American Hardcore Theatre: ECW's Real History

Extreme Championship Wrestling
Heatwave

July, 15th 1995
ECW Arena
Philadelphia, PA​

Alright man, I'm running out of cute ways to open these things up, so lets just dive right into an update on what the fuck was going on in ECW around the time of this show.

Shane Douglas was gone to the WWF. Apparently they seen something in him worth going after even though people around the internet would have you believe he had zero talent whatsoever. I think he was better on the microphone than about 95% of the WWF roster in 1995, but that's my opinion. I haven't been tainted by the last 10-11 years of his career, so I still kind of think highly of Shane Douglas. He was never the greatest, but he was never anywhere as bad as some of the message board history revisionists make his career out to be.

The way Heyman wrote him out of the ECW was just brilliant. First he lost his title to the Sandman(with the help of his manager Woman). He put on a WWF shirt, and stormed out of the front door of the ECW Arena pissed off about being cheated out of his belt. The next show he brings in a referee from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission to clean up the ECW. The referee was Bill Alphonso, and he would wreak absolute havoc in ECW over the next couple of shows. Alphonso and Douglas got some of the hottest heat in ECW history during this angle.

The Raven vs Dreamer storyline had really picked up by this point. It started out with Stevie Richards bringing in Raven in January of 1995. Raven was supposedly a kid that Tommy Dreamer knew in Summer camp when they were youths. Dreamer was the popular kid, Raven was the poor nerd that was looked down upon by Dreamer. Dreamer defeated Stevie, and fought Raven off at the Return of the Funker show in February. The feud got serious in March when Dreamer faced Raven's flock(which consisted of a bunch of jobbers at this point) in a gauntlet match. Dreamer defeated all of Raven's lackeys, but when it came time for him to finally get his hands on Raven he was handcuffed in the crucifix position on the ropes, and beaten to a bloody pulp. Raven brought in his girlfriend Beulah in April. Beulah was a fat, zit faced slob that Dreamer rejected in Summer camp, but now she had grown up to be the uber grunge **** Penthouse centerfold hot mama. Beulah cost Dreamer in his first one on one match against Raven with the ole' hairspray in the eyes trick. Dreamer got his revenge at the next show when he spiked Beulah with a piledriver. Dreamer would get a bit of help when Luna Vachon came into the ECW at the very next show. Dreamer and Luna were savagely attacked by Raven at the "Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams" show in June. Raven "broke" Dreamer's fingers one by one, and viciously attacked Luna.

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Raven just keeps throwing lackeys at Dreamer. First he had a group of jobbers(Tony Stetson & Johnny Hotbody), then he fired them, and replaced them with The Pitbulls. The Pitbulls grew frustrated with Raven, and left his "Flock" at the last show when they refused to Superbomb an already badly beaten Luna Vachon(thus, turning them face). Raven replaced the Pitbulls in his "Flock" with the Dudley brothers. The Dudley Brothers were a couple of jobbers(Snot Dudley & Dudley Dudley). The Dudleys were an idea cooked up by Raven backstage inspired by the goofball family in the Paul Newman film "Slapshot". The idea was that Raven would keep his chickenshit heel heat by constantly avoiding Dreamer by throwing lackeys in front of him. Whenever Dreamer would get through the lackeys, Raven would always find a way to get the upper hand on him. No matter what Dreamer did, he was always getting one upped by Raven. Dreamer getting his hands on Raven was something rare, but when it happened it was something special because of the way the rivalry was booked. Paul Heyman gets all of the credit for this feud, but the truth is that a lot of it was designed by Raven himself.

The other main feud of this time in ECW was the east coast vs west coast storyline between Public Enemy and The Gangstas. Public Enemy are the most over act in the ECW at this time. These fans loved the shit out of them. It was just one of those deals like 80's hair rock, you just had to be there in Philly in 1995 to really get why exactly Public Enemy were so loved by the ECW fans. The Gangstas were invaders from south central Los Angeles. Real thugs. The two teams have been trading jabs at each other in some nice promos on Hardcore TV. Public Enemy defeated The Gangstas in their first match at the last show I reviewed, which was two weeks prior to this show. Tonight the feud goes to the next level when they meet in a Steel Cage match.

Opening Segment

Oh man, we start it off with ring announcer Bob Artese throwing out free ECW merchandise to the crowd. Bill Alphonso comes out, and puts a stop to it. This crowd fucking lynches him. They are on him so hard you can barely make out what he's saying. This fucking crowd is FIRED UP!

Trash flies into the ring at Bill Alphonso as he tells the fans that there will not be any wrestling tonight. ECW "Commissioner" Todd Gordon comes out. Gordon says that he's had enough of Fonzie. Gordon talks about how he fired Shane Douglas. Fonzie tells him that he can't fire him because he doesn't work for ECW, he works for the Penn State Athletic Commission. Gordon tells Fonzie that he wants to kick his ass. Bill Alphonso is fucking gold in this role. He makes you want to reach through the screen and ring his fucking neck. He's nailed this role. The crowd is more fired up than any of the previous ECW shows I've reviewed up to this point.

The crowd is so loud I can barely hear what the two men are saying. Fonzie tells Gordon that he's going to give him a 10 count to get out of the ring, and that if he doesn't leave the ring he will have his wrestling promotion shut down. Fonzie starts to count, and the crowd starts a 911 chant. Gordon floors Fonzie at 7. Gordon hits Fonzie with punches until a couple of jobbers come out to pull him off. Bill Alphonso tells Gordon that he just made the biggest mistake of his life. Fonzie ejects Alphonso from the building, and takes over the show.

This is just an awesome storyline that I have really fallen in love with since taking a look at these shows in chronological order. Alphonso nailed his role, and was perfect in this performance. He was drawing heat for enforcing rules, something that people used to cheer guys for. Things were changing, and ECW was ahead of the curve with this storyline. The fucking crowd wanted to kill Alphonso here in this segment.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Mike Norman

Mikey Whipreck has just had nothing going on up to this point in 1995. His gimmick was that he was just a crash test dummy with absolutely zero offensive moves to his name. He partnered up with Cactus Jack to win the tag team belts from a heel Public Enemy team in late 94, and the Philly fans fell in love with him. Mikey would win matches on accident, without landing a single offensive maneuver. So far in 95 he's just been there. He has a few moves now, but no storylines. Go figure.

Mike Norman is a jobber, and he hits Mikey while he has his guard down to start the match. Norman chops on Mikey until Mikey reverses a whip into the corner. Whipreck hits Norman with a few arm drag takedowns, and a bodyslam sending him to the outside to recover. Whipreck does a corkscrew somersault senton splash to the outside. Norman regains the momentum of the match.

Norman lands a few moves including a double axe handle off of the second rope. The crowd starts chanting "You Still Suck!(DICK!)"

This crowd is just killing this poor guy.

One of my favorite parts of ECW was the fans. The guys in the front row were the same couple of guys that would show up at every single show. You had John "Straw Hat Guy" Bailey, who would wear a straw hat all the time. His brother "Sunglasses Guy", who was an old grey haired dude that would wear sunglasses all the time, even though the ECW Arena was already dark enough. There was also "Otto Rocket Guy", who would often appear shirtless, and overly animated during the matches as if he were on PCP or something. His hair apparently resembles someone named Otto Rocket, whom I have never heard of until I found this guy's nickname. There was also "Goatee guy", and "Donovan". These two guys could be seen in just about any WWF pay per view from 1991 to ECW One Night Stand 2005. I've spotted these two guys in WCW and WWF pay per views going all the way back to Summerslam 91, and WCW Superbrawl V. Last but not least there was "Sign Guy". A fat guy that would show up at just about every ECW show from 1993 up to about 96(that I'm 100% sure of at the moment, I know he kind of disappeared later on) with a multitude of quirky cardboard signs. The sign he's holding during this Mikey Whipreck match says "WCW: Trash at the Beach":lol:.

I get a kick out of the reactions of these guys during the ECW shows. The crowd is a huge part of what makes these ECW shows so enjoyable to me. They create an awesome atmosphere for wrestling. Even when a match sucks the crowd still makes it kind of funny because they were fucking relentless.

Back to our match, and Norman takes off to the back like he's done for the evening. Whipreck chases him down, and hits him with punches in the isle.

Norman beats on Mikey back to the ringside area, and does a suicide plancha through the ropes. Whipreck reverses a whip into the corner, and hits Norman with a Hurricanrana off the top rope for the pinfall after 6:48.

2.8/10

Real shitty match right here. Mikey did some decent selling, and the crowd tearing into Norman kept it from being a zero. Whipreck won it with a Hurricanrana, and that was it. Just doesn't make sense. Norman was terrible too.

Tony Stetson & Don E. Allen def. Raven & Stevie Richards

Raven and Richards come out with the tag team belts first. Beulah Mcgillicutty is a fucking work of art. Perfection. She's so hot here in this little red dress it is ridiculous.

The camera shows Stevie Richards' obsessed "fan" in the front row. This is Francine planted in the crowd.

Don E. and Stetson work Stevie Richards over for a while. Stevie gets the upper hand in the match, and tags out to Raven. Raven beats up on poor little Don E. Allen for a while as Stevie goes over to Francine. Stevie and Francine begin french kissing. Raven drops both Don E. and Stetson with DDT's, and notices Stevie and Francine kissing in the front row. Raven goes over to them, and snatches a handful of Stevie's hair. Raven drags Stevie off to the back.

OH MY GOD....

Beulah and Francine start fighting in the crowd, and HOLY SHIT. Ass everywhere. Pretty good looking cat fight going on.

Huge smile on the security guard's face as he separates the two women. :rofl:

The referee counts Raven and Stevie out. Stetson and Don E. win by count out.

Raven and Richards go back into the ring to beat up on Don E and Stetson until the Pitbulls come running out. The Pitbulls fight with Raven and Richards until the Dudley brothers come running out. Raven, Richards, and the Dudleys(Snot and Dudley Dudley, not Buh Buh & D-Von yet) beat on The Pitbulls until Tommy Dreamer comes out. Dreamer goes right after Raven.

Huge brawl all over the ECW arena with Raven, Richards, and The Dudleys vs Tommy and the Pitbulls.

Tony Stetson gets a microphone, and says that he wants a rematch. Raven comes running up on him, and floors him from behind. Raven takes Tony Stetson into the ring, and beats him down. The Pitbulls come running back out. The Dudleys come running back out. Dreamer comes back out. Where did all these guys go? Weird.

Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT. Francine comes into the ring, and jumps on the back of one of the Pitbulls. Beulah comes in the ring, and JEEZUS. Another cat fight, this time it's a real good one. One of the sexiest things I've ever seen in my entire life.

Huge E! C! DUB! chant ends the segment as the brawl separates.

7/10

Big mess here. The cat fights between Beulah and Francine were epic, and added about 3 points to the overall score I gave this thing. I would be lying to you if I said I didn't want to watch that again. Sexy, Sexy.

As for the segment without the catfights, pretty sloppy mess. Nothing special about any of the brawling. Just a way of reminding the audience of who's on who's side in this ongoing Dreamer vs Raven saga I guess. It was weird how they all brawled and disappeared, and then one by one came back out like they just reset everything.

Hack Myers vs Big Val Puccio

Man, Big Val is about as worthless as it gets. Huge morbidly obese fella that can't really do anything in the ring due to his physical state. Hack Myers is almost as worthless, but he's at least over with the crowd for some ungodly reason. Big Val gets heat from the crowd for the wrong reasons.

Immediately with the "YOU! FAT! FUCK!" chants. :lol:

Hack Myers comes out to the original version of "Am I Evil", which is pretty awesome.

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Big Val is billed at 538 pounds. He has a really weird ponytail haircut where all of his head is shaven except for this long ponytail in the back. The two men stare each other down. Val challenges Hack to bodyslam him.

Val backs Myers into the ropes with punches, and the crowd screams "Shit!" with every one of them. Myers fires back and the crowd screams "Shah!" with each of his punches.

Val crushes Myers in the corner with a couple of splashes, and nails him with a pretty brutal powerslam. Val attempts a splash, but Hack Myers moves out of the way. Myers rolls Big Val up for the pinfall.

Val hits Myers with a few splashes before leaving.....

Wait a damn minute. I just got a serious fucking case of deja vu. Either this was the exact same match that these two guys had at the last show, or they just redid it all again to make it look like it. My mind is blown.

1/10

Yeah this was terrible. Pretty sure this is the same match that was on the last tape, and I wonder why.

The Pitbulls & Tommy Dreamer vs Raven & The Dudleys

Raven and Richards come out withe Dudleys in tow like this is a totally new show. I touched on this in my previous post in response to StranglerLewis question. These shows would be cut up for about 2-3 weeks worth of ECW's hour long weekly "Hardcore TV" syndicated tv show. They tried to make it look like these guys are coming out for the first time tonight.

Raven storms the isle to get it started in the isle. The Pitbulls beat the shit out of the Dudleys around the ring as Tommy gets a bit of help with Raven from Luna Vachon in the ring. Dreamer works Raven over with a Snap Suplex and an elbow drop as Luna goes after Stevie Richards. Stevie runs from Luna. Pitbull 2 does a pretty nice double axe handle off of the top rope to the outside. He's a pretty big dude to go for something like that.

Bill Alphonso comes out trying to stop the match.:lol:

The brawl continues as Bill Alphonso tries to shut the match down. Alphonso disappears. The Pitbulls work Stevie and The Dudleys over. The Pitbulls get Stevie with a Super Bomb. Francine comes into the ring, and gives Stevie mouth to mouth. Beulah comes in, and here we go again with another beautiful catfight. I love it. I could watch these all day. Good god almighty the ass on Beulah Mcgillicutty. Damn.

The Pitbulls drop one of the Dudleys with a Super Bomb, and get the win with a pinfall.

5.6/10

Nothing special here, and nothing to really write about other than the Beulah and Francine stealing the show. Raven and Dreamer just disappeared in the later parts of the match. More weird booking here. The crowd did love the Pitbulls though, and this match/segment made them look pretty good.

Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio vs The Tazmaniac & Eddie Guerrero

Alright, so Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero had been burning it up all summer in ECW at this point. Taz had been repackaged as a no-selling shoot wrestling monster. More of a third Steiner brother than the MMA type of character he would evolve into the next year. His repackaging and push would hit a roadblock shortly after this match, but we'll get to that later. 2 Cold Scorpio did a little heel turn at the last show in a match against Taz. Scorpio sided with referee Bill Alphonso in an attack on Taz after their match.

Taz and Scorpio start it off here. Taz nails Scorpio with a stiff as hell forearm to the face coming off of the ropes. Oh yeah, that was a botch. Taz got Scorpio for real. Scorpio rolls out of the ring with a busted nose. Not good.

Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero come into the match. Oh man, these guys show'em how it's done. They go through a very nice chain wrestling sequence where they do one of those staredowns at the end of it. Guerrero just looks really sharp. He's so young looking with his mustache.

Guerrero hits his classic slingshot senton before tagging out to Taz. Malenko works Taz's leg before tagging out to Scorpio. Scorpio lands a stiff as hell lariat that may have been a bit of payback for earlier on in the match. Scorpio and Taz go through a chain wrestling sequence of their own that doesn't look bad at all. Joey Styles points out a similar position they were in to the Ken Shamrock vs Dan Severn match that took place around this time at UFC VI.

Scorpio gets Taz with a powerbomb, and tags back out to Malenko. Malenko continues to work Taz's leg over. Taz manages to get a tag to Eddie. Every time Eddie and Dean tie up in this match is fucking solid gold. They have such great chemistry here in this match. Eddie gets Dean with the Frogsplash for a 2 count. Dean manages to tag out to Scorpio, who comes in to work Eddie over pretty good. Eddie goes for a powerbomb, but Scorpio flips out to his feet. Scorpio hits Eddie with a vicious powerbomb.

The two teams exchange a series of double team moves until all hell breaks loose. Taz gets knocked to the outside. Scorpio does a splash to the outside that hits Paul Heyman. Malenko goes to the outside, and gets hit with a splash off the top rope by Eddie. Scorpio goes back into the ring to go up for a splash, but Heyman hits him with his huge brick cell phone.

Bill Alphonso comes out, and says that the match must restart because of Heyman's interference. Heyman gets up in Fonzie's face. Dean Malenko and Scorpio attack Taz and Eddie from behind as they look at Fonzie and Heyman arguing. Scorpio and Malenko roll Taz and Eddie up for the pin, and Fonzie gives the fast count. Fonzie declares Scorpio and Malenko the winners.

What happens next is really weird. Alphonso tells Heyman that he has his own videographer to document ECW for his records. Fonzie brings out Rob Fienstien. Fienstien was the actual videographer for ECW, and was responsible for taping the shows. Fienstien is a small young looking dude here. Fienstien says something towards Paul Heyman about Sabu and the NWA. Heyman gets up in the guy's face telling him not to tell him shit about anything. Alphonso and Fienstien jump on Heyman, and knock him to the ground.

911's music hits the speakers.

Oh my god.:stalker:

Most brutal chokeslam I have ever seen.

7.5/10

Some stiff stuff between Scorpio and Taz here. Guerrero and Malenko were fantastic together in this match. Overall though, there was nothing spectacular about this match. Easily the best match of the tape so far, but nothing great. The end segment was rather odd. Fienstien was a nobody, so I didn't really see the need to bring him in. I guess they just needed someone to take a chokeslam.

Taz's repackaging/push would grind to a screeching halt when these two teams had a rematch shortly after this event. Taz took an assisted piledriver that broke his neck, and would put him out of action for 5 months. Heyman paid Taz throughout the 5 month period, and would bring him back in November with a new attitude.

ECW Championship: Sandman (ch) vs Axl Rotten

Sandman and Woman come out. Woman proudly holds the ECW World Championship as the Sandman drinks and smokes his way to the ring with Enter Sandman playing along. They take up the full song before they enter the ring. Axl comes out second for some stupid reason.

The people in the crowd look fucking hot. No AC, this is July. Bunch of guys have their shirts off. Everybody is sweating. So far I've only seen one ceiling fan in the ceiling shots.

Sandman immediately jumps on Axl with punches and kicks. Sandman canes Rotten down with the cane. Sandman hits Axl with several brutal cane shots across his chest as he lays flat on the canvas. Axl retreats to the back. He comes back out with his barbed wire baseball bat. Sandman runs from him to the outside. Sandman discusses strategy with Woman briefly before re-entering the ring. They brawl with their weapons. Axl beats on the Sandman with the bat.

Axl attempts to unravel the wire from the bat, but the Sandman clocks him. The Sandman gets the bat. The Sandman successfully unravels the wire from the bat. Axl knocks him to the ground, and rolls to the outside with the wire tangled up in his shirt. Sandman goes outside, and throws Axl over the railing into the front row. They brawl in and around the ring beating each other with the wire for several minutes.

Axl wraps Sandman up in the wire while he stands in the corner. Axl slaps Sandman in the face until Woman canes him in the back of the head. Axl gets the cane from Woman, and chooses not to hit her with it. Axl busts The Sandman in the head with the cane while his midsection is still wrapped in the wire. Sandman unwraps himself from the wire. The Sandman drops a legdrop across the back of Axl's head from the top rope for the pinfall after 12 minutes.

3.8/10

Man, this match had nothing going for it at all. Lame all around. I'm noticing that it's fucking hot as hell in the Arena. Everyone looks miserable in the crowd fanning themselves. I don't know if that was a factor or not, but so far this show is just not jiving with me. Some terrible matches with some bad booking going on.

Steel Cage Match: Luna Vachon vs Stevie Richards

I'm pretty sure this was Luna's last ECW appearance. Too bad. I think she was a great fit, and had a lot of potential in ECW, especially when her main squeeze Bam Bam Bigelow came over a few years later. Luna comes out looking pretty good. She immediately begins to work Richards around the cage beating his ass. Richards just keeps getting driven into the cyclone fence cage. The crowd starts chanting "Kick his ass Luna, Kick his ass!(Clap-Clap)".

Stevie is busted wide open, bleeding everywhere. Luna hits him with a swinging neckbreaker. Luna lands a nice little Vader style splash. Stevie surprises her with a stiff as fuck inverted Atomic Drop. Luna recovers, and throws Stevie around by his hair with snap mare takedowns. Luna has Richards' blood all over her. Stevie gives Luna a stiff as hell powerbomb. Damn. Stevie is not pulling back on Luna at all. Luna is in excellent shape here though. She had a pretty good looking body here, still quite feminine as opposed to the overly muscular Chyna/Nicole Bass types. She was just really fit and trim here.

Stevie locks Luna in a nice leglock submission. Luna starts landing some low blows, and a DDT for a 2 count.

This match is not bad.

Stevie gets Luna with another really hard powerbomb.

Luna has been busted open on the forehead. She's bleeding pretty good along with Richards who just has a strait up crimson mask here. Richards starts to really grind down on Luna with hard punches and kicks. Richards goes up top to the very top of the cage. Richards jumps down, but Luna gets the boot up to get him in the face. Luna lands a swinging neckbreaker. Luna goes up to the top of the cage. Luna lands a nice splash off the top of the cage for a 2 count.

Luna grabs a handful of cock n' balls.

Stevie screams out in pain, and submits.

Luna wins by submission with the Testicular Claw.

The crowd starts a chant of "SHE'S! HARDCORE!". Nice. I like it.

Luna continues beating on Stevie until the Dudleys come out. The Pitbulls follow them, and we have another big brawl. Raven comes into the cage. Raven slams the door shut with only him, Stevie, and Luna inside. Stevie gets Luna with a low blow. Raven DDT's her into the canvas. Pitbull 2 rips the cage door open.

Dreamer and the Pitbulls storm the cage with nowhere for Raven to run to.

Dreamer takes Stevie out with a chair, and DDT's Raven. Everybody leaves the cage leaving just Raven and Dreamer. Dreamer slams Raven's hand in the door of the cage, and then hits it with a chair. Dreamer drops Raven with another DDT on a chair. Dreamer pulls out a pair of handcuffs from his boot. Dreamer whips Raven into the cage a few times before locking him up on the fence in a crucified position. Dreamer hits Raven in the groin with a piece of steel, and then gets a chair.

Dreamer emotionally screams ECW before smashing Raven in the head with the chair.

Dreamer poses for the crowd, and a massive E! C! DUB! chant breaks out. The crowd goes wild.

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8.6/10

Luna vs Stevie Richards was actually a pretty damn good mixed gender match. Luna was tough as nails, and in great shape here. Seeing her beat Stevie's ass all over the ring was kind of fun. She took some hard bumps, and looked really good here. Probably the best I've ever seen her perform. The aftermath with the Raven and Dreamer fight was eventually nicknamed "The Chairshot Heard Round The World" for some reason. I think maybe that came from the magazines back in the day, but I'm not sure. It was an unprotected headshot with a chair, and those are really bad, but damn it if this wasn't fucking awesome. There was just a lot of emotion to it. Dreamer had been through so much by this point, and it just felt good to see him get a bit of revenge here. It was an awesome moment when Dreamer finally got Raven cornered in the cage. The build up to this moment made it really cool to see. The Raven vs Dreamer rivalry just got serious.

Steel Cage Match: The Gangstas vs Public Enemy

Right from the start there are already weapons set up in the cage ala Beyond Thunderdome.

PE's music hits, and from the reaction you get the sense almost that these people have been sitting in this hot ass Arena, sitting through some god awful wrestling matches, just waiting to see Public Enemy. Everybody is all of a sudden really lively, waving their hands around along with Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock. Big smiles on everybody's faces, everybody is having a good time. They were ECW's main attraction at this time for sure. They were being recruited by WCW and WWF at this time as well.

Both teams just go back and forth beating the shit out of each other with the various weapons in the ring. Mostly frying pans.

This goes on for several minutes, nothing pretty here at all.

The Gangstas take control of the match after about 10 minutes, and just beat the shit out of Public Enemy. All four men are bleeding pretty badly. Public Enemy reclaim the momentum of the match, and bring a table in. Make that two tables.

Stacked on top of each other.

PE put New Jack on top of the two tables. Rocco Rock moonsaults off of the top of the cage to put New Jack through both tables. Nice spot.

Mustapha pulls out some sort of spraycan. Mustapha sprays Johnny Grunge in the eyes with his spraycan, and rolls him up for the pin. The Gangstas get the win in the second match in this feud to tie it up at 1-1.

5/10

The moonsault spot saved this one from getting a really low score. It had some good moments starting out. It just degenerated into a really sloppy, unorganized mess. Just a bunch of senseless weapon brawling with no real psychology or emotion or anything to it. As I've mentioned before, the storyline itself was much better than the actual matches in this Public Enemy vs Gangstas feud. This match was borderline terrible without the nice double table spot at the end.

Overall: 6/10

Man, there is just no way around it, this show pretty much sucked. It had a few great moments. The catfights were amazing. Raven and Dreamer was excellent. The Scorpio/Malenko vs Taz/Eddie match was pretty good, Luna vs Stevie was awesome, and Bill Alphonso was brilliant in the opening, but other than that this show gets no love from me at all. Some of the booking was pretty bad here too. Overall I feel like the show did have enough high points to merit an above average score. It was a fun little show to watch. While it doesn't stand up well to some of the previous shows I've reviewed, it did have some pretty awesome moments, and was an enjoyable viewing considering I've been watching through these in chronological order. I would not recommend this show on its own at all though.
 
The Beginning of a War

So, we have reached the end of the Summer of 1995 for the ECW, and at the end of August both Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko would be called up to WCW. The two men wrestled their final match in the ECW Arena on August 25th. The match ended in a double pinfall in a German Suplex, and an emotional "PLEASE! DON'T! GO!" chant from the fans as a group of face wrestlers made their way out of the back to tote both of them around the ring on their shoulders. Eddie and Dean both emotionally thanked the fans. Malenko told them he would always love them, and would always be an ECW fan himself before the two men made their exit together.

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In total Guerrero and Malenko wrestled 12 total matches against each other. Nine of those matches were singles matches. Guerrero won 3, Malenko won 2, and they wrestled each other to 4 draws(3 of them going the full 30 minutes). For my money the best in the series was the match from Hostile City Showdown. The 2/3 falls match from the August 25th episode was great if only for the intense emotion in it both from the fans and the wrestlers. ECW dedicated an entire episode of Hardcore TV to Eddie and Dean's final farewell match in early September. Some say that the series is a bit overrated, and that may be true for many of their matches, but they did have some of their all time bests in ECW. The match from Hostile City Showdown was the best match in North America in 1995 in my humble opinion.

ECW did put on a supercard in August titled Wrestlepalooza, but I don't think it was ever released commercially on DVD or VHS. Cactus Jack partnered up with Tommy Dreamer and the Pitbulls to face Raven, Stevie, and the Dudleys. Cactus would turn heel in the match, and double cross Tommy Dreamer. There was also a fantastic six man tag match later on that evening between Cactus Jack, Dean Malenko, and 2 Cold Scorpio against Eddie Guerrero and The Stiener Brothers that is among the best matches in ECW history.

Cactus Jack's heel turn was pretty damn awesome. He turned heel to side with Bill Alphonso. This was where the classic anti-hardcore promos came from that are hailed by many to be the best promos in wrestling history.

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Cactus eventually ended up siding with Raven against Tommy Dreamer, and he had an angle where he would beg for "Uncle" Eric Bischoff to bring him back to WCW. He would eventually draw heat by doing everything within his power to NOT give the fans their moneys worth. Pretty deep little storyline.

Also at Wrestlepalooza '95 the Gangstas went up on Public Enemy 2-1 in their ongoing blood feud by defeating them in a stretcher match. The feud would continue through the year with both teams beating the shit out of each other in a series of stiff weapons brawls that didn't resemble anything close to wrestling.

One of the biggest game changing events that happened around this time was the launch of WCW's new weekly wrestling show Monday Nitro. Nitro was launched on September 4th 1995, and would go on to take on WWF Raw head on. The Monday Night Wars had just begun. Guerrero and Malenko would appear on Nitro for the first time in a match on the October 2nd episode, but former ECW big timer Sabu would be frequently featured during the fall of 95 on Nitro. Sabu would have a cup of coffee in WCW, eventually facing MR. JL(Jerry Lynn) in a match at Halloween Havoc in October.

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Even though WCW's Roster was offering much more down to earth athleticism centered wrestling compared to the WWF at the time, they were still stuck in the past with the storylines. The Dungeon of Doom storyline was picking up at the launch of Nitro, with Lex Luger deflecting over from WWF(without notice) on the second episode joining the Dungeon to feud with Hogan and Savage.

Over in the WWF the Camp Cornette faction with Owen Hart, British Bulldog, and Yokozuna were picking up steam in a feud against Deisel, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker. The Million Dollar Corporation was being phased out somewhat, and the top dogs were still Diesel(10 months into his title reign), HBK, and Undertaker, and Bret(who was busy feuding with Dentists and Pirates). Later on in September Shane Douglas would make his return to the WWF as the Dean character. A school teacher gimmick that would use a paddle he called "The Board of Education" to win matches.

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WWF held their Summerslam 95 pay per view on August 27th 1995 with one of my all time favorite matches in HBK and Razor Ramon's second ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Diesel would go on to defeat Mabel to retain the WWF Championship in the main event in a really shitty match.

Dean Douglas would make his return to WWF pay per view at the next show, In Your House 3, where he would wrestle Razor Ramon to a pretty good little match, probably the best of the show. Douglas was great on the microphone in his early days, and I would say he was even better than HBK and Diesel at this time, but the subject material that he was stuck with by WWF creative was downright atrocious. The Dean character ended up being a total disaster. One story told by Shane Douglas about his early days playing the character was one about when he was first filming his debut promos. Vince was on hand for the tapings. Shane was displeased with the way they were pushing the character on him. They wanted him to be really stoic and emotionless with a monotone voice. Douglas convinced the team of writers watching to let him cut a promo with his own "Franchise" style that he used in ECW. Vince reportedly got a phone call halfway during his take on the character. The writers told Shane that they loved it, and that it was much better, but when Vince returned from his phone call he said that his way was better. Vince asked the writers what they thought of Shane's version of the character, and they immediately did a 180 on him, and agreed with Vince's opinion.

During this time the Clique was apparently running things in the WWF. Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, the 1-2-3 Kid, and Triple H were a tight knit group of friends that would watch each other's backs, and do the best they could to ensure each other would remain at the top of the company. They would supposedly play a lot of school girl games, and were rumored to have burried talent such as Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, Adam Bomb, Jean Pierre Lafitte, and eventually Shane Douglas among others.

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Meanwhile over in WCW they were making their way towards their September 17th Fall Brawl pay per view, with the big War Games showdown between Hogan, Savage, Sting, and Luger against the Dungeon of Doom.

The next ECW show we will be taking a look at is Gangstas Paradise from September 16th 1995. Just one day prior to WCW Fall Brawl, and 1 week prior to WWF In Your House 3.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Gangstas Paradise

September, 16th 1995
ECW Arena
Philadelphia, PA​

Ok, so we have already missed a show. Wrestlepalooza 95 was never released commercially by ECW, but it took place in early August. Cactus Jack broke the hearts of the ECW fans when he turned on Tommy Dreamer in a six man tag team match to align himself with the diabolical referee Bill Alphonso. Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko had been called up to WCW by the end of August, and they kind of worked that into this Cactus Jack heel turn. Cactus was obsessed with going back to "Uncle" Eric Bischoff's WCW, and he wanted to take Tommy Dreamer with him. Cactus starts wearing t-shirts with Eric's face on them. He denounces all hardcore wrestling, and goes on this trip where he tries to do everything within his power to not give the fans their moneys worth. So long before Eric Bischoff was this reviled character in WCW he was the most hated heel in the ECW Arena.

Also in August, Taz broke his neck in a tag match with Eddie Guerrero against Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio. He's out of the ring until December, but he would make non-wrestling appearances. So already up to this point in 1995 the ECW had already lost Sabu, Shane Douglas, Terry Funk, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko. The Public Enemy were being recruited by both WCW and WWF, and would be gone in a few months. The two main feuds were still going strong at this point. Raven vs Dreamer had grown into a storyline that branched off with different feuds going on. Raven's flock now includes Stevie Richards, Beulah, and The Dudley Family. The Dudleys weren't quite the Dudleys that everybody knows and love. Buh Buh Ray and D-Von weren't in the scene just yet. They were just a slapstick comedy act, and consisted of Dudley Dudley, Dances With Dudley(the Indian who speaks fluent spanish), Sign Guy Dudley(not to be confused with the front row ringside regular fan Sign Guy), and Big Dick Dudley. Raven's flock were feuding with Tommy Dreamer and the Pit Bulls(who had recently split away from the Flock(the group wasn't actually called this in ECW, but that's what I like to refer to them as). The Public Enemy vs Gangstas feud was also still running at this time. The Gangstas defeated Public Enemy in a Stretcher Match at Wrestlepalooza 95.

For all you youngsters out there, back around this time in 1995 there was a wildly popular movie called "Dangerous Minds". A song off of that film's soundtrack called "Gangsta's Paradise" had blown up on the radio, and was everywhere.

I have seen this show before, and it is one of the better ECW shows out there, but lets pull out our micro-analytic magnifying glass to see how it stacks up to what we have reviewed so far. Can it stand up to Hostile City Showdown? A show that I feel represents everything that ECW was all about? Lets dig in and find out.

Bull Pain vs Tony Stetson.

Here we go with the jobber vs jobber match. Stetson is decked out in his "Broadstreet Bully" Philadelphia Flyers gear. Bull Pain is just a nobody. Stetson was a regular that I'm assuming lived pretty close to the ECW Arena, and would work for peanuts. Bull Pain is one of these guys like Big Val Puccio that Heyman was bringing in just to fill the card up as cheap as he could. I mean, he only had so much payout to work with for each show. A 1,200 seat bingo hall only has so much money coming in, and a lot of that went out to some of the acts later on in the card I'm sure.

Or maybe they were just smoking all the cash up in crack, who knows. All I know is that Bull Pain just looks like the type of dude that only belongs in a wrestling ring if he's laying flat on his back looking up at the lights. No way this dude made more than maybe 50$. If that.

Oh lord, I was hoping this would be another one of those 911 chokeslam festivals, but no, they were serious about this match. :fpalm:

These guys are getting some time. Bull Pain works Stetson over for a bit. Stetson drops the gloves, and goes to work on Pain. They go to the outside where Stetson uses a hockey stick. Bull nails Stetson in the head with a steel chair. For $50?! Fuck that shit.

Bull ddt's Stetson down onto a table that is leaned up. Joey Styles gives us a pretty funny math equation. "The number of broken tables in an ECW show usually equals the number of screwball finishes in a WCW show".:lol: So true. I've been watching a bunch of old stuff and it's absolutely mind blowing how many bullshit finishes there were. Not only in WCW, but also the WWF. There was almost never a clear cut winner and loser in pro wrestling from 1995 to 1997. People criticize ECW's run in heavy, twelve step finish booking style, but I'll take that shit any day of the week over nothing but schmozz finishes week in and week out. There was usually always a clear cut winner and loser in ECW, and that was one of my favorite things about ECW.

Oh lord, these two guys are still going at it. They go back to the outside and fight each other with a chair. Yawn.

The selling in this match is horrendous. I'm so tempted to hit the fast forward button.

Sign Guy at ringside is holding a sign that says "WCW War Games: No Violence, No Talent":lol: I think this was 1 day before WCW War Games 95.

Pain finally ends it with a fairly devastating looking move. It was kind of like a DDT, but Stetson's legs were propped up on the ropes...Oh fuck, does it really fucking matter? This match sucked.

1/10

I honestly don't know why I'm not giving this thing a 0. I guess I'm feeling generous tonight. This was horrible, and received way too much time. Bull Pain did a nice superplex, and his finisher was nice, but everything else sucked bad.

Dudley Dudley & Dances With Dudley vs Chad Austin & Don E. Allen

Alright, this aught to be good. The comedy act against the definitive jobbers in ECW history.

Sign Guy in the crowd holds up a sign that says "Condoms Prevent Dudleys".:lol:

"Devious" Don E. Allen still wrestles on the northeast indy scene believe it or not.

Austin runs from DW Dudley at the start of the match. Dudley hits him with a lariat, Austin sells it well. The only thing funny about this match is the commentary from Joey Styles. He constantly makes little jokes about how these guys are inbred, and how easy it is to call one of their matches. Joey takes a shot at the WCW commentary team, saying they would still have a hard time calling one of their matches.:lol:

What starts out as a traditional tag match breaks down into chaos. Dudley Dudley beats Austin around the ring on the outside as DW beats on Don E. in the ring. Dudley Dudley puts Austin through a table with a vertical suplex. Dudley Dudley hits a sloppy ass splash on Don E. for the 1, 2, 3.

1/10

Ewww. Yeah, this wasn't good. The comedy guys didn't do a good job at being funny, and the jobbers failed at making their opponents look good. This was just a senseless wreck. Could have been better if it were just a strait up squash, but it wasn't. It's like they had no real plan at all for this match, and just went out and improvised everything. That just wasn't a good idea here. Bad match.

Hack Myers vs JT Smith

Alright, so around the time of this show was the birth of the Full Blooded Italians gimmick. JT Smith was a Philly regular who had wrestled quite a bit for the TSWA(ECW's predecessor). He had a run with ECW in 93-94, but just kind of fell of the map. The story goes that Smith took a nasty concrete bump where he legitimately suffered a concussion. He came back, and the storyline was that he knocked himself goofy, and actually thought he was a natural born Italian(he was black).

He tells the crowd right off the bat that he doesn't want to hear them scream "SHIT!" for all his moves like they usually do for all of the rest of Hack Myers opponents.

These guys tie up at the beginning, and actually surprise the shit out of me with some really good wrestling exchanges. JT lands some punches and kicks, and the crowd screams "SHIT!" with each strike. Myers goes to the outside where JT Smith misses a suicide plancha. They brawl through the crowd up to the stands, and back to the ring.

Smith goes up top, and slips on his way up. Smith falls off of the top rope through the timekeeper's table ringside. JT Smith is counted out.

6/10

Quite the goofy finish, but damn it to hell if this wasn't a fairly decent match. They worked together rather nicely early on with some clean looking wrestling. The brawling looked pretty good too. I was shocked that this match wasn't total shit.

Jason & The Eliminators vs Taz, Rick & Scott Steiner

So Jason(Justin Credible's manager in the later years) brought in Perry Saturn and John Kronus in August as the Eliminators, one of my all time favorite tag teams. This tape cuts to Taz confronting Jason, 2 Cold Scorpio, and The Eliminators by himself for some unexplained reason. All of a sudden he's backed up by The Stiener Brothers.

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Taz had been repackaged into a shoot wrestler just a couple of shows prior to this one, but he wasn't quite the MMA style shoot wrestler that he became just yet. He was more of a Stiener type of shoot wrestler, almost a third Stiener Brother if you will.

Scorpio cheap shots Taz. Jason targets Taz's neck, and takes him out of the picture. All hell breaks loose with a huge brawl. The Steiners clear the ring, and hit the Eliminators with some nasty stiff lariats. Scot Stiener is pretty big here. Scot puts Jason into the position for a suplex, and pulls his tights up into his ass with a hardcore wedgie before violently folding him up with a suplex. :rofl:

Steiner bros are just stiff as hell here. Nasty Belly to Belly suplexes on Saturn by both Scot and Rick. Jason comes into the ring, and Taz comes in to take him out with punches. The ref tries to pull Taz off, but he thows him into the corner. Scorpio kicks Taz in the back of the neck, and pulls Jason over his body as The Stieners and Eliminators battle on the outside.

Jason pins Taz. The Eliminators carry Jason to the back bloodied from Taz's punches.

6.7/10

Not bad, but nothing special. Its cool seeing the Stieners and Eliminators working together, but they didn't really do anything great. The Stieners dominated and looked great.

ECW Tag Team Championship, Three Falls Double Dog Collar Match: The Pitbulls vs Raven & Stevie Richards (ch)

Raven comes out with Beulah. Beulah gets the microphone, and says that Stevie wont be wrestling. She asks for a 2/3 falls match due to the 2 on 1 advantage. Pitbull 2 goes right after Raven as Pitbull 1 goes to the back to get Stevie. Pitbull 2 hangs Raven over the ropes by the chain.

Pitbull 1 drags Stevie Richards out of the back. Stevie's already got a crimson mask going. Pitbull 2 sets up a table. Raven attacks Pitbull 2, and piledrives him through the table in the ring. Pretty awesome table spot. Just the way it breaks looks pretty cool. Raven pins Pitbull 2 for the first fall.

All four men get into the ring for a 2 on 2 brawl. Raven and Richards get double DDT's followed by the Superkick by Stevie on Pitbull 1. Pitbull 2 rolls out of the ring, and pushes another table into the ring. The Pitbulls take the momentum by using the chains.

Stevie is Superbombed through the table by the Pitbulls. Pitbull 2 pins Stevie for the 2nd fall, evening it up 1-1.

Pitbull 1 and Stevie go to the outside for a little frying pan action. Pitbull 1 beats the shit out of Stevie around the ring, and he's bleeding profusely from his forehead. They take it into the crowd where Richards gets Pitbull 1 with a chair. Pitbull 2 and Raven fight out in the entrance isle, then back into the ring. Pitbull 2 goes to the outside, and gets a guy from the ringcrew to help him pull out a third table. The fans in the front row pat the guy on the back for helping pull the table out. Pitbull 2 sets the table up in the ring. Raven pulls him into the ref, knocking him out.

The Dudleys come out. Crowd boo's loudly.

Raven, Richards, and the Dudleys beat on the Pitbulls. Richards and Raven simultaneously Superbomb both Pitbulls. The Pitbulls no sell the Superbombs. Double DDTs on Raven, Richards and the Dudleys.

Superbomb on Dudley Dudley.

Superbomb on Dances With Dudley.

Raven and Richards are a bloody, beaten mess. Pitbull 2 arranges the table, and....

OH FUCK!:stalker:

The Pitbulls attempt to Superbomb Raven through the table, but he lands on it awkwardly. The back of his head/neck crash into the edge of the table on his way down, and it doesn't break. The table just falls over, Raven kicks out at 2. Very painful, dangerous looking spot right there.

Pitbull 2 pushes another table into the ring. Raven pulls out a chloroform rag. Raven smothers Pitbull 2 with the ether rag until he falls out unconscious on top of a double stack of tables. Raven goes up to the top rope, and drops a leg down across Pitbull 2, putting him through the first table. The second table doesn't break. Raven goes back up to the apron, and just jumps on top of Pitbull 2 to put him through the second table. Pitbull 1 continues to beat the shit out of Stevie Richards in the ring. Pitbull 1 suplexes Stevie through the table in the ring, and gets a 2 count.

Beulah comes into the ring looking sexy as all get out.

Stevie Richards super fan(Francine) comes into the ring, and attacks Beulah. Catfight. Raven pulls Francine up, and DDT's her. Out comes Tommy Dreamer. Tommy unhooks the dog collar from Pitbull 2. Dreamer hooks the collar up to his neck, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Raven. Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT, and pins him.

Tommy Dreamer and Pitbull 1 are the new tag team champions, but wait a minute......

Out comes Bill Alphonso. Fonzie gets up in Dreamers face, and reverses the decision. Fonzie says that the pinfall will not go down in the record books, he never pinned Raven. Out comes ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon. Gordon gets up in Fonzie's face, and tells him that the match is not over. Alphonso drops Gordon with a punch, and keeps rubbing it in that Dreamers never pinned Raven.

Out comes 911!:lol:

Crowd goes absolute ape shit. Biggest pop of the show so far.

911 gets his hand around Fonzie's throat, and the crowd goes even crazier. 911 pushes Fonzie around the ring by the throat as all the fans stand up with their hands up in the air with huge smiles on their faces. 911 chokeslams Fonzie down into the canvas. Crowd eats it up. Massive "E! C! DUB!" chant.

The Pitbulls recover, and pull Raven and Stevie up to thier feet by the chains. Tommy Dreamer and 911 help get both Raven and Stevie up on Pitbull 2's shoulders. Pitbull 2 drops both Raven and Stevie at the same time with a double Superbomb. The Pitbulls get the pinfall, and win the tag team titles. Awesome emotional moment here with the new tag champs celebrating with Dreamer and 911.

8.8/10

This my friends is a classic 12 step ECW finish. Not to be confused with the clusterfucked run in festivals that Vince Russo killed WCW with. Russo tried to emulate this type of booking, but he just didn't really get it. Heyman did it with style. It created such a chaotic, unpredictable, wild, rollercoaster ride of a match, and this was a prime example of it right here in this one. Every run in served a purpose, and did something to further develop the storylines.

As for the match, this is one is held in high regards among ECW fans today. I think it may be a bit overrated. Its very sloppy at times. Lots of tables. A frying pan, lots of run ins. But to me all that stuff made this just a fun match to watch. I'd be lying through my teeth if I was to say I wasn't thoroughly entertained by this match even though nothing about it resembled anything close to a "Wrestling" match. Dreamer hooking up the dog collar to fight with Raven, and 911 finally getting his hands on Bill Alphonso also really made this an awesome segment/match. The crowd reaction to Fonzie getting his comeuppance was priceless.

Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis

So, WCW takes your stud wrestlers. What do you do?

Lucha Libre.

Heyman booked these guys on suggestion from Konnan, and they really ended up stealing this show with this match. Its a common misconception that Heyman brought these guys to America for the first time, but that is not true. Both Mysterio and Psicosis wrestled on the AAA When Worlds Collide pay per view in LA in 1994(in the Six Man Tag Match).

Rey Mysterio is only 20 years old here, and lets get one thing strait. The Rey Mysterio from ECW and WCW was nothing at all like the Rey Mysterio the youngsters are used to seeing on WWE these days. Trust me kiddo's, it's like night and day. Rey was amazing in his younger days. Look it up.

Both men begin circling each other very quickly in the ring. They tie up, and Rey whips Psicosis out of the ring with an arm drag. Psicosis gets back into the ring. Psicosis quickly twists Rey's arm up into a hammerlock. Psicosis takes Rey down with the hammerlock. He pulls him back up to their feet......

Damn.

They go through a nice little chain sequence that moved way to fast for me to follow. Just incredible speed that these guys are moving around at. Psicosis gets a powerbomb. Psicosis whips Rey into the ropes, and does back body drop of sorts that sends Rey about 15 feet up into the air before crashing down into the canvas face first. Psicosis slows the pace down, and methodically works Rey over with several power moves.

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Psicosis lights Rey up with brutal chest chops in the corner. Psicosis hits Rey with a nice "Air Sabu" type splash in the corner. He goes for it again, but Rey moves. Rey gets a springboard hurricanrana with a pinfall at the end. Psicosis barely kicks out. Rey gets a nice tilt a whirl headscissor takedown. Rey charges Psicosis with incredible speed, and gets backbody dropped over the ropes onto the apron. Psicosis turns around, and blasts Rey in the chest.

Psicosis gets out of the ring to the apron, and Rey gets him with a chest chop of his own. They exchange chops on the apron until Psicosis knocks Rey down. Psicosis catapults Psicosis into the ringpost with his legs, and works the crowd as they go crazy for the fast paced action in the match. Psicosis comes back into the ring. Rey misses a splash in the corner. Psicosis slams Rey, and goes for his trademark legdrop off the top rope. Rey kicks out. Another powerbomb by Psicosis for another 2 count. Psicosis floors Rey with a Spinning Heel kick. Rey goes to the outside.

Psicosis goes for a Suicide Plancha, but Rey gets him with a chair. Joey screams "DIOS MIO"(Oh My God in Spanish). :lol:

Psicosis takes the momentum by targeting Rey's legs, trying to keep him grounded. Psicosis goes up to the top rope for nice corkscrew somersault senton splash.

Psicosis pulls Rey up, and whips him into the corner. Psicosis goes for a flying knee, but misses, and flies over the top rope to the outside. Rey attempts his 619(Tiger Feint Kick), and no, he did not call it the 619 back then. Psicosis evades the kick by leaping over the guardrail into the crowd. Rey springs himself up to the top rope, and leaps out into the crowd with a splash on Psicosis. Awesome. The crowd screams "OH!" very loudly. Everyone is going crazy as these two youngsters steal the show.

Awesome shot of both men sprawled out in a pile of chairs as the crowd cheers around them.

They take it back to the ring. Psicosis goes up to the top rope. Rey springs up to bring him down with a hurricanrana off the top for the pinfall.

8.8/10

At almost 11 minutes, this was just too short for me to give any higher of a score. There was a lot of action in this match, and action is what I like. It didn't tell any stories, and the selling wasn't that great, but it was just an awesome visual seeing these two guys go after each other with the speed and aerial attacks that they did. I can't remember if this match was better than their Mexican Death Match(with takes place about 2 months after this show) or not. We'll have to wait and see when we review that show.

The story goes that Heyman loved what he seen in this match, and he made plans to bring them back at future shows, along with several other Luchadores that would end up on WCW Nitro shortly after. Guys like La Parka, Konnan, and Juventud Guerrero would come to ECW shortly after this match.

Gangstas Paradise Steel Cage Match: Mikey Whipwreck & Public Enemy vs Sandman, Too Cold Scorpio & New Jack

Alright, so I'm just now realizing that this is ECW's knock towards WCW's War Games match which took place the very next day on pay per view. It was like a "We can do it better" type of match I guess. Let's see if they did.

PE & Mikey come out first. Mikey is dressed up just like PE. Mikey gives the ring announcer a hug, then turns around and gives his pick-pocketed wallet over to PE.

Sandman and Woman come out next. Crowd loves Sandman. They are going crazy for him here. Joey announces that New Jack's partner Mustapha was arrested last night, so Scorpio replaced him at the last minute. Sandman stands atop the cage cracking beers open.

I count three beers he downs while the introductions are announced. He's visibly drunk.

The match starts with all 6 men just brawling, throwing each other into the fence. Scorpio powerslams Whipreck. Sandman is smoking.

Rocco Rock sends him face first into the cage, yet he manages to keep his cigarette in his mouth.

OH SHIT! Rocco Rock does a fucking nice springboard moonsault into a Russian Legsweep on the Sandman. That was nice. Johnny Grunge is already bleeding. The thing about this match so far is that there is no real meaning or emotion in all of this brawling. Its just sloppy and unorganized as if they were all just improvising everything. Grunge and New Jack take the fight outside the cage. Sandman and Mikey fight atop the cage. New Jack and Johnny Grunge take it into the crowd. Mikey has the Sandman hanging upside down from the fence.

Grunge and New Jack make their way over to the soundstage under the balcony. Grunge climbs up to the balcony. Grunge gives New Jack a flying elbow off of the balcony. New Jack is bleeding all over the place. Mikey and Rocco Rock beat up Scorpio and The Sandman in the cage.

Pretty much everyone in the match is bleeding now. This thing has degenerated into a really sloppy mess.

Johnny Grunge strangles New Jack with a phone cord. Somebody pulls a table into the cage. Sandman drops it across Mikey's body. 2 Cold Scorpio pulls another table into the cage. Sandman takes turns dropping tables down across Rocco Rock and Whipreck. New Jack makes his way back into the cage. Johnny Grunge pushes a third table into the ring. Somebody brings a frying pan into the match. Sandman and New Jack get knocked out of the cage. PE stack all 3 tables on top of each other. Scorpio and Rocco Rock fight there way up to the top rope, and then up to the top of the cage.

OH MY GOD!!!

-Joey Styles

Both men fall off the top of the cage through all three tables. Sandman brings another table into the cage. Rocco Rock dropkicks The Sandman from behind, sending him falling forward through the table he holds in his hands. PE gets The Sandman with a double suplex. Whipreck gives the Sandman a Super Rana. PE brawl with New Jack and Scorpio around the cage and in the crowd.

Whipreck lands a Jimmy Snuka splash off of the top of the cage to pin the ECW World Champion Sandman.

The Sandman recovers as Mikey Whipreck celebrates. The cage door is locked. Woman gets the cane to The Sandman, and he proceeds to beat Mikey down like a dog. Sandman fires up another smoke before PE enter the cage and chase him away. Woman drags a beaten and bloodied Sandman to the back as PE and Whipreck celebrate in the cage.

Sandman, New Jack, and Scorpio come back out, and crash the celebration. Huge brawl ends the show.

5.9/10

This was not good. The triple table spot was awesome, but nothing else sticks out here. It was just too sloppy. No psychology or emotion to it, just mindless brawling with blood and weapons. I can say that this was better than the War Games match that WCW put together the next night at Fall Brawl 95.

Overall: 7.8/10

Man, this is a tough show to grade. A lot of shit. The undercard was downright terrible. Rey vs Psicosis was awesome. The double dog collar match was awesome. The main event was ok. The Stieners/Eliminators segment was cool, but man, the rest of this was just worthless. I'm going ahead with a pretty good score because I feel like the good outweighs the bad with this show. The show did have a cool overall feel to it. There were like 11 total tables used, which is some kind of a record at this point in wrestling history when nobody else was using tables. Table usage is stupid as far as psychology goes in wrestling matches, but there's just something about a good table spot that I love. Some good ones in this show. This is just a tough show to grade really. I want to give it a really high score for a few of the matches alone, but the terrible undercard really drags this show down. Overall though I'd say this is one of the better shows I've reviewed so far.
 
Pro Wrestling In The Fall of 1995

So we are getting closer and closer to the end of 1995, and I wanted to take a closer look at what else was going on in pro wrestling during this period of time. 1995 was a really bad year for the WWF, but by the fall things started to get a little better. Due to the competition from WCW's Nitro, Raw at least started to see some decent matchups every week. Jim Cornette's "Camp Cornette" heel faction was ruling the roost with Owen Hart, British Bulldog, and Yokozuna feuding with the top faces in Diesel, HBK, and the Undertaker. The six men squared off in a six man tag on the October 9th episode of Monday Night Raw. Still, the characters were beyond cartoonish, and the booking was atrocious. Nearly every match ended in some kind of DQ, count out, or schmozz. Each show was still riddled with wrestlers with terrible gimmicks such as hog farmers, trash men, and race car drivers. Chris Candido was brought in from Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and given a personal trainer/fitness guru gimmick. Bret Hart was still busy feuding with dentists and pirates. The Hitman blew his freakshow feuds off when he defeated Jean Pierre Laffitte(The Pirate) by submission on October 2nd episode of Raw, and he took out Isaac Yankem(Glen "Kane" Jacobs as a Dentist) in a steel cage match on the October 16th episode of Raw.

One of these cartoon gimmicks that was prominently featured on WWF Raw during the fall of 95 was "Dean" Douglas. Former ECW World Champion Shane Douglas was getting a pretty good little push with plenty of TV time as the evil school teacher with the "Board of Education" wooden paddle he would use in matches.

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Douglas would go on to capture the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the In Your House 4: The Great White North pay per view. Shawn Michaels was attacked by a group of Marines prior to the pay per view, and could not compete in a scheduled match against Douglas. Douglas won the title by forfeit, and turned around and lost it a few minutes later in a match against Razor Ramon. Also at the October 22nd Great White North pay per view, Diesel defended the WWF championship against the British Bulldog(DQ).

Meanwhile, over in WCW, they were really putting up a nice competition for the WWF right from the start with the first 8 episodes of Monday Nitro. WWF Raw was full of squash matches and DQ finishes while Nitro was putting on matches like Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman on September 8th, Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko on October 2nd, Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair steel cage match on October 9th, Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit on October 16th, and Eddie Guerrero & Jerry Lynn(Mr. JL) vs Benoit & Malenko on October 23rd. Also prominently featured in WCW during this time was ECW's most loved figure at the time, Sabu. Sabu had a series of matches in WCW against a masked Jerry Lynn leading up to the October 29th Halloween Havoc pay per view where they wrestled each other for 5 minutes. The launch of Nitro was like the beginning of a new era for WCW. It's interesting to note that what was the end of an era for ECW was the beginning of one for WCW, with numerous wrestlers from ECW filling out the undercard of Nitro(Sabu, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and soon, Public Enemy).

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While the undercards of Nitro were where the action was, the main even scene was still cluttered with the terrible Dungeon of Doom storyline. The Dungeon of Doom was a strait up blast from the past, and chocked full of the older WWF transplanted superstars. The Dungeon of Doom feuded with Hogan and Savage, with Lex Luger pulling a double cross to join the Dungeon. The Dungeon of Doom storyline rolled on as WCW made their way to the October 29th Halloween Havoc pay per view. Hogan headlined the show by facing off with The Giant. Hogan's match against the Giant at Halloween Havoc was an eventful contest to say the least.

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Not only did Hogan and The Gaint hook up in the ring at Halloween Havoc, they hooked it up Monster Truck style!

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In traditional WCW tomfoolery, Halloween Havoc 95 took the wrestlecrap to a new level with an epic sumo style battle between two monster trucks that represented Hogan and The Giant. Not all of Halloween Havoc was bad though. The Four Horseman were reborn when Ric Flair turned on Sting in a tag match against Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Flair, Anderson, Pillman, and later Chris Benoit brought the legendary heel stable back to life to show the Dungeon how it was done.

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While all of this malarkey was going down in the WWF and WCW Rey Mysterio and Psicosis were tearing it up in ECW. The two men made their ECW debut's at Gangsta's Paradise, and would go on to wrestle one of the match of the year candidates on the October 7th "South Philly Jam" show in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match. The 2 out of 3 falls match is one of the best matches in ECW history, and is included in the bonus features of the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. Also going on in ECW was the ongoing blood feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. The feud had exploded by now to include multiple different storylines going at once. The primary storyline involved was the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commissioner Bill Alphonso's attempt to take the extreme out of ECW. Alphonso sided with Raven in an attempt to eliminate the ECW fans favorite wrestler Tommy Dreamer. Cactus Jack turned on Dreamer to align himself with Alphonso during the Summer. Cactus sided with Raven, and would cut some of the best promos in wrestling history in a pretty deep little storyline where he blames the fans for pushing wrestlers like Ray Stevens and Dynamite Kid too far. Cactus told the fans that he was through with the hardcore wrestling, and that he was going to punish them by not giving them their money's worth. Not only that, but Cactus was trying to convince Tommy Dreamer to do the same, and to go to WCW with him.

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Also sided with Raven, Stevie Richards, and Beulah Mcgillicutty was the goofball slap stick lackey family, the Dudley Brothers. Buh Buh Ray and D-Von weren't the Dudley's just yet, rather a hodge podge motley crew of guys named Dudley Dudley, Dances with Dudley, Big Dick Dudley, and Sign Guy Dudley. Raven and his "Flock" would make life miserable for Tommy Dreamer and The Pit Bulls. Raven and Richards would win the ECW Tag Team titles back from The Pit Bulls on the October 7th show, only to turn around and lose them that same evening to Public Enemy in a three way dance that also included The Gangstas. Tommy Dreamer would end up bringing Terry Funk back to ECW to help him fight Cactus and Raven during the month of October in ECW.

Also going on in ECW during this time Taz was still nursing a neck injury. Taz was still working, but it was an angle with non-wrestler Jason, who brought in the Eliminators(Perry Saturn and John Kronus) at Gangstas Paradise. Mikey Whipreck became the number one contender to The Sandman(and Woman)'s ECW World Championship when he won a battle royal in September. Mikey got a pinfall over The Sandman at Gangstas Paradise during the tag team cage match. Mikey and Sandman's feud over the ECW World Championship would become interesting when WCW fired "Stunning" Steve Austin.

Steve Austin made his ECW debut with his classic Hulk Hogan parody at Gangstas Paradise. The skit did not make the home video of Gangstas Paradise, but it did air on Hardcore TV during the fall. During the skit, Austin talked about how he never got the chance to rise above mid-card status in the WCW.

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Austin made his first in ring appearance in ECW on September 28th in Middleton, NY. Austin came out before a match between Sandman and Mikey Whipreck, and cut a foul mouthed promo talking about how much of a shithole ECW was, and bad mouthing the Sandman for being a fat, out of shape, beer drinking champion. Austin called Mikey a sorry piece of shit that didn't deserve to be in the ring. Right from his very first night in ECW, Austin was "Stone Cold". His promos in ECW resembled nothing at all the "Ringmaster" or "Stunning Steve" stuff. Heyman gave Austin the freedom to go out there, and develop this character, and a legend was born. Austin would cut another promo on Hardcore TV going into details about how he was mishandled in WCW, even talking about ideas he had mentioned to Eric Bischoff & Dusty Rhodes that were shot down. Austin talked about how much of a shithole ECW was, and how it was "Just a bunch of Violent CRAP!" in the promo. The "Just a bunch of violent crap" promo reminds me a lot of the Shane Douglas "Evolution of a Franchise" promo that I took a look at earlier in this project where Shane pretty much just did a shoot on his beef with Ric Flair. So much of what I've looked at from ECW in 1995 has been very "Shooty". From Terry Funk and Cactus Jack's "Charlatan" feud earlier in the year, to Shane's shooting on Flair, to Cactus' heel turn and the "Cane Dewey" promos, to this Steve Austin stuff. It was all shooty, but it had a distinct style to it that was different from(and much better than) the Vince Russo WCW train wreck shit.

The next four shows I will be taking a look at are the Oct. 24th, Oct. 31st, Nov. 7th, and Nov. 14th episodes of Hardcore TV from 1995. It's the build up to the November To Remember show, which is probably one of the best ECW shows of all time. Lets take a look at ECW's weekly show, and see how it compares to Nitro and Raw from this time.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hardcore TV(Episode #131)

October 24th, 1995​

Alright, so we take our first look at the show that won Best Weekly Show of the year for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for 1994, 95, and 96. Lets jump right in to see if it really was better than what was going on over on Nitro and Raw during this time in 1995.

ECW World Tag Team Championship Three Way Dance: The Gangstas vs Public Enemy vs Raven & Stevie Richards

This is a clip of the match from the South Philly Jam on October 7th where Public Enemy wins the titles back. We are immediately thrust into a shot of the ECW Arena with all of the fans waving their arms from side to side along to the Public Enemy's music. PE comes out, and the crowd loves them. They dance around for a bit before The Gangstas attack them from behind. The Gangstas beat on Public Enemy in and out of the ring.

Interesting thing is that this match has been clipped up, so this is really just kind of a highlight reel of the match. This was something that was done quite frequently on Hardcore TV.

Mustapha brawls with Rocco Rock up to the Eagles Nest balcony. New Jack lands a beautiful flying headbutt on Johnny Grunge in the ring, very nicely executed. New Jack always had a nice flying headbutt. Mustapha sets up two tables on top of each other under the balcony. Rocco Rock is body slammed off of the balcony through one of the tables(one doesn't break). Really painful, dangerous looking spot. Raven and Richards are nowhere to be found in the match yet. New Jack mocks the Public Enemy's dancing in the ring as be beats on Johnny Grunge.

Raven and Stevie Richards come out finally. Richards fucking daisy dukes are so short and tight it is fucking hilarious. They are literally wedged up his ass. Raven and New Jack square off face to face in a pretty cool little stand off. Raven sits down in the corner as Richards and The Gangstas beat on Public Enemy. Johnny Grunge is busted open bleeding. Whats new? Raven sits and watches as The Gangstas and Stevie continue to beat the shit out of PE.

Rocco Rock catches New Jack in a surprise rollup for the 1, 2, 3. The Gangstas have been eliminated.

The match skips ahead to Public Enemy in the ring with Stevie Richards on top of two tables stacked on top of each other. One table is on top of the ropes in the corner with a chair on top of it. This is just fucking crazy. Johnny Grunge lights the bottom table on fire, Rocco Rock does a moonsault off of the chair that is on the table in the corner on the top rope. Rocco Rock's knees crash down onto Stevie really hard, putting him through both of the tables.

Holy shit.

That was a pretty crazy fucking spot. If I was a pro wrestler, and somebody asked me to be a part of a spot like this, I'd tell them to kiss my fucking ass. This was just wild, and dangerous.

I kind of liked it though. Not something you see in your everyday wrestling match. A level of violence that just wasn't being done anywhere at this time except for Japan's FMW.

Johnny Grunge pulls Stevie out of the smoking table wreckage for the 1, 2, 3, and the tag team titles.

Crowd goes ape shit. Arms waving side to side all through the arena. As much as I sing the praises of all the technical wrestling, and advanced storylines/characters that were in ECW, there is no denying that this stuff was what put asses in the seats of the ECW Arena. The ECW Arena really was the house that Public Enemy built. This crowd loved the shit out of them. Just about all the fans pile into the ring with Public Enemy, and start chanting E! C! DUB!. Pretty cool little sight. Just looks like a good time. Everybody's happy and having fun. Party on.

6.9/10

Keep in mind that this was not the complete match. They probably cut a lot of shit out. With that in mind, this wasn't a bad little segment. It was violent in a pretty fun way. The double flaming table moonsault was a pretty sick spot. It was just a stunt, but hey, stunts are entertaining sometimes. Stunts are cool in the movies, and sometimes they can be cool in wrestling, take the Foley HIAC bumps for instance. This stunt in this match was pretty cool I guess. Nothing spectacular, just one of those "Holy Shit" moments.

Intro

After the match we get the awesome intro highlight set to the tune of White Zombie's "Thunderkiss 65". Awesome.

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Back before Rob Zombie made mediocre movies, and even more mediocre music as a solo act, White Zombie was a pretty awesome little band. Everything about White Zombie just screams 90's.

Jason/Stevie Richards Interview/Commercials

We cut from the intro to an interview with Joey Styles and Stevie Richards. They cut the interview in front of some ECW flags, and they claim to be at the ECW Arena, but these segments were all filmed at Ron Buffone's parent's house. Ron Buffone and Charlie Bruzesse were the unsung heroes of ECW. These two guys were the ones that would put this TV show together, and make it look as edgy and up to date as it did. They would put together some really, really awesome, way ahead of their time highlight music videos(like the Intro), and put the show together on some small, cheap computers in Ron Buffone's parent's basement. These flags behind Joey Styles and Stevie Richards in this segment are covering up the Buffone's washer and dryer. Ron Buffone's parents were probably in the middle of doing laundry as they cut this segment, much like the scene in the film "Beyond The Mat".

So they would take one of those 3 hour long shows like the ones I have reviewed here up to this point, and they would cut them up for 2-3 weeks of Hardcore TV episodes like this one. All of the music videos and promos would be filmed later and edited in at Ron's parent's basement at a later date.

Stevie talks about how Public Enemy lit a fire under his ass at the last show. Stevie challenges Rocco Rock to a "Ragedy Ass Ho" match, where the loser has to wear a dress. The segment cuts over to Johnny Grunge saying he was going to treat Stevie like the guy he shared a cell with in prison. They cut back to Stevie and Joey, and they are joined by Jason. Joey Styles acting like he's allergic to Jason(euro trash gimmick) is almost funny. Almost. Jason asks Stevie if he can wear the dress if he loses the "Ragedy Ass Ho" match.

Commercial time.

Yeah, pretty much, these Hardcore TV shows were just a big one hour long ECW infomercial. They would use a lot of the TV time to plug upcoming shows, advertise T-shirts, and home videos. The first commercial block kicks off with Lance Wright in a segment he apparently called "Hype Central", ok. He plugs the upcoming live shows. Lance Wright wound up getting a job in the WWF somehow as an interviewer by late 96/early 97, but he was never even a speck on the ass of the great Todd Pettingail or Sean Mooney. Seriously I don't know how he got the WWF gig, the guy was terrible. Vince probably hired him because he was juiced in with Heyman. Maybe the guy was dating his sister or something, who knows.

A pretty cool song plays that I can't recognize as the card for the October 28th ECW Arena show flashes by the screen match by match. Sandman vs Mikey Whipreck's ladder match is advertised. Terry Funk is advertised to be in the corner of Tommy Dreamer in a match against Cactus Jack.

Gangstas Paradise home video commercial set to the actual Gangstas Paradise song.

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Fucking awesome highlight video of that show. Makes me want to watch it again. I loved these old commercials for the old tapes.

ECW 1-900 Hotline Commercial

Back to Lance Wright, who plugs the Original Three Way Dance April 8th show available on Home Video. Merchandise hotline plug.

Back to Joey Styles and Stevie Richards. Jason brings a dress into the scene, and asks if Johnny Grunge would be able to fit in it. Stevie makes fun of Grunge's weight. Corny.

Joey goes off into a video chronicling 2 Cold Scorpio's feud with Public Enemy. They show the awesome triple table spot from the Gangstas Paradise steel cage match. They show highlights of a six man tag match at a house show in Chicago where Public Enemy put Scorpio through a flaming table. Scorpio is show confronting Public Enemy backstage, telling them that they are clowns who can't fly like him. Scorpio's upcoming match against Rocco Rock is plugged, and advertised to be for the Tag Team titles. I never liked it when anyone put the tag team titles on the line in a singles match. Stevie comes back into the scene, and talks about his upcoming "Ragedy Ass Ho" match against Johnny Grunge. Jason comes walking into the scene with another dress, asking Stevie's opinion of the color & texture of it. These are probably Ron Buffone's Mom's dresses:lol:.

Really corny stuff. I'd be embarrassed to watch that last segment with anybody.

Back to Lance Wright in an "EC F'N W" t-shirt commercial. Wright makes a sarcastic joke:

As you can tell by the very nature of our program, ECW is governed by a very conservative, right wing, politically correct establishment.

:rofl:

Pretty cool shirt for only $20(postage paid).

Another ECW Hardcore Phone line commercial.

ECW Title Match: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Sandman

Ah, finally another match. We cut back to The Sandman and Woman about halfway through their long ass entrance already. They would usually take up the entire "Enter Sandman" song during the Sandman's entrances. Woman holds and flaunts the belt around. Sandman has a cigarette in his mouth, cane in his right hand, and a beer in his left hand. :lol:

This is the match from The South Philly Jam on October 7th, which was Steve Austin's second ECW Appearance.

There is a stack of tables folded up near the ring, maybe about 5 or 6 of them. Mikey Whipreck comes out to Beck's "Loser"

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Perfect.

The ring announer goes through the motions introducing Whipreck and Sandman, and then all of a sudden Steve Austin comes out with his flowing golden locks of hair, and his EC F'N W t-shirt. Austin romps his way to the ring looking like Stone Cold.

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Austin violently grabs the microphone from the ring announcer, and shoves Mikey Whipreck's face backwards with his hand. :lol: Hilarious. He is just really intense.

Now listen here you son of a bitch, last time I was out here, I came out here to say good luck to the both of you bastards.

It pisses me off to see a piece of crap like you, defending a damn world heavyweight belt. The doctor tells me that in six weeks son, I'll be ready to walk all over your ass, because your name ain't Hulk Hogan.

But naw, oh, we ain't got to wait six weeks, we ain't got to wait six weeks. You can throw his ass out of the ring, and you and me can get it on RIGHT NOW!

Austin violently shoves Sandman, and turns his back on him to taunt the crowd. Sandman canes the dogshit out of Austin in the back of the head. Sandman gets a microphone.

YO!

Yo STEVE AUSTIN!

YO!

This ain't Atlanta. THIS AIN'T THE WCW!

This is Philadelphia, and I am the extreme HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!

YOU!

*Canes him in the head as he tries to get up, knocking him back down*

YOU, are just another jabroni!

*Canes him again*

YOU, are just another HULK HOGAN WANNA BE!

:rofl:

This is just hilarious going from one of the all time best on the microphone to one of the all time worst all in one segment. Austin loses it on Sandman after being called a Hulk Hogan wanna be. Austin bum rushes Sandman, and tackles him to the ground. Austin beats on Sandman with punches until all of the other wrestlers come out to separate them.

Konnan tries to keep The Sandman back as the other wrestlers keep Austin back. Konnan and Sandman begin staring each other down for no apparent reason.

Random chest smacking contest. OH MY FUCKING GOD I LOVE IT. :rofl:

Sandman and Konnan just start tearing into each other's chests with chops out of nowhere as a haggleload of wrestlers hold Steve Austin back. Konnan drops Sandman, and the wrestlers separate them. Austin rushes the Sandman again. All of the wrestlers separate them. Austin rips Sandman's shirt off. Order is eventually restored, and the match begins. Whipreck hits Sandman with a hurricanrana and a leg drop for a 2 count.

We cut away to more commercials.

Advertisement for the October 27th New York show set to Mad Season's "I Don't Know Anything"

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Cactus vs Konnan, Sandman & Scorpio vs Public Enemy, and Dreamer vs Raven falls count anywhere are advertised for the event. More plugs for the October 28th event.

Back to the match, and they are fighting in the crowd. Mikey whips Sandman into the steel gaurd rail. Mikey hits Sandman with a somersault plancha out of the ring down to the floor. Mikey hits Sandman with 3 hard, unprotected chair shots to the head. Sandman drops Mikey ribs first across the guard rail, and follows up with a leg drop across the back of his head from the apron. Sandman attacks Mikey with the steel gaurdrailing.

These guys are being really fucking stiff with each other.

Sandman hits Mikey in the head with the railing multiple times. Mikey sends Sandman into the railing with sickening force. Sandman separates one of the pieces of railing, and suplexes it down onto Mikey. Mikey's shirt is torn up, and he looks like he's been in a damn dogfight. Sandman hits his top rope legdrop, rises back up to his feet, and fires up a mid-match smoke.:lol:

Steve Austin comes back out with a ladder. Austin hits Sandman in the gut with the ladder. Austin throws the ladder into the ring before making his exit again. Sandman back body drops Whipreck out of the ring, and follows him down with a leg drop. They throw each other into the ladder multiple times. Whipreck teeter-totter's the ladder into Sandman's face. I've seen people try this spot a lot, and this was the best I've ever seen it done. They made it look good here.

Sandman drops a legdrop onto Mikey from the top rope for the 3 count after 15 minutes of brutal brawling.

Sandman brutally attacks the referee with the ladder before storming off with Woman and his belt. The crowd chants "MIKEY! MIKEY! MIKEY!".

9/10

Austin bumps this up alot. He gave everybody a preview of Stone Cold here with his attitude and demeanor. Loved everything about all of the pre-match drama, the random chest smacking contest that broke out with Sandman and Konnan had me rolling on the floor. Just the way they started looking at each other out of nowhere before blasting each other's chest was hilarious. The actual match was surprisingly good too. Really physical and stiff. Not that that is a good thing, but you can't deny that this was an intense war. Sandman was really rough with Mikey. These two would go on to have a pretty brutal series of matches that get overlooked quite a bit. I really enjoyed this segment, and would advise everyone to track it down. Awesome stuff.

Another ECW Hardcore Hotline commercial.

Gangstas Paradise home video ad again, still fucking awesome. Really nice little highlight video set to some old school jams.

More plugs for the October 28th show. Lance Wright's "Hype Central" running down the card.

We cut to a Sandman promo. Sandman says he's the king of extreme, and that he hasn't been extreme yet with him. Sandman says he will be so extreme with Whipreck that not even Johnny Cochran will be able to get him out of trouble. :rofl:

Woman takes the center stage of the promo, and damn. This woman, Nancy Benoit, had a lot of talent in front of the camera from what I've seen of her in ECW so far in 1995. She talks about how much she lives for the title as she holds it across her shoulder. She says that she breathes for the belt, she owns the belt, and that her and The Sandman will own Mikey on Oct. 28th. I love it. I touched on this earlier in this thread, but there was a lot of depth and substance to this Woman character. She was a strong, intelligent, powerful woman, and she was the real ECW World Champion during this reign of the Sandman's during 1995. Anyone that thinks ECW was just always about degrading and beating women, I present exhibit A.

Commercial for the "Enter Sandman" show on ECW Home Video set to the tune of the Metallica song. Another really nice little highlight of the event with the double suplex on the two jobbers by Taz. I love these short little jamming highlight videos that they would air to sell the tapes.

Another ECW Hardcore Hotline commercial. Like no other hotline in professional wrestling. I could only imagine.

Styles plugs the next ECW show when all of a sudden JT Smith walks into the scene. Smith is in the "Knocked himself Stupid" gimmick here, and thinks he's Italian(he's black). He's actually pretty funny the way he's acting. He keeps calling himself the big don, and doing stereotypical Italian hand gestures and whatnot. He says that this saturday night he is not going to mess up in his match as he begins shadow boxing around Joey Styles. Smith accidentally knocks Styles in the face with a punch, knocking him backwards out of the scene.:lol:

Pulp Fiction Promos

I liked the Pulp Fiction promos. They would just roll through a series of promos set to the tune of "Miserlou", from Pulp Fiction.

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The song would play on in the background as one by one characters would cut promos from various locations. I thought this was a cool way to give the characters a bit of depth, and flesh out the storylines. Pulp Fiction promos were an ECW tradition.

This one on this episode is just all over the place. It goes back and forth from the Dudley family(now with Buh Buh Ray), JT Smith heckling Joey Styles, The Eliminators(Perry Saturn and John Kronus) taunting the Pit Bulls, Tommy Dreamer talking about how he's going to bring Terry Funk back to ECW, and Cactus Jack cutting some excellent promos like this one:

I guess it's true isn't it Tommy?

I guess it's all true.

I tried to believe in my heart that it wasn't, but I guess down in my heart I knew it was true.

Your really going to bring him here.

The one man that you know, that can step in the way of my path to righteousness in my final resting place.

You threw a big obstacle at me Tommy, and I'm going to have to hope that I have enough love for the both of us, because apparently you've got no love or respect for yourself.

Because the fact is that Terry Funk makes me do things, that I don't want to do. He makes me the kind of man.....THAT I DON'T WANT TO BE ANYMORE!

Tommy reveals Terry during the promos. Terry sends a message saying "I'M BACK CACTUS!"

Steve Austin is shown in the promo saying that ECW is about to find out what Steve Austin can do. You got that shit right.

Woman is shown caressing the ECW World championship saying that it means more to her than anything or anyone as she looks directly at the Sandman.

Tommy Dreamer is shown screaming at the camera that he was going to drag the hardcore back out of Cactus.

Beulah Mcgillicutty is shown on the beach in a bikini. :bow: The perfect woman.

Terry Funk is shown blowing the flames out on his branding iron from an older ECW event.

Cactus is shown again saying this:

Dory Funk Sr.....I spit on your memory!

*Spits*

I spit on your family!

And when you bring that pathetic son of yours, that gutless coward, I guarantee to you I'll spit on him in the face. Because Terry Funk, you can't stop me on the road to my kingdom.

You can't stop the wheels that have already been set in motion.

The only thing that you're going to do, is guarantee that your protege Tommy Dreamer, suffers a horrible fate.

Forget about the WCW Tommy!

Because you've gone too far!

and now YOU'VE GOT TO PAY!

*starts crying*

God dammit Terry Funk.

*Raven walks into scene*

We were on the verge of something very important.

Cactus breaks down in tears when Raven gets the microphone and says:

Look at his pain. Look at his torment. Tommy why must you do this?

After what you put me through years ago, I finally find, someone that would stand beside me.

*Cactus clings to Raven's waist crying*

And look at the anguish, you've caused him. This man will not desert me like you. Why do you do this to me Tommy Dreamer?

Why can't you just let it alone?

Then maybe Raven has found a little solace.

And Terry Funk, you're a decrepid old fossil. However, your legendary status is also meaningless, because I am Raven, and I'll put you through a table, and bash your brains in.

But it really doesn't matter. Cactus Jack does not need my help. Cactus Jack will annihilate you Tommy Dreamer.

He will annihilate you.

HE WILL ANNIHILATE YOU!

And all of the pain I've suffered all these years, when you left me, when you should have stood beside me, will be vindicated. Cactus Jack, you will do for me, what I should have done a long time ago. Vanquish Tommy Dreamer.

Quothe the Raven, Nevermore.

Raven poses as Cactus Jack hugs his waist laughing and crying at the same time.

Dreamer says that he will sacrifice Raven at the alter to bring an end to the show.

Overall Show Rating: 9/10

Well shit, that was awesome. The Raven/Cactus vs Dreamer feud is really fucking awesome. I never realized how awesome this storyline was. The Raven character was playing mind games with Cactus, and turned him against Dreamer to do his dirty work for him. That was the root of this heel turn from Cactus Jack. Raven's mind games. Beautiful. People who claim that ECW lacked substance, and was just all about shock television, I present to you exhibit B.

Also take into consideration what was going on over in Raw and Nitro during this time in 1995. I mean, damn. This was just so far ahead of it's time it was scary. Stone Cold being Stone Cold. A brutal match between The Sandman and Mikey Whipreck, some outstanding promos, and some awesome 90's music. The show was just chocked full of awesome jams. Every commercial, every segment, everything had an awesome song playing through in the background. There were multiple classic 90's grunge tunes that I recognized during various moment of this show, but I couldn't think of the names of them.

The show did have some shit on it. Lance Wright is a tool that just did not fit in ECW. This show had about 90% too much Lance Wright on my television, and nowhere near enough Beulah Mcgillicutty. The segments with Public Enemy/Stevie Richards/Jason, and Joey Styles were really corny too. Some of the stuff on this tape hasn't aged well, but for the most part there was a lot of really interesting stuff in this one single hour long show. I enjoyed it a lot. Check it out.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hardcore TV(Episode #132)

October 31st, 1995​

Alright, so we're rolling on towards possibly the best ECW show of all time, November To Remember 95, and we have 3 more episodes of Hardcore TV to get through before we cover it. Some pretty deep storylines going on at this point with Raven playing mind games on Cactus Jack to convince him to denounce hardcore wrestling, and eliminate Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer brought Terry Funk back to ECW to help him with Cactus.

Just a couple of days prior to this airing, Dreamer faced Cactus with Raven and Terry Funk both watching. Terry Funk and Cactus Jack began fighting with a burning chair during the match as Raven and Dreamer fought up to the Eagles Nest balcony. A piece of flaming debri from the chair flew into the crowd, and burned one of the fans. The Arena was engulfed in smoke when the lights went out for an angle with Raven and Dreamer. The plan was for the lights to come back on with Tommy Dreamer strung up in the crucified position with ropes on the Eagles Nest balcony. When the lights went out a near riot broke out in the ECW Arena. The fans panicked, and all hell broke loose.

Terry Funk went on a violent tirade backstage, and severely scolded Mic Foley along with a few others after the show. Paul Heyman would start making moves to make things up to the fans for the incident immediately after the show.

Intro

We start the show with Steve Austin's infamous "Monday Nyquil" promo where he's dressed up like Eric Bischoff, and takes shots at him for firing him over the phone(while injured). Austin takes jabs at WCW and Eric Bischoff in a pretty funny little promo where he pokes fun at Eric's commentary, and the quality of the matches on Nitro. My favorite part is where he starts talking about how the main event is going to be a Bottle of Geritol on a Pole match.:lol: Cracks me up everytime.

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This promo is very similar to some of the Public Enemy WCW parody promo's from earlier on in 95. ECW had positioned themselves as an enemy of WCW throughout 1995. Eric Bischoff was the top heel in the ECW Arena even though he never even stepped foot in the place. ECW was the perfect place for Austin to go after the way he was treated by the company. He fit right in.

We get the awesome intro highlight video set to White Zombie's Thunderkiss '65. Love it. How can you not love this video? It's fucking awesome. I would post a video of it, but I can't find any with the actual music still intact. Shame.

Joey Styles runs down the matches for tonight's show, goes over the rules for World Title Ladder Match, which will be decided by pinfall, not by grabbing a suspended belt. Styles plugs November To Remember, and the upcoming house show.

Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" plays in the background during the plug. The song plays on as the schedule for upcoming shows flashes across the screen.

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Gangstas Paradise video tape commercial. Still fucking awesome. I'm telling you, these little highlight videos were the best thing ECW did. I wish more of them were on Youtube. Just short little 15 second highlight's of the event set to some awesome music. This one makes me want to go back and edit in a higher score for this event. :lol:

Hardcore Hotline commercial.

Lance Wright EC F'N W T-shirt commercial. A cool little song playing in the background. I remember hearing this song a lot when I was younger, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Some obscure 90's grunge tune.

We cut from commercials back to Austin still dressed up as Bischoff. The camera man wakes him up from a nap on his table. Austin makes fun of WCW for being the place "Where The Big Boys Play With Each Other" before falling back to sleep on his desk.:lol:

The Pitbulls vs Don E. Allen & The Broadstreet Bully

Alright, so somewhere we missed Francine becoming the manager for the Pitbulls. She comes out with the Pitbulls in her tight leather outfit looking sexy as sexy can be. I know that her little "Fan" angle with Stevie Richards and Beulah blew off in a bra and panties match sometime prior to this(the match appears on the Extreme Warfare compilation home video), but this is the first time I've seen her with the Pitbulls at this point in the project.

Man, this is a pretty brutal fucking squash. They waste zero time. Stiff as hell with these guys. Pit Bull 2 lands a nasty Guerrilla Press Slam. Pit Bull 1 lands his little arm twist kick that he would do, then it's Super Bomb for the 1, 2, 3.

Probably about a 15 second match.

Joey Styles jokes about how Don E. Allen was #499 on the PWI 500 that year.:lol:

Jason comes out. Not Jason Voorhees, the Jason that manages The Impact Players(Justin Credible and Lance Storm) with Dawn Marie later on in ECW.

Franny is pretty hot here in leathers, but she's got nothing on Beulah.

Jason offers up his managerial services to the Pit Bulls, and says he regrets selling their contracts to Stevie Richards. Jason says he can get their tag titles back if they ditch Franny. The Pit Bulls hold Francine back from kicking his ass.

Jason hits Francine with a superkick. The Pitbulls go after him. The Eliminators come out and attack the Pitbulls.

Total Elimination on Pitbull 2.

They set Pitbull 1 up for Total Elimination, but Taz & Ric Stiener come out. Steinerline's everywhere. Taz and Stiener kick ass, and the crowd all barks like dogs as we cut away to commercials.

Lance Wright again with the T-shirt.

Hardcore Phone line ad.

Back from commercials, and the Eliminators come back to the ring....Where did they go?

The Eliminators attack Ric Stiener and Taz. The Pitbulls come back out....

What the fuck. I just don't get it. These guys all left, and then came back? Some goofy booking going on with this segment.

We get a pretty sloppy brawl with Taz, Ric Stiener, and The Pitbulls helping each other fight off The Eliminators. Perry Saturn is really young looking here. I don't think I've ever seen him with long hair like he has here.

6.8/10

Pretty good squash match, but there was some screwy booking in this segment with the guys getting run off from the ring, then just hitting the reset button like nothing happened and coming back out to the ring again. The Pitbulls looked good, and I really like The Eliminators even though they were really, really, really green looking in this segment. They botched several spots, and just looked really uncoordinated together. They would improve a lot over the next year though. Should be fun to watch.

Commercials/Interviews

We cut away to Lance Wright again. I guess I should post a picture of this dude. Ah, fuck it, he doesn't deserve it. He "hype's" November to Remember. A pretty cool little song by a 90's band called "Live" plays on as more shows are advertised across the screen in text. Can't think of the name of this song, but it is pretty cool. I'm digging the music in these old episodes.

*Turns TV up*

The show cuts to a little segment they were running throughout 1995 on Hardcore TV called "Extreme Encyclopedia". Some classy music would play as graphics would flash onto the screen showing certain characters with encyclopedia/dictionary type descriptions of them. The first one shows The Sandman as "A cigarette smoking, cane swinging, beer drinking world champion with a propensity for violence; a fighter who has climbed the ladder to the top." They show Sandman's manager Woman, with text that says "An abberation of the classic American male fantasy of beauty and servitute; a seductive henchwench with an appetite for money.", Mikey Whipreck's says "a 19 year old messenger of improbable upsets, the former ECW TV & Tag Team Champion with Cactus, tries to use his 188 clean living, non smoking, drug & disease free pounds to beat the nicotine addicted Sandman."

Hmm, what have we here? Whipreck was strait edge? Nice.

More awesome music plays that I can't remember the name to as upcoming shows are plugged with text across the screeen.

Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" comes on as the plugging continues.

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Jammin.:rocking:

We cut to the Dudley family cutting a promo together. A graphic flashes across the screen saying "Dudley: It's not just a name, it's a way of life". :lol:

Something else we also missed, the Dudley clan now includes a robust, young, stuttering Buh Buh Ray Dudley. D-Von is yet to be seen, but Buh Buh is here all decked out in tie dye along with Dudley Dudley, Dances With Dudley, Sign Guy Dudley, and Big Dick Dudley. Pretty funny little promo where they introduce Buh Buh as the special guest ring announcer for the opening ceremonies of the upcoming November to Remember.

The show cuts to a segment where Public Enemy train Mikey Whipreck for his upcoming ladder match against The Sandman. They are outdoors somewhere in the middle of the night. Pretty goofy little segment where PE send Mikey up and down a ladder to fetch beers for them to drink, saying that if you want to beat The Sandman, you have to think like The Sandman. Not a good segment. Just looks like a couple of dudes fucking around with a camera somewhere out in the woods.

Enter Sandman video tape commercial....Hold on a damn minute! They showed a clip of Eddie Guerrero wrestling Marty Jannetty in this highlight. The tape of that event that I reviewed was this same tape they were selling here in this ad, and that match is not of that fucking tape. Shady.

More ads for upcoming shows set to the tune of Mad Season's "I Don't Know Anything". Awesome song. Watching these tapes influenced me to go out and pick up the Mad Season "Above" CD recently, which is just phenomenal. Mad Season was a side project of Lane Staley(Alice In Chains), and one of the guys from Pearl Jam. They only released one album, and it is really good. Highly recommended.

ECW World Championship Ladder Match: The Sandman(C) vs Mikey Whipreck

We get an abridged version of The Sandman & Woman's entrance. The rules for this ladder match is that the only way to win is by pinfall or submission. The belt was not suspended from the ceiling. Not sure how I feel about that. I kind of like the psychology involved with the traditional "suspended belt" ladder matches.

Sandman and Woman were doing this weird thing at this time where they would just stand and stare into each other's eyes for a long time as "Enter Sandman" played on. Whipreck coming out to Beck's "Loser" is just too awesome. It's just the perfect song for him.

The Sandman sits on top of the ladder smoking a cigarette and drinking a cold beer.

"The Extreme Superstar" Steve Austin interrupts the introductions. The crowd gives him a pretty good applause.

Now stop it.

A couple of people got smart with me on the way to the building today, and said I was a Hulk Hogan wanna be.

One of 'em said I looked like Hulk Hogan.

I been crapped on for 4 years, I believe I deserve a break.

*Climbs Ladder*

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I didn't get to climb the ladder to the top in the WCW like this.

I'm up here all the way at the top, and I look down, and I see two jabroni's....

And from the places I've been about a $5 piece of ass.

Whipreck you amaze me son, because you're a go getter. You ain't go no quit in you, you don't know what the word quit means.

I respect you for that.

But you're still just a loser in my book son.

This is Steve Austin talking to you, and if I'm calling you a loser, you can damn well bet it's the truth.

*Looks at Sandman*

Keep drinking a few more beers, smoke a couple more cigarettes because yeah, you're sure really, really cool.

Brother I'm gonna get your ass in the ring, and I'm gonna run circles around you.

And when your tongue's hanging out of there by your feet, and I'm walking off with the damn belt in my hands, you're going to wonder.. what the hell was I thinking? That's Steve Austin.

This is not Mikey Whipreck. This is not one of the misfits back there in that god forsaken dressing room man...:)lol:)

This is Steve Austin.

*Looks at Woman*

Don't get me wrong, hey, if I could rustle up $5 and a clothespin to put on my nose I'd give you a try.

And don't even think about looking at me pissed off lady, because it's you that married a midget, not me.

I wish both of you guys best wishes. I hope one of you kills the other because who ever comes out on top, god dam, you're looking at the next champ, right here.

Solid gold. I love this promo. Stone Cold has arrived on the wrestling scene ladies and gentleman. This man was a game changer. The Midget Austin is referring to is Kevin Sullivan, who was booking WCW at this time, and was married to Nancy "Woman" Benoit in real life.

Austin walks off, and gets attacked by Woman. He scoops her up on his shoulder, and carries her off to the back. Several of the fans reach out and smack her on the ass as she's carried out on Austin's shoulder. :lol:That shit is just not right. It's funny as fuck, but it's not right. :rofl:

Sandman attacks Whipreck with a beer from behind. Whipreck hits Sandman in the face with the ladder several times. They take it to the outside. Whipreck dominates Sandman, and takes him back in the ring. Sandman lifts Mikey up, and slams him down into the ladder.

Jeez.:stalker:

Sick bump. Sandman goes for a Somersault Splash onto a ladder on top of Whipreck, he slips at first, then lands the move. Whipreck rolls to the outside. Sandman throws the ladder down across his back from in the ring. Shit. Sandman props the ladder up, and drapes Whipreck's body on it for a legdrop from the apron. Whipreck blasts Sandman with like 4 chair shots to the head. Sandman backdrops Mikey into the first row of the crowd. Sandman beats the shit out of Mikey in the crowd, and props the ladder over the guardrail for the teeter-totter spot. The fans break out in E! C! DUB! chants.

Sandman pulls Whipreck back over the rail, and rolls him into the ring. Whipreck rolls out from under another slingshot move, and just plain beats the shit out of Sandman with the ladder for reals. Good god almighty. Really stiff.

Mikey puts the ladder over The Sandman's body, and hits him with a splash off of the top rope. Whipreck gets the pinfall for the huge upset title victory. Cactus comes out congratulating Mikey Whipreck. All of the face wrestlers come out, and celebrate with Mikey on their shoulders as the crowd chants "MIKEY! MIKEY! MIKEY!".

The Sandman stumbles off defeated and bloodied.

A graphic comes on the screen showing the dates of The Sandman's title reign as sad music plays. April 15th, 1995-October 28th, 1995. Highlights of the Sandman's reign play on with the sad music. I enjoyed this title reign, mostly because of the Woman character. She was the brains of the operation, and the Sandman would have never won the title without her. Woman was the real champion if you think about it, so I kind of hate to see her lose the strap. Maybe it's this sad ass fucking music. This is what plays as highlights of The Sandman's world title reign play on:

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And that ends the show. Pretty cool little tribute video to Sandman & Woman's 6 month title reign.

9.5/10

This is a grade for this entire segment really. As for the match by itself, it was pretty damn brutal. One of the best brawls I've seen so far, and Whipreck winning the title was a pretty cool moment. Stone Cold Steve Austin's promo is a major reason for such a high score. One of his best promos ever, including his work in the WWF. The little highlight package they put together commemorating Sandman & Woman's title reign was pretty cool too.

Overall Show Rating: 9.3/10

A big part of this high score for me is the music. The tunes made this a lot of fun to watch. Without the music, you really take a lot of the enjoyment out of ECW for me. Hardcore TV was just a hip, jamming wrestling show in 1995. Light years ahead of what the WWF and WCW were doing in that regard. Another big part of this ridiculously high score is Steve Austin. This was his show. Possibly his best ECW show. Classic Steve Austin here in this one little hour wrestling show. Add a brutal Sandman vs Whipreck title match, and some cool music on top of that and you have an ECW show that is well worth tracking down. The only thing that keeps it from getting a higher score was a sloppy, poorly booked segment with The Eliminators, Pitbulls, and Taz/Ric Stiener. The Public Enemy segment was pretty dumb as well.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hardcore TV(Episode #133)

November 7th, 1995​

Stranglerlewis that's a pretty big compliment. I appreciate it man, and I thank you for reading this. The further I've gotten into this project the more I've enjoyed it. ECW really did just continue to grow and improve from the first 1992 show that I looked at up to where we are now in late 1995.

Do you remember where you were in November 1995?

This is getting pretty close to WWF Survivor Series(Diesel vs Bret in the MOTY), and WCW World War 3. Mikey Whipreck ended the Sandman's six month title reign at the last show with a little bit of help from Steve Austin(Carried Woman out of the Arena on his shoulders). We're getting real close to ECW November To Remember 95, which very well may be the best ECW show of all time, and one of the best wrestling shows of 1995 period. Lets turn the TV up real loud, and check this bad boy out.

We start off with a "Last week on ECW" segment showing highlights of Mikey winning the strap.

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White Zombie intro video.:rocking:

El Puerto Ricano vs. JT Smith

JT Smith comes out to the theme song from Rocky. I love it. Styles says that this is Ricano's second ECW match. Ricano is a jobber, and he was a pretty good one too. He always did his job, and made the main guys look really good.

JT Smith tries to catapult himself into the ring, but he stumbles and falls face first into the canvas. :lol:

Ricano hits a really good looking springboard moonsault off of the top rope. Smith stumbles out of the ring, and Ricano springs himself up to the top rope. Ricano leaps off with a nice suicide splash.

So far so good.

JT Smith with the low blow. Body Slam. JT tries to go up top for a moonsault, but he slips and falls. :lol:

He makes it look good. That was actually pretty funny.

Ricano tries a Thesz press, but Smith catches him in mid air. Smith tosses him over his head with a nice belly to belly. Smith lifts Ricano up into a powerbomb, bounces his body down off of the top rope, and then slams him down into the mat. Pretty cool version of the powerbomb, but that has to be VERY dangerous.

1, 2, 3 for JT Smith.

Out comes The Sandman. Sandman beats the shit out of everyone with the cane, pissed about losing his belt.

7/10

It was short, and it was a squash, but it was a different squash, and it was a fun little match. JT's slapstick antics were actually quite funny here. He made the slip ups look good. I laughed. Ricano looked pretty decent early on too. Not a bad match at all, but as short as it was this is about as high of a score as I can give it. Random Sandman cane down doesn't hurt it either.

Here we go with the commercial for the Enter Sandman vhs tape. Pretty cool little highlight that shows the double overhead belly to belly on the two jobbers from Taz, and clips of the Guerrero vs Jannetty match that wasn't even included on the tape.

Hardcore Hotline commercial. Like no other hotline in professional wrestling.

Lance Wright EC F'N W T-shirt commercial.

Dances with Dudley vs. Hack Meyers

Here we go with Dances with Dudley. He comes out to AC/DC's Highway to Hell. This is the Indian Dudley, who speaks fluent Spanish. The Storyline was that daddy Dudley was a traveling wrestler that got around. He supposedly made a stop at an Indian reservation, and begat Dances with Dudley.

Hack Myers is billed from the Last House on the Left.

It doesn't take long, and we have the classic "SHAH!" vs "SHIT!" exchanges. The crowd screams "SHAH!" along with every offensive maneuver from Myers, and "SHIT!" for every offensive move that Dudley does. Pretty funny stuff. Myers weathers a brief storm of punches and chops, and dominates Dudley for the clean win after about 3 minutes.

The Sandman comes out, and canes both men down with two canes in his hand. The Sandman asks the crowd if they want to see extreme. Sandman then screams out "SHAH!" into the microphone just before nailing Myers in the back with the canes. Sandman screams "SHIT!" into the microphone before cracking Dudley with the canes. He goes back and forth with this several times.:lol:

Sandman throws the canes down in anger, and turns around looking at the fans with that classic look on his face. The fans start chanting E! C! DUB!.

4/10

The match was really short with nothing going for it other than the crowd's antics. Sandman saved the day, and kept the score from dropping any lower for this segment. He's on a rampage after losing his belt. Woman is nowhere to be found yet in this episode.

Gangstas Paradise VHS commercial. I wish this was on youtube so I could show you guys how awesome this video is. The clip of 911 finally chokeslamming Bill Alphonso is just an epic moment. I should have rated that segment higher than what I did.

ECW Hardcore Hotline spot again.

The show cuts away to a clip of November to Remember 1994 to get us ready for the upcoming show. This is just too awesome to put into words. They show a clip of the opening ceremonies where a guitar player is opening the show with the National Anthem. The guy keeps messing the song up, and the crowd lets him have it. 911 comes out with Paul Heyman. 911 takes the dude's guitar, and gives it to Heyman, who jumps around acting stupid with it while 911 chokeslams the dude down into the floor.:rofl: I love it.

Guns N Roses November Rain starts to play on as highlights play of the 1994 November to Remember. The Pitbulls beating Bad Breed, 2 Cold Scorpio defeating Mr. Hughes with a 450, Shane Douglas getting beat down by Ron Simmons, Dean Malenko going at it with the Tasmaniac(Awesome!), and Chris Benoit dropping Sabu on his head, breaking his neck.

911 chokeslams Chris Benoit. Nice.

The clip shows Public Enemy winning the Tag Straps from Mikey and Cactus, and Sandman in his blind angle where he canes the fuck out of Dreamer in the back of the head.

Lance Wright hyping up November to Remember. This guy is just fucking terrible, and was not a good fit in ECW at all. He looks like Richie Rich all grown up.

Guns N Roses plays on as Public Enemy cut a promo about an upcoming house show match. The Ultimate Jeopardy 95 show on Thanksgiving night, which I think was cancelled.

Graphics flash across the screen with the card for November to Remember, Raven & Cactus Jack against Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk is advertised as the main event. They also plug Steve Austin's return to the ring from his injuries that ultimately led to him being fired by WCW. They replay Austin's excellent promo from atop the ladder at the last show.

They continue to plug and advertise November to Remember as Guns N Roses "November Rain" plays on through it's entirety. They advertise special guest ring announcer Buh Buh Ray Dudley.:lol: It's crazy how far Bully Ray has come. This was really his start.

Beulah's box commercial. Some kind of deal where you wrote letters to Beulah. Ok.

Hardcore Hotline spot again. Jesus.

Joey Styles goes over the stipulations for the next match as this song plays on in the background:

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:rofl:I love it. It doesn't get anymore 1995 than that my friends.

Ok, so the tag titles, and the TV title is all on the line in this match. It takes Joey Styles about 2 minutes to explain that somehow.

Alright, so "This is how we do it" is apparently Public Enemy's new entrance music. Grunge comes out waving his hands back and forth to the tune. Sandman comes to the ring. Johnny Grunge brawls with the Sandman to the back. Scorpio comes out with the TV belt around his waist. The TV belt was really the premier belt in ECW if you really think about it. Guys like Scorpio, Malenko, Guerrero, Jericho, and RVD dominated the TV title scene, where as guys like The Sandman and Raven were usually holding the World Title. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing really.

Flyboy Rocco Rock vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

Rocco Rock shines early on with a series of Swinging arm drags that send Scorpio to the outside. Scorpio misses a dive over the top. Rocco Rock with the frying pan. They take into the crowd hitting each other with drinks. They make their way to the Eagles Nest soundstage balcony.

Scorpio moonsaults Rocco Rock through two tables stacked on top of each other.

Yeah, this match is clipped all to hell.

They cut to the ring where Scorpio lands a belly to back suplex off the top. Scorpio with the Tombstone.

Scorpio lands a backflip legdrop, and gives up the pin after 1. Scorpio tries a Superplex, but Rocco pushes him off. Rocco lands a Shoulder Block off of the top for 2.

They clip away to later in the match. Rocco Rock Superplexes Scorpio off of the top down onto a table in the ring. The table doesn't break all the way through, and holy shit that looked like it really hurt bad. :stalker:

Scorpio kicks out at 2.

The match cuts away again to later on in the match. Now we have a flaming table in the ring. Rocco does his "Drive By" Somersault Senton, but Scorpio moves out of the way. Rocco goes through the flaming table.

Scorpio helps put a fire out on Rocco Rock's back. They stop the match. Scorpio hands Rocco Rock his tag strap, and raises his hand like they are done, then all of a sudden Scorpio nails Rocco with a Lariat. Scorpio pins Rocco Rock to win the tag team titles.

Scorpio stands in the ring with The Sandman and Woman. Scorpio is holding three belts. The TV belt, and both tag belts. Scorpio gives Sandman the other tag team belt, and changes his name to 2 Gold Scorpio.

5.7/10

I kind of don't like this. Sandman and Scorpio are a pretty random pairing, not to mention Sandman was just given the belt without doing anything to earn it. Stuff like this is why I'm not a real big fan of tag titles changing hands in singles matches. On top of that the actual finish to this match was just a bit screwy to say the least. As for the match itself, it's hard to tell due to it being highly edited. They cut out a lot of this match I'm sure. What little bit there was(about 7 minutes), wasn't anything impressive at all.

Enter Sandman vhs commercial again. This show wasn't all that great, I wonder why they keep plugging it. Haven't seen any ads for Hostile City Showdown yet, which has been the best show I've reviewed so far. The Taz double belly to belly spot never does get old though.

Lance Wright EC F'N W shirt ad again. This fucking guy.:knock:

Metallica's "Sad But True" blasts through my TV as the graphics flash across the screen plugging November to Remember and various other November shows.

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Joey Styles plugs away for November to Remember. Public Enemy will get shot at tag titles against Scorpio and Sandman. The man that scores the pinfall in the match gets to go on to face Mikey Whipreck for the ECW World strap in the main event. Styles plugs Whiprecks title match against Rey Mysterio at the show on the day before November To Remember. This is a match that they would air on Hardcore TV after November to Remember, and it's a pretty damn good match.

They re-play the Austin "Monday Nyquil" promo.

They show a clip of Beulah interviewing ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon. Gordon challenges Bill Alphonso to a fight at November to Remember. Alphonso nails Gordon from behind with a chair. Beulah scolds Fonzie for interrupting her segment. Fonzie's reaction to her is abso-fucking-lutely roll on the floor hilarious.:rofl:

Fonzie says "A SEGMENT!?!" "You're a woman, you're lucky to even be in Bill Alphonso's ring!". He's just the perfect sleaze bag heel. He's hilarious to me for some reason. They show more clips of Gordon being pulled apart from Beulah and Todd Gordon in a scuffle in the ring. They show Fonzie cutting a pretty hilarious promo about his upcoming fight with Gordon at November to Remember.

The thing with Fonzie's angle here is that it was pretty much dead. He didn't get nearly as much heat in the footage they showed. His Pennsylvania State Athletic Commissioner angle was on fire earlier on in 95. It lost a bit of steam when Shane Douglas left for the WWF, and then it pretty much died out when 911 chokeslammed Fonzie into oblivion at Gangstas Paradise. Early on in this angle it seemed like this crowd actually believed this guy was from the Penn State Athletic Commission, sent there to tame the wild ECW shows down. The heat was tremendous. The match at November to Remember would be the official end of the angle, but Fonzie would be reborn into a new role. That's for another show though.

Pulp Fiction Promos

Just like I described in my last review, these "Pulp Fiction Promos" were a series of promos by various ECW wrestlers cut in various locations all edited together into one steady highlight reel that plays along to the tune of Dick Dale's "Miserlou", which was the song used in Pulp Fiction.

First they show Public Enemy outdoors somewhere in a public park or something. They go over the complicated stipulations for their upcoming tag match against Sandman and 2 Cold Scorpio. The thing with Public Enemy here is that they were in their final days in ECW. They were being heavily recruited by WWF and WCW at this time. They would end up wrestling in a series of matches in WWF in late 95, including a dark match against the Smoking Gunns at Survivor Series, which was a couple of weeks after this show. PE would end up surprising a lot of people by accepting an offer from WCW in early 1996.

Buh Buh Ray Dudley is shown having a hard time saying his name.

Steve Austin shown sleeping at his desk dressed as Eric Bischoff from the "Monday Nyquill" promo.

Public Enemy walking through the streets of Philly going over the stipulations for their upcoming match. These promos haven't aged well.

Buh Buh Ray stuttering his name again.:lol:

Cactus Jack is shown holding a pill bottle, and he says the following:

You know I think back to my high school years, when my friends were the biggest druggies in school. Even though I had a lot of peer pressure, never once did I ever...

*Simulates smoking a joint*

Smoke one joint....

I think back to college, when my roommate was the biggest coke head on campus, and never once did I...

*Closes one nostril with hand, and simulates snorting*

Snort one line....

After a 10 year career that was filled with pain, I look at these pain killers, and it says take one by mouth, every four hours as needed for pain. I look at the date, and it says 1993, and I want you to realize THAT I DON'T NEED YOUR DRUGS!

I DON'T NEED YOUR DRUGS.

Cause I'm a junkie all the same. And my arms are free of needles, but my body shows the track marks of 10 years of falling on concrete floors. 10 years of abusing my body.

Herniated disks.

Broken bones.

Missing body parts, and I'm here to tell you that I can't help myself.

But I tried didn't I Tommy?

I made a real effort to clean up my act.

To say...BANG! BANG!

To all the little Cacti out there.

And I was this close.

But you know what I didn't count on?

1,500 fans that every time I entered the ECW Arena were saying GO AHEAD CACTUS! KILL YOURSELF FOR US!

Do bad things to your body so that you won't live, but we can say.....He's hardcore.....

He's hardcore....

Are they right?

I AM HARDCORE!

HARDCORE TO THE BONE, AND HATING EVERY SECOND OF IT!

Hating you for forcing me into this position.

Hating Terry Funk for putting up so many damn road blocks.....On my road to righteousness.

And I have every one of those blood thirsty, blood sucking asswhole freaks at the Arena with their mass murderer t-shirts saying "We're hardcore!".

YOU DON'T KNOW THE MEANING!

Man, that was such a great promo. Cactus' heel turn here in late 95 had a lot of substance to it. It went pretty deep, and his promos are hailed by many to be some of the best promos in wrestling history. I'd be hard pressed to argue. Foley is without a doubt one of the finest actors in pro wrestling history in my opinion. This is the extremes he had to take the Cactus Jack character in order to draw heat from the Philly fans, who adored him. It was a bold, risky move to do such a "shooty" heel turn with such a beloved face, but Foley's mic skills really put it over. I think these promos may have been the catalyst to Foley being signed by the WWF in early 96(and cast as Mankind).

The promos carry along to Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. Funk says wrestling is a sport, and it will always be a sport. Funk says the sport is his life, and it's Tommy Dreamer's life.

Cactus says it will come down to Raven and him beating Dreamer down as Funk lays down helpless because now he's a washed up old man. Cactus says that they pushed him and pushed him, and now's he's over the edge, BANG! BANG!

Public Enemy goofy antics somewhere out in the streets. Corny.

Buh Buh closes the show bumling around like one of the loony tunes.

Overall Show Rating: 6.8/10

This was obviously a big filler show, and it just felt like a big infomercial for November to Remember. A bunch of commercials. The Cactus promos were absolute gold, but the matches here were not too good. This show just didn't have much going for it at all other than getting me hyped up to review November To Remember. The JT Smith squash match was ok. The Sandman stuff was kind of funny at times, even though I have my complaints about the way he was given one half of the tag team titles, and thrown into a tag team with Scorpio. Other than the Cactus promo, the rest of this is nothing to get excited about.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hardcore TV(Episode #134)

November 14th, 1995​

Alright, so this is the final episode of Hardcore TV we will take a look at before November To Remember, which took place about 4 days after this was originally aired. This is all taking place just days away from WWF Survivor Series 95, and just a couple weeks away from WCW World War 3. The last episode was pretty much just a big infomercial for November to Remember. Let's see if this one is any different.

Oh yeah, this is good.

We start this week's episode off with Cactus Jack talking to the fans in the ECW Arena as he stands in the ring. This is what he says:

...And I may have had my differences with this organization, but I've never been prouder in my life than when Mikey won that championship tonight.

But you people took what should have been a very special deed for me.... AND YOU RUINED IT!

So WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST GO TO HELL! Strait to hell!

You people make me SICK!

I don't even feel like being here. If it was up to me......

I would have that TV tuned to TBS......Watching movies for guys who love movies.

....But I've got a higher purpose.

And you see Tommy Dreamer, my instinct is to come in here, and slap the shit out of you.

But that would give all of you too much enjoyment.

So you all sit down. Get a bag of popcorn, and get ready for the most boring match you've ever dreamed of.

And I know that they said that Raven would be in my corner, and you see, Raven is my spiritual guide, and the best friend I've ever had, and looking at you, he may be the only friend I've ever had.

But I don't need anybody in my corner to teach Tommy Dreamer a lesson. You see Tommy, you might need some has been hardcore hero, but Cactus Jack is his own man. He stands on his own two feet. And I'll take care of business all by myself.

BANG! BANG!

:lol:

For those that either never had American cable, or were too young, TBS was the network that aired WCW Saturday Night, and their slogan during this time was "TBS: Movies for guys who love movies". Cactus' heel run right here is complex. Foley is pulling off this character brilliantly, and really giving Cactus a lot of depth right here. Raven in there playing games with Cactus in order to turn him against Dreamer, plus all of the shooty anti-hardcore stuff he's saying in all of his promos where he blames the fans for the premature retirement of several wrestlers(punshing them for it by not giving them their moneys worth), and then on top of that he's a WCW fan now, Eric Bischoff is his uncle, and he wants to go back. The looks on his face during this promo are fucking fantastic. I laugh hard every time for the "Movies for guys who love movies" line. I love the way he keeps referring to his "Path to Righteousness".

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I'm also just now realizing that pretty much all of the footage we've been taking a look at on these past 3 episodes of Hardcore TV has all been from the October 28th ECW Arena show, which was the same show were the fire incident occurred. No wonder why it was never released on home video.

The show cuts away from Cactus in the ring to Tommy Dreamer up close with the camera somewhere in a pre-recorded promo. Dreamer says that Cactus is in for a fight any time he steps in the ring with him.

Cactus Jack vs Tommy Dreamer

Tommy Dreamer comes out with Terry Funk as Alice In Chains "Man In The Box".

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Dreamer's pre recorded promo cuts in and out during this match. Cactus and Dreamer get it started with a tie up. Cactus pushes Tommy into the ropes in the clinch, and gives us a clean break when the referee steps in.

Dreamer taunts Cactus to punch him, but Cactus puts him in a.........Side headlock.:lol:

Cactus puts Dreamer on the mat with three successive Side Headlock takedowns. Bringing the pace of the match to a gruesome slow pace. Dreamer pretty much tells the story of the match in his pre recorded promo that cuts in and out during the match. They show it going to the outside where Cactus has a chance to use a chair on Tommy. Instead, Cactus opts for a....................

Side Headlock Takeover.:rofl:

I love this.

Dreamer gets a low blow on Cactus, and takes him over the top rope to the outside. Dreamer busts Cactus in the face with a chair. Dreamer tries to give Cactus the chair to use, but Cactus refuses. Dreamer bashes him over his back.

Raven nails Dreamer from behind. Terry Funk comes over and chases Raven away. Cactus gets up on the apron as if he were about to do his trademark elbow drop, but instead he uses his arms in YMCA gestures to spell out WCW for the crowd.:lol: The crowd starts chanting ECW.

Cactus refuses to drop the elbow.

We cut ahead, and Cactus just throws all of that psychology out the window, and turns this into a typical brawl. Closed fist punches. Headbutts. Raven and Funk look on from the outside. Cactus grinds on Tommy with punches and kicks for several minutes.

Cactus acts like he hurt his hand. He gets a microphone, and says that he told everyone that he would never put his body on the line for the sorry motherfuckers(censored) in the ECW Arena again. He says that since he is clearly injured this match is a........NO CONTEST!

:lol:

The way he says it is hilarious. He points his finger up in the air, and he has that serious look on his face.

Cactus thanks the fans for coming, tells them to drive home safe, and says "Lets support the Turner Family Tomorrow night". :laughy:

The referee tells Cactus that this is ECW, and there are no "No Contests" in ECW. The ref orders Cactus to get back into the ring. Cactus tells the ref that if he can't have a No Contest, than he wants him to do his job, and "Count....Me.....Out!"

Cactus walks away. Terry Funk gets a microphone, and taunts Cactus by saying that his mother is a ****e. His old lady is a ****e. His girlfriend is a ****e. "All you got is a bunch of ****es hanging around". Dewey is a ****e.:lol:

He keeps throwing jabs at Cactus until he comes back out. Dreamer and Cactus slug it out in the ring. Dreamer piledrives Cactus. Dreamer goes to DDT Cactus on a chair, but Cactus backdrops him. Dreamer hits Cactus with an Enziguiri, but he does it with the chair stuck around his leg. That was really cool.

Raven pulls Dreamer out, and DDT's him. Terry Funk drops Raven, and brawls with Cactus. Stevie comes out and fights with Funk. Cactus hits Funk with a crutch from the fans, and finally drops Funk. Raven fights Dreamer in the ring. Beulah hands Raven a set of Brass Knuckles. Raven busts Dreamer wide open with blood everywhere. Cactus kicks Funk in the groin with a loaded boot.

Cactus gets the double arm DDT, Dreamer kicks out. Raven gets a microphone, and orders Cactus to finish Dreamer off once and for all. Raven keeps angrily ordering Cactus to finish Dreamer off. Raven talks on the microphone in a soft voice, telling Cactus that he's there for him. Raven coaches Cactus to use the chair, but Dreamer beats him to it. Dreamer DDT's Cactus on the steel chair.

Dreamer pins Cactus for the win.

Raven drops Dreamer with a DDT. Blood all over the place.

This Tommy Dreamer promo they keep cutting into this match is god awful. Almost hard to watch after seeing so much Cactus and Austin in ECW recently.

That's where they end this segment, but what they didn't show was Terry Funk coming back out with a flaming branding iron. Funk attacked Raven and Cactus with the flaming branding iron until Cactus brought out a chair wrapped in a burning towel. The towel came unraveled from the chair, and badly burned Terry Funk's arm. Funk instinctively flung the burning towel out into the crowd, burning a couple of the fans. Just as the towel flew into the crowd, the lights went out in the Arena as part of the angle with Dreamer and Raven. As the lights were out, the Arena filled with smoke. The fans panicked, and a near riot broke out. The lights came back on with Dreamer crucified with ropes up near the balcony of the ECW Arena.

I wonder if the footage to all of this exists? They didn't show any of it here.

10/10

Love everything about this. Number one, Foley's incredible promo with the always hilarious "Movies for Guys Who Love Movies" line. Number two, Foley trying not to give the fans their moneys worth during the actual match was pretty damn hilarious. He was just always rubbing WCW in the fans faces, and it worked to draw him a bit of heat. This was just months after WCW raided ECW for their best workers, so there was quite a bit of substance to this storyline. Then there was Raven playing the mind games with Cactus during the end of the match. Really, really, really like the way they are using Raven here as this manipulative psychological zen master. Raven coaching Cactus to use the chair on Tommy was just really awesome. Anybody that is a big fan of the Raven character, or anyone that has salivated at the thought of a storyline with Foley and Raven working together needs to track this segment down. It's everything you thought it could be. Raven's feud with Dreamer really hit the next level after "The Chair Shot Heard Round The World". What a great feud. Absolutely one of the best ever.

We just now get the White Zombie intro highlight video. Pretty late into the show to be giving us this, but it's still fucking awesome. Love the song.

Joey Styles says we are just days away from November to Remember. He says that the show will be a sell out. Styles goes over the card with the Funk/Dreamer vs Raven/Cactus dream match. Sandman & Scorpio vs Public Enemy for the Tag & TV belts, with the man that gets the pin getting a shot at Mikey Whipreck's ECW World title that same night.

Enter Sandman vhs commercial.

Hardcore Hotline commercial. They don't give any details about what they talk about, just the same old "1.99 a minute, must be 18" spiel.

Lance Wright EC F'N W t-shirt commercial.

We cut to the Dudley Clan outside somewhere. Dances With Dudley teaches Buh Buh how do juggle. Buh Buh can't say his name because of his speech impediment. They are going for comedy here, but it's just not funny. Just corny.

Pulp Fiction Promos

Konnan and Rey Mysterio kick it off. Konnan talks about how much of a draw he is in Mexico. Konnan says he's just asking for once chance to be a part of team extreme.

Cactus talks about how he broke Tommy's nose in their match, just the same way Vader did to him in WCW. Cactus says that all of the things he has went through will be the same things that will happen to Tommy.

Bill Alphonso says he's going to beat the crap out of Todd Gordon.

More Dudley goofiness. Big Dick hits Buh Buh in the back, and all of a sudden he can speak just fine.

The Eliminators aren't scared of the Pit Bulls. Ok.

These promos just show one character after another. Bill Alphonso says ECW hates him, and he hates ECW. They show Dreamer in the locker room all bloody with The Pit Bulls and Taz in a "break the fourth wall" type of scene where they run the camera man off asking for privacy.

They show Francine and Beulah, and a brief clip of Austin's "Monday Nyquill" promo brings it all to an end.

Gangstas Paradise vhs commercial. What more can I say about this that I haven't said in the 1,000 times that it's been played in these past 4 reviews?

Hardcore Hotline commercial again.

Oh god, here we go with Lance Wright's "Hype Central" segment. He talks about the upcoming Todd Gordon vs Bill Alphonso match, saying that Beulah will be the special guest referee, and that he is hyped up about it.

Old school 1995 computer graphics flash across the screen showing upcoming dates as Mad Season's "I Don't Know Anything" plays on in the background.

La Parka & Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr & Konnan

I honestly did not know that La Parka wrestled in ECW prior to getting my hands on this video a few months back. This is just one of those matches that you just never heard about in ECW.

Mysterio and Psicosis start it off. Really fast chain sequence with Rey moving at the speed of light here. Rey hits Psicosis with a drop toe hold that sends him to the floor on the outside. Rey leaps off of the top rope down onto Psicosis with a hurricanrana.

Aw shit, this match is clipped. That sucks. I wanted to see the whole thing.

They show La Parka working Rey over until Konnan comes in. Konnan comes in, and looks better than I think I've ever seen the dude wrestle. He gets both Psicosis and La Parka with a simultaneous maneuver that I can't quite explain. Konnan gets Psicosis with a Crucifix Sit out Powerbomb, and throws La Parka around like a ragdoll with a series of German Suplexes.

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Konnan lifts Psicosis up on his shoulders. Rey leaps off of the top rope, and pulls Psicosis down to the mats with a Hurricanrana. Nice spot. Mysterio hits La Parka with a nice Somersault Suicida. Psicosis and La Parka attempt a double Tope, but Konnan and Rey hit them with chairs on their way out. Konnan and Rey hit Psicosis and La Parka with Tope's of thier own.

Whoa....

Psicosis and La Parka are counted out!?!?!?

WFT!?!:fpalm:

I thought this was ECW?(*Randy Marsh voice*)

7/10

Well, that was fucking stupid. Some of the fans in the crowd chant bullshit. This match is hard to grade because it wasn't shown in it's entirety, but what they did show was pretty damn good. Konnan even looked good if you can believe that shit. He landed some nice moves. There was just a lot of action in the match, and action is good. I liked what I saw. Too bad they didn't show the entire match.

We cut back to the graphics flasing upcoming show dates on the screen as Mad Season's "I Don't Know Anything" plays on in the background. They advertise a show for Thanksgiving night called Ultimate Jeopardy, but that show was cancelled. I don't know why, but I do know the show was cancelled.

Gangstas Paradise vhs commercial. Man they need to throw some different ones in there every once and a while just to keep it fresh.

Joey Styles gives one final plug for November to Remember and we get a full Guns N Roses "November Rain" video.

My words can not describe how awesome this video is. Luckily, I was able to find this on Youtube. I'll say this right now, these videos were the best things ECW did. They made a lot of them through their existance, and they were my personal favorite thing to ever come out of the company.

[youtube]rOKTF3k23pM[/youtube]​

Keep in mind this is November 1995, just a couple of weeks after WCW did a dungeon of doom monster truck and mummy freak show Halloween Havoc, and WWF was still doing trash men, clowns, race car drivers, and yes, even evil school teachers. ECW was ahead of it's time in 1995 in my opinion.

Overall Show Rating: 9.5/10

Mick Foley was absolutely brilliant in this show. Loved everything about his character at this time in ECW. I got some really good laughs out of him in this show. The Raven interaction with him was really interesting as well. The Lucha match was clipped all to hell, but it was fun while it lasted. This was just a really good show. The music video at the end recapping all of the storylines that have been developing throughout the last year leading up to the big show was very nice. I loved it. This was a great ECW show.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
November To Remember III

November, 18th 1995
ECW Arena
Philadelphia, PA​

Part I

Well, here we are. The legendary November To Remember 95 ECW supercard. I've seen a match or two from this show, and I've read over the results before, but it's never really clicked just how much of a landmark show this is, not only for ECW, but for professional wrestling altogether.

It's been a real pleasure to watch through these ECW 1995 tapes. The promotion gradually evolved through the year into a damn beast, and every show, every storyline, every character all built up to this one show. The four episodes of Hardcore TV that proceeded this show have me pretty hyped to finally sit down and watch through the whole thing. The November Rain video at the end of the last show was just a spectacular piece that highlighted pretty much the entire year of 1995 for ECW. Before we dig in to this 4 hour wrestling mega-slam of a show, lets briefly go over the storylines that led up to this pivotal event.

First and foremost the main storyline running into this show started when Shane Douglas was screwed out of the ECW World title by Woman and The Sandman in the spring. Douglas brought in Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission referee Bill Alphonso. Alphonso tried to take the hardcore out of ECW, and he got under the skin of the fans by helping a few of the heels along the way. Shane Douglas was "Fired" by Todd Gordon, but Alphonso informed him that he was not an ECW employee, and wouldn't be going anywhere. Bill Alphonso drew tremendous heat from the ECW fans by wreaking havoc on the promotion throughout the year, making life a living hell for ECW commissioner Todd Gordon. Gordon and Alphonso would slug it out in a highly anticipated match(7 months in the making) with Beulah as special guest referee. Why? Because she's smoking hot. That's why.

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Taz was repackaged from "The Tasmaniac" into a sawed off "Third Stiener Brother" type of shoot wrestler in the spring of 95. Just weeks after his repackaging, Taz suffered a legitimate neck injury during a tag match. Taz would make various non wrestling appearances throughout the rest of the year, and was given the role of special guest referee for a match on tonight's show.

Tommy Dreamer's feud with Stevie Richards from late 94 boiled over into 1995, and took an interesting twist in January when Stevie brought in Raven. Raven was a kid who was friends with Tommy Dreamer in summer camp when they were kids. Dreamer dropped Raven like a bad habbit to be closer to the "Cool Kids", essentially turning his back on Raven, who was an ugly snot nosed nerd. Throughout the year Raven has put together various factions of underlings to throw at Dreamer. First it was jobbers Tony Stetson and Johnny Hotbody, who Dreamer destroyed in a "Generation X Gauntlet Match" in March. Later it was the Pit Bulls for a brief period, then it was the fumbling Dudley family. After the Gen X Guantlet match, Raven handcuffed Dreamer to the ropes, and busted him open like a stuck pig. Raven brought in another character from their past later on in the year. Beulah Mcgillicutty was a girl that Dreamer abandoned in Summer camp in order to hang with the cooler clique. Beulah was a fat zit faced slob in Summer camp who grew up to be a penthouse playmate, and had been brought to ECW by Raven to get revenge on Dreamer. Beulah cost Dreamer a match against Raven, and was given a receipt on the very next ECW show when Dreamer gave her the infamous pantyshot piledriver. The Raven character was built up as a ruthless, vicious heel that always managed to get the upper hand on Dreamer with cowardly tactics, not because he was scared, but because he was smart enough to get others to do his work for him via "Mind Games". Raven turned the "Chicken Shit Heel" psychology upside down in ECW in 1995. Dreamer got some help during the Summer from Luna Vachon. Luna helped Dreamer finally get his hands on Dreamer at the Heatwave 95 show when Tommy cornered Raven in a steel cage and delivered "The Chair Shot Heard 'Round The World". Raven got back at Dreamer at the next show by getting inside the head of Dreamer's good friend, ECW fan favorite, and highly gullible, mentally unstable Cactus Jack.

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Cactus Jack turned on Dreamer in a six man tag match to side with Raven. Raven had convinced Cactus to denounce all Hardcore Wrestling, and this turned into a storyline all in itself. Cactus blamed the fans for ending Ray Stephens and Dynamite Kid's careers early with their blood thirst. He vowed to punish them by not giving them their moneys worth in his performances. Cactus took it even further by turning into a WCW mark, just months after WCW had "raided" ECW of their finest wrestlers. Tommy Dreamer brought in Terry Funk to help drag the hardcore back out of Cactus, and an all star tag team main event was set up for this show between Tommy & Funk vs Raven & Cactus. Just stop and think about that for a second. Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk against Raven and Cactus Jack. What a fucking dream match. Jesus.

And then there was Mikey Whipreck. ECW did nothing with Whipreck until the fall when he was suddenly thrust into a feud with Heavyweight Champ The Sandman(with Woman). Whipreck won a battle royal to earn a shot at the belt. Whipreck had a brutal series of matches against The Sandman. Whipreck got closer and closer to beating the Sandman, but lost the first couple of matches. Whipreck finally got a pin over The Sandman in the "Gangstas Paradise" six man steel cage match. Whipreck finally won the strap with a little help from Steve Austin. Austin suffered a few injuries while in WCW in early 1995. While out, Austin was fired over the phone. Steve Austin was brought to ECW, and immediately thrust into the World Title picture. Austin would come out multiple times insulting both Whipreck and Sandman before their matches. Austin carried Woman out of the Arena on his shoulder prior to the Sandman's ladder match agianst Mikey. Without Woman in the Arena, Whipreck was finally able to upset The Sandman and win the strap. Sandman went on a rampage after losing his belt, interfering in matches caning everyone down. Sandman helped 2 Cold Scorpio win a match against Rocco Rock of Public Enemy where both the TV and Tag titles were on the line during his drunken, frustrated rampage. Scorpio offered one of the belts to Sandman, and he accepted. Sandman and Scorpio are set to face Public Enemy tonight with all titles on the line, and the man that gets the pinfall earns a shot at Mikey later on in the evening.

Last but not least was the feud going on between Rey Mysterio and Psycosis. The two men had two matches with each other in ECW up to this point, with their 2/3 falls match being the better of the two(the match that appears in the extras of "The Rise and Fall of ECW"). The two young luchadores were set to complete the trilogy tonight when they face off in a Mexican Death match on this show.

You got all that?

Good.

Now lets get on with the show.

Don E. Allen vs The Broad Street Bully

Don E. and the Bully circle each other as the crowd gives them both shit. Two small jobber guys. Buh Buh Ray Dudley is brought out to do the opening ceremonies. Buh Buh comes out with his Dudley brothers, dressed in a white tux.

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The crowd is giving Buh Buh quite a bit of love. He talks just fine for a minute telling everybody that he's no longer a stuttering baffoon. He talks just fine up until the "Lets Get Ready To Rumble" line, then he starts stuttering "RU-RU-RU-RU".

He can't say Rumble. He says fuck it, and starts beating the shit out of Don E. and The Bully.

Buh Buh Bombs on both jobbers. Buh Buh pins The Bully. Sure, why the hell not?

The crowd starts chanting "WHATS! YOUR! NAME!".

Buh Buh is over now.

5.8/10

Pretty cool introduction segment. Nothing special, but nothing terrible here either. It's pretty cool to see Buh Buh here just beginning to get over with the fans considering how the rest of his career would play out. Looking at him here it's hard to believe he would go on to become the top heel in ECW, a big part of the epic TLC series of tag team matches in the WWF, including the epic on perhaps the greatest Wrestlemania of all time(X-7), not to mention his entertaining "Bully Ray" run in TNA right now. This was where he started. The humble beginnings of Bully Ray. Who'da thunk it?

After the match Paul Heyman is shown in the ring asking for the lights to be dimmed. The lights go out, and when they come back on Sabu is standing in the ring. The fans go crazy. Heyman extends his hand towards Sabu for a handshake, and Sabu hesitates for a brief moment. They shake hands and the crowd gets louder.

This is Sabu's return to ECW after his falling out with Heyman over the Three Way Dance show that took place earlier in 1995. Sabu had already made commitments to Japan, and was unable to make the Three Way Dance show, which was heavily promoted by ECW as one of their biggest shows up to that point. Heyman turned the fans against Sabu in a vehement tirade prior to the Three Way Dance show before firing him. Sabu would wrestle in WCW for a short period of time before making his way back to ECW here. So this is a pretty big deal at the time. ECW had been losing a lot of guys to WCW and WWF, and for Sabu to come back was pretty huge for ECW fans at this time. Seeing the looks on the faces of the fans when they turn the lights back on is excellent. Pretty awesome little emotional ECW moment when Sabu and Heyman shake hands.

Konnan vs Jason Knight(With Special Guest Referee Taz)

Konnan comes out with some really goofy looking gear and a strange looking mask on.

Taz makes his way to the ring wearing referee pinstripes. Taz says that he was not given clearance by ECW to wrestle because he was an insurance risk. Jason interrupts Taz, and tells him he's tired of listening to Taz's mouth. Jason taunts Taz, slapping him on his shoulder. Taz tells him to get his fucking hands off of him. Jason continues taunting Taz.

Taz asks both of the competitors if they are ready to go before busting Jason over the head with a punch. Taz orders for the bell, and Konnan drops Jason on his head with a nasty looking Crucifix Powerbomb. Konnan pins Jason after about 10 seconds.

3/10

There is just nothing here worthy of a high rating. This was pretty much just Taz blowing off his little feud with Jason without actually wrestling. Taz was feuding with Jason during most of his time out of the ring due to his neck injury. Overall I just think the show could have done without this segment. Nobody cared about Jason, and by the end of this show nobody even remembered that Taz had a feud with the guy.

Stevie Richards vs El Puerto Ricano

Stevie Richards comes out, and fucks around with the fans on the front row. He walks up to a fat guy with blue hair and black makeup around his eyes. The Blue Meanie makes his ECW debut by giving Stevie a present.

Stevie opens up the present, and it's a......Flock of Seagulls t-shirt.:rofl:

Stevie loves it. He tells the Meanie to jump over the railing. Stevie gives the Meanie a big hug. Joey says "Get the Flock out of here will ya'".:lol:

Ricano hits Stevie with a surprise suicide plancha. Ricano lands a really nice springboard moonsault off of the top rope. He lands a missile dropkick on Stevie, and then hits the Meanie with a really good looking plancha through the ropes. Ricano goes up top to hit Stevie again, but Stevie hits him on the way down with his kick.

Richards gets a powerbomb before dropping him across the ropes with a vertical suplex. Another powerbomb. The Blue Meanie comes in. Meanie does a moonsault off of the top, but Ricano moves out of the way. Stevie gets mad, and rolls Meanie out of the ring. Ricano with a rollup for 2. Stevie ko's Ricano with a Superkick for the 1, 2, 3 after about 8 minutes.

Stevie drags the Meanie to the back by the hair.

6.6/10

This was close to being good. Ricano looks a lot better than any jobber has any right to be. He did some pretty good looking moves in this match, and kept the pace moving quickly. Some weird stuff with the Meanie, but I liked what it did for Richards character. He was just a goofball lackey, who now apparently has a lackey of his own. A lackey with a lackey. Make sense? Didn't think so.

The Pitbulls vs The Eliminators

The Eliminators, who are my #2 all time favorite tag team, are just in a really weird phase here. They are very young and green. Saturn has long hair. Kronus is rather chunky. They are wearing these weird looking LOD knock-off shoulder pads. They haven't appeared in ECW much at all up to this point. They were tossed around by the Stieners, and traded jabs with the Pit Bulls in promos on Hardcore TV up to this show. Not much has been invested in this feud. Jason was the Pit Bulls manager earlier in the year, but he sold their contracts to Raven. Jason tried to get the Pit Bulls to take him back, but they turned him down in favor of their "Beast Master" Francine. Jason hit Francine with a kick, but before the Pit Bulls could destory him, they were attacked by Jason's newest clients, The Eliminators.

Something interesting about the Pitbulls that was going on at this time was a serious investigation by DEA over them selling steroids and marijuana. They were busted by an undercover officer, and were awaiting the case to be brought up to trial for most of the time they were in ECW. By the time the case finally made it to court, where they were convicted, Heyman pretty much stopped using them outside of a few appearances here and there.

Francine in this leather outfit is just such a beautiful sight. Good god almighty.

Pretty awesome staredown. These are four pretty tough dudes in the ring right here. This ought to be good.

Pitbull 1 and Saturn start it off. Saturn slams and punches on Pitbull 1 for a while. Pitbull 1 no sells Saturn's offense, and takes the momentum of the match. Pitbull 1 does his martial arts kick, and tags out to Pitbull 2. The Pitbulls execute a swell looking tandem maneuver where Pitbull 1 hits a drop toe hold, and Pitbull 2 flies off with an elbow drop across Saturn's back.

Saturn tags out to Kronus. Kronus and Pitbull 2 fight it out for a bit. Kronus tags Saturn back in. Saturn kicks Pitbull 2 out of the ring to the apron, and does one of those Chris Jericho springboard moves out of the ring to the apron. Pitbull 2 is knocked off the apron. Saturn gets back into the ring, and springboards off of Kronus' hands for a moonsault over the top rope down onto Pitbull 2. Pretty awesome looking move.

The Eliminators work together to beat on Pitbull 2 in the ring. Kronus lands a somersault legdrop onto Pitbull 2. Kronus with a nice belly to back suplex. Kronus opts to keep beating on Pitbull 2 rather than go for the pinfall. Jason takes a cheap shot at Pitbull 2. Pitbull 2 misses a splash, and goes over to the outside. Pitbull 2 has a pretty nasty cut on his elbow from the fall.

Saturn with his elbow drop, one of the best in the game. Joey Styles gives us an "OOOHHH YEAH!". Nice.:lol:

The Eliminators isolate Pitbull 2 to control the momentum of the match. Saturn sets Pitbull 2 on the top rope, and goes for a move, but gets Superbombed off the top. Kronus distracts the ref, and Jason comes in for a legdrop on Pitbull 2.

Pitbull 2 gets the hot tag to Pitbull 1, and he cleans house.

All four men enter the ring and all hell breaks loose. Saturn gets a nice Tiger Bomb on Pitbull 2, but Pitbull 1 breaks up the pinfall. Pitbull 2 lifts Kronus up onto his shoulders, and Pitbull 1 does a flying clothesline to take him over the top rope. Pitbull 1 gets a guillatine on Kronus for the sure pin, but Jason sticks his nose in the match again.

Pitbulls drop Jason with a slam. The Eliminators blindside the Pitbulls. Pitbulls overwhelm them, and Superbomb Kronus for the win.

11:10 is the official time. Jason tackles Francine, and forces himself onto her. The Pitbulls get their hands on Jason, and nail him in the face with a chair.

The Eliminators attack the Pit Bulls with chairs.

Total Elimination on both Pit Bulls before the Eliminators make their exit.

Oh man, Francine's ass in this outfit HAS TO BE SEEN!

8/10

That was a fun tag team match. Hard to really find anything wrong with it. It was a much better match than I had anticipated to be honest. I wasn't expecting much. Both teams worked together really well, and it was solidly booked. The Pitbulls remained strong looking, but the Eliminators showcased some good looking moves, and made a splash with the attack at the end. The Total Elimination move is just about as devastating of a tag team move there is. I love it. This was a solid tag team match, and Francine really makes this worth tracking down to see it at least once in your lifetime. You can thank me later.

Mexican Death Match: Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psycosis

Mexican Death Match rules are basically a 10 count that the wrestler has to beat after each pinfall or submission.

Psicosis comes out first, and the crowd gives him a nice "RUDO! RUDO!" chant. Rudo is the spanish term for heel(Technicos are the faces).

Rey Mysterio comes out next to Metallica's "Sad But True".

[youtube]l8BRbM52gpc[/youtube]​

What a great entrance tune for him. Much better than the "Booyaka" or whatever it is that he comes out to these days.

Sign Guy holds up a sign on the front row that says "TBS: The Cartoon Network":lol:

Joel Gertner does Spanish introductions. Gertner is fluent in Spanish, and rolls his R's nicely here.

The crowd is hyped up for this match. They have an "E! C! DUB!" chant going before the bell even rings. The bell rings, and they go at each other with sick speed. Unbelievable little exchange here where they move so fast it's almost hard for your eyes to follow. Rey leaps off of the top rope with a front flip into a hurricanrana for the first pinfall like 20 seconds into the match.

Psicosis is up at 5. Mysterio hurricanranas Psicosis out of the ring, and rearranges the guardrail. Psicosis whips Mysterio into the railing. Mysterio tries to spring off of the rail, but he slips and falls down. Psicosis with a chair shot, and back into the ring they go. Psicosis with a missile dropkick and a moonsault for a pinfall.

Mysterio favors his leg, and struggles to get up. Mysterio barely gets up at 9. Psicosis begins working Rey over with various slams. Psicosis just slams the shit out of Rey with modified powerbombs for another pinfall. Rey struggles up to his knees at 9. Psicosis continues to beat the shit out of Rey. Psicosis slams Rey into the turnbuckles with an inverted powerslam before going outside for a chair. Psicosis throws the chair down without using it, and slams Rey into the corner with the same move. Psicosis does a nice "Tumbleweed" Inverted Somesault twisting legdrop for another pinfall. Mysterio barely beats the 10 count again. Psicosis with a dropkick to the chest. Psicosis continues to grind on Rey at a slow pace. Psicosis goes to the outside to get the chair. Psicosis with a DDT on the chair. Psicosis sets the chair on Rey's back, and hits him with a moonsault for another 3 count.

Rey clutches his back, and struggles to get up again. Rey just barely manages to beat the count again, getting up at 9. Psicosis hits Rey with a dropkick to the knee before tossing the chair into his mid section. Psicosis goes up top for another moonsault, but Rey props the chair up on his knees. Psicosis hits the chair. Rey gets up and hits Psicosis with the chair. Pretty good psychology here with Rey playing possum and milking the 10 counts, letting Psicosis wear himself out. Now Rey has his way with Psicosis, knocking him out of the ring. Rey knocks Psicosis out into the crowd with a crossbody press. Rey goes back up to the apron, and does a fucking bad ass moonsault plancha off the top into the crowd.

Rey hits Psicosis across the back with a chair. Psicosis retreats through the crowd as Rey follows him. They head towards the front door and back to the ringside area. Rey hits him with a chair shot to the face before knocking him back over the railing towards the ring. Rey hits Psicosis with the chair again before knocking him back over the rail into the crowd. Rey beats Psicosis around the bleechers up to the soundstage/Eagles Nest balcony area. Rey hits Psicosis in the face with the chair again. Rey climbs up the balcony, and leaps off onto Psicosis with a hurricanrana for a 3 count.

Rey goes back to the ring. Psicosis almost gets up at 5, but he stumbles back down to the floor. Rey wins a fan-fucking-tastic match.

Jason comes out. Jason tells Rey about how Konnan attacked him earlier in the evening. Jason compliments Rey's match. Jason asks to be Rey's manager. Rey turns Jason down. Jason calls Rey a little bitch, and asks what his problem is. Rey drops Jason. Out come the Eliminators.

Eliminators beat the shit out of Rey Mysterio until all of a sudden.......

911!

The Eliminators attack 911. Rey flies halfway across the ring to the top of Kronus' shoulders for a Hurricanrana. 911 gives the Eliminators a nasty double chokeslam. Rey jumps up on top of 911's shoulders and the crowd goes crazy.

9.6/10

First of all what a great match. Rey and Psicosis put on a classic. It wasn't perfect, and I don't think it was as good as thier 2/3 Falls Match that took place in October of 95, but it was a damn fine match. Arguably one of the best in ECW history. The segment at the end bumped it up a bit. 911 is just awesome, and I really like him teaming up with Rey. They made a great pair for some reason. Really everything was here for this match. The action, the selling, the psychology all top notch. Just a couple of awkward moments in the match that keep it from getting a 10.

ECW Tag/TV Championship Match: Sandman and 2 Cold Scorpio (ch) vs The Public Enemy

We get a big long drawn out entrance from Sandman, Scorpio and Woman. No Metallica this time, Scorpio's "Whoop There It Is" music plays on for what seems like an eternity.

PE comes out, and all of the arms in the Arena start waiving back and forth. We are going through the introductions for all of the wrestlers, and I'm just now realizing that the usual ECW ring announcer, the one that has been doing it since the first shows I reviewed from 1992, Bob Artese, is nowhere to be found for the first time. Joel Gertner is doing all of the ring announcing for some reason. Hmm. Interesting.

Something I've realized about 2 Cold Scorpio during the introductions that I kind of like. Scorpio is just always cracking smiles like he's just having a hard time keeping from busting out laughing. He just usually always has this look on his face like he's just overwhelmed by the goofiness of what is going on around him, and he's fighting off laughter. I don't know if that makes any sense, probably not. :lol:

The match gets started, and the crowd starts a "PLEASE DON'T GO!" chant. By this time it was obvious to everyone that Public Enemy were in their final days in ECW. They would go on to wrestle a dark match at Survivor Series against the Smoking Gunns just a few days after this event. Eventually they would sign with WCW in early 96.

2 Cold Scorpio challenges Rocco Rock to a dance off. Oh my.

Scorpio and Rocco Rock have a dance off. They dance to this song:

[youtube]l7MK5Esy-L0[/youtube]​

This is actually kind of funny. The Sandman starts dancing, and the Arena goes crazy. Pretty funny stuff. The crowd starts chanting for Woman to dance, and she does a little jiggle. Totally out of character for her, but ah why not? Cute little moment where everyone just kind of broke character a little bit to have some fun with the crowd and each other. A bit on the corny side, but yeah.

PE double team the Sandman and Scorpio, running them out of the ring. They signal to the soundman to hit their music again, and start dancing and celebrating with the crowd as they all wave their hands back and forth to the music.

Now somehow I just can't imagine the Public Enemy wrestling anywhere else but here in ECW.

-Joey Styles

Rock and Grunge continue to celebrate along with the crowd as if this were their last show. Sandman and Rocco Rock finally get this thing started after all of the malarkey. Johnny Grunge hiptosses Sandman over the top to the outside. All hell breaks loose. All four men grab steel chairs, and go after each other in the ring. Quite a chaotic little moment there. Scorpio and Johnny Grunge brawl up towards the entrance area and back down to the ring. Rocco Rock hits The Sandman with a frying pan on the outside of the ring. Rocco Rock hits The Sandman with a pumpkin pie. :fpalm:

Just a wild brawl here with Johnny Grunge a bloody mess. Woman helps The Sandman recover, and pushes him back into the ring. They gradually go back into their positions to make this a traditional tag match. Rocco Rock hits Sandman with a flying headscissors and a tilt a whirl snap mare. Johnny Grunge is bleeding very badly.

Scorpio gets tagged in. Scorpio works Rocco Rock over in the ring until he misses a standing dropkick. Rock and Scorpio go through a pretty good little sequence where Rock hits a springboard moonsault off of the second ropes to land on his feet. Scorpio lands a Thrust Kick and a Double Underhook Powerbomb. Grunge breaks up the pinfall multiple times. Scorpio tries a backflip splash, but Rocco Rock gets the knees up. Scorpio prevents Rocco from tagging out, and gets a tag to Sandman. Sandman comes in and beats on Rocco Rock until Johnny Grunge runs in. Woman hits Rocco Rock with the Cane.

Sandman and Johnny Grunge fight to the outside. Woman hits Rocko again. Grunge sets up a table on the outside. Grunge backdrops Sandman onto the table, but it doesn't break. Sandman reverses a suplex to put Grunge through the table face first. Rocco Rock does a slingshot somersault plancha over the top onto the Sandman. Rocco Rock leaps up onto Sandmans shoulders in the ring, and lands a pretty damn good looking hurricanrana. Scorpio lands his moonsault off the top rope and a spinning heel kick. Grunge holds Scorpio up for Rocko to hit his Drive By somersault senton, but Scorpio moves out of the way. Rocko hits Grunge, and the Sandman falls on top of him for the pinfall.

Sandman and Scorpio retain the tag titles, and the Sandman earns a shot at Whipreck's world strap later on in the evening. The Sandman lays down and out on the canvas until Scorpio revives him by pouring beer into his mouth. The Sandman gets up dancing like the corpse in Weekend at Bernies.:rofl: Scorpio and Sandman hug it out, and make their exit.

6.4/10

Man this thing is just sloppy as hell. No getting around that. It had some goofy moments altogether, and it had some cool moments too. Public Enemy used a lot of moves here in these ECW '95 shows that I didn't really know they could do. There just wasn't really any feeling to this match. Scorpio phoned it in, and the Sandman was...well, The Sandman. With that said it wasn't like this was just a terrible, unwatchable segment. Just didn't have enough going for it to get any higher of a rating.
 
Part II

Bill Alphonso vs Todd Gordon(With special guest referee Beulah Mcgillicutty)

Prior to the match we get a pretty nice recap video of this entire storyline. Pretty much everything that I wrote about in the intro shown in video form.

Beulah comes out looking smoking hot as usual. This woman is a 10/10. One of the hottest women in wrestling history.

Todd Gordon comes out with taped fists. Gordon high fives the fans in the front row when all of a sudden Bill Alphonso hits him from behind. Alphonso beats the shit out of Todd Gordon in the front row. Beulah screams at Fonzie to bring it to the ring, and Fonzie gets up in her face. Bill Alphonso is really on fire here with this performance. The way he was hitting Todd Gordon and the way he was just acting is both hilarious and awesome.

Oh lord, Fonzie floors Beulah with a clothesline.:lol: It's not funny, but damn. This dude is just such a fucking sleezeball it is hilarious to me. Fonzie is perfect in this role.

Todd Gordon starts fighting with Alphonso. They trade punches for a while. Gordon drops Alphonso with punches. Fonzie gets back up and the fight is on.

This is fucking awesome.:laughy:

Todd blasts Fonzie with punches and a clothesline. Fonzie with a low blow. Fonzie starts beating the shit out of Gordon, and the fans throw trash into the ring. Gordon hits Fonzie with a cookie sheet and slams his head into a chair. Alphonso is bleeding. Gordon beats a bloodied Fonzie around the ring. Gordon busts Fonzie with a frying pan. Gordon goes for the pin, but nobody is there to count.

Taz comes out in his ref outfit. Gordon hooks the leg, and Taz counts to two. Taz pulls Todd Gordon up to his feet, and busts him in the face with a punch. Taz pulls Fonzie's body over Todd Gordon, and counts the three count for the pinfall.

Taz has turned heel. The fans are shocked.

Immediately the fans all start chanting "SABU! SABU! SABU!"

This is what Taz says:

You can chant his fucking name all night, he ain't coming.

Not one card.

Not one letter.

Not one phone call.

Tommy Dreamer nearly gets his fingers busted off of his hand, and everybody's crying the blues over Tommy Dreamer.

Terry Funk (Censored) right here in this building, and everybody's crying the blues over the legend Terry Funk.

...And then, the almighty, your god, the king himself, Sabu, nearly gets his neck snapped in half by Chris Benoit, and everybody's PISSING AND FUCKING MOANING ABOUT FUCKING SABU!

The fans all start chanting "SABU! SABU! SABU!". Taz asks them:

What about ME!?

WHAT ABOUT TAZ?!

Yeah, fuck Taz right? No, FUCK YOU!

Ok?

...And then my buddy Paul Heyman. My buddy Paul Heyman.

"Hey Taz, take your time brother. Don't worry, you'll get back in the ring real soon. You'll get back to work real soon."

Yeah, you see Paul E. The problem right here, my father ain't no fat fucking jew lawyer that paid my way through life!

I got to pay my fucking bills.

Who cares about my family?

Who cares about my house?

Who cares about my daughter?

I'll tell you who cares about me, and that's Bill Alphonso.

Bill Alphonso wants to put food on my table.

Bill Alphonso wants to put money in my pocket.

The fans start chanting "SUCK! HIS! DICK!"

The way I see it, you people don't care about me. You don't care about Bill Alphonso. Well we don't give a flying fuck about you!

That my friends is a heel turn. Pretty deep shit.

Taz threatens the fans in the front row as they taunt him. Taz challenges the fans to come into the ring. Taz lays down on his back, and calls out the fans. Pretty good heat.

10/10

The way the storyline got to this point just made this the perfect segment. Loved Taz's promo. One of the most underrated guys on the microphone of all time in my humble opinion. The match with Alphonso and Gordon was fantastic. A lot of fun. Watching this segment on it's own just wouldn't do it one ounce of justice. You really have to understand this storyline to really get why I'm giving this a 10. Turning Taz heel to partner with Bill Alphonso was just brilliant. Taz is about to go through a fucking tear through the ECW over the next year and a half. This moment right here was the beginning of perhaps my favorite pro wrestling character of all time. I'm really going to enjoy reviewing these next couple of shows just to take a closer look at his rise.

ECW World Championship: Mikey Whipwreck(C) vs Steve Austin

Alright so The Sandman earned the right to this shot earlier in the evening. Sandman poses in the entrance isle with Woman when all of a sudden Steve Austin bum rushes him from behind. Austin takes Sandman out in the isle, takes a swig of his beer, and makes his way to the ring ready for action. Austin's entrance music here is just so weird.

Sandman is taken away by medics. Austin calls out Whipreck. Mikey is in over his head. His "Loser" entrance music hits the speakers, and the champ comes out to the ring. '
Mikey's character is just a 19 year old babyface strait edge kid who is the perennial underdog. Austin tells Whipreck that he doesn't belong in the same ring or in the same building. Austin tells Whipreck that tonight for a short while, he is Eric Bischoff.:lol:

Austin attacks Whipreck before the introductions. Austin drops Mikey with his trademark punches and stomps.

Sign Guy in the front row holds up a sign that says:

Austin: The Future Has Arrived

How prophetic.

Austin kicks Mikey's ass to the outside of the ring where he whips him into the steel several times before taking it back into the ring. Austin gives Whipreck a big boot and a leg drop. Mikey kicks out. The crowd goes crazy.

Austin tosses Mikey back outside, and takes off his shirt. Austin drops Mikey across the steel on the outside. Mikey gets a reversal, and whips Austin into the steel. Mikey takes to Austin with punches, dropping him to the concrete. Mikey takes Austin back into the ring. Austin lands his "Stun Gun", which was his finisher at the time, which was basically dropping the guy's neck across the ropes.

Mikey kicks out. Austin is frustrated. Mikey catches Austin with a rollup, and nearly rips the tights off of his ass in order to get the winning pinfall. Mikey gets the upset victory with a handful of tights.

Austin beats the shit out of Mikey after the match before storming off in a fit of rage.

7/10

First and foremost there was just nothing special at all about the actual match. With hindsight 20/20 this definitely seems like a big "What the FUCK!?" booking call, but at the time it kind of made sense. It was obvious that Austin was out of ECW's league, and on his way up to bigger and better things. Putting the title on him wouldn't have been a good call because he would have had to drop the belt pretty soon after this show. Behind the scenes Heyman actually did want to put the belt on him, but it was Austin's request to lose the match. Austin felt like it would have added an interesting element to this bitter character that he had become. Austin turned this loss into a reason to turn his character into a much more serious, psychotic persona. As if losing to Whipreck pushed him over the edge. Austin came back from this loss with a shaved head, and an edgier attitude. If you really think about it the booking does make sense because Austin had been out of action up to this point for 4 months with his torn tricep injury, so he lost this match due to being a bit rusty. This is just a significant match that adds to the overall greatness of this show. On it's own it was nothing special, but really this was the beginning of Austin's rise. He had finally made his return to the ring after being fired by WCW, and he was on to something with his character that would push the entire pro wrestling industry into the mainstream. The fact that all of that really kind of started here in this grungy little ole bingo hall just amuses me to no end.

Sabu vs Hack Meyers

Alright so this is Sabu's return match. Paul Heyman comes out, and brings Sabu out with an emphatic introduction. Sabu dominates Myers early on with some tame mat based moves. Myers catches Sabu with punches and gets the "SHAH!"'s going. Myers lands his finisher on Sabu, but Heyman gets his foot up on the ropes to break the pinfall. Pretty good little booking there, making Myers look as if he could have actually beat Sabu here.

Sabu lands a legdrop. Myers recovers and lands his "SHAH" punches before getting caught with a DDT from Sabu. They slow this thing down a bunch, and move along at a crawling pace. Sabu lands a dive to the outside, and whips Myers into the steel. Sabu sets up a chair, and lands his "Air Sabu". The crowd is kind of dead at this point. Sabu leaps off the top with a hurricanrana attempt, but Myers slams him with a powerbomb. Myers with a vertical suplex. Myers goes up top, but Sabu follows him up with a victory roll off the top for 2. Myers brings in a chair, and hits Sabu while he's on the top rope. Myers pulls Sabu up top, but Sabu pushes him off down onto the chair. Sabu pulls Hack to the outside with a hurricanrana.

Sabu sets him up on a table, and sets up a chair in the ring. Sabu springs off of the chair with a awesome looking somersault over the top onto Hack to put him through the table. Really good looking table spot. Sabu pushes Hack into the ring for a pinfall, but Hack kicks out. Sabu hits Hack with his Atomic Arabian Facebuster with a chair to finally put Hack away with a pinfall.

Paul Heyman helps Hack Myers get up to his feet. Sabu shakes his hand.

6.9/10

Man this wasn't really a bad match at all. Myers was undoubtedly one of the most popular guys in ECW at this time for some ungodly reason, and this is easily his absolute best match that I've seen up to this point. The table spot was fucking awesome. The match did seem to drag on at times with a real slow pace, but overall nothing really bad. Sabu did look pretty good, and they kept Myers popularity intact, possibly even elevating it a bit with the way he lost. Overall this match wasn't real bad, but it lacked any real intensity or passion from the performers. Both guys did manage to look pretty good though.

Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk vs Raven & Cactus Jack

Dreamer and Funk coming out together here is an awesome sight. Two hardcore legends for sure. Cactus Jack comes out wearing an air brushed Dungeoun of Doom t-shirt.:lol::rofl::laughy: If you've been paying attention to this storyline this is just fucking brilliant. Hilarious looking shirt with Kamala, The Shark, and The Zodiac drawn on it, and the words Dungeon of Doom in a heart on the back.

Cactus taunts Terry, and wants him to come to the outside of the ring to get it started off. Raven and Cactus take the ring, and keep Dreamer and Funk out of it with kicks and punches. Funk and Dreamer retreat to the isle to discuss their strategy. Dreamer and Funk storm the ring and the fight is on. Funk vs Cactus and Dreamer vs Raven.

Wild sloppy brawl in and out of the ring. Funk hits Cactus with a chair, and throws it into the ring hitting Raven in the back of the head. Shit.

Stevie Richards comes out pushing a shopping cart with a trash can in it. Funk empties the garbage can on Raven in the ring, and beats on him with the objects that fall out of it. Street signs etc. Dreamer takes Stevie for a ride in the cart.

Dreamer gets a VCR from a ringside fan and busts Raven over the head with it. All 4 men brawl in the ring with the weapons sprawled out everywhere. Dreamer beats the shit out of Raven with various weapons. Terry Funk drops the referee for no reason. :lol:

Funk takes a golf club to Raven's groin. Raven is busted open bleeding. Cactus brings a chair into the ring, and beats on Dreamer with it. The men continue to brawl in the ring. The fans start chanting "E! C! FUCKING! DUB!". Nice.

They take the fight to the outside where the pace slows down tremendously. Raven is bleeding like a stuck pig. Cactus cuts Terry's arm open with a sharp object. Jeez. Cactus and Raven control the momentum of the match. Raven gives Cactus instructions. Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT, Cactus busts him with a street sign.

Cactus pulls off his Dungeon of Doom shirt to reveal another air brushed t-shirt underneath it.

OH MY GOD!

This shirt says "Forgive me Uncle Eric" on the back of it, and shows a fucking roll on the floor hilarious hand drawn picture of Bischoff's face on the front of it.:rofl:

Cactus does his WCW YMCA dance, but Dreamer hits him from behind. Dreamer beats the shit out of Cactus in the ring. Cactus and Raven regain the upper hand and go for a pinfall, but the ref is still down. Trash and weapons are scattered all over the ring. Tommy Dreamer is bleeding profusely now.

Bill Alphonso and Taz come out.

Cactus pins Funk with Alphonso doing the count. Funk kicks out at 2. Taz attempts to pin Funk, but Dreamer stops him. Taz and Dreamer stand face to face for a brief moment before Raven drops Dreamer. Taz and Fonzie leave. Dreamer drops Raven with 2 DDT's, a pildedriver on a chair. Dreamer keeps Cactus from entering the ring, and Funk pins Raven for the win.

Dreamer and Funk win after 14:36. Richards comes in and takes a stomach high superkick from Dreamer. Cactus chokes Terry Funk with a wire on the outside. Raven floors Dreamer, and drops a knee into his groin. Cactus continues to beat on Funk in the isle as Raven poses in the ring.

8/10

Pretty anticlimactic ending, and some sloppy booking going on with the Taz/Fonzie run in. Would have been better if Taz and Fonzie cost Dreamer and Funk the match, but they just came out and then left without really impacting the match at all. A lot of sloppy brawling, but it was a good sloppy brawl mainly because of the story behind it. I absolutely loved the shirts that Cactus was wearing, so that bumps the overall score of the segment up a bit for me. Not a real bad match, actually one of the better brawls I've seen so far up to this point. Four hardcore legends in a dream match that was pretty much all that one could really expect out of a match like this. It wasn't an epic or anything, but it was a fun given the background leading up to it. On it's own it probably doesn't hold up well. Especially if hardcore brawling is just not your thing.

Overall: 10/10

Man, that was one long motherfucking show. 2 discs. There is just so much that happened I don't know where to start. First of all just the all star who's who of superstars on this show. Austin, Foley, Saturn, Bully Ray, Terry Funk, Rey Mysterio, Stevie Richards, Sabu, I mean this show pretty much had it all for an ECW show. It wasn't the perfect show by any means, but this is pretty close to as good as it is going to get for ECW. It was the pinnacle of a really special time in ECW history. A time that has pretty much been forgotten about. The little window during the fall of 1995 was a really interesting period for ECW. They had some future blockbuster superstars on their roster, and they were starting to look like one of the big boys. The quality matches were there. The promos were some of the best of all time, the characters were revolutionary and way ahead of their time. I think it's safe to say that ECW was the best wrestling promotion in North America in 1995, and that this show is perhaps the best overall wrestling show of 1995. Not only did we have Austin's historic return to the ring after his 4 month layoff due to the torn bicep that got him fired from WCW, but we got a really amazing heel turn from Taz. The beginning of a long running feud with Sabu, who had finally returned after an almost year long hiatus from ECW. Such a pivotal show for ECW, and such a pivotal show for pro wrestling in general at this time. This show was a glimpse into where Pro Wrestling was headed. A glimpse into the future of sports entertainment. The way the storylines all lead up to this show really made it great to me. I would't say this was a better show than Hostile City Showdown 95, but it's definitely up there.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hardcore TV(Episode #138)

December 12th, 1995​

Alright so we're skipping through the first three episodes after November to Remember 95 because for the most part they consist of pretty much just the matches from November to Remember 95 along with a bunch of promos for their house shows at the time(including the cancelled Thanksgiving day show). There was a lot that happened at November to Remember 95. We had Austin return to the ring for the first time since being fired from WCW in a title match against ECW Champ Mikey Whipreck(I don't think I emphasized how hilarious it was the way Mikey almost pulled Austin's trunks all the way off of his ass in order to pin him, Austin's shocked reaction to the pinfall is absolutely classic). Taz turned heel by siding with the evil Bill Alphonso, Sabu returned from his nearly year long hiatus, and Dreamer & Funk defeated Raven & Cactus. Funk would "retire" on one of the episodes of Hardcore TV that followed November to Remember, so we wouldn't see him again in ECW for another year.

We didn't miss much on those three episodes of Hardcore TV. They did show a clipped fan cam match between ECW Champ Mikey Whipreck and Rey Mysterio from a house show in Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania that was very solid. The music video they put together for Terry Funk's ECW career set to "Desperado" by The Eagles was rather touching as well. Otherwise, they didn't show much of anything that we didn't already cover in the November to Remember show.

So on this episode we get Steve Austin's second(and final) ECW match as he tries to get his hands on the gold again in a three way dance with Mikey(C) and The Sandman. Other than that I'm not totally sure what to expect on this show, it's been a while since I've seen it. Lets dig in shall we?

The show opens up with Beulah saying that we will not believe what her box has in store for us tonight. Man, is she a sight for sore eyes or what?

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We get the always awesome White Zombie intro. If you don't like heavy metal music or White Zombie you probably won't like this intro as much as I do, especially if you don't particularly care for ECW either. You will probably hate it in fact. I just happen to love White Zombie and ECW so this is the bee's knees to me. Sometimes it felt like maybe whoever was running ECW knew me personally somehow, because they were always playing my favorite music. That was a major part of my diehard enthusiasm for ECW through the years. The music.

Joey Styles greets us after the intro video telling us that the Heavenly Bodies will be interviewed by Beulah tonight in her "Beulah's Box" interview. The Heavenly Bodies were always pumped up by a lot of people back in the day(including the WWE) as if they were to be taken seriously, but for the life of me I could never figure out why. The Heavenly Bodies were "Jiggalo" Jimmy Del Ray and Tom Pritchard. The team was a regular act in Smoky Mountain, and had been working in USWA prior to coming to ECW here. They did have a brief run in the WWE in 1993. It is important to note that Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion folded in November of 1995 around the time of the ECW November To Remember 95 show.

On one of the previous episodes of Hardcore TV showed fan cam footage from the Jim Thorpe show where the Heavenly Bodies helped Raven and Stevie Richards fight with Public Enemy. Public Enemy broke Stevie's arm and were attacked by The Heavenly Bodies.

Ok, we cut away to Lance Wright's "Hype Central". This was a little segment where Lance would promote the upcoming ECW live shows, giving info on the cards and scheduled appearances. Lance Wright just comes off as a total clown in these segments. They cut away to the 1995 computer graphics screens displaying info on upcoming shows as this song plays along in the background:

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Pretty sweet song.

A screen pops up advertising the January 5th, 1996 House Party show. The screen says that it will be the final ECW appearance of Public Enemy as sad trumpet music plays on. :verysad:

More advertisements for the upcoming "Holiday Hell Tour". They promote a show for the Briarcliffe Athletic Assoc. Building in Glenolden, Pa. on December 28th 1995. Scheduled for the card........Steve Austin vs Hack Myers.:stalker:

Alice In Chains "Grind" plays as they run down the card with these stunning Windows 95 computer graphic screens that look like a powerpoint presentation I put together in the 8th grade.:lol:

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Lovely music so far. I'm digging it.

The song plays on as they show an ad for "Club ECW" where you could buy tickets to the next 4 ECW Arena shows in advance.

November To Remember 95 home video commercial set to Guns N Roses "November Rain", epic fucking ECW show. Great little highlight makes me want to watch it again. What a great song.

Buh Buh Ray & DW Dudley vs. Bad Crew

Now we have a wrestling match. Alright.

These Hardcore TV shows just had a weird structure to them. It worked in these early episodes because you just didn't know what you were going to get from week to week, but they tried to carry this format over into the TNN years and it just failed.

Bad Crew and Damien Fucking Cane. This is a dude you will hear me bitch about in quite a few of these upcoming reviews. Damien Cane is a guy that I have no clue where he came from. Heyman brought the dude in with a weird looking valet, and a tag team(Bad Crew) that looks strait out of 1989. The whole getup wreaks of Road Warriors/Mad Maxx/Beyond Thunderdome type shit to me for some odd reason. The guy isn't all that bad on the microphone, but he just doesn't really fit in ECW. The whole act just comes off as very dated compared to what else is going on at the moment in ECW. Overall the whole Damien Cane ordeal in ECW was just bad wrestlecrap that has aged terribly today. No way around it.

The Dudleyz come out acting like total clowns as their AC/DC "Highway To Hell" music plays on. They are actually kind of funny here. Almost. Still no D-Von, just a bunch of no namers. The crowd starts chanting "WHATS YOUR NAME!?" when Buh Buh gets the microphone.

Buh Buh stutters his name, and Damien makes fun of him. Damien calls Buh Buh a ****** before asking him if there was anything else he can do other than stutter like an idiot. The Dudley's start kicking ass!

Dudleyz beat the shit out of Bad Crew as the crowd stutters Buh Buh's name out loud in unison. :lol:

DW(Dances With) Dudley is perhaps the most comical of the group in this stage. He's playing an Indian Dudley that speaks fluent Spanish. DW loses the momentum of the match, getting hit with Bad Crew's tandem moves. Buh Buh comes in cleaning house, landing dropkicks, and just generally kicking ass like a badass. DW regains the momentum of the match. Bad Crew keeps DW isolated to regain control.

Double clothesline on DW.

Bad Crew kind of looks like maybe Heyman's idea for a replacement for Public Enemy. Just a shot in the dark there.

The match goes to the outside and Buh Buh kicks ass with a chair. Buh Buh puts one of the Bad Crew guys into position for a powerbomb, but he struggles to lift him up until DW slaps him on the back. Buh Buh pins the Bad Crew dude after his "Buh Buh Bomb" after about 10 minutes.

4/10

This was something that could have been watched on 2X speed and you wouldn't have missed anything. Not much to write about at all except for the fact that the ECW fans had really accepted Buh Buh Ray Dudley as one of their guys at this point. You could tell they cared about him in this match. The rest of the guys they could care less about. This wasn't really a terrible match per se, hell it almost got a little bit fun, but overall there was just nothing going on here. Move along folks.

Lance Wright EC F'N W t-shirt ad. God I can't wait to see Taz dump this dude on his head in some of those later shows.

Some obscure 90's grunge song(Awesome!) plays on in the background as an advertisement comes on the screen for "Hardcore Action On The Internet" at gstand.com/ECW.

They show a brief clip of the "Beulah's Box" interview with Stevie Richards and The Heavenly Bodies. Stevie acts like a goofball.

ECW World Title Match: Sandman vs. Steve Austin vs. Mikey Whipwreck

Austin debuts with his shaved head. It's not down to the skin yet, but he's cut his golden blonde locks. This show was taped at the December 9th December To Dismember ECW Arena show, which is nowhere to be found on DVD or VHS. I'm pretty sure it was never commercially released. Many of the matches were aired on Hardcore TV through December of 1995 though.

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Austin and Mikey start it off just the two of them. Austin has his way with Mikey in the ring with superior technical skill and strength. Austin backs Mikey back into the corner and smacks him in the face. Mikey surprises Austin by smacking him back, and pushing him out of the corner. Austin extends his hand out of for a handshake and apologizes. Mikey shakes Austin's hand. Nice.

Mikey and Austin surprise me here with this next sequence. Pretty smooth chain wrestling sequence with some clean grappling. Mikey manages to get Austin backed into the corner. The referee calls for a break and Mikey breaks clean. Austin nods his head at Mikey. Very nice.

They tie back up with standing switch reversals, and drop toe hold counters to take it to the ground. Austin moves around pretty well on the ground like a real wrestler. Austin locks Mikey into a front facelock on the ground. Mikey gets his foot on the ropes. Austin breaks the hold and shakes Mikeys hand with a smile. I like this match a lot so far.

Austin is in fantastic shape here. You could tell he was getting ready to make another serious run.

They tie up again and Mikey locks Austin in a side headlock. Mikey hiptosses Austin to the ground in the headlock multiple times. Mikey keeps Austin grounded in the headlock. Austin rolls Mikey back to surprise him with a pinfall, but he only gets 1. Mikey tries to keep Austin on the ground in the headlock, but Austin brings it up to the feet. Austin pushes Mikey into the corner. Mikey slowly breaks the hold. Austin kind of pauses for a second.......and proceeds to beat the living hell out of Mikey in the corner.

Hard punches and kicks. He pulls him up and gives him some chops. Austin starts playing a heel role, choking Mikey on the ropes. Austin sends Mikey into the ropes. Mikey sunset flips over Austin, and tries to pull his tights for a pinfall. Austin spins out of it and starts beating the shit out of Mikey in a fit of rage.

Austin slams Mikey's head into the mat when all of a sudden.......


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Enter Sandman kicks onto the sound system of the Arena. The crowd goes crazy. Sandman and Woman step out together. Sandman is wearing the tag team title and carrying a beer bottle. Woman holds the Singapore Cane.

Ah, I see that this is the show where this photo was taken:

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Austin is distracted with The Sandman and Woman's entrance when Mikey blindsides him. Mikey knocks Austin out of the ring. Austin pulls Mikey out and whips him into the steel. Austin gives Mikey a piledriver on the concrete to get a great "OH MY GAWD!" out of Joey Styles. Sandman and Woman look on as Austin beats the crap out of Mikey. Austin gets in the ring waiting for The Sandman to finish his beer. Sandman just stands on the outside drinking his beer, smoking his cigarette staring up at Austin in the ring.

Oh man, Sandman gets in the ring and trades punches with Austin and it just looks fucking awesome! Sandman throws the first punch and Austin sells the hell out of it. Austin responds with one of his trademark classic haymakers, and Sandman does a likewise hell of a job of selling it. They both sell the punches beautifully before simultaneously nailing each other with punches at the same time. They both go down at the same time as Mikey climbs up onto the top rope in the ring.

The Sandman beats Austin to his feet and Mikey hits him with a Hurricanrana off of the top rope. Sandman rolls out of the ring. Mikey goes up top to do the same move on Austin, but Austin slams him down into the canvas with a sick powerbomb. Mikey kicks out of a pinfall attempt at 2 1/2. Sandman climbs back up on the apron and pulls the rope down when Mikey whips Austin into the ropes, sending him out of the ring. Sandman picks up his beer bottle and takes a drink as Austin recovers. Sandman and Austin trade chest chops when Mikey hits them with a Slingshot Somersault dive over the top rope to the outside. All 3 men get in the ring and Mikey works both Austin and Sandman over with punches. Sandman and Austin stumble around out on their feet. Mikey hits them both with a low blow, and tries a springboard cross body press on both of them. Both Austin and Sandman duck underneath. Mikey crashes into the mat. Sandman crawls out of the ring to recuperate as Austin begins working Mikey over with his "5 Moves Of Doom".

Austin drops Mikey across the ropes with his "Stun Gun" finisher that he was using at the time, and pins him. Mikey's title reign has been brought to an end. Austin gets the pinfall.

It's down to Austin and Sandman. This is a fucking great match so far.

Austin fights with Sandman on the outside, whipping him into the steel railing. Sandman clotheslines him over the rail into the crowd. Sandman and Austin fight in the crowd a bit before Sandman pulls a table into the crowd, and drops it over Austin's body as he lays on the concrete floor. Sandman tries to suplex the table down onto Austin again, but Austin hits him from behind, knocking both Sandman and the table back over the railing. Austin drops Sandman over the railing with his "Stun Gun".

Sandman recovers and hits Austin in the stomach with a chair. Both men stumble around the ringside area in pain. Sandman bodyslams Austin down onto the concrete floor. Austin pushes Sandman through the table that is propped up against the railing. Sandman crashes through the table. Austin chokes Sandman with the trim piece of the table, and whips him into the steel around the ring. Austin rolls Sandman back into the ring and continues to dominate him, dropping him with an inverted Vertical Suplex and a knee drop to the throat.

Austin gets out of the ring and grabs Sandman's beer from Woman. Sandman takes a swig of Sandman's beer and spits it in his face. Austin walks around the Sandman stomping down on him as he drinks his beer. Austin gets up in the corner of the ring just like classic WWF Stone Cold with Sandman's beer, turning the bottle upside down to empty it down his throat. Meanwhile Woman pours another beer down Sandman's throat as he lays flat on his back.

Sandman jumps up revived all of a sudden. :rofl:

The crowd goes wild.

Sandman hits Austin from behind. Sandman goes to suplex Austin, but Austin lifts Sandman up for a body slam. The referee gets bumped into and goes down. Austin pulls a set of brass knuckles out of his trunks.

Austin drops Sandman with the brass knuckles. Austin goes for the pinfall for the belt, but Sandman gets his leg up on the ropes. Austin loses it on the referee. Sandman picks up the brass knuckles and hits Austin in the back of the head. Austin goes down and Sandman pins him.

Austin gets his foot up on the ropes, but the referee doesn't see it. :lol:

Sandman is the new champion.

Austin loses his fucking mind on the referees on the outside of the ring as Sandman fires up a smoke and holds his belt up. Woman pours beer down Sandman's throat in celebration.

10/10

Damn.

I know I've been handing out a lot of 10/10's here lately, but I'm kind of going by different criteria than your standard wrestling review.

This very well may be the perfect ECW match.

I don't know why this doesn't top any of the lists or ever gets brought up in the discussion of great ECW matches, hell, why isn't this on any of the WWE DVD's?!

It was definitely up there as one of the best. Austin and Whipreck going 1 on 1 at the beginning was fantastic. Sandman came in and the match only got better. We got to see Stone Cold Steve Austin in this segment more so than any of his ECW appearances before this. His attitude. The way he was swigging Sandman's beer in the corner up on the ropes. Also, his wrestling style. Austin was a technical wrestler in WCW. He came to ECW and kind of incorporated that ECW brawling style into his style. The style that the Stone Cold character became known for in his epic matches with Bret Hart, Undertaker, and Dude Love. The style that played a big part in WWE overtaking WCW in the Monday Night Wars. The WWE adapted the rules to cater to that style. Suddenly we were seeing title matches where there were all of a sudden no rules(Summerslam 98), brawls all over the Arena(Over The Edge 98), and we got a really good little preview of that stuff in this match. This is easily one of the best Three way matches I've ever seen. The Psychology was there, and the performances were golden. Excellent ECW match. Actually one of the better matches in pro wrestling in 1995 really.

We cut away to the commercial for the Enter Sandman home video. That was one of the better shows for ECW in 1995, but it was nowhere near as good as Hostile City Showdown or November To Remember, two of the best wrestling shows of 1995 in my opinion.

More obscured 90's grunge that I can't even begin to think of the name of. Pretty cool music though. More ad's for upcoming shows.

Just to note that there were more commercials that were cut out of these tapes that I'm reviewing. They would have local commercials for Philly jewelry stores stuff like that. Luckily all that stuff was edited out of these tapes.

Pulp Fiction Promos

Here we go with the Pulp Fiction promos. We get an old clip of the Sandman saying "Politically Incorrect.....And damn proud of it!"

Dudley goofiness.

Beulah talks to the Heavenly Bodies. They say they met Raven at a show down in Florida and all he would talk about was "Beulah's Box". Meh.

Taz and Fonzie cut a promo. Fonzie does all the talking saying that they will bring the Hell to Holiday Hell.

More Dudley goofiness. DW sings "I Want To Wish You A Merry Christmas".

More Bill Alphonso threats with Taz standing behind him. Fonzie says he will make Todd Gordon put a rug over his bald head, and he will make Beulah wear a rag over that ugly face. :rofl: That was hilarious.

They show one of the Heavenly Bodies talking side by side with Beulah and I didn't even pay attention to what he was talking about. Beulah + Red Dress = Hotness!:love:

The Pitbulls cut a promo with Francine threatening The Eliminators. Francine is really young and really hot here.

Joey Styles ends the show plugging the upcoming Holiday Hell 95 show. Joey says that The Sandman suffered a fractured hand in his title victory, but he has already agreed to defend his belt twice at Holiday Hell, against both Cactus Jack and Steve Austin.

Overall Show Rating: 8.8/10

The centerpiece of this tape is without a doubt the incredible, highly underrated three way dance for the belt with Austin, Mikey, and Sandman putting on one of the best matches in ECW history. The match just played out beautifully. It was Stone Cold Steve Austin's final ECW show, but it was definitely the first show for Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin would cut a promo on the next episode of Hardcore TV talking about how close he was to winning the belt, but that would be it. He wouldn't appear in any of his other scheduled matches that were continuously advertised throughout this show. He would move up to the WWE a few weeks after this match to become "The Ringmaster", with Ted Dibiase as his manager.

As for the rest of the show the music was jamming, but there wasn't much going outside of the title match. Had we gotten some worthwhile promos or another solid match the score would have been higher, but there just wasn't anything there. Overall this was a fun show to watch. A fantastic, underrated match, and just a jamming good time.

The next show we will take a look at will be the final review for 1995, Holiday Hell. I'll post a Final Thoughts on ECW 1995 along with my MVP's, and Matches of the year lists before we move on to 1996. This will be the last episode of Hardcore TV we look at for quite a while because all of my 1996 shows are the actual events that were sold on home video.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Holiday Hell

December 29th 1995
Lost Battalion Hall
Queens, NY​

Well, here we are. The final ECW show of 1995. It's interesting to note that the last show of 95 is the first Extreme show we will be looking at that was not taped in the ECW Arena. This show was part of the ECW "Holiday Hell Tour" where they packed up like a carnival and took ECW on the road around the Tri States area. Steve Austin was scheduled to appear on this show wrestling The Sandman in a rematch for the World Title, but he was signed by the WWE just a week or two prior. Austin would go on to debut in the WWE as The Ringmaster a few weeks after this show at WWF Royal Rumble 96.

So at this show we get the debut of the new heel Taz, the next chapter of the Dreamer vs Raven saga, one of Public Enemy's final ECW matches, and a dream matchup main event between Sabu(who had just come back to ECW a month prior) and Cactus Jack. Lets take a look at how ECW does outside of the friendly confines of the ECW Arena.

Just a quick note before we get started. This is one of the Delta Region 0 DVD's that has all of the orginal music edited out.:verysad:

We open the show with a skyline shot of New York City with the Twin Towers and all. This is ECW's official New York City debut.

The show cuts to the fans standing out in line to get into the show chanting E! C! DUB!.

We get the Hardcore TV intro to kick it off. No White Zombie, we get the original ECW theme by Harry Slash & The Slashtones, which is cool I guess. I prefer White Zombie though.

Joey Styles opens the show in the middle of the ring, saying that New York City is ready to take it to the extreme. Pretty cruddy looking venue. I see basketball boards in the background.

Out comes Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie.

Stevie tells his lackey to stay out of his way so he can get the TV time. Stevie tells Joey that everybody in NYC is there to see "Dancin" Stevie Richards "The Original King of Swing". :lol:

Stevie starts insulting the fans in the crowd when suddenly he finds......Missy Hyatt!?:stalker:

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Stevie and Joey go down to the ringside area to talk to Missy. Stevie tries to take Missy to the backstage, but he gets turned down. Stevie tells Missy that he can take her to meet Raven. Missy gives Stevie a big ole wet kiss, and tells him to take that to Raven.

Taz vs Yuji Nakagawa

The wonderful Mr. Joel Gertner is the ring announcer for tonight's event.

Nakagawa is apparently from FMW. Mid size Japanese guy in fairly decent shape. Taz made his return from the neck injury at a show prior to this one in December of 95 in a brutal squash match against El Puerto Ricano. One of the suplexes in that match would live on in the intro videos to Hardcore TV for years. This is his hometown though, Queens Ny.

Taz comes out with Bill Alphonso. This venue is a shit hole, but it sets a pretty cool little atmosphere. You can see a window in the background with a busy NY street outside lit up with headlights speeding by. The crowd is just as rowdy as the ECW Arena bunch. I don't see any of the Philly regulars in the crowd. Gertner introduces Taz as the Human Suplex Machine. Bill Alphonso goes up to Nakagawa and slaps him on the face. Fonzie quickly gets out of the ring like a little bitch:lol:. His antics crack me up to no end. Nakagawa smacks Taz in the face and they immediately lock up in a collar and elbow to get it started.

They go through a pretty smooth looking grappling exchange when all of a sudden Taz throws the guy over his head with a sweet German. Taz no sells the guys punches and a dropkick. Belly to Belly Tazplex. Head and Arm Tazplex looks like it kills the guy. Really dangerous looking move. I don't think we ever got to see him do that move in the WWE.

Taz throws the guy like a ragdoll with a Half Nelson Tazplex. Oh the brutality!

Tazmission for the win after about 3 minutes. Nakagawa taps out. The Tazmission looks like something Royce Gracie would lock you in. He locks his legs around his opponent in what I call a Body Triangle, then he chokes them with a weird hold, using their own arm to apply pressure to their throat. Really cool looking submission.

Taz refuses to break the hold until Bill Alphonso comes into the ring to say it's ok. That is some strait up Gracie shit right there.:lol: I love it.

Was anybody else "Tapping Out" their opponents in 1996? I certainly don't remember it happening in North America during my time as a fan. Guys were tapping out left and right in MMA during this time. Guys like Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock were tapping their opponents out on a consistent basis in the UFC in 1995. Ken Shamrock was on top of the UFC at this time. Dan Severn won a tournament of champions at the UFC Ultimate Ultimate '95 pay per view just two weeks prior to this show. Severn tapped out Paul Varelans in the first round of the tournament with an Arm Triangle Choke. Severn would go on to defeat Tank Abbott and Oleg Taktarov in the same evening to win the tournament. Not a lot of people remember, but UFC was actually doing pretty well at this time in 1995. They had built guys like Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn into bonafide PPV draws. This was just before the US government would crack down on MMA, practically outlawing it for a short period of time, so the UFC was actually doing pretty well. We were starting to see it's influence on pro wrestling for the first time really in North America with Taz tapping his opponents out. His overall character and personality just screamed "Shoot Fighter", especially with his coach Bill Alphonso by his side. This was something they would continue to push further with Taz through 1996.

Bill Alphonso gets the microphone after the match. Fonzie says that Taz is a wrestling machine that nobody can beat. Nobody in Queens, nobody in the WWF, nobody in WCW. Nobody! Something about Fonzie on the microphone that I really like. The dude just cracks me up for some reason.

Taz gets the microphone.

The crowd begins chanting Sabu.

Taz tells everyone to shut their mouths. He tells the crowd that Sabu is scared of him because he knows he will fold him in half as the segment comes to an end.

7/10

The was a pretty damn good squash match. Taz was still developing this character, so it was a bit rough around the edges, but the attitude was there. Some brutal suplexes. The Head and Arm Suplex has got to be one of the more dangerous pro wrestling moves you can do. You could see that Taz had a lot of real power due to his short, stocky stature. Guys with that type of build just always have freakish power due to that low center of gravity. The interesting thing here was that Taz vs Sabu was what the ECW fans wanted from day 1, ever since Taz turned heel and Sabu returned from WCW(on the same show), it's what they've been calling for. Taz and Sabu have given them no reason to chant like they do, they just start chanting Sabu whenever Taz is out doing his thing so far at both of these shows I've looked at. Heyman would build it up really slowly over the next year and a half leading up to ECW's first pay per view.

Hack Meyers vs JT Smith

Alright so we immediately get a shot of JT Smith with his leather jacket on, calling himself the Italian Stallion. Hack Myers comes out and gets a pretty good reaction from the NYC fans.

Joel Gertner looks like he is 16 years old here. :lol:

They do quite a bit of stalling before trading punches with the classic "SHAH!", "SHIT!" chants from the fans. They are pretty loud with them. They scream "SHAH!" at each of Myer's strikes, and "SHIT!" at each of JT's strikes. They take it to the outside and we have blue mats on the floor around the ring. Smith bodyslams Hack Myers down to the floor and hits him with a dive off of the top rope. JT continues to dominate Hack in the ring with power moves. Smith gets a powerbomb for 2 and 7/8ths. JT Smith goes up top for another splash off of the top and slips and busts his ass.

:rofl:

That was a pretty damn funny spot. He tried to springboard his way up to the top rope and totally wipes out. The crowd starts chanting "YOU! FUCKED! UP!".

Hack gets up and drives Smith's face into the canvas with his knees. Hack Myers hooks a leg and gets the win after about 5 minutes.

6.7/10

Not a bad short match at all. JT's goofball spot got a good laugh out of me, so I had to give it props for that. Nothing really special about it otherwise.

ECW TV & Tag Team Championship: Mikey Whipwreck vs 2 Cold Scorpio (ch)

Alright here we go with the Tag Titles on the line in a singles match. :mad:

The crowd chants for Mikey to kick Scorpio's ass, and the look on Scorpio's face is hilarious. Scorpio dominates Mikey early on, making it look as if Mikey just doesn't have a chance in hell in this matchup. Mikey catches Scorpio off guard with a headscissor takedown followed by a dropkick. Mikey sends Scorpio to the outside and follows him with a Somersault Plancha. Scorpio sends Mikey into the steel on the outside before they both get into the ring. Scorpio attempts a powerbomb, but Mikey hits him with a Hurricanrana. Scorpio gets up and kicks Mikey in the groin.

Scorpio beats on Mikey and covers him for the pinfall a few times only to get up and taunt the crowd at 2. Scorpio teases the crowd for a high spot, and continues to dominate Mikey with power moves. Scorpio hits Mikey with another Power Bomb, a Tombstone, and a Super Kick. Scorpio keeps giving up the pinfall. Scorpio finally goes up top, but Mikey catches him and knocks him off balance. Mikey goes up top and hits him with a Hurricanrana off the top. Mikey covers Scorpio for the pinfall, but he only gets 2.

Mikey attempts a slam and the referee goes down. Scorpio hits the referee while he's down and takes Mikey out. Scorpio goes up to the top rope, and jumps off with a weird looking splash. It looked like he was going to do the Tumbleweed Legdrop, but maybe he changed his mind in the middle of the move. Scorpio starts looking pretty sloppy when he delivers a Backbreaker on Mikey, followed by another powerbomb. Scorpio keeps twirling his fingers around to the crowd like he's about to go up to for his Tumbleweed.

All of a sudden Cactus Jack comes running out. Cactus drops Scorpio with a Double Arm DDT, and pulls Mikey over him. Cactus pulls the referee up and throws him over towards Mikey to count the 1, 2, 3. Mikey wins.

Cactus Jack celebrates with Mikey after handing him the belts. Mikey looks up at the crowd confused as Cactus celebrates with the other tag team belt. Mikey holds the TV and Tag Team title.

4/10

Man, Scorpio just really dogged it here. This was a pretty bad match. I expected it to be much better. Not sure I agree with taking all of those belts off of Scorpio to put on Mikey either. It was a rather interesting turn in the story with Cactus helping Mikey out, but the match was just bad. One of the worse Scorpio matches I've seen. Maybe he wasn't happy about dropping the belts and just phoned it in, I don't know. The thing with a lot of ECW matches was that they would go out there and call the match as it went on. Sometimes it would work out ok, but a lot of times it just made for a really sloppy match. That was the case here. They didn't have anything planned out except for the ending, and it was obvious.

The Pitbulls vs The Eliminators

Here we go with Jason's Eliminators. Still rocking the long hair. Both teams get down into their Stiener like pose and face off in the center of the ring. Francine is my favorite in this leather outfit. She is a knockout here.

Saturn is in great shape here. Kronus is a bit on the chunky side. Francine is absolutely at her best in this leather outfit, jesus almighty. You got to see this.

Pitbull 1 and Saturn get it started off. Saturn with a nice Northern Lights Suplex. Pitbull 1 hits a lariat followed by a snap suplex. So far so good. Here we go with a bit of stalling before Saturn tags out to Kronus. Pitbull 1 tags out to Pitbull 2. Pitbull 2 drops Kronus with a powerslam. Saturn interferes and this thing turns into amateur hour. Botchamania. Saturn lands a nice plancha, and then the Eliminators do their awesome looking assisted springboard Moonsault over the top rope. Pitbull 2 no sells it. Jason attacks him. Saturn goes for a splash off the top, but Pitbull 2 moves. Saturn hits Jason. The Pitbulls go to town with steel chairs on the outside of the ring.

Pitbull 1 brings in a cookie sheet and hits Kronus, Saturn, and Jason. Pitbull 2 brings in a toilet brush from the crowd, and sticks it in Kronus' face.

The Pitbulls hit Saturn with a drop toe hold/knee drop combo move. Kronus hits Pitbull 2, and lands a really nice looking handspring moonsault splash. Both teams take turns isolating one another and dominating the match. Pitbull 2 drops Saturn with a Tombstone. Jason trips Pitbull 2 up, and Saturn hits him with a superkick. The Eliminators beat on Pitbull 2 for a while. Kronus lands a nice Moonsault off of the top rope. Kronus goes up top again, and lands a Jimmy Snuka splash.

Tag in to Saturn. Saturn lands a fucking beautiful splash off of the top rope. He got a lot of height right there. Jason comes in and does the Public Enemy assisted somersault senton onto Pitbull 2 as the referee is distracted.

The Eliminators drop Pitbull 2 with a Vertical Suplex/Splash combo move.

The crowd starts a "Jason takes it up the ass!" camptown races chant. :lol:

The Eliminators land several more moves, but Pitbull 2 no sells it. He gets up beating on his chest. He's soon overwhelmed by the Eliminators. Kronus gets tagged in as Francine rallies the crowd. Pitbull 1 finally gets the hot tag, but the crowd doesn't really respond to it. Pitbull 1 comes in cleaning house. Pitbull 1 gets Kronus pinned, but the referee is distracted.

The Pitbulls kick ass together in the ring, working both Eliminators over. The Pitbulls drop Saturn with a pretty hard Superbomb. Pitbull 2 covers for the win, but Jason distracts the referee. Kronus attacks both Pitbulls from behind as the referee is distracted.

Eliminators pick up the win after about 15 minutes due to Jason's interference.

6.9/10

I want to rate this match higher, but I can't really. There was just a few too many botches. It got rather sloppy relatively quick even though it started off pretty decent. Kronus and Saturn landed some phenomenal high flying moves. Saturn had his own distinct style of flying through the air, and Kronus was rather dynamic for a man his size. You could see the Eliminators improving here, getting better at working together, and better at wrestling in general. They were still really green, and this match was just too sloppy, even though I loved the high flying and the overall speed and amount of action in the match. The crowd really wasn't into this thing either.

Raven vs Tommy Dreamer

We immediately cut away to Tommy Dreamer walking out to the ring. The way he looks here all young and babyfaced with his hair all prettied up and his ECW t-shirt on the comparison that immediately pops into my mind is that Tommy Dreamer was ECW's Sting. That's the perfect analogy. Tommy Dreamer was to ECW what Sting was to WCW. Raven played a big part in how he got there.

Stevie Richards leads Raven out to the ring with Beulah and The Blue Meanie. Beulah is the hottest woman of all time.

Correction, no Raven.

Joel Gertner says that the winner of this match will get a shot at the Sandman's belt later on in this show.

Stevie gets the microphone and says that his man Raven won't be able to wrestle tonight because he broke his....

*Blue Meanie wispers in Stevie's ear*

Leg.

Stevie tells Tommy that he will have to face the Blue Meanie instead. Dreamer tells him to shut the fuck up. Dreamer calls Raven a pussy, and tells Stevie to go to the back and get Raven.

The Blue Meanie attacks Dreamer from behind.

Dreamer drops him with a DDT. Dreamer pins The Blue Meanie.

Stevie comes in and attacks Dreamer. Dreamer drops Stevie with a DDT. Dreamer pins Stevie.

Dreamer pulls Beulah into the ring and sets her up for the piledriver again. Raven hits Dreamer in the back with a shelf. Raven beats the dog shit out of Dreamer. Really stiff beating here around the ring. Raven sets Dreamer up on a table and puts him through it with his sloppy ass plancha over the top rope.

Raven pulls Dreamer into the ring and poses over his lifeless body with his classic crucifix pose. Pretty awesome visual.

Raven chokes the life out of Dreamer until Dreamer fires back all of a sudden with some awesome looking punches. Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT. Stevie comes in and gets DDT'd. 2 more DDT's a piece on Raven and Richards. Dreamer throws Raven out of the ring and busts him with a chair.

All of the fans in the crowd are holding various weapons. :lol:

Dreamer grabs a cheese grater and takes it to Raven's head. Dreamer licks the cheese grater.

Dreamer drags Raven around the ring grabbing weapons from the fans to beat him with. Dreamer throws Raven into the first row of the crowd and hits him again with the chair. Raven is bleeding. Dreamer drags Raven towards the back door of the building.

They go outside. Snow everywhere.

Raven whips Dreamer into a door. They go back inside. Raven beats Dreamer from pillar to post.

The crowd starts chanting "CAN'T SEE SHIT!".

Dreamer and Raven both wander back towards the ring. Dreamer is busted open bleeding pretty badly. Dreamer drops Raven with a low blow in the ring. The referee gets hit and goes down.

Raven holds Dreamer for Beulah to spray him with hairspray. Dreamer moves, Raven gets sprayed. Dreamer falls down as Raven stumbles around the ring blinded.

Raven drops Stevie with a DDT.

Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT. Dreamer pins Raven and the referee starts stirring around. Dreamer almost pins Raven. Really awesome near fall. Dreamer was this close to going on and getting a shot at the belt later tonight.

Raven gets hung upside down in the corner in a Tree Of Woe. Dreamer climbs up the ropes and punches down on Raven's groin with multiple punches. Dreamer goes to the outside and brings in a piece of the broken table. Dreamer piledrives Raven down into the table.

Another great near fall. Raven barely kicks out.

Dreamer gets a fan to throw him a chair, but he accidentally takes out the referee with it.

Richards comes in and lands a fucking excellent Thrust Kick. Loud snap on impact.

Blue Meanie lands a moonsault on Dreamer. Raven DDT's Dreamer down into a chair and pins him for the win.

Raven goes on to get the title shot later tonight. Motherfucker. The way the character was booked you just couldn't help but want to see this dude get his ass kicked. I seen a lot of this similar booking with the WWE when they turned CM Punk heel earlier this year.

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7/10

This wasn't any prettier than any of the other matches, but what separates it from the rest, and really what separates it from most other feuds in pro wrestling history, was the intense amount of emotion in the rivalry. There was just a lot of hatred that you could feel between these two characters. Even if you weren't paying attention to how their storyline got them to this point, you could still feel the intensity of their rivalry, and this match/segment was no different. This was classic heel booking, but Heyman doesn't deserve all of the credit for it. Raven himself actually had a lot of creative control over his character in ECW. There was just really some brilliant psychology involved in this Raven/Dreamer feud. They were perfect for each other, and the way Raven would just always get things to go his way made you naturally pull for Dreamer to get his ass.

Bruiser Mastino vs El Puerto Ricano

Oh wow, Bruiser Mastino was Mantaur. This should be fun.

Bruiser comes out wearing a slick Italian suit with a Violin case. I kind of like it.

Mastino is 450. Ricano is the jobber of ECW here.

Ricano gets some love from the fans.

Ricano avoids the bigger man early on with speed. Ricano lands some dropkicks keeping his distance. Ricano goes up top and lands dropkicks off of the top rope from all 4 corners, but Mastino stays up. Ricano goes to jump off of the fourth turnbuckle with a flying cross body press, but Mastino catches him.

Mastino squashes him with a splash and finishes it rather quickly. Mastino continues to beat on Ricano until all of a sudden 911 comes out!

911 almost chokeslams this dude through the ring.

Out comes Bill Alphonso blowing the whistle on him. Apparently Fonzie is still playing his "enforcer of the rules" role here, and the chokeslam is outlawed in ECW. Fonzie gets up in 911's face and smacks him around.

ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon comes out. Todd decks Fonzie over the head and proceeds to beat his ass. Fonzie and Gordon roll around until Taz comes out. Taz pulls Gordon up and holds him for Fonzie. Fonzie throws a punch, but 911 grabs his hand. 911 teases to chokeslam Fonzie again until Taz gets up in his face.

Taz and 911 stare each other down until Bruiser hits 911. One more chokeslam on Bruiser.:lol:

911 puts his hand around Taz's neck, but Taz smacks it away. Taz stands up to 911. Pretty awesome.

All of the wrestlers come out of the back. Several jobbers, JT Smith, Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, The Dudleys. Taz and 911 are pulled apart. 911 chokeslams the fuck out of JT Smith. Smith sells it like Dolph Ziggler would sell it. :rofl:

The more I see JT Smith the more I fall in love with him.

7/10

See this is the kind of shit you don't see when you read through the results for ECW shows. Such a great segment after this below average squash match. The deal with the squash match was that it was drawn out too long. Mastino should have just taken care of business, but Ricano got to do his thing, and I guess he deserved it, but not a good squash match. The mayhem that ensued after the match was classic ECW. I loved it. The Gordon vs Fonzie saga continues now with 911 and Taz barking at each other. Loved the JT Smith chokeslam. 911 was pretty awesome.

Buh Buh Ray Dudley vs The Blue Meanie

The ring clears out from the last segment and it's just Stevie, the Blue Meanie, and the Dudleyz in the ring. The Blue Meanie starts dancing. The Dudleyz dance. Buh Buh is not out here yet. It's DW Dudley and Sign Guy.

Oh here comes Buh Buh. He's pretty over here as the stuttering hero.

The fans are all stuttering "BUH BUH!".

Buh Buh Ray Dudley and The Blue Meanie have a dance off.

Buh Buh's got some moves. He does his dance and smacks the Blue Meanie in the face. The crowd loves it.

Buh Buh thinks he won the dance off. Stevie argues with him in the center of the ring. Stevie smacks Buh Buh in the face. Big Dick Dudley comes out to the ring. Big Dick is mad. The crowd chants "FUCK'EM UP BUH BUH!, FUCK'EM UP!"

Stevie tells Buh Buh that if he can't beat the Meanie that Raven will fire him. Buh Buh says "Fuck you and your Blue Meanie!"

The Blue Meanie attacks Buh Buh from behind. Meanie does a moonsault. Buh Buh kicks out, and fights back. Buh Buh hits his stuttering Buh Buh bomb, and lands a splash for the victory after about 2 minutes.

Big Dick comes in and chokeslams Blue Meanie. DW drops an elbow on the Meanie. Buh Buh goes back up top and lands another splash. Stevie tells Buh Buh that he knew he could do it.

Stevie tells The Dudley's that they are great. Stevie tells The Dudleyz that they are #1 in Raven's stable, and that Meanie ain't shit. The Dudleyz walk out on Stevie. The crowd cheers them.

3/10

Not good. Really to be honest by this point I had kind of forgotten that the Dudleyz were still associated with Raven. This was them starting to break away from him I guess. Pretty shitty match.

ECW World Championship: The Sandman (ch) vs Raven

Sandman comes out first. This should be good. Raven comes out with Stevie Richards and Beulah. Raven sits down in the corner. Sandman smokes a cigarette and drinks a beer. Sandman stands over Ravne drinking beer. Sandman spits beer on Richards. Raven sits emotionless in the corner. Sandman and Woman pose together in the ring. Stevie gets in the ring with a beer. Stevie pops it open and tries to drink it, he spits it up. Sandman holds a can high above his head and pours the entire thing down his throat without spilling a single drop. Raven blindsides him from behind.

Raven takes Sandman to the outside and violently whips him into the steel railing around the ring. Sandman whips Raven over the railing into the second row. Raven comes back over the railing and tries to DDT Sandman. Sandman slips out, sending Raven into the floor.

Sandman drops a legdrop on Raven. Raven with a low blow. Raven takes him back into the ring. The fans are cheering for Sandman here. Raven goes for two pinfalls, but Sandman kicks out. Sandman goes into the ropes and hits Raven with a back elbow. Sandman dominates Raven in the ring with stiff punches and kicks.

Sandman dumps Raven out of the ring and over the railing into the crowd. Sandman dives over the top with his cane to hit Raven on the way down. Raven is bleeding again. It's inception.

Sandman just looks like a drunk. Sandman misses a slingshot somersault splash. Raven gets out of the ring and Slingshots himself out on top of him. Sandman suplexes a table down onto Raven. Raven goes low with a kick to the groin followed by a few kicks to the side of the head. Raven sets the table up propped up on the rail. Sandman reverses a whip, sending Raven into the table. Sandman crunches the broken table half down on top of Raven and kicks down on him.

Sandman gets up on the apron to drop an elbow on top of Raven foled up in the broken table. Raven moves out of the way. Sandman stays in control, and takes Raven into the ring.

Sandman and Raven both collide with the referee. Stevie comes in and jumps on Sandman's back. Woman comes in and cane's Stevie's ass down. Woman hits Raven with the cane, but it has no effect. Raven takes the cane from Woman, but Sandman attacks him. Stevie Richards attacks The Sandman from behind with a plastic sign.

Raven and Stevie work Sandman over with the Singapore cane. Multiple shots on Sandman.

Tommy Dreamer comes in and gets the cane. Dreamer drops Stevie, Sandman, and Raven with the cane. Beulah comes running across the ring trying to escape and Tommy snatches her up.

Time to see that ass shot. :lol:

Dreamer lifts Beulah up and spins her around to show everyone her panties before spiking her into the canvas. This spot never gets old.

Dreamer leaves and Sandman and Raven are right back at it. They go up to the top rope as the referee begins recovering. Sandman bulldogs Raven off the top rope and scores the pinfall for a successful title defense.

Sandman pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lights one up. Woman comes in and poses with Sandman with the belt.

6.3/10

Pretty sloppy brawl. Not much to write about other than Beulah. Never get tired of seeing Tommy turn her upside down and expose that "Mcgillicutty". Violence against Women is wrong, but wrestling is fake. Get over it.

The Gangstas vs Public Enemy

Alright so this is one of Public Enemy's final matches in ECW before moving on to WCW. It was only fitting that they battled their greatest foes in their final ECW matches, The Gangstas. The Gangstas and Public Enemy were perfect for each other in a 1995 tag team pro wrestling feud. The matches haven't been too impressive, but seeing the two teams beat the shit out of each other just had a certain harmony to that perhaps hasn't aged well through the last 17 years.

All of the fans wave their arms about during PE's entrance. NYC loves PE.

The Gangstas come out and New Jack is wearing a noose around his neck. All four men begin fighting in and around the ring. Rocco Rock lands a springboard moonsault onto Mustapha in the ring. New Jack and Grunge fight on the outside. Interesting to note that the Gangstas are getting quite a few cheers here. They aren't really getting heat. The crowd is taking a liking to them.

Here comes the blood and the weapons. Mustapha bodyslams Rocco Rock through a table. Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge are both bleeding badly. Mustapha does a nice looking powerslam on Rocco Rock. Grunge and New Jack brawl with weapons around the ring.

New Jack lands a "Stun Gun" on Johnny Grunge. PE pulls out a table from under the ring and sets it up on the inside. Mustapha gets setup on the table. Rocco Rock does a great moonsault off of the top, but the table doesn't break.

Mustapha slams Rocco Rock through the table as Johhny Grunge fight's New Jack on the outside.

Rocco Rock hits Mustapha with his Drive By Somersualt Senton and hooks the leg, but the referee is distracted by New Jack. Rocco Rock gets up to get the ref's attention, and New Jack blasts him with a steel chair. Mustapha rolls Rocco Rock up for the pinfall.

6/10

This was another typical Gangstas vs PE ECW brawl. Sloppy and bloody with lots of weapons, most introduced into the match from the crowd. The thing about these Gangstas vs PE matches was that they had a grit to them that the other pseudo hardcore matches that tried to emulate this style in the WWF & WCW lacked. With that said there wasn't anything that stands out about this match. Nothing really memorable, just all of these guys going through the motions to put on their typical brawl. With this match, and a few of the others on this show, we see Heyman's booking still trying to adhere to some sort of structure even though there were no rules. Referee's were being distracted or knocked out in order for the heels to build up some sort of heat from the crowd by screwing the faces. Most of the heels in ECW were getting cheered. Unless you were Bill Alphonso or Raven, guys like Sandman and The Gangstas were getting cheered for their attitudes and toughness, and with this booking it seems like maybe perhaps Heyman considered that a problem that needed to be solved. The unique Philly/NY ECW crowd forced Heyman to do different things with his heels and faces. The way Alphonso drew heat for enforcing rules as an authority figure, and the innovative "Chicken Shit Heel" booking with Raven(which was a collaboration with Heyman and Raven behind the scenes) are prime examples of the lengths that Heyman went to in order to keep that Heel/Face psychology intact. I think that all of these ref bumps/distractions in this show are a big part of that. Heyman wanted his heels to draw heat in order to build the faces up and make them look good.

It is interesting how Public Enemy were still being booked as faces even though everyone knew they were gone by this point.

Sabu vs Cactus Jack

This is just a strait up ECW dream match on paper. They had a fantastic match in 1994 in Cactus' ECW debut, the match where Cactus got in trouble with WCW for spitting on the tag team title and throwing it to the ground in a promo afterwards. Cactus would go on to make ECW his home, and Sabu would be on his way out earlier on this year. Cactus really took over ECW in Sabu's absence during 1995. Cactus turned heel in the months before Sabu's return, but it kind of looks like they are trying to turn him face again maybe with the way he helped Mikey win the tag team belts. This is Sabu's second match after returning at November to Remember 95. Lets see if this match is as good as their first ECW match.

Cactus comes out first wearing an ECW shirt and the tag team title belt, and says that WCW Sucks!

Cactus says that he is sorry for all of the things he said about ECW, and that he never meant any of it towards the NY fans, because he is from NY, and he would never dis his homeboys.

Cactus says he wants to tell one quick story before we get on with the action. Cactus goes on talking about an ECW fan in a wheelchair that comes to all of the shows. I've touched on this guy in previous reviews. He's the mentally disabled guy that often hands one of his crutches in to the wrestlers during matches.

Cactus tells the crowd that he asked John if he would be coming to the show, but John looked at him with tears in his eyes saying that he didn't have a ride. The crowd chants for Sabu, and Foley gets serious on them saying that Sabu will be out in a second if they would just listen to him for a second. Foley says that he gave John a ride to the show, and that on the way back John told him that it was a dream come true to ride with him.

Cactus says that in honor of John he is going to bring Sabu out here and have an Olympic Wrestling rules match instead of breaking tables and using chairs. The crowd boo's.

Cactus brings out the man that has refereed more amateur wrestling matches than anyone in the building, John "Pee Wee" Moore. Moore gets on the mic and gives the rules for the match.

2 points for each takedown.

1 point for each escape.

Stalling will result in a warning. More stalling results in a point deduction.

The match is to remain in the ring. All forms of striking are strictly prohibited, including the use of pots and pans.

Crowd goes crazy with boo's until Sabu comes running out. The ref orders Sabu to get down on all fours Olympic style. Sabu looks at him like he's crazy.

Out comes 911.

911 chokeslams the ref.

Two times.

911 appoints himself special guest referee. Sabu attacks Cactus and here we go.

Sabu does a springboard somersault plancha out of the ring onto Cactus from a chair in the ring. Joey keeps score with the rules given by the referee. Both guys are in the negative with points due to all of the rules infractions so far.

Cactus drops Sabu with a chair shot and a double arm DDT for a 2 count. Cactus hits the double arm DDT on the chair for another 2 count. Cactus with a classic elbow drop with a chair from the apron.

Joey says both men are in the negative double digits with the points. :rofl:

Sabu hammers Cactus in the back with the chair on the outside. This is a pretty fun brawl this far into the match. No botches, and no lag in the action. Pro wrestling brawls are like Friday the 13th movies, just mindless fun, when done properly. They don't need a lot of psychology or selling to be good, don't get me wrong, that stuff helps, but as long as the action and chaos is there a good brawl can still be entertaining.

Cactus gets his head tangled up in the ropes. Sabu sets a chair up in the center of the ring and hits him with Air Sabu while he's hung up in the ropes. Awesome spot.

We start to slow down a bit as they fight on the outside. Foley looks as if that rope spot actually hurt him for real.

Foley goes up to the top rope, but Sabu hits him with a chair. Sabu throws Cactus down to the floor with a sickening thud. Sabu is looking pretty sharp here. Sabu lands a nice plancha through the ropes.

Sabu lands his springboard leg lariat with a chair onto the side of Cactus' head. They take it back to the outside. Cactus Jack is wearing some awesome cowboy boots that I'm just now noticing. Sabu gets back in the ring and does a cross body press onto Cactus from the apron through the table setup ringside. Awesome table spot. Cactus gets an inside cradle for a 2 count. Sabu lands an awesome little springboard moonsault where he just bouces off of the ropes with his thighs.

Cactus picks up the intensity, and really goes after Sabu with strikes. Cactus misses a legdrop. Sabu goes up top with a chair in his hands. Cactus follows him up from behind. Sabu hits Cactus in the head 3 times with the chair, coming down off of the top with the third shot. Sabu goes back up with the chair and gives Cactus an Atomic Arabian Facebuster Somersault ledgrop. Cactus kicks out. Cactus gets up and scoops Sabu up, Cactus fall back and Sabu hooks a leg for the pinfall.

Sabu pins Cactus after 12:39. Sabu limps away and that's a wrap.

7.7/10

Really that was a solid little hardcore brawl between two of the best ever. Sabu was pretty sharp, and did not have any botches. The action and the pace of the match was great. They only slowed down a few times, but overall it was a pretty violent, fast paced, physical hardcore match. The whole Olympic angle they did before the match cracked me up, and to be honest I really enjoyed this match. It doesn't really fall into your typical Pro Wrestling category, but there was just something about it that I can't quite put my finger down on that I enjoyed about it. There wasn't great story telling or selling or psychology, but it was two really tough guys competing against each other in a war to find out who was tougher. You could even go as far as calling both of these guys "Glorified Stuntmen", and that would really be a fitting title for the roles they played in this match, but I'll be damned if it wasn't awesome to watch. Pro Wrestling may not be about hitting each other in the head with objects or falling off of high things, but what it is about is entertainment. These little brawls like this were entertaining in the same way a fight in an action movie would be entertaining if they were executed properly.

Overall: 7/10

Well, this is just another one of those ECW shows that doesn't stand up well if watched out of context, but it was pivitol for the main storylines that were running. Taz took his first steps towards total domination of the entire ECW roster. Dreamer and Raven's feud continued to heat up with Raven screwing him out of another head to head match only for Dreamer to come out and cost him the world title later on in the evening. There really weren't any real good wrestling matches on this show, and there is just no way around that. With that said this was another fun ECW show with some cool moments for someone who was up to date on the stories and characters in ECW at this time. Sabu vs Cactus is for sure the highlight of the tape, and was a fun hardcore brawl between two legends.
 
1995: Final Thoughts

I'm going to go ahead and make what may be somewhat of a controversial, unpopular declaration that ECW was the best pro wrestling promotion in North America in 1995. That's not so much because ECW was just kicking so much more ass than WCW & WWF. A big part of it was just how terrible WCW & WWF was in 1995. WCW and WWF were both at all time lows as far as quality. Quick, list me 20 great WCW matches from 1995.......

I didn't think so.

Pro Wrestling was in a weird state in 1995. I'll be completely honest with you and admit that I'm actually quite partial to this era, both WWF & WCW. Mostly due to the nostalgia. I grew up during this time, and I don't think I ever missed an episode of Raw, Nitro, Saturday Night, Superstars, or Action Zone during 1995. I loved everything they did with the Undertaker in the WWF(except for jobbing him out to Mabel). Loved all of the goofy cartoon characters, Hakushi, 1-2-3 Kid, Smoking Gunns, Adam Bomb, hell I even loved Diesel. I thought he was cool. I still enjoy looking back at those tapes as bad as they were. Same for WCW. Absolutely loved watching Saturday Night during 1995 for some ungodly reason. I was a huge Harlem Heat mark, and I loved Flair and Savage as well.

I didn't catch on to ECW until late 1996, so the nostalgia isn't there for these tapes like some of the later ECW stuff is(Anarchy Rulz 99 for example). I watched Gangstas Paradise and one of the Extreme Warfare tapes back in the day, but that was all I had seen of 1995 ECW. I had always heard about Foley's legendary promos and the birth of Stone Cold, but I had never seen it. I never really sat down and watched through 1995 ECW until this year, and I've come to the conclusion that ECW was the best wrestling show of 1995. ECW had it's fair share of shit in 1995, and it's real, real hard to find ECW matches that stand up to the best WCW/WWF matches of 1995, but everything altogether, "The Product" in ECW was just better. It was shooty and down to earth, but it was done in a very clever style. The characters and the storylines were years ahead of what was going on in WCW/WWF. You can see this style in ECW in 1995 that was heavily imitated by WCW in 1996. That shooty down to earth realistic "Product" was what gave the entire NWO angle so much appeal. While WWF was still pushing thick kayfabe, WCW was putting out a product that was heavily inspired by ECW as far as the overall down to earth tone of everything.

The ECW influence on the WWF usually doesn't get talked about much until you bring up the Attitude Era, but as early as the last half of 1995 you could start to see that someone was paying attention. After the booming ECW chants at King of the Ring 95, all of a sudden WWF threw together a last minute, face vs face ladder match for Summerslam(with no real storyline attached to it), then a full on ECW style brawl for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series(with a table spot that was admittedly inspired by ECW), and then a bloodbath main event between Bret and Bulldog in late 95. We weren't really seeing this level of violence in the WWF on such a frequent basis until after the infamous E! C! DUB! chants at King of the Ring 95.

Characters and storylines notwithstanding, the actual wrestling in the ring was much better on average in ECW than it was in either WCW or the WWF in my humble opinion. WCW brought in all of those talented guys like Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero before WWF could, and as a result they put together a Monday night show that could go toe to toe with Raw due to the better product in the ring from bell to bell. Without a doubt in my mind the best promos, storylines, and matches in pro wrestling in 1995 took place in ECW. I mean who was cutting better promos in WCW & WWF in 1995 than Mic Foley and Steve Austin were in ECW? What storyline was better than the Bill Alphonso State Athletic Commissioner storyline that ECW ran through the year? What rivalry in pro wrestling was as intense and emotional as Raven vs Dreamer? Best of all what pro wrestling pay per view was better than either Hostile City Showdown or November to Remember in 1995?

It was a real pleasure to watch through these ECW 1995 shows in chronological order over the past couple of months. I hear the "Hasn't aged well" argument a lot for ECW, and that is more true about the '95 tapes than any other year in ECW history, but I will still say that 1995 was ECW's best year. The Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko series of matches(9 singles altogether) was fantastic. The automatic assumption is that their WCW matches were better, but they rarely ever got more than 10 minutes in WCW. The commentary and the crowds were always terrible, and during the later years there was usually an NWO run in/segment involved more often than not. Their chemistry with each other improved for sure, but for my money they never topped their ECW series of matches in WCW.

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On top of Guerrero vs Malenko, ECW also had a fantastic heel turn by Cactus Jack with truly some of the best promos in the history of the game. Then they had Steve Austin come in for 3 months where he cut about a dozen promos and wrestled a grand total of 2 matches, but he still really found that Stone Cold character that would help push pro wrestling into the mainstream over the course of the next 4 years. Austin found his trademark style in ECW, not only on the microphone, but also in the ring.

In closing, I really believe ECW had a real small little window here in 1995 where they could have been even bigger than WWF or WCW had the right people came in and bought it out ala Zuffa/UFC. With the right financial management, you can't tell me they didn't have that chance with guys like Austin and Foley right there in their laps. The thing about this time is that this is just before the shit hit the fan with their finances. By mid 1995 ECW's debt was still pretty small. By October of 95 the first of the check bouncing started to happen. Through 96 ECW's finances spiraled so far out of control that they needed to go to PPV in order to make it past the spring of 1997 without filing for bankruptcy. The reason why ECW's debt got so out of control from late 95 through 96 was the kind of cards they were putting together. For example take a look at the November To Remember 95 show. The gate for the 1,200 seat ECW Arena was somewhere around $15-20,000 depending on what they were charging for tickets($16,000+ for Ultraclash in 93). For the November to Remember show they probably paid half of that just for the Dreamer/Funk vs Raven/Cactus main event. Then you had Steve Austin, the luchadores from Mexico(Rey, Psicosis, Konnan), Sabu back from WCW, I mean that's a lot of hands in the pie. There couldn't have been much left over after paying the performers for that show. You got to think about all the matches on the undercard, referees, ring announcers, the "Damage Control" "EMT"'s they had, I mean they probably lost money on November to Remember 95. I don't know for sure, but I do know they couldn't have made much profit. The house shows ECW was running at this time were barely making anything, and on top of that they had to pay to keep their Hardcore TV show airing on the syndicated networks that it was airing on.

1996 is a fun year for ECW, and perhaps even a bit better than 95 was in some aspects. I'm going to enjoy taking a closer look at the 10 shows that I will be reviewing for this thread. Before we do move on lets take a look at the awards that ECW won from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter end of the year awards for 1995.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter End of the year awards for ECW in 1995:

Feud of the Year: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko(Also wrestled in WCW)
Best on Interviews: Cactus Jack
Best Technical Wrestler: Chris Benoit(Also wrestled in WCW)
Best Brawler: Cactus Jack
Best High Flyer: Rey Mysterio
Best Weekly Television Show: Hardcore TV
Best Television Announcer: Joey Styles
Best Move: Rey Mysterio: West Coast Pop
Best Booker: Paul Heyman

And my pick for the MVP of ECW for 1995:

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Cactus had a hell of a year in ECW in 1995, and seriously came a long way as an entertainer. He started out in ECW feuding with The Sandman in a brutal series of matches. He fought with his arch rival Terry Funk in a little feud that produced a little glimmer of his excellent mic work to come later on in the year. Funk and Foley's match at Hostile City Showdown is essential ECW. I'd say their promos leading up to the match are equally as essential. People throw the "Glorified Stuntman" argument out there with Foley because of his ECW hardcore style that he kept throughout his career, and be that as it may, there is no denying that Foley was one of the finest actors in the history of pro wrestling. Foley developed a lot of confidence on the microphone in ECW, and by March of 1996 he would be ready for the big time. Foley's early promos as Mankind in the WWF in 96 are my personal favorite Foley promos. I think he was the best actor on television during that time. He should have been given an Emmy.

Second place would be Bill Alphonso. His performances are excellent, and the heat he was drawing was ridiculous. That storyline in general was just fantastic.

ShinobiMusashi's Top 25 Matches of 1995

1. Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon WWF Summerslam 95: Ladder Match II
2. Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko ECW Hostile City Showdown
3. Bret Hart vs Diesel WWF Survivor Series 95
4. Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko 2/3 Falls ECW 8/26/95
5. Bret Hart vs British Bulldog WWF IYH 5
6. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Psicosis 2/3 Falls Match ECW 10/28/95
7. Steve Austin vs The Sandman vs Mikey Whipreck ECW December to Dismember
8. Eddie Guerrero & The Stiener Brothers vs Dean Malenko, 2 Cold Scorpio, & Cactus Jack ECW Wrestlepalooza
9. Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd WCW Fall Brawl
10. Diesel vs Shawn Michaels WWF Wrestlemania XI
11. Chris Benoit vs Jushin Liger WCW Starrcade 95
12. Rey Mysterio vs Psicosis ECW November to Remember 95
13. Shawn Michaels vs Jeff Jerrett WWF IYH 2
14. Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko ECW 7/21/95 Tampa Fl.
15. Eddie Guerrero vs Shinjaro Otani WCW Starrcade 95
16. Rey Mysterio vs Psicosis ECW Gangstas Paradise
17. Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit WCW Nitro 10/16/95
18. Eddie Guerrero vs 2 Cold Scorpio ECW Three Way Dance
19. Chris Benoit vs Al Snow ECW Double Tables
20. Razor Ramon vs Dean Douglas WWF IYH 3
21. Rey Mysterio vs Mikey Whipreck ECW 11/17/95
22. Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko WCW Nitro 10/7/95
23. Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko ECW 5/20/95, Langhorne, PA
24. Sandman vs Mikey Whipreck Ladder Match ECW 10/28/95
25. Sabu vs Mikey Whipreck ECW 3/28/95


10: Giving a show/match/segment a 10 doesn't make it perfect in this thread. The perfect show doesn't exist, but I'll still be handing out the occassional 10 in this thread. This score means that this is the best of the best that ECW has to offer, and worthy of a spot in your collection. Track this down and buy it. Show it to all of your wrestling friends, maybe even some of your non wrestling friends depending on the occassion.

9-9.9: This was so good that you need to find it and watch it. Look it up on youtube or something, but you need to see it. Essential viewing for wrestling nerds.

8-8.9: This was really good. It had a flaw or two that kept it from being great, but overall this rating is reserved for the higher quality stuff. Worthy of checking into perhaps, based on your tastes and interests.

7-7.9: This was good. It wasn't great, it wasn't really good, but there wasn't really anything majorly wrong with it. Perhaps a few minor flaws holding it down, but still good. Could have perhaps been a bit better, but still pretty decent.

6-6.9: Slightly above mediocre. Maybe it just had one awesome little moment in it, or something interesting, but it just didn't have enough going for it. Nothing special.

5-5.9: Average, mediocre, run of the mill, not good, but nothing really to make it bad either. No real big major criticisms, but still nothing real good either.

4-4.9: This was bad, but it had something in it that at least kept me from wanting to change the channell or fast forward. Maybe it was so bad that it was good, like Total Recall.

3-3.9: This score is getting into waste of time territory. Maybe it had a few things going for it, but altogether this was time wasted.

2-2.9: We're getting into bad bad wrestlecrap territory here.

1-1.9: Downright terrible even though there was one aspect that they maybe did half ass. Something that saves it from not getting a rating at all. Maybe it had a really funny botch that made me laugh, or maybe somebody did some decent selling, or performed a nice move or two, so I'll give it a point.

0: Completely wasted my fucking time.


Best of ECW Vol. 1(1992) 3/10
Sports Channel America Pilot(Spring 1993) 4/10
ECW TV(6-15-93) 4/10
Ultraclash(9-18-93) 4/10
Heatwave 94(7-16-94) 4.8/10
Double Tables(2-4-95) 6.2/10
Return of the Funker(2-25-95) 6.8/10
Three Way Dance(4-8-95) 6.6/10
Hostile City Showdown 95(4-15-95) 10/10
Enter Sandman(5-13-95) 7/10
Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams(6-17-95) 6/10
Hardcore Heaven 95(7-1-95) 7.7/10
Heatwave 95(7-15-95) 6/10
Gangstas Paradise(9-16-95) 8/10
Hardcore TV #131(10-24-95) 9/10
Hardcore TV #132(10-31-95) 9.3/10
Hardcore TV #133(11-7-95) 6.8/10
Hardcore TV #134(11-14-95) 9.5/10
November To Remember 95(11-18-95) 10/10
Hardcore TV #138(12-12-95) 8.8/10
Holiday Hell(12-29-95) 7/10
 
If I may I'd like to comment on Austin making fun of wcw for using "old guys". Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage(the two guys he was likely making fun of particularly) were 42 and 43 respectively back then and there are wrestlers now who are that age or older that still wrestle today and nobody makes fun of. Rob Van Dam is 42 and is beating young x division guys in TNA, nobody makes fun of him. Triple H is 43 and nobody is making fun of him for being too old and headlining summerslam. Undertaker is in his late 40s and nobody has a problem with him beating someone much younger than him at wrestlemania every year! I'm sure when 42 year old Chris Jericho returns the IWC is going to be happy that someone is going to save us. Shawn Michaels wrestled until he was 45 and nobody made fun of him being too old before his last match vs Undertaker. ECW put their title on Terry Funk when he was in his early 50s.

What I'm trying to say is ecw and wwe should have not made fun of wcw for "pushing old talent". BTW, I won't be one of the many who is happy to see almost 50 year old Steve Austin beat CM Punk when that happens.
 
If I may I'd like to comment on Austin making fun of wcw for using "old guys". Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage(the two guys he was likely making fun of particularly) were 42 and 43 respectively back then and there are wrestlers now who are that age or older that still wrestle today and nobody makes fun of. Rob Van Dam is 42 and is beating young x division guys in TNA, nobody makes fun of him. Triple H is 43 and nobody is making fun of him for being too old and headlining summerslam. Undertaker is in his late 40s and nobody has a problem with him beating someone much younger than him at wrestlemania every year! I'm sure when 42 year old Chris Jericho returns the IWC is going to be happy that someone is going to save us. Shawn Michaels wrestled until he was 45 and nobody made fun of him being too old before his last match vs Undertaker. ECW put their title on Terry Funk when he was in his early 50s.

What I'm trying to say is ecw and wwe should have not made fun of wcw for "pushing old talent". BTW, I won't be one of the many who is happy to see almost 50 year old Steve Austin beat CM Punk when that happens.

The difference is that RVD isn't headlining TNA right now with the world title revolving around him in all of the main feuds. Taker and Triple H come in and wrestle once a year. The entire WWE doesn't revolve around Chris Jericho the way WCW would around Hogan, Flair, and Savage when Austin cut those promos.

The thing was that WCW kept the old guys hovering around all of the marquee feuds and kept the world title around their waists when they let guys like Austin and Foley slip through their hands. Austin and Foley passed through ECW, and then went on to put WCW out of business.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
House Party

January 5th, 1996
ECW Arena
Philly, PA​

Part 1

Well here we are again. Back in the house of hardcore. The land of extreme. Time to gather round the cool-aide troth and get those frying pans ready. Time to to hit people in the head with various random objects, and fall off of high things, you know....Wrestling!

At least that's what it says on the marquee anyway.

None of pro wrestling looks anything like wrestling to me. It makes me laugh sometimes when I think about it. Nothing makes me laugh like pro wrestling though. It's just so goofy, I love it. :lol:

Greco Roman and Freestyle wrestling gets tagged as "amateur", and these are the "pro's". Kurt Angle was just a couple of months away from proving he was the best "amateur" wrestler in the world at this time in 1996. Meanwhile, over in the pro's, Hulk Hogan was strait up dominating WCW Nitro to the point of it being downright ridiculous. Hogan was in the early stages of feuding with the Alliance To End Hulkamania(The Horseman & Dungeon Of Doom). The fans in WCW were so sick of having Hogan shoved down their throats that the Hulkster was beginning to get 60/40 crowd reactions. Some times worse. With that said nobody can deny that WCW had the occasional solid gold gem, with some of the all time greats in their prime on their roster. Gradually over the course of 1996 WCW accumulated, at least in my opinion, the greatest roster in pro wrestling history.

Meanwhile over in WWF they were getting ready to give HBK the top spot, with Bret getting ready to take the year off. Diesel's character started showing flashes of that dynamic heel/face "Tweener" personality that became one of the calling cards of the "Attitude Era". Diesel was booked as a strait up heel, but he would show different sides of his personality at times that would get cheers from the crowd. Something about the character really had a down to earth edge to it ever since he dropped his belt to Bret Hart at Survivor Series. There were still a lot of the cartoony characters, and Raw was still a lot of filler/squash matches, but you could see things changing. Another sign of the changes coming was the Goldust character that debuted in late 95. I still vividly remember some of those old debut Goldust promos, particularly the one where he talks about the original Night of the Living Dead film. Goldust was a character that was a couple of years before his time. Perhaps the most important debut in the WWF in January of 96 was that of Steve Austin. Austin debuted at the Royal Rumble as the Ringmaster, lasting 11 minutes before being eliminated.

Something that I recently discovered about the last show I reviewed(Holiday Hell 95 in Queens NY) is that it set an ECW record for the time with over 1,200 in attendance and over $27,000 for the live gate. Some of the things that were going on behind the scenes in ECW at this time in 1996 was the signing of Mick Foley to the WWF. This was a crucial loss for ECW, but Foley deserved the shot at the big show. His early 96 debut as Mankind is my personal favorite "Face of Foley".

Even though Foley would soon be gone, Shane Douglas was trying to make his way back to ECW. Shane would call Paul Heyman all day long during the day of this show, asking him to do something to get him out of the WWF. Douglas would appear at the show, and during a course of events backstage would eventually get what he wanted. We'll get to some of that later.

This ECW show holds some sentimental value for ECW fans. This is the debut of Rob Van Dam, and the farewell of Public Enemy, who were off to WCW. This is also where the Raven vs Dreamer feud goes into overdrive(as if it weren't there already). This was about 3 weeks prior to the Royal Rumble, and about a month before WCW Superbrawl VI, so lets check it out shall we?

Something about this opening "House Party" graphic screen just screams Windows 95.

Joey Styles opens the show standing in the center of the ring. Bill Alphonso comes out talking about how badly he hates Joey Styles, ECW, and the fans. Alphonso is just not drawing the heat that he was a couple of shows back, and he's coming off like he's trying too hard here. Alphonso asks why Taz doesn't get more interviews. Joey snaps on him and tells him to shut up. Styles screams at Alphonso until Taz comes out. Taz gets up in Joey's face and bullies him around for screaming at Fonzie. The crowd immediately begins chanting for Sabu to come out and save Joey as Taz has him cowered down in the corner. Taz is the exact same height as Joey Styles. Possibly a half inch or so shorter.

Alphonso reaches over Taz's shoulder to smack Joey. What a bitch.:lol: I love it though.

Out comes 911.

Bill Alphonso gets up in 911's face smacking him. ECW Comish Todd Gordon comes out and drops Fonzie with a punch. Taz pulls Gordon up off of Alphonso and goes for a punch, but 911 stops his hand. 911 and Taz get up face to face as referees storm the ring to separate them. The crowd starts chanting "Let Them GO!" as more wrestlers come out of the back to keep them apart. 911 is forced to the back as Taz stands in the ring with El Puerto Ricano, who is left in the ring all by his lonesome after the pull apart.

Ricano is wearing a t-shirt with Fonzie's face with a circle crossout over it. Bill Alphonso slaps Ricano and rips his shirt off. Taz sneaks up on Ricano from behind and dumps him on his head, literally:stalker:. Joey tries to save Ricano, but Taz gets up in his face.

911 comes back out. Jason and The Eliminators(Perry Saturn, still rocking the long black hair, & John Kronus) come out and floor 911 with Total Elimination. The Eliminators beat up on 911 until Rey Mysterio comes out.

Think about it for a second. 911 of all people(7', 300lbs) actually needs help from someone else, and he gets it from a little guy that weighs about 130 pounds soaking wet. I love it. Really interesting team that had a lot of potential.

911 & Rey Misterio vs The Eliminators

The Eliminators miss double moonsaults aimed at Rey, then Rey lands about 3 really awesome Lucha moves in about 7 seconds, capping it all off with a beautiful Moonsault splash from the top to the outside for the "OH MY GOD!".

+1

Rey's black outfit here is awesome. Rey hits Saturn with several springboard maneuvers. Everything is so fast it's quite remarkable. Rey and Saturn go toe to toe for a while with Rey catching him with several headscissors takedowns. Saturn finally takes Rey down. Kronus comes in as 911 finally recovers. The Eliminators work 911's knee over.

Taz comes out and chokes on 911 with a towel.

The crowd chants for "SABU!"

Rey fights with Saturn on the outside as Kronus beats up on 911. Taz is gone. Did he really need to come back out?!

Eliminators start dominating Rey. Kronus lands his flips, which are quite impressive for a man his size. 911 suplexes Saturn. Kronus powerbombs Rey. Total Elimination on 911.

Taz is back again choking 911 with the towel. Taz pulls 911 out of the ring choking him.

The Eliminators continue beating on Rey. Another really stiff powerbomb.

Rey surprises The Eliminators with double DDT's. Rey helps 911 back into the ring and climbs up on his shoulders. Rey challenges Saturn to get up on Kronus' shoulders, and he does. Rey leaps off of 911's shoulders onto Saturn with a hurricanrana for the win.

19960203_rey_911_eliminators_zpsc79a982d.jpg

911 and Rey Mysterio win.

Eliminators punish Rey with the Total Elimination.

The Pit Bulls and Francine come out kicking ass. Francine kicks Jason's ass. The Eliminators clear the Pit Bulls out of the ring and drop Francine's smoking hot ass with the Total Elimination. Francine was a trained wrestler, but this move was just way too stiff on her. They hit her really hard with it. She looks legit hurt holding her chest. Good god almighty.

The Eliminators escape. The Pit Bulls toss Jason out of the ring.

EMT's come out and carry Francine to the back on a stretcher.

8/10

Rey Mysterio is just an absolute athletic phenom here even though he's too young to even buy alcohol probably. He's so fast and on point it's just amazing at times. I like him and 911 working together. That's a really good pair. I don't know who's idea it was to pair them together but I think it was a beautiful match of two guys that complimented each other perfectly. Too bad we didn't get to see the duo get fleshed out in a proper storyline. 911 would have a falling out with Paul Heyman after punking out the entire ring crew in one incident not too long after this show.

One issue I've noticed with Heyman's booking in 95 and this first segment of 96 was the way guys would leave and come back(and sometimes repeat the process in the same segment). Where are these guys going and why?

With all of that said this was a traditional, wild, chaotic, unpredictable ECW match. None of it was advertised or announced, it just happened. One thing after another. The way Puerto Ricano came out to pull Taz & 911 apart only to be insulted and made a fool of, that was just so spontaneous feeling compared to the average booked wrestling segment. I could see how some could be turned off by booking like this. Rey Mysterio coming out to help 911 in the first place is about as random as it gets. Saturn going up to Kronus' shoulders and just sitting there looked pretty goofy too even though it was still an awesome spot. With that said though it was just so unpredictable that I loved it. It all started with one thing(Alphonso coming out to confront Joey Styles, who was opening the show), and it just snowballs into this wild, chaotic incident where storylines progress and intertwine at the pace of a Royal Rumble. This was something that we first really seen Heyman do effectively with the Raven/Richards vs Pit Bulls dog collar match a few reviews back(with Bill Alphonso finally getting his comeuppance via 911 chokeslam). Here with this segment/match we see him continue to use this style of booking, and it eventually became a trademark of ECW. You could usually count on some shit like this unfolding at an ECW show, but you never really knew how it was going to go down. There were times where this style of booking came off as sloppy and clusterfucked, but Heyman would hit the occasional home run with it. I think this was one of them.

Lots of action in this segment, some good storyline progression with The Eliminators drawing heat by busting up The Pitbull's "Beastmaster", and a really great gritty, grimey "Cops" feel to everything.

I don't know how to explain this look with any other term than "Cops", as in the reality television show. This was something that ECW producers Charlie Brucsesse and Ron Buffone worked to achieve from the time they started producing Hardcore TV, and they really perfected it by this point in 96. The way they would move the cameras when they would get up close to the action, the lighting, it all looks like Cops to me. Like a grimey reality show. One of the things I've read about the overall production style of ECW that I really liked was on another forum. Someone said that ECW had a distinct look to it that made you feel like you were watching something that you weren't supposed to be watching. I don't know if that makes sense. Probably not, but that's the best I can do. ECW was indeed low budget, but they did some interesting things to capitalize on that to create a unique style of wrestling show that was heavily imitated in the Attitude Era, and also during the NWO storyline in WCW in 1996. Subtle things that gave it a certain style that closely resembled the first generation of reality tv shows that started popping up in the 90's.

Rob Van Dam vs Axl Rotten

Alright, so this is the ECW debut of a future WWE & TNA World Champion.

RVD_zps0a18e29b.jpg

Robbie V was trained by Sabu and his uncle The Shiek. He cut his teeth in Japan and in WCW, and I've heard in one of his shoot interviews that he was being considered to be brought back to WCW to play the Glacier character later on in this year. Interesting.

The thing about this match is that while it was going on Shane Douglas was backstage pleading for Paul Heyman to put him on the show somehow. Heyman refused, telling Shane that he would be sued by the WWF since he was still under contract. Paul Heyman would make a phone call to Bruce Pritchard, who would put him in touch with Vince Mcmahon while this match was going down.

Heyman asked Vince to let him have Shane back, and Vince obliged. It was done. The Franchise was back. Just like that. It was basically a "You want him? You got him!" type of deal.

It's important to realize that Axl was coming off of his blood feud against Ian(who had been released around this time), so these fans had a lot of respect for him right here(you know, since he was tough enough to bleed all over the place).

Van Dam comes in wearing the top of a Gi and a red singlet on underneath. He's got a real nervous look on his face, and the crowd really doesn't know what to make of him. He just doesn't really fit the mold of what they were used to seeing up to this point. The thing that stuck out to me when I first saw Rob Van Dam was his resemblance to Jean Claude Van Dam. I was a big JCVD fan when I was a kid, but gradually I grew up to be more of a Bruce Lee/Samo Hung man. Through the years I swore up and down this dude was JCVD's little brother. I was shocked to find out that they weren't even related. Somewhere down the line these guys have the same ancestors or something, they just look too alike. It's crazy.

I've just noticed that Joel Gertner is not the ring announcer for this show. Bob Artese isn't ring announcing either. This is another Italian guy that pops up in some of the future shows, but I don't know his name.

RVD doesn't get much of a reaction from the fans during introductions. My how that would change over the next three years.

Van Dam throws some nice spinkicks that miss. The crowd cheers him. Axl mocks RVD's kicks before they tie up.

RVD sends Axl into the ropes. Van Dam does the splits to drop under Axl, then hits him with an arm drag takedown followed by a springboard high cross body. RVD then lands a couple of weird karate chop types of moves that look like something Glacier would do in WCW. :lol: The way he over does the facial expressions is funny. Cheesy, but funny.

RVD shines early with some nice moves, kicks etc. Axl slows him down with punches and headbutts. The fans start chanting "KICK HIS ASS AXL! KICK HIS ASS! clap-clap"

It's interesting that Axl is playing the heel as far as the psychology of the match(making the face look good, slowing the match down etc.), yet he's the face with the crowd. He keeps working the crowd by mocking RVD, even yelling out that he was going to show RVD an "ECW ASS WHOOPIN!"

Van Dam works his way back into the match. He lands his somersault over the top rope to the outside followed by his kick off the top rope.

Van Dam finishes it with the split legged moonsault with very little reaction from the fans. Even a couple of boo's. Wow.

6.8/10

It's interesting how the crowd just wasn't digging this young guy coming in and beating such a grizzled hardcore ECW vet in his first match with a move like the split legged moonsault. Van Dam did look sharp with his moves, but his selling was pretty awful. The cheesy way he was doing the karate chops cracks me up. Overall though, there really wasn't any big problems with the match. It wasn't anything great, but it wasn't anything unwatchable. RVD did have a unique style here, and you could see that he had a lot of potential.

ECW TV Championship: Too Cold Scorpio vs Mikey Whipwreck (ch)

Man I hope this isn't anything like their previous match where Scorpio completely phoned it in(possibly upset about dropping both the tag title and TV title to Mikey, and losing his 2 Gold Scorpio gimmick that he was running with at the time. Just a possibility, not a fact). These are two of the best workers in ECW at this time, so this should be good. Emphasis on should.

I'm loving this entrance setup they have here in the Arena for this show. It's a black tarp draped over some sort of apparatus placed in front of the backstage access door. It doesn't get much more redneck than that. :lol:

Scorpio comes out first with Woman. Woman looks very intelligent and classy as always. Scorpio works the crowd on his way to the ring when he suddenly sees a sign that says "No Gold Scorpio". His reaction to the sign is pretty hilarious. He just overdoes it like it hurt his feelings. Pretty funny stuff. Scorpio never made a good heel because he always had a hard time hiding the fact that he was really enjoying himself. He holds back a smile as he works the crowd over and tries to look tough, but you can tell he's just having a lot of fun.

A lot of stalling here before Mikey even gets in the ring. Scorpio and Woman's entrance was rather drawn out. Scorpio slaps Mikey, then Mikey slaps Scorpio back. Scorpio breaks out in a full on smile as he snaps back at Mikey threatening him. He can't help himself. :lol: That was pretty hilarious actually.

Scorpio gets the microphone and says that Cactus won't be able to save him tonight. He's going to kick Mikey's ass like it's never been kicked before. Mikey says he's just going to give the belt to Scorpio, then hits him in the face with it.

Scorpio recovers and puts the belt in Mikey's face with a big boot. Scorpio backdrops Mikey 12 feet into the air, and Mikey sells it beautifully. Scorpio hits Mikey with a big boot to the head as he's downed. Mikey's selling in this match is phenomenal so far. I always thought that was something he did really well, and this match is a good example of it.

Scorpio slams Mikey's head into the turnbuckles, and the way Mikey bounces his head back makes it look really, really devastating.

Mikey overtakes Scorpio and throws him out of the ring. Mikey lands a Suicide Splash and whips Scorpio into the steel. The two men fight around the ring with Mikey landing some kicks to Scorpio's midsection.

The camera gets in close on the action and I overhear one of the fans scream out "GO HOME AND DO THE DISHES!" at Woman.

:rofl:

I have a lot of respect for women. I know a couple of female MMA fighters that are better than most male MMA fighters I've ever known, but damn that was just hilarious to me. I've stepped up and defended ECW before about the anti-woman argument, but damn this show makes it hard.

Scorpio regains the momentum. Mikey reverses a powerbomb with a hurricanrana, then goes up top to do the exact same kick that RVD does. He botches it, and it looks like shit.

Scorpio regains the momentum again with a low blow. He takes Mikey to the outside and hits him with a running chair shot. Scorpio takes Mikey back into the ring and lands a really nice looking powerbomb. Looks more like Taker's "Last Ride" variation.

Scorpio sets a chair up in the ring and slams Mikey's face into it.

When I see 2 Cold Scorpio vs Mikey Whireck on paper this is just not the match I hope to see. These guys could do much better than this.

Scorpio hits Mikey with a legdrop and goes for the pinfall, but he pulls up like he did in their previous match. He rearranges the chair and tries to slam Mikey's face into it, but Mikey reverses it. Mikey busts Scorpio with the chair. Mikey hits Scorpio with several chair shots, then goes for a........

Surfboard?

Correction, Bow and Arrow.

Yeah, this match is sucking some serious ass right now. Not as bad as their last match though.

Scorpio reverses Mikey, and drops him with a Tombstone followed by his moonsault off of the top rope. Scorpio goes for the pin, and again pulls up at 2. Mikey gets dropped with a Superplex, but Scorpio bullshits around with the pinfall again. Scorpio lands his change of direction splash, and again fucks around with the pinfall. Mikey surprises Scorpio with a Tornado DDT out of the corner.

Mikey hits a Super Rana off of the top. Scorpio rolls out of the ring.

Mikey backs Scorpio off into the crowd with a baseball slide and follows him with a dive off of the top rope. I spot a guy in the crowd wearing a really awesome White Zombie hockey jersey.

They make their way back into the ring and Scorpio lands a crisp thrust kick. Scorpio gives Mikey a belly to back superplex off the top rope and the referee goes down.

Out comes Raven.

Raven drops Mikey with a DDT. Scorpio lands a moonsault into a legdrop off of the top rope to win the match and the TV title. His 4th ECW TV championship.

5.9/10

These two guys could have put their minds together to come up with a way better match than this. I don't understand why they felt it necessary to brawl with the chair and out around the outside of the ring the way they did. They should have just worked a clean match that remained primarily in the ring, and it would have been a lot better.

Either I'm missing something, or there's something coming up to explain it, but I'm not getting the Raven involvement in the match just yet either. Overall really this match had a few cool spots, but I feel like I'm giving it too high of a score just because of who's in the match. It was really not good at all. I've come up with a term for matches like this. This was definitely a sloppy ass "Call it as you go" match. They just winged it, and made sure to stretch it out as long as they possibly could, which really hurt it.

Taz vs Hack Myers

Hack Myers comes out first. Sign Guy in the front row holds up a sing that says "1996: The Year of the Shaw!". Love it.

Bill Alphonso comes out wearing an Emmitt Smith Dallas Cowboys jersey. This event took place about two days prior to the Philadelphia Eagles divisional playoff game against their arch rival Cowboys in the 95 NFL playoffs. Dallas would win the game 30-11 en route to their third Super Bowl victory in four years. Eagles, Redskins, Giants, and Oilers fans were about sick an tired of hearing the word Cowboys by this time in 1995, so the jersey was a good call to draw some good heat.

No way Hack Myers is 22 years old here. The dude looks 40. :lol:

Taz gets in the ring and crouches down in that stance of his that just looks fucking awesome.

Taz is packing on a noticeable amount of muscle compared to how he looked in the past couple of reviews.

The crowd begins chanting a "FUCK YOU TAZ!" chant as the bell rings. They lock up and Taz reverses an arm lock to toss Myers to the ground. Joey Styles then says one of my favorite lines in ECW history:

That's what makes Taz so dangerous.

He's not just a pro wrestler, he's one of these new hybrid warriors, made popular by these "Ultimate Fighting" pay per views.

Ladies and gentleman the future has arrived.

10 years too soon. :lol:

Joey Styles goes through Taz' legit amateur background, talking about his Judo background, even going as far as stating that he has won shoot fighting tournaments in Japan. Good one.

Taz slips around Myers' "Shah!" punches and tosses him with a Judo throw. Joey Styles calls all of Taz's Judo tosses by their actual Japanese names, then says that he was instructed to by Taz or he would, quote, "Break your fucking neck!", end quote. I love this shit.

Taz dumps Myers with a T-Bone Tazplex followed by a head and arm Tazplex, then a German Tazplex.

Taz locks in the tazmission to end it. Myers gives up.

Bill Alphonso hits Myers when he's down and the crowd fucking hates it.

Taz tells the fans that Sabu is scared of him, and that this was only the beginning.

8/10

Keep in mind this is a year, year and a half before Ken Shamrock and Goldberg in WWF/WCW. Loved every bit of this. I've always been a big MMA fan. The direction they took Taz's character here with this show is just awesome to me. The way he was using Judo moves, choking his opponent out. The character was a decade ahead of it's time, plain and simple. One of my favorite pro wrestling characters ever, and if I may steal a line from my man Baker223, one of my favorite fictional characters ever, period.

Buh Buh Ray Dudley vs Jimmy Del Ray

Here we go with the goof ball Dudleys. We got Chubby Dudley(some fat guy eating), DW Dudley(the Spanish Indian), Sign Guy Dudley, Big Dick Dudley, and Buh Buh Ray Dudley. The fans immediately shower Buh Buh with the stuttering "BUH-BUH" chants, followed by the "WHATS YOUR NAME?!" chants. He's pretty over.

The Dudley's are all decked out in tie die of course. Tie die made a comeback in the 90's.

Jimmy Del Ray is kind of old looking here with a fat, pasty white belly, a mullet, and Mr. Hughes of all people watching his back. Del Ray does a weird little jiggle dance that is rather hilarious.

Buh Buh tries to speak into the microphone, but he starts stuttering. Del Ray hits him in the back with a dropkick.

Buh Buh gets the upper hand early on, knocking Del Ray out of the ring.

Ah, this match is clipped on this DVD. Thank god.

We cut ahead to Del Ray dominating Buh Buh with punches. Del Rey hits a tornado DDT out of the corner and we cut ahead again.

We cut ahead to a point in the match where Mr. Hughes gets up on the apron. Buh Buh runs into him, but one of the Dudleys grab him by the leg. Del Rey gets distracted by the mayhem, and Buh Buh plants him with a DDT for the win.

We cut ahead again to Mr. Hughes telling Buh Buh that they found someone that could teach him some proper English. Mr. Hughes brings out Shane Douglas. Joey Styles makes a joke about his Dean Douglas powder blue outfit.

Shane goes on a tirade as the fans start chanting "DEAN IS DEAD!"

Shane slaps Buh Buh in the mouth and says "The Franchise is BACK!" followed by his trademark evil laugh.

4/10

Nothing good about this segment as far as the match. It was pretty bad, and I'm grateful that it was only some highlights of the whole mess instead of the entire 20+ minute fiasco. Shane Douglas' return is the high note here. The clique was too much for him to handle, and he wanted out. This was actually the beginning of perhaps the best era of his career outside of his tag team with Steamboat. Starting here, Douglas started packing on a lot of muscle, eventually getting bigger than he had ever been. He also went on to have the best singles matches of his career over the next year. He would also go on to become the most hated villain in ECW by the end of the year.
 
House Party 96 part II

Stevie Richards interview

Joey stands in the center of the ring and brings out "Dancin" Stevie Richards. Stevie comes out in a fucking classic Headbangers Ball t-shirt. I love it.

Stevie is accompanied by Beulah and The Blue Meanie.

Joey brings up the incident from the last show where Stevie kissed Missy Hyatt. Stevie tells Joey and all of the fans that he is no longer "Dancin" Stevie Richards, he is now "Studly" Stevie Richards, the "Original King Of Swing".

Stevie tells Joey that he's the only American Male because he's better built than Bagwell, and he's way better looking than Riggs. :lol:

Stevie then tells Joey that Raven has been on a 4 week drinking binge, and that he's been neglecting Beulah. He says he's going to give Beulah a kiss, but Beulah rejects him. Beulah tells Stevie that she doesn't want to be touched. Stevie grabs Beulah and tries to force himself on her, but she pushes him away and screams "STOP IT!".

Stevie asks her what's the matter, "Is it because you're Raven's girl?".

Beulah tells Stevie that she's pregnant.

The crowd immediately all lets out a loud "OH!" like it's Maury Povich or something. :rofl:

Raven comes running out and pushes Beulah around calling her stupid for not taking her birth control pills. Raven keeps calling her an idiot and moron until she builds up the courage to tell him that it's not even his baby.

Raven immediately turns around and starts beating the shit out of Stevie Richards.

She pulls Raven off of him screaming for him to stop because it wasn't Stevie's either. At this point the daytime talk show style crowd reactions have me rolling on the floor. This crowd is so into this right now. Everybody's on the edge of their seat hanging on to every word.

The fans on the front row all stand up and start pointing at each other. :lol:

She tells Raven that it's Tommy's baby. Cue the Guille them song from Street Fighter......

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Raven immediately, violently snatches her by the throat. Raven proceeds to choke Beulah until Tommy comes running out. Dreamer drops Raven, Stevie, and The Blue Meanie with punches before clotheslining Raven over the top to the outside. Beulah drops Stevie and the Blue Meanie with a frying pan. Dreamer whips Raven into the steel on the outside and busts him with a chair. Dreamer rolls Raven back into the ring and grabs a sign from one of the ringside fans. He busts Raven with the sign, then unwraps the paper around it to reveal a hidden stop sign.

Dreamer DDT's Raven down into the stop sign, and then grabs a.......

Blueberry Pie!?!:lol:

Dreamer takes a big bite of the pie and then piledrives Raven down into it. Beulah comes into the ring and hugs it out with her new man.

Classic ECW moment. Dreamer never got wins over Raven, but he did get small victories here and there to keep the feud hot. This was one of them. He took Raven's girl. It doesn't make sense, since Dreamer gave the poor girl "Panties Up" piledrivers at each of the past few shows, but who cares. Maybe she liked it?

ECW Championship: Sandman (ch) vs Konnan

I like Woman, but Sandman's entrances got a lot cooler once she left him. They really drag it out and milk it for all of the time they can as they work the crowd and pose for the camera.

What makes it worse is that this is another one of those Delta region 0 DVD's with the music edited out. It's just some generic music along with a constant loop of crowd noise. Fucking with the music and audio like this really takes a lot of the charm out of these old shows. Definitely avoid these discs if you ever go shopping for ECW DVDs. RF Video.com and Heartbreak Kid here at these forums sell the real deal if you're ever interested.

Coming into this show Sandman was the heel and Konnan was the face. That's just not what the crowd wants. They break out in a "SANDMAN'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" chant. This is the oldest tape I've ever heard that chant on. These fans had grown to love the guy by now.

Sandman does a bunch of stalling to start it off. Something interesting is that the crowd is really getting on Konnan's case about something Eric Bischoff related. This was Konnan's last match in ECW before going to WCW, so I'm assuming these fans already knew about it somehow. They are really digging into him. The cool thing is that Konnan goes along with it, and flips his role into a heel just like that. He starts heckling them right back, getting them really pissed off.

These guys tie up in the single worst chain wrestling sequence I've ever seen in my entire life. This is like two drunk college kids trying to put on a backyard wrestling match. Bad, bad, bad stuff.

Konnan goes for some leg submission, but it's like he's not sure of how to do it. He keeps switching Sandman's legs around trying to find a hold. He eventually gets him into a leg grapevine type of submission, which Sandman reverses. Just picture that and imagine it in your head. Yeah. Ugly stuff.

Konnan wraps Sandman up in another submission. Sandman counters and wrestles around with Konnan. More sloppy shit.

The crowd breaks out in a camptown races chant that I can't quite make out. Something to do with Konnan being Bischoff's bitch. Good lord they are seriously laying into him here.

Sandman escapes to the outside and stalls some more. The crowd starts another different camptown races chant saying something about Konnan taking it up the ass.

Sandman gains the upper hand and the crowd starts going crazy.

Huge E! C! DUB! chant breaks out.

Konnan drops Sandman with an Enziguiri and a Hiptoss. Sandman backdrops him over the ropes to the outside, and follows him up with a suicide plancha. Konnan sends him into the steel and hits him with a steel chair. One of the fans tries to give Konnan one of those "The Club" anti-theft devices. If you don't know what I'm talking about you're probably too young to be reading this thread. :lol:

Sandman whips Konnan into the crowd, then suplexes him down ribs first across the railing. They brawl in the crowd for a bit before Sandman takes it back to the ring. Sandman opens up a cut on Konnan's forehead with some punches before knocking him back to the outside. He picks up a table and drops it down on Konnan's back. Sandman pushes the table back into the ring and sets it up.

The crowd starts chanting "BYE BYE KONNAN! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap"

Sandman tries to superplex Konnan through the table, but Konnan pushes him down. Really painfull looking table spot as Sandman lands awkwardly on his side.

Woman gets up on the apron and throws the cane to the Sandman as she distracts Konnan. Sandman lays into him with the cane. Konnan recovers to his hands and knees. Sandman tears into him with the cane.

Rey Mysterio comes running out and tosses Konnan a cane. Konnan blasts Sandman in the head with the stick. Both men beat the shit out of each other with the canes until they both collapse.

The referee does his 10 count as both men lay down and out. Woman gets up on the apron and pulls The Sandman up to his feet with two handfuls of his hair. Konnan is counted down. Sandman wins by KO. Woman releases his hair and he collapses down into the canvas.

Woman celebrates with the belt. Sandman staggers up to his feet and Woman drags him away to the back.

6/10

This started off as one of the ugliest wrestling matches of all time, but it kind of turned into a cool little brawl. It was interesting how Konnan adapted to the crowd on the fly, and starting playing the role of the heel. It was also interesting how passionately the crowd was ripping on him for going to WCW. Konnan openly admitted that he was recruited to WCW by Nancy "Woman" Sullivan, who was married to Kevin Sullivan at the time(WCW's booker). Some interesting stuff here considering how things played out, but overall this match was not very good at all.

One of the chants during the match was "U.S. CHUMP!". How did they know he would go on to win that belt? Talk about Smarks, good lord. Konnan was never really accepted by the ECW fans. It's interesting how guys like Eddie and Malenko got the "Please Don't Go" chants when they were leaving to WCW, but Konnan got an entirely different treatment. With the ECW fans you were either one of their guys or you just weren't. I find it interesting how they accepted guys like Hack Myers and Buh Buh Ray Dudley at this point, but something about a guy like Konnan just wasn't jiving with them.

One big standout negative with the booking of this match was Rey Mysterio's involvement. Heyman fucked up by booking Konnan to play the face in the match, and it wasn't good to throw Rey(who was being pushed as a top face) in there helping him. Not to mention pretty much every single match on the show has ended with some sort of run in.

Sabu vs Stevie Richards

Man I want Stevie's Headbangers Ball t-shirt. Headbangers Ball was a show that used to come on MTV from the mid 80's up until 1994. The show would play heavy metal music videos as well as interviews with the bands. Really awesome show.

Sabu goes after Stevie as soon as the bell rings. Stevie stays away from him, eventually escaping to the outside. Stevie throws Sabu a chair.

Sabu sets the chair up and does a double jump Air Sabu plancha that looks awesome. He overshoots Stevie and the Meanie a bit and flies into the crowd. Really cool looking spot. They take it back into the ring and Sabu hits Stevie with a spinkick, springboard leg lariat. Everything Sabu has done so far looks really sharp and on point. No botches yet, he's really in the zone here. When Sabu's in the zone he's one of my favorite wrestlers to ever step into a wrestling ring.

Stevie works his way back into the match with some rakes to the back. Richards lands a powerbomb, then mocks Sabu with the point to the sky. Sabu drops him with a punch and lands his slingshot somersault legdrop.

This match has had quite a few rest holds. Sabu has grinded the clock away with a sleeper and now a cross armbreaker armbar type of hold.

Sabu sets Stevie up on the top turnbuckle and hits him with a real nice looking Air Sabu from the chair. He gets some good height, and knocks Stevie out of the ring. Stevie gets back up to the apron and Sabu does a Sunset Flip, slamming Stevie down into the concrete floor.

The Blue Meanie attacks Sabu as he sets a table up ringside. Stevie tells the crowd to shut the fuck up and proceeds to beat on Sabu in the ring.

Sabu leaps up to Stevie's shoulders and pulls him down over the ropes with an inverted hurricanrana type of move. Stevie gets setup on the table, and Sabu goes into the ring with a chair.

Stevie moves out of the way of a dive, sending Sabu crashing through the table. Blue Meanie attacks Sabu and rolls him back in the ring. Stevie Richards lands another powerbomb and goes up top for a fistdrop. Sabu regains the momentum after a hurricanrana and another slingshot somersault leg drop(with Stevie teetering on the ropes). Sabu flies out of the ring onto Blue Meanie's shoulders with a rana. Blue Meanie and Stevie get their asses handed to them on the outside by Sabu. Stevie gets set up on a table. Meanie gets blasted with a chair shot.

Paul Heyman comes out and beats on the Blue Meanie with his phone. Sabu slingshots himself out of the ring onto Stevie, putting him through the table with a leg drop.

OH MY GAWD!

The crowd loves it.

E! C! DUB! E! C! DUB! E! C! DUB!

Heyman rolls Stevie back into the ring. Sabu goes for the cover, but Stevie gets his foot up on the bottom rope. Stevie gets a small package for 2 and half. Heyman gets a Sabu chant going.

Sabu lands a sick Lariat. Part of it was the way Stevie sold it. Jeez!

OH SHIT! Stevie with one of the best superkicks's I've ever seen!:lol:

That was really nice. Heyman screams in at Sabu to shake it off. Sabu kicks out of a cover. Sabu leaps up on Stevie's shoulders, and spins down around him to hit a DDT. Heyman throws Sabu a chair.

Sabu lands the Atomic Arabian Facebuster(Somersault Legdrop off the top with a chair) for the 1, 2, 3, and remains unbeaten since his return to ECW.

Blue Meanie carries Stevie to the back as the crowd gives him a standing ovation.

7.9/10

This was actually a pretty good match. It had it's sloppy moments, but Sabu looked pretty good. Stevie also worked his ass off, and that superkick was fucking nice. You could see them calling the spots as they went through the match, but they actually did a pretty decent job of it here. This wasn't a real good match, but it had it's moments. The action was there and the pace of the match was nice considering how long it was.

The Gangstas vs Public Enemy

Well this is it. PE's final ECW appearance for a long time. They would come back about 4 years later, but ECW was a totally different animal by that time, so things didn't quite work out.

The crowd is cheering them on already. These were their guys, unlike Konnan. Rocco Rock paces the ring with an emotional look on his face as Johnny Grunge gets the microphone and tells the fans:

HEY! Hold on before you start that shit!

Hold on one minute.

Hold on one motherfucking minute!

Now that you've seen the rest, are you ready FOR THE MOTHERFUCKING BEST!?

Cus lets get one thing fucking strait right now.

This house that sits on the corner of Swanson and Rittner is the HOUSE THAT MOTHERFUCKING PUBLIC ENEMY BUILT!

The crowd starts chanting "YOU'LL BE BACK!". Rocco Rock gets the mic and says:

You may take us out of ECW, but you won't ever take the fucking ECW OUT OF US!

Pretty emotional little moment. These were their fans, and there was a lot of passion and truth in everything they said. out comes their arch rivals, the west coast thugs, The Gangstas(New Jack and Mustapha).

If you're expecting any drop toe holds, flying headscissors, and armbars being exchanged, you've got the wrong matchup. This one's going to get ugly, and fast.

-Joey Styles prior to the match

New Jack comes out wearing an Oakland Raiders trench coat, holding a noose in his hand. Classic New Jack. He gets on the mic and says:

I got one question.

Did you motherfuckers think I was gonna be gone long? Hell no!

So now that you gettin ready to take the easy way out, the WCW, go down there and "Hay" this and "Ho" that. You know who created this shit boy!

But one thing I want you to do. I'll never aks you for another favor.

When you see them pussy bitches Harlem Heat, tell 'em, I invented this.

I invented this.

I invented this.

As a matter of fact, I called Santa Claus the other night. I said "Santa Claus, what do you think about Sensational Sherri?".

He said uh, "A ho, ho, ho".

Here we go. Rocco Rock fights Mustapha, New Jack on Johnny Grunge.

Grunge is bleeding 5 seconds into the match.

Rocco Rock blasts New Jack with a pie. Joey says he's warming up for WCW. :lol:

The rings a fucking mess with pie everywhere. All four men beat the shit out of each other in the ring. Grunge lands a DDT on Mustapha.

Grunge and Mustapha take it to the outside of the ring. Rocco Rock does a nice somersault out of the ring putting Mustapha through a table.

The 4 men continue brawling in and out of the ring with cookie sheets, chairs, cheese graters, and an iron.

New Jack is bleeding all over the place as he brawls through the crowd with Johnny Grunge. Blood everywhere. New Jack gouges Grunge's eyes. The two men brawl their way over to the soundstage area near the Eagles Nest balcony. New Jack does a splash off of the balcony down onto Johnny Grunge on the soundstage. Rocco Rock beats the shit out of Mustapha with a frying pan.

Johnny Grunge and New Jack take their fight over to the entrance area brawling with chairs. Mustapha pushes a table into the ring. Grunge and New Jack brawl their way back to the ringside area. Johnny Grunge gets a pie from someone in the crowd. What's with all the fucking pies in this show!?!?

One of the funnier moments of the show happens when Grunge goes to hit New Jack with the pie. New Jack moves out of the way, and makes his way around to the other side of the ring with an "I don't do pies motherfucker" attitude. :rofl:

Mustapha puts Rocco Rock through the table with a Vader splash. They hit a moment where everybody's tired and trying to figure out what to do next.

Rocco Rock does a really nice moonsault off the top rope putting Mustapha through a table.

Rocco Rock finishes it with his Somersault "Drive By" Senton off the top onto Mustapha. PE get the clean win over The Gangstas in their farewell match. They deserved it imo.

The Gangstas flee the scene and things get sentimental.

First I want you to know, you're the greatest wrestling fans in the world.

Whether you know it or not, and you probably don't know it.

Just the energy you people create, makes us guys able to do things we normally wouldn't be able to do.

Ain't no fucking way, I'm going to dive off a 12 foot ledge, going through 2 tables, unless you make me do it.

And not only me. Every one of those wrestlers in the back feels the same way.

We love you, and we want to invite not only you, but some of the guys who danced in this ring with us. Whether they danced with us, or they danced against us, I want to bring'em all out for one last dance.

-Rocco Rock

The show cuts away to a highlight clip of PE's entire ECW career starting with their very first promo when they declared that they represented a generation that was more afraid of living than it was of dying. Really, really nice highlight clip of them doing home invasions, getting arrested, goofing off with a stolen golf cart at Terry Funk's double cross ranch, their barbed wire match against Terry & Dorry Jr., stealing Heyman's car from the valet parking of a NY night club, fighting The Gangstas, moonsaulting fools through tables, celebrating with the crowd, Rocco Rock's amazing moonsault splash through two tables from the top of a cage.

The camera shot pauses on Rocco at the apex of the moonsault hanging upside down in mid-air. Awesome.

The clip continues showing clips of various promos they cut, acting goofy. It cuts away to one of their entrances where the crowd just starts going crazy with the hand's waving back and forth. Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge are shown coming out to the ring and celebrating with the fans, dancing around etc.

Two ECW pioneers. RIP.

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That's a wrap. I'm sure they didn't want to show the farewell dance with the boys because it was a lot of them breaking kayfabe and going against all of the storylines running at this time saying goodbye to their friends. Too bad we didn't get to see that. I can understand why they probably cut the cameras, but I'd like to see it.

8/10

Can't say much for the match itself, other than the fact that it had a couple of cool moments(and funny ones), but there's a lot more here than just the match. I've said it before in past reviews, Public Enemy in ECW was like 80's glam hair rock. It's just something you would have had to have been around to experience at the time to really understand it's appeal. he PE stuff hasn't aged well, and one could argue that their legacy as an ECW tag team is overshadowed by the Dudley Boyz, but you can't argue the fact that PE did a lot to help ECW become what it did. They put the asses in the seats and the money in the bank from 1993 to 1995, the years where ECW developed its fanbase and it's trademark style.

The highlight video of their ECW careers was perhaps the best part of the entire show. Really well put together piece with all of their very best ECW moments. Pretty awesome tribute considering the fact that neither Rocco Rock or Johnny Grunge is with us anymore.

Overall: 8.4 /10

This was a really, really long show. It took me a good 3-4 sessions to cover everything that happened within this show. First I'll start with the bad. Some of the major complaints I've read about ECW around the internet are all here. Pretty much every match had some sort of run in or interference that determined the outcome. A lot of really stiff violence towards women as well.

With that said though, I really feel like the good outweighs the bad with this show. The whole pregnancy angle with Raven and Dreamer was pretty cutting edge twist to their storyline. Taz's MMA character is one of my favorite things about ECW(or pro wrestling for that matter). This show was just a really pivitol show for ECW's entire history. You had the return of Shane Douglas, the debut of Rob Van Dam, the farewell of Public Enemy, the classic pregnancy segment with Raven/Dreamer/Beulah, a beautifully booked Rey Mysterio/911 vs Eliminators segment, a solid Sabu vs Stevie Richards match, and a really awesome crowd that made for a great atmosphere even through the not too good matches like Sandman vs Konnan. You could tell all of these fans in the ECW Arena had grown to know each other well, and they would have a blast at these shows.

Whipreck and Scorpio stunk the joint up with their match, as did Buh Buh and Jimmy Del, but this is just an excellent, classic ECW show. Some good laughs, and some of the best moments in ECW history make this one worth checking out for sure.
 
Pro Wrestling In Early 1996

February of 1996 was almost like the calm before the storm for pro wrestling. WCW was a couple of months away from kickstarting a storyline that would push the entire industry into one of the biggest booms that it ever had. The NWO storyline had a lot of elements that were inspired by ECW. One of those aspects that gave the storyline its appeal was the shooty nature of it. The worked shoot was something that WCW started doing more and more once ECW made it work in their storylines in 1995. They first dabbled in worked shoots with Brian Pillman in early 1996.

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Pillman had become a Four Horseman, but his character started displaying increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior. He started wearing edgier clothing and doing things that even his Horseman stable mates had a hard time controlling. During this time Brian Pillman's WCW contract was coming to an end. One of Eric Bischoff's trademark management moves during this era was to book a wrestler off of television or job him out to decrease his value and keep the price down come resign time. This was what Eric Bischoff was doing to Brian Pillman during this time. Pillman desperately thought of a way to gain some leverage to get a high paying new deal. One of his ideas was to crash Superbowl XXX in Arizona by streaking across the field and handcuffing himself to the goal post. His friend and former trainer in the Cincinnati Bengals gained wind of his idea and refused to get him tickets to the game. Pillman came up with his next idea and put it into motion when he decided to make an appearance at a special television convention where the WWF was set up at a booth selling their programming. Vince Mcmahon was personally at the event, and Brian Pillman was able to snap a picture of himself with his arm draped over him shaking his hand.

The photo leaked and all of a sudden the rumors began to swirl. Pillman used this as leverage and went to Eric Bischoff with an idea that Bischoff couldn't resist. Bischoff cooked up a storyline that was designed to work the same types of wrestling fans that watched ECW. The smart marks. The types of fans that already knew Konnan was going to wind up as US Champion(or US Chump as they chanted at him during his last ECW match). The kind of fans who knew what a "Booker" was, and knew that Kevin Sullivan was WCW's booker at the time.

Pillman would get into a shoot style scuffle with Kevin Sullivan on WCW TV leading up to the Superbrawl VI show in February. The two men brawled with each other and tried to make it look like it was a real fight by going for each other's eyes. Both Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer reported it as a work right from the get go(because Kevin Sullivan cut a wrestling promo about it soon after), but the wrestlers and staff of WCW all were convinced by Bischoff that it was all indeed shoot. The storyline progressed at the Superbrawl VI PPV where Pillman was scheduled to face Kevin Sullivan in an "I Respect You" Strap Match. Pillman came out and brawled with Sullivan again in a realistic looking scuffle. Brian stopped fighting with Sullivan soon after the match started and told him "I respect you booker man!" before storming out of the ring. This was all worked as part of the storyline, but nobody in the WCW locker room knew this. Arn Anderson came out immediately after Pillman stormed off and wrestled a legit impromptu match against Sullivan to fill in.

The worked shoot continued when Pillman convinced Bischoff to push it to the next level and make it look as if he had been fired, and to make arrangements for him to appear in ECW to make it look legit. Bischoff informed everyone at WCW that Pillman had been released, and sent a check to Paul Heyman for Brian Pillman to make an appearance at the next show we will be taking a look at, ECW Cyberslam 96, which took place about 6 days after Superbrawl VI.

The thing about it all was that when WCW executives seen Pillman in ECW, they went ahead and really released Pillman from his WCW contract. His "Booker Man" line was censored out of the home video release of Superbrawl, and he was now a hot commodity free agent.

Also at Superbrawl 96 was the WCW PPV debut's of Public Enemy and Konnan(who was indeed US Champ). Public Enemy were defeated in a street fight by the Nasty Boyz. Konnan defended his US title against One Man Gang. Superbrawl VI was main evented by two cage matches, the first being a pretty good title match with Flair and Savage, and a downright stinker in Hogan vs The Giant.

Over in the WWF Steve Austin was just a couple of months away from his career making "Austin 3:16" promo, and was still in the heyday of his "Ringmaster" gimmick with Ted Dibiase. Bret and Shawn were on a collision course for WrestleMania, and Taker was feuding with Diesel. WWF had gotten much better through the later parts of 1995 and this continued in the early parts of 1996 as the promotion was gradually changing before everyone's eyes. This next ECW show we take a look at, Cyberslam, took place a week after WCW Superbrawl VI and a day prior to WWF In Your House: Rage in a Cage.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Cyberslam

February 17th, 1996
ECW Arena
Philly, PA​

Part 1

Before we dig into this mega super card internet wrestling festival extravaganza it's important to go over the events of two key shows that happened in the weeks prior. The January 27th show in the ECW Arena and the February 3rd show in the Lost Battalion Hall in Queens NY.

The angle developing on Hardcore TV in January was Raven's "Nest" growing to include Mikey Whipreck, who had become brainwashed by Raven's mind games. Raven had a David Koresh like mind control over Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie(Stevie's lackey. A lackey for a lackey), Cactus Jack, Mikey Whipreck, and his new valet, the vivacious Kimona Wanalaya.

Kimona.png

Kimona was Raven's replacement for Beulah, who left him for Tommy Dreamer("pregnant" with his baby). She was a former dancer at a gentleman's club that Raven would frequent. On the January 27th show Raven was able to win the ECW World Title from The Sandman with help from all of his lackeys. Cactus delivered the fatal blow, putting a cap on his epic '95 feud with the Sandman(my pick for Feud of the Year in ECW 1995). Mick Foley was on his way to the WWF and everybody knew it. He would often wear t-shirt out to the ring saying WW "F'N" F. Cactus and a semi reluctant Mikey were both Tag Team champions during this time, but Tommy Dreamer would find a mystery tag team partner to help him take them on......The Franchise.

That's right. Heyman pushed Shane Douglas as a face after returning from the WWF. Shane Douglas as a face just doesn't work for me. We'll have to see if it worked for the rest of the ECW fans at this show. Douglas agreed to help Tommy Dreamer take on Mikey and Cactus, but Cactus would get the upper hand on his old training partner(at Domenic Denucci's school) for the victory. So they were using the fact that everybody knew about Foley going to the WWF to draw heat, with Shane cutting promos about how much he hated the WWF. Raven's "Nest" made it out of the January 27th show with the tag team titles and the ECW World title.

The next stop was the February 2nd show in Reading, Pennsylvania(in front of 550). Shane Douglas and Tommy Dreamer defeated Raven and Stevie Richards in tag team action. Also that night, the Eliminators continued their rise when they took out the team of Rob Van Dam & Chris Jericho(in his ECW debut) in a 15 minute match that I would love to see.

Then we had the infamous return to New York City for the second time since their record making debut(Holiday Hell '95). The Lost Battalion Hall in Queens was like a dingy old high school basketball gym, but they managed to break attendance records and make nearly $30,000 off of the gate so what do you do for the big comeback? BOOK THE SHIT OUT OF IT! Profit?! Who needs profit!?

I would love to see this entire show uncut, but I don't think it exists anywhere. The February 3rd show in Queens had Paul Heyman introduce a film crew from "A Current Affair"(as seen starting at 16:42 of the video).

[youtube]823hhR1pxoU[/youtube]​

The February 3rd show was a wild one. The Eliminators continued their climb when they managed to win the tag team titles from Mikey and Cactus. Raven came out and helped Cactus beat up Mikey after the match. Later on Francine came out(with her neck brace on) while Joey was interviewing The Eliminators. The Pitbulls jumped them while Francine distracted them. They held Saturn down with a chain and Francine shaved all of his pretty, long, black hair off. The February 3rd show was also Nancy "Woman" Sullivan's last show in ECW. I really enjoyed the depth that her character added to the Sandman as his manager. She was the brains behind all of his success. Woman came out to the February 3rd show for an interview with Joey Styles as the crowd chanted "You Sold OUT!". The interview snow balled into one of those classic ECW Heyman booked segments where all kinds of shit happened. First of all Woman made a remark about wresting on Monday Night, hinting at her departure to WCW. Then the Sandman came out and told her that he wouldn't go to WCW with her, calling her a bitch. This was kind of a face turn for the Sandman, but as we'll discover, he would be booked as a tweener for a little while. Woman responded to The Sandman's remarks by telling him that nobody could physically remove her from the building. 2 Cold Scorpio came out, put Woman over his shoulder, carried her out to the parking lot, and threw her into a limo. Scorpio slammed the door and told the driver "Take this bitch to Atlanta!".:lol:

Later during the same segment The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards came out to confront the Sandman. They told him that he should back out of his upcoming rematch with Raven for the ECW World Title. Sandman refused, caned both men down, and proclaimed that he was coming for his title. Later in the same show Stevie Richards revealed to Raven that he was going to sue Missy Hyatt for sexual harassment for the way she violated him at the last show. Missy came out and insulted both Stevie and Raven before The Sandman came out and caned both of them down. The Sandman had a new valet, "The Walking Riot", Missy Hyatt.

Sandman.jpg

Taz came out later on that evening and called out 911, but Todd Gordon would come out and bury him, saying that 911 was not in the building because he was scared of Taz. 911's heyday as one of the most over acts in ECW was officially over. Sometimes I think Heyman would bury guys on purpose because they were getting too over. As over as 911 was he should have been pushed to the moon, but he suddenly found himself off of television and being made to look like a pussy by Taz. I have read rumors that 911 got into a scuffle with a couple of the guys from the ring crew at a house show around this time. Heyman scolded him for it, and 911 gave him attitude in return. Heyman just kind of got rid of him. He would return at some of the future shows, but it was mostly to make someone else look good.

Taz attacked Todd Gordon until Bam Bam Bigelow made his ECW debut to make the save. Bigelow would make only a couple of appearances in ECW in 1996 before coming over full time in 97. Juventud Guerrera also made his ECW debut at the show, wrestling a classic 10 minute match against Rey Mysterio. Chris Jericho also defeated Rob Van Dam at the February 3rd show. So add up all of those names and imagine how much they were probably getting paid for that show, and you can start to see where ECW's profits were going through these years. Heyman was just overbooking shows, plain and simple. One thing about it though, a card like that was sure to bring all of those fans back to the next ECW show in New York for sure. The overbooked cards generated a lot of excitement for ECW's fans, but they kept the company from ever making any serious profit. Rather than use home grown talent that was cheap(and over) like Hack Myers and 911, Heyman would rather bring in some big money players. These were the same mistakes that Joel Goodhart made that killed ECW's predecessor, Tri States Wrestling Alliance. He would just get caught up in his own hype and book cards that he knew he wouldn't be able to afford.

So there we have it. We're cought up. This is one hell of a long show, so lets dig in and get started. Keep in mind that this is literally a couple of days after WCW Superbrawl '96, and a week prior to WWF IYH: Rage in the Cage. I think the deal with these Cyberslam shows was that there would be a meet and greet at some hotel lobby after the show(or before it) where the fans in attendance(and online in some AOL chat room) could ask questions to Heyman and a couple of wrestlers. This is the first Cyberslam show, but they would become an annual deal up until 2000.

Judge Dredd & Bad Crew vs Dino Sendoff, Don E. Allen & Dirt Bike Kid

This is a massive jobber shitfest. Bad Crew looks like a team of WWF tag team jobbers from 1989. Judge Dredd is a bigger looking guy similar to 911(rocking the mullet). This is Dredd's ECW debut. Sendoff, Allen, and Dirt Bike Kid were the kind of guys that floated around in the 490's of the PWI 500.

All 6 men fight each other simultaneously in the ring as the crowd chants "This match sucks!".

Joey Styles says that Tommy Dreamer had his shoulder separated by Raven at the February 3rd show in NY.

The crowd just tears into these guys.

Styles says that the Dirt Bike Kid is ECW's version of Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly. :lol:

Out comes the Sandman.

HUGE POP!

Sandman canes everyone down brutally. Wow, what a great fucking pop. One of the loudest I've seen up to this point. Sandman beats the shit out of all the jobbers as the crowd goes wild. He gets the microphone and says....

NOW!........

NOW!.........


NOW LET'S GET EXTREME!!!


10/10

What a great opener. I loved it. Sandman was a fucking ECW hero. Pretty awesome little ECW moment here, especially the crowd reaction.

Spiros Greco vs El Puerto Ricano

Ricano is a jobber that actually has a bit of respect from the crowd. He hasn't won a single match yet, but he really wasn't that bad in the ring. I have never seen this Greco guy outside of this ECW show. He's a European looking guy. Not much bigger than Ricano.

They go at it with some traditional wrestling exchanges early on. Greco botches a swinging neck breaker and the crowd really tears into him.

Greco dominates Ricano for several minutes with some sloppy stuff. The crowd boo's the shit out of him.

5 minutes into this shitty, boring match. I'm waiting for another Sandman run in with the subsequent cane down. Greco's tights say "The Greek God". The crowd starts chanting "YOU FUCK SHEEP!" :lol:

Greco dominates Ricano for one hell of a boring 5 minute squash match.

3/10

Who the hell was this dude? Why did he get a squash? This looked like the kind of match you would see on WWF Superstars with Doink the Clown and Rad Radford. The crowd shitting on it made it fun, but it's hard to give this thing anything over a 3. Definitely some fast forward material.

Taz vs Joel Hartgood

Taz looks like a fucking boss. He continues to get bigger and more muscular with each show.

Hartgood looks just the way you want a jobber to look. Skinny, frail, harmless.

The crowd chants "Taz is going to kill you!". Did you know that before it was Taz, it was Sandman's going to kill you?(the Konnan match). Taz is going to kill you did have a better ring to it.

Styles says that Taz ran 911 out of ECW.

Taz hits this dude with quite possibly the sickest lariat I've ever seen in my lifetime, and I've seen quite a few Hanson/Stiener matches. Good god almighty I'm surprised his head is still connected after that shot. Stiff is an understatement. Taz drops the guy with a head and arm belly to belly(did Taz invent this throw?). Hartgood gets a sunset flip on Taz for a 1 count, then Taz literally dumps the poor bastard on his head with another Tazplex.

Taz locks on the Kati-Hajime choke and forces Hartgood to tap out.

Taz gets the mic and says that Hartgood was just another victim. EMT's come out to pull Hartgood's lifeless body out of the ring. Taz dumps the stretcher over. Three jobbers come out to help Hartgood out of the ring and Taz dumps all of them on their heads with brutal motherfucking Dan Severn style German Suplexes. :stalker:

That shit is just god dam awesome. I love it.

Mikey Whipreck comes out and lands a couple of offensive maneuvers before Taz dumps him on his head with the head and arm belly to belly. Taz puts Mikey in the Tazmission and chokes him out to end the segment.

8.5/10

Beautiful squash match. Taz looks unstoppable as he continues to roll through ECW. Call me crazy but I'm sure Eazy E had his eyes on this and used a lot of what he saw to build Golberg the way he did.

Intermission

The show cuts away to Joey Styles welcoming everyone to Cyberslam as he stands in the center of the ring.

All of a sudden the lights go out!

The lights come back on after a few moments and the crowd freaks out when this guy appears in the ring:

pillman_crop_340x234.jpg

Pillman makes his ECW debut just days after his "Booker Man" incident at WCW Superbrawl 96.

Crowd marks out, literally. Some of the looks on their faces are just priceless. I know a lot of guys will tell me that I'm "Wrong", and technically I am, but to me the "Attitude Era" wasn't just a WWF thing. The Attitude Era to me was the WWF, WCW, and ECW altogether creating a one of a kind, unique atmosphere in the industry that will never again be duplicated or replicated. From 1996 to the Summer of 98 was the peak of this period in my opinion, and this moment right here was the very start of it. 3 months later the NWO is born and Austin cuts the 3:16 promo, but I think Pillman and this incident played a bigger part in kickstarting the era than a lot of people realize.

Styles asks Pillman, "What are you doing here?"

Haven't you heard?

Ha.

I like you as an announcer. You know why? Because I just had an announcer in Atlanta Georgia.....take away.....my.....Constitutional rights.

I have been fired by Eric BISCHOFF!!!

He's a pretty popular guy. He's pretty popular with my legal department as well...hahaha.

BISCHOFF, OR SHOULD I SAY, *******!

You can't take away my constitutional rights BECAUSE I'M IN PHILADELPHIA WHERE The Constitutio......

Where the constitution was written.

Now, Mr. Gopher, Mr. 90's Wiz Kid.

The great success story of 96.

Former coffee gopher for Verne GAGNE!....

Is now leading the show in the BIG TIME HAHAHAHA!

You... are a piece, of FUCKING SHIT!

Joey nervously tries to cut away to commercial break, but Pillman won't let him.

No, Joey Styles. You're not running this interview.

I AM!

CAUSE I'M BRIAN FUCKIN' PILLMAN!

Let me tell you a little more.

You know what Eric Bischoff is?

Eric Bischoff is each and every one of these MOTHERFUCKING SMART MARKS ROLLED UP INTO ONE GIANT PIECE OF SHIT!

I guess you guys didn't get that.

Smart marks.

What's a smart mark?

A mark with a hight IQ?

Ok smart marks, ok.

You know what a mark is?

A mark is a guy that pays his last $20 on crack cocaine.

A mark is a guy.......that believes......

THAT OJ......Didn't do it!

A mark is each AND EVERY ONE OF YOU SORRY SON OF A FUCKING BITCHES!!!

So you know what?

I am going to do right FUCKING HERE, right now?

The only appropriate thing that Brian Pillman should do.

I'm going to yank out my johnson and piss all over this hellhole!

Pillman throws down the microphone and starts undoing his pants to pull his dick out. Styles tries to stop him when all of a sudden Heyman and Todd Gordon come out to the ring backing Pillman up in the corner. Todd Gordon gets the microphone and starts telling Pillman "This wasn't part of the deal brother". :rofl:

The way he says it is fucking hilarious.

Shane Douglas comes out to the ring.

Heyman tells Pillman that this wasn't part of the deal. Pillman gets the microphone and says:

Deal?

Deal?

I do whatever I want, whenever I want, AND I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU OR YOUR SMART MARKS......Booker man.

Gordon and Styles call security out. Police come out as Douglas and Pillman get up in each other's faces. Heyman pulls Shane back away from Pillman. Douglas can be heard telling Heyman "He's shooting!".

The police escort Pillman out of the ring as he and Heyman scream "FUCK YOU" back and forth at each other. The cops try to take Pillman away, but he breaks loose from them. He approaches a fan on the front row that is getting up in his face. Pillman spits in the guy's face. The guy takes a swing at him, and Pillman pulls him over the railing. Pillman takes the guy into the ring and pulls a fork out of his boot to attack him with. Shane Douglas comes out and chases Pillman off. Pillman runs out of the arena with the Cops hot on his tail.

Shane(wearing an EC F'n W shirt) gets the microphone and says that security can either throw that blonde, WCW piece of shit out or he can beat his motherfucking ass tonight! He says he won't let the show go one minute further until they throw is WCW reject ass out the front door. Shane gets a chair and waits in the ring.

Pillman comes back out dragging cops and security guards on his back. They handcuff him and take him through the crowd out of the front door of the ECW Arena.

The crowd starts the obligatory "NA~NA~NA~NA, NA~NA~NA~NA, HEY~HEY~HEY, GOOD~BYE!" chant as the police take Pillman out the front door in handcuffs.

This is a segment that will effect the overall score for this show so I'll save my opinions for the end of the review.
 
Cyberslam Part 2

Buh-Buh Ray Dudley vs Mr. Hughes

This is clipped. It cuts to a later point of the match at the very beginning of the segment. Mr. Hughes actually wrestled in ECW quite a bit from 1993 to 1995.

Big Dick comes into the ring and cracks Hughes across the back with his crutch. Buh Buh lands a splash and gets the win.

That was literally the only action that made this DVD from that match, about a 13 second clip, so I'm not going to bother trying to give it a score.

We cut ahead to a point in the show where Mustapha comes out. Mustapha is one half of the Gangstas with New Jack, who is MIA for some reason.

Joey Styles says that New Jack is in jail in Atlanta. Mustapha gets the microphone and cuts a surprisingly decent promo saying that the Gangstas are still strong, and that he will take on the Headhunters by himself.

Styles starts listing tag teams from WWF and WCW that Mustapha could probably beat by himself. The American Males, The Body Donnas, The Smoking Gunns:lol:.

Damien Kane and his valet come out and insult Mustapha. Mustapha attacks him, then gets taken out by The Headhunters. The Headhunters were two 400 pound twins that often wrestled in FMW. Apparently Damien Kane was managing the Headhunters here. Damien Kane issues an open challenge for any tag team in ECW to take on the Headhunters. Ron and Don Harris come out.

The Bruise Brothers vs The Headhunters

They get one of those wild, sloppy brawls going immediately. All four men fight all around the Arena with a whole bunch of punches, kicks, chair shots, and standing around awkwardly wondering what to do next. One of the Headhunters does a moonsault as one of the Bruise brothers simultaneously does a big boot on the other Headhunter. We get a simultaneous pin, but the ref awards the Bruise Brothers with the win.

4/10

Nothing to see here. Some more of that fast forward material. ECW was building up one of the best tag team divisions in wrestling, and both of these teams were mostly fodder for the more established teams, like the Gangstas. Nonetheless tag team wrestling was very important in ECW, otherwise I would be questioning the relevance of this match. Just a sloppy punch/kick brawl around the arena with a shitty double pin finish.

After the match we cut away to Joey Styles in the ring doing introductions again. Keep in mind this show was cut up and used for 3 weeks worth of Hardcore TV episodes, so Styles would often come out 2-3 times with his "Welcome to ECW" Spiel.

Styles brings out Tommy Dreamer and Beulah. Dreamer comes out with his arm in a sling. Dreamer says that he's sorry because he couldn't compete due to his injury.

Raven comes out with......

GOOD GOD!

Kimona is amazing here. :stalker: Jeezus Christ almighty the Daisy Dukes!

Raven is also accompanied by Stevie and the Blue Meanie. He tells Tommy that the shoulder injury wasn't a receipt for taking his girl. He goes off talking about how they cut peoples arms off in China for stealing. All of a sudden Shane Douglas and the Bruise Brothers come out and get behind Tommy Dreamer to watch his back.

Tommy emotionally screams at Raven at the top of his lungs, "YOU WANT FIGHT MOTHERFUCKER!" before telling Shane Douglas to get Beulah out of the ring.

The Bruise Brothers jump Tommy Dreamer from behind. They pull him to the ring post and rack his groin from the outside. Raven gets up in his face as he's down, then orders them to do it again.

Raven's "Nest" now includes The Bruise Brothers(Ron and Don Harris). Tommy is left in the ring crying out in pain.

JT Smith vs Axl Rotten

JT Smith and Axl were defeated in a tag match by the Dudley family at a past show. JT attacked Axl after the match. JT's Italian black guy gimmick has really grown on me. The dude is just fucking hilarious in this role, and he really wasn't half bad in the ring. JT clowns around with the legitimatly Italian ring announcer as Axl comes out. JT attacks Axl on the outside before he even gets a chance to enter the ring. They take the brawl into the crowd and the fans are just having a blast.

They work a pretty good, clean traditional wrestling match. Nothing real impressive, but watchable. JT Smith brings a chair in and tries to do a backflip off of the top, but he slips and falls. Axl see's him do it, but he turns his back on him to work the crowd. He just stand's there bracing himself for a chair shot for what seems like an eternity before JT gets up and clocks him in the back.

Smith gets the pinfall around 8 minutes in. He continues to beat on Axl after the match until Hack Myers comes out. The two men fight each other as their mid card feud continues.

4.7/10

Really wasn't a bad match until they brought the chair in and did the goofy finish.

Triple Dog Collar Match: Francine & The Pitbulls vs Stevie Richards & The Eliminators

I'm kind of digging this Pitbulls vs Eliminators feud since taking a closer look at it here in this fed. They started out taking jabs at each other in promos. Then Jason came out and hit Francine after insulting his former clients. The Eliminators dropped Francine with the Total Elimination move at the last review, putting her in a neck brace. Francine and the Pit Bulls would get revenge by attacking The Eliminators at the previous house show by superbombing them and holding Saturn down to let Franny cut off his long black locks.

Jason is not here at this show. The Eliminators are accompanied by Stevie Richards wearing a cut off Super Man t-shirt.

Stevie gives the ring announcer a piece of paper to read during his introductions. This is what he says:

It's a bird.

It's a plane.

No, it's the man of steel.

King of swing esq.

One half of the Fabulous Ones.

SUPER STEVIE RICHARDS!

:lol:

Saturn and Kronus strike their trademark pose with the belts during thier intro. I love the Eliminators.

Eliminators.jpg

Francine takes off a big oversized t-shirt to reveal a really, really nice looking g-string outfit.

Franny is chained up to Stevie. Saturn is hooked up with Pitbull 2, Pitbull 1 with Kronus.

OH SHIT!:stalker:

Stevie pops Franny with a SICK thrust kick as soon as the bell rings. Stevie had a really good looking(and sounding) superkick.

The fight is on. Stevie gets out of his dog collar as Francine lays down and out in the ring. Stevie helps The Eliminators overwhelm The Pitbulls early on. Pitbull 2 and Saturn's chain breaks. The chains are just getting in the way and making everything look sloppy at this point. No blood yet. I know it's got to be coming soon. Stevie and the Eliminators dominate the Pitbulls for several minutes, choking them with the chains. Stevie mostly taunts them as the Eliminators do most of the work. The fight goes to the outside where the front row fans all hold up their chairs. Pitbull 2 slams Saturn's head into everyone's chair, right down the line.

The Pitbulls overtake the momentum of the match and drag the Eliminators around the ring beating them with various objects from the fans. Really sloppy stuff. Six minutes into the match and they take it into the crowd. All 5 men fight through the crowd up through the bleachers towards the broadcasting balcony near the sound stage of the Arena. I look over to the corner of the shot and see two stacks of probably about 50 tables. Bingo hall FTW!

Both teams battle on the stage and up on the balcony. Saturn does a springboard moonsault off of Kronus' hands down to the Pitbulls below. Really cool spot.

Pitbull 1 climbs up on the balcony and suplexes Kronus through a table. They climb their way back down to the stage and back through the crowd. Stevie stands over Francine's unconscious body with a frying pan. Pitbull 1 knocks Stevie out and fights with Kronus. Saturn and Pitbull 2 finally brawl their way back to the ring.

No blood yet, and the crowd starts chanting "WE WANT BLOOD".

The Eliminators hit simultaneous powerbombs on the Pitbulls before targeting Francine for the Total Elimination. Pitbull 1 spears Francine to the ground before they can execute the move. Pitbull 2 drops them with a double clothesline. Saturn and Kronus are both dropped with Superbombs. Stevie begs for mercy, but he doesn't get it. The Pitbulls drop Stevie with a Powerbomb/neckbreaker combo move. Pretty nice.

The Eliminators recover and fight with The Pitbulls as Francine recovers and pins Stevie for the win.

Francine and the Pitbulls win after 15 minutes.

The Eliminators try to hit Francine with Total Elimination. Pitbull 2 grabs Saturn by the leg to try to stop them. They pull Pitbull 2 up and drop him with Total Elimination. They pull Francine back up and set her up for the move, but Pitbull 1 grabs Kronus by the leg to stop it. They pull Pitbull 1 up and drop him with Total Elimination. There's nobody left to save Francine.

Franny stands up to Saturn and smacks him in the face. Saturn drops her with a lariat. They pull her up and nail her with the Total Elimination.

The crowd boo's the shit out of Saturn and Kronus as they escape the ring with their tag team titles.

6/10

This wasn't a very good match. It was very sloppy with a lot of ringside/crowd brawling. The moonsault off of the stage was a pretty cool spot, and the match did have some overall cool moments, but just not enough of them. The story did progress though. You could say something about the violence towards women, but it wasn't like the Eliminators were being cheered for beating up Francine. They were the heels, and everyone boo'd them for what they did.

ECW TV Championship: Too Cold Scorpio vs Sabu

Scorpio just won this belt from Whipreck at the last show I've reviewed. Sabu is undefeated since his return from WCW at the November to Remember show. This match SHOULD be fucking awesome. Both of these guys have the skills to put on a great, action packed match if they really put in the effort. Lets take a look and see how it turned out.

Sabu lunges in on Scorpio early on with his traditional low single leg takedown shots. Scorpio avoids them and throws a spinning heel kick. Sabu ducks it and lands a really nice looking spinning heel kick of his own. Sabu quickly goes out of the ring and gets a steel chair. He lands a nice version of his "Air Sabu" off of the chair into the corner.

Scorpio gets knocked out of the ring out into the crowd. Sabu sets the chair up and does one of the best suicide somersault planchas I've ever seen him do. He flies directly from the chair, over the top rope, over the guardrailing(which wasn't moved) into the crowd with a somersault that was more like the style Hayabusa used. He straitened his body out in mid air and hung upside down until impact.

Really nice fucking spot.

All of that in just the first minute and a half of the match.

The camera moves around to show the fans as they all chant E! C! DUB! around Scorpio and Sabu sprawled out on the floor. Really nice shot. I just love this shit.

Scorpio lands a very stiff powerbomb a few minutes later, taking the momentum of the match. Scorpio lands a flying guillatine legdrop before getting up and walking around the ring taunting the crowd.

KEEP IT GOING MAN!

Scorpio gets out of the ring and brings another chair in. He sets the chair up and slams Sabu's face into it. He then walks around the ring slowly twirling his fingers around. Scorpio tries to slam Sabu's face into the chair again, but Sabu reverses it. Sabu springboards off of the chair to hit Scorpio with a clothesline, sending both of them out of the ring. Sabu then lands a somersault splash off of the apron before landing a few chair shots for good measure. Sabu takes the upper hand and lands his springboard leg lariat. Scorpio hits Sabu with a thrustkick that drops him down to the canvas before dominating him with chair shots, chest chops, corner splashes. Sabu slips out of a Rock Bottom attempt from Scorpio, and hits him with punches. Scorpio catches Sabu with a wheelbarrow suplex attempt, but Sabu rolls him up with a victory roll for a 2 count. Pretty nice sequence.

The action slows back down with both guys slowly hitting each other with punches. Sabu puts Scorpio into a Camel Clutch. Scorpio works his way out of the clutch, but Sabu quickly locks him into a different choke. Like a sleeper type of hold.

Scorpio gets out of the hold and punts Sabu in the balls.

Sabu scrambles to the outside in pain. Scorpio slowly beats on Sabu around the ring before suplexing him back into the ring from the apron. Scorpio continues to dominate Sabu in the ring, putting him in pretty nice modified surfboard maneuver that gets a nice reaction from the crowd. Scorpio puts Sabu into a half nelson with his legs to lock him into a pinfall for 2. Sabu slips out of the hold, and lands his slingshot somersault legdrop for 2.

Sabu locks Scorpio into a hammerlock. Scorpio uses Sabu's hair to break out of the hold. Scorpio lands a pretty nice moonsault off of the top, but Sabu gets the knees up. Both men lay on the mat in pain. Sabu gets up first and tosses a chair into Scorpio's face. Sabu lays the chair across Scorpio's body and hits his catapult moonsault where he bounces his thighs off of the ropes. Scorpio recovers and hits Sabu with the chair.

Scorpio drops Sabu with a sloppy ass Tombstone followed by a Vader style splash out of the corner.

Scorpio dominates Sabu for a couple of minutes with a really slow pace. Scorpio goes up top and tries to land his change of direction splash, but Sabu moves. Sabu goes up top for a move, but Scorpio quickly follows him up and brings him down with a sunset flip for 2.

Scorpio goes back up, but Sabu hits him with punches. Sabu goes up top and brings Scorpio down with a victory roll for 2. The crowd gives both men a standing ovation. Sabu backdrops Scorpio out of the ring and hits him with a suicide plancha through the ropes. They take it back into the ring where Sabu lands a couple of lariats. Scorpio kicks out of a pinfall attempt, but Sabu quickly locks him into a Fujiwara armbar type maneuver.

Scorpio gets free and drops Sabu on his face with a backdrop. Scorpio pulls Sabu up to his shoulders in a firemans carry and does an "F5" type manuever sending Sabu over the top rope to the outside. Sabu pulls Scorpio out with him and lands an Asai Moonsault splash.

GOOD GOD!:stalker:

Sabu's ankles crash down into the steel railing pretty damn hard with a loud "CRACK!" sound.

Sabu quickly recovers and pushes a table over the railing into the crowd. Sabu sets the table up with Scorpio on it, then throws a chair into the ring.

Everyone in the arena stands up to their feet as Sabu does a triple jump somersault plancha out of the ring through the table. Scorpio rolls off at the last minute and Sabu smashes through it with his back.

The crowd gathers around the wreckage with a crazy E! C! DUB! chant.

Really awesome camera shot of a crazy fucking crowd. When I hear stories about those chants echoing throughout the south Philly neighborhoods, these are the moments I automatically think about. I can picture some kids sitting in their government housing apartment a couple of blocks away saying "Shhhhhhh, listen, you hear that?".

Scorpio and Sabu recover and fight their way back to the ring when Joey Styles says this:

You know, you could talk about "Where the big boys play", or "The New Generation", but what you just witnessed is what separates ECW from all the rest.

WE'RE NUTS!

We are completely crazy. We've lost it, not playing with a full deck, both oars not in the water, cookoo for cocoa puffs, you name it WE'VE LOST IT!

I love it. :lol: Don't ask me why.

Back in the ring Sabu reverses a powerbomb with a hurricanrana, hooking the legs for a 2 count. Sabu hits a moonsault press off of the ropes for another 2 count. Scorpio moves out of the way of a moonsault attempt by Sabu from the top rope. Scorpio then powerbombs Sabu again before going up to the top rope.

2 Cold Scorpio lands his moonsault into a legdrop. I liked his tumbleweed legdrop a lot better. Sabu kicks out at 2. Scorpio sets a chair up on Sabu's face and legdrops it into his face from the top rope. Sabu shocks the crowd by kicking out at 2 again. Scorpio goes back to the top, but Sabu tosses the chair into his face. Sabu leaps high up into the air with a super rana, and goes for a pin, but Scorpio kicks out again.

Both men collide into each other with a double lariat with only 3 minutes left.

Scorpio goes back up top and lands his 450 splash. I never get tired of seeing that move. One of my favorites. Scorpio was one of the best at it.

Scorpio goes back up to the top with chair for a splash, but Sabu moves out of the way with only 1 minute left on the clock. Sabu hits Scorpio with a legdrop with the chair followed by his Slingshot Somersault Legrop with the chair with only 30 seconds left.

Sabu goes for the pin again, but Scorpio kicks out.

The bell rings shortly after. Scorpio retains his TV title after a 30 minute draw.

The crowd chants "5 More Minutes".

7.2/10

This was close to being a pretty good match. It still had a lot of awesome moments, but I could see a lot of things that could be picked apart by a pickier wrestling fan. Myself, I thought the match was ok. Sabu landed some really awesome looking spots, and there was a good bit of action. There wasn't any selling or psychology to get all excited about, but I didn't think it was a bad match. It definitely could have been a lot better, that's for sure.

Shane Douglas vs Cactus Jack

Cactus Jack is dressed up in his three piece suit and tie(with cowboy boots) as the match just immediately gets going. Shane Douglas attacks Cactus before even getting his entrance gear off. Shane strips Cactus' suit and tie off as he beats him around the ring. Brian Hildebrand is the referee for this match for some strange reason. That's pretty random.

They brawl to the outside where Cactus gets the crutch from the handicapped guy at ringside that comes to all of the matches(Cactus' biggest fan, a guy that Foley would pick up and drop off before and after ECW shows). It's kind of weird here because Cactus is playing a heel and Shane is playing a face. The crowd isn't really reacting that way though. Cactus gets some pretty good cheers when he uses the crutch.

The crowd starts chanting "MANKIND SUCKS!".

Shane goes up top in the ring for a double axe handle to the outside before attacking Cactus with a crutch. The crowd starts to get behind Shane. The crowd starts chanting "DEAN IS DEAD!" after Shane quickly gets the microphone and makes a remark I couldn't quite make out. They take it back to the outside where Shane suplexes Cactus' back down onto the steel guardrail. FUCK!

Shane goes back to the ring and flies off of the top rope into the crowd with pretty fucking nice splash for a guy his size. Shane then sets up Cactus' leg in a chair and stomps on it.

There is a small, yet vocal group of fans in the crowd who refuse to cheer Shane Douglas. They start pretty loud chants of "AHMED JOHNSON", and "RAZOR". :lol:

Cactus works his way back into the match and manages to outbrawl Shane. Nothing spectacular about this match so far. They take it back to the outside where Cactus works Shane's knee over with stomps. Shane rolls back into the ring selling the knee pretty nicely. Cactus tosses a chair into the ring before re-entering. Cactus beats on Shane with punches and the crowd cheers him on. They take it back to the outside where Cactus sets a table up over Douglas propped up on the rail. Cactus elbow drops the table, breaking it down on top of him.

Cactus takes Shane back to the ring for a drop toe hold into a chair followed by a piledriver. Cactus backs Shane up in the corner with punches. Brian Hildebrand gets in between them and slips Shane Douglas a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket.

WTF?

Shane drops Cactus with the handcuffs to the face.

Cactus' hands are cuffed behind his back. Shane picks up the steel chair and blasts Cactus with 4 unprotected shots to the head.

Cactus goes down. Shane hits him 4 more times as he tries to get up. Shane gets the microphone and says that he'll stop the beating if Cactus verbally gives up in the microphone. The ref puts the mic in Cactus' face, but he refuses to quit.

Cactus cries out "VINCE!"

Shane blasts him two more times with the chair. The ref puts the mic in Cactus' face again, but Cactus calls out for Mikey to come out and help him.

Shane drops him back down to the ground with another shot.

Cactus cries out for Mikey into the microphone. Pretty dramatic scene here as Shane and the ref beg for Cactus to just give up and end it, but Cactus just keeps crying out for Mikey. Shane lets Cactus get up again before blasting him with the chair.

Shane then puts Cactus in the figure four. Mikey comes out and drills Cactus with one of the all time hardest chair shots in wrestling history. Cactus looks like he was legitimately knocked out, which is not a good thing.

The ref counts the three count as Cactus lays flat on his back.

6.9/10

This wasn't any kind of a wrestling match. It was all brawling with Douglas landing a nice plancha out into the crowd, and that was it. The reason I want to give it a nice score is because of the dramatic finish. They used this same angle with The Rock and Mankind at the WWF Royal Rumble 99 "I Quit Match", and it drew The Rock a lot of heat when the WWF was trying to build him up into a worthy opponent for Austin at Wrestlemania XV. Shane Douglas' chair shots to Foley weren't even half as stiff as The Rock's at the 99 Royal Rumble. The shot Mikey gave him at the end looked really hard, and probably knocked Foley out for real.

The thing with this match though is that this was a very heelish thing to do to Foley. It was all a receipt for the way Cactus helped Raven attack Mikey at the previous show, but had you not known that one would probably assume that Douglas and Mikey were the heels during this segment. The crowd's chants and cheers were just all over the place, and they don't really know who to cheer for. Shane Douglas just doesn't work for me as a face. I don't like how Heyman was pushing him as this flag waving ECW loyalist, and I don't really like involving him in the Brian Pillman storyline. It just seems like they could have come up with something better to do with Shane Douglas during this time. I do know that Shane goes on to be the one of the top heels in ECW history through the later parts of 1996, so it will be interesting to see how long this face push lasted.

ECW Championship: Raven(C) vs Sandman

The show skips the entrances and jumps ahead to The Sandman standing in the ring with Missy Hyatt. Raven sits in the corner with Kimona. "The Fabulous Ones" Stevie Richards & The Blue Meanie are also with Raven here.

Raven jumps the Sandman before the ring announcer even finishes the introductions. The Sandman gets knocked to the outside where Raven hits him with his sloppy ass suicide plancha.

They brawl on the outside of the ring briefly before taking it back into the ring. The Sandman outbrawls Raven and controls the momentum of the match until The Blue Meanie gets up on the apron. The Sandman goes to knock The Meanie off of the apron, but Raven attacks him from behind. Raven drops The Sandman with a DDT and goes for the pin. Missy Hyatt distracts the referee. Raven gets up in Missy's face until The Sandman recovers and hits Raven with a DDT on the chair in the ring.

Sandman goes for the pin, but Kimona comes running into the ring. Kimona attacks The Sandman until Missy comes in.

CATFIGHT!

This looks like a Jerry Springer fight:lol:

Missy and Kimona fight outside the ring as The Sandman and the referee are distracted by it. Stevie comes into the ring and drops The Sandman with a superkick. Raven pins him, but Sandman kicks out at 2.

Sandman gets a couple of nearfalls until accidentally ko'ing the referee.

Stevie and The Blue Meanie come into the ring and The Sandman gets his cane and takes them out. The Bruise Brothers come into the ring and overwhelm the Sandman with a double chokeslam. Raven covers Sandman, but the referee struggles to count the 3. Sandman kicks out at 2.

Raven sets a chair up in the ring, and pulls The Sandman down into it face first from the top rope. Raven finishes it off with a DDT on the chair.

The crowd chants BULLSHIT!

Raven has weaseled his way to a successful title defense and the crowd hates it. Raven exits the arena with Stevie as The Blue Meanie remains in the ring.

Meanie mocks the Sandman while standing over his unconscious body holding a cane and a beer. He cracks the beer open and dances with it over Sandman's body, spilling it all over him.

Sandman gets beer in his mouth and is suddenly brought back to life. MEANIE IS FUCKED!:lol:

Sandman drops Meanie with the cane. Raven, Stevie and the Bruise Brothers all come back out and get caned down one by one. Missy cracks The Sandman a cold beer open, and lights him a cigarette. They stand in the ring looking at each other in the eyes as the show comes to a close.

7/10

Another shitty match that had some interesting storyline progression with characters that I've grown to care about over the course of watching through these shows. The bit with The Sandman being accidentally revived by The Blue Meanie with the beer was fucking hilarious, and bumped the score up a bit. I love the Sandman character, and shit like this is a big part of why.

This was the beginning of a feud that would get rather interesting through the next couple of shows that we will be taking a look at. Raven's "Nest" had evolved yet again, this time to include Stevie, The Meanie, Kimona, and The Bruise Brothers.

Overall: 8.5/10

Well, here we are again with another one of these ECW shows. I don't really know how to score a show like this because the actual wrestling matches weren't very good at all. If you want Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat style wrestling with matches that tell stories, look somewhere else. You aren't going to get that out of an ECW show like this. The closest thing to a good match was the Sabu vs Scorpio match, but I would hate to see what a real picky wrestling fan would have to say about that match(I didn't think it was that bad).

With that said though this was a really fun wrestling show to me. The opener with The Sandman caning down jobbers, Taz's epic squash, Pillmans amazing promo and all of the chaos he brought with him, and the way these storylines/characters progressed and evolved all added to what was a pretty decent show. The Pillman stuff alone make this worth checking out. He was on another level on the microphone than a lot of guys, and he was really on to something with the Loose Cannon character in ECW. He got into the wreck a couple of months after this, then went to WWF where he didn't seem to have the same edge to him that he did at this show. He really kind of reminded me of the Heath Ledger joker with his demeanor and mannerisms in his promo on this show. Dean Ambrose also reminds me of Pillman in ECW sometimes with his facial expressions.

ECW had a huge influence on both WCW and WWF in the late 90's, and you can see a lot of that influence with this single show. This was really the beginning of a new era. An era where all three promotions kind of started to do things a bit differently. They all started to acknowledge each other more, even going as far as creating storylines that took advantage of the fact that wrestling fans were a little bit smarter than they were in the past. Brian Pillman was only supposed to work in ECW for a couple of weeks while further developing the Loose Cannon character(and his hatred of Eric Bischoff) before bringing it back to WCW in the spring. It's interesting to think about where Pillman would have fit in with the NWO angle had all of this gone down the way they intended it to.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Big Ass Extreme Bash

March 9th, 1996
ECW Arena
Philly, PA​

part 1

Well, we have finally arrived to one of my all time favorite ECW shows. This was really a two night deal held on March 8th and 9th. ECW had really started to take off in New York City after debuting in December 1995 at their record breaking Holiday Hell show. The grimey "Lost Battalion Hall" in Queens was starting to become ECW's home away from home(the ECW Arena in Philly). The March 8th part of this show was filmed at the Lost Battalion Hall in Queens, but unfortunately that part of the show was heavily clipped on this tape.

I'll post a brief review of the New York part of this show since all of the footage is incomplete. The second part(Philly) of this show is one of my personal favorite ECW shows for multiple different reasons. The major story going into this show is Mick Foley heading out to the WWE. Foley had an incredible 1995 in ECW(my pick for MVP), and the Cactus Jack character had really grown and evolved to develop incredible depth. This is Foley's final ECW show before moving on up to the big time to play Mankind in one of my absolute all time favorite feuds in wrestling history against the Undertaker through the rest of this year. Lets dig into this thing and find out whey I love it so much. Keep in mind this show was about 3 weeks prior to Wrestlemania XII, and about 2 weeks prior to WCW's horrendous "Tower of Doom" Uncensored 96 show.

March 8th Queens NY Highlights

The show immediately starts off with The Sandman coming out and caning the shit out of a bunch of jobbers that look strait out of WCW Saturday Night. Hard, vicious cane shots, even the referee!:lol: Sandman strikes his trademark pose in the center of the ring with his cane up and the crowd blows the roof off of the place. Got to love the E! C! DUB! chants during moments like this. You can just hear the passion in the tone of the fans' voices. Baker223 pointed it out previously in this thread, but Heyman often recycled gimmicks and angles. We're seeing the Sandman be pushed as a face here the same way 911 was for about a year prior to this. 911 was massively over because of booking like this. Heyman would book some shit match on purpose just to send 911 out there to end it with brutal chokeslams, and the fans fell in love with the guy. We're seeing that exact same strategy here with the Sandman with the exact same results.

We cut ahead to Joey Styles doing the introduction. Brian Pillman is sitting ringside looking like a fucking boss:

pillmancrazedglasses3rb0.jpg

Styles brings out the Franchise, Shane Douglas. The first thing out of Shane's mouth: "Shawn Michaels, KISS MY ASS! HAHAHA!". Shane comes out and gets taunted by Pillman while trying to cut a promo. Styles tries to keep Shane from fighting Pillman but it's no use. Pillman pulls a woman holding a baby in front of him just as Shane tries to throw a punch. Brian Pillman then tells Shane:

Shane, why don't you just quit, like you did everything else.

You quit WCW.

You quit The Dynamic Dudes.

You quit WWF.

I'M A REAL MAN, I DON'T QUIT, I GET THROWN OUT OF TOWN! C'MON!!

Pillman's mannerisms and facial expressions are just fucking classic here as he taunts Shane Douglas. He was just such a great character. Just an observation here from these early 96 tapes, Shane Douglas started getting fucking jacked up huge. Him and Taz both put on a lot of muscle compared to the previous tapes I reviewed. Steroids? Maybe. They certainly looked quite a bit smaller in those 95 tapes.

Pillman reaches over and smacks Shane Douglas in the face. Shane goes after him. A few huge, black security guards swarm the scene and manhandle Pillman. Really crazy scene with the way the camera is moving around. Pillman is forcibly thrown out of the building. Shane Douglas calls for security to bring him back. Todd Gordon comes out and tries to help Joey Styles calm Shane Douglas down. Shane is fired up. Shane screams at Joey "Ted Turner calls no shots here, I call the shots here, I want that piece of shit back out here NOW!". Pretty good stuff. Douglas gets up in the camera and threatens Ted Turner for sending his pieces of shit to ECW.

As Shane's walking to the back, Bill Alphonso walks out to the ring where Todd Gordon is still standing after helping break up the previous melee. Keep that in mind, this is all one big segment.

Fonzie gets the mic and cuts a motherfucking out of this world, incredible sleezeball fuckwad heel promo telling Todd Gordon that he's a shit promoter that doesn't know what he's doing. Fonzie slaps Gordon. Gordon snaps and beats the shit out of Fonzie. Taz comes out with a steel chair and helps beat down on Todd Gordon. All of a sudden out comes........

BAM BAM BIGELOW!:stalker:

I completely forgot he was even on this tape. Bigelow no sells a chair shot from Taz, and Taz retreats like a bitch. Hmmm.

We skip ahead to a 20 second clip of what is supposed to be a pretty awesome match between Cactus Jack and Chris Jericho. Cactus has tape all over his face. Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie are with Cactus. Jericho pins Cactus with a German Suplex with a bridge. Pretty good booking. Put over the up and coming youngster with Foley before sending him to the WWF.

We skip ahead again to a clip of Taz vs Mikey Whipreck. Taz dumps Mikey on his head with a beautiful head and arm suplex. This is the one that made the highlight reels in ECW for several years to come. Taz locks on the Tazmission and chokes Mikey out for the win. He keeps the hold on long after the match as Fonzie jumps around the ring. Bam Bam comes back out. Taz escapes the ring again, but Fonzie doesn't see Bigelow. Bam Bam lifts Fonzie up into the air, but Taz gets back in the ring and clips him behind the knee. Taz locks Bigelow in the Tazmission and chokes him out. Jobbers come out to pull Taz off of Bigelow, but Fonzie hits them with a chair. Taz stands tall over Bigelow.

We cut ahead yet again to a clip of the Dudley goofball family defeating Damien Kane's Headhunters with a rollup pinfall. The Headhunters beat the shit out of the Dudleys after the match. Damien Kane issues an open challenge for anyone in ECW to "COME AND GET IT!". The Gangstas come out and beat the shit out of the Headhunters with a bunch of garbage weapons.

We get to see a brief clip of Rey and Juvy's 2/3 falls match. These two guys were just on fire here. They trained together as youths in Mexico, so they had some fantastic chemistry. The clips of this match here are just awesome. Non stop action and some graceful high flying. Rey lands a somersault out into the crowd. Rey got the first pinfall, but Juvy won the match with the second and final.

Cutting ahead again with Sandman and Raven. Looks to be a pretty fun brawl. Sandman has Missy Hyatt, but Raven has Stevie, The Meanie, Kimona, and later Cactus Jack coming in to help him. Missy and Kimona get into a catfight that distracts the referee. Shane Douglas comes out and cracks Raven with a chair before rolling The Sandman over on top of him. The Blue Meanie and Stevie get involved with the match. Sandman brings in a piece of steel gaurdrailing from the back, but Raven gets the upper hand on him to get out of NY with his title.

That's all they show on this tape of the NY show. In all maybe about 30 minutes worth of highlights. Not much. Looked like a fun show though from the little we did see. Now lets get into the Philly show that took place the very next night.

Intro

Joey Styles opens the show from the center of the ring and brings out The Gangstas, who he says are fresh out of jail in Atlanta Georgia. The crowd gives The Gangstas a really big pop. They were starting to get pretty over around this time. New Jack and Mustapha come out and a young black woman goes berzerk like some sort of rock band groupie. She jumps the rail and throws herself on New Jack, dry humping him. Security come and escort the young woman out of the arena.

The crowd starts chanting "BRING HER BACK!". :rofl:

New Jack tells Joey Styles:

I never thought that I would miss nobody in my life, but you know to be honest, I missed these crazy, ******ed motherfuckers from ECW.(Huge pop)

Maybe I'm losing my god damn mind. I don't know, but for some reason sitting in a motherfucking Atlanta city jail for damn near 5 weeks, I was like "Right about now I could be in the Arena beat'n the fuck out of somebody", but I'm sitting here looking at this motherfucking TV.

They made me watch that bullshit WCW.

I'm gonna tell ya'll for real.

I jacked off that night.....

Hard.

I'm about tired of these motherfuckers coming out here and talking about Eric Bischoff. Fuck Eric Bischoff because I don't know him, I don't know Vince Mcmahon, I don't give a fuck if you rep WWF or WCW, that ain't ECW.

Sure enough, that may be where the big boys play...

BUT!

This is where the real motherfuckers get down at!

I don't give a damn about the WWF, I don't give a damn about WCW cus' you see this is where the real deal is going down.

True enough, they got motherfuckers that's 6'9", 6'10", so fucking what, they don't know a headlock from a lip lock, so fuck'em all!

You got to admit that is at least funny. :lol:

New Jack was always pretty good on the mic. He totally won this crowd over here. Huge pops.

Damien Kane comes out and starts running his mouth to New Jack. New Jack busts him over the head with a punch that is sold beautifully. They set up the Three Way Dance main event with Kane's Headhunters and Scorpio and Sandman for some odd reason thrown in there for good measure. I liked the New Jack promo, and the whole skit with the woman running in was pretty funny. Pretty good opening segment. The crowd is already very fired up. I'm also noticing a lot of the same people that were in the crowd for the previous night in NY. That must have just been awesome to go to these ECW shows back in the day. One of my favorite things about these old tapes is the looks on the peoples faces, the reactions, and the overall family type atmosphere where everyone seemingly knows everyone. I like watching the crowd during the shows. It makes me laugh to see these people just going crazy, acting goofy, and just having a good time. It sets a great atmosphere for these shows.

JT Smith def. Axl Rotten

We get a 2 minute clip of this match. Smith was a really good undercard wrestler. He's really grown on me during these tapes. He could work surprisingly well, and his goofy gimmick was actually pretty funny. I love how he came out to the Rocky theme song.

Smith lands a moonsault and a powerbomb along with a couple of other slams. Axl gets a reversal, but Smith hits him with a low blow and pins him with his feet on the ropes. Didn't look like a bad match. I've noticed that Axl Rotten has pretty much just been a jobber ever since his fued with Ian(who left in the late fall of 95, eventually starting IWA Midsouth). I think Axl would have been better off in the long run just staying with Ian as a tag team. Meh, overall not a bad little clip. I'm not going to bother grading it because it was so short, clocking in at just over 2 minutes.

El Puerto Ricano & Damien Stone vs The Bad Crew

Damien Stone is Little Guido, James Maritato. Guido actually wrestled as Damien Stone in the very first ECW show that I reviewed in this thread(from 1992). He left, eventually training with Billy Robinson before wresting in Japan's UWFI promotion(where Robinson's other pupil, Kazushi Sakuraba, also wrestled. The owners of UWFI eventually launched the legendary Pride FC MMA promotion). This is his return to ECW. Having trained with Robinson, I'm assuming Guido can hold his own as a shoot wrestler. I don't really know though.

SHIT!:stalker:

This match starts off with one of the sickest bumps I've ever seen in my life. Bad Crew make their way to the ring and Ricano does a face first suicide plancha over the top rope, but he misses and crashes into the concrete floor. FACE FIRST!

Bad Crew work over Guido and Ricano both until all of a sudden out comes Brian Pillman with two old men in suits along with Harry Boatswain of the Philadelphia Eagles football team as his bodyguard. Pillman beats up all 4 men in the ring and clears them out. He then calls for Joey Styles to come out. Joey comes out and Pillman sends a message to Shane Douglas, telling him that the Rogue Horseman is in ECW. Shane Douglas suddenly appears on the sound stage with a microphone talking about how the ECW doesn't need a piece of shit redneck from Atlanta. Shane tells Boatswain that he left Kevin Green in Pittsburgh. Shane storms the ring looking for a fight, but Pillman and his entourage escape and flee the scene.

Shane Douglas becomes infuriated as he demands that Pillman come back out to the ring. He starts screaming at the top of his lungs as his face turns red, challenging him to an ECW vs WCW match, and starting an E! C! DUB! chant. He rips his EC F'N W shirt off before saying "FUCK YOU HOGAN, THAT WAS EASY AS SHIT!". He's just fired up. Several referees and Todd Gordon come out to calm him down and get him out of the ring.

6/10

This wasn't really a match, just a segment to continue this Douglas vs Pillman feud. Pretty good stuff. Both of them were good on the mic. It was a shame that the match never materialized. Pillman would get into a really bad car accident about a month after this, shattering his ankle. Vince would still go on to offer Pillman a high paying contract, bringing him to the WWF during the Summer of 96.

ECW Tag Championship: The Eliminators (ch) vs Buh Buh Ray Dudley & Hack Myers

Eliminators are in the middle of their first Tag Team title run. They come out first, and Saturn is noticeably more muscular here as well. A lot of guys in ECW were getting jacked up during this time.

Buh Buh comes out next and is over as fuck. He gets out into the crowd and leads them on with a "BUH! BUH! BUH!" stuttering chant.

The Eliminators gang up on Buh Buh early on until Big Dick comes in with a crutch across Kronus' back. Referees come out and try to get Big Dick out of the ring. The tape cuts ahead to Hack Myers dropping Saturn and Kronus with his "SHAH" punches. The Eliminators gain the upper hand and knock Buh Buh out into the crowd.

Total Elimination on Hack Myers for the win. Pretty short clip.

I'm not going to try to give this a score since it was just a short highlight clip of the match. I wasn't very impressed by what little I saw. Hack Myers overness seems to have faded quite a bit compared to the 95 tapes. All in all this was pretty much just a squash match as the Eliminators were being built up as the greatest tag team in wrestling. They were still pretty green here, so I didn't see anything to get excited about in this clip.

Chris Jericho vs Taz

Jericho makes his way out first to a White Zombie song. He had already wrestled Rob Van Dam(as well as teamed with him for a tag match) prior to this event, and he was being pushed as a young, technical whiz-kid, and the "Last Survivor of the Hart Family Dungeon". Taz comes out next to his "War Machine" music, accompanied by Fonzie.

Taz locks Jericho in a cross armbreaker type armbar as Fonzie taunts Jericho from the outside. The crowd gets behind Jericho here and starts chanting "LIONHEART!". Jericho looks pretty good against Taz, reversing a standing switch and dropping him with a German Suplex followed by his springboard dropkick(while Taz is on the apron). Jericho follows it up with a nice springboard plancha to the outside.

Jericho looks pretty good for the first several minutes. He lands the Lionsualt, and gets a 2 count. The fans in the front row scream at the referee for a slow count, cussing him, and calling him a "STUPID MOTHERFUCKER". :lol: Taz locks Jericho up from behind. Jericho tries to hit him with a backwards elbow, but Taz ducks, causing Jericho to spin around. Taz dumps him over with a really nice Norther Lights Suplex with an awesome bridge for a 2 count. Taz tries to throwd Jericho with a belly to back suplex, but Jericho does a moonsault and lands on his feet. Jericho drops Taz with a thrustkick and the crowd goes wild.

Jericho attempts a lariat, but Taz counters and turns it into a head and arm overhead suplex. Jericho gets dumped on his head. Chris Jericho acts like his neck is hurt and the referee stops the match. Jericho protests the decision with the referee, and gets him to restart the match.

Taz ducks under a kick and tosses Jericho with a German Suplex before locking him into the Tazmission. Taz chokes Jericho out and keeps the hold on well after the bell rings. Guido comes out to try to get Taz to release the hold, but it's no use. The Eliminators come out and try to talk Taz into releasing the hold, but it doesn't work. Brian Pillman comes running out to the ring to help his fellow Hart Dungeon alumni. Pillman jumps around the ring acting crazy challenging Taz. Taz dumps Guido on his head and Pillman changes his mind. Pillman retreats to the isle. El Puerto Ricano comes out and gets dropped on his way to the ring by Pillman. Pillman dumps Ricano on the concrete with a suplex before fleeing the scene. Shane Douglas comes running out with a chair chasing after him.

Pillman leaps into the arms of the Eagles football player that is bodyguarding him. The guy carries Pillman out the front door of the Arena as Shane is held back by a group of face wrestlers. Taz and Fonzie retreat victorious over the last survivor of the Dungeon as Shane and the face wrestlers check on Jericho.

6.9/10

This wasn't a bad match at all. It wasn't really good though. They did a pretty good job of elevating Jericho over the course of this 2 day show. He wasn't really anybody to be taken seriously until he got the clean pin over Cactus Jack. Then he actually manages to hold his own against the terminator that is Taz. There were a couple of cool moves in the match, but overall there just wasn't anything there to get excited about. Taz's ascension continues. As a big fan of MMA, I highly recommend any other fans of the sport to check out the Taz fictional MMA character in ECW, even if pro wrestling isn't your thing. My little brother is a no frills, no nonsense type of dude that doesn't care for pro wrestling, but he really likes what I've shown him of the character so far. Absolutely one of my favorite things about ECW.

The chaos that ensued at the end of the match was nice too. This was the third time in this show that we had a Pillman/Douglas incident, so you can kind of see how they would use these big shows for several weeks of television shows, all filmed in one shot. They probably spread the events of this feud at this show over 3 different episodes of Hardcore TV. I don't have any of the Hardcore TV shows from 1996, but I'm starting to think that I need to get them. I've been told that 96 was the absolute peak of Hardcore TV. One thing that I'm missing from the spring 96 episodes are all of the pre-recorded Pillman promos that were being aired during this time. Ad's for his personal 1-900 number, all kinds of shit. I really need to pick this set up, but I want to keep this thread rolling along(I already have all of the major shows from 96). I may review through the 96 season of Hardcore TV another time in a dedicated thread.

2 Out of 3 Falls: Rey Misterio vs Juventud Guerrera

I'm going to go ahead and spoil it for you now, this is one of my favorite wrestling matches ever.

Mysterio offers a handshake, but Juvy spits in Rey's face. Rey returns the favor. They exchange in a nice, fast technical grappling sequence where Juvy targets Rey's legs with holds. Rey locks Juvy in a bridging leg grapevine move. Juvy lands a northern lights suplex. Rey gets Juvy up to the top rope and gets a Hurricanrana for a 2 count. Juvy sends Rey into the ropes. Rey comes back and lands a sunset flip that is reversed by Juvy for 2.

All of that in the opening 30 seconds of this match. Awesome.

The crowd gives both men a nice standing ovation for their opening sequence. They tie back up in a test of strength with Juvy getting the upper hand on Mysterio. Rey monkey flips Juvy over and....

Fuck it. They are just moving way too fast. :lol:

Incredible pace of action here with these rollup attempts. They reverse each other with several near falls before rising to their feet. Juvy blasts Rey with brutal chops. They take it outside the ring where Rey does a nice moonsault off of the ropes, bouncing his thighs off ala Sabu.

The crowd really starts getting into the match. E! C! DUB! chants.

They go back into the ring where Rey goes up top. Juvy follows him up and lifts him up on his shoulders from behind. Rey rolls down his back for a rollup attempt. Juvy kicks out and drops Rey with a nice brainbuster. The crowd reactions are just awesome. Everyone screams "OH!" with every move. Juvy hits Rey with a flip kick, a spinning back kick to the midsection, and then a dragon suplex for the first pinfall.

Juvy goes up 1-0.

Rey retreats to the outside to recover for a moment. He gets back in the ring and the crowd cheers them on as they go right back at it. Rey bounces off the ropes and hits Juvy with a shoulder block, sending both of them down to the mat. They both simultaneously kip up to their feet. Rey hits Juvy with a quick hurricanrana and the crowd goes crazy.

Rey backs Juvy into the corner and blasts his chest with chops. Juvy reverses a whip into the opposite corner, but Rey moves out of the way of his splash. Juvy crashes into the corner before falling into the canvas upside down. Rey knocks Juvy to the outside and lands a nice hurricanrana off of the top rope, knocking him down to the floor.

Rey then does an awesome somersualt over the top rope down onto Juvy on the outside. These guys are totally stealing the show here, hot crowd.

Juvy kicks out of a powerbomb and a springboard moonsault off of the second rope. Juvy catches Rey with a clothesline, followed by several nice kicks. Juvy runs to the corner and attempts to springboard off of the turnbuckles for a press, but Rey drills him with a beautiful dropkick to the ribs in mid air. I love this shit.

reyandjuvi5sh.jpg

Rey drops Juvy with a sit out doctor bomb for the pinfall, evening it up 1-1.

They take a brief break before reengaging. Juvy lands a stiff dropkick to Rey before propping him up on the top rope. Juvy knocks Rey to the floor with a dropkick and follows him out to throw him over the railing into the crowd. Juvy adjusts the railing and lands a fucking awesome asai moonsault out into the crowd.

Juvy rolls Rey into the ring and hits him with a springboard spinning heel kick for 2. Juvy motions to the crowd for one more, but he goes for a springboard somersault legdrop. Rey moves out of the way, sending Juvy crashing into the canvas. Rey props Juvy up on the top and goes for a hurricanrana, but Juvy pushes him off. Rey does a backflip down to his feet on the canvas. Juvy leaps off for a hurricanrana, but Rey counters it with a powerbomb for 2.

The speed of the match is just fucking amazing. It's hard to keep up with really. I love it. The crowd is just really into this match, gasping and screaming "OH!" with every move.

Rey lands a northern lights suplex, followed by a springboard moonsault attempt. Juvy moves out of the way but Rey lands on his feet. Juvy lifts him up for a press into a fall away slam. Really awesome move. Rey then spinkicks Juvy to the outside and headscissors him from a baseball slide out of the ring. Rey takes it out into the crowd and hits Juvy with a chair shot to the head. He goes back up to the ring and hits Juvy with another nice somersault plancha into the second row of the crowd.

Rey drags Juvy through the crowd to the front door of the arena, slamming him into the steel door. They take it out to the corner of Swanson and Rittner streets where Juvy powerbombs Rey down onto the hood of a nearby car followed by a splash, but Rey kicks him as he runs in. Rey stands up and leaps off of the hood of the car onto Juvy with a hurricanrana to the concrete!

One of my favorite spots. Lovely.

Rey drags Juvy back inside to the ring and smashes a steel chair over his head. The crowd chants for a table and Rey sets one up. Juvy gets back in the ring and Rey tries to hit him with a splash in the corner. Juvy moves out of the way and Rey hits the post. Juvy sets Rey up on the top rope for a splash mountain, but Rey counters it with a hurricanrana for the final pinfall.

Rey wins it after nearly 17 minutes. He takes Juvy to the outside and powerbombs him through the table after the match. The fucking crowd goes apeshit with the E! C! DUB! chants. Awesome fucking match.

10/10

Yeah this isn't the Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair kind of 10/10, this is just an all out action fest with some crazy shit. I loved every single second of it. It didnt' really tell any stories, and the selling wasn't anything to brag about, but the speed, athleticism, and agility of these two men was incredible. I loved everything about this. Absolutely one of the best matches in ECW history, and in 1996 pro wresting in general in my opinion.

Cactus Jack vs Mikey Whipwreck

This is one of the more emotional moments in ECW history as it is Foley's final appearance in ECW. He comes out with a wad of tape on his cheek for some reason. This is really a fitting end to his career considering the storyline with Mikey. The two won the tag titles in 94, and even after Cactus' heel turn in 95, he would come out and try to celebrate Mikey's title victory over the Sandman. Raven's mind games turned Cactus against Mikey, but Mikey would get some revenge on him at the last show with quite possibly the sickest chair shot I've ever seen(while Foley was handcuffed and in Shane Douglas' figure four).

Foley comes out and gets a really emotional standing ovation from all of the fans in the Arena. He gets the mic before the match and tells Mikey that he'll be able to tell his kids one day that he wrestled Cactus Jack's last match, but he'll be damned if he thinks he's going to beat him.

Mikey is wearing a neckbrace for some reason.

They engage in a slow paced, boring brawl early on. Cactus lands a stiff as hell elbow to Mikey's head and Mikey returns the favor by brutally slamming his head into the steel railing on the outside. They take it back into the ring with a steel chair where Mikey lands a side russian leg sweep. Cactus dumps Mikey over the top rope down onto the table, but the table doesn't break. Pretty nasty landing there.

Cactus goes outside and suplexes Mikey into the table, but it still doesn't break. Cactus goes up to the second rope and drops his fucking classic elbow drop to the concrete. Very nice. Cactus gets the crutch from his friend at ringside and hits Mikey with it. Mikey gets up and thrustkicks a steel chair into Cactus' face. Mikey then knocks him out into the crowd and proceeds to brawl with him, whipping him into the rail, and hitting him with a plancha from the ring. They brawl back towards the ring and eventually back inside where Cactus locks Mikey in the mandible claw. Interesting.

Cactus drops Mikey with the double arm DDT, but Mikey kicks out of a cover at 2. Cactus continues to dominate Mikey, taking him back outside the ring and brawling some more. They take it back into the ring where Mikey lands 5 chair shots to the head, but Cactus kicks out of a cover. They brawl back out to the outside of the ring and eventually through the crowd up towards the sound stage/balcony. Mikey does a nice dive off of the balcony onto Cactus.

They take it back to the ring where Mikey tries to land a splash off the top, but Cactus lands an elbow on his way down. Cactus gets the chair and beats on Mikey before piledriving him down into it for the pinfall. Cactus wins.

Really awesome standing ovation for Mick Foley here after the match. Everyone in the arena is standing and cheering for him. They start chanting CACTUS!. Really cool moment. Cactus pulls Mikey up and embraces him as the crowd cheers. Foley looks around at the crowd with the mic in his hand as they cheer him on. This song plays in the background:

[youtube]i-ZUXQuFcnw[/youtube]​

Foley then bids farewell to ECW:

This is one screwed up place.(Loud E! C! DUB! chants)

Leaving this arena is almost as hard, as having to sue my uncle Eric.

I've said some pretty outrageous things, and to have 99% of you give me this kind of reception, makes it all seem worth it. (loud cheers)

And you know, there were times when I really hated getting out into this ring in front of you people.

These 4 hour shows that ECW puts on, I got to tell you I sat in the back in front of the monitor, and had the time of my life for about 3 hours and 45 minutes of it, until it came time to come out here.

But I'll tell you what I seen when I was watching those shows, that's never been in any other organization I've been in, and that's a group of people that give a damn!

A group of people that root for their fellow wrestlers, and don't sit back there waiting for them to screw up.

So listen, if this organization can last without Terry Funk, it sure as hell can make it without Cactus Jack.....

Hey, it's true.

There's a whole lot of talent in the back there that's just dying to be seen here, this is the highlight for them, and I can tell you with a fact that the people in New York City are a bunch of scum bags(huge pop, followed by emotional "FUCK NEW YORK!" chants in response to them booing Cactus the previous night).

So, from guys like Hack Myers who had to go to the hospital tonight for a shoulder injury, to guys that just want to come in and show what they can do like the Eliminators, to somebody like Sabu that's risked his life week in and week out here, I'm pretty sure this place can get by without Cactus Jack.

But I'd like to thank....I'd like to thank....

Hey, if me and sign guy can remain friends, and he started this whole thing....(reaches out of the ring and shakes hands with Sign Guy in the front row, who is visibly emotional. He then takes his shirt off and throws it out to his handicapped friend that always hands him his crutch, John, who immediately starts tearing up).

Lets hear it for John!

*crowd emotionally applauds as Cactus gets out of the ring and gives John a hug. Foley cut a promo at a previous show talking about how he would pick this guy up and drop him off before and after ECW shows. He's a mentally handicapped gentleman, and he clings to Foley in tears here as the crowd applauds them. Incredibly emotional moment with fans in the background crying.*

He's afraid to let go of me because he thinks you'll see him crying.

*At this point you can see Cactus tearing up and trying to keep from crying*

This is my show man.

There's two guys back there, who need some special mention. Two guys sitting in the chairs right now that really are ECW. Lets face it, without them there wouldn't be an ECW. One of them is a creative genius, and the other one is a visionary who put it all together.

The heartbreak kid Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie!

*Stevie and the Meanie come out and dance in the ring as Sanatra's "New York New York" plays in the background.*

I'd like to see Paul Heyman and Todd Gordon out here!

Hey Paul!

Let's get Paul E. out here.

Paul if you're being shy, I'm right here, and all bullshit aside, we all appreciate everything you've done here, every one of us.

And what I'd like to do right now, I'd like to strut out of the ECW Arena. HIT THE MUSIC!

Foley salutes the crowd one final time and makes his exit with Stevie and the Meanie.

10/10

This is just another one of those real heartfelt, emotional ECW moments. It's only fitting that Foley be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. I'd say he deserved a spot in the hall for his ECW work alone, let alone what he did in the WWE over the next 4 years after this. This was just a really awesome ECW moment even though it was a tremendous loss. Foley deserved the shot at the big time, and he played a HUGE roll in them becoming a much better promotion through 1996 on into the Attitude Era. Foley was a key factor in the way the WWF overcame WCW in the Monday Night Wars.

One interesting thing that I just now realized, is that this whole time in 1996 that Mankind was wrestling in ECW, they were airing the early vignette videos for Mankind like this one:

[youtube]eHoqocd0i1Q[/youtube]​

They would air these disturbing, short promos all through February and March of 96(this show is on March 9th) up until his debut on Raw on April 1st(when he immediately kickstarted his feud with Taker). A few months later he would wrestle the epic match against HBK. It's interesting that the WWE was allowing Foley to wrestle in ECW even after they started airing vignettes for his character. Foley also wrestled a deathmatch in FMW around this time before finally making his WWF debut.

So think about it for a second. ECW had Brian Pillman(a contracted WCW wrestler) and Mick Foley(a contracted WWF wrestler) under the same roof on the same show. That's pretty cool. I always say that ECW, WWF, and WCW altogether made pro wrestling very awesome from 1996 to mid 98, and that if you were missing either one of the 3, you weren't really getting the bigger picture of what was going on in the industry. This single show is a pretty good example of what I meant by that. It was like both WWF and WCW were using ECW as a farm league at the same time. Such a crazy era that will never be duplicated or equaled in wrestling again. It was an atmosphere that will never again be recreated.
 
Big Ass Extreme Bash Part II

The Bruise Brothers vs The Pitbulls

It seems to me that the Pitbulls have really just faded out over the past couple of shows. They were in a pretty heated feud with The Eliminators, but they kind of wound up on the weak end of it after losing to them multiple times. Francine is with the Pitbulls and she's smoking hot as always. The Bruise Brothers are Ron and Don Harris, or Jacob and Eli Blu, or Skull & 8-Ball.

This match is clipped, and that's probably a good thing. Pretty sloppy brawl so far. Typical ECW crowd brawling tag team match. The thing about that is that this shit isn't much to see on a tv screen, but it's probably a lot of fun to experience if you were actually in that crowd. The fans in the crowd are just having a blast in this match as the wrestlers beat the shit out of each other all through the crowd and up through the bleachers. With that said though this kind of shit is just kind of boring to watch on TV.

The Pitbulls superbomb one of the Bruise brothers, but The Fabulous Ones, Stevie & The Meanie come out to interfere. Francine fights the Blue Meanie until she gets dropped by Stevie Richards.

Tommy Dreamer comes out and beats the shit out of Stevie and the Blue Meanie, still nursing an injured shoulder from a previous show. The crowd eats it up as he kicks Stevie and the Meanie's asses with the Pit Bulls. This thing just degenerates into a wild, chaotic brawl and the crowd is absolutely going fucking crazy eating it up.

Dreamer and the Pitbulls stand tall. The Bruise Brothers escape Dreamer's revenge from the previous show. I like how they've transformed this Dreamer/Raven feud into a Sandman vs Raven feud with Dreamer being tormented by Raven's lackeys for most of this year. They managed to keep Raven vs Dreamer interesting for a real long time, and that's why it was so great.

6/10

Can't say much for the clips of the actual tag match, or anything about this segment to be honest. Nothing special here at all. The storyline continues though with Dreamer seeking revenge for the Bruise Brothers attack at the last show.

Sabu vs Big Titan

Who the fuck is Big Titan?!

He's a pretty big guy in decent shape, but I've never seen him anywhere outside of this show. Joey says that he's from FMW. The match clips ahead to a shot of Titan doing a dive through a table after Sabu rolls off of it. Titan dominats Sabu with power moves until Sabu counters a move with a DDT into a chair.

Sabu picks up another win, and remains undefeated since returning from WCW in November of 95.

I honestly don't know how to score a match like this because it's been cut. I wasn't impressed at all with the action that they did show, and I can only imagine what kind of shit they edited out of the match. If I had a gun to my head I'd probably give this thing a 4 or 5 out of 10. Nothing to see here at all.

ECW Championship: Raven (ch) vs Shane Douglas

Raven is on crutches due to Gout in his foot. He is accompanied by Kimona, Stevie, and the Blue Meanie.

Stevie gets the mic before the match taunts Shane Douglas. Shane gets blindsided by Raven as he's distracted with his goons. Raven works Shane over while selling the gout in his foot. They mostly brawl in and out of the ring, but it isn't really a bad match. They manage to make it look good, and Raven's injured foot keeps it interesting. Not much for good "wrestling", but it's developed into an interesting matchup nonetheless. The thing I've realized over this show and the previous one I reviewed, is that while Shane was being booked as a strait up face(Feuding with the top heels in ECW), he still had that mean streak in him that he had as a heel. He's still got that calculated, ruthless side to him. He made deals with both The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer at the previous ECW shows, getting both of them to agree to give each other a title shot first if they manage to get the belt from Raven. Pretty cool angle with all 3 men wanting Raven, with Shane Douglas manipulating both Dreamer and the Sandman in the middle of it all.

Shane eventually drops Raven with a DDT on a steel chair and goes for the pinfall, but Kimona Wanalaya's sexy ass comes into the ring and breaks up the pinfall. Shane pulls her over his knee and gives her a spanking.

Kimona does some really sexy moves on the ground signaling to Shane that she liked it. Very hot woman with some really good moves(former exotic dancer). JEEZUS!:stalker:

The mutants in the crowd are going crazy. :lol:

Kimona slowly gets back up to her feet and distracts Shane. Shane feels her tits up and gives her a kiss before pushing her to the ground by her face. Joey's commentary during all of this is pretty hilarious. Shane pulls Raven up and beats his ass. Raven drops him with a low blow.

Raven still doing a pretty good job of selling his injured foot. Shane pulls the referee in front of him to absorb a chair shot from Raven. The ref goes down. Douglas drops Raven with his own crutch. The Meanie and Stevie come into the ring and attack Shane. Douglas moves out of the way of a moonsault from the Meanie and cleans house with Belly to Belly Suplexes for everyone, including Raven.

Douglas goes for the pin, but the ref is still down. The Bruise Brothers come out and attack Shane. They leave the scene.

Douglas and Raven go back at it 1 on 1. They fight it out pretty fiercely over a chair, but Raven eventually gets the clean win with a DDT on the chair. The Fabulous Ones celebrate the victory as Raven calls the Bruise Brothers to come back out. The Bruise Brothers prepare to post Douglas' crotch, but Tommy Dreamer comes running out. Dreamer attacks the Bruise Brothers, but he's soon overwhelmed. The Bruise Brothers beat up Tommy and Shane as Raven sits in the corner calling shots. The Bruise Brothers prepare to post Dreamer's crotch, but Sandman comes running out.

Sandman canes everyone down.

Dreamer drops Raven with a DDT on the chair and puts his bad foot in the chair. Sandman and Dreamer argue about who gets to take the shot at Raven, but Shane Douglas hits him with a dive as they argue. Raven rolls out of the ring in pain as Shane laughs and watches Dreamer and the Sandman arguing. Tommy retreats from the ring and leaves. Douglas laughs everytime Sandman turns his back on him. Sandman threatens to cane Douglas down, but Shane screams at him to remember the deal.

2 Cold Scorpio comes running out and tries to get Sandman to focus on the tag team match in the main event as the segment comes to an end.

7.5/10

I really like how they have this setup in ECW right now with Raven as the top heel feuding with Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, and the Sandman, who are starting to fight with each other over who gets the shots at Raven. Shane Douglas' slimy, manipulative heelish ways turning everything upside down adds an interesting element to it all. I really like it. The match really wasn't bad at all. One of the better Raven brawls for sure. I like the way he sold the gout through the match, and as always drawing heat by getting others to do most of his dirty work with his David Coresh style mental influence. Really awesome character with some really awesome feuds going on. Definitely ahead of it's time for what else was going on during this time in 1996.

Three Way Dance: The Gangstas vs Sandman & Too Cold Scorpio vs The Headhunters

Sandman and Scorpio come out with Missy Hyatt, who is another hottie. Sandman smokes and guzzles beer as Enter Sandman plays on. The Headhunters come out next with Damien Kane and his Valet(Lady Alexander?). They come out to "March of the Trooper" by Stormtroopers of Death.


Scorpio and Sandman immediately go to town with the canes on the two Headhunters, eventually even laying into Damien Kane. Damien Kane and The Headhunters get the canes from Scorpio and Sandman and beat the shit out of them with them. Lady Alexander and Missy Hyatt have the obligatory cat fight with a pull apart by a bunch of security guards.

Really sloppy, bad match so far. Nothing but cane shots pretty much. One of the Headhunter twins hits a moonsault on Scorpio. The Headhunters continue to beat on Sandman and Scorpio until The Gangstas come out to a massive pop.

Man, this is seriously a clusterfucked mess. The crowd is not even really into it. All 6 men just brawl around the ring in a sloppy ass mess. 2 Cold Scorpio drops the 450 Splash on one of the Headhunters, eliminating them first. The Headhunters remain in the match even after being eliminated. They fight with Sandman on the outside while The Gangstas double team Scorpio in the ring. Mustapha drives Scorpio into the mat with a powerslam, followed by a pretty nice flying headbutt from New Jack.

The Gangstas win it. The crowd cheers them on as they celebrate. They are pretty over here.

New Jack and Mustapha celebrate the win and that's a wrap.

6/10

Pretty goofy for this to be the main event over the Shane Douglas vs Raven match, but I'm not a real big nitpicker on match placing on cards. It started out as a really sloppy brawl, but it was kind of short and sweet as the eliminations started happening pretty quickly. There just wasn't really any substance to this brawl. No real emotion or backstory. No fury. No real violence either. It may be due to the backlash from the networks that were airing ECW at this time, but I've noticed a huge cut back in blood during the past few shows. I'm not saying blood makes matches like these better, just an interesting observation about these past two shows.

One positive from this match was that the Gangstas came out of it looking like a premier tag team in ECW, as well as one of the most over acts in ECW.

Overall: 10/10

Even though a majority of the matches were clipped(mostly just the bad ones, Sabu vs Titan, JT vs Axl, Pitbulls vs Bruise Bros), and indeed far from perfect, I still really feel like this is one of the best ECW shows. There wasn't a Malenko vs Guerrero caliber match like Hostile City Showdown, and it wasn't as monumental for ECW as November to Remember 95, but it just felt like an overall better show than both of those. You had one of the best ECW matches of all time in Rey vs Juvy, Foley's emotional farewell, Brian F'N Pillman in the absolute prime of his "Loose Canon" character, some nice storyline progression with the whole Raven vs Sandman vs Dreamer vs Shane Douglas angle, and a decent Taz vs Jericho match(with a nice Taz vs Bigelow confrontation). On top of all that you had a really awesome crowd for this show. The emotions in everyone's faces during Cactus' farewell was just kind of tear jerking. A really cool atmosphere here and one of the absolute best ECW shows you could possibly get your hands on. If you're looking for ECW shows to check out to get an idea of what it was all about, I'd definitely recommend this one.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Massacre On Queens Bullevard

April 13th, 1996
Lost Battalion Hall
Queens, NY​

Well, we're going back to the dingy Lost Battalion Hall in Queens for ECW's fourth New York City show. Their first 3 were record breaking(for ECW), and stacked to the hilt with big money names. The Lost Battalion Hall is not to be confused with the Elks Lodge in Queens, which was the home away from home for ECW in the later years. The LBH was a dingy dump that looked like an old run down high school basketball gym. The place did have a certain charm to it though.

Not a lot has happened in between this show and the last. The major happening was Brian Lee coming over to be Raven's enforcer. Brian Lee wrestled in the WWF as the fake Undertaker(he's actually his real life cousin, and looks just like American Badass Taker in this ECW run), in Smoky Mountain, and later as Chainz in the DOA. Brian Lee would feud with Tommy Dreamer for most of 96 while Raven was busy with The Sandman. Other than that, Cactus was already gone playing Mankind in the WWF. Brian Pillman got into a pretty nasty accident in a Hummer, crippling his leg beyond repair. Pillman was on several episodes of Hardcore TV in the spring of 96, cutting some classic promos. He also had his own 1-900 number(which was a rib on anyone who ever called it, I'd love to hear it). Pillman also had a strong presence on the internet for a long time, supposedly even after he died in 97. Through it all, Vince Mcmahon seen a lot of potential in Brian Pillman, even after he injured his leg. Vince signed Pillman to a pretty good deal in mid 96 even though he was injured from the accident.

So this show is about a month before WCW Slamboree, 2 weeks before IYH 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies, and about a week before Hostile City Showdown 96. Lets open up the curtains of the Theatre and take a look at ECW in the Big Apple.

Buh Buh Ray & Big Dick Dudley vs Damien Stone & JT Smith

Joel Gertner is our ring announcer for this show. JT Smith and Little Guido come out first. JT says that he did some research about his family tree, and he just so happens to have a cousin in ECW, Little Guido. JT tells Guido that he's from Sicily, Guido calls him Paisan as they kiss like the mobsters from the Godfather films. Smith and Guido try to get the crowd to sing along with them as they sing Sinatra. The crowd is just not into these guys at all right here. Gertner's intros are pretty good.

Gertner announces Damien Stone, and JT corrects him, getting him to announce that he's Little Guido.

The wacky Dudley clan comes out next. The Mexican/Indian Dudley is being pushed to the ring on a stretcher by Sign Guy. Still no D-Von yet.

Big Dick Dudley was always a really big guy, but he always had a knee brace on and a crutch as if he were just coming off of knee surgery. What was with this? It was every time you seen this guy from 1995 to 1998 he always had an injured knee.

The whole crowd gets a "What's your name!" chant going. Buh Buh acts ******ed before doing his stuttering "Buh Buh" bit, but he's interrupted by D-Von! It's about fucking time. The wacky comedic relief era of the Dudley family is officially over. D- Von storms the ring and interrupts Buh Buh's stuttering, screaming at him that the bullshit comes to an end. D-Von tells everyone who he is, and says that thou shalt not fuck with the Dudleyz. He's kind of going for a Sameul L. Jackson Pulp Fiction type of character here.

D-Von knocks Guido out of the ring and strait up beats the shit out of him. Buh Buh and JT go at it in the ring. D-Von destroys Guido with a chair on the outside of the ring as JT Smith moves out of the way of a splash in the ring. Smith does a weird springboard splash off of the ropes and goes for a pin, but D-Von comes in and kicks his ass with a chair. They beat the shit out of everyone, even the referee. Brutal chair shots. The crowd goes crazy, even getting an E! C! DUB! chant going.

Ladies and gentleman, one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Formed here before our very eyes. Joel Gertner announces that the Dudleyz are disqualified for attacking the referee. Awarding JT and Guido the win. They beat the referee up some more before leaving the scene. The crowd loves the shit out of them. JT and Guido come out and talk about how they kicked their ass, and they would kick their ass again if they were here. They come back out and smash them again, running them out of the ring.

9/10

Why am I giving this such a high score? The Dudley Boyz are one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Not just ECW. Hell, their TNA careers have shaped up to turn out pretty well recently. This was the beginning of all that. The TLC matches, the riot level heat in their later ECW years as the top heels, all of that. This was a pretty brutal beatdown, and a pretty nice way to repackage your comedy act into a legit threat. Guido and JT Smith were pretty funny, and the crowd was white hot through the whole thing too. Pretty historical moment here. I honestly didn't think D-Von came in for a few more shows, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Dudley-Boyz.jpeg

The Dudleyz were a home grown ECW act that would go on to be very successful in the WWE. It's interesting to think about where Bully Ray and D-Von would be without the Dudley Boyz run in ECW.

Hack Myers vs Billy Black

Alright, this is my first time seeing Billy Black. He's a strait up blast from the past. Classic mullet. Decked out in black gear of course, with a Stevie Rey Vaugh style cowboy hat. This guy looks like a jobber from 1988. Styles says that he's a regular on the southeast circuit, mainly Georgia.

Black dominates early and the crowd immediately starts up with the classic SHAH!/SHIT! chants. Black isn't half bad really. He lands a pretty nice high spot dive off of the top to the outside. Hack Myers throws him over the railing into the crowd, taking out several fans who were nowhere near ready for it. :lol: I love it when that happens.

Billy Black works Hack Myers over, playing the heel. He misses a bulldog off the top, and the crowd lets him have it. I hear some light "YOU FUCKED UP" chants in the background.

Billy Black continues to slow the pace of the match down by dominating Hack Myers, eventually putting him in a body scissors type of hold with his legs. Hack gets out, but Black lands a nice Jumping Calf Kick. Black does a pretty awesome moonsault that Hack moves out of the way of.

Classic heel/face psychology here with Hack working his way back into the match with his 5....er, 3 moves of doom. His "SHAH!" punches, his legdrop on the apron while opponent hanging out on the ropes, and then his double knee driver from the top rope. Myers gets the win after 5:55.

6.4/10

Not a bad match at all. Black wasn't as bad as I thought he would be, judging from his "Jiggalo"esque appearance. This wasn't anything to get excited about, but it wasn't a bad little undercard match at all. Thank god it was short though.

The Eliminators vs Joel Hartgood & El Puerto Ricano

This is just a classic ECW squash match. The Eliminators have improved a lot by this point. They were really green in their early stages in ECW, but by this event they were starting to get a good rhythm together, with a nice arsenal of moves that you didn't see a lot in tag team wrestling back during these days.

Saturn and Kronus are coming off of their feud with the Pit Bulls, where they defeated them in several matches. They are the tag team champions here, but I'm not sure this is a title match. Hartgood and Ricano were both jobbers, so I think this may just be a non title match, who knows.

Saturn and Kronus blindside Hartgood and Ricano with their belts before tossing them around with simultaneous suplexes. They do a sequence of kicks on Ricano before flooring Hartgood with another pretty awesome looking sequence. Saturn gets a chair and they do the Legion of Doom move on both men before some of the most brutal Total Eliminations of all time. If you don't know what the Total Elimination move is, it's Saturn doing a spinning back kick to the legs, while Kronus simultaneously does a spinning back kick to the upper body in the opposite direction. Really devastating looking tag team move. They land it on these two guys and it literally looks like it kills them. Really, really good squash match. Probably one of my favorite of all time, and one of my favorite Eliminators matches of all time.

The Eliminators call out the Gangstas after the match. The music hits and the Gangstas storm the ring with trashcans full of weapons. We have a full on brawl going on.

New Jack and Mustapha beat on The Eliminators until a bunch of mid card wrestlers storm the ring to separate them. New Jack hits a cop. The police arrest both New Jack and Mustapha, escorting both of them out of the arena in handcuffs.

8.5/10

This wasn't as good as the Taz squashes, but it's up there in brutality. The Eliminators looked like a million bucks, and setting up a rivalry with them against The Gangstas, who were probably the top face tag team in ECW at this point, was a pretty good move. Pretty chaotic scene with The Gangstas being arrested. Overall this was a pretty good segment.

ECW World Championship: Raven vs Damien 666

Raven comes out first with Kimona, who is on fire hot. She works the crowd with some moves that you would see at your local strip club. I'd have to say that Kimona brought sex to wrestling like no other Diva or valet in wrestling I've ever seen. She had moves like no other. Must see.

The Blue Meanie and Stevie also come out with Raven. They do a little pose mocking HBK and Diesel. Stevie is wearing a catchers mask for some reason.

Damien 666 is a luchadore from Mexico. He wasn't one of the better ones, but he was pretty good. He has a nephew or a son(I forget) who has wrestled some pretty good matches at the recent Extreme Reunion shows(Bestia 666). Damien also wrestled occasionally in the WCW cruiser division from time to time. He had some weird face paint that is a bit hard to explain in words.

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Before the match begins a woman comes into the ring from the crowd. She tackles the Meanie to the ground and sprays him down with whipped cream. Raven stops it by pulling the girl up by a handful of hair. Kimona stops Raven from hitting her. Raven smacks Kimona down to the ground. Stevie gets up in Raven's face questioning him. Raven just gives him a look and Stevie starts stomping on Kimona.

Kimona gets rolled out of the ring and carried to the back by referees. Stevie gets the mic and insults Damien 666, asking if he knows any English. Damien gets close to the microphone and puts his middle finger up in Stevie's face, screaming "FUCK YOU!"

Raven and Damien hook it up. Raven is bulked up with some big arms. Raven makes Damien look good early on. Damien lands a DDT, followed by a dropkick that sends him out of the ring. Damien lands planchas on Raven and the Meanie before sending Raven over the railing into the crowd. Damien pulls Raven back over to the ringside area only to send him over into the other side of the crowd. Raven gets beaten with chair shots for a while before Damien takes it back to the ring. Damien continues to dominate Raven, landing an Arabian facebuster with a chair, followed by a series of moves from the top rope. Damien goes to the well one time too many, and gets caught by Raven.

Raven tosses Damien off to top to the outside, sending him crashing into the railing. Pretty stiff bump there. Raven throws Damien over into the crowd with another really good looking bump. The crowd finally starts getting into the match as Raven starts to work his way into it.

Raven takes Damien back into the ring and works him over like a heel should do. He slows the pace down a lot and targets Damien's groin. Damien sells the groin as Raven keeps posing in front of him in his classic crucifix pose. He poses for too long and Damien hits him with a low blow. Damien hits Raven with several kicks before getting a chair from the crowd. Raven gets the chair from him, but misses a splash in the corner with it. Damien smashes Raven with the chair on his back.

Damien goes back into his cycle of moves off of the top rope, going to the well one time too many, once again. Raven counters a hurricanrana into a powerbomb, then pulls him up and spikes him with a DDT for the win.

7/10

Not a bad match at all. Damien just wasn't a real charismatic or athletic guy, so he didn't really do anything that looked great or anything, but he worked a pretty decent match here with Raven. The psychology was there. The selling was poor, but the pace of the match wasn't bad at all. There were a few stiff bumps, and the brawling on the outside of the ring had a nice flow to it.

Shane Douglas vs Axl Rotten

This matchup is a hipster internet wrestling fan's nightmare.:lol: I know it's against the IWC rules to respect anything that Shane Douglas has ever done in his career, but I think he was one of the greatest Worked Shoot promo men of all time, and one of the guys that popularized them to begin with. I watched an episode of WCW Nitro from 97 recently where Kevin Nash cuts a worked shoot promo about Ric Flair, and it's a nearly word for word identical promo to what Douglas said in his "Evolution of a Franchise" promo from ECW Hardcore TV in 95(which I covered in great detail a few pages back). As for Axl, yeah he was shit, but I'd take him over Brodus Clay or Santino any day of the week and twice on sunday. Really he was just in the same boat as those guys though, he was just cannon fodder. All promotions need cannon fodder. Some critics make it out like ECW pushed Axl or something. He was primarily just a jobber.

Shane comes out first and singles out a fan in the front row. You all know the guy. If you have ever seen a wrestling pay per view from the 90's, you have seen this guy in the crowd. He's got long black hair and black sunglasses with a black goatee.

Shane singles him out and says:

I see a man who was at WrestleMania, WHO IS STARVED FOR SOME EXCITEMENT!

Cus god knows that after that shit match with Shawn Michaels, this man deserves to see some excitement.

Now, by voice vote, how many thought Shawn Michaels and WrestleMania sucked a big one!?!?(Big pop, the goatee guy, who was actually in the front row for the show, gives a big enthusiastic thumbs down).

I thought it would be unanimous. Shawn Michaels, I'm not talking to you through some computer lines PUNK! Bring that fat little face of yours to ECW, and I'll smack it back to Stamford Connecticut PUNK!

Shawn Michaels, when you got on America Online and said that you didn't want to work in ECW in front of a couple thousand smart marks, I got the reason. Because they see right through that shit gimmick of yours.

Now I ain't hard to find. I came to the great city of New York because....because I wanted to face the toughest sons a bitches in THIS SPORT TODAY!

...And I know in ECW I can find them.

Now it seems we have a bit of a problem ladies and gentleman because Rob Van Dam hurt his wrist and can not receive the ass whoopin' of his lifetime tonight.

So, I offer every wrestler here tonight the same opportunity I gave to "Dick" Flair, to that piece of shit Hulk Hogan, to that ********er Razor Ramon, to that heartburn punk Shawn Michaels....

If you want to fight, if you want to SHOOT....and these people know what a shoot is...come on down.

I know somebody in the dressing room has got the guts, I want to wrestle somebody tonight, CUS THE BLOOD IS FLOWING, AND I WANT TO KICK SOME FUCKING ASS!

Do I think Shane is better than HBK or Razor, or Flair, or even Hogan? Absolutely not, but you don't really have to agree with what he's saying here to appreciate how ballsy and entertaining it was for him to come out and say it. This was a pretty rare deal during this time to have a wrestler come out and challenge the champion from another promotion to a shoot fight. If I were in this crowd when Shane said all of this I would have been marking out pretty hard. I was pretty deflated as a wrestling fan when Bret lost his title to HBK at WrestleMania XII. That was the beginning of me smartening up to how things worked behind the scenes.

The Blue Meanie comes out and Douglas is all WTF?!

The crowd starts chanting YOU FAT FUCK! immediately as the Meanie does an HBK pose. Gertner starts to do intros, but Shane interrupts him and says "This is the best they could find in the dressing room?". Shane says he doesn't want the Meanie, he wants Raven. Axl Rotten comes out and takes the Meanie out with a barbed wire bat. Axl tells Shane that he's the measuring stick of ECW and he wants to find out where he stands.

Axl smacks Shane in the face and tells him to bring it on.

The thing about this match is that if you put down your hipster smark card long enough to watch it, you'll see that it was a match that told a story and had some pretty good selling. Axl dominates Shane early on by taking him out of the ring and outbrawling him. Axl hurts Shane's back with whips into the steel railing. Axl continues to work the back in the ring with Shane doing a great job of selling it and making Axl look like a million bucks. Shane teases a comeback with a few punches and chops, but Axl keeps him in peril, catching him in an abdominal stretch. Shane hiptosses out, but Axl catches him in a bearhug and slams his back into the turnbuckles. Douglas sells it all beautifully. Axl goes up top for a splash, but Shane moves out of the way. Shane works his way back into the match by blocking a DDT. Axl gets tossed to the ground with a nice Dragon Screw Legwhip. Axl goes to the outside, but Shane follows him with a plancha over the top. Shane then targets Axl's back with a steel chair.

Axl teases a comeback of his own, but Shane catches him slipping. Axl hesitates after ducking under a clothesline, and Shane drops him upon turning around with quite possibly the best belly to belly suplex I've ever seen anybody do.

Shane picks up the clean win after 6:55 in match that I really can't find anything wrong with, as much as I want to.

Shane gets the mic after the match and gives Axl props and respect. They shake hands before making their exit. Shane's face run here is growing on me. I kind of forgot about his face run in 96, and I still think he would have been better as a strait up heel during this time.

7/10

I think this is Shane Douglas in the prime of his career here in 96 ECW. He was in the best shape he had ever been in, and he seemed to have a lot of passion for what he was doing. He pulls Axl Rotten through the best match he's ever had, and they worked a really solid short match. The selling, psychology, storytelling was all there. Douglas let up a little on the selling with the back at the end, and there wasn't anything overly impressive as far as action or athleticism, but overall this was about as good of a 6 minute undercard match as your going to get, ECW or otherwise.

Martial Arts Shootfight: Taz vs Chris Jericho

These guys had a decent match at the last ECW show. Jericho is just a clean technical babyface, "The Last Survivor of the Hart Family Dungeon".

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Jericho comes out first with ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon. Gordon is Alphonso's arch enemy. We have a referee in the ring wearing a martial arts gi. Taz comes out with an entire team of guys behind him wearing matching black and orange suits. Team Taz. Bill Alphonso leads them to the ring. I love this. This is them pushing this MMA shoot fighting character even further by giving him his own team of lackey trainees. This reminds me of the way Ken Shamrock would come out to the UFC fights during this time with his Lions Den fighters(Guy Mezger, Jerry Bohlander, Tre Telligman, Pete Williams, and his brother Frank).

Gertner announces that Alphonso and Gordon will be handcuffed together for this match. The special guest referee is Tom Delmano, a supposed black belt in Judo, Karate, and Ju Jitsu.

Fonzie gets the mic and says he hates New York. Taz gets a good pop from the NY fans during the intros.

This is a pretty cool, short little match. My only complaint was that it just wasn't stiff enough for a shoot fight. Jericho threw some good looking kicks and knees, but they just didn't have any pop to them. The actual grappling sequences were nice. Jericho would miss a kick and get caught with a suplex. They take it to the ground with some nice exchanges. Jericho counters a head and arm Tazplex into a Fujiwara armbar. They get back up to their feet with Jericho taking Taz's back. They execute two standing switches followed by a nice German Suplex from Jericho. The referee does a 10 count, and Taz is up at 6.

While all of this is going down in the ring Bill Alphonso keeps trying to get up out of his seat next to Todd Gordon. One of the guys from Team Taz drops the referee on the outside of the ring with a thrust kick. The Team Taz guy gets the key and unlocks the handcuffs. The ref in the gi in the ring is distracted with the downed ref on the outside as Fonzie cracks Jericho with a steel chair. Taz locks on the tazmission and chokes Jericho. The referee calls for the bell even though Jericho never tapped out. The ref gets the chair from Fonzie and asks the crowd if he used it in the match. All of a sudden the ref wearing the gi hits Todd Gordon with the chair. The sensei chokes Todd Gordon out with the tazmisson as Taz chokes Jericho out.

They leave both men laying unconscious. Fonzie pays the sensei off cash money in the center of the ring as Taz strikes a Sabu pose from his knees in the center of the ring. Taz and Fonzie gather Team Taz and make their exit.

8/10

This wasn't much of a match really. It was pretty short, maybe 2 or 3 minutes long. I just love the Taz character here. I love that Joey Styles called him "One of these new hybrid warriors like you see on these Ultimate Fighting pay per views" at one of the previous shows, and now he has his own team of guys to go along with his sleezy piece of shit whistle blowing manager. It's all perfect. One of my favorite things pro wrestling ever did, let alone ECW. This was a pretty cool little match with some nice reversals and counters. Jericho comes out still looking pretty good as Taz's path of destruction through ECW continues. It's interesting to me that Jericho wasn't completely thrown under the bus here and sacrificed to Taz. He actually got a pretty good little rub out of this feud, and came out of the other end of it a bigger deal than he was going into it.

The Bruise Brothers & Brian Lee vs The Pit Bulls & Tommy Dreamer

Say what you will about the actual talent of The Bruise Brother and Brian Lee, but they are 3 really big, intimidating wrestlers. Interesting how they are like hired guns in this storyline to take out Tommy Dreamer. They done fucked up and got the Pitbulls involved.

Dreamer and the Pitbulls storm the ring and this is a fast and furious brawl right from the get go. They take it out into the crowd in the first 2 minutes. Lots of chair shots. This crowd is just going ape shit and having a lot of fun with it. I'm looking at the people in this crowd and I'm seeing a sea of 18 to 30 year old men. No kids or females. The Pitbulls and Dreamer beat the shit out of the Bruise Brothers and Brian Lee all through the crowd as these guys in this crowd just go crazy with the E! C! DUB! chants. Brian Lee takes it behind the bleachers. Nothing pretty about this, except for the occasional shot of Francine in leather. I'm not seeing Beulah at this show for some reason.

Oh shit, they take it out to the lobby of this venue, and eventually out into the parking lot. A bunch of guys follow them out to the street as they beat the shit out of each other. Everybody is loving every minute of this as they slam each other into the cars in the street. All of the fans follow all of the wrestlers back into the arena, everybody trying to get on camera as they scream and go crazy. They eventually make their way back to the ringside area and brawl around the ring with a bunch more chair shots, a chain, and even a burlap sack over Tommy's head. Dreamer and the Pitbulls kick ass in the ring on Brian Lee. Lee gets DDT'd, then Superbombed, but Raven comes out and breaks up the pin. Raven drops Dreamer with a DDT and flees the scene. The Bruise Brothers clean house with chairs. We get a shot of Beulah and Francine together watching distressed as their men get their asses kicked. The Bruise Brothers drop the Pit Bulls with big boots with chairs. Dreamer gets a double big boot with two chairs held by Brian Lee, and it's lights out. Brian Lee and The Bruise Brothers get the win.

Raven comes back out and watches as The Bruise Brothers and Brian Lee target Tommy Dreamer's groin with repeated strikes. Beulah comes in and tries to save her man's manhood. Francine comes in and tries to get Beulah out of the ring, but just as she pushes her, she takes a big boot from the Bruise Brothers. Francine goes down. The Pit Bulls come into the ring fired up, kicking ass. Tommy goes to the outside and brings a table into the ring. Raven attacks him in the ring, sending him into the ropes. Dreamer catches Raven with a DDT. Dreamer poses with his arms up and the crowd goes crazy. The Pit Bulls set Raven up on the table and Dreamer sacrifices himself, allowing the Pit Bulls to superbomb him onto Raven through the table!:stalker:

The crowd eats it up and goes nuts as the Pit Bulls pose in the ring. Dreamer recovers and we have a group pose with Francine and Beulah with the Pitbulls.

8.7/10

This was a pretty cool ECW brawl. It was just crazy, fast paced, and violent. One thing I've noticed about this show, and the past couple of reviews, there hasn't been any blood. The chair shots and random object strikes aren't the types that give concussions. Nobody was hurt in this brawl, but it just looked really violent. They were all over the place. I love the random shot of Dreamer being choked with a burlap sack over his head:lol:. Typical ECW madness. The ending with Raven costing Dreamer, then Dreamer sacrificing himself, I loved it. There wasn't anything pretty about this match, but there was some great storytelling going on here. The Raven vs Dreamer feud had been going strong for about a year by this point, and it was still kicking ass here. These two characters really hated each other and you could feel it every time they were on screen together.

Sabu vs Mikey Whipreck

These two guys had a pretty awesome little 12 minute match that was on Hardcore TV in the spring of 95. That match made my top 25 matches of 95 list. Lets see how the rematch plays out.

I really like Joel Gertner's ring announcing here. He's better than a lot of guys I've heard in my days.

Mikey and Sabu start it off with some nice mat wrestling. They pick each other's ankles for single leg takedowns. Mikey goes after Sabu's leg with a couple of submission attempts. Sabu outgrapples Mikey and hits him with the teeter totter guillotine legdrop. They go move for move until Sabu brings in a chair. Mikey moves out of the way of Air Sabu. Sabu moves out of the way of a springboard splash from Mikey into the corner. Mikey catches Sabu with a swinging DDT out of the corner and goes for a splash off of the top rope. Sabu moves out of the way and lands a fucking awesome looking Triple Jump Moonsault from the chair to the ropes, then down to Mikey. Really love that move, and he landed it perfectly here.

Sabu arranges a table propped up with one end on the apron and the other on the steel rail. Sabu tosses Mikey out into the crowd and runs the table for a splash. They take it back to the ring where Sabu sets Mikey up for a Hurricanrana off the top. Mikey pushes Sabu off to the table below on the outside. Mikey knocks Sabu out into the crowd and lands a dangerous somersault from the ring. He barely misses his head on the guard rail. The crowd blows up with the E! C! DUB! chants.

They take it back to the ring for a brief moment with Sabu landing a few of his springboard/catapult moves. Mikey moves out of the way of a somersault legdrop and hits Sabu with a quick dropkick. They take it back to the outside where Sabu sets another table up in the crowd. The fans move out of the way as Sabu sets Mikey up on the table and gets back in the ring with a chair. Sabu springboards off of a chair to the ropes, performing a somersault out onto the table in the crowd. Mikey moves, and I don't know how Sabu didn't break his fucking back with this crazy motherfucking spot. Good god almighty.

From here the pace of the match slows down to a crawl. Sabu sells his hip so well that you don't know if he's selling or if it's for real. That's always something you had to give Sabu. He knew how to sell the shit and make it look more devastating than it was. His talent for selling mixed with the crazy shit he did really blurred the lines and made you wonder if he was selling at all or if it was all real sometimes. One of the fans in the crowd helps Sabu up as he sells the hip beautifully. He sells the hip to the point where Mikey botches a suplex because Sabu doesn't assist it any way. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Sabu wasn't even selling and actually injured his hip on that spot. Things get real slow and sloppy as Sabu favors his hip. Mikey brings in a chair and looks at Sabu clutching his hip. Mikey opts not to use the chair. Mikey pulls Sabu up in the corner for a move, but Sabu hits him and drops back down to the canvas. Sabu springboards off of the chair up to Mikey to pull him down for a Hurricanrana. Sabu wins it.

Sabu shakes Mikey's hand and gives him respect after the match. The crowd eats it up.

7.7/10

This was a cool, action packed match early on. After the somersault through the table it really slowed down and got sloppy, but I think that was all part of the story the match told. Mikey noticed Sabu's "injury"(which was sold beautifully), and opted not to hit him with the chair, but in the end it cost him the match. Even though Mikey lost the match, he still won Sabu's respect, which might have been just as valuable to Mikey given his reaction. Whoever said ECW was just all violence and no substance? You need to take the hate blinders off and give it a real chance.

Three Way Dance: The Gangstas vs The Headhunters vs The Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio

First shot of this match/segment is a shot of Missy Hyatt's tits and ass all up on the camera shot. Good god almighty. She was the perfect match for The Sandman. Scorpio comes out dancing with a Singapore cane. He is the TV champion here, his fourth reign. Sandman gets up on the apron with Missy Hyatt and pours beer down her tits before lapping it up. Missy dry humps the Sandman on the apron before doing a dance with Scorpio.

Whoa, Damien Kane comes out with his valet and.....The WWF Tag Team championship belts!?!? WTF?!

The Headhunters take it to Scorpio and Sandman and we have a sloppy brawl around the ring to kick it all off. The Gangstas were taken out by the police earlier in the show. The Headhunters beat up on Scorpio and Sandman around the ring with some pretty stiff chair shots. Scorpio goes up top and hits one of the Headhunters with a crazy moonsault out into the crowd for the OH MY GOD!, followed by the loudest E! C! DUB! chants of the evening.

The Headhunters dominate the match early on. Sandman is hit with a powerslam in the ring, but he fires back with a low blow and an elbow that drops one of the 400 pound twins. Sandman goes up top and can't hold his balance. He falls off the ropes to the outside. Damien Kane comes in and gets a cane shot to the face. Damien's valet comes into the ring and Missy Hyatt follower her. We get a CAAAAT FIIIIIGHT!

The Headhunters bring a table into the ring and set The Sandman up on it. The 400 pound Headhunter overshoots the moonsault, and looks to have broken his fucking neck by hitting the table. Good lord. The table doesn't break.

The Gangstas return to the arena and attack the Headhunters.

The Eliminators storm the ring and beat the fuck out of the Gangstas with chair shots. Vicious beat down. Total Elimination on Mustapha and The Eliminators mock the Gangstas X pose. Sandman comes into the ring with Scorpio and confronts The Eliminators. The Eliminators leave the Arena. Scorpio and Sandman start beating up the Gangstas. Scorpio lands a moonsault. The Sandman lands the sloppiest fucking flying elbow drop I've ever seen in my life.

Scorpio tries to pin New Jack, but he kicks out. This match just hits a weird moment where it's like what the fuck is going on? Is the match over or what? The Headhunters are gone, and Scorpio and Sandman just keep beating on The Gangstas, who were already beat up by The Eliminators.

Scorpio brawls with Mustapha up through the crowd to the back of the Arena. Sandman hits New Jack with an elbow from the apron to the floor. Mustapha sends Scorpio through the merchandise table. Sandman continues to kick New Jack's ass in the ring. Scorpio and Mustapha make their way back to the ring. Mustapha fights with Sandman on the outside as Scorpio attacks New Jack in the ring with a chair.

The Gangstas eventually overcome Scorpio and The Sandman. Mustapha lands the hardest chair shot of the evening on The Sandman. They land a nice powerbomb/elbowdrop combo move on Scorpio. Mustapha lands his powerslam, and New Jack follows it up immediately with his 187 chair drop for the pin.

The Gangstas fight back from vicious attacks from The Eliminators, and going to jail to take home the victory.

6/10

I kind of like the overall theme with the Gangstas fighting through adversity to come up victorious at the end, but overall this was a really sloppy match. I'll have to do some research, but I'm not sure why the Headhunters had the WWF tag team belts on this show. I remember seeing them in the 96 Royal Rumble, but I do not remember them on WWF television at all in 96. This may confirm my speculation that they were only in ECW during this time was because ECW was getting paid to keep them on ice. ECW was being used as a farm league by the WWF(and WCW with the Brian Pillman stuff) in some aspects. Mick Foley was allowed to work in ECW during the time that his Mankind character was being established in February/March of 96 for example. I couldn't think of another reason why ECW would have flown the Headhunters in for all of these shows in 96. Overall this match wasn't very good. It got really sloppy at the end as if everyone forgot they were even having a wrestling match. I do like how the Eliminators vs Gangstas rivalry is shaping up though.

Overall: 8.6/10

So far 1996 is shaping up to be ECW's best year. I love everything about what's going on here with Taz. The Dreamer vs Raven storyline continued and remains as awesome as it was a year ago. The undercard matches were bearable. The Eliminators vs Gangstas feud got off to a pretty good start, with a classic Eliminators squash match. We also had the historic debut of D-Von Dudley, with the first real debut of the Dudley Boyz we all know and love. This show was one of the weaker shows for ECW in 96, but it was still a lot better than a lot of the 95 shows, and it was a really cool show considering the storylines coming into it, as well as taking in what else was going on in wrestling during this time into consideration. Raw still sucked, and WCW was in their pre NWO days, which were still pretty terrible even though they would have the occasional Malenko/Guerrero/Benoit classic. The interesting thing was that there was a lot of psychology and storytelling in the matches of this show. Nothing to get excited about or put on a "Greatest matches of All time" list, but it was there. Things were nowhere near as violent and extreme here as people like to make out either. There wasn't any blood. Only a couple of stiff chair shots, and like 3 tables used. Nobody got hurt, yet it still was a pretty hardcore, zany, hectic, unpredictable, crazy show. People like to talk about how ECW ruined pro wrestling, and ended a bunch of wrestlers lives/careers prematurely, but I think that sentiment is a bit over the top. ECW didn't need blood and guys getting hurt for real to be extreme, and we seen that with this show. Extreme was an attitude for ECW.
 
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Hostile City Showdown '96

April 20th, 1996
ECW Arena
Philly, PA​

Part 1

Alright, so here we are smack dab in the middle of the prime of ECW's existence. The glory days of Extreme Championship Wrestling. I'll go ahead and say it now, I think ECW was the better wrestling promotion in North America at this point in 1996. ECW was the best wrestling program in the US from the Summer of 95 up to this point of 1996(spring). Big Ass Extreme Bash was better than WrestleMania XII, and let's not even get started on WCW's "Three stage cage of death" match at Uncensored, followed by the Battlebowl tournament at Slamboree(which took place about a month after this review). Both WWF and WCW started getting a lot better through 1996. Taker and Mankind were in the early stages of probably my favorite feud in pro wrestling history. Vader was getting a really nice Monster Heel push. WCW was about two months out from kickstarting the NWO angle, which heavily borrowed from the Worked Shoot vibe that ECW popularized in 1995. All of a sudden there weren't any more Dungeon of Dooms feuding with Superstar comic book hero Hulk Hogans, now we're shooting on the state of the business, using smart mark terms on a regular basis, and filming more gritty, down to earth, hip 90's vignettes and backstage segments that break down the fourth wall.

The main stories going into this ECW show revolved around Raven. They did a pretty good job of building up the main event of this show, with The Franchise getting one last shot at the belt that drives his very existence. Douglas was booked as a classic tweener in the early goings of 1996. He did things that a heel would do, but he was booked in the role of a face. I liked the way they worked Raven's title run so far with Douglas, Dreamer, and Sandman all fighting to get a shot at him. Tonight Douglas finally gets his shot at Raven for the belt. Tommy Dreamer faces off against the man that Raven hired to eliminate him, "Prime Time" Brian Lee. Also going on is a pretty awesome feud between The Eliminators and The Gangstas. The ECW tag team division was the best in wrestling in 96, and this feud was the main course of it.

All of that plus the beginning of the Rob Van Dam vs Sabu series, as well as some of the more memorable, controversial moments in ECW history. So without any further adieu, lets quit wasting time and get this hardcore lesbo action started!

Opening: The Gangstas/Eliminators

The show immediately starts off with Joey Styles bringing out The Gangstas "Strait out of the hood". The Gangstas come out and are massively over right here. Everyone in the crowd stands up and does the "X" forearm thing as they cheer the Gangstas on. New Jack comes out with a night stick, with Mustapha wearing his trademark bandana over his face. The crowd starts chanting New Jack's name as he gets ready to talk to Joey.

New Jack cuts a pretty good promo talking about the Eliminators attacks at the last show. He says that where he comes from, when you get your ass kicked, you don't get up and shake the other man's hand. You go home and figure out a way to take his ass out. New Jack tells Joey that they will get the Eliminators, and calls them out.

Kronus and Saturn run out in a full on sprint to the ring, bum rushing Mustapha and New Jack out of nowhere. Something about the image of New Jack and Perry Saturn trading punches just looks very realistic and awesome to me for some reason. Two of the toughest guys in wrestling for sure.

This is just a really fast, stiff brawl that came out of nowhere, and is really kicking some ass right now. Some really great, classic, trademark ECW "Shaky" camera work just adds to it. All 4 of them take it out to the crowd and brawl with chairs. They make it back to the ring and the entire locker room comes out to separate them.

All of the mid card wrestlers from the locker room pull The Gangstas and Eliminators away from each other and force The Eliminators to the back. The Gangstas stand alone in the ring celebrating with the fans as their music comes on.

Not a bad little opening segment at all, clocking in at just under 8 minutes long. The Gangstas vs Eliminators rivalry is one that I remember reading a lot about back when I first discovered ECW in the mags back in the day. It starts to heat up here, so this was a pretty good segment. Some classic ECW violence and chaos. I absolutely love the camera work and overall gritty look and feel of a brawl like this. I'm not going to bother rating anything though since there wasn't really any match here.

Super Nova vs El Puerto Ricano

Nova went on to wrestle as Simon Dean in the WWE in the 2000's. He had been wrestling in ECW house shows prior to this appearance, but this is his first big match in ECW. Ricano is probably the most underrated jobber of all time. Definitely one of my favorite.

Nova looks like a mini Stevie Richards here. Styles keeps pushing him as a goofy super hero wannabe, dressed as a blue Power Ranger with a blue patch of makup over his left eye. The crowd starts chanting "POWER~RANGER! clap~clap clap~clap~clap" :lol:

They put together a pretty solid little match for the time they were given. The pacing was a bit on the nervous, frantic side, but I'd bet it was on it's way to being a pretty solid midcard match. Nova dumps Ricano over the top rope to the floor with a hiptoss, then does a sloppy, but still nice looking somersault plancha off the top rope. They take it back into the ring where Nova lands a few moves that look a lot like Stevie Richards, a superkick for example.

All of a sudden The Eliminators come running back out with their belts, dropping Ricano and Nova. Both guys get literally dumped on their heads with brutal suplexes, then it's Total Elimination.

Good god, nobody sells Total Elimination like El Puerto Ricano. Fucking beautiful. :stalker:

totalelim2.gif

Saturn gets on the mic and calls out The Gangstas. New Jack and Mustapha run out with a trashcan, and we have another brawl on our hands. This brawl isn't so pretty. They fight outside the ring and in the crowd for several minutes before taking it back into the ring. Meh.

All of the midcard wrestlers come out again and the crowd boo's the shit out of them. The Eliminators and Gangstas are pulled apart again.

JT Smith comes out to the ring with Guido, and asks "Can't we all just get along?". Smith says that The Eliminators are paisans and the Gangstas are his brothers. Smith and Guido start singing Sinatra's "Fly me to the Moon" when all of a sudden D-Von Dudley comes running out with a chair. D-Von drops Guido with a chair shot and chases JT Smith to the back. Keep in mind this is all going down while the Gangstas and Eliminators are still being pulled apart in the ring. They keep trying to get at each other until the chaos goes to the entrance isle and eventually to the back.

Out of nowhere as both teams are pushed to the back, Bad Crew, who came out as part of the pull apart crew, start beating on El Puerto Ricano. JEEZUS TITTY FUCKING CHRIST!:lol:

WOW!

That has to be one of the sickest bumps I've seen.

Ever.

El Puerto Ricano gets double back body dropped out of the ring and lands flat on his back on the floor, hitting his legs on the steel guard rail. Keep in mind, this is the ECW Arena 1996. There are no mats. Only concrete. Hack Myers, who also came out as part of the pull apart crew, starts attacking Bad Crew. The Shah beats up Bad Crew as you can hear this woman screaming in the background. I don't know who, or what, but I always loved hearing this woman screaming bloody murder as all of this was going down. Just adds to the craziness of it all. I've heard this at a lot of the ECW shows.

7.2/10

First of all Nova vs Ricano wasn't bad at all while it lasted. The Eliminators came in and squashed them, and it looked awesome. The Eliminators just looked like total bad asses, with poor Ricano getting the Total Elimination of a lifetime. Then the Gangstas vs Eliminators brawl was just really sloppy and boring. The chaotic booking at the end of the segment bumped the score up a bit. El Puerto Ricano took a nasty bump that surely did some real damage. Straw Hat guy was looking pretty concerned as he tried to lean over the railing and help him up. Overall I liked this segment because it had some really crazy booking. Trademark ECW chaos here, like a mini little Royal Rumble just went down. I love it.

The Dudley Boyz vs The Pit Bulls

Man, I wish I could show you guys this opening shot of Francine in these leathers. Good god almighty, 11/10, *****, A+++, !@#$#@

She taunts Buh Buh in the ring about his small penis size as the Pitbulls get ready behind her. I'm not seeing D-Von in the scene just yet. Buh Buh stutters his name into the microphone and says something about Francine that I couldn't quite make out. D-Von comes out with a chair and tells Buh Buh:

#1, say your fucking name without stuttering!

D-Von tells the crowd to stop encouraging Buh Buh, which draws him a bit of heat. He then tells The Pitbulls that he's not scared of them. D-Von gets up close and tells The Pitbulls:

#1. Though Shall Not Kill....

#2. Though Shall Not Steal...

And #3..... Though Shall Not FUCK WITH THE DUDLEYZ!

D-Von and Buh Buh attack The Pitbulls and the brawl is on. This is trademark ECW brawl. Not to be confused with the cornhole hardcore matches that WCW and WWF tried to put on with their joke Hardcore divisions in the later 90's. The thing about this brawl is that it's all about the crowd. The fans in the crowd are all getting a small taste of some front row action right in their laps. All four men brawl with chairs, whip each other into the railing around the ring, and slam each other to the floor. They brawl through the crowd for a pretty good bit before taking it over into the entrance isle and up to the soundstage beneath the balcony. Pitbull 1 does a diving chair shot from the steps up to the balcony down to the soundstage. Pitbull #2 lifts Buh Buh Ray up and slams him down on the stage like it's nothing. Buh Buh was pretty big here, so that was a rather impressive feat of strength their. You could see that he didn't have any problems lifting the big man at all.

All four men beat the shit out of each other on the stage before taking it over to the other side of it, going towards the back corner of the Arena. They continue brawling back through the bleachers where Buh Buh lands a dive down to the lower level onto Pitbull 1. At this point this crowd is just going nuts, having a good time, and of course chanting E! C! DUB!.

They make it back to the ring and the crowd starts to calm down. Pitbull 2 does his spinkick into the corner, falling out of the ring. He knocks the Indian-Mexican Dudley over out of his wheelchair, and Francine proceeds to stomp a mudhole in his ass. Pitbull 2 gets back in the ring as Franny beats the shit out of the "Non-Dudleyz" on the outside, and might I say she is HOT! HOT! HOT!

The Pitbulls kick Buh Buh's ass in the ring as the fans all chant for the Superbomb. They eventually get Buh Buh up in a pretty goofy little moment where Buh Buh has to help them set him up for the move. Buh Buh is Superbombed, but D-Von breaks up the pin with chair shots. D-Von drops the referee and goes after Francine on the outside. The Pitbulls hit a random Superbomb on the referee as D-Von chases Francine around the ring, and that's the last thing they show of this match before cutting away.

6.7/10

As much as I love random attacks on referees, this one didn't make a whole lot of sense. While this maniacal dude is chasing your girl around the ring with a chair, you decide to waste time on a referee that was already knocked out by this guy. What makes it worse is that they just cut away and don't show what happens with D-Von and Francine. Do the Pitbulls save her? Does he drop her with a chair shot? That's my only complaint here. Otherwise, I kind of like the booking. More trademark ECW chaos with the referee being taken out, and no clear winner. Both teams still look strong, so that was a pretty good move. Pretty stacked tag division here with the Eliminators, Gangstas, Pitbulls, and Dudley Boyz. Compare that to the tag team divisions of the WWF and WCW at this time in 1996 with The Body Donnas, The Godwins, The American Males etc.

Taz vs Devon Storm

So Taz is coming off of his feud with Chris Jericho, where he was made to look awfully human by the young upstart for some reason. Jericho was landing Suplexes on Taz, which is a pretty fucking big deal when you really think about it. Jericho suplexed Taz. It's hard to believe that happened considering how Taz was booked before and after it happened. But, when you really think about it, this wasn't just anybody that made Taz look human. This was "The Last Survivor Of The Hart Family Dungeon". I think using Taz to get that over was a pretty good move. Jericho was all of a sudden a somebody on the scene. Taz never lost to Jericho, but he needed some help to beat the young upstart.

Now it's time to build Taz back up. He doesn't need help to tap fools out, he's a fucking shootfighting monster. Taz comes out with his coach Bill Alphonso and his team of lackey "Team Taz" cronies by his side. Devon Storm was trained in the WCW Power Plant I do believe. This is his ECW debut. He's wearing a weird green outfit with sunglasses, and a monster mullet.

Alphonso gets the mic and pulls out a Philly Flyers hockey jersey. Fonzie insults the Flyers trying to get some heat before the match. Looking at these tapes it's hard to believe Fonzie was ever getting as much heat as he was getting when he debuted in mid 95.

Taz and Storm circle each other briefly before locking up. Taz flips Storm over to the ground with a Judo style throw. They tie up again, and Taz puts Devon in a full nelson, tosses him to the mat, then locks him in an armbar. Storm gets to the ropes and breaks free. Taz does his trademark leap frog fient into a tazplex.

Storm starts doing a bunch of Sabu moves, including his springboard leg lariat. Storm knocks Taz to the outside and hits him with a chair. Taz gets set up in a seated position in the chair. Storm gets back in the ring and does a Somersault plancha out of the ring down onto Taz. Pretty cool looking spot. Storm takes Taz back to the ring and hits him with a few moves, including a moonsault from the top rope. He goes to the outside and gets a chair from the crowd and tries to land a moonsault splash off of the top with it, but Taz rolls out of the way. Taz gets up pissed off and rolls to the outside to set a table up. Fonzie goes crazy with the whistle as Taz gets back in the ring. Devon Storm reverses a whip into the corner and sets a chair up to the Air Sabu splash. Taz moves out of the way and sends Devon out of the ring with a belly to belly. Devon falls a bit short of the table, and falls down to the floor, busting his ass on the concrete.

Devon Storm rolls around in pain as he's counted out by the referee. Taz is enraged. He goes to the outside and chokes Devon unconscious with the Tazmission.

Taz gets on the mic after the match and tells Devon to go to a gym and learn some real moves instead of trying to rip other people off. Taz says that Storm deserves credit for at least accepting the match, unlike "The King" Sabu. Taz gets down on his knees and mocks Sabu's pointing to the sky pose as this one comes to an end.

7/10

I would have like to have seen Taz run through this guy, but, they kind of told a story with this squash match. A story where it was necessary for Devon Storm to land some offensive maneuvers. Taz punished the guy for being a Sabu rip off, and then called Sabu out after the match. The feud would continue to cook slowly for another year before Sabu and Taz finally hooked it up.

Overall this wasn't a great wrestling match, but it did have some crazy bumps, and the Taz vs Sabu storyline being built as slowly as it was, was one of the better booking things Heyman ever did imo. Here we have these two superstars that represented everything ECW was all about, being booked into a feud that had been boiling since Sabu's return at November To Remember(5 months prior to this show), that was built up for another year before they even had their first match. That's some long term booking. 17 months to be exact.

Axl Rotten vs Little Guido

Guido and JT Smith come out first. This is the first incarnation of the FBI, or Full Blooded Italians. Guido and JT have officially taken The Dudley clan's place as THE comedy act of ECW here. They get in the ring and embrace with a kiss like Michael and Fredo Corleone in The Godfather part II. Axl comes out wearing his trademark 90's grunge clothing, leather jacket and all.

Man, JT and Guido are acting like strait up homos here, grooming each other, kissing each other. Eek.

Guido charges Axl and gets backbody dropped into the ropes. Guido sells it beautifully. Axl beats the shit out of Guido as the crowd starts chanting "JT's GOT A BOYFRIEND". Guido's selling is making this match rather entertaining early on.

Guido catches Axl with a sunset flip for 2, then catches him in a fujiwara armbar. Guido does a flying cross body, but gets caught and dumped over the top down through the timekeeper's table. Axl goes to the outside and grabs a pie from someone in the crowd. Axl busts the pie over Guido's face and beats the shit out of him around the ring. Axl beats Guido up the entrance isle, and lands a really stiff chair shot over his head.

JT distracts Axl long enough for Guido to recover and attack from behind. Guido dominates Axl for a while before Axl catches him with a small package. JT Smith stays involved, distracting the ref and attacking Axl every chance he gets. Guido misses a flying legdrop, allowing Axl to work his way back into the match. Axl lands a few punches, a hard Lariat, and a Dominator for the 3 count.

JT Smith gets in the ring after the match and taunts Axl as he leaves. Smith sings Fly Me To The Moon once again before bringing this segment to an end.

4/10

Bleh, this sucked. Everything from start to finish. No real comedy here, and no real wrestling either. Quite a mess. Moving along...

The Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio vs The Bruise Brothers

I'm just not digging the 2 Cold Scorpio/Sandman tag team. The story behind their pairing was pretty random, and there just doesn't really seem to be a point to their team at this stage either. It's just as if they were thrown together because Heyman just didn't have anything for them. They've been involved in a random three way feud with The Gangstas and the Headhunters for the past couple of shows. Now we're fighting The Bruise Brothers for no real reason. This may be how the Sandman/Raven feud gets started since The Bruise Brothers are affiliated with Raven at this point. Lets see.

Sandman and Missy Hyatt come out first. Missy looks ****ty as hell in this leopard skin skirt. They walk around the ring smoking, bumping and grinding, and fondling each other as Scorpio makes his way out wearing the TV title.

The Bruise Brothers come out looking like two big, tough, bad ass motherfuckers.

It starts off as a traditional tag match with Scorpio going 1 on 1 with one of the Bruise Brothers(can't tell them apart, twins). The Bruise Brothers work together to keep Scorpio isolated and dominated. They tag back and forth and take turns beating him down. Scorpio makes some funny facial expressions and sells pretty good as The Bruise Bros beat him down with slams and big boots. Scorpio starts to work is way back into the match with headscissor takedowns. He goes for a headscissor out of the corner, but one of the Bruise Brothers shoves him to the outside. Scorpio flies over the top to the floor with a pretty nasty landing into the railing.

Sandman comes in and gets double teamed. They tear his shirt off and whip him across his back with a belt. Missy Hyatt gets up on the apron and straddles the middle rope, looking on at the Sandman getting lashed as if it gets her off. Missy screams for the Bruise Bros to lash Sandman harder. Sandman gets up and lands low blows on both brothers. He goes over to Missy as she straddles the rope, grabs her by a handful of hair to pull her head back, and pours a beer down her tits. Sandman laps the beer up and turns around to eat a big boot. Scorpio comes to his rescue with a dive off the top that takes out both brothers. Sandman follows one of them to the outside with his sloppy ass plancha. All four men take the fight out into the crowd. Scorpio gets back in the ring and lands a dive from the top rope out onto all 3 men in the crowd. Not a bad looking spot, nothing special, but it got the crowd riled up a bit at least. So far up to this point the crowd has been pretty dead. Scorpio brawls back to the ring with one of the brothers, eventually hitting a moonsault press off the top for the pinfall at 8:24.

6/10

Man, this match had no purpose, got nothing accomplished, and just had absolutely nothing going for it at all. I'm not understanding why Sandman is paired up with Scorpio. He got really over in the late parts of 95, even though he was booked as a strait up heel. He's been pretty much wasted, both literally and figuratively, throughout the first half of 96 so far in this tag team with Scorpio imo.

Brian Lee vs Tommy Dreamer

Prior to the match we get a very short clip of Brian Lee saying that he has devoted his life to Raven, and that means Tommy Dreamer's fucked!

Tommy doesn't even get a chance to make it all the way down the isle before Brian Lee attacks him with a chair. Dreamer ducks the chair shot and punches away at Lee, taking him to the ring. Tommy then drops Lee with a jawbreaker while holding a chair on top of his head.

Dreamer knocks Lee out to the floor and attempts to baseball slide a chair into his face, but Lee moves out of the way. Brian Lee cracks Dreamer in the back with the chair and whips him into the crowd. Tommy and Brian Lee brawl through the crowd with too many chair shots to count.

They take the brawl to the very back dark corner of the Arena before making their way over to the soundstage. Tommy goes up and lands a sloppy looking press dive off of the balcony onto Brian Lee as he stands. Brian Lee lands... yep, you guessed it, another chair shot. Primetime tosses Dreamer into the bleachers and drags him through the crowd. Brian punishes Tommy with even more chair shots before racking him with the steel railing a few times. Lee drops the railing down on Dreamer's groin a couple times before Dreamer recovers and lands a few chair shots.

They finally head back into the ring where Brian Lee accidentally knocks the referee out. The Bruise Brothers come out as Dreamer counters a backslide into a DDT. One of the Bruise Brothers break up the pinfall with a chair shot as the referee remains down and out. Brian Lee holds up two chairs over Dreamer's head for the Bruise Brothers to give him the double big boot, much like the last show. The referee recovers to count the pinfall, but Tommy kicks out. Brian Lee pulls him up and tries to whip him into the ropes, but Dreamer catches him with a DDT. Tommy tries to put it away, but the Bruise Brothers break up the pinfall again.

Brian Lee recovers and sets a concrete cinder block on Tommy's groin. Lee slams a chair down into the block and puts Dreamer away with the pinfall.

6.2/10

This match probably broke some kind of a record for steel chair shots. Altogether this was nothing impressive, wrestling wise or booking wise. Brian Lee and the Bruise Brothers are a pretty intimidating triad of heel enforcers that have been hired by Raven to take care of Dreamer. That storyline progressed with this match, but other than that there wasn't really anything to see here. Some sloppy hardcore brawling for sure.
 
Hostile City Showdown 96 part 2

Sabu vs Rob Van Dam

Here we are with the very first RVD vs Sabu matchup. This is the beginning of a series of matches that would run through the entire Summer of 1996. RVD was a green nobody going into this series, but he would come out of the other end of it a much better wrestler, ultimately even winning a WWE Championship later down the road if you can believe that shit. Lets dig into this legendary ECW series to see if it's all that it's cracked up to be. Let us bare witness to the evolution of a "Whole Fucking Show".

The first shot is of both men standing in the ring together ready for action. Van Dam has his gi top on, and Sabu is wearing his turban with gold pants on.

Joel Gertner announces that there will not be a time limit for this match.

We open it up with some traditional wrestling. Sabu shoots in for a couple of his patented low single leg takedowns. RVD evades and spins away from them. They circle for a bit before Sabu lunges in and snatches one of RVD's legs out from under him for a takedown. RVD kicks free, and they to through a really nice little sequence of counters and reversals, with RVD eventually catching Sabu with an axe kick to the back of the neck as he's bent over. RVD scoops and slams Sabu and lands his Rolling Thunder into a frogsplash type of landing. Sabu gets up and sends RVD to the outside, causing everyone in the crowd to stand up to their feet. Everybody is ready to see some crazy shit in this match, you can just feel their anticipation.

Sabu attacks RVD as he re-enters the ring, pulling him over the middle rop for his patented Guillotine Legdrop as Van Dam teeters on the rope. Sabu then locks RVD into his Camel Clutch for a while before Van Dam reaches the ropes with his legs. Sabu breaks the hold, stomps Van Dam's back, then puts him in a Half Boston Crab. Nice. So far so good.

I just noticed that Van Dam is wearing a cast on his wrist. Van Dam fights his way out of the half crab and sells the leg pretty well. Sabu goes after it with a dropkick. Van Dam sends Sabu into the ropes, and attempts to backdrop him, but Sabu does a pivoting roll across his back to his feet behind him. Van Dam does a martial arts pose as if he was about to hit Sabu with a kick, but he's surprised with a really fast dropkick to his hurt leg. Van Dam goes down and Sabu doesn't give him a chance to sell it. He pulls him up and sets him up on the top rope. Sabu climbs up to the middle rope and springs off of the top to hit RVD with a dropkick that knocks him off to the outside. Sabu catapults himself over the top rope with a nice Somersault Plancha onto Van Dam. He pulls Van Dam up and whips him into the steel. Sabu tries to hit him with a splash but Van Dam gets a boot up to hit him in the face. RVD hops up to the railing for a moonsault, but Sabu shoves him out into the crowd.

Sabu tosses a chair into the ring and clears the fans away from Van Dam as he punches him and drags him into position. Sabu climbs into the ring and hits Van Dam with a Triple Jump splash out into the crowd. The crowd goes wild with E! C! DUB! chants. Sabu slowly recovers and sets a table up with one end propped on the ring apron and the other propped on the steel railing. Sabu slams RVD's head into the table before setting him up on it, but Van Dam moves off. Sabu leaps anyways, hitting him with a splash on the other side of the table. They fight around the table for a bit with Sabu botching a springboard off of it by slipping. RVD then takes control of the match and shows the old man how it's done.

Van Dam kicks Sabu's ass around the ring with kicks, punches, and whips into the steel railing. He springs from a chair to the apron to hit Sabu with a quick kick to the face that drops him to the floor. Van Dam continues to one up Sabu at his own game when he takes a chair up to the apron and does a somersault down onto him with it. They sell it up on the floor for a while before Van Dam takes it back to the ring. Van Dam lands a springboard legdrop and gets a 2 count. RVD shows frustration before pulling Sabu up for a Powerbomb. Van Dam then tries to put Sabu into a Surfboard and it just looks really sloppy the way they set it up and pulled it back. Van Dam holds Sabu up with the move for a bit before trying to drop his head down into a choke, but it just doesn't work for him. Eddie and Dean would be ashamed.

Van Dam then goes after Sabu's leg with strikes. Sabu does a great job of selling it, even dropping out of a suplex attempt from RVD due to the pain. Van Dam keeps working the leg with kicks as Sabu does a masterful job with the selling. Van Dam then puts Sabu up on the top and pulls him up to his shoulders for some sloppy ass looking move that I dont' even know what he was going for. Sabu counters whatever it was he was trying to do with a DDT. Sabu sets a chair up in the center of the ring with RVD propped up on the top turnbuckle. Sabu tries his Air Sabu, but RVD leaps off of the top and clears him. That was pretty awesome.

Van Dam picks the chair up and hits Sabu with it. Sabu rolls to the outside. Van Dam wastes time asking for the chair back from the people on the outside. He sets the chair up, but doesn't even use it. He jumps over the chair and the ropes with a fucking beautiful Somersault Plancha that will live on in ECW highlights forever. The thing so far is that they do small things like that and it breaks up the flow of the match. He should have just hit him with the flip instead of wasting time with the chair. It would have killed a lot of downtime.

RVD pulls Sabu into the ring and gets a 2 count. He goes up to the top rope, but Sabu recovers and hits him with a few punches. Sabu goes up top for a Hurricanrana, but Van Dam pushes him off the top down through the table that was set up earlier. Really good looking spot, and I liked how they incorporated the table into the match. Sabu rolls around on the floor selling both knees and an elbow. Three body parts. That's how you fucking sell a table spot ladies and gents.

Van Dam tries to follow up with a splash off the top, but Sabu rolls out of the way. Sabu pulls another table out and sets it up. Sabu pulls Van Dam onto the table and does a Catapult Somersault Legdrop from the ring. The crowd erupts into the loudest ECW chants of the night. They take it back to the ring and just go back and forth trying to put it away with a series of near falls. Van Dam retakes the momentum and hits a series of moves for multiple near falls in a row. He grows frustrated with Sabu and loses focus. Sabu catches him slipping and drives his face into a chair. Sabu puts Van Dam on the top rope and pulls him down with a DDT for a 2 count. Sabu punches down on Van Dam before quickly going for another desperate attempt to put the young gun away with a pinfall, but he only gets 2 again.

Sabu then sets up a chair and lands the greatest Triple Jump Moonsault of all time to put Van Dam away after 19 minutes. The fans all rise for a standing ovation. Sabu offers Van Dam a respectful handshake, but Van Dam refuses. RVD gets out of the ring and turns his back on Sabu, who offers another handshake.

7.9/10

This match had a lot of awesome moments, and it was a really fun match. There were a lot of times where things got really sloppy, and the flow of the match was hurt by a few things that I mentioned in the review, and that's why I'm going to keep the score under the 8 range. The action was there, and at times the psychology was there, but overall this match was just really not all that great. There were times when the selling was great, but they would just drop it. Would have loved to have seen them drag that psychology out where they eliminated each other's legs to take away their arsenal, but they just kind of teased it at times instead of fully committing to it. As I previously said though, Van Dam was still really green, and would continue to evolve through this series of matches with Sabu until he was somebody to be taken seriously. This was the first match, and it wasn't anything to really get excited about. The table spots were awesome. Van Dam's iconic somersault over the chair and the ropes, Sabu's outstanding Triple Jump Moonsault, and the overall story at the end with RVD stiffing Sabu on the respect really all makes me want to give this a higher score than I did. Joey Styles commentary in the match was also outstanding. He really did a phenomenal job of hyping this match up to be much more epic than it really is.

ECW World Championship: Raven(C) vs Shane Douglas

Opening shot of this segment is Shane Douglas with a microphone in the center of the ring. Raven is leaning up seated in the corner with The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards in the background. Kimona is also in the ring.

Shane asks the fans if they are ready to see history repeat itself. He says that Raven has something that belongs to him, and that he has the woman that will reveal something that will rip the lid off of the pro wrestling industry. Shane says that while Beulah was cheating on Raven with Tommy Dreamer, Beulah was also cheating on Tommy Dreamer.

Douglas tries to get under Raven's skin by telling him that Beulah had him and Tommy wrapped around her finger. Dreamer comes out and demands to know what Douglas is talking about, telling him that he'll knock his ass out. Shane gets on his knees and says "You can knock me out all you want Mr. Hardcore, but if you can't take the truth, YOU AIN'T HARDCORE!" classic line.

Shane says that Beulah was not pregnant. Dreamer snaps and screams "WHO IS HE!?" Shane says "Oh, it's not a he Tommy Dreamer, hahaha!". :lol:

The crowd starts going crazy already. Kimona snatches the mic and tells Dreamer that it was her.:rofl:. The way she says it, "IT WAS ME!" gets a laugh out of me no matter how many times I've seen it. Classic. The crowd goes wild. Beulah comes out looking like A+ Hotness, and we have some hot lesbian action right in the center of the ring. Kimona tackles Beulah to the mat and they start dry humping while liplocked. :drool:

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E! C! DUB!

Tommy pulls both women up by their hair and tells Shane, "I'll take'em both, I'M HARDCORE!"

Dreamer kisses the girls together and does his trademark pose before making his exit with both women. That my friends, is total fucking boss!

So before we even get into this title match, lets talk about this angle. This is April 1996, and there was absolutely nothing like this going on in wrestling. This was Attitude Era before Attitude Era was cool. This started a lot of trouble for ECW, getting a lot of their syndication carriers to drop the show due to backlash from viewers. I don't think it was really ok yet to be gay in the US in 1996. This was really pushing the envelope for this time. Looking at it now it's pretty hot, but it really just makes me laugh the way they executed it looking back at it now. So now Tommy Dreamer's got two hot lesbian valets. If you think about it, that's actually pretty awesome.

But, when you look a little deeper into it, you realize that this is all part of Shane Douglas' master plan to get under Raven's skin and get his belt back. He's been playing mind games with the master of the mind games. Pretty good stuff.

So now, on to the main event....

Raven exits the ring and acts as if he's going to just walk away. He comes back to the ring. They tie up in a collar and elbow, with Douglas locking Raven into a pretty nice grappling exchange. Raven gets hiptossed to the canvas and acts dejected and depressed. They tie up again with similar results, but Raven gets Douglas in a headlock. Douglas sends Raven into the ropes and drops him with a knee to the midsection. Douglas follows up with punches to the face, sending Raven out of the ring. Raven acts like he's still distressed about Kimona/Beulah.

They lock up in another grappling exchange with Douglas kicking Raven back to the outside. Raven gets up on the apron, but Douglas knocks him down into the steel rail. Douglas follows with a pretty nice suicide plancha over the top. Shane whips Raven into the railing around the ring and beats on him with punches before rolling him into the ring.

Shane slams Raven's head into the turnbuckles and continues to work him over, eventually locking him into a sleeper. Raven drops Shane into a Jawbreaker to buy some time. Douglas pulls Raven up and drops him with a clothesline before going for the sleeper again. Raven reverses and locks Douglas into a sleeper. Douglas goes to the outside, sending both of them to the floor. Douglas sends Raven into the crowd and goes back up to the top rope in the ring. Shane does a plancha out into the crowd onto Raven.

Douglas just beats the shit out of Raven in the crowd with chairs and a cheese grater. Douglas brawls with Raven through the crowd, but it's one of the better crowd brawls of the evening. There's some urgency here, and Raven's selling the "Mentally Distressed" angle well. They brawl their way up to the soundstage. Raven starts to gain the upper hand and takes Shane to the back door to the parking lot of the ECW Arena. The camera shows fans running full speed behind them to get a shot of the action. The cameras don't follow them. It shows all of the fans crowded around the door.

Shane and Raven brawl their way around the building and into the front door of the ECW Arena. Raven is bleeding. Shane takes him back to the ring.

Shane drops Raven with a piledriver. Brian Lee comes out, but Dreamer follows and starts fighting with him. Douglas turns around and drops Raven with the belly to belly, but the ref is distracted with Dreamer and Lee.

Dreamer comes into the ring and apologizes to Douglas for costing him the win. Shane says it's ok and gives Dreamer a hug. Shane then suddenly drops Dreamer with a Belly to Belly.

Dreamer and Shane start fighting until wrestlers come out of the back to separate them. Raven creeps up behind Douglas after the pull apart and goes for a rollup, but only gets 2.

Shane tosses Raven into the ropes with suplexes, and continues to dominate Raven. Raven is set up on the top rope and set up for a superplex, but Raven shoves Shane down.

Both men go back and forth with several near falls, and some really nice exchanges. Shane puts Raven in the figure four and the crowd all starts up with the "WHOOO!"'s . The Blue Meanie comes in and goes for a moonsault, but Shane gives up the hold to move out of the way. Shane locks Raven in the half boston crab, but Stevie comes in and kicks him in the face.

Shane kicks out of a cover, and drops Raven with a DDT. Raven kicks out of another really close nearfall.

Shane then takes Raven's boot off and locks him in the Figure Four again, wrenching on his gout riddled foot. The Bruise Brothers come out from under the ring and attack Shane Douglas as Stevie distracts the ref. Shane fights them off as Raven slams the boot into the canvas loading it up. Raven drops Douglas with the loaded boot, and pins him for the successful title defense.

This gets a pretty mixed reaction from the fans. Some fans are a bit surprised Douglas didn't get the belt back, but a lot of the fans seemed glad that it didn't happen.

Douglas is shown after the match all depressed talking to Joey Styles with tears in his eyes. Shane says that tonight was supposed to be his night. He asks what is it going to take to beat Raven with all of these goons that he has protecting him. Shane then squeezes in a shot at HBK, saying that he was scared of getting in the ring with him, and that the ECW World Championship is the only thing that the Franchise eats, sleeps, breaths, and lives for.

2 Cold Scorpio comes out with his TV title, and tells Shane that he's tired of hearing about how he things nothing matters but the World Title. Scorpio says he's worked hard to elevate the TV title, and it's the most important title to him.

Scorpio challenges Douglas to a match for the TV belt, but Douglas tells him that he doesn't care about the TV title. Scorpio turns his back on Douglas and Shane drops him from behind. Shane beats on Scorpio and drops him with the Belly to Belly before piledriving him into the belt. The Sandman comes out and gets beat down and Belly to Bellied for his troubles. That brings our show to an end.

8.2/10

This was absolutely the best match of the night. If you've ever wondered why some people actually like Shane Douglas, this little stage of his career is why. There was actually some pretty good technical wrestling here believe it or not. Douglas kind of carried Raven through the match, but that was all part of the story with Raven being depressed about Dreamer taking both of his women. Raven still finds a way to come out on top with some help from his crew of lackeys. If I were to add on the classic lesbian angle that proceeded the match, this would be a solid 9, but I'll just rate the match itself. The thing with Douglas here is that he was coming off of a run in the WWF that really kind of helped him get better. So far his 96 matches eclipse any of his ECW work I've seen, and he just seems to have a different edge to his performances. I really think he was in "I'll show them" mode after what happened with him in the WWF with the Clique. He was in the best physical shape of his life, and you could tell he was really putting everything he had into his performances. I really like the emotions to his character with the teary eyed promo after this match. He really got that frustration across well, and made you almost feel sorry for his character there for a split second before he reminded you why everyone loved to hate him with the attack on Scorpio & Sandman. All around I've really grown to have a new appreciation for the way Heyman booked Shane Douglas upon his return from the WWF. I'm really liking what they are doing with his character at this point.

Overall: 8/10

Well, this was a really cool ECW show. We had some pretty historical moments with RVD & Sabu's first match, then the lesbian lovin' angle. Overall really, it was a cool, fun show, but it wasn't anything really great. It definitely wasn't as good as the 95 Hostile City Showdown event, which remains one of my favorite ECW shows ever. The highlight for sure was the surprisingly good Raven/Douglas title match. The Eliminators vs Gangstas feud got pretty awesome with this show as well. Sabu vs RVD was an ok, fun match, but nothing really great. Styles was money on commentary through the entire show, and we also got to see a lot of very, very sexy women. The way ECW was pushing sex and hotness at this point was light years ahead of what was going on in WWF & WCW. Overall this was one of those ECW shows that gives you a good idea of where the Attitude Era came from. A few stinker matches keeps the overall score down, but really the storyline progression, interesting characters, and compelling rivalries made this another really fun, interesting ECW show.
 

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