wrestling / Columns
My Take On The Original ECW 7.30.08: ECW Hardcore TV (5.06.96)
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.
ECW HARDCORE TV!
Final Thoughts: This match right here is the first ever pairing of Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley as a regular tag team. I wonder how that worked out for them? Back in the day, for those that are unfamiliar, Devon did more of the promos and was an ANGRY young man. Long before his simple “TESTIFY” gimmick, he was using, “Thou Shall Not Kill, Thou Stall Not Steal, and Thou Shall Not FUCK with the Dudleyz!” Which he uses here and as you can imagine, the Pitbulls didn’t take kindly to this. This is your typical ECW brawl around the building, and while not a masterpiece by any means, it is fun and has a TON of crowd heat. They cut “LIVE” to outside the arena where Joey Styles tells us that the show is pre-taped, and the Pitbulls had been jumped are on the way to the hospital. This would be the first time that a promotion admitted that the show was taped, which ECW did as a way to not insult their fan base. The Pitbulls are the masters of NO SELLING about everything here as the match goes on, I mean, one dude takes 5 chair shots and stays up. They superbomb Ray, Devon runs wild with chair shots, largely no sold again. We get no finish as the ref eats a chair shot and superbomb. Fun for what it was, but rather unforgettable when it was all said and done outside of the fact that this was the first ever pairing of Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley as a regular tag team. . Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 6.0 Final Thoughts: Styles is back with another live cut in and we see Dreamer being taken to the hospital. The Eliminators took out the Pitbulls. Lee has chosen The Eliminators as his partners for the 6-man, and made sure to take out Dreamer’s partners, so now Dreamer has chosen THE GANGSTAS as his new partners. This worked as it now feeds two feuds much better than the original match. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Final Thoughts: RVD is competing with a broken left wrist here. Now I am not going to lie, either you LOVE this kind of match or you hate this kind of match. This is EXACTLY what you would expect from an RVD vs. Sabu match. Crazy spots, chairs, tables and some sloppiness to be sure. But it isn’t sloppy to the point that it is bad. These guys are busting their asses out there, and at the time no one was offering this style in the US. They are constantly playing anything you can do I can do better for the entire 18-minutes that the match lasts, and it is a TON of fun. The end comes off as anti-climatic, because they do all of these WILD ass spots, and then Sabu wins with the triple jump moonsault. It looks very tame in comparison to the rest of the bout. In many ways this was a coming out party for both guys, as when all was said and done the people thought these guys were the shit. Sabu attempts to show RVD respect when the match is done, but he blows him off. Which is tremendous, because the crowd at the end loved and wanted to cheer both men, but RVD cements his heel status by walking out the way he did. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 7.5 Final Thoughts: The Eliminators are here with bloody hands, and say what they did was business. The claim that Dreamer doesn’t have to worry about them, but Brian Lee who is the man who wants him out of ECW. They vow to beat respect into the Gangstas as the show closes. This was a neat new take on things and as mentioned, a smart way to play to the audience. Larry’s Enjoyment Index: 6.5 Best Match/Segment: RVD vs. Sabu 7.5 Worst Match/Segment: The Pitbulls vs. The Dudley Boyz 6.0 Final Thoughts: An overall fine episode to close out my run with. This is really a time that people need to go back to for fun and to see stuff that they likely have no idea about. Today Ray is the main mouthpiece for “Team 3D,” but there was a time where he was just the stuttering idiot and Devon carried the promo side of the team. They also did something that was new and at the time revolutionary as they admitted that the show they were airing was taped, and cut in with “live” updates. It was an admission of the truth that is rare in the business. Of course the cut ins were taped as well, but it was a different feel to their show, something they thrived at during this time. The RVD vs. Sabu match is a fun spot-fest, but it has not aged well. You watch this and just want to pause, climb in the TV and warn Sabu about what he is going to become in 2008. Damn, dude is killing himself. RVD, for his lack of promo skills came off as a great dick heel here and was showing a lot of promise at this time. Show Score: 7.0 |
