Superstar Sleeze

Yeah Hogan as Terry is still weird. Triple H actually did look like a Hunter when he had the long blond hair, but Paul is not too weird to me.

I think also the way he died asking for his son to be saved from the riptide and him ultimately drowning makes this a story much bigger than wrestling. He could have been just a random Dad showcased on the local news and I would have been moved by the story. An inspiration to all fathers and a real hero.

I popped for the Maryland State Athletic Commission fining them for juice. Some things never change. Also Kenny Omega's real name is Tyson Smith...I mean I dunno...he just doesnt seem like a Tyson. I guess I always thought Ken/Kenny was his real first name.

I have learned for years of experience front-load and bold key conclusions: Charlotte is deceptively entertaining. On the surface with her droning, monotone promo delivery and poor one-dimensional character, it is easy to believe that Charlotte is not entertaining and therefore overpushed. I have never gone into a Charlotte match thinking "this is going to rock" but 90% of the time I am at least satisfied. I really enjoy when she brawls and works stiff & hard-hitting like against Rousey & Ripley, they really wailed on each other. Some of her work with Logan I think early this year was wicked, it was like sub-5 minute FUTEN-style stiff brawls. She usually produces at least one WWE Women's match of the year candidate a year (vs Rousey, vs Ripley, vs Becky @Evolution 2018, vs Sasha in 2016, vs Asuka in 2017, I am just missing 2019). Therefore, I would argue her in-ring exploits are commensurate with her push and it is in large part because she is at the very least in the top 5 female workers of the main roster at any given time. While I cant point to a single non-wrestling segment Charlotte has ever entertained me in, I do enjoy her matches. So is Charlotte overpushed? No especially in comparison to her peers. Bayley's heel run has been dreadful and has only been propped up by Sasha Banks' fierce, keen fashion sense during COVID Lockdown. They screwed the pooch with Bayley's babyface run which seemed unfuckable but this is WWE after all. Bayley is not a good promo. She trips over her words and also has a flat delivery. Again, a lot of it has to do with the total lack of angles or storylines ever. I do like Bayley in the ring probably more than most even if she is a little clunky. The Smackdown women's roster is pretty thin but Bayley has led Lacey Evans and Ember Moon through above average matches through solid pacing and escalation. Sasha Banks when she is on is every bit Charlotte's and Becky's equal if not their superior but man when she is off, she is off. The Boss was The Man before The Man was The Man. They seemed hell-bent on making Sasha a babyface. She could never cut loose since 2016. The Boss vs The Man produced the WWE MOTY at Hell In A Cell again because they wailed on each other and it was just a great fucking firefight. The build was brutally boring. It was clear the Boss had lost her swagger and mojo and lets be honest it has been gone for a while. Banks is a great bumper, she can really sell, and the Becky match proved she can go toe-to-toe and wail, her and Becky also had the best double-limb psychology match of the 2010s. She is very versatile, but when she loses her confidence everything goes South. My girl Becky! I was a huge Becky Lynch since I saw her Sasha match in 2015. There was something about her that I immediately latched onto and I picked her to be my favorite Four Horsewoman back in May 2015. I think it was the passion, drive and effort. Since Smackdown plays the B-towns and I live in New England, I usually go to 4 Smackdowns a year and all to see Becky Lynch because there is one performer that always gave 110%. Her promos always felt more authentic than the rest and most importantly they were fun! No Becky is not the smoothest in the ring but she makes up for it with sheer willpower and determination. To her credit has a three legitimate classics under her belt and probably the most iconic scene of the late 2010s (thanks Nia!) even if it was an accident. If you watched her Steve Austin Show appearance, you will see this is a person that it doesnt come naturally to. She stresses and really puts thought into every word and action. That can go either way. Randy Savage and The Rock have proved you can be a meticulous planner or have every word spelled out but if you can make it organic then it is fucking organic and I am none wiser more power to you. That's the key to Becky she was putting a lot of effort in and still coming across natural and organic. Mad respect for The Man! The non-Four Horsewomen: Shockingly it looks like Asuka is making a comeback. I would have never guessed that in a million years. The rising tide raises all ships looks to be helping Kairi Sane. Besides Becky, Asuka & Sane are my favorite WWE women's wrestlers. I thought the Pirate Princess gimmick was gold and loved her work with Shayna in 2017 and went to an NXT House Show in Lowell just to see her live. I have always enjoyed Asuka but I always figured she would never be more than a workrate queen because I just didnt think Vince/WWE would know how to market her and WWE fans at large wouldnt know what to think of her (similar to Nakamura). The Kabuki Warriors was something designed to pop me but I was disappointed time and time again first by not winning the tag titles and second by lack of air time. Then they turned heel. It took Sane a little longer than Asuka to find her sea legs as a heel but once they did they have been the best act on WWE TV by a country mile and especially during COVID Lockdown. They have amped up the zaniness and it is fun! Perish the thought, pro wrestling is fun! I am nervous they will do the WWE standard of Sane pulling a disappearing act now that Asuka is champion but it looks like based on her terrific recorder (who else played the recorder in 3rd grade!) performance that she is safe for now. If you are asking most underpushed in the women's division it is Kairi Sane without a doubt. How we didnt get a lengthy Becky vs Sane singles match back in the beginning of the year is insane! It has been covered but Alexa Bliss' concussion issues has shunted her down to the tag ranks. I think Alexa is amazing promo and the best at reciting the WWE drivel. She makes it seem like something a normal human would say and thats a real, rare talent. I like her ode to Nikki Bella right punch and she has great chemistry with Nikki Cross. She was overpushed for a spell there as a heel and I do think there was a market to turn her babyface earlier because she was over. She is the closest a woman has gotten to breaking the Four Horsewomen glass ceiling. I like Nia Jax more than most. I get it. She is dangerous. Some of those throws on Kairi were brutal recently. She does really need to tone it down, but I just love hosses and she is a hoss. That girl has power. The Rousey match was bonkers! Fucking terrific! Her power is so addictive to watch. When she goes on her sassy rant of being a 6', 300lbs Samoan woman I always pop. A safer Nia Jax that does awesome splashes and safely tosses her opponents around would be a wonder. Shayna is by far the most athletically gifted and coordinated wrestler they have. Her matches with Nattie have been terrific. She moves so well in the ring and is so fluid. She is beautiful to watch. Booking fucked her up but they can still recover. A thin division will make it tough on her but I enjoy her a lot. Shoutout to Sonya Deville. I change my pick the most underpushed wrestler in WWE is Sonya Deville, excellent offense. I would drool at the prospect of Sonya vs Shayna. I was fortunate enough to see an Asuka vs Sonya random house show match which is probably the best house show match I have ever seen, Beautiful mat work and strikes, built to a hot finish. That's my rundown of the women's division. I dont think you can call Charlotte overpushed based on her workrate talent and her peers.

The contenders in my mind are HHH 2002-2004, Randy Orton 2004-2009, they backed their way into JBL and lucked out, Great Khali was fucking brutal (I stopped watching Smackdown for years because of him), Kane is a decent candidate, Baron Corbin is definitely overpushed, Seth Rollins but only recently I would say 2019. I am surprised a certain someone has not come up but I am such a huge mark for him I won't bring it up. HHH (2002-2004) - It was a truly brutal time listening to those 30 minute windbag promos as he went over every single WCW star (Steiner, Booker, Nash, Goldberg and I am probably missing others). He considers himself such a student of the game and idolized Flair so much but when he got a chance to play Flair he totally missed the point of what made Flair work...sub-5 minute promos and shining babyfaces. He is a fool. He is probably my pick. Randy Orton (2004-2009) - Cena & Batista needed a heel to wrestle ultimately and I guess Orton was good as any. He grew on me in the 2010s. I like his grinding style now. He has a great European Uppercut. I really enjoy when he makes some really weird faces. After 20 years, he has become a halfway-decent promo. He was the shits as a kid. He was the victim of the first start-stop push winning the World Title before Cena/Batista only for HHH to shit on him. I am glad they went with Cena & Batista over him. He was their go-to heel but he was pretty blah. The WrestleMania 25 build and match with HHH was pretty terrible. Once they laid off the push in the 2010s, he became more palatable. He was the PERFECT choice for the Authority's Candidate to go against Bryan in 2013. That was marvelous and the best he ever was. Bryan and Orton had freaky chemistry. The stuff with Edge right now is brutally bad. To hype it as the Greatest WRESTLING Match ever is so insulting. Orton is a classic case of getting pushed before he was ready. If it was like Bret and he was in a tag team 5, 6 years and then I-C level 2-3 years, dude would have been golden. Too much, too fast. It is too bad they rush things. JBL was so short and he turned out to be a tremendous promo that even though it started out as an overpush, it became a deserved push. Great Khali the absolute shits. I dont remember how long he was around but it was too fucking long. People can say well he became a comedy character but I think he had at least three years as a monster and it was three years too long. While overpushed, perhaps not the most overpushed but he needs to be mentioned for how atrocious he was. Kane - In late 90s, Kane was so fucking cool. Then they took off the mask and oh boy. I dont know if others remember this but Kane had a resthold my brother and I would affectionately call the "Kane snuggle". In the mid-00s, the reverse chinlock was running rampant as the preeminent resthold during a heat segment. Ever the rebel, Kane decided his resthold of choice was going to be a reverse waistlock while lying on the mat of his opponent. Kane was going to spoon his opponent into submission. There it was every year the Kane push. It almost felt like a rib. I did like Corporate Kane though. Baron Corbin - The heir to Kane. He is totally in the Kane role and I have been pushing this narrative for a while. He is tall and moves similarly to Kane. He occupies the same spot on the card that upper midcard heel they love to go to fill in those dead zones of their calendar right after Mania and right after Survivor Series. I have said this time and time again, Baron Corbin is not a bad wrestler. He is very serviceable. I have always liked his tribute to Big Bossman. I have always liked his right hand. I think he has two strong signature moves. He is actually pretty good at reciting their alphabet soup of a script. I get why he is pushed as he is universally hated. There is no pocket of fans that will cheer for him, hardcores, traditionalists, kids, casuals will hate him. He is too bland to sustain a run on top. Rotating him in and out of tag team/IC title hunt like Greg Valentine would be perfect. Seth Freakin' Rollins - If Corbin is the heir to Kane, then Rollins is the heir to HHH. I liked Rollins in the Shield. I liked 2015 chickenshit Rollins as the Authority's new heir to the throne. The Kingslayer stuff is when the wheels fell off the wagon and it got really bad last year against Brock Lesnar. The problem is that he has gone to the HHH school of promos and feels that length is strength and that if the promo is not 20 minutes he has failed. It is brutal. I have said this before the saving grace of HHH is that he has a sense of humor. The problem with Evolution HHH is that he was a humorless twat. There have been a couple times during DX revival HHH where I chuckled and I was like ok this fucker is pretty funny. HHH did rule so hard during the build to Bryan match at Mania XXX. Rollins does not have a funny bone in his body. The Messiah gimmick reeks of Heyman, who loves his religious references and is beyond bad. I would say Rollins is on track to exceed HHH. I wanted to talk about Charlotte and the women's division but this post got long. I am just going to split into two as it will be easier to read.

ECW World Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards vs The Pitbulls - ECW Arena 8/26/95 The ECW Arena rematch after the match in Middletown and the 8-Man tag where Cactus turns on Tommy, we get this match. This match starts with Raven getting his shit kicked in. Richards is being a chump and refuses to tag in. This goes on longer than I expected but the result is what I expected, Raven gives him a thwack and throws him to the Dogs of War. Pitbulls feast on Richards. Crazy standing Doomsday Device to Richards. Pitbull #1 jumped pretty high to connect. Insane spot. You know the spot that injured Villano on Nitro (weird fact: I was there live, only Nitro I attended) well the Pitbulls do that spot on Richards only it is from the top rope. Looked gnarly as fuck basically a Ganso Bomb. Raven saves. Raven eats a Superbomb at one point. I think this is when Beulah saves and they are going to Superbomb Beulah. Then there are three nearfalls for Stevie, first when Dudley Dudley interferes then a Raven DDT and finally a Big Dick hotshot on the railing. It sets up Raven Masterpiece Theatre at Gangstas Paradise perfectly as all these moving pieces will fit together in grand fashion. Also I take back anything bad I said about the Pitbulls they are a good power wrestling team, really good offense. Pitbulls vs Steiners would have been good fun. ***1/2

ECW World Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards vs The Pitbulls - ECW Middletown, NY 7/28/95 (Aired 8/8/95) Outdoor venue, it is raining but not too hard it looks like, a lot of people. ECW was pretty over. I believe this is the first televised match in the feud. The Pitbulls were former minions and got fed up and refused to Superbomb Luna and now are aligned with Dreamer & Luna. They got the tag belts on Raven & Richards to up the ante for this feud. Pitbulls are better power wrestlers than I had previously given them credit for. They did a great job throwing Richards around in the shine. Pitbull #2 hits a spinwheel kick that Hashimoto would have been proud of, squashing Richards in the corner and Pitbull #1 hit a nice slingshot shouldertackle. They put over Raven as a game changer after Richards takes a ton of punishment they were going to Superbomb him until Raven attacks. Raven eats knees on Vaderbomb. They regain control by attacking the testicles of Pitbull #1. Hot tag and Pitbulls are in control. #1 is throwing Raven into chairs and #2 has isolated Stevie, but Beulah sprays #2 in the eyes with hairspray and a StevieKick and it is over. They steal a win but Dreamer and Luna beat up Raven & Richards. They trap Beulah and Dreamer piledrivers her to a massive reaction and triggers an EC-DUB chant. Great place-setting match. Shows the Pitbulls can kickass but they arent ready to overcome Raven's trickery just yet. Short & sweet. ***

Referee Bill Alfonso is the best gimmick ever. His shoot tirade in the middle going off on how hard it is stand to and shout into microphone, getting onto a plane at 5am with his ticket not paid for and then saying he is blowed up, ready to relinquish the mic only to start shoving and screaming at Heyman is great. Fonzie rules!

Woman was the MVP of this segment and maybe her best segment ever. She was in total control of Sandman. She was the alpha and that was cool to see. Both times, Sandman was on the verge of being stripped of the title, Woman was the one who made Sandman comply. It was very empowering to see her in charge. She stops Mikey from getting to ten but Mikey gets his first kiss with Woman! Sandman attacks and it is Woman who makes him stop once the title is threatened but not before we get another of her "orgasmic wails". Sandman vs Mikey is a fucking great feud that I have not explored before. I like it! I really like it!

a) Matter of style & taste. I love all forms of wrestling. Heat is heat. I dont really care how one gets it as long as they get it. I enjoy interference and foreign objects and bells & whistles. Give me the powder and the fireballs. I love that Raven works a loaded boot or an ether rag gimmick. I like the zillion of run-ins for the most part. This shit can easily go sideways but him because he does put thought into it, it usually a hit rather than a miss. Guys like RVD that has not heat because nothing has any consequence OR it is stilted & contrived. Raven's dog & pony show does have consequences in Raven's world and it feels natural tome. b) I like his promos for the most part. He does have duds here and there, but the whole demented, twisted evil empath that feeds on pain and exploits those most vulnerable like Stevie Richards who didnt know who he was or Cactus who felt abandoned by his peers, fans and the system is a great gimmick. The whole point is that he is delusional and is not self-aware that his poetry is mumbo-jumbo. The duds are when he actually does make sense or he is not very threatening. The abusive relationship with Stevie is gold. c) As EL-P point that kind of is the gimmick. I like I said above he feasts on the pain, anger and anguish of others. Likewise he feeds off their heat. Dont tell me you think that wooden hack Tommy Dreamer is a better promo. Tommy Dreamer is fucking wretched promo. His John McClane wannabe act is so poorly executed by him. He is lucky that Raven got his ass over. d) Raven didnt get hot immediately. He had Douglas, Sandman, Public Enemy all ahead of him but he worked a great angle and got himself as over as the others and they couldnt deny him. I like Stevie I do, but he wasnt ready yet. He was still finding himself which made him perfect as the innocent wayward soul that got in over his head with Raven. Stevie could ramble with the best of them he was not perfect on the mic either. As El-P pointed out it was a symbiotic relationship both men got over. e) The Dreamer piledriver on Beluah and leaving Raven laying in May of 1995, breaking Raven's fingers in retribution Hardcore Heaven 95, Chair Shot Heard Round The World, Gangsta's Paradise with the epic Pitbulls win. Funk's pinfall at November 2 Remember. I dont know enough about his 96 run but he definitely let Dreamer gets his licks in. f) The aesthetic is 90s grunge but the evil cult leader that preys on the hurt and abandoned is not. Tiger King demonstrated a Tiger Sex Cult where that evil fucker clearly preys on lost women. General Hospital ran a great storyline called Dawn of Day which was basically the Raven's flock but again a sex cult where the evil leader Shiloh isolated women and made them believe the only man that could understand them and their pain was Shiloh. I am blanking on the real-life inspiration for Dawn of Day but I know there is one and it involved some semi-famous people. Raven character is timeless. g) I only come on PWO and everyone besides EL-P and me seem to hate him so I don't know. h) It is ok, Charles, I feel your pain. My childhood was filled with anguish & torture and so I understand your pain, Charles.The more frustrated you become the stronger the Raven grows! Quote the Raven, Nevermore!

Yeah definitely worthy to go back and watch. Also watch the promos leading up to this. Raven foresees this in his promo in a dumpster. It is not that it was premeditated like Raven and Cactus were in cahoots. It is like Raven knew how to work his demented empathetic magic to exploit the vulnerabilities of Cactus, who really had not been a focal point of ECW for last month. Sandman was moving on to Mikey, Douglas left the promotion and Funk was nowhere to be found. Cactus was aimless. This was a great move for him and it really unlocked his promo potential. Before the match, he makes standard pro wrestling remarks about beating up Raven's flunkies, but when he gets to Raven he says he digs his vibe. Before the match gets started, Raven starts to work his voodoo talking about how he understands Cactus and can create a safe place for Cactus.Just when Dreamer is about to pin Raven for the first time BANG! Cactus turns! It makes sense because it was not a plan hatched before. It was Cactus wrestling with the the thought and deciding mid-match what to do. Cactus gives a very Mankind-esque promo huddled in a warehouse behind some framing. He talks about abandonment and how he feels pain and that people dont realize how much pain he is in but Raven does. Now he will serve Raven and ensure that Raven's world comes into being even if that means laying waste to his ex-friends Dreamer and Mikey. Awesome angle!

I popped for Mikey trying to smoke too. Good shit.

Didnt watch the match but saw the post match angle. Chairshot heard round the World was brutal. They are doing a great job giving Dreamer victories like this in the feud or when he piledrove Beulah at Enter Sandman went into the crowd and had everyone chant E-C-DUB around him. He might not be winning the matches but he is winning the war. Raven cuts a great promo in Florida about how this all will backfire because Raven feasts on pain so the more anger Dreamer has and the more violent he becomes the stronger Raven becomes. Raven as a demented, evil empath is amazing.

Everyone in ECW from Fonzie to Joey to Paul E kept misusing the word "defy". He had banned the fans from the building for Heat Wave 95. He kept saying I defy the fans to show up. He wanted to say I dare the fans to defy me and show up. They kept using "defy" to mean "dare". It was wicked weird. Gordon decks him and loses his promoter's license in Pennsylvania. It is leading to Fonzie vs Gordon I imagine.

Because it is not about titles, Pete, it is about hurting the Public Enemy. Ok, yeah I cant explain that booking decision. I made the case for why Public Enemy going over in the first match made sense, but this doesnt. They needed to get the tag titles on Raven & Richards for the impending Pitbulls feud and they went this route. Meh. The important thing is my man Raven and Stevie Richards are champions of the world! They put heat on Fonzie for doing a double reversal to get the titles on Raven & Richards. I think this is the first and only double Dusty Finish and I liked it. Since it doesnt look like any of the Raven/Richards promos or segments made the yearbook from July I will just capture my thoughts here. -The first title defense at Heat Wave 95 was against jabronis Don E. Allen & Broad Street Bully. Most important thing is Raven/Richards lose by countout because Richards is making out with Francine and Beulah takes exception. Catfight and I gotta say it is a good one. Those floors are gross and those women are hardcore for rolling around on that floor. Beulah explains to Stevie that Francine is a bimbo and Stevie needs to stop hanging out with her. Stevie explains he cant help that "she is hot for my trot and warm of my form!" I remember watching this segment back in 2006 when Youtube really broke and man I popped huge. I thought this was the most genius thing I ever heard. It is still wicked funny to me. Long story short, Beulah is being catty because she wants to be the only woman in the nest. Another funny Stevie/Beulah moment is Stevie is drooling over the thought of Woman back when she was apart of Sullivan's Army of Darkness and Beulah gives him a good whack. -This leads to me to my other favorite Raven/Richards promo in Florida in the ocean where they are standing shin high. Stevie is going on and on about how he had this great childhood and at the center piece was Florida Championship Wrestling. He makes fun of Kevin Sullivan's height but thought the Army of Darkness was really cool until Luna fucked up the stable, fucked up Florida Championship Wrestling and fucked up his childhood until New Wave came along! LOL! That was great and then Raven cuts in and cuts some of his best demented, evil empath bullshit, feasting on pain especially the Chairshot around the World. As Dreamer gets angrier, Raven gets stronger. Good stuff all around! The Chairshot Heard Round The World happens at Heat Wave 95 after the Raven/Richards tag title defense in a Stevie vs Luna aftermath. Dreamer really smoked him. Iconic moment. -Down in Florida, I thought the TV focused mostly on Sandman/Mikey/Woman. I dont remember too much. -Overall they are definitely building to Raven & Richards vs Pitbulls. They say they have vanquished Dreamer & Luna. They have been bringing up the Steiners. Oh and Raven says the Public Enemy and Gangstas are destroying each other in the turf war. Raven's act definitely feels like the most over act in ECW at this point.

At least Douglas shows ass on his way out and goes out on his back. Douglas thinks he can make Gordon grovel to make him stay and Douglas probably would have laughed in his face if he did. Instead Gordon proves he has a backbone and fired Douglas! Awesome. Douglas decks Gordon because he is a prick. 9-1-1 baby! Douglas eats the chokeslam. 911 was such a genius gimmick. I really, really love it. Such a good name for the character! If I ever get a chance to book, I would have to have a 911 type character on my roster. Douglas is gone but his gift of Fonzie to the Mutants is the gift that just keeps on giving!

I will defend the booking here. The Gangstas are the hot new, ultra-violent team. Public Enemy are the poseurs. If you have Gangstas win, you prove the Gangstas right and whats the fucking point of more matches. Have Public Enemy win but close. Well now the Gangstas are pissed because they got shown up by poseurs. The Gangstas end up jumping Public Enemy outside the building because they are sore losers and pricks. This puts heat on the feud. It is like gang attack or a drive by, ya know. Now The Gangstas have shown their true nature: they are proud thugs and when their pride is wounded they lash out in an unsportsmanlike way. The Gangstas are definitely the heels. Now you can build the story from there. Yeah I saw the ring fill in and thought it was pretty cool. I am definitely a Public Enemy defender. I think it is loveable hoodie gimmick is funny. I like the high pitched voices and the comedy. They can bring the gravity in their promos too. They are definitely a promo gimmick. I have seen one good Public Enemy match it was on a random Nitro where Knobbs and Saggs just stiffed the hell out of them but a wicked good brawl. There is two guys I wish got a run in ECW, the Nasty Boys would have been great!

Pitbulls turn babyface because goddamnit they have scruples and their momma taught them not to Superbomb a lady! Hey gotta give ECW some points at least they did turn babyface because they wouldnt attack a woman. So thats something right. The Original Dudleys have become Raven's new flunkies. The Pitbulls feel like Raven & Stevie had neglected them but I forget why. I remember the Raven/Stevie promos as Tag Champs being the best part of their character work together that should be coming up. The Pitbulls were pretty fucking over in 1995 and 1996. I think people forget how just damn over they were.

Douglas has great cadence, conviction but shitty content. Id give him a pass on content if he was not so interminable. I dont know if Douglas is the best actor in the world or if he worked himself into a shoot but when the fans started thunderously chanting "We Want Flair" he got hot and I mean DOUBLE HOT! And it was worth for that. Good job Mutants! Woman comes out looking hot and I mean DOUBLE HOT! I skipped a couple months in my ECW rewatch for match watching purposes so this whole Douglas/Sandman/Cactus thing has not ended? Sandman saves Woman so Cactus saves Douglas and Cactus is the babyface? Well Cactus turning heel soon. I thought Douglas getting wicked angry at the "We Want Flair" chants were worth it.

Pete but then everyone would scream "Bait and switch". You get the heat for the Fonzie stoppage, but I think you have to deliver on this once it is advertised. I watched the Fonzie portion which was gold, but didnt feel like watching this. I have watched some Japanese Death Matches just try it but yeah now my cup of tea.

Let your freak flag fly, Pete! Get down with your bad self! Thanks to PWO I made sure to seek this out during my rewatch of ECW. Incredible. I already really like Woman, but I really loved Woman here. She does a really good job being smoldering. I really think she does but you can still tell its an act, a really good act. Here she was using her natural speaking voice it was much more organic and visceral. Now, it was definitely uncomfortable. "Assume the position little boy" is definitely pushing the envelope and not content I would want to watch with my mom. It is also doubly uncomfortable because of her death and saying how she gets off on violence. I know it is all an act, but it is hard hearing Woman say that and for me it triggers thoughts of her murder. Just absolutely terrible that's all I can say. I liked the idea of a voyeuristic character and getting off on pain. I dont know if Paul E into any kinky shit but he definitely likes incorporating into his product (the Vampire in WWECW was based on the underground biting clubs at time). Sex is such a great, important life I do think its good for wrestling to have overtones of it to be a completely fleshed out form of entertainment. I loved all people trying to stand up for Mikey and Woman not letting them because she wants to feast off the pain of the fan favorite, the loveable Mikey. Really deep, hard-hitting stuff. Fonzie ensures it is 10 was a great heat-seeking tactic. A Fonzie like character should make a comeback. Sandman hurdles over the top rope to floor delivers a wicked cane shot to Mikey. That was pretty damn athletic for Sandman. He ends up going bezerk and well over ten and Marty Jannetty saves. I wonder if ECW had big plans for Marty Jannetty because he cut a pretty good promo on the Sandman after. Mikey's line "My mom is going to kill me." popped me and the he manned up and said he was going to get revenge. Happy Mikey won the title in 1995! Excellent angle to kick off the program!

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas vs Marty Jannetty - ECW Return of the Funker 1995 Shane Douglas' ECW World Title tour as Paul E. brings in any ex-WWF, ex-WCW star willing to do a job to his New Franchise. Pretty smart booking by Paul E. and this is the best match of the bunch and I think its the best singles match Ive ever seen from Douglas including the Scorpio match I watched earlier. I think this match was tighter and made more sense down the stretch. They basically said fuck you to ECW and wrestled a traditional championship match. This was Douglas' big chance to work the NWA Touring Champ style and he did it pretty well. Bret Hart was much better at than Douglas. Marty gets a series of quick nearfalls early to establish he is here for a good time not a long time. Douglas powders. He regroups. Back in, it is a Jannetty Victory Roll and a Superkick attempt that has Douglas getting the Hell out of Dodge. Great babyface shine. Jannetty is able to get his fist drop and a clothesline after a ballshot to complete a very strong shine. I would have liked the ballshot used later in the match as a stronger transition but thats a nitpick. Douglas is able to lure Jannetty to the outside with some arena brawling and thats where the Franchise is in his element. He hits a wicked front suplex on the railing and uses a crutch to cement his advantage. Jannetty takes a wicked bump off a clothesline nice inside out sell. Jannetty really throws himself into the ringpost bump and then takes a suplex on chairs. Really good stuff. Throughput Jannetty would pepper in hope spots to make sure we all knew he was alive. Douglas hits his shoulder on the post. Jannetty works that a bit and then goes into his finish sequence. Rocker Dropper for 2. Big time Superkick. Doesnt cover, not a good side. Goes up for the fist drop but Douglas moves but Marty wisely lands on his feet. DDT! 1-2-FOOT ON THE ROPES! Awesome nearfall! Jannetty goes for a Victory Roll and Douglas THROWS HIM DOWN WITH A POWERBOMB!1-2-3! Tight, impactful finish. Jannetty got in plenty of white meat babyface offense and got a nice hot finish run. I liked the heat segment a lot Jannetty did a lot of great selling and bumping. There are some issues with transitions that I didnt cover in my main review and Douglas also can be a bit bland. I would have liked to seen more heel character work out of him. Overall, I really enjoyed their ode to 1980s championship wrestling. ****

ECW World TV Champion Pitbull #2 vs Chris Jericho - ECW Hardcore Heaven 1996 I am a big confused why Pibull #2 was being pushed? I know Pitbull#1 was injured but I dunno Pitbull #2 always struck me as the lesser of the two Pitbulls so I can understand having him on the lower card. That being said I watched his ECW World Title match with Raven and TV Title win over Shane Douglas all on the show prior to this and he was definitely over. So it goes to show you what I know. I dont have too much to say about this. It is a good, basic standard power vs speed match. Theres not much struggle to it. It is very "my turn, your turn". They establish Pitbull's power advantage early. Liked the catch on the spinwheel kick into the slam. The Press Slams were great especially the one into the tombstone. Jericho in 1996 has a penchant for overreaching and doing spots that look like they will get him or his opponent killed. Even though he did some crazy spots that could have gone wrong most of them involved tombstone variations, they pulled them off without being too egregious. Did Pitbull blade off a Victory Roll? If so that has to be the most bizarre bladejob after. Jericho takes control. Now Pitbull feeds for him. It is a very neat match not a lot of struggle. Jericho does his springboard dropkick but instead of a dropkick he did a moonsault which I thought was pretty cool. He also busts out a missile dropkick. Ill be honest all the offense kind of just runs together. Douglas comes out to argue with Francine and try to steal the belt. Pitbull #2 interjects himself but steamrolls Francine. Pitbull #2 Clobbers Douglas and then Jericho crashes down on Douglas by accident. Pitbull #1 with an arm in a sling takes Francine back while Douglas tries abscond with the title but the refs stop him. They do the less complicated version of the Hurricanarana/Splash Mountain Finish where Jericho hits a Frankensteiner off the Superbomb. Great looking finish! Douglas throws a fit. Pitbull and Jericho bro it out. This all leads to the Fatal 4-Way between the four most recent champions. It was a very clean match which was surprising because at any moment I thought it could go sideways. Jericho would learn how to add connective tissue and psychology to his matches in WWF. Here he shows a basic grasp of power vs speed but is missing those crucial transitions that would really make a match like this pop. ***

Sabu vs Rob Van Dam - ECW Doctor Is In Stretcher A pretty famous feud that put RVD on the map. Paul E was able to make RVD & Taz into stars on the back of Sabu pretty impressive. Im a pretty big Sabu mark and think RVD is useless. This didnt do much for me. I watched the whole feud about 15 years ago when youtube first came out. Basic gist was Sabu extended his hand in respect and RVD didnt take it. This led to a Matter of Respect which was two parts this and the Douglas/Scorp feud. At some point RVD gets "insider" info that Sabu has injured neck doesnt everyone know about the Benoit match anyways he targets and the neck and Sabu is carried off in a stretcher. Volia here we are. I couldnt remember if I watched this match but the Sabu Asai Moonsault onto the Stretcher and his shins whacking the guardrail reminded me I had. Fuck that had to hurt.Up until then it was both guys doing their schtick. Sabu is at his best when he is unpredictable and finally all around. This was too slow. RVD had some nice karate kicks but other than that it didnt feel fluid. Felt stilted. They blew a couple spots. The table spot came off really, really well. That should have been the finish. Great Brainbuster through the table looked awesome and I guess it was a callback to how RVD targetted the neck previously. They teased carting Sabu out but RVD stopped it. Some lame action followed. The real finish which was also a good spot was RVD doing a somersault splash from the top rope on the stretcher. The best wrestling match was the wrestling the "EMTs" had to do to get the stretchers to work. Some of the spots were alright but yeah this is bad Sabu and I like Sabu.

ECW World TV Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs Shane Douglas - ECW Matter of Respect When did Scorpio turn babyface was it just because Sandman turned babyface? After Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko left, Paul E turned to Scorpio to fill his workrate void first with a great 30 minute draw with Sabu and now we get another long title defense against The Franchise. This is a pretty famous storyline. Douglas thinks the TV Title is beneath him. Scorpio takes umbrage with that. He is going to make Douglas Respect the championship and the champion. Douglas claims to not want the title but is he a liar? Gold can be alluring by any name. I still have not watched the Jannetty match so I dont know how this compares. Douglas whups Scorpio for most of the 15 minutes. This is an anti-Flair NWA Championship defense. I am not going to assert that was intentional. Given Douglas' animosity to Flair, it could be seen in that context but I dont think thats what is happening here. At first, I thought they were going to do the NWA Championship standard babyface bests the heel on the mat, but Douglas actually wins most of the sequence causing three powders by Scorpio. First on a dropkick, then they do a finisher tease and Douglas wins with a Butterfly Suplex and then on the third Douglas hits a plancha. It felt like a babyface shine for Douglas. If he wasnt such a pompous prick, Id believe it. He hits Scorpio with a dangerous front suplex onto the guardrail. Just when you think Scorpio is going to mount a comeback, Douglas sends him flying into the crowd in a cool spot. Scorpio tries another comeback but Douglas kicks him in the balls and hits a hellacious powerbomb on the cement floor. I wouldnt think a Douglas squash would be so appetizing but he is actually a good squash wrestler. ECW really believed that the best way to earn respect was through takin' a lickin and keep on tickin. Thats how they got Dreamer over. It is definitely one school of thought. I think offense is a better way to go but thats just me. Scorpio ends up kicking Douglas in the balls twice, chair shot, Flying Space Tiger Pele Kick and an Asai Moonsault finally put Scorpio in the drivers seat. I have found the match enjoyable so far. I think the transitions are solid which is usually the weakest part of ECW. I dont feel the heat is quite at the classic levels, but this has been good. Scorpio cant hit his dive on the table because Douglas moved and well-done sneak attack because the cameras intentionally lost Douglas. The end of the match is bizarre. Are we sure that Douglas wasnt the babyface? Scorpio hits a moonsault. He gets up at 2. And just laughs. I feel like Scorpio doesnt respect Shane-O. 450 Splash and Legdrop no covers just high steeping. No transitions Douglas just gets up and starts hitting suplexes. This is trash. I liked the Superbomb. The cherry on top is the shitty finish. Scorpio says he is going up top, flips off the fans and then goes up and Douglas hits a low blow and Scorpio no sells it. Super Belly 2 Belly was a good finish. Douglas feigns respect only in a dick move to ask Scorpio to strap the belt around his waist. Scorpio smokes him with the TV title belt and beats the shit out of him. This match is overrated. This is a workrate championship match in ECW and so it feels different but it pales in comparison to the great championship matches of history. I liked the beginning Douglas was great on offense and worked compelling sequences. Once Scorpio took over the match fell off the rails. ***1/4