[1995-01-17-ECW-TV] Music Video: Raven / Interview: Raven

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Perhaps in a tribute to the douchiness of his previous gimmicks, Raven walks on a snow-covered street while wearing shorts. He stands around looking all 90s slackerish while "Come Out and Play" by The Offspring provides a background. We get zooms in and out of a Dead End sign that seemed designed to cause an epileptic attack, but kidding aside, this is pretty cutting edge for wrestling by the standards of the time, just because it's different. The WWF and WCW weren't pushing guys with gimmicks that were routed in the pop culture of the time at all. (Grunge was probably over by this point, but work with me.)

 

He quotes Cobain to show how deep and philosophical he is before threatening Tommy Dreamer.

[Strummer]

I still think the gimmick fit the timeframe. Maybe the grunge style was phasing out but there were still remnants of the culture. Cobain had killed himself less than a year earlier

 

I was marking crazy for the character at this time

[El-P]

Despite grunge actually being dead at this point, this was as pop-culture relevant as US wrestling could ever be. Really striking difference with what WCW and WWF was doing at the time. Raven was also the first depressive wrestling character I think.

[Tim Evans]

This was not one of ECW music videos they are known for. Raven seems really lost without a lackey like Beaulah hanging around him.

[PeteF3]

Amusing to watch how they put together a video for what was probably literally a $0 budget. It's all Raven walking through a snowy suburb with every possible camera trick that their $200 Wal-Mart equipment came with. I never liked Raven being associated with an uptempo punk number like Come Out and Play. Jimmy Hart's acoustic Come as You Are knock-off was a rare instance of WCW nailing a gimmick better than ECW. Raven cuts a quick promo afterward. Grunge was dead but the Big Two missed out on that trend entirely, so points to ECW for this anyway.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I love the Raven character. Grew up with him in WCW. I think he was my parents' first favorite wrestler. They loved the "What about me? What about Raven?". My Dad will still quote out of the blue but change "Raven" to "Dad". Yes he actually would have been because the Jericho heel turn was not until January 1998 and thats when my parents loved him. My parents were heel fans all the way. 

This is a great Alternative meets black metal music video with Raven in his combat boots walking snowy suburban streets with his breath showing. The promo was pretty good quoting Cobain sets the tone that the character was not someone that fit in with the mainstream. Hurt people hurt. He has a lot of pain and he was going to lash out. 

I dont think it covered on the Yearbook based on the threads but having Stevie Richards as John The Baptist to Raven's Christ, you know there is "One greater than I coming" was a really cool way to introduce the character. It has been years since I was watched 1995 ECW I forgot Stevie was impersonating previous Scott Levy gimmicks. He won two matches but on the third match as Stevie Polo he lost to Tommy Dreamer (genius!). I forgot Joey Styles calls him Johnny Polo at first. Raven gets pissed at Stevie for losing but in reality it is more that he had to Dreamer specifically than just losing. AT this time, we dont know how deep the grudge runs. Raven doesnt quite have the sardonic tone down. Anyone who has heard a Raven shoot he has an upbeat cadence to the way he talks and it kinda comes through a little in the initial interview with Joey and Stevie. He did have the sadistic tendencies down and it is clear that Raven intimidates and is abusive to Stevie. They have also set up Stevie as a lost soul with no identity of his own so that how he gets deluded to becoming a lap dog for this charismatic figure even though it is toxic for Stevie. This persists with Stevie as the continues with the impersonation gimmick right through to the BWO. 

It is peak Heyman and Raven no doubt. The best part of 1995 ECW were the main eventers were fleshed out characters not gimmicks. I think thats what missing from wrestling today among other things. I mean so many stories are the same, I was a wrestling fan growing up so I became a wrestler. They need to latch onto the other things that make them unique.  Cactus Jack stopped being a wild man from New Mexico and became a fully fleshed out human with interesting thoughts and beliefs. Raven had become psychologically traumatized and was taking all his shit out on others. Tommy Dreamer may have sucked at executing it but as John McClane the regular average Joe wrestler that gets thrust into these violent situations because he is at the wrong place at the wrong time but he doesnt back down and he dies hard is a real character. The tag team division was filled with gimmicks like Public Enemy (who I find highly entertaining) and The Gangstas thats ok. Having too many characters would dilute the impact. I think you need 6-8 fully fleshed out main event characters supported by gimmicks in the 4-5 undercard matches.