Just hanging out and watching the Network today, so I decided to check out the ECW episode added most recently, the infamous NWA tournament final one. And man, this would have been a much better starting point than the shit they’ve been putting up from 93. You get the famous 911 “kill the clown” angle, Sandman caning Tommy Dreamer in the hard to watch “thank you sir may I have another” angle that put Dreamer over the top as an ECW guy for life, a decent Douglas-Scorpio tournament final, and of course the famous speech where Douglas throws the belt down. And then from there the promotion becomes Extreme Championship Wrestling. Soon after this we’ll start getting Raven and Stevie Richards and all that good stuff as well. Definitely check this one out if you want to see where the real beginning of their hot period started.
If you're a true wrestling fan, go into the vault and watch Greg Valentine defend the Intercontinental title against SD Jones.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
Borne Again!
ReplyDeleteI've been reviewing ECW from the vault for the blog, and I did not have that episode at the time I started, so I began with the earliest episode they had. I must say that I've been a little harsh on ECW in the past, and whereas the production values of the show are very minimal at best, there is some decent WRESTLING prior to becoming extreme. The Sandman is one guy in particular: he appears to be a little green, but he has a decent moveset, which somehow disappeared in later years. I guess Zubaz can make you lazy.
ReplyDeleteSandman did what others have done, most notably the Honky Tonk Man: The gimmick got OVER, so the wrestling was no longer as important.
ReplyDeleteWWE 24/7 showed that a long time ago. ECW doesn't hit its stride until the summer of 95. Though its fun watching them figure it out.
ReplyDeleteThe pre-NWA tourney episodes were interesting if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe kill the clown angle is a forgotten classic
ReplyDeleteThe Extreme Lucha Libre in the fall was the best.
ReplyDeletethe 1984 Toronto show? That card is a pile of shit.
ReplyDeleteThat's how you prove that someone is a true wrestling fan.
ReplyDeleteDon't tell that to bignasty
ReplyDeleteWhat sucks is a month ago they had a ton of episodes up including Malenko vs Guerrero. Then a bunch got pulled. Glad I watched most of them.
ReplyDeleteThe Rene Goulet vs. Nick DeCarlo match is a show-stealer!
ReplyDeleteWhen Raven gets in ECW's best angle begins.
ReplyDeleteCan you recommend a Tony Garea match?
ReplyDeleteWow, I seen all them angles separate but didn't realise it was from the one show, will indeed check that out.
ReplyDeletehas anyone come across the rumored "portraying characters" disclaimer yet? if it's a real thing, the ecw shows will have to have them for the foreseeable future
ReplyDeleteI see it all the time on my iphone. It usually only pops up when I watch the live feed.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to fall asleep, watch any of them
ReplyDeleteI see it all the time.
ReplyDeleteThere was some good stuff in '94: Funk, Cactus, early Sabu. And I really enjoy early Public Enemy promos. But a lot of the stuff with NWA Tri-State guys was awful (Tony Stetson, Johnny Hotbody, Tommy Cairo). And I really hate Mr. Hughes. Looking forward to the 1995 shows.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how much if the Tully Blachard & Shane Douglas hour long draw airs? If at all?
ReplyDeleteIt says:
ReplyDelete"The following program is presented in its original form. It may contain some content or insensitive dialog that does not reflect WWE's corporate views. WWE characters are fictitious and do not reflect the personal lives of the actors portraying them. Viewer discretion is advised.
You can block video on-demand access to this program and others like it using the Parental Control feature in your WWE Network account settings.:
"WWE characters are fictitious and do not reflect the personal lives of the actors portraying them."
ReplyDeletethen why is hhh always asserting his authoritah and trying to bury everyone on screen?!
: P
I love Cactus & Mikey vs Public Enemy
ReplyDeleteOne too many "Whatta Man" promos, I take it?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhjGGzUvzFU
ReplyDeleteA main event ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY says I.
ReplyDeleteI was just going to say that. Does anyone know why they had all that stuff through 1995 and then pulled it down?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure none of that aired, but there rematch did. It does not matter though. When they posted the early 95 episodes last month they skipped like 3 months of early 95. They did the same thing on 24/7. Probably bad masters. Really sucks that was the time period I gpt hooked on ECW.
ReplyDeleteRocco Rock looks and sounds almost exactly like Michael Scott as "Prison Mike."
ReplyDeleteWhat was the "kill the clown" storyline?
ReplyDeleteIIRC that match was a home video release
ReplyDeleteIf Matt Borne could have stayed off the slopes that character could have been legendary
ReplyDeleteThe "fan death match" was never released anywhere, because it sucked apparently. Not sure if the footage is lost forever...I THINK on the commercial for Double Tables, they have a scene from it before the match starts, as I don't recall seeing it anywhere on the Double Tables match on ECW Home Video. I think we should take this to the Lost Media Wiki perhaps?
ReplyDeleteRe: the skipping of early 95 episodes...could this be because of who was getting pushed at the time? Do we know if he is allowed on TV episodes or just on PPV?
"One too many generic WWE library music promos, I take it?"
ReplyDeleteFTFY.
I didn't mind seeing the early eps, cause I didn't get ECW then.
And I've seen this come up on shows Benoit is NOT on!
ReplyDeleteAs I asked, is you know who allowed ONLY on PPVs and not on the weekly shows they post?
ReplyDeleteDoink (Borne version) is brought in basically to get destroyed by 911 (they'd do the same to "Jungle" Jim Steele the following year). It's part of the NWA tournament, so next round has 911 vs. Scorpio, and Doink comes out to distract 911...only Matt Borne follows, so 911 loses by countout. Doink reveals himself to be Shane Douglas. This leads to the short lived "Borne Again" character.
ReplyDeleteGood question, and not sure. That would really screw up Nitro, though, too if that's the case.
ReplyDeleteHe's been on pretty much all of the Smackdown's they've posted so far, and the Raw before Mania 17.
ReplyDeleteThey were passed that point on 24/7 when "the incident" occurred. They did skip one that featured Women right after, but only one from what I remember.
ReplyDeleteThat was the rematch on Double Tables.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just a Benoit warning. It's pretty random. I seen it a few
ReplyDeletetimes on stuff that really shouldn't need it, like the Oct 86 MSG show,
and not on shows WITH Benoit.
100%.
ReplyDeleteI always say I really like Sandman as a worker and get a ton of shit for it.
Entertaining as HELL.
He might have seen them originally, before they were altered.
ReplyDeleteI watched this yesterday, didnt realize all of this happened on the same show, and that they did show that Dennis Coraluzzo interview right after it.
ReplyDeleteThat would make absolutely 0 sense since all these shows are now available the same way. And as mentioned below hes on all the shows he would normally be on that are available.
ReplyDelete