Random EC F'N W Bullshit

[HarleyQuinn]

I've always loved the random ECW Fan Cams that have been uploaded. They were my first taste of "bootleg" taped live events that weren't officially distributed.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

It always amazes me that Hack Meyers didn't get a bigger chance in ECW. He was over enough to where a full on program against somebody more established wouldn't have been questioned, but he just sorta left. I wonder if Paul E just didn't see enough value in him as the show was picking up so much attention in 1996, or if he pissed the wrong people off at the wrong time. He was practically the prototype for later brawlers like [insert most early 00s deathmatch guys].

 

[Valeyard]

He was kind of the proto-Balls. Fuckin we shoulda got Hack Balls.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

He was kind of the proto-Balls. Fuckin we shoulda got Hack Balls.

His last match in ECW was actually in November 1998, surprisingly. He was gone full time by summer 1996, but made a final appearance teaming with Balls and Masato Tanaka against the Dudleys.

Unfortunately, he passed in 2015 following complications from brain surgery.

 

[strummer]

Still blows my mind that Hack Meyers was only 19 years old when he started in ECW. When he left full time he had not yet turned 23

 

[Valeyard]

Is there a story about why he left or was he just not booked anymore?

 

[AA484]

I've always loved the random ECW Fan Cams that have been uploaded. They were my first taste of "bootleg" taped live events that weren't officially distributed.

The fan cams consistently had better work than the TV and super cards/PPVs, IMO. There was no need to be as over the top when the television cameras weren't running. They still brawled, but it seemed to fit better within the context of the match at these house shows. Plus, you got some really random-ass matches like Scorpio vs. Billy Black and Tracy Smothers vs. Kintaro Kanemura

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I wouldn't say they had better work, but it's interesting how even the wild and rowdy ECW locker room took it easier on house shows than a lot of indie guys post-ECW have.

I still maintain that fancams are too brilliant an idea for some other company to not make use of. It gives underdeveloped talent footage they can use to study and get better, allows bookers to test pairings out without risking poor TV audience, and gives the diehard fans/collector types more footage to seek out. Plus, if a great match happens? You don't need to re-do it and risk injury because you have the footage right there.

 

[Valeyard]

Would fan cams work better now than then?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Basically every filmed indie show below the level of a GCW is the modern equivalent of a fancam to me.

 

[Valeyard]

It just seems like much more of a money loser now. Like with ECW it was out of love, now it'd be about iffy streaming and personal ad revenue and so on.

 

[BruiserBrody]

It always amazes me that Hack Meyers didn't get a bigger chance in ECW. He was over enough to where a full on program against somebody more established wouldn't have been questioned, but he just sorta left. I wonder if Paul E just didn't see enough value in him as the show was picking up so much attention in 1996, or if he pissed the wrong people off at the wrong time. He was practically the prototype for later brawlers like [insert most early 00s deathmatch guys].

Myers was in WCW for at least a hot minute as one of the many cannon fodder guys.

--

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396649284729282562

Is this XPW or something?

 

[One Epic Winter (OEW)]

Myers was in WCW for at least a hot minute as one of the many cannon fodder guys.

He showed up in WWE for a minute as well:

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396649284729282562

Is this XPW or something?

...yes

 

[AA484]

If I had to rank the best years of ECW:

1. 1995 (not really a question in my mind)
2. 1996 (while a step down from 1995, some good stuff carried over and it is still a great year)
3. 1994 (setting the stage for the year to come; beginning of the year finds them still finding their footing but they had hit a groove by summer)
4. 1999 (maybe controversial, but I feel like they had started to redefine themselves after a meandering 1998)
5. 1997 (good year but it seemed like they were in the middle of growing pains as a company so a lot of stuff just felt "off" compared to previous years)
6. 1998 (meandering was what I used above and I'll repeat its usage here; there was some good stuff going on but it never really seemed to lead anywhere)
7. 2000 (still some quality stuff but the signs were present that this was a dying company)

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I'll vouch for '99 being mildly to moderately underrated. I feel like ECW was in a good place when they debuted on TNN. Raven returning was one of those moments that felt a lot bigger at the time than it does in retrospect. Of course, nothing really stood out too much during that '99-'00 run except the "Tom & Jerry are getting along now?" Tag Titles run with Tommy Dreamer.

 

[BruiserBrody]

May 25
1992 - Eastern Championship Wrestling ran the Original Sports Bar in Philadelphia, PA with the following results:
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Stevie Richards
The Super Destroyers defeated Chris Michaels & John Rock
Larry Winters pinned King Kaluha
ECW Champion Johnny Hot Body pinned Jimmy Jannetty
Tony Stetson defeated the Metal Maniac via disqualification
Max Thrasher & Glenn Osbourne defeated Mr. Anthony & Mr. Perez
JT Smith fought Mr. Sandman to a double countout
Tatsumi Fujinami defeated the Bouncer (Chris Duffy) via submission with a sleeper

The Dragon was in WCW a week earlier for a PPV and apparently stuck around for this. Tatsumi didn't work any listed dates for months before or after this.

 

[BUTT]

Few Observer notes on Fujinami from this time:

In a deal that was put together in the past few days, Philadelphia independent promoter Tod Gordon has added a show on 5/25 at Original Sports Bar in Philadelphia. Don't know the line-up, but Tatsumi Fujinami will appear. New Japan is doing an angle where Fujinami is going to start from the bottom and work his way back up to the top and "the bottom.' is supposed to be working a bar show in the United States, Don't know details on who he'll be facing other than most of the ECW regulars will appear.

Tatsumi Fujinami appeared 5/25 in Philadelphia at the Sports Bar before about 200 fans for an afternoon show. Fujinami was sitting in the bar in street clothes and was challenged by "The Bouncer" (Chris Duffy) and he jumped into the ring and beat him in 1:22 with the dragon sleeper.

Tatsumi Fujinami, as part of his "comeback" in Japan, is touring various wrestling schools in the Northeast including Killer Kowalski's, Johnny Rodz' and Sharpe's and will have matches on 6/2 with some of Sharpe's students taped for Japanese television.

 

[Brocklock]

I was actually really invested in the TNN show in the summer of 2000. First few months of 00 weren't great, but I enjoyed the Awesome/Spike feud and loved the Dusty/Corino feud. I loved the FBI/Tajiri & Mikey series of matches, Psicosis showing up, the rise of Kid Kash and CW Anderson, Corino and Rhino being awesome, Tajiri being one of the best workers in the world, etc. I think I'd take 00 over 98 and I'd consider maybe even having it over 97. The second half of 1997 felt so stale and repetitive to me and all the guys leaving did a ton of damage.

Really the only major problems from 2000 for me were ECW Champion Justin Credible and having RVD feud with Scotty Anton.

 

[AA484]

I was actually really invested in the TNN show in the summer of 2000. I loved the FBI/Tajiri & Mikey series of matches, Psicosis showing up, the rise of Kid Kash and CW Anderson, Corino and Rhino being awesome, Tajiri being one of the best workers in the world, etc. I think I'd take 00 over 98 and I'd consider maybe even having it over 97. The second half of 1997 felt so stale and repetitive to me and all the guys leaving did a ton of damage.

Really the only major problems from 2000 for me were ECW Champion Justin Credible and having RVD feud with Scotty Anton.

To me, the thing about 2000 is that while it may be "good," it isn't necessarily memorable. The stakes seemed higher in 1997 with Raven vs Sandman, Taz vs Sabu, ECW vs "WWF," the emergence of the Dudley Boyz as we remember them, the conclusion of the Dreamer/Raven saga (which tied in with a couple of other feuds), etc.

 

[Brocklock]

Yeah I agree with that. It isn't the most memorable period of ECW. I just thought the in ring stuff was really good mostly the entire year. For me, that's more important than the story lines anymore.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah, I think for people like me who lived in the boondocks/parts of the country that didn't get Hardcore TV and weren't quite hip to the IWC, I thought ECW on TNN was pretty damn good. Like I had access to the commercial tapes (and I think they had DVDs at that point?), I could tell that ECW wasn't at its peak but to me, it felt more like a rebuilding promotion than a dying one. As a mark, it seemed like Death of ECW came fairly suddenly after they lost their TNN deal in October '00. It didn't seem like a slow wheezy stumble like WCW. ECW was literally drawing some of their biggest crowds ever then they were dead six months later. I know NOW that it wasn't that sudden but back then, I had the perception it was a sudden collapse.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

2000 felt like a rebuilding phase, aye. If Heyman is to be believed (and this is one of those instances where I think he can), then ECW would've basically become what ROH ended up being in the early 00s, only with more plunder brawls.

If I'm ranking years, I go...
1. 1996 (this is when it became EC-FUCKIN-W as everybody knew it)
2. 1999 (best balance of quality in-ring and classic ECW-style storytelling)
3. 1995 (the ME scene was at its peak, story-wise)
4. 1998 (the second half of the year and Taz's march to the World title was great)
5. 1997 (solely based on ring work, but first half is great)
6. 2000 (best year for in-ring, worst for storytelling)
7. 1994 (ehhhhhhh?)

 

[AA484]

2000 felt like a rebuilding phase, aye. If Heyman is to be believed (and this is one of those instances where I think he can), then ECW would've basically become what ROH ended up being in the early 00s, only with more plunder brawls.

If I'm ranking years, I go...
1. 1996 (this is when it became EC-FUCKIN-W as everybody knew it)
2. 1999 (best balance of quality in-ring and classic ECW-style storytelling)
3. 1995 (the ME scene was at its peak, story-wise)
4. 1998 (the second half of the year and Taz's march to the World title was great)
5. 1997 (solely based on ring work, but first half is great)
6. 2000 (best year for in-ring, worst for storytelling)
7. 1994 (ehhhhhhh?)

I will say that 1994 doesn't age particularly well -- it was much better at the time. It also set the stage for everything going forward so for historical purposes it ranks higher for me.

 

[BruiserBrody]

The Apter mags LOVED Sabu, and some company was even selling footage of random indy shows with Sabu vs Al Snow and others in some of the ad pages.
The mags put ECW over hard for drawing Stan Hansen back to the US for his appearance, and having Road Warrior Hawk off and on was a big deal since he was bouncing around WCW/Japan in 93/94.
95 is when I recall the mags first putting over the fact that no faces and heels existed in a traditional sense in ECW and it sounded awesome.
Seeing the Bad Breed blood baths in 95(?) in picture form was mind blowing, with the barbed wire baseball bat being used and all when that was a totally new weapon.
The Singapore Caning stip match also seemed crazy in the wake of the international news of the American being caned IRL.
Reading the highlights in the Apter mags may have allowed everything to seem even cooler than it was IRL.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Seconded on the Apter mag love making it all seem that much cooler. I can still see that grainy black and white picture of a crimson masked Tommy Dreamer handcuffed to the ropes in my head...

 

[strummer]

97 was going so great until June or so. Then Raven leaves, Richards gets hurt and is basically never the same the rest of his career, the WWF invasion storyline becomes a mess after a real hot start, injuries start building up for Shane Douglas, plus some other stuff I'm probably forgetting.

In retrospect Heyman was so foolish to believe Vince was going to allow any WWF guys look weak against ECW guys. The con man got conned by the con man there...

 

[geniusMoment]

ECW wasn't ever the same after Raven left in 97. Not sure if a character ever fit a promotion as well. I was so psyched when Raven came back in 99, but quickly found out you can't return home again. Neither Scotty or Paul had the same feel for the character, and it didn't help that the look felt dated, and Scotty turned into a lazy fat f#ck.

 

[Valeyard]

Raven's return never sat right just because Dreamer beat him. If it had been years of Dreamer never quite getting there and then Raven comes back, it would've been some great room for storytelling. At that point all you could rely on Raven to do is talk anyway.

The different eras are so awesome in their own ways. I love the really old stuff because you can just tell something special is coming but don't know from where. It had exactly the right big names at exactly the right time, then when Gilbert left it completely kicked off. I seriously think Eddie Gilbert's DNA is why the whole thing worked, just because he was the only guy who could set up what ECW became. Heyman learned from the best.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I seriously think Eddie Gilbert's DNA is why the whole thing worked, just because he was the only guy who could set up what ECW became. Heyman learned from the best.

Undoubtedly. ECW was a blend of Memphis, JCP, and World Class with a 90s coat of paint. Heyman learned from three great minds very early on in his career (Dusty, Eddie, Gary Hart), and still knows the best way to utilize talents.