As promised, here is the video companion to last month's Eastern Championship Wrestling post. It's all promos, I think you guys will like it. A lot.
Playlist
1 Opening segments from 3/15/94
2 Paul E promo 2/01/94
3 Jimmy Snuka - Tawmy Dreamah promo 2/08/94
4 Public Enemy promo 3/29/94
5 Shane Douglas & company promo 3/29/94
6 JT Smith - Pitbull promo 4/12/94
7 Funk/Anderson and Dangerously/Eaton promos 5/03/94
8 Opening segments from 5/10/94
9 Paul E visits Public Enemy 5/10/94
Showing posts with label ECW Time Machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ECW Time Machine. Show all posts
September 02, 2014
August 11, 2014
ECW '94 part 1
Woah Bruddahs, watch out! And thanks for tuning in to the latest edition of my 20-years-too-late coverage of Eastern Championship Wrestling. This edition covers 19 television programs and one bigger event (which was released on tape) from the first five-and-a-half months of 1994, right up until the event called 'When Worlds Collide' which we can maybe watch tomorrow.
Between the stretches of boring filler, there are a lot of great moments to found in this period. Not a whole lot of great, or even good matches, but there's a lot of great promos and some cool character work going on. Paul E and Public Enemy can always be counted on to deliver entertaining tv when they've got a mic. Sabu and Mike Awesome elevate any matches they're involved in. Terry Funk is awesome at everything. However, the real breakout star of the promotion is Shane Douglas. His promos are on fire, his matches are solid, and his character is huge yet believable. He won the ECW Championship from Terry Funk in March, and every promo from that feud was pure gold. A face-to-face backstage segment in the fallout of one of their big matches pops into my head a lot for some reason, and has to stand out as the best moment from this slice of ECW history.
Another interesting shift from that March was the reinvention of The Sandman. You guys probably know the story-- Sandman was working a corny surfer gimmick that was going nowhere, he was getting fat and lazy in the ring, when Paul E saw him in the back, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and decided to put him on screen like that. But did you guys know that to initially turn him, he started to verbally and physically abuse his wife? The blow-off for that will be on the When Worlds Collide card, so I can break it down for you in person rather than type it all out. I will say though, the only real highlight for me has been an aside that Joey Styles made which inferred that Sandman was trying to pimp his wife to the other wrestlers for $20. Another interesting note is that from the moment he turns heel, all of Sandman's promos are in black-and-white, a possible precursor to NWO's aesthetic.
Some of the other characters:
Mr. Hughes-- This guy did some time in the bigger promotions, so maybe you're familiar with him. The funny thing with him is that he can barely cut a promo without mentioning his feud with The Undertaker, to the point where sometimes it seems like he's still feuding with The Undertaker. I like to think that he was initially so bad on the mic, that he was trained to cut one specific promo by guys at WWF, and after his time with them was up he just kept doing the same promo, like a robot. You goin' down, Undertaker!
911-- Introduced in '93 as "Sabu's handler", this guy gets his own thing going as 911, with the gimmick of being a big biker-looking dude who repeatedly chokeslams jobbers but never has a real wrestling match. When he's in the ring, fans will more likely chant for his manager Paul E than for him. This is totally understandable though, as Paul E will be running circles around the guy and saying funny shit the whole time.
Mikey Whipwreck-- Debuting in January, Whipwreck immediately becomes a regular ragdoll for the much larger competitors named above. There are other jobbers around, but Whipwreck takes the cake. A cake made out of getting your ass kicked every week.
Public Enemy-- I talked about these guys in the earlier posts, but they continue to impress. Really fun promos, and Rocco Rock is especially fun to watch in the ring. It could be said that these guys set the unique tone of ECW more than anyone else, both in the ring and out.
Jason-- About as compelling of a manager as his working name implies. If you're ever going to watch these early episodes, I hope you like the catchphrase "How do you like my suit?"
Pat Tanaka-- In some of the best matches from this stretch of time. Introduced to ECW in '93 as half of Badd Company (with Paul Diamond), Tanaka (no relation to Masato) enjoyed a brief singles run, with matches against Sabu and Shane Douglas that stand out way beyond most of the stuff that was going on in the ring. His tenure at ECW was pretty short though, as he and Diamond only wrestled there in between stints with WWF and WCW.
Tawmy Dreamah-- First man ever to survive Superfly Splash. Need I say more?
There is a basic format for these episodes which goes something like this:
Opening promo (backstage, someone screaming, often Paul E)
Music video (hard rock or hip-hop) using ECW clips
Joey Styles sells an angle
Arena match involving one of the people in said angle crushing a jobber
Promo from the other person in the angle
Matty In The House sells card for next live event, including blow-off for the angle
Music video (hard rock or hip-hop) using ECW clip
Joey Styles sells an angle
Backstage confrontation
Some big guy crushing a jobber
Closing promo (hard sell for the next live event, often Paul E)
There usually aren't good matches, there's usually a lot of filler, like the "music videos". There's always either a lot of time spent of talking about how great the last big live event was, or trying to sell the next one. But there are almost always fun promos, the titles feel coveted like they really matter, and it's cool to follow the characters as they progress in their storylines. There are a lot of awesome moments I'd like to share, and I'd like to add a highlight reel to this post, but I won't get to it tonight. I need to get up before noon so that I can arrive in Portland at a decent enough time for us to watch a fuck-ton of wrasslin before we go get our balls bored off by Hulk-a-birthday. Holy shit, I'm so glad I'm going with you guys. Even if it's the worst Raw ever it will be super-fun. And it probably won't be that bad anyway.
Between the stretches of boring filler, there are a lot of great moments to found in this period. Not a whole lot of great, or even good matches, but there's a lot of great promos and some cool character work going on. Paul E and Public Enemy can always be counted on to deliver entertaining tv when they've got a mic. Sabu and Mike Awesome elevate any matches they're involved in. Terry Funk is awesome at everything. However, the real breakout star of the promotion is Shane Douglas. His promos are on fire, his matches are solid, and his character is huge yet believable. He won the ECW Championship from Terry Funk in March, and every promo from that feud was pure gold. A face-to-face backstage segment in the fallout of one of their big matches pops into my head a lot for some reason, and has to stand out as the best moment from this slice of ECW history.
Another interesting shift from that March was the reinvention of The Sandman. You guys probably know the story-- Sandman was working a corny surfer gimmick that was going nowhere, he was getting fat and lazy in the ring, when Paul E saw him in the back, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and decided to put him on screen like that. But did you guys know that to initially turn him, he started to verbally and physically abuse his wife? The blow-off for that will be on the When Worlds Collide card, so I can break it down for you in person rather than type it all out. I will say though, the only real highlight for me has been an aside that Joey Styles made which inferred that Sandman was trying to pimp his wife to the other wrestlers for $20. Another interesting note is that from the moment he turns heel, all of Sandman's promos are in black-and-white, a possible precursor to NWO's aesthetic.
Some of the other characters:
Mr. Hughes-- This guy did some time in the bigger promotions, so maybe you're familiar with him. The funny thing with him is that he can barely cut a promo without mentioning his feud with The Undertaker, to the point where sometimes it seems like he's still feuding with The Undertaker. I like to think that he was initially so bad on the mic, that he was trained to cut one specific promo by guys at WWF, and after his time with them was up he just kept doing the same promo, like a robot. You goin' down, Undertaker!
911-- Introduced in '93 as "Sabu's handler", this guy gets his own thing going as 911, with the gimmick of being a big biker-looking dude who repeatedly chokeslams jobbers but never has a real wrestling match. When he's in the ring, fans will more likely chant for his manager Paul E than for him. This is totally understandable though, as Paul E will be running circles around the guy and saying funny shit the whole time.
Mikey Whipwreck-- Debuting in January, Whipwreck immediately becomes a regular ragdoll for the much larger competitors named above. There are other jobbers around, but Whipwreck takes the cake. A cake made out of getting your ass kicked every week.
Public Enemy-- I talked about these guys in the earlier posts, but they continue to impress. Really fun promos, and Rocco Rock is especially fun to watch in the ring. It could be said that these guys set the unique tone of ECW more than anyone else, both in the ring and out.
Jason-- About as compelling of a manager as his working name implies. If you're ever going to watch these early episodes, I hope you like the catchphrase "How do you like my suit?"
Pat Tanaka-- In some of the best matches from this stretch of time. Introduced to ECW in '93 as half of Badd Company (with Paul Diamond), Tanaka (no relation to Masato) enjoyed a brief singles run, with matches against Sabu and Shane Douglas that stand out way beyond most of the stuff that was going on in the ring. His tenure at ECW was pretty short though, as he and Diamond only wrestled there in between stints with WWF and WCW.
Tawmy Dreamah-- First man ever to survive Superfly Splash. Need I say more?
Opening promo (backstage, someone screaming, often Paul E)
Music video (hard rock or hip-hop) using ECW clips
Joey Styles sells an angle
Arena match involving one of the people in said angle crushing a jobber
Promo from the other person in the angle
Matty In The House sells card for next live event, including blow-off for the angle
Music video (hard rock or hip-hop) using ECW clip
Joey Styles sells an angle
Backstage confrontation
Some big guy crushing a jobber
Closing promo (hard sell for the next live event, often Paul E)
There usually aren't good matches, there's usually a lot of filler, like the "music videos". There's always either a lot of time spent of talking about how great the last big live event was, or trying to sell the next one. But there are almost always fun promos, the titles feel coveted like they really matter, and it's cool to follow the characters as they progress in their storylines. There are a lot of awesome moments I'd like to share, and I'd like to add a highlight reel to this post, but I won't get to it tonight. I need to get up before noon so that I can arrive in Portland at a decent enough time for us to watch a fuck-ton of wrasslin before we go get our balls bored off by Hulk-a-birthday. Holy shit, I'm so glad I'm going with you guys. Even if it's the worst Raw ever it will be super-fun. And it probably won't be that bad anyway.
A foaming-at-the-mouth Taz, locked in mortal combat with a lunging Pitbull, is momentarily distracted by the presence of the video camera backstage.
September 28, 2013
ECW '93 part 2/2
Heckles and jeckles, wrestling schmeckels, and welcome to the second edition of the 20-years-too-late coverage of Eastern Championship Wrestling by yours truly, Quarter Marshall. This edition covers episodes 21-38, which spanned late August to the end of the year, which was 1993. This period of time saw some major shifts in the direction of the product, although the final result has yet to come to fruition. Some of the TV has been pretty tedious, but still it was cool to see the debuts of some iconic personalities, and be able to follow their early careers week-by-week.
Chief among the newly introduced wrestlers is Sabu, who came into ECW at nearly 30 years old, already looking grisly as fuck, with layers of thick scars cross-hatched across his chest, back, and arms. When he debuted (against Taz) in October, he was over instantly. The match was one of my top 3 favorites in ECW so far, and partly because I totally bought into the hype. It's on the highlight reel, check it out it's absolutely sick.
Other debuts have included the aforementioned Taz, then known as The Tazmaniac, Tawmy Dreamah (with blue tights, yellow suspenders, and huge gassed up pecs), and Public Enemy, who I remember as sucking ass on WCW, then getting rolled on by the APA on Sunday Night Heat. In the case of their ECW career however, they debuted with a bang, cutting cool promos and having decent matches and backstage brawls. In the final episode of 1993, there were debuts by The Pitbull and Mike Awesome, but I don't have anything to really say about them yet.
There are a few reasons that episodes were sometimes tedious to watch, to the point that I'd sometimes just skip through them. Some matches and promos were shown and re-shown the next week, and the next week, and so on. This was mostly done because they weren't filming events on a weekly basis, and sometimes they wouldn't have any new material for a whole month. During these times, they'd show highlight clips from the last event they had, and air promos to hype the next event. Then they'd show clips from that while hyping the next one, and so on. There were even a few weeks they were airing matches from a house show in a high school gym. But my least favorite episodes were the first three in this series (episodes 21-23), because Eddie Gilbert was on screen sooooo much and was sooooooo annoying. Total shit, like corny in a bad way. But as soon as he bowed out, Paul E took his place as head booker, and doofy play-by-play guy Jay Sully is replaced with uber-likable Joey Styles. Oh, happy days! Unfortunately, at this point we also get "Matty", a skeezy psuedo-host who I could only describe as being like a rock radio station personality. Tool!
Anyways, despite the company not putting out the cleanest product in the world, there were plenty of highlights to keep me invested in the program, which says a lot for a regional operation. Paul E is still cutting killer promos. The crowd is still pretty hot. Terry Funk is still appearing regularly, and he's amazing, which you would know if you watched the last highlight reel. Here's another one:
Playlist:
1. "His head hit here" 12/14/93
2. Sabu vs. Taz (debut of both) (includes set-up from earlier date) 11/01
3. Tawmy Dreamah promo 10/12
4. Public Enemy is gonna BEEP 9/21
5. J.T. Smith vs. Masayoshi Motegi 9/07 (good technical match)
Chief among the newly introduced wrestlers is Sabu, who came into ECW at nearly 30 years old, already looking grisly as fuck, with layers of thick scars cross-hatched across his chest, back, and arms. When he debuted (against Taz) in October, he was over instantly. The match was one of my top 3 favorites in ECW so far, and partly because I totally bought into the hype. It's on the highlight reel, check it out it's absolutely sick.
Other debuts have included the aforementioned Taz, then known as The Tazmaniac, Tawmy Dreamah (with blue tights, yellow suspenders, and huge gassed up pecs), and Public Enemy, who I remember as sucking ass on WCW, then getting rolled on by the APA on Sunday Night Heat. In the case of their ECW career however, they debuted with a bang, cutting cool promos and having decent matches and backstage brawls. In the final episode of 1993, there were debuts by The Pitbull and Mike Awesome, but I don't have anything to really say about them yet.
There are a few reasons that episodes were sometimes tedious to watch, to the point that I'd sometimes just skip through them. Some matches and promos were shown and re-shown the next week, and the next week, and so on. This was mostly done because they weren't filming events on a weekly basis, and sometimes they wouldn't have any new material for a whole month. During these times, they'd show highlight clips from the last event they had, and air promos to hype the next event. Then they'd show clips from that while hyping the next one, and so on. There were even a few weeks they were airing matches from a house show in a high school gym. But my least favorite episodes were the first three in this series (episodes 21-23), because Eddie Gilbert was on screen sooooo much and was sooooooo annoying. Total shit, like corny in a bad way. But as soon as he bowed out, Paul E took his place as head booker, and doofy play-by-play guy Jay Sully is replaced with uber-likable Joey Styles. Oh, happy days! Unfortunately, at this point we also get "Matty", a skeezy psuedo-host who I could only describe as being like a rock radio station personality. Tool!
Anyways, despite the company not putting out the cleanest product in the world, there were plenty of highlights to keep me invested in the program, which says a lot for a regional operation. Paul E is still cutting killer promos. The crowd is still pretty hot. Terry Funk is still appearing regularly, and he's amazing, which you would know if you watched the last highlight reel. Here's another one:
Playlist:
1. "His head hit here" 12/14/93
2. Sabu vs. Taz (debut of both) (includes set-up from earlier date) 11/01
3. Tawmy Dreamah promo 10/12
4. Public Enemy is gonna BEEP 9/21
5. J.T. Smith vs. Masayoshi Motegi 9/07 (good technical match)
August 30, 2013
ECW 1-20
Quarter Marshall here, reporting on things great and wonderful from the historical history of professional wrestling. The topic today: ECW. The promotion was briefly a touchstone of conversation at our last get-together, and I was forced to admit complete ignorance. Sure, I've seen the Rise and Fall of ECW, and I've watched all of the Eddie Guerrero-Dean Malenko matches from their 1995 feud, but that's about it. I'm familiar with the iconic characters, and of course the reputation ECW had for being cutting-edge, influential, and inspiring a cultish fanbase which to this day imbues every wrestling crowd in America with chants of Eee-Cee-Dub! In order to get a taste of this zeal, I've been watching Hardcore TV chronologically from it's inception in April 1993. I'm 20 episodes (4.5 months) deep, which seemed like a reasonable juncture to stop into SCW Online and drop some of my reactions on you. Also, for your viewing enjoyment, I've assembled a highlight reel of my personal favorite moments.
First off, when I'm talking about ECW here, it's still Eastern Championship Wrestling. "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert is still head booker, and the main heel in the company. He's associated with Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, his brother Doug (as The Dark Patriot), his brother Freddy, and their manager Paul E Dangerously. They collectively feud with at least half of the babyfaces. Heyman's presence on the show is profound. After debuting on the fifth show (with high audience recognition, since he'd been a manager in WCW for about five years) he quickly earns one of the top heel spots, and edges out the original color commentator (Stevie Wonderful) so that his voice is all over the product. Promos, interviews, commentary, ads. It's often his infectious passion, devious wit, and brilliant salesmanship that hold the shows together with a feeling of constant intensity. Of course, things haven't even started to heat up yet, but for it's time, it was pretty wicked.
The shows have provided a cool opportunity to watch some guys that I've heard of, but rarely seen in action. Namely: Eddie Gilbert, Chris Candido, Ivan Koloff, Jimmy Snuka, and Don Muraco. Of the bunch, I'd have to say that Snuka's ring work is the most entertaining (his splash looks absolutely sick) and Don Muraco's promos are my personal favorite, though Gilbert's a natural on the stick as well. The only talent I've seen who I like but hadn't heard of was "Wildman" Sal Bellomo, a big buffoon kind of character who's billed from Italy and dresses like a centurion. The shows have also provided opportunity to see more from a few of my favorites, being Heyman, Terry Funk, and Stan Hansen. The only iconic Extreme CW guy I've seen so far is Sandman, but to my shocking surprise he works in a wetsuit and comes out to Surfin USA by the Beach Boys. He's a top player nonetheless.
It takes about three months for the show to start feeling really different from other wrestling programs of the time. The first balcony spot (by Dark Patriot and JT Smith) was performed in June, and the show's opening video is updated in July, featuring the most violent and raunchy footage compiled from the show's brief tenure. Almost every show ends in some kind of melee or beatdown. Angles are kept hot, titles are coveted, and promo time is used efficiently. Already, the fans have noticeably become bigger marks for the good guys, and the crowds have grown. The oft-repeated tagline for the show was "It's not for everyone", which (ironically) is as good a sales pitch as anything.
As much as I've enjoyed it, I'm really looking forward to the rebranding (which was foreshadowed on the most recent show I watched, as it debuted a happy shiny Shane Douglas). I'm looking forward to more pissed-off WCW guys coming to Philly to air their grievances. I'm looking forward to having context for some of the iconic ECW moments, and witnessing the feuds step by step. Most of all, I'm looking forward to Joey Styles, my favorite commentator aside from Jim Ross. Encyclopedic knowledge of technical wrestling and a good scream once in a while is my cup of tea. *sip* Mmmmm.
Well that was my rant, so here as promised is the highlight reel:
Playlist:
1. Sandman promo (2nd show, 4/12/93)
2. Terry Funk promo (5th show, 5/04)
3. Paul E promo (6th show, (5/11)
4. Terry Funk promo (6th show, (5/11)
5. JT Smith/Dark Patriot spot (from live event, broadcast on 12th show, 6/22)
6. Stan Hansen vs. Jimmy Snuka (19th show, 8/17)
The bald, bearded, and abused guy in #2 is Tod Gordon, the ECW founder/owner/president. I meant to include another clip which featured Gordon being casually strangled during a wild-assed Stan Hansen promo, so I'll put that on the next reel.
First off, when I'm talking about ECW here, it's still Eastern Championship Wrestling. "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert is still head booker, and the main heel in the company. He's associated with Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, his brother Doug (as The Dark Patriot), his brother Freddy, and their manager Paul E Dangerously. They collectively feud with at least half of the babyfaces. Heyman's presence on the show is profound. After debuting on the fifth show (with high audience recognition, since he'd been a manager in WCW for about five years) he quickly earns one of the top heel spots, and edges out the original color commentator (Stevie Wonderful) so that his voice is all over the product. Promos, interviews, commentary, ads. It's often his infectious passion, devious wit, and brilliant salesmanship that hold the shows together with a feeling of constant intensity. Of course, things haven't even started to heat up yet, but for it's time, it was pretty wicked.
The shows have provided a cool opportunity to watch some guys that I've heard of, but rarely seen in action. Namely: Eddie Gilbert, Chris Candido, Ivan Koloff, Jimmy Snuka, and Don Muraco. Of the bunch, I'd have to say that Snuka's ring work is the most entertaining (his splash looks absolutely sick) and Don Muraco's promos are my personal favorite, though Gilbert's a natural on the stick as well. The only talent I've seen who I like but hadn't heard of was "Wildman" Sal Bellomo, a big buffoon kind of character who's billed from Italy and dresses like a centurion. The shows have also provided opportunity to see more from a few of my favorites, being Heyman, Terry Funk, and Stan Hansen. The only iconic Extreme CW guy I've seen so far is Sandman, but to my shocking surprise he works in a wetsuit and comes out to Surfin USA by the Beach Boys. He's a top player nonetheless.
It takes about three months for the show to start feeling really different from other wrestling programs of the time. The first balcony spot (by Dark Patriot and JT Smith) was performed in June, and the show's opening video is updated in July, featuring the most violent and raunchy footage compiled from the show's brief tenure. Almost every show ends in some kind of melee or beatdown. Angles are kept hot, titles are coveted, and promo time is used efficiently. Already, the fans have noticeably become bigger marks for the good guys, and the crowds have grown. The oft-repeated tagline for the show was "It's not for everyone", which (ironically) is as good a sales pitch as anything.
As much as I've enjoyed it, I'm really looking forward to the rebranding (which was foreshadowed on the most recent show I watched, as it debuted a happy shiny Shane Douglas). I'm looking forward to more pissed-off WCW guys coming to Philly to air their grievances. I'm looking forward to having context for some of the iconic ECW moments, and witnessing the feuds step by step. Most of all, I'm looking forward to Joey Styles, my favorite commentator aside from Jim Ross. Encyclopedic knowledge of technical wrestling and a good scream once in a while is my cup of tea. *sip* Mmmmm.
Well that was my rant, so here as promised is the highlight reel:
Playlist:
1. Sandman promo (2nd show, 4/12/93)
2. Terry Funk promo (5th show, 5/04)
3. Paul E promo (6th show, (5/11)
4. Terry Funk promo (6th show, (5/11)
5. JT Smith/Dark Patriot spot (from live event, broadcast on 12th show, 6/22)
6. Stan Hansen vs. Jimmy Snuka (19th show, 8/17)
The bald, bearded, and abused guy in #2 is Tod Gordon, the ECW founder/owner/president. I meant to include another clip which featured Gordon being casually strangled during a wild-assed Stan Hansen promo, so I'll put that on the next reel.
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