Daddy done did it again! Watched a bunch of YouTube videos in addition to the DVD... It's 1999 and may be the last great year of ECW so it was tough to keep it even this lean. I'm planning on doing a fan cam 1999 post in a few weeks. 

Shane Douglas vs. Taz - (ECW Guilty As Charged 01/10/99 - ECW World Heavyweight Title Match) - They are in big time now. This is a big arena for a PPV and the fan base has changed as the Monday Night Wars era is in full swing. I remember the cool kids in High School asking me about wrestling... like wrestling was cool. And you can see that at this show. The crowd is full of frat boy marks who are geeking on themselves. Sure wrestling is going on but, they want to be on camera, throw shit, etc. This might sound stupid but you can tell by the haircuts and clothing. The real tell is that they chant "ECW" for next to nothing...Oh they're down in Florida.. that makes sense..this wasn't ECW country. And this is the match that has a couple run-ins and they have a great rematch for the "real" fans on Hardcore TV. Still this was a lot of fun and is a WCW/WWF match in essence... more storyline than match..but it felt more real. Also if you have the hots for Francine, you'll probably want to see this one.

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YouTube:
Little Guido vs Yoshihiro Tajiri - (Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 04/30/99)- Master Blaster vibes when Guido is riding on Big Sal's shoulders. Also I think MLW ran some shows here back in the early 2000's. This was a great under 10 minute curtain jerker. What a way to kick things off! It begins with a little comedy then goes into an all action match with Guido adding the psychological depth looking to damage the arm for the win. Tajiri busts out his kicks and  even gets bloodied... almost looks like by the corner of his eye - ouch! This was recommended on the PWO 1999 yearbook so I had to watch to of my faves from this era go at it!

Super Crazy vs Mosco de la Merced - Found out that Mosco de la Merced passed away this year back in August. Thank you for your exciting work in ECW. Always remembered him and wish we got to see more (maybe I will going through FanCams). The fans were doing the "you fucked up!" chant at couple of his "missed" move spots but are dumb marks and didn't recognize the spots or just wanted to be like the ECW Arena and shout. Anyways, this was a super fun match. Tons of cool dives & other spots...great follow up to the Tajiri vs Guido bout..excellent showcase of the wrestling ECW offered at this time.

To the DVD now!
Rob Van Dam & Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible & Lance Storm (ECW Heat Wave 1999, 07/18/99)- Wow, the entrances took awhile like this was a Tokyo Dome show. Anyhow, this was a great match! All four guys have experience wrestling each other and that goes a long way in the quality of their spots and sequences. I thought the ending was a lil overbooked but what the heck, it was fun This is one that I definitely missed out on. If you're an old ECW head, go check this one out!

The focus is totally Lance Storm in this picture...100%. In all seriousness, Dawn Marie was one of the best valets in ECW and helped keep the heel scene fresh. Absolutely hilarious character too. She struck a balance between sexy and legitimately funny that I'm not sure I've seen elsewhere. That was a great role because Lance & Justin were so damn serious.

Another awkward Justin Credible photo

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The 'tube:
Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri Dayton, OH. (10/30/99) - Bell to bell action... sure this was just another show on the road but this easily could have gone on TV. Not a 100% clean finish but it actually works given the story (kinda?) You should check this one out if you're a fan of either guy.

Tracey Smothers vs Sabu - I think Tracey has been separated from the FBI here. Tommy Rich is gone, I think. So the FBI is just Sal and Guido...and actually comprised of actual Italian Americans.This match has some length to it and they do quite a bit with tables and chairs here. Smothers (along with Candido) were great working anyone's type of match... that's no exception here. Very good stuff... if you dig Sabu then, you're gonna dig this one. Both guys gave a great performance.

Taz vs Mike Awesome - Fun tour of the arena to start then pretty cool spots back in the ring. I wish Taz would have stuck in ECW longer to see a true Taz vs Mike Awesome feud. I'm glad we get glimpses though.

Back to the DVD!

Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka - (ECW November To Remember 1999 ECW World Heavyweight Title Match) - At the end Joey Styles says "this might have been the greatest ECW World Heavyweight title match we've ever seen. " Announcers are prone to hyperbole and hyping, Joey Styles especially, but he makes a good point. This was a great match. Yes, it was a collection of brutal spots but no one was even coming close to these anywhere else. Sure earlier ECW had matches with crazier spots but the matches themselves stunk like crap in many (not all) cases. Few if any were able to put on a match like these two. I think this may be the definitive Awesome vs Tanaka ECW match. I don't know if it's their greatest but it hits everything you want in their encounters and it provides twists/surprises/teases. They were doing what people loved about the Jerry Lynn/RVD or Tajiri/Super Crazy feuds but at an extreme level, no pun intended. This felt like a heavyweight title match in ECW should. I'm very lucky that I got to see this live on PPV (and taped it) as it lived up to the hype which could not be said for many PPV big matches. In fact his PPV was probably the best later ECW PPVs with a Tajiri/Super Crazy/Jerry Lynn 3 way dance, Sabu vs Chris Candido, RVD vs Taz in his final ECW match, and Impact Players + Rhino vs Dreamer, Sandman & Raven as the main event. **That was my review back in Feb. 2023 for my FMW post. I actually got this PPV and loved it and taped the thing. Sadly I don't have that anymore. This feud opened my eyes to puro beyond just death matches of BJW, IWA Japan etc. 

And finally back to YouTube again:
Mike Awesome vs. 2 Cold Scorpio (ECW Wold Title - 12/02/99)
This is neat to see Scorpio back in ECW. It seems like he might have been passing through. I wish he would have gotten the welcome back he deserved but it's understandable. He didn't get the attention that Raven or even Sandman got when they went elsewhere. So I wonder if some folks knew he was a former ECW TV champ & Tag champ. This was in Atlanta so my guess that they were pretty unaware. Regardless this was an Awesome match!! No pun intended. It's unfortunately clipped up for TNN but many of the clips only seem to remove a couple seconds at a time...odd. The fans were going nuts for this so I can't believe the clips were hiding botches or dull periods. It seems it was just for time. I'm wondering if this is complete on fan cam...it's definitely worth tracking down. But if you're a fan of either guy then you need to see even this TV version! EDIT: Found the fan cam Atlanta. Jazz is Scorpio's second and I forgot how awesome she was. Her feud with Jason was great under card stuff. Anyhow, there's no screw ups covered by the clipping so go find the fan cam version in full...sure the angles aren't as up close as the TV but this is a great title match! In fact if it had gone on a minute longer, it'd be a fan cam near classic. Heck its a fan cam hidden gem in my book!

Super Crazy vs. Ikuto Hidaka (ECW on TNN 1999) This one is in the ECW arena... can't recall if I have seen this one before. I have RF Video comp with a match (or two of them) but it's been years so I'll watch it again It's a lil over 6 minutes and it's a blast... just moves, moves, moves ! Hahaha but it's all good because that's what you want in a 6+ minute match just like those WCW junior or "cruiserweight" matches. I remember seeing stuff like this and it'd stick with me for a few days...just so damn fun & exciting. 

**bonus**

Gladiator vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW - 09/04/99) I thought I would include this to compare it to how Awesome would work elsewhere at the same time. I have a shoot interview that he said he & Tanaka would do crazier stuff in FMW but actually I think their work in ECW is crazier from a spots & tables/chairs perspective. I've seen Gladiator vs Kobashi in 2004 NOAH and think it's slept on in terms of Kobashi's reign... he definitely met Awesome in the middle and it was a very good to great match iirc. I did review this for my FMW 1999 project so I'll put the main review below:
...these two had really good chemistry and unfortunately could have done a nice little program or feud. I think they left a lot on the table. I saw their match in NOAH and I think that they went bigger despite being older and more busted up. But this match was all Awesome/Gladiator and Kobashi was very gracious to let Mike drop so many bombs. If you're a a fan of both wrestlers, you need to see this. Heck if you just want a point of reference for how big Awesome was this is worth a gander. Dude is bigger than Kobashi. I really wish he would have stayed in Japan...

In reference to ECW, like we saw with Dean & Eddie, Mike could work according to his audience. He knew the All Japan fans appreciated the slower storytelling style that was punctuated by big moments. ECW was the place to keep the tempo up and barrage the fans with spot after spot. In some ways it was good that Awesome left when he did. There wasn't really anywhere for him to go except lose the World Title to RVD. That would have been a helluva program but I think only bolster Van Dam's reputation. If Awesome was going to leave afterwards to WCW or WWE then, I'm not sure that they would have booked him any differently. You either saw the value in him or you didn't. He's not a monster you could have given a manager AND he's not a baby face. Heck looking to Muto AJPW, he was put in tag teams & stables when match quality-wise he should have been challenging for the belt (unfortunately got concussed vs Kawada in '03). I'm glad he got some time in NOAH which should have been his new home. But in some regards, I think his time overseas might have contributed to some his personal strife etc. Nevertheless, thank you "Gladiator" Mike Awesome.

Masato Tanaka vs Balls Mahoney (FMW 12/11/99) - This might as well be up in the ECW section. These two had a really good match in '98 and I know teamed together. Balls (RIP) was really underrated for his actual wrestling... sure the hard-core chair swinging was great but he could work an actual match. So we get some wrestling in the beginning and then we get some good brawling and hard core spot wrestling - tables and chairs. I liked this..it's definitely an ECW match as 1999 Tanaka in FMW is a more straight forward wrestler. This wasn't a deep match or anything but it's enjoyable with a couple really sick spots. 

I always give a lot of credit to Awesome vs Tanaka for starting me down the puroresu road but watching bits of ECW 1999, I could pin my future love of puro on this year in ECW. Just look at the roster and it's pretty plain to see why ECW had trumped WWF as my top promotion... not only the roster and the matches booked but the athleticism and performances given by the wrestlers. WWF was just doing ECW (albeit watered down) but they couldn't copy the excellent matches ECW was putting out on Hardcore TV or on TNN. That paired with the heavy metal/hard rock music and gritty aesthetic... it was the best. FMW, BJW and IWA Japan were clearly the first places I went... to varying degrees of enjoyment Hey, I was going off of word of mouth and the match titles written on the paper Scotch taped to the VHS box! But to be real with you, I went to a new school for my freshman year of high school and had 0 friends and wrestling on Monday Night and ECW were the highlight of my life at that time. Eventually (and I have no idea how) I made friends and a few of 'em dug wrestling so I didn't feel so all alone. Thank goodness for wrestling getting popular (not that we were). But only the "real" wrestling dorks watched ECW which was cool because I knew that it was hardcore compared to everything else on TV.

Thanks for reading! Hang in there!