The Wrestling Menu - WWE Free Zone: ECW, AWA & NWA-TNA Reviews
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, February 5, 2003 at 3:40 AM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #33

Welcome one and all to the 33rd edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

My run of posting a column every Wednesday has ended. But as you all probably know, it was not my decision. This site was down while switching servers. That switch will hopefully lead to smoother browsing for all of us in the future. This isn't a bad thing, (all together now) it's a good thing!!!

I'm still getting a bunch of feedback empathizing with me on the Australian WWE situation. I've spoke about that topic enough & won't bore all of you with it again. Also, apologies to those I took a little while getting back to this past fortnight, as I had some PC troubles. That on top of the seemingly accidental problem I had of continually getting banned from the LOP forums, has seen a frustrating couple of weeks to say the least.

Anyway, I've turned away from the WWE today & present the first of quite a few reviews that I will do over the next month or so. I hope you enjoy it:


APPETIZERS - AWA Blood On The Sand

Now I could tell you that I don't have enough time to discuss the history of the American Wrestling Association (AWA). That would partially be the truth, but it would be more honest of me to say that I have never really had the opportunity to study the AWA's history, nor see any of it's matches before this DVD. The little I do know is that it was formed in 1960 & was headed primarily by Verne Gagne. The promotion probably reached it's peak in late 1985 when ESPN aired it's weekly television show. The AWA folded in early 1991, but not before it had seen the likes of Hulk Hogan, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Stan Hansen, Larry Zbyszko, Harley Race, Rick Martel, Adrian Adonis, Jesse Ventura, Scott Hall, The Road Warriors & The Rockers, just to name a dozen.

If you're wondering why I bought this DVD, it was mainly because I found it very cheap ($3 US), I was interested in seeing what the AWA product looked like & I wanted to see some very early matches involving The (Midnight) Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) & Leon White (aka Vader). The DVD is strangely titled 'Blood On The Sand', and is a collection of matches from late 1986 & early 1987, which took place at the Showboat Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

I got an unexpected surprise right at the very start of the program when a fresh-faced young presenter previewed the matches. That fresh-faced, already greying & not so confident presenter was none other than Eric Bischoff. I was unaware that Bischoff was ever in the AWA, so seeing him introduce each match was rather interesting. Trust me folks, he wasn't that much better then, than Josh Matthews is now.

Included amongst the 8 matches (9 were listed), were 3 below average matches which I will immediately skip over. The interesting opener had Leon 'Bull Power' White take on Brian 'Nasty Boy' Knobbs. This was not long after White quit the NFL & before he turned into Vader. Bull Power played the face & got an amazingly positive reaction from the crowd for everything he did. White did double-duty, later on teaming with Earthquake Ferris & Greg Gagne to take on the prototypical Russian heels, which included Boris Zhukov. Also, an entertaining women's match saw 'Sensational' Sherri Martel use every heel trick in the book to beat Candy Devine.

But the main focus of the DVD were 2 matches revolving around the Tag-Team Championship. Both matches had the champions of Playboy Buddy Rose & Prettyboy Doug Somers defending against The Midnight Rockers. The first match was a pure bloodfest which saw all 4 men bleed as much as any match I've ever seen. The then 21 year old Shawn Michaels basically played a moving unconscious man after about the first 5 minutes. The rematch was basically more of the same, but was a steel cage match. Both matches were entertaining & enthralling mixtures of old-school wrestling mixed with hardcore action.

All in all, this DVD was well worth the little money that I paid for it. The thing that amazed me the most (apart from how early Bischoff started to get grey hairs) was the crowd involvement. The smaller arena was jam-packed, extremely loud & 100% behind the face. The other thing that stood out to me was the obvious potential of the young teaming of Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty. It is easy to see why they quickly made it to the WWF, by their performances at such a young age here.


MAIN - ECW 2000 Reviews

A month or so back on the LOP Forums, I asked what people thought were the best ECW Pay-Per-View's of all time. The result was rather unanimous that 2 stood out; Barely Legal '97 & HeatWave '98. While I still intend to watch these as soon as practically possible, I thought that it would be more appropriate for my column to talk about more recent ppv events. I ended up purchasing 2 consecutive shows from early 2000 on DVD. This was approximately 1 year before ECW went out of business & could arguably be considered a small turning point downwards for the company. I won't review the events as such, but briefly speak about the matches & then give my opinion on most of the wrestlers involved.

Held on January-9 2000, GUILTY AS CHARGED is the first PPV on DVD that I will speak about. The show started off with an in-ring segment between Joey Styles & Cyrus. I like these 2. Joey was more than decent, with his major downfall being that sometimes you can hardly hear his voice during matches. While I've always liked Cyrus, even as The Jackal when leading The Truth Commission in the WWF. There's nothing like an arrogant man with a great vocabulary to get heel heat. As for Joel Gertner who interrupted the duo; he annoys me. Following this verbal sparring, we get opening titles that contain good highlights, especially for the uninitiated.

The opener was C.W Anderson defeating Mikey Whipwreck. This match personified the ECW undercard; 2 guys who busted their backsides to get the best out of themselves. Neither of them really ever had a shot to succeed in the WWF or WCW, but when placed correctly on an ECW card, they were more than worthy of their billing. Next up was a train-wreck of a match which had Simon Diamond, Danny Doring & Roadkill take on Nova, Kid Kash & Jazz. Chris Chetti later became involved as some of the participants disappeared to the backstage area. Of the 7, I was most impressed with Nova. I have also seen him live at a WWA PPV last year & already knew he possesses a good variety of offense. Nova is currently working in OVW, patiently waiting for a WWE call up. For some reason, I don't like his chances. He has been in OVW for a while now.

Following promos from Mike Awesome & Spike Dudley regarding the main event, Steve Corino comes out to set the next match up. I was looking forward to seeing 'The King of Old School' wrestle for the first time, but all I got shown was a genuine ability to get good heel heat. The set-up to the match was very confusing, but it basically saw Tajiri & Super Crazy defeat Jerry Lynn & Little Guido in a cracking 13 minute match. I loved Tajiri's character in ECW & it just goes to show you how underused he currently is in the WWE. Lynn is another performer I saw live in the WWA last year. He impresses me with having a great all-round knowledge of everything there is to know about wrestling & was also very much misused in his short WWF stay. I'll speak of the other 2 combatants later, as well as Dusty Rhodes & Rhyno, who made an appearance after the match.

A streetfight pitting New Jack & Angel was next. Exactly what I expected & included a huge balcony spot. New Jack seems a few bananas short of a bunch if you ask me!!! Rob Van Dam was next, defending his TV Title against Sabu. Those that watched ECW regularly, probably wouldn't have been too pleased with this match, as it was purely a spotfest that didn't really see anything special occur. However, for those like myself that haven't seen a lot of ECW, this is the perfect match. It shows the charisma, character, athleticism & risk-taking the 2 are renowned for. I've always thought it a shame that Sabu did not have an extended period in either WWE or WCW, but if the rumors of his discipline problems are true, then I can understand why.

The penultimate match of the night saw Lance Storm & Justin Credible defeat Raven & Tommy Dreamer to win the Tag-Team Titles. Nothing really special here. I think the thing that stood out most to me was how effective Storm & (especially) Credible can be when used correctly in tag-team action. I know the WWE are trying with Storm currently, but Credible basically jobbed since Day-1. The main event was the typical Big Man (Mike Awesome) vs Little Man (Spike Dudley) match, except it went a little longer (14 minutes). I'm not sure of the thinking for having this match as the main event of a PPV, but it did turn out decent. Many table spots (including 2 in the first minute), finishing with a huge top-rope powerbomb through a table. Mike Awesome's character was perfect in ECW. Despite the goofy look, opponents feared him for the agile monster that he truly was. Unfortunately, he was ruined as soon as WCW turned him into 'That 70's Guy'.


Two months later on March-13 2000, LIVING DANGEROUSLY took place. A similar in-ring segment between the 3 commentators took place followed by the usual opening titles. Actually, this was proceeded by an interesting little intro from The Sinister Minister, in which he compared the 7 Deadly Sins to that night's card. The highlight of which was his reluctance to speak about 'Wrath', taking a dig at his James Vandenberg character in WCW, where he managed Bryan Clark's alter ego.

Yes, I get to see Steve Corino wrestle. No, it's against Dusty Rhodes. This was a total mess of a match & there's no way I'm judging Corino on this hardcore match. The crowd loved it, but I hated it. C.W Anderson & Beautiful Bobby Wiles (with Lou E Dangerously) taking on Danny Doring & Roadkill (with Electra) were next. Again, nohing special here, but decent undercard action for the quartet. Hmmm, Electra's an interesting looking lady, to say the least!!! Next up was supposed to be Simon Diamond vs Kid Kash, but Mike Awesome came out, Diamond ran & Kash got obliterated. Nothing much more to say on that one.

Another short match followed with Nova & Chris Chetti defeating Jado & Gedo (from FMW). I don't see the point in bringing out Japanese wrestlers & then wasting them in very short matches. It happened later in the night again when Balls Mahoney defeated Kintaro Kanemura in 3 minutes. Between those 2 matches, there was a good match between Super Crazy & Little Guido (with Big Sal E Graziano). The adjectives were perfect in this match; Sal is big, Crazy is crazy & Guido is little. I don't like Guido's chances of surviving in the WWE this year, however once more, I love his ECW character. Obviously picked on for being little, he is dangerous & very knowledgable in the ring. I also like his intensity. As for Super Crazy, he is very talented & there is no doubt he could hold his own with any cruiserweight in the world.

Following the Balls Mahoney match (by the way, I don't like Balls), The Baldies & New Jack came out & got involved. This was basically one big set up for a huge scaffold spot. The spot obviously went terribly wrong though & was genuinely scary to watch. They basically missed the 2 tables underneath them & Grimes awkwardly landed on New Jack. This time I really was waiting for an injury report!!! Next came a 3-way Tag-Title match with The Impact players (Storm & Credible) beating Dreamer/Tanaka & Raven/Awesome. I kept forgetting who was partnering who at the start of the match, as apart from the winners, the other 4 seemed to be singles wrestlers thrown together. The match was another train-wreck & way too short. At this stage, I should confess that I have seen some 1995 ECW & I have one question for my readers... What was the deal with Jason...??? Is he related to Heyman or something...??? Does he ever do anything? Even when I saw him wrestle, it seemed more like a form of posing to me. Any help would be appreciated...

The main event of the night saw an upset win for Super Crazy over Rhyno for the vacated Television Title. RVD had held the strap for almost 2 years, but was stripped of the title due to a leg injury. It was his interference that ultimately resulted in the win for Crazy after only 8 minutes. This main event was in many ways similar to that from Guilty As Charged & in an indirect way tells us both the high & low points of ECW. What ECW did do when it was around, was provide an alternative. Different styles of wrestling, production & overall structure. However, it often showed a lack of depth & continuity, as cruiserweights such as Spike Dudley & Super Crazy main evented ppv's. There is no doubt that the promotion is missed though & we can only hope that NWA-TNA continues to thrive for the sake of competition for the WWE.


DESSERT - NWA-TNA Review

Two weeks ago, in an attempt by the Australian Pay-Per-View provider to satisfy local wrestling fans, NWA-TNA was shown for the first time down under (Week 28 show). The weekly promotion apparently will be shown only monthly here & the 2 hour programming can be purchased for the same price as the 3 hour WWE product no longer with us ($22 Australian or $13 American). So now I provide to you my first thoughts of the WWE's current main competitor:

Jeremy Borash has a nice little introduction from Australia & it seems like the promotion is making a big deal out of the debut. This was flattering, but seemed to me to be a little out of place. Mike Tenay & Don West are introduced as the commentators & after viewing the total product, I can say that Tenay has improved to the point where I think he might be the best commentator going around today. I can see why West annoys some people, but I was personally neither here nor there about him.

The opening match took me back to the glory days of 1997 WCW; A 13 minute, 6 man X Division match. The Amazing Red & the Maximo Brothers defeated David Young, Shark Boy & Jimmy Yang in a very sloppy match. This was the first time I had seen Red & he botched way too many moves to impress me. However, I'm willing to suffer through some sloppiness, if there is an increased chance for a great match to occur. Of the 6 competitors, Jimmy Yang impressed me the most. Following the match, Konnan came in & beat down one team with a cane. I never was a fan of his in WCW, but I believe Konnan was a successful hardcore heel in Mexico before that.

Vince Russo then came to the ring & announced the matches for later in the night. He then handed the microphone to Mike Sanders (I'll talk more about him later), who introduced S.E.X's new Australian recruit; Ashley Hudson. Hudson's opponent tonight was Jorge Estrada. OK, now why make a big deal about the Aussie debut & then embarrass us by bringing this clown out with a boomerang!?!?!? Terrible match... Enough said!!! Speaking of terrible matches, here comes the talented AJ Styles having to take on Larry Zbyszko. This 'up-and-comer taking on the legend' match never works. Styles had to cheat to win & this can do only negative things for his career. From what I saw, I like Styles' character in NWA-TNA & I think he has the ability (I saw him live in the WWA last year) to be a major player in this industry.

Next up was a tag match where the cheating heel team of David Flair & Mike Sanders defeated Jerry Lynn & Ron Killings. Let me go through the competitors (excluding Lynn who I have already spoken about) quickly. Flair's beefed up, but still cannot wrestle. Sanders has a charisma about him which is amazing on the microphone, but has always lacked that certain something in the ring. I am a big fan of Killings, and still to this very day, do not know why he left the WWE so quickly. He has decent size, extraordinary agility & lots of room for improvement. The match itself was very strange in that Killings spent only 30 seconds of the 8 minutes in the ring. I understand the old-style psychology, but this was going too far.

Next up was Rowdy Roddy Piper. I had no idea what he was going on about, do not know what WB32 is, and found myself yawning a lot during this promo. Our match of the night was Elix Skipper & Low-Ki defeating Chris Harris & James Storm for the tag titles. All 4 competitors impressed me in this 15 minute bout. Skipper has always been an above-average wrestler, you take the good with the bad with Low-Ki, and on first viewing, I liked the way Harris & Storm teamed together. Good stuff!!!

Oh boy, Mike Tenay said it best when he stated that the next match was the type of match that ruined WCW's cruiserweight division. A short bout featuring the X Division champ defending against a woman & a skinny rookie. On first viewing though, Sonny Siaki did impress me. His moves were extremely crisp & that pumphandle into a sit down tombstone finisher (Siakalypse Now) was very impressive. Next up was another sports-entertainment segment with Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff & Vince Russo. I have never seen Koloff & know little of his history. Even if I did, there is only so much of this tradition angle that I can take!!!

The main event was a mess of a fourway gauntlet match where Jeff Jarrett successfully defended his World Title against Christopher Daniels, Don Harris & BG James. Two things struck me immediately: (1) Does BG stand for Big Gut? I could not believe the weight Road Dogg has put on. (2) Any main event including a Harris Brother is doomed from the start & not a good sign for the promotion as a whole. The match took place mostly out of the ring, and once James & Harris were correctly eliminated, the match I'd rather have seen, took place. Unfortunately, it was way too short. It's good to see that Daniels could finally be getting recognized though. Jarrett wins & is then attacked by the debuting Raven afterwards. Mind you, practically the entire NWA-TNA roster watched on as Raven stole the title & joined Russo's faction. Raven will undoubtedly be a handy acquisition for the promotion & will help in a number of areas.

Overall, I was not all that impressed by the NWA-TNA Pay-Per-View. Don't get me wrong, if it was on regular tv, I'd watch it every week. Hell, if it was up against Raw, I'd even watch a fair bit of it. But to fork out my hard-earned dollars on it (whether it be weekly or monthly) is another thing. I am 50-50 right now as to whether I'll purchase the February 19 show. The priorities just don't seem to be correct. It could be the fault of Russo, or it could be the Jarrett's. What I want to see is the progression of wrestlers such as Styles, Killings, Daniels, Sanders, Siaki & Low-Ki to main event status. I know the 'so-called' main eventers have to do their bit in the meantime, but Road Dogg & the Harris Brothers won't get the job done. Neither will a Curt Hennig, The Road Warriors or The Rock 'N' Roll Express. As for having Zbyszko, Rhodes, Koloff & Piper on the same show; this is tradition overkill.

Furthermore, while I admire the emphasis on actual wrestling (7 matches, 4 of them above 8 minutes), they have to be careful that the style & structure of matches aren't too psychological or traditional, as this could lead to monotony. Yet, at the end of the day, this organization is a work-in-progress with enough potential to suggest that it can succeed as the number 2 wrestling promotion in the world. If a few things go their way, they could even challenge Vinnie Mac in a couple of years time.


Well, number 33 is now in the bag. I hope you enjoyed the WWE-free zone today as much as I did. Please feel free to send me an e-mail letting me know what you thought of this column. I would be extremely interested in knowing what you thought of my opinions on ECW, the AWA and/or NWA-TNA. If you feel that there are facts that would make me better understand any of the promotions (for example; Jason's role in ECW), that information would also be appreciated. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com.

The reviews will continue next week, but I have scrapped the original idea to bombard you with them consecutively in the next 3 weeks. Instead, I will spread them out over a 5-6 week period, as there are just too many other things to talk about at the moment. It seems that's always the case when the smell of WrestleMania is in the air. One thing that is for certain is that I will be here same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is Davey Boy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.













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