Main
BLAH |
Mark's Notes on Mark's Notes on ECW Gangstas Paradise 9/16/95
Commentary by Joey Styles
Broad Street Bully vs. Bull Pain. I've never heard of either of these
guys. I didn't watch ECW this long ago though. It's a brawl. They use
hockey sticks, chairs, etc. They're on the outside. Pain suplexes and
DDTs the Bully through two tables. Chant: "We want blood". Love the
ECW Arena crowd. They hit about 5 low blows between them. Pain drives
Bully's head into the mat and gets the pinfall. *
Dudleys vs. Chad Austin/Don E. Allen. This being 1995, all 470
Dudleys come out to the ring.
I don't recognize either of the two jobbers, and it's obvious they don't
stand a chance. D.W. Dudley and Dudley Dudley are doing the duty
tonight. It's odd to listen to only one commentator. Austin and Double
D are on the outside. Splash scores the win for Dudleys. 1/2*
J.T. Smith vs. Hack Myers. Never heard of these two either. Man.
J.T. slips when trying to climb the turnbuckle; crowd: "You fucked up".
Myers is really horrible looking. Fans really love J.T., giving him
massive heel heat all the way. He misses a plancha. Tries to go up top
again, and trips and falls to the outside, through a table. He gets
counted out?? In ECW?? Well then. 3/4*
Eliminators/Jason vs. Steiners/Taz. Now all these guys have had at
least relative success, so I've heard of them. Steiners and the Elims
go at it. Wow, they clipped it! So I won't be assigning a rating.
Scorpio runs in, kicks Taz, and Jason gets the pin. ** if I were to
give it a rating.
Raven/Stevie Richards vs. Pitbulls (2/3 Falls Double Dog Collar ECW
Tag Team Titles Match). This should rock in all ways possible. Raven
comes out, minus Stevie. Beulah is with them. Hoo boy. Pitbulls come
out. Still no Stevie. Beulah asks for it to be made 2/3 falls since
Raven is by himself. Pitbull #1 heads back towards the locker room. He
returns with Richards. Raven sets up a table and piledrives #2 through
it for the first fall.
Another table gets set up in the ring. Richards gets superbombed
through it for the second fall. Very short falls, the third better take
a while.
Raven and #2 get back in the ring. A third table gets set up. Raven
throws his Pitbull into the referee. The Dudleys runs in and attack the
Pitbulls. Two superbombs, one for each. Both of them bounce back,
though. They superbomb the Dudleys. They try to superbomb Raven
through the table but his head bounces off the side. Oh shit. Another
table in the ring. Raven chokes out Pitbull #2 and sets him on two
tables set up outside the ring. Raven legdrops him through them.
Richards still getting annihilated. Raven unhooks himself from Pitbull
#2. Richards' ex-girlfriend attacks Beulah get gets Evenflowed by
Raven. Pitbull #2 is out of it but Tommy Dreamer runs down to take his
place. He DDT's Raven for the win. Great brawl. ****
But wait there's more. Alfonso comes out. He says the match was over
when Pitbull #2 couldn't continue and Raven/Richards are still the
champs. Tod Gordon comes out to protest and gets nailed. Fonzie
screams that the chokeslam is LEGAL tonight; big mistake. 911 runs down
and nails him with a massive chokeslam. I have to add another 1/4* for
that ending; call me a mark. ECW! ECW! ECW! Pitbull #2 comes back
out and they hit a DUAL SUPERBOMB on BOTH Raven and Richards. Holy
fucking shit, what a brawl. ****1/4
Rey Misterio Jr. Vs. Psicosis. Yes! Yes! THIS is what I was waiting
for. This is the ECW debut of both wrestlers. They wow the crowd for a
few minutes with nothing but mat wrestling. Arena crowd is very
appreciative. Psicosis hits the guillotine legdrop. Misterio hits a
HUGE springboard plancha into the second row. Fans love it. Psicosis
goes up top but Rey brings him back down with a huracanrana. There was
a lot more stuff here I couldn't keep up with, but this was a great
match. Terrific, terrific stuff. ****1/2
A problem in the locker room with Public Enemy, New Jack, Scorpio,
others.
Steve Austin cuts a KILLER promo as the bearer of Steve-a-mania,
posing as Hulk Hogan and ripping into Hogan, and WCW in general. Says
this shit won't work anywhere, and storms off. This is an awesome look
at Austin morphing into Stone Cold. Styles gives us a subdued "Oh My
God".
Public Enemy/Mikey Whipreck vs. Scorpio/Sandman/New Jack. This would
be the Gangstas Paradise cage match, the show's namesake. Given the
last two matches, I'm not expecting much. Sandman is the ECW champ at
this point. He's also with Woman. His partners arrive. Styles thinks
the Sandman's already a bit inebriated. Hard to keep track of anything
in this one. Grunge and New Jack fight near Styles' broadcasting place.
They both drop elbows from the stage. In the ring, Sandman keep
throwing a table. around. PE sets up 3 tables in the ring. Scorpio and
Rocco Rock go through them from the top of the cage. Whipreck hits a
huracanrana off the same for a two count. He hits a splash off the top
and gets the win. Fun match; I liked it. ***1/4
News feature on ECW. Don't know why this is on my tape, but it's
short.
End of tape.
The Verdict: Well, this shows just how good ECW could have been. Back
when they still had most of their stars (I think Benoit, Malenko, and
Guerrero had already gone south), they were awesome. Talent depletion
has hurt, obviously, but I think they'll come back. Anyway, this is ECW
at its hardcore best, and even if the first few matches sucked, and even
if you don't like brawls, it's worth it for the Misterio/Psicosis match.
So there.
Recommended.
Mark Smith
Tape Review WWW Archive coming soon
Mail the Author
|
BLAH |
