[1996-01-05-ECW-House Party] Public Enemy vs The Gangstas

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The "You'll be back" chant cracked me up, and really, if Shane Douglas and Sabu returned, what reason was there to think PE wouldn't? I love that New Jack got a pie to the face and stopped to taste it, even if his pre-match promo burying Harlem Heat and Sherri made absolutely no sense. So yeah, this is exactly what you'd expect it to be -- lots of weapon shots and blood. Wrestling moves like Mustafa Saed's sunset flip and spinning toehold look kinda silly in this context, to be honest. Why even bother?

[Loss]

Oh, and the highlight package after the match is great! I posted too soon.

[Hollinger.]

The biggest thing I picked up with this is how "safe" most of the brawling they did was compared to what you see today. And it still worked just as well as dudes concussing themselves for money in getting over the violence.

[Kronos]

Wow, crowds were already "woo'ing" figure-4s in 96. Who knew?

 

I don't see myself watching this one multiple times, but it's kind of fun in the right mood. Hollinger is right about how safe they play it, considering how violent the match is. They're all selling the exhaustion and beatdowns, and both teams are very charismatic.

 

I've always enjoyed PE's entrances, and they cut a nice promo at the end. Loss is right that the highlight vid kicks ass.

[Jack_Briscoe_Is_My_Hero]

The safety comes from the weapons used. They were doing the old fashioned digging into your opponents forehead bit which is violent and safe. Baked goods were flying, which will never get anyone hurt. The crowd loves this stuff. Wrestling companies never mentioned each other, which even though New Jack's comments made no sense they come off as being cool and edgy. I wished they would have shown the ring collapsing indecent in Florida during the highlight package.

[fishbaugh]

Pre-match is always great with both of these teams, as they both have awesome music and New Jack's shit is usually good. The knock on Harlem Heat was kind of funny, but the screwed up into saying PE was from south central LA was funnier. Does the sign that says "Kill the B.M.F.s" stand for "black mother fuckers"? In any other venue I wouldn't think so, but the crowd at the ECW Arena aren't the most respectable of folks.

[Kevin Ridge]

Public Enemy on their way to WCW. Crowd is mostly positive to them. Ineffective pie shot by the Enemy. Grunge is already bloody. Another pie shot that misses later on. Public Enemy gets the victory! Sent them out on a high note. Was garbage for the most part. Good video package to close things out.

[soup23]

The Gangsters made dinner out of this match with Jack eating the pie and Mustafa taking a bite out of the bread. For a garbage, ECW brawl, this was pretty damn good with some comedic spots and all around plunder going on. PE wins their send off and then gets a nice promo and video to bid them goodbye (**3/4)

[PeteF3]

New Jack: "I just talked to Santa Claus, and I asked him, 'What do you think of Sensational Sherri?' He said, 'Ho ho ho.'"

 

Another overlong, overindulgent match. But for four fairly shitty workers, they kept the pace up, threw in a few neat spots using pastry as a weapon, and gave the fans a truly memorable going away gift. Highlights of PE's entire ECW career follow as I start having nasty flashbacks. Off to be exposed and mire in WCW mid-card purgatory. I will miss that entrance, if nothing else.

[Cobra Commander]

watched this last night, still amused at Mustafa using a spinning toe hold in essentially a streetfight

and thanks to various Public Enemy 1999 drama, they did return 3 years later, but technically didn't have a match in ECW Arena again until 2001, with MECW.

[Stiva]

I like The Gangstas tactic here; Mustafa will work the leg while New Jack tries to gouge eyes out. Much like Sabu/Richards, this is too long but there’s good stuff sprinkled in; Grunge and New Jack’s crowd brawling is spirited, New Jack is such a charismatic bastard that he’s always worth watching and the ending video is a great little sending off. Public Enemy are off to work with The Nasty Boys for, what felt like, every week