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