HITMAN383 Rant for ECW Path of Destruction (DVD)

- Might as well expand the old ECW section, eh? Today, The HITMAN383 Rant for ECW Path of Destruction DVD. After this: Deep Impact, and Hardcore History. I guess I’m just a softy for requests. (This was originally written in the fall of 2001, as now I had a PS2 for DVD capability. Found this (and a few other ECW DVDs) when on a family vacation to Las Vegas at the tail end of Summer)

- BTW, I use this system:
***** - Excellent,
**** - Great,
*** - Good,
**- Okay,
* - Decent,
DUD – Nothing Match.

- Start off by saying that the quality for this is about 100x better than any videotape, and 200x better than the original ECW versions. (Yeah, I was still really blown away by DVD quality at that point)

- Your Host is Joey Styles.

- Since this is a DVD, there’s special features. They include a bunch of bios for current and old ECW stars, and promos by Steve Austin, Fonzie, Taz, Stevie Richards, The Pitbulls, Public Enemy & The Eliminators. And of course Brian Pillman. None of them are that great (just little tiny promos), except the Austin and Pillman ones. Those are great classic, classic stuff!

- First Section: Title Matches

- ECW Television Title 4-Corners Match: Chris Jericho vs. Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbull #2: Famous match from the ECW Arena in August 1996. Before it even starts, Shane takes Pitbull out with a chair, and taunts Pitbull’s manager, Francine. Jericho and Scorpio start out, and have a bunch of flying around. Criss cross allows Scorpio a dropkick, and a slam. A flipping leg drop gets two, and another criss cross allows Jericho a butterfly bomb for two. Chris hooks a version of a body scissors on, and then exchanges chops with 2 Cold. Flash Funk actually WINS that, and tags Shane in. Suplex fails, and Chris reverses it for a two count. Mat-based headlock applied, and then Jericho starts going into neat pinning combos for two counts. Slingshot splash, and he bashes Shane into the corners about 100 times. THEY exchange chops (with WHOOS going up all over the place), and Chris manages a lionsault for two. He tags Pitbull in (who’s already busted open via the pre-match attack), but Shane is a coward, and tags 2 Cold! Loud bullshit chant for that one! Pitbull takes his aggression out on Scorpio instead, with slams and powerbombs. Scorpio counters all this by rana’ing him to the floor, and then dropkicking him from the apron. He smashes him into a chair, as Francine runs over to console him. Inside, 2 Cold dominates, and THEN tags Shane in. Douglas was a hell of a heel, huh? Side suplex gets him two, as the crowd starts threatening a riot. Tag to Jericho, and now it’s Face/Face, so we gets a snapmare by the T.V. champ. Pitbull comes back with a solid elbow smash, and unloads on the champ. Powerslam gets two. They fight over a waistlock, which Chris wins with a spin kick. German suplex gets Y2J two, and he tries a rana, but gets powerbombed. He’s dead, however, and tags Scorpio in. Dumb move, as he could have covered. He slams Chris, but gets crotched on the top, and super-rana’d off! Excellent spot. He covers, but Shane tags in without Chris’ consent, and gets two off of it! Man, he’s a HEEL’s HEEL! Scorpio takes offense to this, after helping Shane earlier, and murders him on the floor. Inside, he faceslams him on a chair for two. Tag to Pitbull, and Shane runs away, to tag Jericho. He rolls the Pitbull up for two, and tries a slam, but gets toppled for two. Jericho gets dominated, and VICIOUSLY powerbombed for two. Tag to Scorpio by Pitbull, and Flash hits a butterfly suplex. Chris wisely bails, but ends up taking a pounding on the floor, too. Inside, Chris DDT’s him, and tries to tag Shane, but he refuses. He tags Pitbull instead, who puts 2 Cold on the top, and blockbuster superplexes him off! He covers, but Shane reaches over and tags the fallen hand of 2 Cold! What a punk! He pays, however, getting hip tossed to the floor. Shane drags him out, too, and they slug it out. Chris dives in on both of them, and Scorpio follows, for the hell of it. We’d see it a millions times in WCW later on, but the guardrails here are so close to the ring, it’s a bit more impressive. Chris and Scorpio brawl into the crowd (before that was played out in mainstream wrestling), but the camera misses most of it. Meanwhile, Shane crotches #2 on the rail. Back to ringside for Chris and 2 Cold, and inside everyone goes. Shane bulldogs Pitbull THROUGH a chair, in a great spot, for two. He wants to tag Scorpio, but no dice. Chris refuses too, and NOW Pitbull can have his revenge! Now THAT’S a great buildup. Pitbull tries a press slam, but Shane escapes, so Jericho hits a CRAZY missile dropkick. Pitbull covers for two, but Chris tosses him off, and covers for two, and they fight over who gets the pin! It’s Chris vs. Douglas now, and Jericho takes his aggressions out on the Franchise. Dropkick gets two. Spinning toehold applied, but Shane doesn’t really bother to sell it. He applies a figure four, instead, and Shane starts selling, because the force of Ric Flair forces him to. Chris breaks, and works the knee. He tries another figure four, but it’s blocked, and Shane tags 2 Cold. Chris tries the lionsault, but gets dropkicked half way through. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Camera didn’t get the best angle of it, however. Powerbomb by 2 Cold, but gets dropkicked, and suplexed. Chris forces Shane to tag in, so he beats Chris down, and tags himself out!! 2 Cold tombstones Chris, and hits a tumbleweed for the pin at 27:01. And that’s just the FIRST elimination! Shane’s in next, and tries to negotiate a deal with Scorpio to kill Pitbull instead, as the refs force Jericho to leave the arena. 2 Cold shakes Shane’s hand, but kicks him in the gut right after, then dropkicks him. He also makes sure to dropkick the Pitbull, therefore making sure he doesn’t start getting face heat. He hooks a POOR abdominal stretch on, which gets a bullshit chant. He ends up getting caught in a belly to belly, but still manages a powerbomb/sunset flip off the top for a close two! Nice spot, there! Pitbull runs in, but eats dropkick, and gets slammed. He slams Shane on him, but misses the moonsault, and Shane DDT’s him! Shane then tries to make a deal with Pitbull, telling him to superbomb 2 Cold. Pitbull takes the deal, and kills Scorpio with it at 31:32. Shane dives on like a shark, and a dumps Pitbull to the floor. Brawling ensues. Pitbull wins that, and loads some chairs into the ring. Inside, Pitbull powerbombs him onto two chairs, and through one. ECW chant for that, and rightly so. He grabs a table, and sets it up in the corner, but gets belly to bellied by Shane. He covers, so Francine distracts the ref. Shane drags her in, kisses her, and makes sure to move at the PERFECT moment, so Pitbull spears the ref out. Pitbull still manages to press Shane up, but Francine tosses powder in his eyes, and takes off her skirt, revealing “Franchise” underwear. Pitbull starts no-selling, however, and kills Shane. Pitbull #1 runs in, and grabs Francine in the meantime, and the Pitbulls then proceed to superbomb her through a table, in a very famous ECW moment. The crowd loses it for that, but Shane runs in, and DDT’s Pitbull 1. He bashes #2 with the T.V. title for two, and smashes a piece of the table on him for two! Brass knux for two. Chain around the fist for two. Man, he’s just prepared. Pitbull makes a comeback, but misses a spinkick into the corner, and Shane belly to bellies him for the pin, and the title, at 38:25. A lot of history, and some great wrestling all adds up! ****. (I’ve since done a BUExperience on this one, and reduced it to **)

- ECW Television Title Match: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam: This is from April 1998 in Buffalo, and the start of the longest ECW T.V. title reign, ever. Long stallfest to start, which earns a “Rob Van Dam” chant. Okay. Bam Bam dominates with punches, but takes a spin heel kick. He tries a rana, but takes a powerbomb instead. What I don’t get, is before the attempted rana, he did a spot where he runs at Bam Bam in a monkey flip type set up, but just does a flip, and that’s the whole spot. See, that doesn’t ADD to the match, but the people see it, and start chanting. That’s why I don’t like RVD, bottom line. That, and the posing. Van Dam bails, and stalls, which gets him more cheers. Sigh. Inside, he misses an enzuiguri, and takes a series of stiff headbutts. He manages a superkick, and then a high crossbody, and then a flying sidekick! Rolling splash for two, but he misses a charge, and flies over the top to the floor. Nice sequence, there. Bigelow follows, and posts him. Into the rail, but RVD springboards off the rail for a sidekick. Superkick, but he gets posted again. Into the rail again, and he gets thrown into the crowd, onto some wooden chairs. Headbutt out there sends him flying. He tries to take him back over the rail, but RVD stunners him on it, and ranas him in the sea of fans. Pretty crazy-type spot, right there. He uses a chair on him, and then heads in, climbs to the top, and flies over the rail, and onto the champion. Well, that was pretty freakin’ impressive. He takes a short breather on the inside, and then heads up once again. Again over the rail, with a senton onto the Bammer. This is just crazy, and EARNS an “RVD” chant. See, when he EARNS it, I approve whole-heartedly. He drapes Bam Bam on the rail, and does a guillotine leg drop, strengthening the chant for him. He tosses him into the rail, but gets clotheslined on the rebound. Bigelow powerbombs him on a table, and then drops an elbow off the apron to bust him through it. Cool. Both guys are hurt, and takes a breather on the floor. I can understand that. RVD recovers first, and smashes his back with a steel chair, as we see Bam Bam is busted open. He gets clotheslined, again, and Bigelow chairs HIM in the back. Bam Bam tries to suplex him in, but changes his mind mid-way through, and drops him headfirst onto the apron. Ouch … that’ll leave a mark. Rob manages to snap the Bammer’s neck on the ropes during it, however, and has the advantage. He flies off the top, but gets powerbombed on the way down. Moonsault by Bam Bam misses, and RVD hits the five-star frogsplash for two. He takes a poor fallaway slam for two, and a stiff brainbuster for two. He tosses RVD into the corner, and charges, but eats chair. He still scoops him up, however, but Sabu (who RVD is supposed to be “softening up” Bigelow for) runs in, and chairs Bam Bam to stop it. He tries the poetry in motion, but gets slammed, and powerbombed. Rob recovers during this, however, and hits the Van Daminator to get the pin, and the title, at 15:06. Afterwards, Sabu complains. Started off poorly, but got MUCH better after the first few minutes. ****, easy.

- Second Section: Hardcore Matches.

- Stairway to Hell Match: Sabu vs. The Sandman: The concept is that it’s a ladder match, but you don’t get a belt, you get barbed-wire, which you can use of your opponent. Okay. This is also from January of 1998, in the ECW Arena. Stallfest, as Sandman refuses to relinquish his cane to the ref. He finally does, and Sabu jumps him. He uses the ladder to his advantage, ramming Sandman with it. Fonzie joins the fight, as Sabu drapes Sandman over the ladder, and Fonzie holds the chair over him, so Sabu springboards onto it. Ouch, but out of no where. No psychology, or buildup. It gets two, and Sabu heads up with a chair. He drops a leg with it (with the ladder already on Jim) for two, and Sandman bails. Baseball slide knocks him to the crowd, and he springboards out after him with the Air Sabu. Brawl in the crowd, and Sabu chairs him. You’ve seen one crowd fight, you’ve seen ‘em all. They fight up the bleachers, and then down the bleachers, with Sabu dominating. To the eagle’s nest (commentary area), where Sabu sets up a table. He lays Jim out, and climbs onto the nest, then drops a leg, smashing him through. He keeps the assault on, but takes an elbow, and gets slammed. They fight into the aisle, where Sandman tosses Sabu into the rail. Sabu makes a quick comeback, however, and beats him back to ringside. Once there, Sandman throws him into the first row, and grabs the ladder, which he throws at Sabu. Man, attending an ECW show can cause a heart attack for fans … they’re ALWAYS at risk. He uses the ladder as a see-saw, knocking it into Sabu’s jaw, and then suplexes him over the rail on a table. He follows with a leg off the apron, but the table doesn’t smash for all their troubles. Sandman sets the table up between the rail and the apron, and pulls the ladder out there with him, setting IT up between the ring and the rail. He lays Sabu out on it, and slingshots from the inside to the outside with a leg drop, leaving Sabu dead. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Inside, Sandman sets up the ladder, and climbs, but Sabu’s on him. He shakes him off, however, and grabs the wire. That doesn’t last, however, as Sabu tips over the ladder, sending Sandman over the top, and to the rail/tables/floor. Holy shit. That gets a well earned “ECW” chant. Sabu dives out after him, but hits the rail, and looks like he may have really hurt his jaw there. It’s busted open, too. Ouch, ouch, ouch. He stalls for time, so Sandman sets up some wire in the corner to waste time. Inside, Sandman waists more time, as Sabu’s jaw starts to badly bleed, and he looks to be in serious pain. He still manages to throw him into the wire, and chair him. He uses a pair of scissors on him (eww), drawing blood. He hangs him in the tree of woe, with a chair and barb wire rapped around his head, and then dropkicks it all into his face. Poor guy. He tries a dive into the corner, but hits the wire, and his jaw. Sandman grabs the cane, and hits what? His jaw. Aw, motherfucker, that was cold hearted. Holy shit chant for that one. Sabu takes another breather, as Fonzie tapes up his jaw. This is just crazy. Meanwhile, Sandman is a bloody mess. Sabu rams him into the wire again, and poorly hits the triple jump moonsault. Springboard legdrop, and Sabu heads up top with the chair, and hits the Arabian facebuster, with the wire on Sandman’s head. Sandman still manages to get the cane, and crack Sabu’s head again, and get the winning pin at 17:47. Crazy, sick, and twisted. Not my style of wrestling, that’s for sure, but it definitely wasn’t boring … or bad. ***.

- Tai-Pai Death Match: Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten: From ECW Arena, July, 1995. Again, not at all my style, but what’s a fella to do? Fonzie is the ref, during his goody goody “enforce EVERY rule” period, which made him a monster heel, instantly. Sparring to start, in kick-boxing style. Axl lands the first punch, and Ian starts bleeding a small trickle of blood. Fonzie, in a SUPER-heel moment, then STOPS THE MATCH at about 1:20, due to blood loss causing vision impairment. Ooh, the crowd doesn’t like that one. Then, the Public Enemy and the Gangstas brawl in the aisle for some reason, which is probably more well known to people who actually used to watch ECW. Todd Gordon comes out, after the tag team brawl is split up, and re-starts the match with a new ref. The brothers charge eachother, and exchange punches, and both bleed. From the head, arm, whatever. “ECW” chant for the blood, proving just how stupid most ECW fans are. Not all of them, but about 90%. The cutting with the glass is just brutal to watch, and shouldn’t be a part of wrestling to begin with. Call me old fashion, but this isn’t entertaining. And Philly is the city of “brotherly love,” too. Ian is DRENCHED in blood, but gets revenge with a glass-covered ball shot, and then does some more stabbing. Great. DDT by Ian marks the first wrestling move, and he grabs a bag of tacks for the hell of it. He spills ‘em out, but gets backdropped onto them (which I’m sure was cool then, but after Foley doing worse in the WWF, it doesn’t seem like much), and then splashed to give Axl the win at 7:10. Eww. DUD.

- Third Section: Classic Matches.

- Three-way Dance: Jerry Lynn vs. Tajiri vs. Super Crazy: Uh, I thought this was for CLASSIC matches. Anyway, this is from November to Remember 1999 in Buffalo, and should be good. Since this isn’t a “triangle match” there are no tags in this. Tajiri uses his kicks to start, but gets dropkicked by Crazy to the floor. Man, that ring is loud, huh? Tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Lynn on Super, and a wrestling sequence earns a standing ovation! Tajiri hooks Lynn in the tarantula, but Super breaks, and gets hooked in himself! Lynn doesn’t save, however, instead hits Crazy! Superkick to Lynn by Tajiri, but he gets decked, and Lynn flies to the floor onto Crazy. They brawl out there, so Tajiri takes them out with a moonsault. He throws Crazy to the rail, and suplexes him into the crowd. They fight out there, and Lynn springboards in, taking both out with a clothesline. All three brawl through the crowd, and Crazy moonsaults both guys off an arena entrance. In the ring, Crazy hooks a surfboard on Tajiri, and Lynn bulldogs him out. Lynn hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but gets dropkicked by the Buzzsaw. He rana’s Crazy, and then Crazy powerbombs Lynn. He moonsaults him for two, and then powerbombs Tajiri for two, as Lynn saves. Well that makes no sense, since it’s elimination style. Lynn cradle piledrives Crazy for two (when Tajiri saves with a seated dropkick), and then brainbusters Crazy for the pin at 6:40. Lynn takes control, but takes the handspring back elbow. Tajiri hooks him in the tree of woe, and gets dropkicked by the Buzzsaw. He tries the back elbow again, but gets German suplexed. He flips out, so Lynn tries again, and hits, for a two count. Beautiful sequence. He tries a tombstone, but Tajiri reverses into a backbreaker. 2nd rope moonsault misses, and Lynn hammers him. He hits a tornado DDT for two, and a rana, but Tajiri bridges out! German suplex by Tajiri for two, and some world famous kicks. Suplex escaped, and Lynn tries a piledriver. That fails, so he challenges Tajiri to kick him, head on. He does, but gets caught in a cradle piledriver to end the match at 10:59. Pretty damn good, but quite spotty at the onset, without actual transitions, and stuff. Still, *** ¼.

- 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero: It was still “Eddy” at this point, but whatever. It’s also from the ECW Arena, August 1995. This is the end of both men’s ECW careers, as it was off to WCW shortly thereafter. The crowd is BEYOND pumped up, giving standing ovations during the ring intros. Wow, wow, wow. Handshake to start, getting an “ECW” chant. They wrestle around to start, exchanging holds, and grappling around. Eddie works the arm, as the crowd chants “please don’t go.” He tries to do a mat-based crucifix to pin him, but Malenko fights it and fights it, like a true mat technician. Man, Dean is sporting some huge, Jericho-like, lifts at this point, which are only extenuated because they’re white, and he boots are black. Both try to do spots, but the other keeps countering, but FINALLY Eddie hits a flying bulldog, and hooks a crossface. Man, that was a fun sequence, establishing familiarity. Flying armdrag by Guerrero, but Dean rolls right to his feet, as the crowd chants for them to stay again. Cradle Hennig-plex for two by Eddie, and a mat-based headscissors. Dean wrestles out, and hooks a variation of the bow-and-arrow. He rolls through for a few pin attempts, which is something I really appreciate about these two … making the slow holds interesting with pin attempts. That’s Flair/Steamboat level right there. STF, but Eddie quickly makes the ropes. Dean keeps control, snapmaring him to the mat, but Eddie rakes his eyes with his boot. European uppercut by Eddie, and he whips Dean to the ropes, so he intelligently bails out. See, there’s the BIG difference between RVD’s stalling, and good psychology like bailing out to throw your opponent off course, and break the momentum. It’s not just posing, and staring at your biceps. Overhead belly to belly by Guerrero for two, and an enzuiguri for two. Super-duper plex for two, and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker follows. Backdrop attempt, but Dean sunset flips for two. Eddie flips out of a backslide attempt, and rolls Dean up for the first fall at 10:30.
- Dean dropkicks the knee, but Eddie hits a bridging German suplex for two. Dean dropkicks the knee again (if at first you don’t succeed…), and then hooks a leglock. Powerbomb, followed by the Texas Cloverleaf, and Eddie gives up a fall at 13:33.
- Eddie bails to re-coup, which, again, is okay in the context. He wants to throw Dean’s momentum off. Once in, that proves smart, as he hammers the shooter (as Joey calls him, non-stop). Dean reverses a cross corner whip, and clotheslines him, then brainbusters him for two. Dropkick, to the floor, and a shot to the rail. Inside, forearm by Malenko. Tigerbomb for two, and he puts Eddie up top. Eddie fights off with a tornado DDT for two, and a brainbuster of his own. Upstairs, the frogsplash gets two! Rana for two, and he goes up again. Dean catches him, but Eddie turns it into a super-sunset flip for two. Eddie tries another tornado DDT, but Dean launches him to stop that effort. Press slam into a gut buster hits (which we’d see in SUPER versions in later Malenko matches) for two, and a standing ovation. Eddie sneaks in a standing victory roll for two, but Dean does a bridging roll-up for three, but it’s a double pin since both men had the shoulders down at 20:09. I totally understand that ending. Standing ovation by the crowd, and another “please don’t go” chant. Now THAT’s respect. Real good match, too. *** ¾. Afterwards both guys give farewell speeches, and the locker room comes out to hug everyone.

- Psychosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr: This is both men’s debut (what, replacing the above two?) and was like the introduction to lucha in the U.S. And Joey, in the pre-match clip he does, naturally reminds us how great and amazing ECW is for bringing it to us first. Thanks Joe. This is also from the ECW Arena, in September 1995. Rey dumps him right away with an armdrag, and Psychosis takes a dive over the rail. Now THAT’S Hennig quality overselling! Inside, Psychosis hooks a mat based hammerlock. Rey snapmares out, and takes him down with an armdrag after a reversal sequence. Criss cross, but Psychosis stops short and drops an elbow. Smart move, which I’d like to see more. Powerbomb hits, and he does the old Bam Bam/123 Kid “throw him up, let him freefall down” spot. Powerbomb into the corner, and Psychosis works the lower back. Press slam into the corner, and a dropkick plants Rey Rey. Frisbee slam, and a leg drop. Man, Psychosis is DOMINATING this match. Chops into the corner, and a flying broncobuster in the corner. Man, that kicked 6 different kinds of ass! Not quite 7, but definitely 6. He misses a second try, and Rey springboards in with a rana for two. Cartwheel into another rana, and a flying headscissors follows. They fight onto the apron, where they trade chops. Psychosis wins, but gets dumped to the concrete by Rey, as the crowd cheers them on. Back in, Rey misses a Stinger splash, hitting hard. Slam by Psychosis, and the flying legdrop gets two. Powerbomb for two. Spin heel kick puts Mysterio on the outside, and he dives out after him, but eats chair! Really solid bump there, and an “ECW” chant to boot. Inside, Psychosis dropkicks the knees a few times. Slam, and a corkscrew senton for two. Psychosis misses a knee to the corner, dumping him out, so Rey springboards out after him, knocking them right into the crowd! Nice spot there! Inside, Psychosis heads up, but gets rana’d off, and Rey pins him at 10:18. Fun match, but not as good as what was yet to come in WCW. ** ¼.

- Bottom Line: Well, quite a hell of a DVD there, eh? The first two matches are excellent, the three-way and the Dean/Eddie matches are very good, and the rest is all solid (except the gorefest from the Rotten Brothers). But for a fun DVD, and a HUGE improvement over “Extreme Evolution,” check this out!

- Highly Recommended.