BRM Reviews ECW ECW Is Just Too Sweeeet! (very bad)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews ECW ECW Is Just Too Sweeeet! (very bad)

Post by Big Red Machine » May 6th, '19, 11:44

ECW ECW Is Just Too Sweeeet! (11/11/2000)- Poughkeepsie, NY

I’m already starting to regret my self-imposed ban on fan-cam shows, as we start off with someone not being able to hold the camera steady and a nausea-inducing trip around the ring with the fans scrolling by. Then we’ve got the title of this show, which RF Video misspelled. They have it as “ECW Is Just To Sweeeet!” I know it’s RF Video from the year 2000, but come on!


OPENING SEGMENT- confusing.
Scott Hall comes out to a monstrous pop. He says Paul Heyman told him he was going to be wrestling Justin Credible but when he got to the building he found out that match wasn’t booked. You may insert your own “Paul Heyman is a liar” joke here. Lou E. Dangerously comes out and says that Scott Hall doesn’t work here and thus shouldn’t get to choose who he wrestles because he has to prove himself to Lou first. So is the idea that Lou impersonated Paul in order to lure Scott Hall into the building under the false pretense of a match with Justin Credible? Lou then tells Hall that he has to prove himself against Sal E. Graziano if he wants to face Justin Credible in tonight’s main event. Now I’m even more confused. Since when is Lou in charge of ECW? And no, this can’t even be one of those “the manager has final approval over his/her wrestlers’ matches” things because Lou isn’t any of these three guys’ manager.
Anyway, Big Sal comes out and we get…

SCOTT HALL vs. SAL E. GRAZIANO (w/the FBI & Lou E. Dangerously)- 2.25/10
Hall offered Sal a handshake but Sal replied with a crotch chop. Hall responded with an even showier one, which might be the first time I’ve ever seen Hall do any D-X shtick. The crowd was into Hall. The match was short, and had an odd moment where Hall picked Sal up for a slam and successfully delivered it… but then just fell down… and then got back up again. It was weird. The FBI interfered on Sal’s behalf, and Sal actually won with a Banzai Drop. Yes, really. My best guess is that this was a “ask Hall to do a job to an undercard guy to see if he is willing to do business” type of thing. The FBI put the boots to Hall and Lou E. Dangerously told him he could have his match with Justin Credible even though he lost.

JOEY STYLES & JOEL GERTNER DO THEIR STUFF- There are fans in the crowd with signs that say “Gertner will never be Zbyszko” and “Joey will never be Tenay,” so Joey spends some time unloading on them. I wish the audio was better so I could have understood all of what he said. We get the TV intro, Gertner’s limerick, and then an…

INTERVIEW WITH JUSTIN CREDIBLE (& FRANCINE)- I couldn’t hear most of what Justin said- f*cking fan-cam audio- but I think he’s upset about losing the ECW World Heavyweight Title match to Steve Corino last week at November To Remember 2000. Justin swerved his usual catchphrase into a “too sweet” and he and Francine too-sweeted each other before they left. Having Justin not directly address Scott Hall right after what we just saw was extremely odd. I realize that this segment was taped for TV and that Hall apparently didn’t want to be mentioned on TV at all (according to the Observer, he was only doing the shows to keep his name in the public view and to show WCW, who had fired him earlier in the year, that he could behave himself), but there was no reason this interview had to be taped in front of the crowd at all. They could have just as easily done it backstage and avoided this problem.

MICHAEL SHANE vs. MIKE BELL- 3.5/10
Mike Bell jumped the bell on Michael Shane to establish himself as the heel. Shane quickly fought back and managed to send Bell to the outside. The floor of the building is concrete, so Shane pretty much put his life on the line with this HUGE dive but Bell caught him beautifully. The match was excellent for the short amount of time it got, with both guys working very hard, but the match was really designed to allow Shane to shine and he sure did.

MIKEY WHIPWRECK, SUPER CRAZY, & YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI vs. HOT COMMODITY (Chris Hamrick, Julio Dinero, & EZ Money) (w/Elektra)- 6/10
The heels jumped the bell on the babyfaces to start things off. This was another short but action-packed match that was excellent for the time it got. Things were going well for the babyfaces until a Super Crazy dropkick accidentally hit Tajiri when its intended target moved out of the way, leading the heels taking control and getting the win soon afterwards.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Super Crazy tried to apologize to Tajiri but Tajiri shoved him. Mikey tried to make peace and Super Crazy was once again willing to do so, and this time Tajiri seemed to accept it… and then punched Super Crazy in the face. Crazy threw a punch when he got up, more shoving happened, and eventually we wound up with…

SUPER CRAZY vs. YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI (w/Mikey Whipwreck)- 5/10
Another short match. Tajiri won after an assist from Mikey and a referee recovered shockingly quickly from taking green mist to the eyes so that he could count the pinfall.

DANNY DORING & ROADKILL vs. BILVIS WESLEY & “THE PRODIGY” TOM MARQUEZ (w/the Prodigette & the Sideshow Freaks)- 4.75/10
Decent stuff, ending in some comedy that didn’t really hit with me. They did the spot where the heels take a move and wind up falling into a suggestive position, but there were six of them involved and they fell in such a controlled and unnatural manner that it killed the spot.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great!
The FBI run out and assault Doring and Roadkill from behind. Then they cut Doring’s hair and cut off most of Roadkill’s beard. An excellent angle.

NEW JACK INTERACTS WITH FANS- He said he was making a lot of money. This lasted about ten seconds. I don’t know why they even bothered putting it on the DVD.

NOVA vs. GUIDO MARITATO (w/the FBI)- 6/10
A good action match with the story being Nova needing to overcome the FBI’s constant interference. He got the win, but was assaulted by the FBI afterwards. Doring and Roadkill came out to make the save.

ECW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Steve Corino(c) (w/Jack Victory) vs. Jerry Lynn- 3.5/10
Dawn Marie, who turned on Corino at November To Remember, came out before the match started to distract Corino. The distraction succeeded, allowing Lynn to nail Corino with a sucker-punch, so Dawn left. Jerry beat Corino down for a while and worked over his back. While this was happening, Cyrus came out, then disappeared. We got ref bumps (including heel ref Danny Daniels trying to attack Lynn, then getting taken out by Corino), then Justin Credible ran in and hit Lynn in the head with a Singapore cane and Jerry bled and apparently was unable to continue and had to be taken to the back. In ECW? That’s kind of lame.

STEVE CORINO PROMO- He’s yelling about… something. I heard the words “ECW World Heavyweight Champion,” “WWF,” and “Japan.” He gets interrupted by Enter Sandman starting to play, and the fan-cam spots Sandman in the crowd. Almost Five minutes later, Sandman finally makes it to the ring. He’s so lucky he has the greatest song of all time as his entrance music or else his entrances would be completely unbearable.
Sandman non-verbally indicated that he wanted a title shot but Corino didn’t want to give him one. Corino was complaining about having to wrestle twice. Sandman mimed playing a relatively sizable violin, so I guess that means he actually does have some sympathy for Corino?
In the previous match we saw someone who turned on Corino at the PPV less than a week ago come out and distract him to start his match, allowing his opponent to sucker-punch him. Then we saw him attack a heel referee who tried to interfere in his match by attacking his opponent. Then, after another interloper attacked, we saw his buddy successfully talk him down in order to allow an injured wrestler to receive medical attention, even though said injured wrestler had sucker-punched him to start this match. Sounds like he’s a babyface, right?
Well now Corino is being a total heel, whining about having to wrestle twice, mocking he fans, and needing to be goaded into putting his title on the line. Then, when he agrees to do so and symbolically lays the title out between himself and his opponent to say “come get it,” Sandman hits him in the head with his Singapore cane. WHO IS A BABYFACE AND WHO IS A HEEL?!

ECW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Steve Corino(c) (w/Jack Victory) vs. the Sandman- 5.75/10
The confusing babyface/heel dynamics continue, as Sandman got in 90% of the offense, working over Corino’s back, which Jerry Lynn had already significantly worked over, just like a heel getting the heat after the cheapshot with the Singapore cane to start things off. Then Corino won after a distraction by Jack Victory allowed him to reverse an attempted White Russian Leg Sweep into an Old School Expulsion onto a guardrail for the pin, just like a heel would.

JOEY STYLES, JOEL GERTNER & HEELS SEGMENT- meh
Joey rips into the same fans as before, then, just like before, we get them doing the TV intro. Gertner’s intro is interrupted by Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger, & C.W. Anderson, who chase them off and tell them they have no right to judge them because they’re not wrestlers. Gertner makes a comment about him still being more over than they are, and Joey cuts a promo calling Simon unoriginal for trying to get over by picking on the announcers. It turns out the announcers have recruited some pals to help them in case of such an occasion: Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger… and Tommy Dreamer. Gertner cut a promo putting over Tommy in particular that was basically the “yes, Tommy and I used to not get along when I was a heel manager, but I’ve always respected him and he is willing to help me out” promo to explain why Dreamer would be willing to help despite having feuded with the stable Gertner managed for the majority of 1998 and 1999. Tommy came out and cut a promo respectfully parodying Gertner’s usual shtick. He randomly declared this to be a Falls Count Anywhere Match, then the babyfaces charged for the…

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH: C.W. Anderson, Johnny Swinger, & Simon Diamond vs. Tommy Dreamer, Christian York, & Joey Matthews (w/Joel Gertner)- 4.25/10
They brawled a lot and there was a lot of blood from the babyfaces. Dreamer needed Gertner to run in and save him from Simon Diamond. Gertner did the Kamala gimmick. The referee counted Gertner’s pin on Simon even though he was not part of the match. The Falls Count Anywhere rules didn’t come into play at all.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
C.W. Anderson laid all three babyfaces out with a chair, then put Gertner in an armlock of some sort. The fan-cam spent a good minute just panning between a close-up of Matthews’ bloody face and York’s bloody face.

ECW WORLD TELEVISION TITLE MATCH: Rhino(c) vs. Kid Kash- 6/10
Another short match that was great for the time it got. Rhino won with a Piledriver off the second turnbuckle, which looked SICK.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Rhino tried to put Kid Kash through a table after the match but Spike Dudley came out and made an excellent save, which consisted of jumping over a Gore so that Rhino went through the table set up in the corner, then hitting a Dudley Dog.

CHILLY WILLY vs. TONY DEVITO- 2/10
DeVito jumped the bell on Chilly Willy so we know who the babyface is, but the crowd wasn’t having it because DeVito is from the next town over. Willy won a short match.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Angel comes out and lays Willy out with a chair. Then Balls Mahoney comes out and lays both Angel and DeVito out with a chair. This was… very much ECW in the year 2000.

SCOTT HALL vs. JUSTIN CREDIBLE (w/Francine)- 6/10
They went about eight minutes and did a bunch of stuff. Think of your typical late nineties eight-minute indy match between two guys trying to do enough to get a decent reaction from the crowd but also not trying to do too much because it’s just a house show and they don’t want to get hurt. Francine interfered several times but Hall still won.
I was probably being naïve to assume that Hall would have really tried to show his stuff here, but I had kind of hoped that the idea of this seemingly being an audition for him (whether for WWF, ECW, or WCW) and the fact that he was working with a good buddy of his might have made him motivated enough to at least try. Or maybe this was him trying his best and this was all he was capable of at the moment. Either way, I was disappointed by this. Even if the match wasn’t good, I was at least hoping it would get the time be become good, and it didn’t even get that.


This was a bad show from ECW. This was shot much better than other fan-cams I’ve seen but the audio was still a problem, robbing the matches of all context. Then add in that none of the matches other than maybe the Falls Count Anywhere Match were given a chance of every really being great due to time restrictions, and there really is no reason to watch this show. The thing that drew me to it was the idea of Scott Hall in ECW, and that really wasn’t given a chance to deliver, just like everything else on this show. I’m done with fan-cams at this point, and probably just done with post-TNN ECW altogether. This very much felt like a desperate, dying promotion, and it was sad to watch.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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NWK2000
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Re: BRM Reviews ECW ECW Is Just Too Sweeeet! (very bad)

Post by NWK2000 » May 7th, '19, 08:23

Big Red Machine wrote: May 6th, '19, 11:44

STEVE CORINO PROMO- He’s yelling about… something.
If this sentence isn't an amalgamation of Corino's career, I don't know what is.



SCOTT HALL vs. JUSTIN CREDIBLE (w/Francine)- 6/10

I was probably being naïve to assume that Hall would have really tried to show his stuff here
Yes. Yes you were.
This was a bad show from ECW. This was shot much better than other fan-cams I’ve seen but the audio was still a problem, robbing the matches of all context. Then add in that none of the matches other than maybe the Falls Count Anywhere Match were given a chance of every really being great due to time restrictions, and there really is no reason to watch this show. The thing that drew me to it was the idea of Scott Hall in ECW, and that really wasn’t given a chance to deliver, just like everything else on this show. I’m done with fan-cams at this point, and probably just done with post-TNN ECW altogether. This very much felt like a desperate, dying promotion, and it was sad to watch.
Your fault expecting anything good out of "too ridiculous for WCW" Scott Hall and dying ECW, I figured I'd be the one that would have to review this show, so thanks for taking the bullet pal!
NWK Reviews is closed for business for now.

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