Friday, October 6, 2006

ECW Living Dangerously '99

1 Tajiri v. Super Crazy- 5
These two have fantastic chemistry. They were using that cool ass ramp they build sometimes for shows. It's so stiff, how can you not enjoy it? They took it slow, really giving the sense they were building for something. They worked a great pace, but seemed a little too rehearsed. They each blew a big spot which hurt it, and they played it up pretty big with the fans. The finish came out of nowhere, but was enjoyable.

2 Steve Corino v. Balls Mahoney- 2
Corino does not bump well. This match was mostly comedy except I wasn't laughing.

3 Antifaz del Norte v. Little Guido- 4
Guido played to the fans a lot. I felt sorry for them/ they were working pretty hard for a very small reaction. Even a table spot by Sal E. didn't pop them. A horrible looking finish.

4 Rob Van Dam v. Jerry Lynn- 7
The much hyped about match between these two; I watched it with new eyes because once you've seen one of their matches, they all seem to blend together. The fans were absolutely in love with RVD. At least in ECW, he had the time to be RVD; the chance to work longer matches with more hot-dogging. Both of their sells are pretty accurate. This match, unlike some of their others, had a good build. The time limit came out of nowhere. At least 2 of their spots came off looking sloppy, out of about eighteen big ones. I've never seen a ref give a belt to the challenger when the time limit expired; makes no sense. The crowd adopted Lynn halfway through the match. Definitely some magic here.

5 Mustafa v. New Jack- 1
Neither of these guys were selling shit for each other. New Jack did his usual comedy stuff, then his guitar broke. He chose to simply ignore it and told a fan to throw it back while Mustafa stood around dazed like he was a poisoned character in an RPG videogame and then took the guitar shot. Crowd brawl( of course); Mustafa measured an elbow drop on the concrete( very odd to show your love for Greg Valentine in the middle of a mad cap shit house brawl like this, but I respect it). New Jack hit a clumsy balcony dive, breaking the very edge of the table, then they were both carried back to the ring for the pin.?

6 Dudleys v. Spike/ Nova- 1
This wasn't really a match; I'd define it as a simple, boring beating. Sid interfered and they were communicating about as well as Stevie Wonder and Helen Keller could with each other. Sid was monstrously over, though. Strange.

7 Douglas/ Dreamer v. Credible/ Storm- 5

Credible was greener than fake Easter grass. Douglas and Dreamer pulled off some good double teams and Storm and Douglas were working great together. The match had an old school feel to it, and didn't really offer weapons at all. I did like that aspect of ECW; that you never knew what you would get with some of the guys, sometimes it would be just a straight match or sometimes it would be a crazy, all out war. The match started losing steam towards the end when all four guys got in the ring. Credible and Storm were both taking protected bumps on simple moves, then your usual bread and butter catfight. Credible sold the DDT and Belly to Belly like he was paralyzed! This guy sucks bad, I mean David Flair bad!

8 Taz v. Sabu- 6
Some decent wrestling to start, but it quickly faded into a silly, sloppy crowd brawl( if I had a dime for every time I wrote that, well, you know the rest). They took turns pulling off "Hardcore" spots, which were really pseudo attempts at being extreme. A crazy straw is more extreme than anything they were doing in that crowd. Taz put Sabu over the ropes through a table with a sick overhead belly to belly in the spot of the night. Taz then started beating Sabu in front of the camera and called out Flair and Hogan, blantantly no sold Sabu's defensive punches. The crowd was really tired during this match, but finally woke up when Taz went on a suplex spree and hit the choke out finish.

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