Review of WWE: ECW - The Most Extreme Matches (2 Discs)

Introduction

If you haven`t seen Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) programming before, then this 2-disc DVD set, entitled "ECW`s Most Violent Matches", is going to be a treat. Or at least - if you find the action not to your palette - you`ll find something to make you gasp.

For those of you unfamiliar with its history, ECW was formed in 1993 from the ashes of Philadelphia`s Tri-State Wrestling Alliance company. Tri-State, promoted by wrestler Eddie Gilbert, had in a short time given the Philly fans exactly what they wanted from their wrestling. This meant lots of blood, lots of guts, and lots of brawling.

Philadelphia fans have long been known to be among the most rabid in the world, and the popularity of their local promotions at the time was a testament to the fact that the WWE - which at the time had wrestlers using gimmicks of being (literally) clowns and even bin-men! - was failing to satisfy their lust for wrestling. It was a fact that ECW creative genius Paul Heyman was quick to realise.

"The presentation of wrestling needed to change," said Heyman, in a later WWE interview. "It needed to change in the same way that music did. Music was all about Poison and Motley Crue, and all those hair bands. Then along came Nirvana and bam!, the industry changed. We needed wrestling`s version of Nirvana."

And so, in 1993, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was born. Within two years, it had built up a small, but remarkably dedicated nationwide fanbase, and was the talk of the wrestling world. Of the millions who gave up on the WWE during these times, there were thousands who were clambering to get a look at this rebel promotion, who were noted for doing the most violent matches this side of Japan.

Their popularity - and notoriety - was such that in 1996, with his business on the rocks, Vince McMahon decided that if you can`t beat `em, join `em. The style of WWE TV quickly began to change, as wrestlers would now swear at the crowd, and stick two fingers up at opponents before cracking them over the head with a metal chair. Instead of "extreme" wrestling, McMahon called it "WWE Attitude". But his intentions were obvious, to substitute the cartoon wrestling style for something that the fans could once again believe in. In short, to give them ECW, on the big-time WWE stage.

As odd as it may sound, you might say that had they not been so popular, ECW might still exist today. Indeed, their downfall was the product of their own success, since the WWE`s "Attitude" era was just kicking off as ECW held it`s first pay-per-view show in 1997, and the copying of their style diluted the meaning of what ECW stood for. Furthermore, Eric Bischoff`s WCW had been particularly brutal in luring ECW talent to their promotion with the promise of salaries that the Philadelphia outfit could only dream of matching. With debts mounting, Heyman closed ECW in April 2001.

Still, the archive of footage from ECW survives within the WWE vault, and it is from there that this 2-disc set comes to us. A reminder of my first words; if you have never seen ECW before, you may just be shocked!

Video

Unsurprisingly, video is presented here in 4:3 fullscreen PAL. Generally, it is good, but this really depends on the source material. For example, some of the earliest footage from 1993 and 1994, was shot with one over-viewing camera in a dank bingo hall. Still, part of the pleasure in ECW was the fact that so many great matches took place in such a pitiful setting, so although some of the presentation is a thousand miles from what you see on WWE TV today, I just can`t imagine the matches having the same meaning with flares and pyro explosions going off in the background.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is generally good, although as mentioned there are source issues that have to be considered. One very sad note is that the ECW wrestlers` music, all well-known heavy metal songs, have been removed from this DVD for licensing reasons. That said, every effort has been made not to show any of the ring entrances, which makes things seem quite so bad.

Features

The extras on this set are relatively short, which is only to be expected given the amount of matches in the main feature. That said, there is one "extra" match, if you will, featuring The Public Enemy (in their last ECW appearance) against The Gangstas. This isn`t a great match, but is an action-packed brawl that is well worth viewing.

Aside from this, the extras are in the form of interviews and clips with various members of the ECW roster. For example, we have Axl Rotten talking about the Taipei Death Match, C.W Anderson on his "I Quit" match with Tommy Dreamer, and an interview with Roadkill and Danny Doring about how they got started in the wrestling business. Pitbull #1 talks about his career with his partner, Justin Credible explains what it was like to be ECW champion, and there is a Public Enemy vs Cactus Jack & Mikeywreck history video. Furthermore, there is a segment on blood in ECW - which contains some interesting comments from commentator Joey Styles - and Balls Mahoney talks about the dreaded flaming table.

As I mentioned, the extras are very limited here, as the matches are the star of the show, but there are some nice insights here into the philosophy of ECW, from those who were a major part of it.

Conclusion

Eighteen matches are presented on this set, nineteen if you count the Public Enemy vs Gangstas match that is assembled as part of the extras. And indeed Public Enemy open this DVD, with a tag team title defence against the unlikely duo of Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck (27/08/1994). This was an entertaining match, which told a good story, but was not very violent at all, considering the forthcoming carnage. A strange choice for the opening bout.

Frankly, the next match was much more like it, as Cactus returned to team with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas against Terry Funk and The Sandman (17/03/1995). The latter`s favourite weapon, the kendo stick (or "singapore cane", after the international incident where American Michael Fay was caned for committing a crime whilst in Singapore) is used brutally here, and the sharp smacks of cane on skull are horrendous to the ear. Aside from that, though, this was a great brawl and one of the best matches on the DVD.

The next match certainly lived up to this DVD`s billing. In fact it may just have been "ECW`s Most Violent Match", as supposed brothers Ian and Axl Rotten - who are announced as hailing from Newcastle, England (not true) - tore each other up in a Taipei Death Match (07/07/1995). Never heard of that one, you say? In a stipulation that I have never seen repeated, both men fought with taped fists, prominently endowed with pieces of broken glass. Honestly, I don`t know how this got through the BBFC, as both men hack each other up with the glass, causing quite a lot of bloodloss on each side. This was a particularly vile match, which is to be watched for the shock factor, and not for the wrestling factor.

Things went from one extreme to the other in the next bout, as light-heavyweights Rey Misterio Jr and Psicosis brought their Mexican feud to the ECW Arena (18/11/1995), in a match that was highlighted by some incredible aerial moves that are still impressive more than ten years later.

Next up was a four-way match between Chris Jericho, Shane Douglas, 2 Cold Scorpio and Pitbull #2 (ECW Heatwave 1996). There was some very nice wrestling action in this bout between Jericho and Scorpio, and Douglas strikes early with a chair shot that can`t fail to surprise you. Still, this match was a little long, and whilst it is entertaining if you can see it through, those used to WWE-style short matches may want to pass on this one.

In a bout from Hardcore Heaven 1996, Tommy Dreamer faced Brian Lee in what was a spirited brawl, but little else. That said, I can understand its inclusion here, as at the end of the match, someone takes a horrible fall through a table. I won`t spoil it by telling you who!

In his first - but not last - appearance on this DVD, Sabu took on Rob Van Dam in a Stretcher Match (03/08/1996), the rules of which state that the only way to win is to incapacitate your opponent to the point where he has to leave the ring area on a stretcher. This was a good match, with plenty of great moments, but if you are looking for any actual mat wrestling to take place, you can forget about it. That said, they mixed the fancy with the brutal extremely well, making this a must-see match.

Finally for disc one, Terry Funk, Stevie Richards, and The Sandman tussled for the right to face Raven for the ECW World Title (ECW Barely Legal 1997). Once again, this was far from a great match, but it did tell a very nice story, and has a great feelgood ending, which is the perfect way to wrap up the first disc of this set.

Disc Two started off at a pace which it found desperately hard to keep up, as Sabu and Terry Funk clashed in a no-rope barbed wire match (ECW Born To Be Wired). Generally, these bouts - made (in)famous in Japanese wrestling in the 1990s - are not pretty to look at, and indeed this was the case here, although both men did a great job of showing how they wanted to avoid barbed wire contact, at all costs. Inevitably, those thoughts didn`t last long, as both men failed to hold anything back, including their skin, and this is another that surprisingly was okayed by the BBFC. Those of you who have torn their hair out over the years at the BBFC`s editing of "18" titles will not be amused to see the deep laceration the barbed wire inflicts on Sabu`s bicep. Quite, quite disgusting, and one for gore fans only, perhaps.

Second up is an odd choice, as female manager Beulah McGillycutty took on heel referee Bill Alfonso (ECW As Good As It Gets). This match wasn`t particularly violent, nor particularly good, although it is memorable for the horrible gash that Alfonso gets to his forehead.

You may recognise both of the following names from WWE TV, as Tazz and Bam Bam Bigelow went at it in a very entertaining arena-wide brawl (ECW Heatwave 1998). The finish is something to behold, so you won`t want to miss this one!

Tazz re-appeared in the next bout, which was much more of a technical one, against Shane Douglas (ECW Guilty As Charged 1998). This was one of Douglas` final ECW bouts and he took some nasty-looking shots in what was a very good match.

In their first appearance on the DVD, the Dudley Boys went up against their "brother" Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney. If you haven`t seen Mahoney before, he is quite the oddity, as every time he lays into his opponent with a punch, the crowd shout "balls!". Make of that what you will. In any case, this was a good match, filled with moments of insanity, which is frankly what Mahoney is renowned for.

On first inspection, the bout between then-ECW World Champion Mike Awesome and Spike Dudley looked like a complete mismatch, as the 6ft 6ft, 290lbs Awesome took on Dudley at 5ft 6" and 135lbs (ECW Guilty As Charged 2000). A mis-match it may have been, but this was a good big man-little man bout, with some horrendous-looking falls, that are guaranteed to make you wince.

Perennial favourite The Sandman was up next, with usual beer and cigarettes regalia, taking on current TNA wrestler Rhyno (ECW TV, February 2000). Why on earth this match has been included here, I`ll never know, as it is very short indeed, with a deeply unsatisfying finish.

Things took a totally different swing next as Yoshihiro Tajiri, Super Crazy, and Little Guido (ECW TV, March 2000) contested an excellent Three Way Dance match, which - perhaps fortunately - was much more about wrestling than brawling. That isn`t to say that it isn`t violent however, as in particular, some of Tajiri`s kicks are very nasty indeed.

In the penultimate bout, Tommy Dreamer collided with C.W Anderson in an "I Quit" match (ECW Guilty As Charged 2001). Due to the nature of the bout, there are some submission holds used, but in true ECW style, this is more about beating your opponent to the point where he is forced to submit! A very good match with more than its fair share of violent moments.

The final match is taken from the WWE`s ECW show "One Night Stand" in 2005, as Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome rekindled their shocking feud of the late-90s. Truthfully, they could have picked one of several of their matches for this DVD, but this one in particular is high on hardcore action, with some unbelievably dangerous moves that I can`t believe didn`t end in serious injury. A very good bout indeed and a great way to finish this DVD effort.

Overall, whilst the title of "Most Violent Matches" doesn`t always apply to what is presented here, this is an excellent review of some of the matches that made ECW famous. This, along with "The Rise And Fall of ECW" documentary (also available on DVD), is a perfect guide to what ECW stood for, whether you like it or not. Some - including this reviewer - will say that they were the original, and best.