[1996-02-17-ECW-Cyberslam] Interview: Brian Pillman

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Pillman's debut is still pretty shocking to watch, and was a really well done angle. I have to give credit to Pillman for deciding he was sick of waiting to be a star and deciding to work the system, even if he didn't really get the end result he wanted.

[El-P]

Again, Pillman's little stint in ECW amounted to nothing, and I don't think it aged that well. Sure, he was a very good promo, but the batshit insane character looked forced to me.

[goodhelmet]

I think this is the type of stuff that makes the yearbook concept work so well. Whatever you think about the actual Pillman stuff, to be able to watch the footage in context and see the ECW debut shortly after the booker man match makes it worth including.

[El-P]

Yep, interesting to watch Pillman do his Loose Cannon gimmick in three different promotions in a span of only a few months.

[ohtani's jacket]

I still think this is one of the all-time great promos. I thought the loose cannon stuff sucked in WCW but this was like the Richard Pryor live and uncut version.

[Jkeats]

I was there at the Arena live for this. It was the first time I had been to an ECW show and it was quite a crazy weekend. The show the night before got snowed out and everyone, including the wrestlers, just hung out at the hotel and drank. A lot.

 

There was a Q&A with Heyman and a lot of the roster the day of this show and there were murmurs of Pillman possibly being there but they were either ignored or just shot down. The lights off and him appearing in the ring was a really cool "fan" moment.

[Kevin Ridge]

Styles puts over the Internet convention going on in the Arena. Lights go off and Pillman is in the ring. Crowd loving it. Pillman has been fired from WCW and he runs down Bischoff. It may have not amounted to much in ECW but fun to see. Pillman calls the fans a bunch of marks. Segment went too long when Douglas got involved and Pillman beat up that "fan".

[Zenjo]

For some reason I do always like it when they beat up a plant. The Loose Cannon character could have been good if he's reigned it in a little.

[PeteF3]

Pillman's promo is mostly whatever and this stuff ages HORRIBLY, though his shutting up the ECW mutants by comparing them all to Eric Bischoff was nice. I enjoyed seeing Hat Guy look like he was about to cry. I was never really on the Loose Cannon bandwagon to start with, and then as now I'm left wondering what it was supposed to accomplish. Douglas making sure to get "he's shooting" over the mic was pretty contrived, too. The fan attack was pretty good. This is an angle worth seeing and in a weird way I sort of admire Pillman's total commitment to the character, but watching from hindsight it's a little clearer that we're watching a man in a downward spiral.

[soup23]

I thought this was really good and a great promo. I don't know if it is just because I think this is pretty sudden and unique for me or what but the Pillman stuff has resonated well. The fan getting beat up and PIllman's whole body language getting arrested felt entirely unhinged.

[tim]

This was awesome, incredibly well-executed angle. On paper, this could have been lame, but Pillman more than makes it work. I'm always interested in glimpses into pre-mass-internet-usage smart fan culture.

 

Internet convention! LOL, local fans booing it.