DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – ECW’s Most Violent Matches DVD Review
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 at 12:12 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #187

Welcome one and all to the 187th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

YES, my computer is still Friar Tuck’ed

NO, I haven’t been able to retrieve a few pre-written general column topics that I had stored in it.

I MAY be able to continue my streak next Wednesday.

BUT I don’t have a freakin’ clue if I have elevated liver enzymes or not… I like being in the minority, so I will say that I don’t!

Seeing as though I still don’t get the pleasure of watching the weekly ECW show, I thought I would fulfill my thirst for all things “extreme” by reviewing the WWE’s 2nd offering of a compilation ECW DVD set. Looking through the match listings, I didn’t see any Big Show vs Ric Flair or Undertaker matches. Funny that!

On with the violent show…..


BLOODSPORT DVD REVIEW

The full title of this 2 disc set is ‘Bloodsport: ECW’s Most Violent Matches’. It features 20 matches & there is no documentary portion to the DVD. Instead, Paul Heyman introduces each bout & gives us a little bit of information concerning the lead-up to each match. Unfortunately, these little introductions do not go into enough detail & include enough clips. There are also some non-match extras to fill the DVD out a little.


APPETIZERS – Disc 1 Matches

CACTUS JACK & MIKEY WHIPWRECK defeated THE PUBLIC ENEMY (August-27, 1994): The story here was that Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) needed a partner to take on Grunge & Rock for the tag titles. In true Foley fashion, he didn’t do things by the book & chose the rookie jobber Mikey Whipwreck! The first 2 minutes of this bout didn’t really exist, as Rocco did some mic work & then Mikey tried to escape to the locker-room. PE attack Jack in the meantime & work him over, until Mikey emerges with a wooden board & starts laying into the champs. The match basically begins again with Foley doing his best, but as soon as Whipwreck is forced to tag in, it’s one-way traffic for the champs. The only thing being that Mikey keeps kicking out at the count of 2. The bout eventually breaks down & heads into the crowd with the usual chair-shots & leaps off something-or-other. It was all 2 on 1 stuff, so PE dominated Foley & then headed back to the ring to finish things off. A Rocco moonsault through a table seems to finish off Foley & allows them to target Mikey. But at the 14 minute mark, the champs’ finisher is broken up by Cactus, and Whipwreck gets the opportunistic rollup for the pinfall! More of a story bout than anything else & not a bad one at that. Nothing special about the action though, with only a couple of Rocco’s high-flying moves standing out. Match Rating… 6.5

TERRY FUNK & THE SANDMAN defeated CACTUS JACK & SHANE DOUGLAS (March-18, 1995),: A frenetic beginning to the bout sees Douglas go to work with some wicked cane shots to the head, while Foley follows up with a chair. Four Cactus Clotheslines to the outside later & we see Foley & Douglas continuing to dominate, but this time on the outside. Back in the ring, Funk & Sandman eventually work their way into the bout & use a section of the guardrail to brutalize Douglas. Cactus eventually gets back into the ring & makes the save, resulting in the match breaking down into different parts of the arena. A garbage can & a toolbox come into play, not to forget the obligatory chair or 15. Foley & Sandman are the 2 that end up back in the ring & a huge top-rope legdrop onto a chair looks to be enough for Sandman, but Douglas makes the save just in time. Funk then comes from nowhere with a flaming branding iron & piledrives Foley on to it for the victory at the 13 minute mark. Typical violent ECW tag match, but without the blood. Nothing super special, but fun, non-stop & with enough intensity to make it successful. Match Rating… 7

AXL ROTTEN defeated IAN ROTTEN (July-1, 1995): This was a ‘Tapei Death Match’, which is a bout where both combatants wrestle with glass shards on their taped hands! Referee Bill Alfonso attempts to stop the match (due to a small cut above Ian’s eye) following the first punch of the bout. But he gets sidetracked by a Public Enemy vs Gangstas brawl & leaves the ringside area. Commissioner Tod Gordon restarts the bout & the 2 brothers take turns in punching & raking their opponent’s forehead & arms. It sure doesn’t take too long for both men to be covered in blood! That’s about all that occurs until about the 5 minute mark when Ian hits a DDT. He then proceeds to bring out a bag of thumbtacks, but gets back body-dropped on them. An Axl splash at the 6 minute mark finishes it off. Gimmicky one trick match that can hardly be called entertaining. Match Rating… 4

REY MYSTERIO defeated PSICOSIS (November 2 Remember. November-18, 1995): This was a ‘Mexican Death Match’ which allows a pinned wrestler a 10 count to resume the bout. The match begins as frenetically as any other in history & Rey even gets a pinfall after just 1 minute, with a version of the West Coast Pop! Psicosis easily answers the 10 count though & pins Rey with a moonsault a minute or so later! A powerbomb at the 4 minute mark is the third pinfall, but Rey answers the 10 count again. Psicosis continues to dominate, working mainly on Rey’s back. Another pinfall then leads to the heel Psicosis using a chair to aid a DDT & moonsault. But another pinfall results in Rey answering the 10 count for a fourth time! Rey then moves into top gear, which is highlighted by a slingshot top-rope moonsault into the crowd! Some brawling in the crowd ensues & it all ends with a huge hurricanrana by Rey on an elevated stage at the 12 minute mark for the victory. Fast paced & entertaining, this could have been a classic. But it couldn’t fully overcome the structure of the bout, which included no less than 6 pinfalls! Hard to set up too much of a story around that in this timeframe & the amazing momentum just couldn’t possibly continue throughout. Hard to rate for those reasons. Match Rating… 7.5

SHANE DOUGLAS defeated PIT-BULL #2, 2 COLD SCORPIO & CHRIS JERICHO (Heatwave. June-13, 1996): This was a 4 Corners Elimination Match for Jericho’s ECW Television Title. Jericho & Scorpio begin & they put together a few good minutes of a nice combination of everything. Douglas then tags in & becomes a stationary target for Jericho’s tremendous offense. Jericho then tags in Pit-Bull #2 & his arch-enemy Douglas runs scared by re-tagging in Scorpio. An effective clash of styles follows, with Scorpio’s unorthodox & entertaining offense eventually getting on top. The match continues with constant tags, a good mix of brawling, tactics & high spots, as well as some good storyline byplay between all 4 men. The bout does lose some momentum as the combatants head into the crowd & slows down even further (with the occasional good spot) when back in the ring. Jericho is finally the first eliminated at the 27 minute mark by a spinning top-rope legdrop by Scorpio. A missed moonsault by Scorpio then leads to Pit-Bull #2 hitting a top-rope powerbomb for the 2nd elimination some 5 minutes later.

What ensues is a change in the extreme (& unrealistic) direction, as PB#2 powerbombs Douglas into 2 chairs, Francine turns heel & PB#2 kicks out of numerous weapons-assisted pinfalls. He finally falls victim to Douglas’ Belly to Belly Suplex at the 40 minute mark! Probably a little overlong, but full of action & a good cross-section of everything. Jericho was especially impressive while he was in there & the other 3 all brought something to the table. Good stuff. Match Rating… 8.5

TOMMY DREAMER defeated BRIAN LEE (Hardcore Heaven. June-22, 1996): This was a ‘Weapons Match’, in that the ring was filled with all sorts of weapons to begin the bout. But the weapons don’t play a part for too long as the 2 combatants go through the crowd & end up out in the car park & on the street! In amongst some views of the backs of fans, there is the usual ‘ram the opponent into a wall’ offense over & over again. It takes a good 5 minutes to finally get back in the ring, where the 2 hit each other with this, that & the other. Lee gets on top, but a distraction from Beulah & Kimona results in Dreamer getting the win at the 9 minute mark. A huge spot occurs in the aftermath, with Lee choke-slamming Tommy through 4 tables from a balcony. It helped, but didn’t completely save this otherwise horrible match! Match Rating… 4

SABU defeated ROB VAN DAM (The Doctor Is In. August-3, 1996): This was a “Stretcher Match’, which is where the victor is the one whose opponent is stretchered to the back. It initially begins with an interesting ‘feeling-out’ process with both seemingly afraid to make a mistake. It only takes 3 or 4 minutes though before they kick into high gear & we see some tremendously athletic spots from both men. RVD gains the upper hand & the stretcher is called for at the 7 minute mark, but Sabu climbs off & continues. All the while, RVD furthers his cocky heel character by playing to the crowd at every opportunity. The spots then continue, but so do the botched moves, which throw the momentum of the match out clearly. Sabu sucks it in though & hits a couple of sensational moosault variations, one of which results in both men stretchered towards the back! But it doesn’t end there, as there are still plenty of spots to perform, the highlight being a top-rope fishermans buster through a table to the floor! The match then probably overstays its welcome to the 24 minute mark & RVD ends up the loser as he misses a somersault legdrop. Not exactly perfect, but oh so entertaining! The stretcher match gimmick surprisingly adds to the bout & the difficulty of the spots performed is just too hard to ignore. Match Rating… 8.5

TERRY FUNK defeated THE SANDMAN & STEVIE RICHARDS (Barely Legal. April-13, 1997): This was an ‘Elimination 3 Way Dance’ to see who faced Raven for the ECW Title later that same night. All 3 men stay in the ring for the first few minutes & some surprisingly decent wrestling is dismissed when Sandman brings a ladder into the ring. This leads to some interesting & well-booked action that is nothing super special, but is entertaining & surprisingly well-performed. Eventually, Funk & Sandman double-team Richards & the youngster unbelievably kicks out of a number of their moves. It probably went on a little too long actually as it wasn’t until the 16 minute mark when he was finally pinned following a double-team powerbomb. Some barbed wire then gets involved & both men have their backs cut open with it. In truth, both men haven’t got much more to give & Funk ends up getting the victory with a moonsault at the 19 minute mark! Well booked & better than it had a right to be considering the 3 men involved. Entertaining enough, especially in the first half. While the latter moments had enough of the hardcore touch to satisfy. Match Rating… 7.5

TERRY FUNK defeated RAVEN (Barely Legal. April-13, 1997): This match takes place immediately after the previous 3 Way Dance. And Raven wastes no time in busting Funk open, as he bleeds profusely from the forehead. And the Funkster looks to be in even more trouble as he is driven through a table to the outside. Miscellaneous ECW wrestlers then attack both Funk & Tommy Dreamer (doing commentary), but Tommy choke-slams Big Dick Dudley through 3 tables from the elevated commentary position & makes his way to the ring. He DDT’s Raven & the crowd erupts as Funk rolls up Raven for the pinfall in a little over 8 minutes. Not much of a match to be honest, but a great moment & enough to pass it individually. Match Rating… 5


MAIN – Disc 2 Matches

SABU defeated TERRY FUNK (Born To Be Wired. August-9, 1997): This is a barbed-wire match for Funk’s ECW World Title, and the barbed-wire wasn’t just a weapon, it actually replaced the ring ropes! There was simply no way it could be avoided! Both men are understandably cautious to begin the bout, but Funk gets on top with a hangmans neckbreaker, a piledriver & a DDT. Sabu avoids the wire though & hits a hurracnarana on Funk for a 2 count. But on kicking out, Funk forces Sabu into the barbed wire & then rakes his forehead into the replacement ring-ropes. Worse is to come though as Sabu is crotched on to the wire & then Irish-whipped back first into it! An Irish-whip reversal finally sends Funk into the wire & Sabu wraps his arm in it to lock him up! He then attacks Funk’s forehead with a removed piece of wire! A missed leg lariat leads to disaster though as Sabu feels the need to tape up his ripped apart arm. Even Bill Alfonso gets cut open by the barbed wire at one stage. Wire-cutters then get involved as both men use them to cut off pieces of barbed wire to use as a weapon.

RVD then comes out & interferes by wrapping Funk completely in barbed wire! But Tommy Dreamer evens the odds & takes RVD back to the locker-room area. Sabu then wraps himself in barbed wire & legdrops Funk through a table at ringside! In an understandably awkward ending (back in the ring), Sabu covers Funk (while both men are intertwined in wire) for the victory at the 20 minute mark. The barbed wire gimmick obviously played a huge part in this bout & it was predominantly used well enough, despite sometimes limiting both men. They did an extraordinary job in making the bout last 20 minutes & while not exactly non-stop, it did hold interest throughout. The footage of both men being cut free afterwards is priceless & worth an extra half of a point. Hard to rate, but top marks for effort! Match Rating… 8

BEULAH McGILLICUTTY defeated BILL ALFONSO (As Good As It Gets. September-20, 1997): This match evolved from a tag-team bout that also included RVD & Tommy Dreamer. Beulah begins with a cookie-tray shot to the head that busts Fonzie wide open, but he gets back into the bout with a low blow! Some actual wrestling moves follow from both combatants & it’s actually half-decent! Following a baseball slide into a chair, Beulah heads to the top for a moonsault, but Fonzie intercepts & goes for a powerbomb. But out of nowhere, Beulah hits a hurricanrana for the pinfall at the 6 minute mark. Way better than it deserved to be with a strange (in a good way) intensity about it. Alfonzo’s bleeding helped, while both non-wrestlers give it their all. Entertaining & the crowd in attendance ate it up. Hard to rate, but (again) top marks for effort. Match Rating… 7

TAZZ defeated BAM BAM BIGELOW (Heatwave. August-2, 1998): This was a ‘Falls Count Anywhere Death Match’. Intense & frenetic beginning as Tazz no-sells a powerbomb & then hits an impressive Samoan Drop on the larger man. It doesn’t take long for the 2 to head into the crowd, where some intense (if not entirely entertaining) action takes place. Back in the ring at the 7 minute mark, BBB powerbombs Tazz & then sends him head first through a table. Tazz fights back with a T-Bone Suplex through the same table & then hits a huge DDT through the entrance ramp! He then emerges & locks the Tazmission on Bam Bam for the victory at the 13 minute mark. Intense & competitive, this match doesn’t seem to have aged well & isn’t all that entertaining unfortunately. And at just 13 minutes in length (with some of that being dead time), it wasn’t great bang for your buck either. That’s a shame, as both men are talented & even looked sporadically impressive in this particular match. Match Rating… 6.5

TAZZ defeated SHANE DOUGLAS (House Party. January-16, 1999): This impromptu World Title match began with some efficient mat-wrestling where the points were shared. Douglas sends Tazz to the outside & then surprisingly heads up for a rare top-rope move. The match continues through the crowd & even out into the car park, but while there is some competitive, back & forth action, there is nothing too entertaining or special. Back in the ring, a battle of suplexes follows, which Tazz eventually gets the upper hand in. But a normal Tazmission isn’t enough to make Douglas submit, but a Tazmission Suplex through a table does get the job done at the 12 minute mark. Inconsistent match which was at its best while in the ring. Concerning this DVD, there was too much duplication between this bout & the one before it. Match Rating… 6.5

THE DUDLEY BOYZ defeated BALLZ MAHONEY & SPIKE DUDLEY (July-5, 1999): This was a ‘Falls Count Anywhere Chicago Streetfight’ for The Dudleyz’ ECW Tag-Team Titles. Ballz & Spike begin like men on a mission, but Bubba’s extra weight quickly gets on top of Spike. A cheese-grater quickly comes into play & both men are busted open. They then head into the crowd, as Ballz takes control over D-Von in the ring with the help of a fork! We then come back from a mid-match commercial break to see Spike flying from an upper level down on to Bubba! All 4 men eventually make their way back into the ring, where the face challengers use 3 double team moves to attempt double pins, but all amazingly end in 2 counts. Following interference by various members of the Dudley family, the champs hit a 3D on Spike, but the pin is broken up by Ballz who proceeds to clean house with a chair, set up a table & fill it with thumbtacks! But it (pardon the pun) backfires as The Dudleyz set the table on fire & powerbomb Ballz through it for the victory at the 12 minute mark. Entertainingly booked & performed, this bout had a great energy about it & was a fair bit more than your usual ECW junk tag-team match. Match Rating… 8

MIKE AWESOME defeated SPIKE DUDLEY (Guilty As Charged. January-9, 2000): This was for Awesome’s World Title. Spike proclaims to have made a living going through tables & then gets thrown through 3 of them (in 2 separate incidents) within the first minute! Awesome then continues to dominate with his impressive mixture of strength & athleticism. With help from a chair & a few high-risk moves, Spike fights back. But he can’t overcome the strength differential & even a lariat by Awesome practically knocks Spike out of his boots. An extremely high risk move follows as Awesome springboards off the top-rope on to Spike who is in the crowd, which is amazing for a man of his size! A low blow, followed by an Acid Drop through a table then makes it possible for Spike to become a World Champion. He goes for a 2nd Acid Drop in the ring, but unfortunately gets thrown through yet another table. And if that wasn’t enough, a huge Aweome-Bomb through yet another table finishes Spike off in the 15th minute. Effective & entertaining big man vs little man match that has aged rather well & was competently booked & performed. Match Rating… 7.5

THE SANDMAN defeated RHINO (February-25, 2000): A 5 minute out & out brawl that was only highlighted by 2 aerial moves performed by The Sandman! The match ends in a disqualification when Steve Corino, Jack Victory & Tajiri interfere to allow Rhino to gore Sandman through a table. Super Crazy comes out to save the day. A waste of time television match which featured 2 limited wrestlers. In fact, Rhino actually made The Sandman look like Rey Mysterio here! Why was this even included? Match Rating… 3.5

SUPER CRAZY defeated TAJIRI & LITTLE GUIDO (March-3, 2000): This was a ‘Triple Threat Elimination Match’ & it begins at such a pace that it’s actually a little difficult to keep up with all the action! Tajiri gets the best of the opening minutes with his devastating kicks, but Crazy & Guido team up to bring him down. Crazy then hits a gorgeous moonsault on both of them & then takes out Big Sal E Graziano on the outside. Some back & forth action between the 3 men then follows in the ring & again it’s at a cracking pace. A series of moves eventually leads to Tajiri eliminating Guido with a nice brainbuster at the 6 minute mark. The bout thankfully slows down a little at this stage, but the lethalness of Tajiri’s kicks don’t. A premature closing sequence sees Crazy hit a low blow counter & then a springboard top-rope moonsault at the 9 minute mark for the victory. A flawed masterpiece in many ways with the action being too upbeat at times! Too short to play out perfectly, this was still very entertaining & made great use of the talents of Tajiri & Crazy (if not Guido). Very difficult to rate. Match Rating… 8.5

TOMMY DREAMER defeated CW ANDERSON (Guilty AS Charged. January-7, 2001: This was an “I Quit” Match. Back & forth opening to the bout which is a good mix of everything, without being anything too special. There was a heated intensity to the match & it really added to the quality of the bout. What impressed me most about the match was that they didn’t go overboard with the weapons or the submission moves… It was just a nice combination of everything, where they attempted to use the often awkward “I Quit” stipulation to further the match. Following some unnecessary interference by a towel boy (What the hell?), Dreamer hits a huge Death Valley Driver from the top-rope through a table at the 15 minute mark & resultantly makes Anderson say “I Quit”. Well booked & performed, this wasn’t anything extraordinary, but was rather impressive for 2 limited performers in the ring. Great effort and well & truly worth a watch. Match Rating… 7.5

MIKE AWESOME defeated MASATO TANAKA (One Night Stand. June-12, 2005): When booked cleverly & efficiently, Mike Awesome has always had the potential to be a very entertaining wrestler. He doesn't have the same type of intensity & impact as Benoit, but nonetheless, he has heaps of it in his wrestling style. Tanaka has never quite done it for me personally, but he played the role of crash test dummy very well here. Full of chair shots & table moves, I thoroughly enjoyed this 10 minute bout. No real selling & the nearfalls were a little too unbelievable, but in many ways, this showed the fun & suspension of belief aspect of ECW very well. Great stuff by both men, and while never a tremendous wrestler, this did prove that Awesome was only ever used properly in ECW. Match Rating… 9


DESSERT – Extras & Easter Egg

Axl Rotten on The Taipei Death Match: Decent promo which should have been shown before the match rather than at this stage of the DVD. 2 minutes in length.

ECW & Blood: Interesting mish-mash which sees Joey Styles, Danny Doring, Roadkill & Ballz Mahoney speak about some of ECW’s most memorable matches & how blood, violence & hardcore elements played a part in them. 3 minutes in length.

Extreme Measures – The Flaming Table: Buh-Buh, D-Von, Ballz & Axl speak about the idea & experience of powerbombing Ballz through a flaming table a few times. Shows clips of 3 or 4 other matches when the same thing occurs. 3 minutes in length.

CW Anderson on the “I Quit” Match: CW speaks for 2 minutes about the match, it’s conception & how proud he was of its quality.

Danny Doring & Roadkill Get Into the Business: The 2 wrestlers explain how they started in ECW being trained by Tazz & Perry Saturn, and how they got their break after beginning on the ring crew.

The Pit-Bulls: Pit-Bull #1 speaks on how they were the best tag-team in the world! Hard to tell if he’s in character or serious!

Justin Credible on Being Champion: Begins with footage of Credible winning the ECW Title & follows with Justin saying how much of an honor it was to be the company’s #1 guy.

Public Enemy vs Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck History Video: Good promo that showed some classic old footage of The Public Enemy. Not quite 3 minutes in length.

THE PUBLIC ENEMY defeated THE GANGSTAS (House Party. January-5, 1996): Good to see The Gangstas sneak on to this 2 disc set, but this is pretty much your standard ECW tag-team match. The 2 teams pair off pretty much right from the beginning with Grunge & New Jack hitting each other with various foreign objects around ringside & through the crowd, while Rocco & Mustafa actually attempt some wrestling moves in the ring. Both men put each other through separate tables, as Grunge & New Jack finally return to the ring. It’s all inconsequential though, as Rocco Rock hits the drive-by (a top-rope senton) to pin Mustafa at the 13 minute mark. Rocco thanks the crowd afterwards as The Public Enemy were heading off to WCW at the time. Match Rating… 6

EASTER EGG

On Page-1 of the ‘Extras’ menu, highlight ‘Extreme Measures-The Flaming Table’ & press ‘right’ twice to see Ballz Mahoney tell a story about how he got genuinely hurt when going through a flaming table.


COFFEE – Conclusion

This DVD is like ECW; Up & down like the proverbial yo-yo. Considering the quality & success of the ‘Rise & Fall of ECW’ DVD, it’s no surprise that this second ECW release was unleashed on us fans. And there’s enough entertainment spread throughout the 2 discs to make it worthwhile. But there is also a fair bit of crap that you have to sift through as well, so this DVD is best viewed using the ‘Chapters’ menu.

The word “violent” on the title of the set is a little misleading in that not all the matches follow the conventional definition of the word ‘violent’. But I can understand why it was used, as it’s a good selling point & the theme is consistently revisited throughout the set.

I really feel that the whole set would have been significantly improved if there was more pre-match promos & clips which set up each bout. It definitely would have been worth excluding one bout (if not 2) off each disc to allow each bout to get an extra 2-5 minutes of introduction. And in most cases, there was more than sufficient storyline & happenings in the relevant feud to justify this.

In conclusion, this is inconsistent, but ultimately succeeds due to sufficient entertainment scattered throughout the 2 disc set. Recommended for purchase by fans of the ECW style, but may be just a rental for others


Ok, that wraps up #187. Man, I didn’t realize how close I was to the big 200! But right now, as per the well-worn cliché, I’m taking it one week at a time! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this DVD Review. Hopefully, it helped you decide on a purchasing decision if you were about to toss a coin on it. My computer problems are very much still occurring & this has left me with limited access to my email. But if you still feel the need to email feedback or questions, my e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. But if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=4889

As the weeks go by, the chances of my streak ending increase unfortunately. If I do happen to post another column next Wednesday, please forgive me if it is yet another DVD Review. If you do see a column, it will be at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until whenever, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2006

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