WWECW

[Smack2k]

That's right, they were with RVD....that was what I was missing...thanks for the clarification...

[Alucard]

Yeah now the RVD/Holly matches especially the back slicer one was awesome stuff. I didn't care for Lashley in ECW but always loved Holly and dug Test too. There was also that super fun extreme rules tag early into the ECW on Syfy run with Dreamer/Sandman vs Test/Knox.

[EricR]

Found a few discs of early years WWECW during my move that I didn't realize I had. I didn't get SyFy channel until they changed their name from SciFi to SyFy, so I've seen hardly any of the WWECW stuff from 2006-2008. I vaguely remember reading about different things, but I've only seen probably 5% of it with my eyeballs.

 

1. CM Punk vs. Marcus Cor Von

 

This is all so bizarro universe to me, as I was obviously watching WWE during this same time period, but here's Monty Brown coming out to theme music I've never heard while Joey Styles talks about him. Cor Von seemed massive in TNA and here seems about 15 pounds larger than Punk, maybe. Still Cor Von (gosh this is a stupid name) works over Punk's back nicely by posting him and tossing him with a sweet overhead belly-to-belly. Punk transitions to control by dodging a Cor Von charge, and instantly Cor Von is selling as much damage as Punk so that's odd. Punk is still selling his ribs in between doing offense, which includes an awful springboard clothesline. I don't remember digging early WWE babyface punk at all, and this is reminding me why. Styles is selling Punk's "broken" ribs in that really fucking obnoxious way that Styles sells things. But holy shit Cor Von hits the Pounce and THAT move still looks great as Punk flings himself into the ropes neck first (with his neck hitting the bottom rope in a nasty way). For a 10 minute match this wasn't very good.

 

We get Raw highlights all dealing with the Edge/Mr. Kennedy feud which is about as much eyeball poison as a person should be able to handle. If I asked you to name a shittier sounding match off the top of your head, I don't know if you'd be able to.

 

2. The Sandman vs. Snitsky

 

Gene Snitsky was a guy who was bad at pro wrestling, but some people enjoyed him because he was "so bad he was good", even though "so bad it's good" isn't actually a thing. What was really annoying about all that, is a few of us who enjoyed Mark Henry around this time got lumped into the same crowd of people ironically liking Snitsky, as if we were only liking him to be kewl or something. At least 95% of those assholes know how awesome Mark Henry is now. For all I know Snitsky may have died a couple years ago. I do remember that when he moved to ECW he changed his look, which meant shaving his thinning/receding roidz 'do (and his eyebrows) and purposely making his teeth yellow and jagged. I may only remember one Snitsky match I thought was good (I think I liked a TV match against Matt Hardy) but I gotta give him credit for fully committing to a look. The dude looks gross. Oh, and this match goes 1 minute as Snitsky hits a couple clubbing blows and then whiffs on a big boot and Sandman gets zero offense. So I assume a few original ECW guys were signed to 1 year deals and this was like the end of that 1 year and they just gave not one shit about them anymore?

 

Extreme Expose are dancing in the ring. I have never witnessed EE but it seems to be perfectly fine in a Nitro Girls type of way. The only thing I remember about them was Meltzer always harping on how bad Kelly Kelly looked compared to the other two (I assume Layla and the other one have more dance training). The crowd - to my surprise - doesn't completely shit on this, which is probably due more to them not overstaying their welcome. I'll take 2 minutes of foxy ladies dancing to "Toxic" over 15 minutes of Abraham Washington.

 

3. Brian Major vs. Elijah Burke

 

Well, I have zero memory of Zach Ryder and Curt Hawkins wrestling as "Brett and Brian Major", even though they apparently had a bunch of matches on Smackdown. How is it that I can remember all the Manu matches but not these guys? The first time I remember seeing them was when they were Edge lackeys. I assumed they had never appeared on TV before that. Huh. This was a good short match as Burke stiffed Major up and Major flopped well and leaned into things. I really liked Burke's knees and he had some great kicks to the stomach. Major misses big on a crossbody and then the match ends on a weak note because instead of using his awesome Elijah Express running double knees, he ends it with what is apparently called the Elijah Experience, which is basically The Stroke. So he just grabs the back of Major's head, and throws him to the mat, but it really looks like Major flinging himself face first into the mat. Wah wah.

 

4. Vince MacMahon, Shane MacMahon and Umaga vs. Rob Van Dam

 

That is great. So apparently Vince put the title on himself and proclaims himself Mr. Extreme. His strut coming out for this match is epic as he has full on Vince legs, and big swinging arms, occasionally throwing in a pimp limp. He's also wearing his all black gear and doo rag. Shane really is just the best pudgy backyarder. It seems like a miracle he doesn't blow any sequences. When you think back to how horrific David Flair was then Shane practically comes off like prime Misawa. He and RVD actually work really well together and it's satisfying seeing reckless RVD kicks catch Shane in the chin and forehead. Shane throws a couple nice elbow drops, RVD takes a big bump to the floor when Umaga pulls the rope down, and I'm digging this way more than I should be. Vince is great as a Jimmy Hart/Bobby Heenan "forced to compete" guy, except he chose to compete so has an extra layer of hubris running parallel to his chickenshit routine. He's fun running in and trying to pin RVD after Umaga beats him up, scrambling back to the apron while making Vince faces and Don Knotts mannerisms. We get a hot fake finishing sequence with Shane doing a big bump over the top to the floor, and RVD countering Umaga offense in cool ways. The MacMahons cheat to transition back to offense, and Shane actually hits a superplex! Once Umaga hits the big splash off the top and Samoan Spike, Vince freaks out wanting the "hot" tag and then struts around with the belt after the match. I couldn't really say it was a good match, but it was plenty fun for 10 minutes and peaked nicely.

[tim]

Oh man, Vince as ECW champion. There's something I completely forgot and loved so much at the time. It made so many internet fans just spazz out and Vince knew it and reveled in it every time he went out.

[EricR]

Yeah it felt like something that at the time I would have been more worked up about ("they're blowing it! This isn't like the original ECW!")...well, maybe if they had done the WWECW fed in say 2003 when I still actively missed the original ECW. Watching now it just seems hilarious and Vince is way more entertaining than a lot of the pushed ECW guys.

[That Poor Bastard]

Vince's run from Wrestlemania 22 up until Benoit's death was pretty much the most entertaining stuff in the history of WWE. He did the best he could with the awful DX stuff, and really shined after WM23 all the way up to the car bomb.

 

I remember being really high on Test at the time, but that might have been because he had a few good squashes. Speaking of squashes, why hasn't anyone mentioned all the awesome Big Daddy V squash matches that we all got treated too.

[EricR]

5/15/07

 

 

Vince starts us with a sit down interview wearing a white doo rag (to match his suit) and doing a kinda bonkers promo about how much he likes his "skull caps", and thinks they look cool, but what he likes more is not wearing anything on his head at all and how Bobby Lashley took that privilege away from him. For anybody that was sick of MacMahons on TV, I think Vince is so incredibly awesome once you're removed from the situation.

 

1. RVD vs. Snitsky

 

On paper this does not look great, but RVD's best opponents are usually immobile roid guys. He bumps around big for their moves and makes them look better than they really are (and bumping has always been his strongest suit). When he's against another "athletic" guy they just become mindless jerkoff sessions. RVD still has plenty of problem spots in this match (his forearms have always been a train wreck) but this match is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. They've both been in with "better" workers, but this is a good match up. It's not a good match, mind you, but a good match up. All of RVD's spin kicks land nice and snug and he peppers them in at the right times. Snitsky doesn't blow anything and controls with acceptable power offense. Match ends when Snitsky hits RVD with a chair, so apparently that is not a thing you can do in the new ECW.

 

2. CM Punk vs. Steven Richards

 

They do a Punk video before the match highlighting all of Punk's martial arts expertise, and it shows footage of him just hitting his awkward spinning mule kick and slapping somebody. He also calls jiu jitsu "jits" which is just about the most annoying 'breve you can use. I did not realize Richards was still a WWE employee at this point but I'm stoked as I always liked his WWE work. The Bob Holly matches from Heat were two of my favorites from that time period. This match was really great and about as awesome a match as you could do in 4 1/2 minutes. Punk has his ribs taped up from getting hit with the Pounce last week, and Richards immediately eye rakes Punk and starts ripping at the tape. He starts working the body with punches and stomps, snapmaring Punk and just booting the shit out of his back. Nice, satisfying THUD there. Richards works him over with a cool bow and arrow and keeps to those ribs. Richards always had really great body part specific match layouts, depending on what the match called for. Punk's comeback was nice and quick, with Richards getting into place for everything really well and flying face first into the GTS. God I wanted like 2 more minutes at least, but they filled the time they had really well.

 

3. Kevin Thorn vs. Nunzio

 

Thorn seems pretty boring, just making a bunch of scowly faces and plodding around. Nunzio looks GREAT here. His bumping was always pretty spectacular, but his evasive offense here was really satisfying and his stick and move style worked nicely. He had a really great dropkick to Thorn's ankle and then hit a sweet dropkick off the top. Then Thorn just kinda brushed it off and hit his admittedly cool finisher (like a Stunner but with the guy draped over the top rope, called the Dark Kiss). I imagine most guys don't take it as well as Nunzio, though.

 

Extreme Expose is up now, and okay Kelly does legitimately seem out of place during a bunch of this, and even takes a kick to the head from Layla at one point (Layla does a lot of high kicks and was lying on the apron doing them, when Kelly tried to walk through the ropes mid-Layla kick. Whoops.) which they admirably move on from somewhat smoothly. Layla looked so damn tiny and skinny during this, much less curvy than present.

 

4. The New Breed (Matt Striker, Marcus Cor Von, Elijah Burke) vs. Bobby Lashley

 

Boy, sure are a lot of 3 on 1 handicap matches on the new ECW. They're even building one up throughout the show for the upcoming Judgment Day PPV. This match is pretty much nothing until Cor Von hits the Pounce a few minutes in and Lashley spills spectacularly over the top rope to the floor. For a move that seems really hard to make look good, a lot of guys seem to make the Pounce look really good. Burke looks really good working over Lashley. He had a bunch of nice body blows, a cool Kabuki right uppercut, and a great fistdrop off the top to Lashley's ribs (was Burke a guy getting pimped in 2007? He looks really good here). Lashley's come back kind of comes out of nowhere, like they just got the call to go home. They go from Lashley selling a beating to just immediately going back on offense, dispatching Burke and Cor Von, and then hitting his finisher on Striker. Striker gets more height on a chokeslam/power bomb type move than anybody I've ever seen. Holy lord. This match could have been really good if Lashley's transition to comeback was worked in sensibly. Instead they just flipped a switch and it was "Okay, my turn to do stuff" and the whole thing ended up rushed.

[Stiva]

When rewatching 2007 WWE, Burke is definitely a guy who stands out in the first 6 months of the year. He's featured heavily with The New Breed stuff but as you say, his stuff looked good, he had a decent helping of charisma but got lost in the shuffle once they broke up The New Breed and John Morrison became the top heel on the show. I have a theory that they wanted to run with a Burke/Cor Von team on Smackdown when the talent exchange thing started up but Cor Von leaving put a stop to it. I can't remember a single thing Burke did after his Unforgiven match with Punk.

[EricR]

Yeah Burke's been looking really good so far. After watching this era of ECW for just a few weeks he's one of the few bright patches. If Stevie Richards was a regular that would help. But damn if this roster leaves a lot to be desired. It probably doesn't help that the only WWECW I had seen up until this point had Finlay and Mark Henry matches every week.

[EricR]

5/22/07

 

 

1. Snitsky vs. Tommy Dreamer

 

The dream match everybody was waiting for! Snitsky posts Dreamer and works over his shoulder to start, until Snitsky misses a big boot and crotches himself over the top rope. He did the exact same missed spot last week against RVD, so it appears this is going to be his "Andre stuck in the ropes" spot. He doesn't make it look very good, though. Dreamer's comeback was really cool but then he went up top for no reason other than getting caught by Snitsky. Man that's dumb. Tazz also overdoes the "Snitsky had BAD intentions behind that shot!" as he also drove it into the ground last week. I fucking hate that phrase when MMA announcers use it, and it's no less stupid here. What other intentions would ANYbody have when he is fighting someone? You have two guys trying to win a fight. OF COURSE a punch will have bad intentions. I guess that are rare instances like "Man, I had to hit you with that chair to save you from yourself! I was trying to help you! My intentions were good."

 

Elsewhere in 2007, Timbaland did a music video with the Hives, and it featured Layla and Torrie Wilson. That's weird.

 

2. Kevin Thorn vs. Wyatt Laro?

 

90 second squash, but a good one. Wyatt...something (Styles and Tazz kept pronouncing his last name slightly different. Laird, Lara, Lahro, Layro. I have no idea what it was supposed to be as he didn't get an onscreen graphic) bumped nicely for Thorn and Thorn didn't dawdle and busted out a nice clothesline and a fine yakuza kick. Fans actually get amped for Wyatt's comeback but it's shortlived and Thorn hits his finisher, which Styles now calls Original Sin. Also, no Ariel with him this week, so I assume she got canned out of nowhere and never mentioned again (because they sure weren't talking about why she wasn't there this week).

 

3. Matt Striker vs. Brett Major

 

So, this wasn't very good at all. Ryder is so-so now, so imagine how polished he was 6 years ago. He had some big bumps, and then some of the worst punches you've ever seen which I suppose means he's supposed to be the new ECW Chris Chetti. It was weird seeing him break out offense that I don't associate with him, like a rolling senton (once he started getting somewhat over his offense became more locked in). I still like Striker and he looked good here. They spent so much time putting over how he's the weak link of the New Breed that I was positive he'd lose here, which really made me buy into Major reversing a vertical suplex into a small package. So that was a good pinfall fakeout, but Major just wasn't that good overall.

 

4. RVD & CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke & Marcus Cor Von

 

Wow, what a dud. This was one of the more boring matches I've seen in some time. They get plenty of time to do something, and this couldn't even hold my attention for 14 minutes. I had to break it up into two parts. A couple minutes in we get Burke and Marcus isolating RVD and working over his legs for what seems like an eternity. The leg work looks good (especially liked Burke knee dropping RVD's legs and slamming his knees into the canvas over and over) but my god they work his legs over for 8 minutes. There are never any teases to tag in Punk during this whole time, just the two guys working over RVD. No missed hot tags, not even any attempts. Just RVD having to sell leg work for a long time. RVD as a salesman always brings plenty of unintentionally funny facials. Eventually after the longest 8 minutes of my month, Punk tags in and the crowd is going crazy. And then Cor Von hits another awesome Pounce (I don't think I'll ever tire of this move) and Punk goes flying into the ropes and...the ref calls for the bell. You see, Cor Von was not the legal man. Oh, my god. Was this during that period when the refs were supposed to call things "as if they were a shoot"? Because a couple weeks back when Vince pinned RVD Scott Armstrong waited way long to count because one of RVD's shoulders were up, and now this match ends out of nowhere in the flattest way possible, over something that rarely ends a match in WWE. This was a horrible waste of 15 minutes right here.

[Sidebottom]

Bob Holly had his best ever match with RVD in ECW. Both went into the back slice match with seemingly something to prove, and holy shit did they do it! Excellent stuff.

[Log]

Elsewhere in 2007, Timbaland did a music video with the Hives, and it featured Layla and Torrie Wilson. That's weird.

Just watched that on youtube. It also has Maryse and Kelly Kelly. There's a chick named Brooke in it too that looks like the girl that's in TNA now. The video has her as one of the Extreme Expose thing.

[Jimmy Redman]

Yeah Brooke Tessmacher was the third EE girl.

[Log]

I had no idea. I should've known. There's like a 90 percent chance that if you are employed by TNA, you've done some time in WWE.

[El-P]

Watched One Night Stand 2006.

 

Where do I begin ?

 

The crowd is a mix of old ECW mutants and post-modern 00's meta-fans. Yuk.

 

Some kind of angle/match with Lawler getting jumped by Joey Styles before getting choked by Tazz. Okay. Funny thing is, Styles probably could have knocked Lawler on his ass in real life actually.

 

Angle vs Orton

 

Orton is good at stalling, has decent timing during the ending sequence which I guess was careful put together, but outside out that, ugh… Awful on offense, poor bumper. Angle is pretty fun bitchslapping Orton and being insane and looking like his heart will explode at any moment. Shitty anklelock reversals aside, this was decent thanks to Angle.

 

FBI vs Tajiri & Super Crazy

 

Little Guido still rules. A slower version of the matches they had in the original ECW, but still quite the good match. Tajiri wears Hustle pants and actually does the hustle at one point. Post-match sucks, as the Big Show just make the four guys who just had a blast of a match look like shit. Yeah, that never gets old.

 

Rey Mysterio vs Sabu

 

Damn, Sabu looked old, but he's still fascinating to watch, and actually has a terrific match with Rey. I'm sorry, but Sabu remains one of my all time favourites, and this match is another proof that the guy can deliver whenever he's given the opportunity. Rey is the World champion, so of course he can't win the match. Shit finish, with both men getting carried out after an insane spot that had my jaw dropped. Sabu was still insane, yet knew exactly how to get the most out of everything he did by this point.

 

Then we get a pointless, boring JBL promo where he talks about bashing the Blue Meanie.

 

Mick Foley & Edge vs Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer

 

God, those scripted promos with this awkward modern WWE delivery just don't suit Foley at all, although the "I sold out… I sold out Madison Square Garden" line was funny. Edge and Lita's promos were… well… WWE scripted promos. I didn't realize Lita slut it up a notch that much during that time, but I really didn't watch WWE at all back then. Okay, insane garbage brawl that gets quite fun when it finally turns into an IWA Japan tribute match, with barb wire boards and shit, with Foley as Foley, Terry as Terry, Dreamer as Nakamaki and Edge as… well, Crypt the Keeper ? Terry takes some ridiculous bumps he really should take, bleeds like a pig, while Foley kills himself a few times too. This is really IWA style between those two, which is cute. Idiotic, but cute. Beulah is there too, so you know it has to culminate with the obligatory boring catfight. Then Edge… hum… goes doggystyle on Beulah ? Really ? Then we get some more woman abuse, although Lita can take it as far as I'm concerned, and Beulah takes a shitty spear like a trooper. I love Beulah. Okay, now Edge pins her and mimick fucking her in the process. That's what Edge's gimmick was all about ? A rapist ? I'm really not comfortable with this. The match was fun though, as an IWA Japan tribute match.

 

Balls Mahoney vs Masato Tanaka

 

Stiff unprotected chairshot to the head. Balls is the stupidest and most dangerous wrestler ever. Why is Tanaka still going for that shit in 2006 ?

 

Then we get another stupid segment with Eugene (holy shit, this stuff is embarrassing) getting caned with the Sandman. But really, Sandman's entrance without Metallica is worthless.

 

RVD vs John Cena

 

The pre-match with people throwing back Cena's T-shirt to him is terrific. Then we get the match. Which is Cena in 2006 vs RVD. At some point they do a punching exchange. These two really shouldn't do a punching exchange, as they can't punch worth a shit. Okay, I'll admit, I fast forwarded. This is RVD, doing what RVD does best, which is suck and do stupid spots. He wins thanks to Edge. Okay.

 

The first half was pretty good up to the garbage brawl. The WWE originals (Orton, Cena, Edge) looked the worst of the bunch, except for Balls and RVD, who plain suck. I have no idea why I watched this, but I was glad to see Sabu, Guido and a good IWA Japan match of sorts.

 

2006.06.11 FBI vs Tajiri & Super Crazy

2006.06.11 Rey Mysterio vs Sabu

2006.06.11 Mick Foley & Edge vs Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer

[Matt D]

Now you have to do the entire WWECW. You're committed.

[goc]

I wanted to see you go through WWECW but I'm really uncomfortable with you starting at the beginning because I'm not sure if you'll be able to make it to about mid-2007 when it gets good. I think you would enjoy it though. It eventually develops into a very fun little 1 hour show that was usually pretty good. Without having to follow the PPV schedule outside of the ECW title match, it gave them more time to let their stories develop.

 

My recommended starting point for anyone would be April 3rd, 2007 episode. This is the first episode after WrestleMania and has a really awesome 8 man tag main event that pretty much wraps up the "ECW Originals vs. New Breed" storyline and starts the show off into it's own direction outside of "watered down ECW nostalgia"

[Phil Schneider]

He has to watch the bad to appreciate the good

[Matt D]

Also it's not like he can't handle bad.

[Stiva]

He has to watch the bad to appreciate the good

 

This is definitely true. ECW went from a show you watched, just to keep up with Punk to a must-watch once when Miz and Morrison got together and Finlay, Henry and Matt Hardy were moved there. From there, it was must watch TV and watching from the start will make you appreciate the improvement.

[The Chief]

Do it! The train wreck first couple years are at least entertaining and not boring. Plus you get to see Sabu vs random WWE guys.

[Exposer]

06 WWECW has Flair-Show which is one of my favorite Ric Flair as American Onita matches. It was surreal watching it at the time.

[El-P]

I ain't commited to shit, especially at this point of my life.

 

WWECW TV Episode 1 (06.13.06)

 

Match of the week : I guess the Battle royal, totally by default. Big Show decimates a bunch of original ECW guys (Balls & Dreamer coming out to generic version of the themes sounds sooo WCW), including throwing Tommy Dreamer through a table. I'm sure Beulah was glad Tommy quit his office job to do this kind of shit again. I have no idea what the feeling was about the Big Show at the time, but to me, watching it today, he already looks like past news. Then again, he always looked like past news in the WWE to me. The ending is cute though, and they actually put Sabu over. Nice. Now he gets a match against Cena on a PPV. I can totally watch that.

 

Ass of the week : Kelly's ass. She's an exhibitionnist, so she strips. That's a whole segment. She doesn't do a great job stripping actually, Kimona was much more of a professionnal, but her ass looks great, so there you go. That was probably the highlight of the show too. The FBI came out with a really slutty looking girl, but she really wasn't acknowledged. That slutty element really is the sole thing linking this product to the ECW of old, as everything looks and sounds like any other WWE TV to me.

Jobber of the week : Aldo Montoya, I mean Justin Credible. Squashed in two minutes by Kurt Angle. As a matter of fact, he used to get much more offense as Aldo on Supertars in 96. Poor PJ Walker, he deserved better I think.

 

There was also a boring talking sequence at the beginning with RVD and Edge, and Lita looking slutty (that's the ECW touch, I tell you), so we're reminded we're indeed watching a WWE TV show. Oh, and the ECW Zombi crashed by the Sandman, who's entrance is totally negated by the fact he doesn't get Metallica. Pretty shitty show if you ask me.

[Bierschwale]

06 WWECW has Flair-Show which is one of my favorite Ric Flair as American Onita matches. It was surreal watching it at the time.

 

Yeah, that's a fantastic match.

[SomethingSavage]

Ohmygoddamngod yes. That Big Show versus Flair match is outstanding. In fact, I posted about it over in the "What Are You Watching?" thread sometime last year.

 

Here. Found it...

 

 

The Big Show © vs. Ric Flair for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Lots of fun. I remembered really enjoying it at the time it happened, but there was a lot of people that soured INSTANTLY on Show's involvement with the ECW brand as champion. Looking back on it, I think it holds up as a tremendously worthwhile train-wreck.

There's bloodshed & brutality. There's Big Show behaving like a big mean bastard. There's Flair eating an ENORMOUS amount of nasty violence at the meaty paws of the champ. Just lots of neat stuff crammed into this one.

I guess it's technically a "championship challenge", with the story being that the Nature Boy seeks out Show and vies to attain the one "World" belt in the company that he hadn't yet captured at the time. But, even so, it quickly breaks down into an all-out brawl. Flair fights for his life and resorts to desperate measures, strictly to survive. And Show brings the heat, like a territorial carnivore that's out to keep anything & everything all to himself.

There are plenty of fun spots sprinkled throughout. Almost right away, Show bludgeons Flair with a barrage of headbutts that cracks the Nature Boy's noggin WIDE OPEN. Taz notes that Show's walking around with a massive friggin' "HEAD LIKE'UH POLICE HORSE", so yeah. Fitting description.

Naitch goes straight into peril mode. There's a nice visual of Show towering over Flair, who's kneeling and just absorbing the punishment that's being poured down onto him. But then (!) Ric goes into his toolbox of tried & true maneuvers - it's a low blow! Vicious uppercut DIRECTLY to the uprights! And it's followed up with a second. Then a third! Christ. Crotch shots & nut crackers. The crowd comes alive for that, as Dirty Trick Ric kicks things into a higher gear.

And Ric Flair goes EXTREME, reaching for the barbed wire bat and introducing various weaponry into the match. It doesn't take long, and Show is soon wearing his own crimson mask. And, if the image of Ric Flair wielding a barbed wire baseball bat and a trash can wasn't enough, then we get Slick Ric busting out... THUMBTACKS.

Show takes a bump into the tacks, but he pops right up. Show rises from the tiny bed of nails like this big, badass fire-breathing dragon - ready to plunder, pillage, and rape. Yup. He's ANGRY, folks. And the mood QUICKLY changes, as Show goes OVERKILL with his onslaught. Clothesline. Chokeslam. And then the Cobra Clutch Back Breaker - which is a finishing sequence that I'd LOVE to see him bring back sometime. It's absolute devastation. Show just manhandles Flair into position, hastily humbles him, drives him down across the knee, and then takes him to the mat for Nap Time.

We get ANOTHER neat visual of an exhausted and broken Flair, just lying there on his side, caught in the big, bad bear-trap that is Show's Cobra Clutch. Flair's chest is heaving up and down, gasping for breath, with a pond of drying & caking blood smeared all down his torso. It's fantastic.

Show isn't satisfied, so he proves his point further by lifting Flair (still in the Cobra Clutch) and just FLINGING him across the ring like a piece of trash. Ric is flung FACE-FIRST and lands in the scattered thumbtacks. So yeah. The Nature Boy goes above & beyond the call of duty in helping Show to look like a newly awakened MONSTER here. The commentary is strong and dialed directly into the story. It all just comes together really well in the end.

Post-match, there's an awesome closeup that actually shows a thumbtack still STUCK in the skull - just hanging there like dandruff in the back of Flair's bleached blonde 'do. And this came before Flair was routinely doing the American Onita shtick in every major match he'd work for WWE. Just a drastically insane change from the older, slower version of standard Flair we were getting for much of his run prior to this stuff.

The whole deal doesn't drag on too long either. And the treatment & attention given to Flair is something that SHOULD have carried over a lot more. Heck, this whole booking phase of Show as ECW Champ is extremely underrated altogether.