ECW Wrestlepalooza 1998

After reading about the disaster that was Extreme Reunion, it made me want to go back and relive the good ol' days of ECW.  You know, the days where the wrestlers weren't washed up, drug addled beyond consciousness and unable to perform on the night (at least most of the time), and all round sucky.  ECW is dead.  People need to accept that.  It was great back in the day but it's never going to be that way again with the old stars.  Yet, people are always going to buy tickets when the old crew gets back together.  Like many, I miss ECW.  I miss WCW.  I just miss that period.  I love the nostalgia of it all though.  Growing up during that period were the best days of my life.  And sure, I'm always going to revisit the classics.  But Franchise Shane Douglas, please stop what you're doing.  If you're going to put on wrestling shows then bring in guys who can put on a great show.  The indy scene is booming with talent willing to do ridiculous things.  Give them a plug instead of bringing back yesteryears stars.  Except Sandman... he can just drink and hit people with sticks.  You never get too old for that.

Anyway, Shane Douglas shoddy productions aside... As I said, I decided to relive some ECW nostlagia and it led me to WRESTLEPALOOZA 98.  Would it live up the magic I felt watching ECW as a 12 year old boy?   Of course it fucking would.  Inside I'm still a 12 year old boy 10 years later.  I should also mention that you might not like this PPV.  Lots of people hate it.  I on the other hand really enjoy it.  It's kinda like the TV show Friends.  It's not spectacular but it's good to watch when you just want something entertaining that doesn't require much thought input.

Match 1 - FBI (Little Gudio & Tracey Smothers) vs Supernova & Blue Meanie
What do you expect from any match involving Blue Meanie?  You know it's not going to be serious. That being said, when there isn't any dance offs or referees body slamming the FBI, it's a pretty good match to open a show.  Supernova was the most exciting thing about this other than the referee.  Oh yeah, and Meanies moonsault was pretty fat and epic too.  This got the crowd pumped and excited therefore done its job as an opening match.  Fun, harmless junkfood.

Match 2 - Justin Credible vs Mikey Whipwreck
I've never been a fan of Justin Credible, but given the right opponents he could have some pretty good matches.  Mikey Whipwreck on the other hand was a good worker and a little underrated.  This starts off as brawl, and Credible takes some pretty sweet bumps after being irish whipped.  His first one out of the ring was unnecessary, but hey, it's fun.  Mikey also takes a sweet fall from the apron into the ringside barrier.  This sends the match Credible's way and he draws some good heat from the crowd.  He slams Mikey's head into a chair and gets an arena sized BOOOO as a result.  The crowd also chant what sounds like, ''You've Got Herpes.'' Pretty funny.  You don't get chants like that now.  We get some more brawling, a nice reverse DDT and a, ''JUST AN ASSHOLE'' chant.  The best moment of the match was Mikey doing a suplex from the guard rail through a table on Credible.  This match was a scrappy brawl with some nice bumps , chairs and tables.  Not a great match by any means, but solid.

Match 3 - ECW Tag Team Championship - Lance Storm & Chris Candido vs Balls & Axl
Lance Storm and Candido are tag team champions who despise each other.  They are also the second longest reigning tag team in ECW history, second only to Raven and Tommy Dreamer, who are another team who despised each other.  Go figure.  On paper this was an interesting concept, with a team consisting of technicians in a match against 2 overweight rock 'n' rollers who prided themselves on steel chair shots.  The promo at the start off the match was more or less Axl telling everyone how they were going to smash their heads in with chairs.  That being said, this match had some back and forth wrestling.  Like Joey Styles said, Axl was a good wrestler.  This was a good tag team match.  I mean, Axl doing a slingshot senton over the rope was pretty cool.  I've read a lot of criticism for this match, but it's undeserving.  This was a good filler match and the crowd were pumped for it.  The Ric Flair chants could perhaps be considered a little insulting though - or the biggest compliment ever.  It's hard to tell with ECW fans.  Decent match, not great, not bad.

- Joey Styles stands in the ring and introduces some legends from the business who had their success during the good ol' Mid-South days.  Junkyard Dog, Dick Slater, The Masked Superstar and Bob Armstrong.  The crowd gave everyone of them a huge ovation.  Not much point in this segment other than appreciating the legends, but a nice homage.

- Shane Douglas comes out next and talks about wrestling, complains about Ric Flair etc and just have an all round complaining session.  Taz comes out after and says some angry Taz things and demands the World title from Shane Douglas.  Taz then chokes him out and security intervene.

Match 4 - Bam Bam Bigelow vs New Jack
This was one of the greatest hold for hold technical showcases of all time.... LOL.  What can I say about this?  They beat each other with fists and weapons and Dr. Dre and Ice Cube soundtrack the carnage.  Plus, turns out the best way to beat Godzilla is Bam Bam's nuts and a hockey stick... who knew?  I'll tell you who - New Jack.  Wtf is wrong with New Jack?

Match 4 - The Dudley Boyz vs Tommy Dreamer & Sandman
Before the match we're treated to Joel Gertner quoting Young Money lyrics.  You know the song, ''call me Mr. Flintstone, I can make your bed rock.''  But BOOM - Metallica hits the speakers and Tommy Dreamer and a beer equipped Sandman (in the shape of his life may I add) head to the ring.  They have Beulah (incorrect spelling probably) with them and she looks drillable as hell and ready to be worn like a glove.  This match was a mess... but a beautiful mess.  Spike appears and gets 3D'd, Sandman takes a beating...  I enjoyed it but there's really not a lot to say about it.

Match 5 - ECW TV Title - RVD vs Sabu
I hate Bill Afonso and his annoying whistle.  Just had to make that clear.

This was a good match.  If you've seen any RVD or Sabu match you know what to expect - high spots, insane bumps, chairs, tables, impressive athleticism... It was all here as usual.  I like this match but it's not their best match.  Plus I've seen this kinda stuff done before and much better.  I don't think this deserved the high rating the fans seemed to give it on the night.  It was a good match, but it wasn't out of this world.  It's really slow at the start and not much happens.  Sometimes it looks like they're both just relaxing.  But the action does heat up and we get a physical match after a while.  The match is so-so and ends in a draw after 30 mins.

Match 6 - ECW World Heavyweight Championship - Shane Douglas vs Al Snow
Al Snow's entrance is so damn trippy here and the ovation he gets is out of this world.  Every fan in the arena is waving a head.  Man, that was smart business by Vince bringing him back and using him for all of his potential.

So... the match?  Most reviews I've read have given this match pelters.  Personally, I liked it.  Al Snow was set to leave for WWF so it's obvious he wasn't going to win, but as a match it was a scrappy fight.  It was barely a wrestling match.  It was a brawl.  I found it to be a lot of fun and it made me wish Al Snow had more matches in ECW.  There's a lot of guys from back then I wish he fought.  Al Snow delivered a perfect Asai moonsault to the other members of Triple Threat (Candido & Bigelow).  Franchise kicked out a Snow Plow and Snow gave Francine one for her interfering, the locker room came out to congratulate both wrestlers and the event ended with a pretty sweet ECW moment.  Good end to a good show, but like the rest of the show it wasn't amazing.  Looking back on it though and reliving it was a magical experience though and I look forward to rewatching the other ECW shows.  Bring on the summer of EXTREME.