From the Back of My Closet: ECW Bloodsport: The Most Violent Matches

I am admittedly not much of an ECW guy. Primarily because I haven’t really watched a lot of their output. Now I could say that I didn’t have much of an outlet to see them, but that’s not true. I simply didn’t take advantage of the outlets I had. I lived in Pittsburgh when they were at their height across the state in Philadelphia. I had access to them on television when 90% of the rest of the country didn’t. I’m also a guy who if given a choice between the Rottens smashing each other in the head with steel chairs or Ricky Steamboat having Ric Flair in an armbar for a half hour, I’m going for the armbar. Perhaps The Rise and Fall of ECW disc might have been a better pick up for me, but I’ve always been one to jump into the deep end of the ocean and see if I could swim. This is supposed to be a representation of what ECW was about, the core of what made them different from all the other wrestling leagues out there. Grab your snorkel we’re going in.

DISC 1

Paul Heyman welcomes us standing in the old set for WWE Confidential slightly tweaked. He will be introducing all the bouts.

Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck vs. Public Enemy
ECW World Tag Team Title Match from Hardcore TV on 8/27/1994

Heyman’s intro: Mick Foley still in his Cactus Jack persona had run ins with Rocco Roc and Johnny Grunge of Public Enemy. When they were willing to put their titles on the line Jack needed a partner. Instead of grabbing any of the hardcore veterans in the back he went with Mikey Whipwreck. Mikey was about 18 years old and discovered by Heyman as part of the ECW ring crew. He had two offensive moves tops in his arsenal and now here he was in the big time.

The Match: Joey Styles is naturally on commentary. Mikey starts out with Roc. Roc asks for a microphone and yells at the fans that are cheering for Whipwreck and calling him a jailbird. Whipwreck tries to runaway and Jack stops him. Roc goes to attack and Mikey runs to his corner and begs for the tag. Jack comes in. Foley looks positively svelte here. Whipwreck runs off and Jack goes to run him down. Public Enemy chase Cactus down and drag him back to the ring. They beat him down in the corner until Mikey makes the save with a board, which on the flimsy scale seems closer to being cardboard. The faces hold the ring. Styles is acting like Mikey just lost his virginity. Cactus and Roc lock up. Rocco slaps Jack in the face and celebrates with the Cabbage Patch. Roc works Foley over in the corner, but eats an elbow when tries he to charge after a cross corner whip. Tag to Whipwreck. In an inventive spot, Cactus awkwardly whips Mikey into Rocco to knock him down. He then nails Grunge on the apron. Jack picks him up and uses Mikey as a battering ram to send Rocco to the apron. Cactus clothesline sends them both to the floor. Whipwreck hits Grunge with a series of dropkicks. Backdrop. On the outside Jack suplexes Rocco through a table.

Jack reenters the ring and drags Grunge to the floor. Swinging necbreaker out there. Roc tries to blindside Foley with a chair, but he catches him, steals the chair and smacks Rocco with it. Whipwreck drives Grunge’s head into the ring steps and Jack hits him with the chair. Whipwreck drives him face first into a table and they head back in. Low blow by Grunge leads to a DDT on a chair. More dancing. Short arm clothesline by Grunge. Suplex. Jack breaks the cover. Anytime Grunge puts Mikey’s head under his arm it gets lost in the voluminous folds of his baggy shirt. Tag to Roc who lands a leg drop to the back of the head for two. Scoop slam leads to Jack having to save another cover try. Grunge comes in for a big backdrop. Face first piledriver gets two. Tag back to Rocco and they score a double clothesline. You’ll have to forgive me as I don’t remember the name for this move. Rocco gets the man set up for a side slam and Grunge comes off the top with an elbow. Remarkably Mikey kicks out of the cover. Cactus Jack is fed up and attacks. He drags Grunge to the floor and Rocco follows by coming off the apron with a double axe handle. Rocco throws Jack into the crowd and they brawl with some chairs getting involved. In what I would take is pure ECW a fan hands Cactus Jack one of his crutches and he blasts Rocco with it. Power slam onto a pile of chairs and Grunge runs out to save his partner. They fight into the upper right corner of the arena. Rocco flies in out of nowhere with a cross body. They carry Jack back to the ring. Whipwreck is out cold in the ring. Public Enemy sets up a table. Moonsault by Roc puts Jack through the table. They boot him to the floor and pick up Whipwreck who is the legal man, although I don’t see where that matters. They go for the Drive By. Grunge hits a neckbreaker on Whipwreck, but Rocco takes too long up top and Jack shakes the ropes so he crotches himself. Grunge is dragged to the floor. Rocco trips over Mikey and he schoolboys him for the win. The faces celebrate in the crowd with the tag belts. ** I liked the storyline of the match and the way Mikey Whipwreck’s character was used and developed. The middle portion was damn near a wrestling match there and, of course, what I enjoyed the most. The beginning was too slow and overall the energy seemed a bit low and the hardcore spots too random. It didn’t fully gel.

Sandman and Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas
From Extreme Warfare Volume 1 on 3/18/1995

Heyman’s intro: Cactus Jack had problems with a lot of people in ECW. Chief among his rivals was Terry Funk. In 1995 Funk teamed up with Sandman to combat Foley. In need of a partner again he turns to “The Franchise” Shane Douglas.

The Match: Everyone brawls before the bell even sounds. Woman is with the heels. Douglas smacks both heels with a kendo stick. He goes to town on Sandman like it was a whack a mole game. He comes around to blast Funk…oops he nails his own partner. They argue. Douglas goes to the floor and walks as Funk throws a chair at Foley. Sandman slides back into the ring and tries to blindside Foley with the chair as he works over Funk. Cactus Jack gets the chair and goes to town on their noggins. Funk blocks a blow and it’s a double team. Sandman lays Jack across the second rope and Funk blasts him with the chair as he tries to stand. Sandman whips Foley into a chair shot. Douglas finally makes the save with the kendo stick. Cactus clothesline sends Funk to the floor. Sandman and Douglas brawl outside. Douglas rolls Sandman into the ring and he immediately comes back out thanks to a Cactus clothesline. Douglas shovels Funk in and he gets knocked back out with a Cactus clothesline. That’s just repetitive now. Just cut and past the above, because Sandman takes another Cactus clothesline. On the outside Douglas sits old man Funk down in a chair and then clotheslines him out of it. Neat spot. Cactus elbow from the second rope to the outside on Funk. Douglas whips Sandman over the ring barricade then whips Foley at it so he goes over and wipes out Sandman with a senton. Ok, now that was a neat spot.

Douglas works Funk over near the crowd and he reaches over the ring barricade to grab what looks like a stuffed donkey and a canoe paddle. Back in the ring the faces land a double back elbow on Funk. Jack picks Douglas up and slams him into a leg drop on Terry. Sandman makes the save on the pin. Funk DDT’s Shane. Cactus is thrown to the floor. Funk misses a chair shot and Jack fights back. Sandman just mashes the chair into Foley. Funk works on ripping apart the ring barricade while Sandman gives Douglas another DDT. They finally get a section of guardrail loose and toss it into the ring. They drop it on Douglas a few times. Jack throws chairs at the heels, but that doesn’t trump a frickin’ guardrail. Funk haphazardly throws one of the chair back and nails Cactus with it. Douglas is thrown into the guardrail. Funk sets him on top of it and Sandman clotheslines him off. Funk works Douglas over with a chair as Jack tries to crawl back in. Sandman misses a shoulder block to fly to the floor, but Funk nails Foley with a chair. You get an obligatory wrestling move with Funk’s spinning toehold, but Jack saves. They fight into the crowd. Douglas backdrops Sandman to the floor and they go at it out there. Jack is rammed head first into a pillar. Funk looks to be setting up a suplex, but DDT’s Mick instead. Funk finds a toolbox under the ring. In a very funny spot, Funk didn’t realize the toolbox was open and winds up dumping the contents on his head before he can blast Douglas with it. Cactus Jack throws a Rubbermaid trashcan on Funk. Funk is out and the other three men disappear to the back for a smoke break.

Jack and Foley come back out. Sandman gets a low altitude backdrop suplex before they head into the ring. Sandman gets a chair from a fan, but Jack intercepts him. He places Sandman’s head in the chair and leg drops it for Excedrin headache number 78. Jack parades with a chair and Sandman headbutts him in the gonads. Maybe it’s me, but the high level of no selling leaves me cold. Crotch shot with the chair leg. DDT on the chair. Sandman goes up top for a leg drop. Shane returns limping to save the pin fall. He knocks Sandman to the floor with a chair shot and planchas out on top of him. In what has to be leading to the finish Funk returns with a flaming branding iron. He hits Foley with the non-flaming part. He then rips off Jack’s shirt and appears to actually brand him in the chest. Douglas runs in. Sandman follows. More kendo stick action. Uh, someone might like to pick the flaming branding iron up off the mat before that place goes up like a tinderbox. Funk piledrives Jack on the branding iron and gets the pin. You can’t say that was anticlimactic. Douglas gets revenge with the kendo stick post match. *** Great fun brawl, although it much longer than its roughly 12 minutes. In comparison to the first match there was much more energy and a certain flow to the hardcore spots. The toolbox and branding iron bits were very original and well used. More could have been done with the guardrail. Funk was very sloppy throughout.

Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten
Taipei Death Match from Hardcore Heaven on 7/1/1995

Heyman’s intro: Axl and Ian are brothers who were fighting straight out of the womb. In a Taipei Death Match you wrap your hands in tape, then dip the fists in glue, then dip the fists in broken glass while the glue is wet so you have shards of glass all over your hands. Genius.

The Match: They square off like boxers. Make that kick boxers as Axl lands a kick to the shins. Axl ducks a roundhouse punch and hits his brother in the forehead. Referee Bill Alfonso backs both men off. He grabs the microphone and stops the match because he feels the blood will impair Ian’s vision. Heyman didn’t cover this, but if memory serves Alfonso was working a gimmick where he tried to be a by the book, straight as an arrow referee. In another element that Heyman didn’t cover The Gangstas and Public Enemy come brawling out of the back. Police break them up. Alfonso goes out to help. He leaves with the cops. Commissioner Todd Gordon takes the ring and restarts the match. The Rottens brawl with Ian taking the advantage. Back fist to the chest. Axl falls over the second rope as a new official joins us. Ian picks a shard of glass off of his hand and carves his brother up like a turkey. Both men are a bloody mess already. Ian grinds the back of his hand into the forehead. More digging with glass chunks. Axl shakes Ian off and lands a back kick to the chin. He goes on the offensive. Ian bails to the floor. Axl lays him over the guardrail and works him over for the fans to see. Ian looks like an extra from Carrie. Back in the ring Axl covers for a two count. Low blow by Ian. Ian lands a fist drop to the groin. Reading that will make you cross your legs. Ian lands a DDT and goes to the floor. He finds a bag of thumbtacks from lord knows where. He sets up a piledriver, but Axl backdrops out of it. Ian lands on the tacks and Axl splashes him. That’s the finish. It was what it was. It felt short, but I don’t know if I would want it to be any longer. The thumbtacks seemed anticlimactic with the basis of the match being taped fists covered with broken glass. The opening segment furthered an angle that had no bearing on this disc and wasn’t explained, so that was a bit confusing. I don’t feel comfortable rating this. I wouldn’t really call it a dud. Let’s say * for the Rottens being crazy mofos.

Rey Mysterio, Jr. vs. Psychosis
Mexican Death Match from November 2 Remember on 11/18/1995

Heyman’s intro: We go from one extreme to another with the most hardcore lucha libre you will ever see as two rivals from south of the border lock up. If a man is pinned or submits he has a ten count from the referee to get up or he loses the match.

The Match: The fans chant rudo at Psychosis, which would make him the heel, but they seem to like him. He stands on the second turnbuckle to await Mysterio. He enters and climbs the turnbuckles from the outside so they are nose to nose. Psychosis backs off. Both men are masked. Mysterio is un-tattooed. Mysterio gives Psychosis the finger. Psychosis charges with a flying seated dropkick, but Mysterio moves. Flying head scissors by Mysterio. He bounces off the ropes for a charge and is back dropped to the apron. Psychosis misses the seated dropkick again and Rey climbs the turnbuckles from the outside. Psychosis seems to catch him, but Rey turns it into a rana for a rollup. That gets three and Psychosis is up at five. A criss cross sequence ends with Rey kicking Psychosis in the back of the legs to send him crashing to the mat. Mysterio is back dropped to the apron again. Psychosis tries to suplex him in, but Mysterio slips out of it and gets a hurricanrana that sends them both to the floor. Rey disconnects a piece of the guardrail and wedges it diagonal again the ring post. He tries to whip Psychosis into it. He reverses. It looks like Rey was going to try to jump on the rail and come off backwards, but he slipped. Nice cover by Rey who sells it as an actual slip and nurses his knee. Psychosis throws a chair at him. Back in the ring Psychosis gets a missile dropkick. Body slam leads to a moonsault for three. Mysterio gets up at the last possible second. Pyschosis pounces. He press slams him over the turnbuckles onto the ring post. Flying double axe handle to the back while Rey lays on top. Face jam. Sort of a scoop powerbomb off of a whip to the ropes gets a three. Rey gets up at one again. They’re counting backward by the way and in Spanish. Psychosis charges to ram Rey.

Over the shoulder back breaker leads to an inverted Snake Eyes. Pyschosis goes to the floor to get a chair, then changes his mind. Well, that makes him a heel to the ECW fans. He hits the move on Mysterio again. Body slam sets up a corkscrew senton for three. Mysterio is up at one again and takes a dropkick. Rey is slouched in the corner and takes another dropkick. Now Psychosis gets the chair. DDT on it. He lays the chair across Mysterio’s back and then hits a moonsault onto it. Rey makes it up. Diving shoulder block to the gut on Rey. Psychosis dropkicks the knee. He throws the chair on top of Rey and goes up top. Mysterio was playing opossum and Psychosis lands the moonsault on the chair over Rey’s knees. Mysterio hits him with the chair. Psychosis rolls to the apron and is knocked to the floor by a springboard clothesline. Psychosis lurches up and Rey planchas out to send him over the barricade into the crowd. Mysterio gets a springboard moonsault into the crowd. He beats Psychosis with a chair. They fight through the crowd. Back to ringside for more chair action. Mysterio throws him into the crowd on the other side of the arena and they brawl over there. They wind up on the stage in front of Joey Styles’ announce position. Rey climbs onto Joey’s table and leaps off for a hurricanrana that lands Psychosis head first onto a chair. That gets a three. Rey and the referee go back to the ring. For some reason the count doesn’t start until Mysterio retakes the ring, but it doesn’t matter. Psychosis is dead. *** ¼ Nice use of the match stipulation to setup pin falls and ten counts, although I think it might have interrupted the usual fast pace of the standard match between these guys. Nice blending of hardcore and lucha libra for a thoroughly entertaining encounter.

Shane Douglas vs. Chris Jericho vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbaull #2
Four Corners match for the ECW Television Title from Heatwave on 6/13/1996

Heyman’s intro: He disputes Eric Bischoff’s claims to having discovered Rey Mysterio and Psychosis. They were in ECW before WCW and so was Chris Jericho. The first title Jericho ever held in the US was the ECW TV Title.

The Match: Pitbull #2 has Francine with him. He would seem like the odd man out here. Douglas blasts him with a chair as soon as he hits ringside. Jericho and Scorpio start in the ring. Douglas jaws at Pitbull from the apron. Jericho and Scorpio do a high-octane crisscross sequence that ends with 2 Cold sliding to the floor off of a spin kick. Y2J and Douglas exchange “pleasantries” as Styles puts it by shooting each other the finger. Scorpio comes back in and they fight over a hammerlock. Scorpio hip tosses out of it. Another crisscross sequence ends with a dropkick by 2 Cold. Body slam sets up a standing somersault leg drop for two. Jericho slips behind Scorpio after a whip to the ropes and gets a Tiger Bomb for two. Styles christens the next move Mr. Salty, because Jericho has Scorpio tied up like a pretzel. It’s a hammerlock with a body scissors on the mat. Scorpio fights out and into a camel clutch. He lands a kick to the chin, but it just wakes Jericho up and they exchange chops. The fans get on my nerves by chanting for tables when there is a real wrestling match going on. High spinning kick knocks Chris down. Douglas asks for the tag from 2 Cold and gets it.

Jericho reverses a suplex and floats over for a two count. Side headlock take down is worked on for a couple near falls. Into the ropes Jericho knocks Douglas down with a shoulder block and gets a reverse roll up for two. He goes to the apron and whips himself in for a slingshot knee drop. Douglas get his face slammed into every turnbuckle in the near corner several times. Douglas is worked over in the corner. He fights back and they trade chops. Spin kick allows the Lionsault for two. Remember when that was a believable finisher. Jericho tags Pitbull and Douglas dives to tag 2 Cold Scorpio. Scorpio doesn’t like that. Scorpio slips out of a one handed press slam for a sunset flip. Pitbull easily breaks and gets a military press into a power slam. He telegraphs a backdrop and eats a boot to the jaw. However, a victory roll attempt is countered into a power bomb. Scorpio fights back with punches. Scorpio throws him to the floor with a standing monkey flip against the ropes. 2 Cold meets him out there with a boot to the mush. He slams him face first to a steel chair. You can just assume that everyone is bleeding about two minutes in of these matches and I don’t have to mention it. Scorpio works him over in the ring. Douglas blind tags 2 Cold and blitzes Pitbull. Gut wrench suplex gets two. Douglas tags Jericho.

Snap mare with a kick to the back of the head by Jericho. He ducks a clothesline and takes Jericho off his feet with a back elbow. Jericho is caught on a leapfrog try for a body slam. That gets two. They fight over a waistlock. Jericho hits a back kick and gets the waistlock for a German suplex. He can’t hold the bridge and a conventional cover gets two. Y2J didn’t learn anything from Scorpio as he makes a vertical leap for something and is caught with a power bomb. Tag to 2 Cold. A body slam doesn’t keep Jericho down long enough for Scorpio to go up top. Jericho pops up to make 2 Cold crotch himself. Jericho hits the old Super Frankensteiner, but messes up his knee and can’t capitalize. Douglas tags in to cover Scorpio for two. Scorpio comes back with a spin kick and then punches Douglas to the floor. He works him over like a prizefighter outside. Scorpio slams Douglas into the chair from earlier. He sets the chair up in the ring and face slams Douglas onto it. Two count. Tag to Pitbull. Douglas bails. He slides into the ring from the other side and tags Jericho. Pitbull wants Shane and this allows Chris to schoolboy him for two. Jericho’s knee buckles on a body slam and Pitbull lands on top for two. Whip to the corner. Jericho totally blows a mule kick and Pitbull power bombs him. It gets two. Tag to Scorpio who scores a butterfly suplex. Jericho rolls to the floor and Scorpio follows him out for some punishment. Jericho slips back into the ring first and catches Scorpio with a DDT. Douglas won’t take the tag, so Chris tags Pitbull. He nails a fall away slam from the top rope and covers. Douglas inexplicably tags Scorpio. They fight over a hip toss. Pitbull tosses Douglas, but then he pulls Pitbull out by his ankles. Jericho springboards out onto both of them. Then Scorpio does the same. He whips Jericho into the guardrail, but is backdropped over it when he charges. Jericho and Scorpio brawl in the crowd. Douglas crotches Pitbull on the guardrail and promptly disappears from view. Jericho and Scorpio make it back to ringside. This is an elimination match and there have been no pinfalls.

A bulldog to a chair by Douglas on Pitbull only gets a two count. There is nobody for Douglas to tag and Pitbull slugs away on Douglas. He puts Douglas up in a military press, but lets him down so Jericho can land a missile dropkick. Pitbull covers, but Jericho breaks and covers himself. Stop breaking pinfalls up you idiots. Jericho gets an elbow to the cranium off the second rope and follows with a dropkick. Douglas puts his foot on the bottom rope on the cover. Jericho utilizes a spinning toehold as he tries to figure out how to apply a figure four and finally gets it. They work off of that for awhile. Jericho lets go and then looks to reapply, but Douglas kicks him off and tags Scorpio. In a move that made me say holy shit, Jericho goes for the Lionsault, but is dropkicked in the face by Scorpio as he back flips off the ropes. Power bomb. Scorpio stalls and teases tagging Douglas. Jericho sneaks in from behind and throws 2 Cold over his head. He teases tagging Douglas. He finally does, but Douglas attacks Jericho and then tags himself out. Tombstone by Scorpio sets up the Tumbleweed and Jericho is gone. Douglas comes in and offers his hand to Scorpio. He wants them to team up to take out Pitbull. Scorpio takes his hand, but is the one to attack. Standing dropkick on Douglas. Another to Pitbull on the apron. Scorpio works an abdominal stretch. The fans chant boring as soon as it’s applied. Douglas seems to pass out. Scorpio pulls him up for a whip to the ropes. Douglas lands a belly to belly suplex and climbs up top. Scorpio meets him up there. Top rope sunset flip gets two. Pitbull tries to come in and eats a crescent kick. Scorpio stacks both men on top of each other then misses the moonsault. Douglas gets a snap DDT out of desperation.

Douglas tells Pitbull to go up top for the super bomb. To his credit, Douglas helps to set it up and that gets the pin on 2 Cold. Douglas immediately attacks. They fight to the floor. Pitbull is thrown into the ring post. They slug it out. Pitbull smashes a water bottle into Douglas’ skull. Pitbull sets up two chairs in the ring. Power bomb on the chairs. That would be my finish, but he goes under the ring to get a table. He sets it up in the corner. He attempts to whip Douglas into it, he reverses to send Pitbull into the near corner and belly to belly suplexes him out. Francine jumps on the apron to distract the referee. Shane brings her into the ring and kisses her. Pitbull charges, but Douglas moves and he squashes the referee. It’s ECW, I don’t understand the need for a ref bump. That must have been one of those magic Superman 2 type kisses, because Francine turns on Pitbull by throwing powder in his eyes. She strips out of her skirt to reveal Franchise written on her panties. Cute. Pitbull #1 is magically now at ringside to rally his partner. A series of clotheslines leads to a Cactus clothesline by Pitbull to send them both to the floor. Pitbull #1 gets Francine by the neck. She gets superbombed through the table. Douglas runs in to single arm DDT Pitbull #1 on his bad shoulder. He hits #2 with the Television title belt, but he kicks out of the cover at two. Douglas grabs a piece of the table and breaks it over Pitbull’s head. It gets two. Low blow gets two. Pitbull #1 has been carted out by officials. Douglas pulls a chain out of his boot and wraps it around his fist. Blamo! Only gets two. Pitbull whips Douglas to the far corner. He dodges on the spin kick and Pitbull crashes to the floor. Pitbull crawls back in and jobs to the belly to belly suplex. **** ½ A fantastic long match with good individual segments and properly built up to pinfalls. The overriding storyline between Pitbull #2 and Shane Douglas didn’t overshadow the overall match, but was still the glue that held proceedings together. The ending might have been a bit over done, but that’s Heyman’s epic booking style coming through. This was more a wrestling match than a hardcore brawl and therefore I loved it.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee
Weapons match from Hardcore Heaven on 6/22/1996

Heyman’s intro: Heyman puts Tommy Dreamer over as an innovator of the hardcore style. He says all weapons will be legal in the next match, but how is that different from the usual.

The Match: The ring is already filled with plunder. Kimona Wanaleia and Beulah wheel in some more weapons and this allows Dreamer to pearl harbor Lee from out of the crowd. Dreamer empties the trashcans in the ring and nails Lee in the head with one of the metal ones. Lee is hit in the crotch with a kendo stick and Dreamer breaks a guitar over his back. He throws Lee to the floor and follows to smack him with a board. Lee throws Dreamer into the guardrail and then hits him with a trashcan lid. They get back into the ring. Dreamer is hit with a metal trashcan and what I’m going to call a hunk of aluminum siding. He tries to make Tommy eat some garbage and follows up with trashcan-lid-to. Dreamer bails and walks it off. Lee stalks him from behind. Dreamer eats some table, but grabs a wooden crate to make the comeback with. He throws Lee into the crowd. Dreamer points to the door and they brawl outside. There are fans out there. Lee throws Dreamer into the side of a semi. Lee marches Dreamer down the street and throws him into a garage door. Lee slams him into the door repeatedly. I’ve only seen something like this twice before. A WCW match between Van Hammer and Cactus Jack that wound up at a rodeo ring adjacent to the arena and a show I was at live where Abdullah the Butcher and Ronnie Garvin fought into the parking lot and onto the adjacent fairgrounds.

A fan hands Dreamer a chair and he wallops Lee then makes him taste some garage door. They wander around. Lee reverses a suplex on the concrete. They march each other back toward the building. Dreamer throws Lee face first into the building. Dreamer hits Brian with what I’m going to call a small metal mixing bowl like what your mother would do cookie dough up in. Dreamer drags Lee by his hair back over to the semi and slam him into it. Lee fights back and throws Tommy into a small U-Haul container. They go inside. Lee uses a chair on Dreamer. Dreamer hits him with a bread pan and follows with a mailbox and a ukulele back in the ring. Lee shoves Dreamer down and finds the trashcan from earlier. Low blow by Dreamer. He grabs another guitar. He whips Lee into the ropes, he dodges the shot. Dreamer walks right into a choke slam. Lee tries out for the mafia by getting a cinder block and a baseball bat. He lays the block on Dreamer’s stomach. Beulah attacks from behind. He goes to choke slam her. Kimona saves with the weapons of mass distraction by flashing Lee. Beulah smacks Lee with a frying pan. This gives Tommy time to recover. He nails Lee with a stop sign. DDT on the sign gets the win. The Bruise Brothers then run out and destroy Dreamer. We fast forward to Dreamer and Lee fighting on a raised stage level. Three tables are set up on top of each other below. Dreamer is choke slammed through the tables. * Too much random brawling and garbage spots. Most of the match was them walking around trying to find stuff to slam each other into. Going outside was creative, but it didn’t really play into the storyline, it was just something to do. I say if you go outside, you end it outside.

Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu
Stretcher match from The Doctor Is In on 8/3/1996

Heyman’s Intro: Many think of RVD when they think of ECW. Van Dam’s mentor was Sabu. The match ends when one man has to be carried off on a stretcher.

The Match: The ring is filled with streamers like we’re in Japan or something. Feeling out process to start. They exchange dropkicks to the knee. They slug it out. Van Dam kicks Sabu down and hits a springboard leg drop coming off the bottom rope. Sabu kicks RVD off. He takes Rob down into a knee bar. Van Dam grabs the ropes to break, which I think wouldn’t matter in this type of match. They lock up with Sabu pushing RVD into the ropes. He breaks off and Van Dam gets cocky. Sabu charges with punches. He whips RVD to the far corner, he bounces out to take a springboard standing leg drop. Sling shot splash by Sabu. Sabu telegraphs a backdrop and takes a Tiger Bomb. RVD goes to the apron for the slingshot splash, but Sabu dropkicks him to the floor and follows out with a slingshot senton. Sabu wedges a table between the ring apron and the guardrail. They each get slammed face first into the table. Van Dam springs off the ring apron for a lunging kick. Rob hangs Sabu out to dry on the ring barricade and nails a guillotine leg drop. RVD jumps over the guardrail just in time to have a chair thrown in his face. Sabu throws another chair at him. They head back into the ring and Sabu throws another chair at RVD. I like the throwing of the chair it seems more violent and more of a ‘fuck you’ attitude toward the opponent.

Van Dam break up the Air Sabu and makes him crotch himself on the top rope. He then jumps off the top turnbuckle and spin kicks Sabu to the floor. Sabu crawls up on the apron. RVD works him over. He throws a chair in his face then jumps off the top rope to leg drop the chair. RVD calls for the stretcher. They load Sabu up and wheel him off. The fans chant his name and he gets up. Back in the ring RVD drops the knee and follows with a leaping crescent kick. Power bomb. Leg drop to the back of the head. Springboard knee drop to the back of the head. Sabu tries to roll over RVD on a backdrop attempt, but lands on his rear. He stands only to take a leg sweep. Van Dam scores a standing moonsault. He goes up top. Sabu meets him up there, but RVD blocks the superplex and jumps to the floor to clothesline Sabu throat first over the ropes. Van Dam gets a new chair. Sabu meets him coming back into the ring. RVD tries to suplex him from the apron, but Sabu reverses and drops Rob gut first on the top rope. He lays RVD face up over the second rope with the chair under his head. Sabu leaps off the near turnbuckles for a leg drop to the face that sends the back of Van Dam’s head bouncing off the chair. It’s like improv. Your prop is a chair, how many things can you do with it. Sabu kicks Van Dam across the other side of the ring to roll out onto the previously set up table. Sabu sets up the chair to use as a springboard. Rob dives back into the ring, but Sabu pulls up and Van Dam crashes over the chair and lands on his face. Sabu goes up top with the chair in hand, but doesn’t really use it to hit the Arabian Facebuster. He then stands on the top rope itself, throws the chair on top of RVD and hits a second Arabian Facebuster. He calls for the stretcher. RVD gets wheeled halfway up the aisle, then gets off and comes back.

Short arm clothesline on RVD sets up the triple jump moonsault. Both men are out. Sabu must have scrambled his brains, because he covers RVD. The referee waves him off. Why is there even a ref in the ring? Sabu sits Van Dam on the top rope. He runs from the opposite corner and uses the chair for a springboard. Rob tries to meet him in mid air, but gets clotheslined. RVD rolls straight out of the ring and onto the stretcher. Nice touch, it’s almost like he’s giving up purposely. Sabu shoves away the paramedics and then pushes out the guardrail to give more room to the outside ring area. He hits a springboard moonsault from the second rope to the outside. He didn’t get the guardrail far enough back and wallops his ankle on the steel. Sabu collapses holding his leg. A second stretcher is produced and Sabu is put on it. Both men are being carted off. Sabu gets off and climbs the ring barricade. He hits a leg drop onto RVD and he falls to the floor. Sabu returns to the ring. RVD follows. Sabu meets him on the floor to whip him into the guardrail. RVD dodges a chair shot and kicks the chair into Sabu’s face. Moonsault press off the guardrail. They go back in. Sabu whips RVD to the corner and sets him on high. Sabu messes up Air Sabu and turns it into a rana. RVD rolls to the table from the beginning of the match that was set up. Sabu tries to spring out onto RVD, but is caught with a fisherman’s buster to go through the table. That’s like a good movie. You establish something early on and use it later.

Sabu gets off the stretcher again. RVD throws the chair at him a dozen times. Sabu reverses the whip and they both leap to the ropes. Van Dam takes the advantage by scoring a seat dropkick as they come off. Sabu reverses a fisherman’s buster to one of his own. Sabu goes for the triple jump moonsault, but RVD swipes the chair. Big collision. Sabu gives props to Allah and is spin kicked over the ropes to land on the stretcher. They try to carry him off, but RVD goes to the top turnbuckle. A senton to the outside misses as Sabu moves. Van Dam is put on the stretcher and wheeled to the back. A very lackluster ending. ** ½ Pretty much a spot fest. It was sloppy and repetitive. The start was promising and the stretcher stipulation was used well to establish ‘near fall.’ I overall wasn’t feeling it.

Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards
3 Way Dance for a shot at the ECW World Title from Barely Legal on 4/13/1997

Heyman’s Intro: Heyman says that people constantly ask him why ECW’s fans were so loyal to them. He says it was because that their wrestlers gave their all to entertain them, as was seen in the last match. They tried to make every night a special night and no night was more special than their first pay per view, Barely Legal. Terry Funk, the Sandman and Raven’s former lackey Stevie Richards would all fight to see who would face Raven for the ECW World Title in the main event. This is an elimination match with all three men in the ring at the same time.

The Match: Funk shakes Stevie’s hand in a nice gesture. Sandman then offers Funk a beer. Styles says that Tommy Dreamer gave up his spot in the match to Funk. Dreamer and Beulah are on commentary with Joey. Funk refuses the beer and Sandman chugs it. He then spits beer on Richards. Richards is in his Big Stevie Cool gimmick as part of the bWo. Who thought that gimmick would still be around nearly ten years later. If you think about it, the bWo outlasted the real nWo. I bet Vince McMahon did that on purpose. Steve gets a side headlock on Funk. Sandman gets a side headlock on him. Sandman is pushed into the ropes, Funk gets loose and Sandman shoulder blocks Richards down. Team up on Stevie in the corner leads to a chop fest. Sandman hits Funk and they go at it. Funk shoves Sandman over Richards and he schoolboys him for a two count. Sandman misses a wild clothesline and takes a jab from Funk. A flying forearm by Richards breaks up the spinning toehold. Funk is worked over. Sandman drops Richards on Funk for a leg drop and that gets two. Good job so far with the third man not stupidly breaking up pin falls in this elimination match. They set up the move again, but this time Sandman side suplex Richards. Sandman takes a walk. Funk hits four swinging neckbreakers on Richards and covers for two. Sandman tosses a ladder into the ring and it lands on Terry. Sandman jumps up a notch in my book by suplexing the ladder on top of Richards. Beulah hasn’t said one word on commentary. Sandman smacks Funk with the ladder then covers the ladder while on top of Funk for a near fall. That ladder adds extra weight on top of a man to prevent an easy kick out, so I like that spot too. Sandman sets up the ladder then DDT’s Richards. Funk and Sandman meet on top of the ladder. Funk moonsaults off the ladder to barely clip Richards with his boot. Sandman leaps off the top rope with the ladder to splash Richards.

Sandman body slams Richards on top of Funk and covers him for two. Sandman goes for the ladder, but Richards dropkicks him into it and covers for two. Funk headbutts Richards and covers for two. Sandman props the ladder up in the corner. Richards reverses a whip to send Sandman head over heels into it. That gets a two count. Richards body slams Funk for two. Elbow drop gets two. Sandman and Stevie meet on top of the ladder. A wobbly Funk trips into the ladder and upends both men. Funk puts the ladder in a fireman’s carry and gives it an airplane spin. Richards and Sandman are smacked repeatedly in a very funny spot. Funk props the ladder against the ropes. He and Sandman slug it out nearby. Richards vaults off the top and catapults the ladder into their faces. Stevie Kick on Sandman gets two. Stevie Kick on Funk gets two. Sandman throws Richards and the ladder to the floor. He slams Richards over the guardrail then props the ladder up against the barricade on the crowd side. Sandman goes back into the ring, runs its length, leaps over the ropes and seesaws the ladder into Richards face. This is nuts. Funk comes back with a chair to both men. Sandman goes to the locker room. Funk and Richards hit the ring. Suplex on Richards. Sandman comes back with a trashcan and throws it at Terry. It hits him in the head, but he still covers Richards for two. It appears that the can is wrapped in steel. Funk and Sandman suplex Richards on it. Funk covers for two. Spike piledriver on Richards. Sandman recovers the ladder. They place it on top of Richards and Funk helps slingshot Sandman over the ropes for a senton on top of it. Kick out again. They prop the ladder against the ropes. Funk holds Richards in place so Sandman can seesaw the ladder into Stevie’s face. Funk throws a chair at the Sandman. That eats time from the cover and Stevie kicks out again. A spiked piledriver leads to a double cover and Richards is gone.

Sandman and Funk shake hands then slug it out. Funk backdrops Sandman to the floor and he lands on Richards. Sandman roots under the ring to find a length of barbed wire with streamers wrapped around it. Funk hits Sandman with the steel reinforced trashcan and then tucks his shirt over his head to blind him. Funk whips the bare back with the wire to slice Sandy to shreds. In a completely insane spot Sandman wraps the barbed wire around his own body and then repeatedly clotheslines Funk. Leg drop from the top gets two. Sandman looks like he has streamers shooting out of his butt. It’s grotesquely humorous. Richards is still hanging around and climbs to the apron. Sandman attacks him and this allows Funk to put a trashcan over Sandman’s head. He punches the can. Stevie Kick to the can. Funksault scores the pin. *** ¾ ECW seemed to know how to do multi man matches. A lot of good multiple man spots, nice build up to all the eliminations, good dynamics between all the individual characters to build storylines. I don’t like Richards coming back and playing deus ex machina to give Funk the win.

We then cut to Raven standing over Funk in the ring to immediately start the main event. Raven smacks Funk in the head with the title belt. This appears to be the only Raven match in the collection and it’s not even advertised. Raven sets up a chair and drop toeholds Funk into it. He hits Funk with the chair and taunts him to stand. Referee John Finnigan calls for the doctor to check Funk. The crowd chants for Tommy Dreamer to come in. Dreamer says he promised Funk not to interfere no matter what. The doctor lets him go and Raven works on the cut forehead. Raven sets up a table on the outside. Fans are pleading for Dreamer to help. Raven suplexes the table onto Funk. He gets another table from under the ring. He wedges it between the ring and the guardrail. He lays Funk on it. He runs the ring for momentum and leaps out to splash Funk through the table. The doctor wants to stop the match and Raven knocks him out. Raven’s nest comes out. Reggie Bennet power bombs Funk in the ring. Raven asks for a microphone. He tells Dreamer that he’s going to end Funk’s career and throw the carcass at his feet. Dreamer tells Raven to come meet him on the announce stage. Big Dick Dudley blindsides Dreamer with a trashcan. Raven DDT’s the referee because he can. Tommy blocks a choke slam and throws Dudley through a stack of tables. Dreamer fights through the Nest and into the ring. He DDT’s Raven. Funk covers. Finnigan dives for the count. Raven kicks out right at three, so Funk small packages him and that will do it. Odd finish there. * Hell of a storyline involving Funk carried over from the first match. The match itself was garbage. Phenomenal performance by Funk overall.

One disc of ECW at a time is about all I can take. Join me back next week as we take a look at disc two. We’re on the other side of the mountain as disc two covers from late 1997 to the company’s demise and then rebirth at One Night Stand. Plus, a boatload of extras.

The 411: A great disc that gave a good cross section of ECW talent and matches. You get to see ECW stalwarts from Sabu and Tommy Dreamer to those who just passed through like Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio. You had chaotic, weapons filled brawls and some sound wrestling too. Even non-fans of ECW should enjoy this, as long as they are not squeamish or technical purists. Even the junk matches were entertaining and gave a good feel for the style and energy of the company. I would have used video packages and longer intros by Heyman to setup the storylines heading into each match, but you could generally figure out what was going on and nothing distracted too much from the matches themselves.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]