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The Rap Sheet - from the Crimefighter
Video Review
Extreme Championship Wrestling's Extreme Evolution (Censored Version)
110 mins. Pioneer Entertainment, 2000

Well I was all set to attend a wrestling show the day I wrote up this
review, but the owners of the building where the show was supposed to be at
said "oh, we can't let you run a show in our building, it has to be for
charity". And the owners of this building KNEW weeks in advance that this
was not a charity show, and these guys had the GALL to wait until the day of
the show itself after all the promotion and all of the TV and newspaper ads
were published to raise this issue. They are just BEGGING to get their butts
sued off. The place was the Grandview Municipal Center in Grandview which is
a suburb of Springfield.

Well instead of live wrestling, I had to settle for a video on wrestling.
This video I acquired at Deals! which is one of those everything's a buck
type stores for a dollar. I got this thing a few weeks ago intending to
review it at some point, now I unexpectedly have the time to do it now. I
don't have a collection of wrestling videos or buy them, but this was so
cheap I couldn't pass it up. This is the VHS version of the video, the DVD
version has more matches on it.

Your host is Joey Styles. Montage video of various wrestlers in the
promotion. Styles says we're about to see stuff we couldn't see on TV or PPV
but we can see it here. Oh I can hardly wait, and just what exactly DIDN'T
air on PPV anyway?

ECW World TV Championship
(c)Rob Van Dam 234lbs. Battle Creek, MI w/ Bill Alfonso vs. Jerry Lynn
214lbs. Minneapolis, MN - This is from Hardcore Heaven in May 1999. The ref
wants Alfonso outta here and takes forever to get out. We waste a minute
waiting for a lockup. Lynn with an arm twist, reversed, Van Dam with a trip
and headlock. Lynn gets a hammerlock, Lynn drop toe hold, RVD with a pinning
combo gets one. Sheesh what's with all the stalling here? No time limit but
geez. Lockup, headlock RVD, shove, shoulderblock RVD, running of the ropes,
several moves miss in a row leading to a standoff. Lockup again, RVD to the
corner, clean break and more showboating. RVD doesn't do this much
showboating now does he? Five minutes have passed and nothing's happened.
Another lockup to the ropes, Lynn gives a clean break, then a kick, whip to
the corner, RVD gets slingshotted to the ropes, RVD escapes, finally a
monkeyflip from RVD that Lynn takes little damage from. RVD goes back to
showboating. RVD with a kick, slugs away, RVD hops on the top rope, misses
his move, RVD is tossed outside, Lynn springboards RVD off the apron, Lynn
on top with a suicide dive on RVD to the floor. Lynn dropkicks RVD on his
way in, guillotine legdrop gets two. Slam into the turnbuckle, chops, Lynn
puts him on top, bulldog from the top rope gets two! Lynn on the top rope
but Alfonso crotches him and holds a chair up for the Van Daminator, RVD
misses it, Lynn is crotched on the top rope, RVD with a flying kick sends
Lynn face first into the exposed concrete floor. RVD tries for a pickup,
kicks him, Lynn ain't moving, RVD picks him up and puts him in the ring,
then pulls him out and Irish whips him over the railing. RVD goes out again,
flying clothesline over the rail into the crowd! Lynn finally dropkicks RVD
over the rail. Lynn back in, big RVD chant, Irish whip, Lynn with a sunset
flip gets two. Lynn goes for a piledriver, RVD hits the Alabama Slam,
spinning heel kick on the mat, Rolling Thunder misses. Lynn whips him, but
is caught, Northern Lights suplex by RVD gets two. RVD puts Lynn on top,
Lynn sunset flips him from the top rope and only gets two. Short arm
clothesline by Lynn, he goes out, grabs a table, Alfonso can't stop blowing
that whistle, RVD out, Lynn whips RVD into the rail, backdrop by RVD into
the front row, RVD with a chair, Van Daminator off the rail. RVD has his
head bumped into the post, fight on the apron, they're on the top rope, but
Lynn gets backdropped into the timekeepers table! Irish whip into the rail
by RVD, suplex into the rail, RVD on the apron, corkscrew legdrop! Finally a
cover gets two. Dropkick into the knee by RVD, flashy move and dropkick the
chair into the face. Turnbuckle shot, fight, tornado DDT to a table blocked,
RVD clotheslines Lynn back in. Legdrop from the top gets two for RVD. Whip
to the corner, Alfonso in the ring, RVD waves him off, Lynn sunset flips RVD
through the table outside! Toss in, Lynn covers but only gets two! Kick in
the corner, whip, charge meets a boot, Alfonso in with a chair, blocked,
Lynn throws it at Bill, German suplex by Lynn gets two. Slam Lynn, to the
top, RVD drop kicks Lynn in the head, RVD with a chair, drops it, they are
on the top rope, they fall off, Lynn hits the mat, RVD crashes into the top
rope in a botched spot, cover gets two. Lynn dropkick with the chair gets
two. Sunset flip is botched, Lynn bridges out and goes for the piledriver,
reversed, rollup by Lynn gets two. Lynn puts RVD on the top rope, he punches
him off, split-legged moonsault gets two. Lynn tries an inverted DDT but is
blocked, RVD with a spinkick on the mat, five star frog splash, cover is
reversed by Lynn gets two. Another Van Daminator with a chair! Another five
star frog splash gets three!

WINNER and STILL CHAMP: Rob Van Dam pin -> 26:55 mins. ***

Very slow start to this match, then when they started hitting each other,
other than brief bursts of energy it was mostly a slow pace and quite a bit
of outside the ring stuff that brought this match down a bit. The Van
Daminator was used very liberally here, while in the WWE we rarely see the
move done during a match. Lynn and RVD with a high five after the match is
over. The replay pretty much covers the entire action of the match.

ECW World Heavyweight Title
(c)Mike Awesome 290lbs. Tampa, FL w/ Judge Jeff Jones vs. Masato Tanaka
244lbs. Japan FMW - This one came from November to Remember in 1999.
Tanaka's body is all scarred from cuts from previous ring wars. Awesome
kicks and slugs away, whip to the corner, splash Awesome. Chops, whip
reverse, Awesome with a flying back elbow, Tanaka with a springboard
clothesline, suicide dive from the top rope to the floor. Toss to the rail,
Tanaka charges with a chair to the head. Whip to the rail by Awesome, toss
in, whip reverse, Awesome catches him, overhead belly to belly, clothesline
over the top, suicide dive by Awesome to the floor! Awesome hurls Tanaka
into the rail, works him over in the crowd, Awesome springboard dive from
the top to the crowd! Toss in, Awesome gets a pair of chairs, chairshot from
the top rope, Tanaka seems unaffected, Tanaka hits Awesome with it, roaring
elbow gets two. Slam Tanaka, chair on the face, Tanaka to the top rope with
the other, side chairshot gets two. Tanaka with a tornado DDT on the chairs
get two. Sheesh, any shot with a chair usually ends a match! Another attempt
of the same move and Tanaka gets powerbombed on the chairs. Running
clothesline flips Tanaka over, Alabama Slam by Awesome, he fetches a table,
Awesome tries a powerbomb, he escapes, side belly to back suplex Tanaka,
fight on the apron, Awesome with a sitdown powerbomb (Awesomebomb) through
the table. Ouch. Cursing chant. Awesome gets him back in and covers for two.
Another table is put in the ring by Jones, Tanaka is laid on the table,
Awesome on top, Tanaka gets up, attacks Awesome, superplex attempt blocked,
Awesome can't get in position, Tanaka does the superplex through the table
but only gets two. Tanaka goes for the Diamond Dust and hits it. Roaring
elbow misses, German suplex Awesome, Tanaka misses the move again and gets
clotheslined down. Awesome splash from the top get two. Awesome to the top
again, Tanaka with him, AWESOMEBOMB FROM THE TOP ROPE!!! IT'S ALL OVER!!!

WINNER and STILL CHAMP: Mike Awesome pin -> 12:25 mins. ***½

Replays show all the nasty spots that occurred in the match. Mike Awesome
made such a big mistake jumping to WCW as his career went completely down
the drain. Sure he was making more money, but where he is now? Not the WWF.
A bunch of sick moves in a montage in between bouts. Joey Styles says you
aren't really hardcore unless you go through a flaming table. I'd rather not
see that.

ECW World Tag Team Championship
(c)The Dudley Boys - Bubba Ray & D-Von w/ Lou E. Dangerously vs. Spike
Dudley & Balls Mahoney - This was taped for the first TNN airing of ECW back
in August of 1999. Spike and Balls bring a ladder, the Dudleys attack before
the bell, Balls and Spike slug away, hurraconranna Spike on Bubba, Balls
with a superkick on D-Von. Spike with a press slam suicide dive on the
Dudleys. Balls leaps off the top rope onto the Dudleys on the floor. Spike
on top of the ladder, the ref holds it steady, Spike leaps off into the pile
of bodies on the floor. Yeek. Spike and Bubba in the ring, sidewalk slam aka
Bubba Slam on Spike. Man these guys all look different back then. BIG back
body drop by Bubba. D-Von slugs away on Balls outside. Bubba slugs away on
Spike. Eye rake by Bubba, more slugging. Bubba shouts "Who's the man???"
D-Von cuts Balls outside. Bubba says he's gonna throw him out there in the
crowd. Crowd chants "over here". Whip, gorilla press by Bubba, but Spike
punches him in the face to escape, bulldog, whip, sunset flip attempt, Bubba
grabs the top rope, forced to let go and Spike gets two. Clothesline by
Bubba Ray, Bubba has a CHEESE GRATER! He tears up Spike's head. Styles says
this match will never see the light on TNN. Well some match between these
guys aired on TNN, the rematch perhaps? Memory's fuzzy but I don't recall
that this was the one that aired on the initial broadcast on the network.
Bubba uses it again. That's enough of that please. Balls is back in the ring
with D-Von, whip reversed, Balls throws D-Von into the corner and slugs
away, eye poke, whip to the corner, charge misses, BALDO BOMB by D-Von.
Bubba rubs Spike's blood in his face. That's sick. D-Von has the cheese
grater now and rakes Balls with it. Bubba pounds on Spike outside. Bubba
gets chairshotted by Spike, Spike tries the acid drop off the rail but is
blocked. Spike pulls Bubba over and fights in the crowd, Balls follows.
Spike and Bubba are on the stairs in the bleacher section. Spike starts
ripping on Bubba's face. D-Von and Balls are fighting in the crowd
elsewhere. Atomic drop by Bubba on Spike on the guardrail. Bubba punches
away. D-Von slugs away on Balls. Bubba gets a trash can and bashes Spike
with it. Bubba is eating up the crowd and gets a pair of glasses. Back in
the ring, D-Von covers Balls but there's no ref to count. Balls kicks out.
Bubba and Spike are way in the concessions, pan to Bubba's head. Bubba hits
Spike with a package of something. Cooler of ice is dumped on Bubba. Balls
is going to the top rope with the cheese grater, D-Von stops him, superplex
by D-Von. D-Von to the middle rope, flying headbutt. D-Von wants a ref to
count but there's no one around. D-Von chops away, whip reversed, Balls with
a powerslam. Bubba and Spike are still fighting. Frog splash by Balls, no
ref around to count. Looks like Spike and Bubba are going back to the ring
still brawling, the ref is with them. Balls with a chair, LOW BLOW D-VON,
inverted DDT gets two as the ref has reappeared. Fight, slam Balls, to the
top, legdrop misses from the top. Belly to back-neckbreaker combo by the
Dudleys get two. Slapping match between the ref and the Dudleys, Irish whip
on the ref, ref tries to hit them, double rollup by Balls and Spike get two.
Spinebuster Balls, bulldog Spike get two. Double whip reversed, Dudley Dog
Spike, sitdown powerslam AKA the nutcracker suite Balls get two as Sign Guy
Dudley pans the ref. Spike and Balls throw Lou E. into the rail, pull out a
couple of tables. Lou E. on the apron, gets beaten by the faces. Dudleys
back up and pound on Balls. Bubba Ray on the second rope, wastes time and
gets nailed by Balls, but he wastes times and gets Bubba Bombed for it. Hey
the referee is still knocked out! Spike to the top rope, slugfest with
Bubba, Sign Guy tosses him a heavy sign, Spike intercepts it and nails him.
Bubba with a boot on Spike, Bubba has lighter fluid! Oh crap. The tables are
set on fire, and Bubba powerbombs him through both! Sigh. How was THAT
permitted to be used. Balls gets nailed with a chair by D-Von, Balls acts as
if he's unfazed, Bubba holds Balls, D-Von misses and his partner. Balls up,
puts D-Von in the nutcracker suite and gets a fast three!

WINNER and NEW CHAMPS: Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley pin -> 23:25 mins. ***

Apparently this was the swan song for the Dudleys before going to the World
Wrestling Federation as the plan was to take the belts over there before
they lost them. The three Dudleys look very different back then, and they
certainly never did a flaming table spot in the WWE. There's been a bit of a
fuss about this particular feud, as many have not liked the matches that
have resulted. Another montage of wrestlers doing nasty spots is shown.

Sabu 222lbs. Bombay, India vs. Tazz 248lbs. Brooklyn, NY w/ Bill Alfonso -
>From Barely Legal in 1997. Sabu has his shoulder taped up. Slapfest to
start, Sabu is caught reentering the ring, Tazz goes for the Tazzmission
already but is blocked. Waistlock Tazz, hammerlock reversals, drop toehold
Tazz and the ankle pick. Sabu gets out of it and rolls to the ropes, Tazz
with the bodyscissors and hits him with forearm shots. Sabu's nose is
broken, he rolls out, sees his own blood and is pissed. Dropkick to the knee
Sabu, slingshot kick from the second rope. Baseball slide drop kick Sabu,
chair is fetched, he leaps off the chair to the top rope and suicide dives
on Tazz over the rail. Fight in the crowd, as Alfonzo's blowing his whistle
in the ring. Sabu sets up a chair and dives at Tazz but he moves and hits
the rail, clothesline Tazz over the rail. Slugging back in the ring, whip
Tazz, drop toe hold, freestyle bow and arrow, now they slug it out on their
knees, Tazz knocks him down, bodyscissors and armbar by Tazz, Code Red by
Tazz. Sabu makes it to the ropes, enziguri by Sabu, sommersault legdrop by
Sabu. To the corner, Sabu fetches a chair, throws it at Tazz's face. Saba
runs from the corner, off the chair and nails Tazz. A second one misses and
gets dropped face first into the chair that gets two. Irish whip clothesline
Tazz that looked like Sabu got stiffed. Spinebuster Tazz, stomp, Sabu yanks
Tazz outside, Sabu hops off a chair off the top and dives at Tazz but hits
the rail. Tazz throws him over the rail. Sabu is put back in the ring, a
table has been set up on the rail and apron by Team Tazz. Sabu puts Tazz on
it, Sabu starts the charge but stops in time as Tazz is up, Sabu goes for
the tornado DDT but gets dropped thru the table instead. Alfonzo taunts Sabu
to get up. Fight outside, Sabu's neck is in pain, Tazz has a bad shoulder
now. Punching on the mat. Tazz up, kicks away, but gets kicked by Sabu. Sabu
puts him on the top rope, hurraconranna gets two. Sabu goes to the top and
hits a flying legdrop. Tazz rolls out, Sabu follows, then Tazz throws him
in. Tazzplex with 3/4 nelson. Headlock Tazplex. Sabu hits a T-bone on Tazz,
but he's up, Sabu puts the Tazzmission on Tazz, Tazz with the belly to belly
Tazzplex. Another T-bone by Tazz. Another Tazzmission applied with Sabu's
injured neck, arm is raised three times that's it!

WINNER: Tazz KO -> 17:50 mins. ***

EMTs try to check Sabu but he runs them off. Tazz has the mike. Tazz says he
choked him out, he gave him the fight of his life, he has respect, he offers
a rematch anytime and wants to shake hands. They shake. Sabu then raises his
hand, then hug. RVD is in the ring and nails Tazz, Sabu gets in RVD's face.
Tazz up, tries to get the submission on RVD, Sabu attacks Tazz, RVD with
legdrops, chair's in the ring, another legdrop with the chair. RVD puts Tazz
on the table, Sabu hops off the chair and the top rope but looks to have
taken the worst of it. But he's got the choke on Tazz still. Bill Alfonzo is
in the ring, then strips his shirt off to reveal he has a Sabu shirt on. He
says he taught him everything, and he had bet on Sabu tonight. RVD says
we're all winners, and we all can respect his entire family. He's a PPV
superstar, to book him call Fonzie, he loves to work Mondays. Fonzie says he
wasted a year and owns Tazz. Replay of the various spots of the match. End
of tape.

While none of these were match of the year candidates, these picks were
decent enough to warrant spending the one dollar to view. Recommended.

How others reviewed these matches:

Jay Spree, TheSmarks.com - RVD vs. Lynn **¾, Awesome vs. Tanaka ***½, Dudley
Boys vs. Spike & Balls **½, Sabu vs. Tazz ***
Pat Barker, ohemgee.com - RVD vs. Lynn ***, Awesome vs. Tanaka ***¾, Dudley
Boys vs. Spike & Balls ½*, Sabu vs. Tazz **½

-- 
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