Mike Awesome v Masato Tanaka

[Loss]

Mike Awesome v Masato Tanaka - ECW Heatwave 1998

 

I can't believe I used to love this match so much. What was wrong with me? Granted, it's better than a lot of what you'll see in ECW, and it is interesting to see the FMW style worked in the US, but it's a mess, largely because there's no face/heel alignments, no ongoing story and no part where either guy has the other in danger for any length of time. The one thing they do right is build to the powerbomb outside the ring on the table, as they tease it several times before finally delivering it, and there are some terrific death-defying moves, especially Awesome doing a hands-free pescado from the ring to the front row, which is where Tanaka is. This just seemed like an excuse to do as many big spots as they possibly could, though, whereas when they revamped the feud in 1999, they had at least one match that was much tighter and told a story with some semblance of logic. Stay with their FMW matches if this style is your bag.

[Tim Cooke]

Me and You. I guess with Russo completely fucking up WCW and WWF using Big Show to feud with Bossman (a match I wouldn't have minded seeing in 1995), Awesome and Tanaka doing actual good moves as heavyweights was impressive.

 

Tim

[goodhelmet]

This is wierd. I really don't mind FMW, even enjoying most of the angles they ran. However, when I first saw this match, on one of the ECW releases (Path of Destruction? or one of those) and I was really underwhelmed. However, I really liked the matches in late '99 and early 2000. It is possible I wouldn't like any og them now but the Heatwave match was the most uninspiring one I recall seeing.

[Marty]

However, when I first saw this match, on one of the ECW releases (Path of Destruction? or one of those) and I was really underwhelmed.

Heatwave 98 had its own VHS and DVD release by Pioneer. So did Anarchy Rulz 99, which had the other released Awesome-Tanaka match. So neither match was on any of their comps.

[Loss]

I have a master of the TNN match. I remember liking it too, but I also remembered liking this.

[goodhelmet]

I thought the Heatwave match was also on a VHS release. Maybe I picked up the whole Heatwave show so I'll look when I get home. I do remember not seeing it until after seeing the Tanaka v. Awesome v. Taz match.

[Loss]

Me and You.  I guess with Russo completely fucking up WCW and WWF using Big Show to feud with Bossman (a match I wouldn't have minded seeing in 1995), Awesome and Tanaka doing actual good moves as heavyweights was impressive.

 

Tim

Right. I still think Awesome was a great athlete, but a horrible worker. And yeah, it was nice to see some good heavyweight spots, and I think it was what was going on in the big two, as you said, that made it seem more impressive.

[Marty]

The Anarchy Rulz match is moreless a carbon copy of the Heatwave match. It also had Taz in it, and with Taz, a more defined story: Taz sold out, so let's have the two heavyweights eliminate him. The Awesome-Tanaka portions seemed like your classic ECW "let's respect these two guys in the ring" match. And of course, the ECW crowd was, well, your typical hypocritical ECW crowd, who went from "Fuck you Taz" to "Ohhh, thank you Taz for the last 5 or so years of hard work."

 

In other words, don't bother with the Anarchy Rulz match. Albeit, that probably should've been the main event of that show, rather than RVD-Balls Mahoney.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

I remember loving this match based on the two or three big "wow" spots they pulled off during the match. I haven't seen any of the matches between these two in a couple years, but I was always entertained by them, even if they were usually the same.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

The major problem with Tanaka v Awesome is that if you've seen one of their matches, you've seen them all. They might change a few things here and there, but their matches really blended into one another, and they became indistinguishable. I've seen their singles matches dating back to their first ever singles match back in August of 1995, and while the earlier matches aren't as intricate as the later ones, due to the experience factor, it's really just the same match, with a few tweaks from time to time.