Just revisted Old school ECW

[quote the raven]

I found myself hating it, Sure Mick gave some of the best promos ever and he worked his ass off but the others around him.

 

The sheer amount of no selling was just awful and from people that should know better,

 

Dreamer DDTs Raven.......30 seconds after hes up and hitting tommy with a chair.

 

Sandman, dear god how bad was he! The standing still after being hit with cane, chair, or anything else was just crap.

 

Public crappy.......Where to start......I dont know if i can even be bothered.

 

I dont know how it never bothered me before but i sat there thinking.......this is just hitting people with shit for 20 minutes.

 

I dont know if i dare move onto the PPV stuff as i remembered loving it and i fear i may hate it again.

[Mr Lawrence]

It was new and exciting stuff at the time and a great alternative to either of the big two. It's not everyones cup of tea - then or now. It's better to watch ECW in small doses as it does get sligly repetative in parts. Saying that, the luchadores were amazing and i still think their stuff holds up well.

[The Cum Doctor]

I've just watched the first three PPVs and they're not that bad. Sure, there's some shit. Sabu vs. The Sandman from November 2 Remember 1997 is absolutely horrifying, as is anything involving New Jack. But most of the stuff is just great fun.

[Super Cena]

As Mr Lawrence says, ECW in small doses can still be very entertaining to this day.

 

I didn't watch ECW growing up and so owe whatever knowledge I have of the promotion to the internet and DVDs such as the Rise and Fall of ECW etc, which instantly makes my view of watching any footage different to anyone who did watch at the time. You've got to remember that it's been ten years already since ECW last held a show, so if you're watching mid-ECW then you're looking at watching footage that's at least 15 years old, so it's bound to have picked up cobwebs along the way. Christ, it's already been a longer time period between the first One Night Stand up until today than it was between the folding of ECW and the first One Night Stand.

 

I don't think that I'd watch many ECW matches for their in-ring quality, but it is nice to sit down with a beer and watch the passion that was around in ECW at the time. The Terry Funk "Desperado" video on YouTube is the perfect video to sum up ECW's passion.

 

You have to remember that ECW was a completely different breed within the wrestling industry back then than what most company's outside of WWE and TNA are like these days. Not many WWF/WCW/JCP/ECW matches are going to have stood up well enough to be watched in awe at when you've got super-modern wrestling from Dragon Gate and ROH etc at your fingertips.

[Hyperion]

Those thick fat lads that think ECW is best company that ever existed do my nut in. I may be stereotyping but thats honestly what every one of them I met looked like. Anyways, yes ECW was mostly trash but there was some great matches and talent in that company over its 8 years or so.

 

 

I look forward to Butch's postings on this subject.

[A.P.]

I found myself hating it, Sure Mick gave some of the best promos ever and he worked his ass off but the others around him.

 

The sheer amount of no selling was just awful and from people that should know better,

 

Dreamer DDTs Raven.......30 seconds after hes up and hitting tommy with a chair.

 

Sandman, dear god how bad was he! The standing still after being hit with cane, chair, or anything else was just crap.

 

Public crappy.......Where to start......I dont know if i can even be bothered.

 

I dont know how it never bothered me before but i sat there thinking.......this is just hitting people with shit for 20 minutes.

 

I dont know if i dare move onto the PPV stuff as i remembered loving it and i fear i may hate it again.

 

I agree totally. I recently bought the 1996 ECW tv set and arena shows, and got through about 2 and have abandoned it due to it being shite. A 6-man tag between Dreamer, Sandman and Douglas vs Bruise Brothers and Raven was the final straw. About 20 minutes of no selling made the whole thing pointless.

 

Needless to say I won't be bothering with this.

[A.P.]

I guess the other thing for me is that watching all the recklessness and unprotected head shots, I realise now that it wasn't hardcore, it was just stupid.

[quote the raven]

I should add, I have owned these tapes for years, i dug out the old VCR and fired them up. I picked my Cactus Comp as i remembered thinking it was the greatest wrestling comp ever.

 

I have just got done watching WWFS eve of destruction. I really enjoyed that! Again they where a collection of "hardcore" matches, Foley vs Rock , Austin vs Vince in a cage ect.

 

Strange how my taste in wrestling has changed. I will try moving onto ECW PPVs and see if they hold up.

[Reznor]

I wouldn't sell Dreamers DDT either.

 

ECW was definitely a product of its time. Not much holds up today, at least from the mainstays.

 

I still love the Raven/Sandman feud though. Shane Douglas, Scorpio and Stevie had their moments, Sabu's a bit of guilty pleasure, and Taz & RVD were mildly intriguing for their unorthodox styles if nothing else. I could pass on just about everything else that didn't involve guys coming in for a cup of coffee though.

[Super Cena]

Wasn't ECW renowned for its innovative interview styles, skits, characters, storylines and feuds as opposed to the match quality on offer? That the angles which were once groundbreaking now seem a little familiar maybe the key as to why it's not as exciting to sit and watch back these days now that they've been done a countless amount of times in a million different feds over the years.

 

A Sandman/Taz match from '96 which featured a hundred mind bending chair shots would have been incredible to a teenager as he sat back with a joint after he's just told his Mum to fuck off and listened to his Metallica cassette.

[Checkmate]

Im a fan of ECW never watched it back in the day but the 1 thing i cant fucking stand about it is the brawling in the crowds. also the gangstas they were shit

[NEWM]

ECW ages best when you're watching the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, reading Turning the Tables, or specifically picking things out on Youtube. Sitting through an entire show now is absolute fucking murder. I still put Anarchy Rulz 99 and Heatwave 98 among my favourite shows, but outside of those I can't think of a single Arena show/PPV/something that goes around 3 hours that I can sit through without getting bored or a bit irritated. Even the best TV shows from 94 & 95 are littered with garbage that got by on the atmosphere and innovation alone. But then, the same can be said for a good portion of 1999 episodes of Raw too.

 

And Tommy Dreamer is fucking shit as well. He was the incredibly lucky recipient of 2 sensationally written angles, and offered shit all to back it up in the ring during or following those storylines. The weeping turd.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

i have a small handful of ecw dvds in my collection, plus the wwe produced ones bar the dreadful december to dismember ppv and it really does age badly compared to production values these days. that said i still find some stuff enjoyable such as the lawler/dreamer match from hardcore heaven 97, any match with rvd involved and the taz/bigelow match from i believe n2r 98

[garynysmon]

I agree with many of the sentiments already.

 

Last year when I was on the dole, I started watching whole months of ECW Hardcore from 1996/97. What I found was some gold, but a lot of dross as well, and wasn't as 'innovating' as i'd been led to believe.

 

I still think ECW is a 'you had to be there' type thing.

[tiger_rick]

ECW ages best when you're watching the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, reading Turning the Tables, or specifically picking things out on Youtube. Sitting through an entire show now is absolute fucking murder. I still put Anarchy Rulz 99 and Heatwave 98 among my favourite shows, but outside of those I can't think of a single Arena show/PPV/something that goes around 3 hours that I can sit through without getting bored or a bit irritated. Even the best TV shows from 94 & 95 are littered with garbage that got by on the atmosphere and innovation alone. But then, the same can be said for a good portion of 1999 episodes of Raw too.

 

And Tommy Dreamer is fucking shit as well. He was the incredibly lucky recipient of 2 sensationally written angles, and offered shit all to back it up in the ring during or following those storylines. The weeping turd.

This is absolutely on the money for me. I think the important thing to remember with ECW is context. The innovation is easy to overlook in hindsight because of the amount of times it's been copied. The storylines and interviews were a massive strength too. The matches were hit and miss, more often miss in fact. At the time, they seemed so different but the years haven't been kind to the spotty style. The great matches still generally stand up but NEWM is right, ECW is best if you just pick out the really good bits.

 

I think anyone who looks back now and sits through the matches on the first 2/3 of each show between guys who Paul Heyman conned the world in to thinking were good will almost always be disappointed.