, kind of like when the WWF wouldn’t shut up about the XFL in early 2001 on episodes of Raw and Smackdown.

Anyway, let’s waste no further time and dust off our flaming tables so we can take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Back again with some more Hardcore TV, as we continue the march onto the debut of ECW on TNN. If you haven’t yet then I strongly suggest you check out Scott Keith’s reviews of those shows. I believe he’s something like 4 shows in now and it’s not only proving popular with the Blog readers but Scott seems to be somewhat enjoying it to a certain degree as well!

Sadly Hardcore TV has now kind of slipped into cruise control and is readying itself to play second fiddle in the ECW television hierarchy. But hey, I used to enjoy WWE Velocity back in the day, so if Hardcore TV becomes mostly a recap show with the odd good match chucked in then I can live with that.

So without further ado, let’s adorn our barbed wire hoodies and take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

With G1 Climax finally coming to a close (You can find reviews of every night of the tournament in my archives) I can focus a bit more on Hardcore TV again. Thankfully Blog Head Honcho Scott Keith has started reviewing ECW on TNN, which is awesome because not only is it cool to see him review some ECW but it also means I won’t have to add an extra show to my schedule every week.

Buy anyway, let’s knuckle down and take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Here we are again with another episode of ECW Hardcore TV. We’re less than a month from ECW debuting on TNN, and ECW have been so hard up for action to fill the show recently that they tacked on a 3 month old Tommy Dreamer Vs Lance Storm match last week. Hopefully we get a full show of original content this week, but you never know.

Anyway, let’s fill our boots with barbed wire and take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So here we are, back with another episode of Hardcore TV. Last week’s show was the traditional post Pay-Per-View one, where we got nothing but promo’s and video recaps of Heatwave 99. However, we are now roughly one month away from the debut of ECW on TNN and the date for Anarchy Rulz has already been announced, so hopefully we’ll get some original matches and angles this week to start setting those up.

I’m looking to do a double shot of 205 Live this week to get myself caught up, so look for that today or tomorrow.

So without further ado, let’s amp ourselves up with some fizzy Haribo and get ready to take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So here we are, back with another episode of Hardcore TV as we mop up the fallout from Heatwave 99 (Of which you can read the review of by clicking right HERE). Usually with these post-Pay Per View shows ECW mostly recaps what happened at the previous event, kind of like how NXT does it. Hopefully there’ll be something on here though with a bit more bite to it than the usual clip fests these episodes are.

Just a quick note about New Japan’s Wednesday G1 show, it won’t be up till Thursday, mainly because I’m out this Wednesday (I’m actually writing this earlier in the week). English Football’s pre-season is now in full swing and I’ll be off to watch my side Everton take on Wigan in a friendly on Wednesday, so I won’t have time for G1 until after work on Thursday. Hopefully I’ll have it up by a reasonable time on that day. Please feel free to check my archives if you want to see what I’ve thought of this year’s G1 thus far.

So, without further ado, let’s amp ourselves up with our favourite caffeine based drink of choice and take it to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So here we are, after months of absolute non-build we are at ECW’s big event of the summer in the form of Heatwave 99. Sadly the hype for this show has been poor to say the least, but now we’re here hopefully the ECW roster can enter a good performance and end the last Pay Per View before the TNN Era with a bang!

Heatwave 98 is possibly my favourite ECW show ever, so the 1999 version is going to have to go some way to match it. Still, with a main event of Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn taking on Justin Credible and Lance Storm, they should be able to end on a strong note if nothing else.

So without further ado, let’s adorn our favourite pair of swimming shorts, fill our inflatable crocodiles with air, put a big blotch of sun scream on the end of our noses and take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Last week on Hardcore TV, The Impact Players of Justin Credible and Lance Storm actually managed to win a match for once when they defeated Jerry Lynn and Sabu in the main event. As well as that, ECW World Champ Taz threw out a challenge for Steve Corino to find him a challenger for Heat Wave 99 on 18/07/1999.

Speaking of Heat Wave 99, ECW has seemingly yet to announce any official matches for the show, meaning that most of the hype is now going to have to be done in one show. As we’ll get to, there have been external forces that have contributed to this, but it’s still been a pretty lousy build for what should be the biggest event of ECW’s summer schedule.

So, without further ado, let’s strap ourselves and feel the cheese as it’s time once again to take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Last week on Hardcore TV, The Dudley Boyz once again retained their ECW Tag Titles against the makeshift team of Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley, but the gutsy challengers ran them pretty close. Is it possible the scrappy duo of Spikey-Balls get another shot down the line?

In the other big match from last week, Rob Van Dam defeated Lance Storm to retain his ECW TV Title thanks to assistance from both Sabu and Jerry Lynn. Lynn especially seemed to play a key role in providing a chair so that RVD could hit his patented Van Daminator move, whilst Sabu was essentially there just to nullify Justin Credible.

We are now 8 days away from Heat Wave 99. It would be really nice if ECW could actually announce some matches on this show, but I’m not holding my breath in all honesty.

Anyway, let’s head down to Home Depot (Other stores are available) to pick up an assorted collection of warped weaponry so we’re nice a prepared for another journey to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So I was going to put these on ice but a few people got in touch to say they liked them, so I’ll keep them going for the time being as the shows are generally easy to watch and no one else is really doing classic ECW stuff on here (Although Maffew’s reviews of WWECW are always worth a read if you’ve never given them a try)

Last week on Hardcore TV, Jerry Lynn defeated Justin Credible in the main event to earn himself a match with Rob Van Dam on this show for the ECW TV Title. However, a post-match attack from The Impact Players left him unable to compete this week, so Lance Storm will be taking the shot instead.

In other news, Steve Corino and Taz’s feud continued as Taz blew through Corino’s new “Rookie Monster” Rhino in mere minutes. Corino managed to escape unscathed once again however. Will Taz ever give Corino the beating he’s talked himself into?

The other big news last week was that Little Guido got a big win over Tajiri, although it took plenty of interference from Big Sal to ensure it happened. Will Tajiri be out for revenge this week? And lets not forget that Super Crazy also has an issue with both men.

We are also 15 days away from Heat Wave 99 on the 18^th of July and we still haven’t had any matches announced yet. ECW really needs to get something on the docket whilst they still have time to actually hype the show. They have literally just 3 more hours of TV to hype the Pay-Per-View.

So without any further ado, let’s once again order ourselves a thumbtack kebab and take it to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Last week on Hardcore TV Balls Mahoney assisted Rob Van Dam in defeating D-Von Dudley in the main event, but RVD was less than grateful for the interference of the Hardcore Chair Swinging Freak, which earned him a stiff chair shot in return. Will that be followed up this week?

Also on the show, Taz finally clocked Steve Corino after weeks of feuding between the two, but Corino was able to get away before Taz could fully lay a whupping on him. And Justin Credible fired the first official shot in the war between The Impact Players and The Dudley Boyz when he wore out Buh Buh Ray Dudley with his Singapore Cane.

Despite being less than a month away from Heat Wave 99 on the 18^th of July, we actually haven’t had any matches announced yet. Hopefully ECW can start doing that this week so that we actually have something concrete to look forward to.

So without any further ado, let’s once again adorn our barbed wire underpants and take it to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Last week on ECW Hardcore TV, The Dudley Boyz jumped poor Balls Mahoney once again in the locker room, bloodying him up with a chair shot. Lance Storm talked trash about The Dudleyz on the phone saying that they were ducking him and Justin Credible, whilst Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn traded barbs in the closing segment.

Where will all of these stories head next? Let’s see if that question is answered in today’s ECW Hardcore TV!!!

Hello You!

Last week on ECW Hardcore TV, Sabu tried to wrestle Justin Credible but a gaggle of security and referees stopped them because Sabu is still unable to wrestle in North America due to Credible stooging him out to all of the commissions. Sadly this led to Sid coming out to seemingly brawl with both men when the showed faded to black. Hopefully we won’t be seeing much of Sid following this.

In addition to the Sabu/Credible stuff, a storyline continued to build between Cyrus, Steve Corino and Taz, as all three are trying to outsmart each other in a game of cat, mouse and lion (I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide which animal is an allegory for whom).

So with that all recapped, let’s once again pull up our adult socks and get ready to take things to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

Last week on ECW Hardcore TV, The Dudley Boyz heated up their rivalry with Balls Mahoney quite literally by flinging him through a flaming table in the main event. As a result of this act, Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten failed in their attempt to wrest the ECW Tag Team Titles from the half-brothers and must now do battle on the next set of tapings.

However, we’ve still got another week of the  tapings from Detroit to watch first, so let’s put on our big person pants and once again take it to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So last week’s show was essentially just a recap of Hardcore Heaven 99, with a match between Rob Van Dam and Skull Von Krush tacked on at the end. It was as unremarkable as could be, but it wasn’t actively bad or anything.

This week we should hopefully have some more original content so that the storylines can start advancing again. So without any further ado, let’s once again take it to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So here we are, a week removed from ECW Hardcore Heaven 99. You can read my full thoughts on that show HERE, but to give you the short version; the show had some good matches but ended on a downer due to Taz defending his ECW World Title against Buh Buh Ray Dudley. Yes, you read that right, Buh Buh Ray Dudley got a World Title shot. In 1999. Don’t look at me like that I didn’t chuffing book it!

On the Brightside, Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn had another corker for the ECW TV Title and the efforts of the likes of Super Crazy, Tajiri and Little Guido once again shone through. Lance Storm and Tommy Dreamer even had an enjoyable bout, where Lance Storm finally managed to win a match after months of being pushed as a supposed top heel!

Of course ECW then had to spoil it by booking Justin Credible, the other half of the top heel contingent, to look like an absolute chump against Sid, once again taking one step forward only to take two steps back straight after. Here’s hoping we’ve seen the last of Sid going forward, unless it involves him getting choked out by Taz in 30 seconds.

So without further ado, lets once again take a journey to The Extreme!!!

Hello You!

So after a couple of months of ECW Hardcore TV we’ve finally reached the Hardcore Heaven pay per view. The build-up for this show hasn’t been the greatest, with them essentially cramming all the hype into two weeks’ worth of television. Despite that, the card looks like it could be good with a Jerry Lynn Vs Rob Van Dam match looking to be the best one on offer.

I actually have the Laserlight Digital DVD version of the show, which I bought way back in 2001 from HMV. It thankfully has all the real music and isn’t dubbed. Sadly there’s no scheduled New Jack match though so I won’t be able to make the most of it in that regards. The DVD version cuts out all of the adverts and also chops up some of the backstage segments, but everything that needs to be here is here I think and the show comes in at just over two and half hours.

So without further ado, let’s head to the barbed wire gates to meet a baseball bat wielding Saint Peter so that we can gain access to Hardcore Heaven!

Hello You!

So here we are on the go-home show for ECW Hardcore Heaven (Of which a review should be up of by tomorrow) a pay per view that suffered a bit in build due to ECW only really getting the card sorted a couple of weeks out.

It also hasn’t helped that supposed top heels Lance Storm and Justin Credible have been doing jobs to everyone and their sister in the build-up, meaning they are both roughly as heated as an icicle going into the big event.

In happier news, Jerry Lynn has been booked super strong and scored a number of clean pin fall victories thanks to his dreaded new finisher, The Cradle Piledriver. Indeed, he even scored a win over Credible in last week’s show as the two had their usual entertaining scrap.

Lynn is now ready and primed to challenge ECW TV Champ Rob Van Dam at Hardcore Heaven. RVD picked up a big win himself over Buh Buh Ray Dudley last week, so that particular match has at least been built very well and I’m suitably excited for it.

The Dudley Boyz are due to defend their ECW Tag Titles at the pay per view, but challengers have yet to be officially confirmed (Although Balls and Axl were mentioned a couple of weeks back before the line-up became somewhat more ambiguous) so maybe we’ll find out who they are supposed to be facing this week?

And there’s also the small fact of ECW Champ Taz being steaming mad at Chris Candido duping him and laying him out a couple of weeks ago in Queens, so maybe we’ll see him attempt to gain some retribution ahead of his title defence to Candido at Hardcore Heaven?

So with the stage set, let’s waste no more time and dive into another exciting week of EXTREME action!

Hello You!

So last week we finally saw some matches announced for the Hardcore Heaven pay per view, along with the tandem of Lance Storm and Justin Credible suffering another defeat, this time with Storm losing to the perpetual job merchant Tommy Dreamer. It’s okay though, because they beat him up afterwards, which seems to fix everything in Paul Heyman’s world. If he was Watford manager and they lost the Cup Final to Manchester City, he’d just have Troy Deeney drop Raheem Sterling with a Burning Hammer and claim it as a victory.

Anyhoo, this week supposedly has Jerry Lynn Vs Justin Credible on it, and I think it’s almost impossible for those two not to have a good match together, so I’m suitably optimistic for this week’s show. And who knows, maybe we’ll get some more matches confirmed for Hardcore Heaven on the 16^th of May?

Last week’s show ended with Rob Van Dam coming down to the ring to take on one of Buh Buh Ray or D-Von Dudley, so I’m sure tonight we’ll get the match where he inevitably pins one of them so he can “get his win back” for losing to D-Von in episode #313.

So, without further ado, let’s take it to The Extreme!

Pinch, punch, beginning of the month!

Hello You, and welcome back for some more ECW Hardcore TV action!

We are just two weeks away from Hardcore Heaven 1999 on the 16^th of May 1999 and most of the card hasn’t even been announced yet, because poor forward planning is EXTREME I guess. Thus far we know its Rob Van Dam Vs Jerry Lynn for the TV Title and not much else. Maybe this week we’ll finally see the show start to take shape?

So without further ado, let’s take another journey to The Extreme, and see if Paul Heyman can start putting this pay per view together.