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Perspective and expectations. That's the key to how you feel about last night's TNA Hardcore Justice Pay-per-view. It is less than 12 hours since the show ended, and I have heard feedback ranging from positive to negative, damning to praising and if nothing else, it shows that ECW still invokes a passionate response from people on both sides of the fence.
I think, unlike a normal PPV, your perspective is a big part of how you viewed this show. It wasn't based on storylines and characters that you've been watching on TV for the last several weeks or months, which is the usual case. It was based on characters and memories from a promotion that ended almost ten years ago, and had an "encore" five years ago. Let that sink in. There are 15 year old fans who watched last night's PPV, who were barely in kindergarten when ECW ended. There are fans who base their idea of what ECW was on DVDs, interviews and reunion shows. There are also the older fans, who lived through the original, got their closure in 2005, and are seeing another "return" in 2010. How you experienced the original, what you thought of the 2005 revival, and where you stand on bringing it back today would shape your view of the show.
Expectations for a show is something else where your own personal tastes will dictate enjoyment. There are fans who could see a show where every match is Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker, and they will still feel let down. On the opposite spectrum, there are fans who are happy if they hear one funny chant during the course of three hours. In between, there are many levels of expectations, and where yours come in will decide how you feel about a show.
My perspective is one that comes from watching and loving the original Extreme Championship Wrestling. Searching for the show late at night as it bounced around timeslots. Driving and flying to shows to be there and experiencing it live. Having my love of wrestling revitalized by this promotion that uniquely combined great wrestling, wild brawling, fantastic humor and incredible interviews. ECW literally changed my life, and I had the unique perspective of working in and around the company for several years. When ECW ended in 2001, it bothered me. Promotions in wrestling come and go, but that one hurt. Not just from a professional perspective, but because ECW had meant so much. Flash-forward five years, and I looked at the One Night Stand and Hardcore Homecoming events with some trepidation. Time had passed, and I wasn't sure revisiting something so special was a good idea. I was pleasantly surprised with a weekend that seemed to give many a sense of closure they never had. It was fun, and while there were things on the shows that irked me, things that I felt should have been done differently, it was still a good encore (and really, what wrestling company ever gets an encore?).
My expectations for Hardcore Justice were not high. As I have said several times, I am aware my calendar says 2010. Time has moved on, and while some of the original ECW stars can still go in the ring, you can't expect a 1995 performance from a body that had gone through 15 years of bumps, injuries, inactivity, etc. Nope, great matches (with the exception of Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam) were not something I was hoping to get out of last night's show. I viewed the event as if it were "Old Timer's Day" at Yankee Stadium. I expected the younger and healthier performers to provide a little action, and the others to "tip the cap" and give the fans a chance to show their appreciation. My real expectations were more based on a show that would be booked in an entertaining and logical fashion to emphasize the strengths of what they had to work with, and minimize the weak points.
When the show was over, I felt somewhat deflated. There were some individual performances that I really enjoyed, but the vibe of the show just never approached the feelings I got watching One Night Stand or Hardcore Homecoming. There were also some things, in a few cases small things, that just irked me, and took away from my enjoyment of the show. I'm glad the ECW Originals involved got one more chance to say goodbye (and pick up a paycheck), but for me, it is long past time to move on. Again, that is my perspective and my opinion and I am entitled to it, just as every fan is entitled to theirs.
Here are my thoughts on the show, I'm sure you have your own, and I invite you to share them with me.
I certainly agree that Dixie Carter and TNA deserve thanks for giving Tommy Dreamer the chance to put this show together and have control of it, but over the last two weeks it has gotten rather excessive and the trend continued on the pre-show and during the PPV. We get it, everyone is grateful for the chance, but at some point it needs to be about the show, not thanking those responsible.
The opening "slide show" video was really well done, and the voiceovers gave you a nice mix of nostalgia and excitement going into the show.
Taz' promo was phenomenal, and he touched upon a lot of great points. For those of us that were around for the original ECW, we know it was about a hell of a lot more than just violence. From the days of Malenko-Benoit-Guerrero to Crazy-Tajiri-Guido, ECW always had great wrestling matches on their shows, not just steel chairs and tables. Taz also brought up the "haters" and there will always be those people that "don't get it" when it comes to what ECW meant to the wrestling business.
Before we get into the first match, we should probably address something that was annoying, but at the same time unavoidable and that was the need to change the names of performers and not mention "ECW" during the broadcast. Hands were tied here, folks. If the show was going to be aired on PPV, intellectual property owned by WWE could not be infringed upon. I don't think the name changes really mattered much to the fans, but the decision to refer to ECW as the "Philadelphia based promotion" was, to me, disrespectful of what the company was. ECW was a lot more than just a local wrestling company, and ran a lot more places than just Philly. Calling it the "Hardcore promotion" works a lot better.
I'm not sure what TNA was going for with the "blue light" look during the matches. Was it a tip of the hat to ECW's sometimes poor lighting of venues? I guess they just wanted to make the Impact Zone look different for this show. It was a tad distracting at first, but that quickly wore off.
The opening six-man tag felt very thrown together, although I cracked up for Mike Tenay saying Simon Diamond & Swinger were mad at the FBI for the latter getting a tag title shot ten years ago at Hammerstein Ballroom. I expected Guido and Kid Kash to carry the action here, and for the brief time they were in the ring, they were great. However, in ECW, all of these guys (except Kash) were usually heels, so it seemed like a weird dynamic for a dance off segment (especially without the Blue Meanie around). So, the FBI ended up becoming the babyfaces, with Big Sal taking the role of the Meanie, so to speak. We then got the Kid Kash dive, and a slew of finishers to end the bout. Not much of a match, but TNA should probably take a good look at Guido and Kash going forward.
I'll cover the "Where Are They Now?" segments all at once. I liked them. It was nice to see Tod Gordon, Gary Wolfe and the Blue Meanie get a chance to thank the fans, and the one later in the show with Francine was fantastic. It was awesome to see her with her daughter, obviously very happy with her life and proud of her career. So often you hear about people "holding on" to the past, and it was cool to see how Francine has moved on with her life. She looked good too!
In contrast, I felt the "I remember" segments were mostly a waste. There were some good nuggets in there, like Matt Mogagn talking about being a bouncer at Bar A in New Jersey where ECW ran a show, and Kazarian talking about going to ECW events while being trained by Killer Kowalski, but some of those they interviewed obviously had very limited ECW knowledge or exposure to the product. I would have liked them to talk to guys like Homicide, Jay Lethal and Jeff Hardy who followed the product more closely.
The backstage bit with Al Snow and BV2.0 was a hodge-podge of inside jokes and silliness that you either found funny, confusing or dumb. Mocking the fact they couldn't say "ECW" was fine, but the replacement Meanie was dumb (especially since we had just seen the real one). The appearance of Lupus was also bizarre, as he looked completely different (I don't even know if it was the same guy), and let's be honest, a lot of ECW fans don't even remember him!
2 Cold Scorpio vs. C.W. Anderson was a solid match between two people from different ECW eras, as Scorpio's run with the company was over by the time Anderson was having his time with ECW. Scorpio still pulls off great highspots, and Anderson looked crisp with his trademark spinebuster and left hand. A perfectly good undercard match, and I enjoyed it.
Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso discussing the change in opponent from Jerry Lynn to Sabu was fine, but I think they could have done it differently, like maybe have RVD be informed his new opponent was Sabu, rather than him choosing Sabu (even if that is the truth). Still, it was cool to see Fonzie still "calling it right down the middle, daddy".
I thought Stevie Richards wasn't going to be bringing out the BV2.0 with him for his match? The bout with PJ Polaco was okay, but the crowd was dead for it. Richards doing the Kevin Nash-style mannerisms got no reaction, and the crowd really turned on having the Meanie imposter at ringside. It's a shame, as I was hoping Richards would be able to show TNA what they are missing out on here. The post-match angle with Sandman was a disappointment. While I didn't expect an Enter Sandman entrance, I certainly thought we'd get more than that. At least one beer can smashed on the forehead. They also cut away awfully quick, just as the fans were showing Sandman some love.
Rhino vs. Al Snow vs. Brother Runt was solid, but too short. All three men looked fine, but the match was essentially a few big bumps by Runt and some comedy spots. The crowd seemed a little more receptive to this than the previous match.
Mick Foley's promo was fine, and I got a laugh out of him reading Hulk Hogan's book. Foley does have a history with Dreamer and Raven, but I would have liked it if he had cut a promo or two about this prior to tonight to build up his role a bit more. The way it came off on TV last week, Foley had issues with Raven, not Dreamer, so how was he an unbiased referee?
Axl Rotten and "Kahoneys" enter (and I loved the way Balls reacted to his new name) and surprisingly, they had Balls do the mic work. For those that don't remember, Axl Rotten cut great live promos in ECW, and I thought it was a shame he didn't get the mic. Joel Gertner and Team 3D entered, and this was one of the true highlights of the show. Joel Gertner cut a classic "Quintessential Studmuffin" introduction that I absolutely popped for. It was the first time the whole show where if you closed your eyes, you really could travel back in time for a moment. Just great stuff, and given how Joel was (mis)used at One Night Stand, I was happy to see this.
Sadly, I felt the match that followed was more a parody of the old ECW brawls than anything else. The fact that Mike Tenay and Taz were cracking jokes during it didn't help matters, and while stuff like the lightsaber duel was funny, it really all came off like "Hey, we're doing a recreation of the old ECW brawls" and it wasn't to be taken seriously. The Gangstas showing up was a nice surprise, but then after all the chair shots, flaming tables and staple gun spots... they all just stop and hug. I get that they were having their "moment" but it killed the suspension of disbelief for me. Some just got put through a flaming table, someone just got blasted with a staple gun but, hey, it's all good! That is why I felt it was more a bizarre parody tribute than anything else. At least the crowd was back into the show.
Now, after that "pull back the curtain" moment, we're supposed to go back into "believing" things with Raven's promo and that he really does despise Tommy Dreamer. I think that irked me more than anything else. Yes, we know wrestling is a work, but we don't need it thrust in our faces. Rambo doesn't stop in the middle of shooting his machine gun to remind us he is really actor Sylvester Stallone, then go back to shooting.
I thought it was nice of them to give thanks to Joey Styles. Although I wonder what WWE thought of it all.
Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven did a "classic" Dreamer-Raven match, with a lot of the same spots they did during their feud, like the drop toe hold into the chair and the use of the street sign. It probably best presented the "trip down memory lane" vibe they were going for with the show. I thought having Dreamer's daughter at ringside so Dixie Carter could "send them away" when the action got violent was bizarre (and a bit silly). Were they not expecting a Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven match to get violent? The use of the Meanie impersonator and Lupus detracted from the match, and the crowd didn't seem to care for them either. I would have liked something a little more "ECW related" in the run-ins, like maybe Stevie Richards coming out and doing a turn or something. Mick Foley pulling out Socko was a "groan" moment for me, since Socko was a WWE gimmick, not an ECW one. Of course, we had Beulah/Teresa get involved in the end, which was fitting, and Raven won another one from Dreamer, which was also fitting, given Raven always beat Dreamer back in the day. For a "final battle" it was a tad underwhelming, but for 2010, it was better than expected (save for the run-ins).
The Gangstas bit with Jeremy Borash and So Cal Val was cute, in a disturbing way (at least for Borash).
Much like the Joey Styles segment, it was nice that they gave the tip of the hat to Paul Heyman. That said, it is obvious Heyman wasn't interested in being a part of the show, otherwise he would have been there.
That leaves us with Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu. While Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn would have been a fast paced match filled with cool sequences, with RVD and Sabu it was going to be a spotfest. That said, it was a pretty cool spotfest, and Sabu showed he can still recapture some of that old magic that made him an underground sensation in the 90's. I felt it was easily the best match of the show, and given all the things that irked me about the presentation, I was glad that things ended on an "up" note for me. I also loved that Sabu sold the frog splash and the effects of the match, even during the post-match hugging. It came off a lot more "real" than the "stop and hug" that ended the tag match earlier.
Of course, the show couldn't end without thanking Dixie Carter... again. I didn't mind them doing it at the end of the show, but I actually think that is the kind of thing that should be done off camera. Again, just my opinion.
As someone who loved ECW, I am glad these guys got a chance to say goodbye (again), pick up a payday, and in a few cases, get some exposure for the next stage of their careers. As someone who loved ECW, I can also say I am done with the reunions and nostalgia trip. Time to move forward.
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