Random EC F'N W Bullshit

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Promo Photo Mania | Here I am at a free ECW signing in 1999 at AMES Department Store in Rhode Island | Facebook

Here I am at a free ECW signing in 1999 at AMES Department Store in Rhode Island. Bam Bam was a super nice guy and I had the pleasure to meet him a couple times back in the day. I attended this...

www.facebook.com

What a thrill it must have been to meet Bam Bam Bigelow at Ames, @Laz

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I'm sure they must have told the kids working there to stash their pills somewhere Bammer couldn't find them.

(Note: This is not a Bigelow joke, this is a Rhode Island joke.)

 

[BruiserBrody]

I guess I totally forgot Paul Diamond had a run in late 97 ECW. He even gets a World title shot vs Bigelow and teams with Crash Holly in a PPV dark match.

He and Tanaka did some WCW shots as a team, not? Diamond under a mask or some shit?

--
Also TIL (remembered?) Max Moon worked Justin Liger in Japan. (Wrestlingdata has the gimmick name at least)

 

[JHawk]

Yeah, when Austin is preparing for Muta in 1994, Col. Parker is bringing in "Japanese" wrestlers for Austin, one of which is Diamond under a mask.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Random question on my coffee break. Was ECW really at its best before they were on PPV/had widespread national exposure? Or was it the wrestling equivalent of gatekeeping music fans being like “I liked this band before they got popular”? Or just general fatigue from ECW’s style of storytelling? Or a combination of the three?

 

[Valeyard]

Are you talking creatively or in ring? Because there was definitely a decline in one and a jump in the other

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Overall. I don’t think even the most die hard Heyman Kool Aid drinker would say that the level of talent/workrate was better in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s as it was in the mid ‘90s.

I guess I answered my own question because all of the people who complain about how ECW wasn’t good after ‘97 are Meltzer sycophant types.

 

[Valeyard]

For me it's almost like two different companies. The production, venues, match quality, and image just upped by 1998. Symbolically, I guess, the transition from Raven/Dreamer to RVD owning the TV title is just night and day for the product. Long term stories weren't as important anymore, or as deep. Workrate at least matched the garbage matches. Not that either era was better or worse but they were just very different and honestly the latter made it more accessible. Both were a lot of fun for different reasons.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

ECW produced their best weekly television when they were an underground company with paid slots on various UHF stations. ECW produced their best matches when they were on PPV. Watching TNN era ECW and then watching early ROH gives you some great evidence for Heyman's "ECW would've become ROH" talking points in the mid-00's.

One thing that held true throughout, though, is that stories always needed to build to a match. That's what separated Heyman's brilliance from Russo's garbage: Heyman knew their needed to be an in-ring blowoff to everything that was going on.

 

[alkeiper]

There was a period in time when ECW discovered talent that WWF and WCW had not. ECW in ‘95 had Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Misterio, Psicosis, etc. while WWF had Diesel vs. Mabel and WCW had the Dungeon of Doom. By ‘97 if ECW found real talent they either would quickly go to WWF/WCW or had some major flaw preventing it.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

And what was still insane is that ECW regularly had better matches. Their best wouldn't touch the best stuff that the WWF or WCW could put on, but their average match was a whole lot better than the average from both Big Two, and you were going to see something on an ECW show in late 1999 that you wouldn't see on Nitro or Raw.

 

[Valeyard]

Time has been so insanely kind to the RVD/Lynn matches, and RVD in general. Tanaka/Awesome is right behind.

RVD/Lynn > Eddie/Malenko. I said what I said.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

The undercard in ‘97 and on ECW was better because most everyone on the card was at least a competent pro wrestler. A lot of the guys in preliminary matches in ECW’s heyday were there because they helped Tod out in the bar show years and didn’t mind serving as background noise or comedy/911 fodder.

That being said that freak show/JT Smith landing on his head aspect was part of the appeal cause it was nothing like what you would see in WWF or WCW. It just doesn’t work on a national level.

 

[Valeyard]

The thing is ECW changed how it was presenting itself vs the big two. It was the wild outlaw island of misfit toys that talked shit, and evolved into the snarky smart mark message board attitude. ECW was both blessed and cursed to grow almost exactly with the internet which if you look at it is very apparent.

I just like the grimy era more overall. Honestly about the time Raven left it wasn't the same. That atmosphere above all is what I loved. But I really like the janky eras of things where you can see what they could do with significant limitations.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

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Paging @Laz

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I moved up that way about 35 years too late

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

[ECW 11/25] Salisbury, MA Part 2: MOB Parties with ECW

groups.google.com

How thrilling it must have been to party with Public Enemy, Woman, and The Sandman at a Days Inn on Route 1.

Also the hell is Sandman still alive!?

 

[Valeyard]

I would be more into hanging out with the ECW roster than THE MOB, surely.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I bet The MOB definitely were the annoying smarks in the crowd at at least one indie /ROH show that a young @Laz attended.

In part one of the recap, writer says he was slightly embarrassed at the crowd chanting “Show your tits!” at Francine. The Original WOKE MOB.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

It wouldn't surprise me at all of one of the MOB guys was the older loudmouth asshole sitting behind me at ROH War of the Wire, or if another was in the Heel Section at the NECW shows I frequented a lot back in the day.

 

[Valeyard]

I'm the only person who remembers Fritz Capp but I hope one of them was him.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Spike Dudley returned to wrestling for a good cause

The tough little S.O.B. worked his first match since 2015 at an indie show/holiday toy drive in his native New England this weekend.

www.cagesideseats.com

Me in the Cagematch cards thread in 2035: Spike Dudley wrestled a match in 2023!?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Paul Heyman and Cactus Jack discuss the SABU Neck injury vs Chris Benoit - John Arezzi's Pro Wrestling Spotlight

For decades, the multi-faceted John Arezzi has enjoyed a career like no other - and his Long Island, New York-based pro wrestling radio show, “The Pro Wrestling Spotlight,” was one of the nation’s most popular sources for hot wrestling news and live guests from April,1989 through January, 1995...

pca.st

Most of the John Arezzi’s podcasts for the past six months have been a boon for RANDOM EC FN W BULLSHIT.

This week’s features them covering Sabu’s neck injury and Cactus Jack appearing at a Magic: The Gathering tournament at a card store in Long Island.

Going to play some M:TG and running into Mick Foley is definitely a dream Saturday for at least one person here.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750352394469142994

Badd Company having a bad time dealing with Paul E.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1755068261257928990

Maybe he and Marty can get a package deal with the saw bones.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Holy fucking shit that's awful

 

[One Epic Winter (OEW)]

This was damn near perfect.

(side note: this is becoming one of my favorite YouTube channels.)

 

[One Epic Winter (OEW)]

TIL Jimmy Garvin invented the Stone Cold Stunner.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I'll be dammed.

@1:26 in this clip

TBH, I think Mikey did it best. There was always an extra snap to his, and he'd do it from so many angles, too.

 

[Valeyard]

And Mero sells it the exact same way he would in 1996.

Hayes should've gone to ECW instead of the WWF for one final run.