ECW Heatwave '98
Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible
Justin has Nicole freakin' Bass in his corner. Hideous. This match wasn't a bad opener at all, though the table bump near the middle was a little unnecessary. The ending kicked quite a bit of ass, with the second turnbuckle That's Incredible, and Jerry taking it like a man. Not a whole lot else I can really say about this match, other than it got a good amount of time, which is a good thing for Jerry Lynn matches. I can see why Justin never drew a dime at all, though. Putting the title on him for all those months wasn't a good idea, Paul. This is why Paul Heyman was such an overrated booker in ECW. He didn't know who drew and who didn't. RVD was probably the only one that drew significantly at the late stages, and Paul doesn't even put the title on him. Same thing happened with AWA. When Hogan was there for a while, he was the most over guy in the whole company, bar none, and he still didn't get the title, and WWE signed him away, and put the title on him, thus bringing pro wrestling further into the mainstream, and leaving AWA to die. Oh, well. *** for the match.
Lance Storm vs. Chris Candido
This was also quite the decent little match, with some good psychology with the damaged ear of Candido, and crisp bumping by both. Joey once again calls the DAVE SMASH~ bomb "Tiger Bomb", thus showing why he is fairly overrated in terms of move calling, though not really that bad of an announcer. This match also has another kick-ass ending, with the top-rope powerbomb (TIGER BOMB! J/K). Chris definitely improved on his ring prescence since his first WWE stint. ***
New Jack vs. Jack Victory
A pair of Jacks! Beats my ace high. Anyways, this is billed as being a weapons match, which is basically every friggin' New Jack match in ECW. That's just like having Sabu billed as being in a "Special Sloppy Spotfest" match, or Kurt Angle being in a "Match Takes Place in the Ring" match. Anyways, New Jack gets punked out by the Dudleys and Victory earlier in the day, and gets the crap kicked out of him, depriving me of the very pleasure this match would have brought me. No match, I'm afraid.
Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome
Ahhh, yes. Mike Awesome before he became that Career Killin' Fat Chick Thrillin' 70's Guy. In other words, this was when Mike was good. Seriously, this guy moved around better than cruiserweights, and he was total hoss material in terms of size. Vince should have taken him before WCW did. This match was just a sweet little bumpathon, with both taking crazy hits with chairs, and other assorted goodness. Masato gets into the spirit of no-selling chairshots. The thing is, he does it at the right time to get the maximum crowd response, like Shawn Michaels did with his kip-ups and superhuman comebacks. The psychology was lacking, but the bumps were totally there, including a SICK AS HELL table bump from Mike Awesome. Seriously, this match kicked. ****
RVD/Sabu vs. Jinsei Shinzaki/Hayabusa
I remember buying this tape a few months ago (saw it for four dollars at an outlet store), and seeing this match listed and saying to myself, "Hey. This match is talked about quite a bit. Now I get a chance to see what the big deal is". This match doesn't live up to the hype that some people give it, but it is a darn fun little spotfest nonetheless, albeit very sloppy in some parts. I just don't know why they tried psychology in the beginning, because the people just knew that it was going to be a spotfest, so why not just start with the spots from the getgo. I do appreciate Sabu trying something new, though. Some of the spots were pretty nifty, like Jinsei's ropewalk (which got the crowd really going after being silent for the psychological portion) and the contrived (though cool) ending. The sloppyness keeps it from being as good as it could have been, though it was good for a typical Sabu match. **1/2
Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Just some boring brawling through the crowd, with a cool ending (there's quite a few on the tape). I also liked how Shane Douglas was just going ape caca when Taz crawled out of the hole and choked out Bam Bam. Absolutely nothing to note except for the finish, which keeps the match above negative stars. DUD
Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer, Spike Dudley, and Sandman
The nearly 20-minute prematch promo had some pretty damn funny TOS-violating material from Joel Gertner, and a pretty funny burn from Styles. People who complain about HHH's lengthy entrance should have to watch Sandman's entrance. The song is good, but you've made your point. You drink beer and smoke. We got it. Get in the riiiiiiiiing and start the damn match. The match is mostly just junk, with the most contrived and most cooperation-heavy thing I've seen in wrestling, which is Tommy doing the "I'll drag your hair, and you follow me, or the hair gets it" spot with D-Von (a contrived spot to begin with), while stepping over friggin' chairs! There's no way that could be realistic, even in the wacky world of wrestling. It also has a four-corner tree of woe baseball-slide dropkick-onto-a-chair spot, which is also contrived as hell. The match is just garbage, is too short for a main event, and the ending is anti-climatic. Still, it had its moments, and it was fun in places. *1/4
Verdict: This is the only ECW PPV tape I've watched (though I had followed ECW, and watched it on TNN), and it was actually good, save for the last couple of matches. A good, solid thumbs up.
Back to homepage