My Take On The Original ECW 07.20.08: ECW Hardcore TV (4.01.96)

Introduction:
Welcome back to the latest edition of My Take On! With the addition of WWE 24/7 to my cable system, I have decided to have some fun and do some columns on “The Original ECW.” I plan to work this similar to the “My Take on MMA/The Monday Night Wars” columns, where it isn’t a recap as much as it is an analysis piece. Much like the Monday Night Wars pieces I am running, this is for entertainment purposes. I loved ECW back in the day, sitting with friends and watching the Monday Night Wars, and also have a love for the original ECW. I remember finding it at 2am back in the day in Pittsburgh and was just amazed at what I saw. I even went to a few shows in Pittsburgh. So with 24/7 jumping into my cable lineup, this will be another thing I bring you. I hope that you enjoy it.

For those that have asked, these columns don’t have a set schedule. They will appear as a fill in for when another 411 writer needs the day off.

Also, I will post out the couple of these I have done, but the future of the concept is in doubt as I am not sure if I will have 24/7 when I move. For those that have enjoyed the column, thanks!

ECW HARDCORE TV! Match/Segment: Styles Opens the Show/Damian Cane Makes a Challenge Final Thoughts: Styles tries to begin the show, but Damian Cane stops that. He’s here, as the Godfather of Professional Wrestling to prove a point. He gets a great “shut the fuck up” chant as he discusses managing the Headhunters. But since he is here, he declares here tonight that Damian Cane is the Godfather of Extreme. Cane won’t leave until he proves himself. Styles tries to get him to leave, and Cane says he will leave if Styles hit a Lady Alexandra. Styles is a pussy. El Puerto Ricano comes to the ring for his match. Cane beats him down as we get chants for the Sandman. El Puerto Ricano may be dead after Cane dumped him to the floor. Seriously, that was bad. Cane now gets Ricano’s opponent, MIKEY! This was an ECW Special, below average wrestling and average brawling, with Mikey killing Cane with a top rope Franken-Mikey. He dropped the dude ON his head. Cane never did anything for me in his ECW run as he was basically a non-factor to me. This was good to get Mikey a nice win, but otherwise was a VERY weak opening segment. I would do the old motorboat on Lady Alexandra however. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 3.0 Match/Segment: STEVIE OUT, AUSTIN IN? Final Thoughts: Stone Cold Chad Austin (SRLY) will team with Meanie against the GANGASTAS, as Stevie suffered a broken orbital bone after a beat down by Dreamer and Douglas. They show the eye and it looks pretty nasty. This is another ECW Special, below average wrestling and average brawling. It is every Gangstas match you’ll ever see, and in this case that is not a good thing. Plunder, plunder, no selling, no selling, short thankfully and the finish. New Jack is a complete asshole and hits Austin like 5 times with nasty, unprotected chair shots that Austin didn’t know were coming. New Jack cuts a promo and says that he doesn’t entertain. Truth. They want title shots and want to turn the heat up. They challenge the Eliminators for a title shot. This episode sucks thus far. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 3.5 Match/Segment: The Eliminators vs. The Dark Riders Final Thoughts: We get clips of the match, which make it look like a fun match. Good editing there. Saturn tells the Gangstas that they aren’t hard to find, they’re the guys with the gold, so get on out here. New Jack hits the ring with a nightstick, Mustafa follows and they brawl into the crowd. Mustafa piledrives Kronus on the stage, while Jack and Saturn brawl to the concession stand. New Jack will get tossed off the stage, Mustafa eats total elimination and its wild, and the crowd loves it. You see I can stand this just fine because it isn’t a match, and they are building to a title match. Although, it would have meant more if they just didn’t see roughly the same thing earlier. The Eliminators stand up New Jack, sandwich him between two tables, tape it together and deliver total elimination. Mustafa was taken out by the EMT’s during this whole thing. This was a good brawl with a big move ending that left the Gangstas laying. But as mentioned, maybe more effective if they hadn’t seen a similar brawl right before it. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 5.0 Match/Segment: Raven’s Problems… Final Thoughts: Raven had the gout and then had surgery. But he wrestled with the gout, and would get attacked by Douglas, Sandman and Dreamer. Styles then moves onto the Douglas/Pillman angle and says that Pillman will no longer get a free forum to talk, but since his agent paid for the time, they will air the commercials for his 900 phone line. A short but simple segment, but it reminds us of the angles from show to show, while they proceed to use the TV time for other feuds. It is simple, but smart and much better quality wise than anything we have seen thus far in this episode. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Match/Segment: Taz vs. “Buh Buh” Ray Dudley Final Thoughts: Taz slaps the FUCK out of Ray to begin things. He slapped him so hard I felt it. They work some basic pro wrestling here, Ray gets to show he has some actual skills a she counters a lot of Taz’s stuff. He also delivered DROPKICKS~! MOVEZ~! Taz wins in the end with the Tazmission, in what was actually a well-worked and fun match. Big Dick makes the save with a crutch shot, because Taz wouldn’t let go of the hold. Dick then tries to kill Alfonzo, but Taz comes back and attacks the already injured knee. Taz then removes the brace and applied a knee bar and destroys Big Dick’s knee. The crowd chants for Sabu, and then Taz says it doesn’t matter if they are 200, 300 or 400 lbs, no matter how many men get in his way, they will become just another victim. He then does the Sabu sky point. There are a few keys as to why this worked so well. First of all the path of destruction that Taz was on made him a complete bad ass. That was done through good work by him and good booking by Paul. Secondly, that led into this where Taz was completely believable tossing around a big motherfucker like Ray. Thirdly, Ray did an EXCELLENT job of selling and taking the moves. If he sandbagged Taz, it doesn’t work. He bumped his ass off for a big guy, something he never gets due credit for. The after match angle then took it even further as Big Dick, who was put over as a bad ass and as a man that felt no pain got laid out and his knee destroyed again by Taz. This was good shit all around, and helped what was a bad show improve. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 8.0 The Overall: Best Match/Segment: Taz vs. “Buh Buh” Ray Dudley 8.0 Worst Match/Segment: Styles Opens the Show/Damian Cane Makes a Challenge 3.0 Final Thoughts: While the show started off VERY weak, it did recover well with the video segment and closing match and angle with Taz. The thing was that this happened from time to time when they would edit the one-hour shows together. You would get this awesome shows that made sense and flowed together perfectly, and then, seemingly out of nowhere you got a show like this. One good video segment, the great closing angle and the rest filled with shit. They can’t all be winners. Show Score: 5.5