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IEvent : - ECW Hostile City Showdown 1996.
Date : - April 20, 1996.
Location : - ECW Arena, Philadelphia; Pennsylvania.
Running Time : - 2 1/2 hours.
Pal or Ntsc : - Pal.
Tape Quality : - Excellent.
'You can imitate it, but it's just not extreme unless it's here' - Joey Styles. For those brought up on 'ECW Light' - the WWE's 'Attitude' era which was a pale imitation of Extreme Championship Wrestling - it's time to learn where it all came from. It's always a pleasure to re-visit the 'World's Most Dangerous Bingo Hall', and to watch the ground breaking ECW. ECW has lived on in legend since it's financial demise, and it's fair to say it always will. The Paul Heyman booked promotion has influenced professional wrestling more than anyone or anything else in recent years, and here is a good opportunity to see ECW at their best.
First thing that must be stated is the quality of the video cover from Lee, at www.ruffneckwrestlingvideos.co.uk . I deal with a lot of tape traders, some who bother making covers and some who don't. It's not a huge issue to me, but it must be said it is always a nice professional touch to have a cover and this video looks excellent in that respect. You can also find a lot of other video's from this website on Ebay, and I strongly recommend checking out other tapes from this trader; as he is very professional in both look and also how quick the video is sent out.
This show is always remembered for a very controversial incident that had never been done before in professional wrestling, which occurs prior to the main event. I wont tell you, I'll make you wait just like all good storytellers do.... We kick off the tape with a Gangsta's interview, with New Jack hugely over with the crowd and even cutting an enthusiastic promo. Mustapha, his tag partner; well, I always assumed his contributions were for comedy and if so then they achieved their goal as I consider it impossible not to laugh when he took charge of a microphone. As ever, Joey Styles's facial expressions sell the entire segment better than anything. This cuts into a brawl, when The Gangsta's challenge The Eliminators (a young Perry Saturn and John Kronus); and it all goes a bit wild.
We then cut to a match with Super Nova vs. El Puerto Ricano which can't really be commented on too well due to it being cut short by the Eliminators who assumingly were in a bad mood from the aforementioned brawl. What match was there was fine, Super Nova looking like Stevie Richards dressed up as Hurricane is rather amusing to say the least; and the 'Power Ranger' chant from the crowd is also funny. High point of the segment for me is Saturn and Kronus's killer finishing move - Total Elimination; taking out both Super Nova and El Puerto Ricano. Total Elimination? OH MY GOD!!!!! I still mark out for this move today, and wonder why it isn't still used by someone.
We then have another brawl which ends up in the locker room pulling them apart, between The Gangsta's and The Eliminators. This was a really good fight, with huge crowd heat. JT Smith (an ECW jobber) deciding to burst into song during the pull apart after is an amusing sidenote, and any wrestling promotion that can book a black man to impersonate an old school Italian and get away with it without being offensive has to be commended. More on this later....
Next up is The Dudley's vs. The Pitbulls. A young Joel Gertner is in attendance as ring announcer, and looks far too innocent for those who know how offensive he became in later years. Buh Buh Ray Dudley is in full swing with his stuttering gimmick, and D-Von is in fine promo form; with what I believe was the introduction of the 'Thou shalt not kill...thou shalt not steal...thou shalt not **** with the Dudley Boys' catchphrase. This is another wild brawl, and any long term fan of The Dudley's (such as myself) will enjoy this.
Taz then fights Devon Storm, who was being classed as coming from WCW. Taz was billed as a proper fighter/wrestler in these days, and was convincing with it; the size factor that WWE so shamelessly made him look daft with not even remotely coming into play. And, scarily; Taz only has one 'Z'; and that really makes you realise how times have changed. It may only be since 2001 that ECW has gone under, but in some respects it feels like forever. Decent enough match, Devon Storm does come across as a bit of a 'poor man's Sabu'; which Taz is more than happy to point out after the match.
We're then treated to the re-appearance of JT Smith, and his cohort Little Guido (Nunzio in today's WWE) as the Full Blooded Italians. Guido is fighting Axl Rotten here, who looks positively anorexic as to how he is now. Axl is showing he's capable of wrestling a half decent match with a hardcore twist, which is certainly more than his brother Ian Rotten could ever dream of. Guido was always an extremely talented wrestler, with some killer submission holds; and he looks impressive here. One final note that has to be made, is that while Axl Rotten is hardcore; purple tie-dye most certainly isn't! Luckily (well, for my point of view as I have a warped sense of humour), we are treated to more singing from JT Smith at the end of this match which ends it all on a positive and amusing note.
The rather unlikely team (or at least in my view) of The Sandman and Too Cold Scorpio are up next fighting The Bruise Brothers (Ron and Don Harris). It must also be mentioned that Missy Hyatt is accompanying The Sandman to ringside.... Now, I was always a fan of Sandman before his work got somewhat overshadowed from injuries; and always considered Too Cold Scorpio as an excellent worker when on form. It must also be said, that I never had any respect for the Harris boys; who I always saw as brawlers with no real talent and basically very poor Bruiser Brody wannabe's. Scorpio thankfully at this point is the ECW Television champion, and is looking really good. Whether the Bruise Brothers had their wild hair or were bald (like in later WCW times), to me they were both indistinguishable and encouraged the over-use of my video remote's fast forward button.In fact I believe my lawsuit in which I sue the Harris boys for the price of three video remote control's breaking down on me is still outstanding, but if they happen to read this and want to settle up financially; then I'm open to a settlement. This match holds up well considering, and through the work of Scorpio manages to stay entertaining.
Onto one of the feuds that people always think of when they think of ECW, the Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee feud. Dreamer obviously held out a desire to be a crash test dummy, as there wasn't a bump he wouldnt take in these days. Whilst physically he is suffering for it now, Dreamer was adored by the ECW faithful and is still respected by many today for the bumps he took and the things he did in ECW. 'Prime Time' Brian Lee was an indy veteran, some time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling; a spell as the 'fake' Undertaker - amongst other things. Brian was a capable brawler at this point, and is helped by the ever selfless Dreamer selling and bumping madly for him. Tommy Dreamer at the beginning of his ECW career, was seen as just another pretty boy; but time certainly proved that notion to be very wrong. Known as the 'Innovator of Violence', Dreamer became a great brawler and someone that was (possibly inadvertantly) responsible for kayfabe hanging in there for that bit longer. This is a really good arena wide brawl which I feel still stands up well today. You can see the invention of the move now known in WWE as the 'con-chair-to', and this match has a finish that has to be seen to be believed.
In reference to the next match, many people ask me how I got into indy wrestling; and also Japanese wrestling. The same answer applies to both, and is one word in length - Sabu. When I first got sent a tape - 'Best of Sabu One' - with footage of Sabu in FMW; I was hooked, fascinated and needed more. I actually got to be front row ringside for Sabu's first European show (Walthamstow, London) in 1995, but I guess that's a different story. His opponent on this tape is a man that I first saw as a barefooted jobber in WCW in 1992 and was SURE he'd be a star in the business, the always wildly popular Rob Van Dam. Sabu is at his peak here, and is showing how he (as well as ECW) changed the business totally. You can see anybody playing with tables today, but then you can watch the originator of it all at his finest. RVD is also looking really good here, and as great as their matches are; it only got better when they became a tag team. These two base a lot of the match around the usage of the steel chair, and piece together a lot of crazy stunts. RVD pulls a bit of a shocker at the end that I wont spoil for those who haven't seen this before. Overall, this is an very good match, 18 minutes of sheer hard work that the ECW crowd totally appreciated; and by far the highlight of the tape.
For your main event, we have an ECW World Heavyweight Title match and a hugely controversial incident at the time prior to the match; with the incredibly charismatic Raven against a then still motivated Shane Douglas. Raven was in the height of the character that made him respected by so many, which for those of us who had seen him only doing comedy gimmicks for WCW and the then WWF were rather shocked by. Raven was showing a very good brawling side, and microphone work that although it was known he was good at; was proving he was even better than many thought. Shane Douglas was to me always a bit more mouth than trousers, capable of talking an excellent game but not quite as hot in the ring; but that is purely this writer's opinion. Pre-match, we have the first major lesbian angle in wrestling that Vince McMahon has tried to recreate on many an occasion with much less impact. As part of the angle with Tommy Dreamer and Raven, Beulah and Kimona give the ECW audience the first lesbian kiss seen on wrestling television and Tommy Dreamer gets the wish of most men by saying; and I quote - ' I'll take them both, I'm hardcore!! '.
This was part of the plan of Shane Douglas to get into the head of Raven,
who's 'stable' is left consisting of Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie.
This is somewhere between a good mat based match, with a lot of brawling
attached. Shane Douglas's top rope dive early on in the match is somewhat
of a keeper, as in later years Douglas has become a pale shadow of his
former self. A very enjoyable main event, slightly overshadowed by the
lesbian kiss pre-match; and also the Sabu/RVD match prior to that. The
after match angle involving Douglas, Too Cold Scorpio, and The Sandman;
is a rather good one mind you. In final wrap up, this is a tape which
to me shows ECW close to it's best; and is well worth investing in. Thanks
once again to Lee, at www.ruffneckwrestlingvideos.co.uk for this tape;
and I recommend both this and his trading very highly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Peter Staniforth.
Peter is an English based wrestling journalist, and writes (columns, interviews,
& video reviews) for the following websites - www.prowrestlingdaily.com
, www.wrestlingclothesline.com , & www.ukevents.net .
