there's a lot of misconceptions about the Extreme iteration, too
I remember back in the day /wooo/tube was watching a week or two of ECW tv each week before... I forget, luchatube, maybe
and it was really funny to see people realize THE LEGENDARY EXTREME PROMOTION ECW and actual weekly ECW tv were worlds apart
If you only watched Hardcore TV, you'd think ECW had the greatest in ring action ever, however In 1997 I bought 3 or 4 ECW VHS tapes at a kiosk at a local mall (they had assorted other rasslin merch and Japanese garbage wrestling tapes as well) and boy that was an eye opener. Seeing full, or mostly full, unedited cards with Sabu and The Eliminators botching their way thru matches, garbage wrestling with the Rotten brothers, Balls Mahoney and New Jack... whew, night and day difference.
Yeah, when you parse it all down to Taz vs Bam Bam Bigelow and Beulah vs Bill Alfonso and Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn, you get a very skewed picture compared to Danny Doring and Roadkill vs the weaker members of the FBI in matches without any actual finish.
To a previous comment you made that I cannot quote...it was Gabe Sapolsky. As it turns out, he was part of the ECW front office and works for/worked for WWE, which makes his comments regarding Gilbert even more ignorant.
Gotta give some credit to Heyman for editing this indie crapfest to look like the most amazing wrestling that ever existed.
there's ads for the new merch, ads for the replays of last ppv, ads for the latest ppv now on home video, and music videos (featuring the last ppv, the latest ppv now on home video, and new merch)
And before the PPVs it was the tapes... "
See the night Kimona Wannalaya danced atop the ECW arena!!" every fucking ad break, lol.
Ah yes, who could forget that time he threw a belt at the ground, and then broke his arm for approximately 7 years. All-time classic top heel. Move over Roman Reigns, the FRANCHISE is here.
I know that wasn't your point, but it's always funny how shitty his run as top heel was in retrospect.
I actually liked Shane thru 1997. His match with Pitbull #2 (which had a great build, with nuclear heat) was a farce. Naturally, Shane blames it on Pitbull, saying he got nervous due to being on PPV and froze... Hey Shane, you fancy yourself a modern day Ric Flair, then switch it up. The crowd was absolutely mild for that one considering the great heat and buildup to it.
After that match, Shane lost his steam, got injured, stayed injured and seemed to mostly meander on at that point. After that, until he lost the ECW title, the most memorable thing he did (that I can remember) was his match with Al Snow, and not in a good way. Shane was seriously banged up (jacked up arm, fractured palate, and according to him, geeked to the gills on pain killers. The match was OK, but the lockerroom emptying and holding both of these guys up in the ring like they just had the match of the century was very, very lame.
As to my thoughts of other members of the roster...anyone who was good, didn't stay there too long. Unlike most others, I wasn't terribly impressed with the Guererro/Malenko spotfests. Seen one, seen em all.
Public Enemy-seriously???... get the fuck outta here.
New Jack-great promo, but a legit psychotic who should never had been allowed inside a wrestling ring after the Mass Transit incident.
Meanie and Richards-good comedy heels, and they could wrestle.
Raven- I really wasn't down with the whole emo "Grunge" thing, but he was good.
Tommy Dreamer- I fuckin
hated this guy. Innovator Of Violence my ass. He was over because of his hot girlfriend (Beulah McGillicutty). Otherwise, he was little more than a glorified jobber whose job it was to take the worst legit beating his opponents could dish out.
Justin Credible-Great job asshole, you're the guy that made me quit watching ECW. Congrats, lol.
Rob Van Dam-Great look, incredibly athletic, plus he had the whole "dude weed lmao" thing going, but he had the most incredibly dumb finisher ever. Yeah, just hold that chair in place so I can kick it into your face. C'mon man...
That's about all I can think of for now, lol.
in downvotes. You can even find youtube threads of people noticing Brets penchant for endless bitterness towards shit everyone else has moved on from despite these others being the guys who've been shit on for the last 30 years. And it'll take as many times as needed until the checks stop coming. As long as there's a mark willing to pay the fee, Bret will happily talk about how much of a shitbag Shawn was and how he Shoryukened Vince 50' in the air while getting blown by 27 ring rats as the boys fingered his asshole and told him he's the Excellence of Execution.
