- 11 hours ago
Extreme or Eastern: no matter what the "E" stood for, this company put on some crazy matches.
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00:00ECW died 24 years ago as of me speaking, and yet people still love it.
00:05That means they did something right.
00:07Feeling very much like the underground promotion that didn't give a flub,
00:10Extreme Championship Wrestling paved the way for a lot of what we expect today,
00:13and they changed the game.
00:15They also did a lot of weird stuff.
00:17That was true when it came to the main event, so hello my friends,
00:20my name is Simon Miller, and let's take a mad walk down ECW memory lane.
00:25Number 10, Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney at Anarchy Rules 1999
00:30Let's not forget Balls Mahoney was called Balls for the reason you think.
00:34That is ECW.
00:35The late Jonathan Reckner's most famous character was a mainstay of the promotion,
00:39winning the tag team titles a handful of times, and always being involved in something crazy.
00:44Even though he was super popular, he was never portrayed as the top guy,
00:48which is why it was interesting when he did get put into the main event at 1999's Anarchy Rules.
00:53There were some asterisks in the sense this was for the TV title and not the World Championship,
00:57as that had already been defended.
00:59Taz had put it on the line against Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka.
01:03Now this could be important because Taz had already made it clear to Paul Heyman he was heading to the
01:07WWF,
01:08so I wonder if this was why the card was structured this way.
01:11We do know it hurt their relationship a little bit.
01:14Even if true it was nice, Balls got his moment as you have to imagine,
01:17he also got a nice payoff too.
01:19Maybe all of the ECW roster deserve that.
01:22If you know you know, it's been talked about on many a video.
01:26Number 9, Mike Awesome vs Spike Dudley at Guilty as Charge 2000.
01:30We could just leave it there.
01:32That's a weird match, let alone in the main event.
01:34This is why ECW was so great though.
01:37Just do what works.
01:38If you never saw Spike in the promotion too,
01:41his role was exactly the same as in WWE.
01:44Get whooped.
01:45He never won a title under Paul Heyman, but that wasn't for lack of trying.
01:48The company teased it a lot.
01:50This is why at Guilty as Charge 2000, Dudley went against Mike Awesome for the World Championship.
01:55And the whole story was telling you, damn it, Spike is gonna do it.
01:58Talk about getting this right too.
02:00Some of the near falls during this sent the crowd nuts,
02:03and because it was ECW, you could believe they did mad stuff all the time.
02:07Eventually, Awesome finished him off, but yeah,
02:09these were the type of risks other promotions should have been watching.
02:12Just made you cheer for the underdog.
02:15That's a really important part of wrestling.
02:17Number 8, Jimmy Snooker vs. Terry Funk at Bloodfest 93
02:21So let's throw a curveball in there.
02:23This is when ECW was just Eastern Championship Wrestling and still part of the NWA.
02:29Even here though, we were hinting at the future.
02:31A supercard held over two nights that also saw the debuts of Tommy Dreamer, Taz and Sabu,
02:36who didn't realize how important they were going to be.
02:39The main event was instead between two recognizable names, Terry Funk and Jimmy Snooker.
02:44They fought in a cage for the TV title and look.
02:47We all know Funk's relationship with the company,
02:49but Snooker was also the first guy to hold the then ECW World Championship.
02:53This was properly bloody and brutal too, with Terry getting the win.
02:57Within a year, the superfly was gone entirely.
02:59That same month, one Paul Heyman joined the promotion,
03:03and the rest, as they say, is history.
03:05Number 7, Jake Roberts vs. Mr. Hughes at the ASWA ECW MEWF Super Show in 1993
03:12Well, what a fantastic name for an event.
03:15It really rolls off the tongue.
03:16This was in November though, when three promotions came together to put on one card.
03:21But do not try and find it.
03:23It's next to impossible.
03:24I don't get what happened, but it's been wiped off the face of the planet.
03:27It is real though, and featured in an ECW title match between Taz and Sabu.
03:31But this wasn't the main event, that did indeed go to Jake Roberts and Mr. Hughes.
03:36Now Hughes was an odd one, because while he was a journeyman,
03:39he was best known as Chris Jericho's bodyguard in his early WWF days.
03:44And of course we all knew the other guy, Jake was a legend.
03:47The written report state the man with the snake won in about 14 minutes,
03:50and really we should have switched these scraps around, but I suppose that's hindsight.
03:54I mean, Roberts would even have another run with the World Wrestling Federation in 1996,
03:58so his name still carried some serious weight.
04:01I was just going to hazard a guess though.
04:04I don't really think it needed to close the show.
04:06Number 6, Cactus Jack vs. DC Drake at the return of the Funker 95.
04:10So I'm sure you can figure it out with the name.
04:13We were celebrating the return of Terry Funk.
04:15Otherwise this would have been bizarre.
04:17There is some oddness here however, because did Funk have a match on this card?
04:21No, no he didn't.
04:23His protege Cactus Jack did get in the main event however,
04:27he didn't know who his opponent was going to be.
04:29That was chosen by Woman or the then Nancy Sullivan,
04:32and she picked DC Drake.
04:35I don't know who that is.
04:37Don Clyde Drake was his full name and he was actually retired at this point,
04:40hence why he was brought in and lost in 4 minutes.
04:43This was the idea though, because as soon as we were done,
04:46Terry walked to the ring and whooped Jack's ass,
04:49along with Drake, Woman and the Sandman.
04:51Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas also got involved with Shane going babyface,
04:55so really the main event was just one big angle.
04:58But hey, at least Terry Funk featured heavily.
05:00That's all the fans wanted anyway.
05:02Number 5, Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy vs. Cebu and Road Warrior Hawk
05:06in November to Remember 1993.
05:09Four years before it came a full-on pay-per-view,
05:11November to Remember started life as a big annual super show from the ECW arena.
05:16Soon he was dubbed as their version of WrestleMania,
05:18and how did the first one end?
05:20A mess of a tag team match,
05:22which kind of was similar to the original Mania.
05:24Road Warrior Hawk was drafted into team with world champion Sabu,
05:28with the other side being TV champion Funk and a mystery partner.
05:31This was indeed WrestleMania 2 main eventer King Kong Bundy.
05:35I think ECW were just desperate to make this really complicated,
05:38because both titles were on the line.
05:39So, of course, Bundy turned on Terry,
05:42allowing Sabu to become a double champ.
05:45I mean, at least it wasn't boring,
05:48but it was totally wotily bonkers.
05:50Number 4, Crash the Terminator and Migueleto Perez vs. the Headhunters at Ultra Crash 93.
05:55So what we're learning today is that ECW in 1993 was off the wall.
05:59Paul Heyman still wasn't around,
06:00but you wouldn't know he wasn't part of this.
06:02There's a bloodbath.
06:04The Headhunters had their first of three main events here
06:06as they faced Migueleto Perez,
06:07who would actually go on to be part of Las Pericas in the WWF,
06:11and of course, crash the Terminator.
06:13You probably recognize him as Hugh Morris or Bill DeMott,
06:15and this bizarre combo of wrestlers had a big old fight,
06:18with blood spilling almost instantly.
06:21The Headhunters eventually got the win,
06:22but everybody was left in such a state.
06:25It was a proper war,
06:26and I warn you,
06:27it is not for everyone.
06:29Number 3, Sid vs. Skull Von Crush at House Party 1999.
06:33ECW ran four supercards at House Party
06:35from 1996 to 1999,
06:38and the last version was indeed closed out
06:40thanks to the master and ruler of the world.
06:43Sid was just called Sid here,
06:44and was so over with these ECW fans,
06:47although in terms of this time period,
06:48it was a one and done.
06:50He soon went back to WCW,
06:52but not before main eventing here
06:53against the amazingly named Skull Von Crush with a K.
06:57Now, this was Vito Lagrasso or Big Vito elsewhere,
07:00and in the semi-main,
07:01we did see Taz retain his world title against Shane Douglas.
07:04Why this wasn't last, I don't know,
07:06because Sid came to the ring
07:07and ended Skull in just three minutes.
07:10It was a destruction.
07:11It was also Sid's second out of five EC matches in total,
07:14and again,
07:15I can see why they brought him back.
07:17Sid got mega pops all the time
07:18because he felt like a star.
07:20I think he must have enjoyed it too.
07:22He didn't really have to do much of anything,
07:24but soak in all those cheers.
07:26Number 2, Rick Rude the Sandman and Tommy Dreamer
07:29vs. Sabu, Rob Van Damme and Jerry Lawler
07:31at Heat Wave 97.
07:32So Jerry Lawler hated ECW.
07:34This was the story on Raw
07:36as the WWF and Extreme Championship Wrestling teamed up.
07:39Yeah, the King would take any opportunity to knock on him.
07:42It meant the ECW roster invaded Monday night
07:44to the 24th of February
07:45and told Lawler he was gonna get it.
07:48Jerry didn't appreciate that,
07:49which brought us to Heat Wave 1997,
07:52where the King did indeed head into the main event.
07:54It was in a steel cage,
07:55because why the flub not
07:56and the three men tasked with teaching him RVD and Sabu a lesson
08:00were Rick Rude the Sandman and Tommy Dreamer,
08:03and it went bad.
08:04This is because Rude turned on his friends
08:06to prove he was WWF for life,
08:08and Taz also turned up here.
08:10He slapped Lawler and locked him in the Taz mission.
08:13It is hard to fathom now,
08:14but seeing the World Wrestling Federation's
08:16color commentator get choked out like this
08:17was so surreal,
08:19especially because Vince McMahon never worked with anyone,
08:22and yet look, it's happening.
08:24Here we are.
08:25Number one, Terry Funk vs. Bret Hart, WrestleFest 97.
08:28Well, this one was amazing.
08:30Just two months after Jerry Lawler showed up in ECW,
08:33the WWF relationship took an extra step forward.
08:36WrestleFest was put on to celebrate the career of Terry Funk,
08:39who was going to retire,
08:40which, yes, sounds silly today,
08:42but at the time, that was the intent.
08:44Funk also wanted to wrestle someone special
08:45for his fake final bout,
08:47and yep, after asking for Bret Hart,
08:49he actually got the green light.
08:51This was great.
08:52The event also had Mick Foley vs. Sabu,
08:54and when we got to our main event,
08:56it was fought under no disqualification rules.
08:59That was because Terry wanted to go crazy,
09:01and of course he lost.
09:02He was as old school as they came.
09:04He wanted to go out on his back.
09:06Do not forget that Hitman was the WWF champion at the time,
09:09so this was truly strange,
09:11but it showed how respected Funk was.
09:13Everybody knew his contributions to the business.
09:16Around 4,000 people attended this too,
09:18and amazingly, Terry was back in the ring 11 days after this
09:21because he headed out to Japan.
09:24So bless that man.
09:25He just couldn't let it go.
09:27Know of any other bizarre ECW main events
09:29that we should be talking about?
09:30Please do leave us a comment below
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09:37for your wrestling pub quiz you're going to on Friday night,
09:40but otherwise,
09:41thank you very much, my friends,
09:42and I will talk to you again soon.
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