Posted July 24, 201015 yr comment_5453510 Spiros Grekko vs. El Puerto Ricano I actually liked this a good bit. The crowd shits all over Grekko, so he draws out the squash and seems to amp up the heeling schtick. Ricano bumps awesome for everyone. Taz v. Joel Hartgood Taz murders the scummiest looking ECW guy this side of Hack Myers. Entertaining for what it was. Post match with jobbers eating suplexes and Mikey trying to make the save was pretty cool. Bubba Dudley v. Mr. Hughes This pissed me off as I figured it could be good and it's a sub-two minute squash due to Big Dick interference. Bruise Brothers v. Headhunters Brawl triggered by Mustapha Saed and Damian Kane confrontation. Not good, but could have been worse. J.T. Smith v. Axl Rotten I absolutely love J.T. Smith. I'm a fan of the FBI gimmick in general, but J.T.'s transformation from "guy who fucks up" to "black dude who thinks he's Italian" was awesome and one of the only comedy bits in ECW that I ever really liked. This was all J.T. His entrance was great. Then he ambushes Axl when some fan hands him a pizza box. Then he bumps like crazy for Axl and takes numerous plunder shots to the head while giving a blank stare facial expression that is absolutely hilarious. He briefly gains control after a DDT and then they go back to the ring where he bumps around crazily for Axl off of back body drops and clotheslines. Finish is awesome as J.T. goes to the top and "falls down" while holding a chair. Axl turns around to play to the crowd and J.T.'s klutz gimmick is buried as he turns around and waffles Axl with a vicous charishot for the pin. Post match he sucker punches Hack Myers as well. I will fight to get at least one J.T. match on this set. There are two other matches I can envision being possible extras, but I'm going to outright nominate this one as it's the longest match of the bunch and probably the best for ring work alone. Steve Richards/Eliminators v. Francine/Pitbulls (Dog Collar Match) I was duped into the thinking this might be okay when Richards started the match by superkicking Francine. Instead this was a meandering brawl with very few interesting spots and a near total absence of hate. ECW at it's absolute worst. Too Cold Scorpio v. Sabu Shane Douglas v. Cactus Jack Both of these made the SC Top 100. Sandman v. Raven Wildly overbooked to the point where it wasn't even really good, let alone nomination worthy, but man I really thought Sandman looked pretty great in this bumping huge, awesome wreckless dives and top rope leaps, a great hanging vertical brainbuster, selling the shit out of his hand when punching Raven, et. It's a shame all of these Raven title defenses are so overbooked.
August 14, 201015 yr comment_5454445 Sandman destroying the Bad Crew, Dredd, Sendoff, Dirt Bike, & Donn E. Allen with the cane was awesome 14 years ago when I saw it the first time and still awesome now. Spiros Greco vs. El Puerto Ricano (Pablo Marquez) Pablo is always fun and Greco looks like he should've been teaming with Dominic DeNucci circa 1980 but he was pretty solid here in the ring. "Human Suplex Machine" Taz vs. Joel Hartgood This was Heyman booking at his best getting over the bland Taz as a monster heel and scummy jobbers like Hartgood eating death was great for Taz's image. Hartgood looked like he sold X outside a white van in the ECW Arena parking lot after the matches. Taz then destroying the jobbers that Sandman canned earlier with vicious Germans was awesome before the Mikey run in which was fun as well. Next we get the awesome Brian Pillman debut which features the great sign from the original Sign Guy "Pillman, Don't Work Me" I love Douglas saying "HE'S SHOOTING" to Paul. Buh Buh Ray Dudley vs. Mr. Hughes This was a nothing match. Mustafa Saed comes out for the scheduled Gangstas/Head Hunters match but New Jack was locked up in the ATL so Damien Kane shows up and they have a brawl until the Hunters show up to destroy Mustafa. Damien then calls out any team to come out which leads to..... The Bruise Brothers (Don & Ron Harris) vs. The Head Hunters This was a brawl all over the building nothing more. Next we have Dreamer/Raven in a confrontation featuring the Bruisers turning on Dreamer and crotching him after Douglas took Beulah out of the building. "Italian Stallion" JT Smith vs. Axl Rotten We've had the Smith comedy skits where he became Italian but he still had the fuckup gimmick which would change soon. JT's selling of the weapon shots was pretty great with Axl grabbing anything he could find to beat his ass with. JT goes on offense but they show Leon fucking Spinks sitting in the crowd looking like a bum which sorta takes your mind off of the match as Axl regains control. JT goes back up top with the steel chair but falls down which was a trick showing he wasn't such a klutz after all and he nails Axl to win the match. JT then beats on Hack Myers after the match for good measure as well. The story and JT's work totally makes this match but not sure on a nomination. Dog Collar Match: The Pit Bulls & Francine vs. The Eliminators (John Kronos & Perry Saturn) & "Super" Stevie Richards Stevie superkicks Francine which takes her out of the match and this ends up being your standard brawl that has some fun spots by the Eliminators. Next up is Scorp/Sabu & Franchise/Cactus which are on the 100. ECW World Heavyweight Title: Raven © vs. The Sandman 1996 was the peak of the Sandman's career and this match is saved by his great one man performance in everything he did but I agree with Dylan that Raven's reign as champion was always full of bullshit finishes and Russoesque booking at times.
