Spotlight: ECW Unreleased vol. 1
I'm getting back to more of my DVDs. This time I'll be looking Extreme Championship Wrestling or ECW!! E-C-W! E-C-W! Haha! Specifically I'll be looking at WWE's ECW Unreleased Vol. 1 DVD set (along with some YouTube videos to round things out). For a little back story on this purchase, I had gotten vol. 2 a few years after it's release in 2016 or 2017 as I was pretty interested in a few of the matches featured. I bought it used. Vol. 1 I just got a couple years ago new as the price dropped and I thought 'you know I really ought to have these matches as an ECW fan.' And added it to the DVD pile of shame. But I'm trying to topple that pile and this is a good one. It's been awhile since I've watched '90's wrestling at length and even longer since I've watched ECW. As a side note, I feel like WWE has put the "DVD matches" on YouTube either clips or in full so probably everything will be available for you there. I'm not going to link them in the blog though. Just an FYI 
Disc 1
1994-95
Shane Douglas vs. Too Cold Scorpio - NWA World Title Tournament, 08/27/94 - NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament Final Match: This is the match where Douglas throws down the NWA belt at the end. But the actual match is good stuff. Scorpio really shines with all of his cool offense. Douglas is good but generic in comparison but it works. He's not trying to heel it up on anything. Anyhow, I recommend this for the historic factor but it's an enjoyable title match too!
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Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven - ECW Hostile City Showdown 1995: This was an OK match but was an awesome segment. We get a ton of feel good shit and a lot of interesting nuance and character work here from everyone. This is a great example of what made ECW different even from FMW in Japan. It's counter culture attitude has been lost or watered down as time has passed. Hell, the Raven grunge character is the obvious thing to point to. Then you have the anti-hero to the anti hero in Tommy Dreamer. Essentially a dork loser (even to the fans early on) who is the everyman trying to make it and be true to himself. Tommy Dreamer reminds me of a character in a Springsteen song. Mix this with iconic Eddie vs Dean match and this must have been a sick show!
Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio vs. Eddie Guerrero & Taz - ECW Heat Wave 1995: Fun match... it goes a little long but that's because it's 90-100 degrees in the ECW Arena. So I can't take anything away from them as they keep pushing the envelope. Scorpio and Taz potato each other a few times and Eddie & Dean do their thing. But really Eddie and Scorpio are the shining stars here. It's really amazing that they do some of the moves they do with how f-ing hot it is in there (A good portion of the crowd is in tank tops or shirtless).
Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero - ECW Hardcore TV #120, 07/28/95 - ECW World Television Title Match - Very good match at a fairground this is for sure on the WWE YouTube (08/03/95). They worked a neat little story of Dean injuring Eddie's rib and then working them over. Nice moves from both guys. I liked this one and they had some really great sequences. I have to be honest, they knew who they were wrestling for. So when people say that their matches don't hold up 30 years later like other stuff...I would tell them to watch WWF or WCW from the time. They were not doing anything like Eddie & Dean were doing. Conversely, Eddie and Dean weren't doing the same stuff in ECW that they did in Japan because they knew they didn't have to. It's like the AWA guys wrestled more technical matches than WWF in 1984 but when those same guys went to AJPW, they stepped up their game even more. They knew the Japanese fans expected more. Their singles matches are something different from everything else ECW was doing at the time. They definitely would refine this match and style in WCW with tighter time constraints. Their ECW time really was seeing if they could dilute the story and dial in the spots & sequences... and have an American audience appreciate it. The answer was yes and they along with Benoit, Ultimo, Rey get al. would have arguably some of greatest mid card TV matches ever. Malenko in fact maybe the king of the under 10 minute mid card TV match. The big problem with Dean vs Eddie was that they didn't know how to fill the time. I'm looking back at my Eddie Guerrero in 1997 post - https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/blogs/entry/844-spotlight-eddie-guerrero-1997/
Their PPV matches where they had a lot of time (like they did in ECW) were inferior to their TV ones. Here's my run down:
-Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (WCW Saturday Night, • February 8, 1997) - A fantastic technical sprint to main event the show.
-Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (WCW Uncensored, No DQ • March 16, 1997) - A very good to great match.
-Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (WCW Nitro • June 30, 1997) - I think Dean is a fantastic under 10 minute worker especially with Eddie. They just have so many spots and sequences in their arsenal that these shorter matches wrestle themselves.
-Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero (WCW Nitro • November 17, 1997) - Almost 10 minutes long and excellent stream of consciousness wrestling. Again Dean & Eddie can do these flawless fast TV matches and its a shame that doesn't translate into the PPV shows.
-Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (WCW Starrcade • December 28, 1997) - A very good to great match but a step down from what Eddie was doing with other guys..and even Dean on TV. Much of their best stuff is speedy sequences and a feeling of an ongoing fight with counters or reversals. Here I think they had to fill time for the PPV and were slowing down in between moves and taking rest holds to sequence stuff out on the fly to buy time.
That '97 Starrcade match iirc matches the vibe of their ECW matches. I think the myth of the Dean vs Eddie in ECW singles matches is because nothing else on the card (or in the US) was like that either in execution or complexity and only a handful of wrestlers in the States had that along with the stamina. Like I'm thinking in '95 Bret & Shawn being exceptions. But the real impact was that smaller guys, could get signed on by WCW and start to spread the international junior style to the U.S.
OK whew...take a breather... so I can't leave it there so I found a couple Hardcore TV matches that looked sweet on YouTube.
Steiners & Guerrero vs Malenko vs Cactus Jack & 2 Cold Scorpio (Hardcore TV 08/22/95 - Wrestlepalooza '95) I've seen this before but it's been awhile. It's on ECW Unreleased vol. 2 but I'm going to review it here. It's a very good... hell! a great dream 6-man tag match. Rick looks way too invincible, the doomsday frankensteiner doesn't work but dammit! It's got great energy, great moves and its a lot of fun.
Mikey Whipwreck vs The Sandman - Hardcore TV (08/22/95) - Singapore Cane match. I'm not sure I've seen this one before. Most of the pre-1996 stuff that I have watched is from the WWE compilations and I'm not seeing this listed. The match itself is clipped unfortunately (looks pretty good) but then we get the aftermath where Woman (Nancy R.I.P. )has to relinquish the cane to Mikey who just defeated the champ Sandman. We get the post match angle stuff which is a blast! Mikey exacts his revenge and then some but of course Sandman gets his hand on the weapon! And in true ECW fashion morphs into a completely different match And finally circles back to Mikey and Sandman! Just a fantastic violent depraved soap opera for men 
---bonus---
These are some NJPW matches that are on the 'tube. I wanted a reference point for what Dean & Eddie were doing around the time they were in ECW. I don't think Eddie's work in AAA is A good point of comparison.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs Dean Malenko (05/26/93 NJPW) - Holy cow! That opening sequence is perfect! Really good psychology here with Dean keeping on Liger's knees...trying to keep the masked man grounded at the very least. A little bit was clipped out but we get 2/3rds at least. Very good stuff! And a great example of some of the things mentioned above with Dean vs Eddie in ECW.
Black Tiger II (Guerrero) & Fit Finlay vs TAKA Michinoku & Shinjiro Otani (06/08/94 NJPW)
Wow! That's a junior tag match! Eddie and Fit as a team reminds me of the early 80's Rocco Black Tiger teams. Fit is fantastically brutal and TAKA & Otani sell it perfectly! I actually felt Eddie might have had the weakest performance but it wasn't even close to average... it's was still very good. Here we do see a little bit of Eddie in ECW where he just does a big move too early...I question his psychology using power bombs so early. I feel like he uses it like a DDT or a pile driver. Maybe working Mexico is what changed his move psychology during this period?? I know the pile driver is protected over there. I digress. This is still a great match!! Even when Otani slips, it all works. They worked a great tag match despite seeming to be random pairings.
I got to say, I have come back around to loving ECW. It's refreshing to see a wrestling program this honest and upfront about what it is. The t-shirts used to say, "it's not for everyone!" and that's still true. But if you like it then, I'm right there with you. It's not the cleanest wrestling, in ring story telling is hit or miss, the pacing is inconsistent at times etc. but it is A LOT of FUN! It's not prepackaged, sterile shit...it's definitely for punk rock, metal heads, and other folks that are counter to the status quo. And I think that is what makes it so appealing now as it was before.
Hang in there folks! Thanks for reading!
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