Independent World World Heavyweight Title & World Brass Knuckles Title Double Title Match
From FMW ENTERTAINMENT WRESTLING LIVE SUPER MATCH IN YOKOHAMA Commercial Tape
Hayabusa is a very good pure worker with awesome high spots, but he's no better than average in any other aspect of wrestling. Luckily, Gannosuke does understand how to wrestle, and he instilled enough of the other aspects to make the moves have some meaning. This was a basic match as far as the storyline and psychology went, but simple and effective works, and is great psychology by FMW standards. This was still mainly work, but it was an exciting and dramatic match with tons of near falls and some of the best high spots you'll ever see in a heavyweight title match.
Hayabusa kneecap dropkicked Gannosuke
about three minutes into the match. Gannosuke blew out his knee legit early
in this match, and missed a considerable amount of time. My guess based on Gannosuke's
selling of the move was that it was 
the first knee spot, the kneecap dropkick, that he
blew it out on. Hayabusa launched an all out attack on Gannosuke's knee. Gannosuke
did a great job of putting this over, partly because he can sell but partly
because he was really in a great deal of pain.
"So many guys stop selling when they are on offense, but Gannosuke was really good here at remembering the past damage. Rey Jr. is good at it as well, but it makes you wonder how much is legit knee pain versus work. I've gotten hurt in a match and kept working. During the match, the adrenaline keeps you from feeling the pain at times. Sometimes it takes me 2 days to feel all that I've done to myself. When it comes to guys who have a history of knee problems, they know how to sell the knee even when they are working. Terry Funk is a master of this," wrote Sam Panico.
Hayabusa didn't really put any effort into his submissions, and it's very hard for a masked wrestler to show intensity even if they try.
"I disagree a bit. Liger, Sasuke, and Santo all get out great emotions even with the hood on. Check out Liger, especially when he is on offense. His body language is simply amazing," wrote Sam.
Hayabusa seemed rather bored during the early portion because he wasn't doing his spots.
"Exactly, which is why I'm not into him as much. He is more interested in high spots than pacing and working body parts. Then again, I'm a mark for the Andersons, who would work the arm forever," wrote Sam.
Perhaps the reason his submissions looked weak and uninspired was that he knew Gannosuke was really hurt and he didn't want to make things any worse?
"Bill Wilcox once KO'd Lightning Kid (X-Pac) way back in the day in a match that Kid was supposed to go over in. Wilcox was really professional, so instead of taking the cheap win, he brought Kid back in the ring and made it look like X-Pac, who was totally unconscious, hit an inside cradle for the win. As far as leg injuries go, it's very easy to work the damaged leg and make it look legit. You have to be tender, but you can still be believable and then allow the damaged part to heal, hopefully..." wrote Sam.
The problem with the match is that if is going over, he's going to beat you with a flying move or his falcon arrow, not a knee submission. I think you have to cut these guys some slack though because the knee was just something that accidentally happened. They did their best to adapt to the situation even though it didn't play into Hayabusa's move set at all.
"I thought Busa should've stayed on the leg more, but he wasn't too adept at working it over in the first place. The fact that they didn't tease it as a way for Hayabusa to win hurt the match as far as reaching a higher level," wrote Michael.
Gannosuke came back at 7:25, turning Hayabusa's lariat into a wakigatame. He proceeded to attack Hayabusa's arm. The roles were reversed here, but the outcome was the same in that Gannosuke was really putting a lot into his holds, while Hayabusa was only doing a decent job of selling them.
Hayabusa came back at 9:30 with a swandive kneecap dropkick, but Gannosuke avoided his quebrada and maintained control. Gannosuke used Hayabusa's falcon arrow, which was the move Hayabusa won their 4/29/97 match with, on him for a near fall. Gannosuke was selling his bad knee in between holds, with the knee injury "costing him chances" to win the match or put together a flurry.
"I love that. When somebody kicks out and they have been working on a body part, I go right back to selling that part and ‘feed' it to them. By doing this, it shows that I was good enough to go on offense, but now I am too frustrated and hurt to continue on offense. I'm rewarding them for their previous work by giving them them this advantage over me," wrote Sam.
Hayabusa soon made a comeback, which included an awesome tope con hilo. Gannosuke pulled his Gannosuke clutch (Kido clutch) out of nowhere, which was the move he pinned Tanaka with on 1/6/98 to win both titles, but Hayabusa retained control and did his firebird splash for a near fall. Hayabusa got a near fall with his falcon arrow then tried to put Gannosuke away with his phoenix splash, but Gannosuke cut him off.
"I liked the way the match built, and the finishing sequences were tremendous. Lots of false finishes, which I loved. I went to this show with someone who had really never seen FMW before. I kept saying to him, ‘there's the Falcon Arrow, that's the end.' Oops, wrong again," wrote Glenn.
The match became excellent because not only were they doing great spots, but they were kicking out of their finishers late so you thought this finisher could do it and they held off the answer until the last fraction of a second.
"I try to do that too, but you have to have a really great ref, and sometimes even then it's dangerous. Our ref in Steel City is one of the best around, but one day guys were calling spots on the mat and they didn't even notice the three count. This was not the planned finish. The ref didn't want to look bad and hesitate and neither worker paid attention, so the finish, and coincidentally two or three months of booking, went into the toilet," wrote Sam.
Gannosuke tried his Michinoku driver II, but his bad knee gave out, probably legitimately, when he did it so it didn't do nearly as much damage as normal. Gannosuke was able to hit it cleanly about a minute and a half later, but the combination of the knee injury and the toll of the match prevented him from making a cover.
Hayabusa took control and got a 2 9/10 count with his falcon arrow.
"I was surprised that Gannosuke kicked out of the falcon arrow, but I didn't see the drama that you saw. The near falls were hurt by the lack of heat. The crowd was dead for the whole match since the show sucked so bad. I did think the match was very good, just not as good as it could've been had the crowd been into it," wrote Michael.
Gannosuke was again going to cut off his phoenix splash, but this time Hayabusa saw it coming so he kicked Gannosuke. He then tried to settle for a swandive elbow, but Gannosuke punched him in the face in midair and both sold to put over the toll of the match.
"So many U.S. fans think that double knockdown spots and putting over the toll of the match is just being lazy and resting. Now, to an extent I won't deny this because working 3-5 minute TV matches do no good for your stamina, and during a double KO spot, both of us are getting some wind as the ref checks us. They are also good because we can call spots through the ref until we are both on our feet. All of this aside though, I believe that this is an essential spot in title matches to get over the importance of the match. In general, I feel that title matches should be a lot stiffer and have more selling, but the reason I feel the double KO spot is necessary is that the challenger should have some kind of game plan. In my last match, I worked the head and neck to set up a neckbreaker. When the neckbreaker worked, I went for it again, but got it reversed, so now I have ‘learned my lesson' and need a new gameplan. I'm down because he reversed me and he's down because he's still hurting from the previous neckbreaker. The next time we fight it may be a new move that I build for in my offense, but if what I hope will be the finisher doesn't work, I'll go to a new move like my Kido clutch or Million Dollar Buster instead of going back to the same thing again and having it cost me. If this hits, it may be enough to get the pin," wrote Sam.
Hayabusa nearly caught Gannosuke in a Dragon suplex hold, but Gannosuke kicked him low then thunder fire powerbombed him for a 2 3/4 count. Gannosuke got another 2 3/4 count with his northern lights suplex. Gannosuke tried his Michinoku driver II again, but Hayabusa slipped out and was now able to deliver a Dragon suplex. With Gannosuke stunned, Hayabusa was finally able to phoenix splash Gannosuke for the win. Hayabusa became the 5th Independent World champ & 14th Brass Knuckles champ.
A really good and gutsy performance by Gannosuke. In the perfect world, the execution would have been a little better, but in the perfect world Gannosuke doesn't get injured. With all the spots in this match, I would have liked to have seen Hayabusa hit one or two more big spots before he got the pin. At least the Dragon suplex was made important by an earlier tease and the phoenix splash is one of Hayabusa's main finishers, which was teased on more than one occasion. It's kind of disheartening when a big show sellouts, but even the quality matches with over performers don't have any real heat. 21:45. ****
Overall, this FMW PPV was very much like a WWF PPV. The undercard had a lot of bad, if not really bad, matches (they were edited down, but even in that form they looked terrible). There were a few good ones like Masato Tanaka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (a lot worse than expected though) and Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Yukihiro Kanemura (a lot better than expected). The main event was worlds better than anything else on the show. If one of these guys was Austin or Michaels, people would be raving about this match and bragging about their greatness because they "saved the show" and thus made it a "thumbs up." However, since this is "garbage wrestling" the same people are quick to dismiss the whole show as crap. I've seen all these vaunted WWF matches from this year that are supposed to be great, and there was one **** match in the whole lot, Austin vs. Dude Love 5/31/98.
"Agreed, and lately WWF buy rates have gone up even though their PPV's flat out swallow and even Austin hasn't been able to pull out one of his trademark ‘****' matches. Maybe The Chef and Captain Suck It should have a ladder match on every show because, after all, that ‘***** classic' made SummerSuck a great show," wrote Michael
Austin vs. Dude had a ton of gimmicks, choreographed spots, and booking swerves, but of course was deemed a great brawl instead of "garbage wrestling."
"With Austin's injury, garbage wrestling is a necessity. It's not an easy style to work, but hurt, it's easier than doing reversals and a multiitude of bumps because you can just stand there and brawl. I mean, Onita's days as a great worker (and it's debatable if there ever were any) were over when FMW started, but he was the king of getting heat. Look at any of his matches, his charisma was well suited for this style, as is Austin's and Raven's among others," wrote Sam.
So let's figure this out, we have FMW who popularized "garbage wrestling" and invented a lot of things within that genre such as several different death matches. We have W*ING and IWA Japan, who copied FMW's ideas, but took the insanity of the gimmick matches to the next level. We have ECW, who copied both of them, but made the product far "raunchier" by adding the swearing and scantily clad women who are almost always mistreated and often abused. Then you have the WWF, who brought ECW's "raunchiness" to prime time television and in some ways took it to the next level. Somehow the result of all this is that FMW, W*ING, & IWA Japan are seen as "garbage" or "porn wrestling." To an extent this is accurate, and I'm not going to tell you I've seen a lot of quality from FMW this year or any quality from Big Japan at any point in the history of their promotion, which I will probably vote for as Worst Promotion, with the exception of their junior tournament and an occasional Tajiri match.
"I really liked FMW this year, as booking became more important than HEY WATCH THIS SPOT! I can watch any Big Japan tape, in fast forward," wrote Sam.
However, I don't really like the term garbage wrestling because it essentially calls all gimmick and death matches crap, lumping Ozaki vs. Kansai in the same category as Kojika vs. Pogo. I can't say I'm an Atsushi Onita fan, but he had several death matches that were far better than crap even though the wrestling itself was typically poor. Sure the powerbombs and "ram headbutts" were horrible, but some of his matches were well built and incredibly dramatic. Calling an entire promotion garbage also is a very narrow-minded view. For instance, it dismisses the work that a guy like Silver King did in IWA Japan simply because he did it on the undercard of a show with a death match on top. While I don't recall him having any match of the years there, anyone who can make guys the Head Hunters look good earns an A in my book.
ECW is great to their hardcore fans and the uninitiated who just mark out for the spots, angles, and blood. Obviously some of their fans are intelligent, but it seems like there are 500 ECW fans who have absolutely no clue about anything that makes wrestling good or bad per every 1 that has some clue.
"You are really underestimating this number. It's more like 1 in every 1,000 or 10,000 have a clue. ECW fans are under the delusion that they must say their promotion is the best to prove their loyalty. I mean, even the smartest ECW loyalist would say Van Dam is as good as Kawada or Misawa. Their opinions are all worthless," wrote Hadi.
"I disagree with Hadi about Misawa & Kawada because most ECW fans wouldn't know or care who they were. What they like is not pacing or story, but cum shots of blood. If any wrestling should be called ‘porn,' it's ECW," wrote Sam.
"I think there is a strong element of truth to what Hadi says here. Loyalty can be taken too far, and I think the ECW attitude encourages this by pretending to be against everyone else (despite cooperating with WWF)," wrote Miko.
"I totally agree with Mike and Hadi on the smarkness of the ECW loyalists, but calling them fans is wrong. To me a fan isn't someone who gets off on his favorite wrestler taking ultra stiff chairshots to the head or blistering someone else with a VCR. If you really like someone, why would you want to see them take that kind of punishment? If ECW smarks and wrestlers really are the ‘family' they proclaim themselves to be then you'd think that they'd look out for ‘their own' and not force these guys to do what they do to get cheap heat. It seems that during the matches, the fans react more to the props used than to the wrestlers or the wrestling itself. I defy anyone to name one ECW worker that is over soley due to his talent," wrote Michael.
"I think Michael is taking this a little far. The wrestlers do what they do because ECW has taught the fans that ‘tough' wrestlers should take chairshots like that. I don't think the responsibility of the federation can be disregarded," wrote Miko.
"She's right, the promotion is also to blame for this, but if the smarks got sick of seeing the same gimmick spots over and over again then they wouldn't pop for them and the wrestlers would have to do something else to get pops. It's pretty sad that as much as Balls has ‘improved' and as great as Tanaka is the only time people care about them is when they are getting blistered with chair shots to the head. The way it is now, if someone eases up on a chairshot they get booed out of the building. ECW set a precedent for these guys and now they are forced to live up to it," wrote Michael.
"An example of what Michael is saying is how under Lance Storm was at the first PPV with his weak chairshots. ECW is based on can you top this, and if every ECW fan saw that tape of what happened to poor Mass Transit that would be it. You'd have to shoot somebody to get over again. After that, you'd have to shoot your opponent in the face to get over. At least it would thin out the bad talent," wrote Sam.
To some extent, I agree with both Michael & Miko. As a fan of any wrestler, I want them to have a long peak and I'd also like them to be relatively healthy (the poundings are part of the sport and they add up over time, so no wrestler whose career amounted to anything will retire in the same health as he/she began wrestling in) when they retire so they can have a good afterlife even though I'll probably never, or almost never, see them again unless they remain in the sport in another capacity (or WWF brings them back to ‘honor' them by trying to have Jerry Lawler embarrass them). Taking all these stiff chair shots to the head, where there is really nothing your opponent can do to "fake it,"is just begging for some form of brain damage. Of course, no one chairshot is likely to cause permanent injury, but it's a cumulative thing. When attending a show, I don't recall every popping for a stiff chairshot and have no plans to. Wrestlers and promoters alike may have a lot of flaws, but I haven't heard of many who were deaf. Anything that gets pops in this business is considered to be working. When a high spot is working then more wrestlers will do it if they can, very often in fact, and they will try to raise the bar to top their fellow wrestler if that is humanly possible. As a promoter, your main goal is to make $$$$$$$, so obviously you are going to encourage whatever you know works. The thing is, almost anything can work in wrestling if it's properly pushed so promotions don't "have to" take a certain direction, and perhaps the hardest thing to do is reverse a trend once it has been set in motion and the bar has been raised several times. It is certainly possible, and no one can manipulate their sheep better than Heyman, so he could definitely change the direction of his promotion over time if he chose to. I'm not going to hold my breath though because first he'd have to want to change, and so far purchasing his PPV's that even his marks can't defend hasn't been A Regret They'll Never Forget, so he has no need to change.
"I disagree about his marks not being able to defend them. They do defend ECW's PPV's, no matter how bad they are. Most recently, they tried to claim that Nova & Meanie vs. Roadkill & Doring was a ‘hot opener' when the match was BAD. The fact is that Nova sucks. He has two or three high spots and not much else. If anything, he should be glad he was left off the meaningless PWI 500 because he's gotten far more recognition by being excluded. If he made it, he'd be nothing more than a name on a page with a bunch of other names, probably all ranked in the wrong order. It's almost like Pete Rose being banned from the baseball Hall Of Fame. If he was allowed in today then no one would care anymore, and he'd have nothing to bitch about, so he'd have to go away. By being excluded it's that ‘us against them' deal that ECW lives off off," wrote Michael.
Even when Heyman had some of the best wrestlers in the world, Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, Misterio Jr., Juventud, and Psicosis, for example, how many times were these guys in the main event instead of the "hardcore" wrestlers, and how many world titles did they have? While I will agree that it is hard to build a promotion around wrestlers whose first priority/committment lies elsewhere (part time can be good, for instance, Vader would be a much bigger draw if AJ only used him on their meaningful shows, all their Budokan Hall and Tokyo Dome shows, as well as maybe an occasional special appearance at the 5,000 or so seat arenas), but I highly doubt things would have been any different if they were "ECW boys." If Heyman were to get Benoit back, he might well push him to the moon, but I think you'd be wrong to expect Benoit's style in ECW to be much different from the style he worked against The Taskmaster. Certainly there is nothing wrong with that style because Benoit can be great at any style, and his brawls with Taskmaster were definitely quality until they became the same thing over and over. However, the point is Benoit as ECW champion would certainly lead to far better matches, but you'd be wrong to think it would mark a departure from the "hardcore" style on top.
"I think ultimately it comes down to that the fans pop for it. The wrestlers are willing to take those kind of stiff shots. It's vaguely similar to a boxer with great skills going out and slugging it out match after match because the fans like to see that style more and it makes him more money. The ECW wrestlers don't have the great skills, but like the boxer they are taking a lot more blows to the head and down the road it's going to take it's toll. ECW wants to do this style, presumably because they feel it helps make them distinct from the big two, or at least it did until WWF started copying it, but by that point ECW was already ‘locked in' to this style. I do think part of the reason ECW pushes the ‘hardcore' style is that it doesn't take talented guys to work it. Not everyone can do a springboard moonsault, but anyone willing to take the pain can swing chairs and get hit by them," wrote Miko.
I agree with Miko, this is one style that you are capable of doing whether you are really green or a 25 year veteran. It takes talented wrestlers to work hard chair shots into a good brawl, but since the majority of the ECW fans are there for the spots themselves and could care less about psychology, that is if they even would know it if they saw it, guys like Dreamer, Sandbumb, D-Von, New Jackass, and the rest are cool for just taking and dishing out the "hardcore" gimmick spots. If Heyman could find more guys who could pull off cool flying moves even to Esther Moreno or Sabu proficiency, you can bet he'd roll them out there and come up with some more words that end in cidal to describe them.
"I hate ECW fans. Most of the workers I know do as well, but I won't name any names. The main reason is that an ECW crowd is not a wrestling crowd. You can't do heat spots or hope spots (when somebody is getting beat down and losing badly, they get a quick burst of offense before getting cut off) with these people as your audience. When people try to wrestle there now, they can't. It's like a guy who works a straight match is as ridiculous as an ECW ref who checks the guys for illegal objects. All you can do is kill each other. It's a heavy metal kid crowd, who is lured in by the promise of violence, blood, and sexy women, and at least gets the first two. I once saw a kid dip his ticket into an ECW wrestler's blood as a keepsake. I walked up to him and was like, umm, is this interesting to you? The other thing we hate is that some fans go to ECW just to chant. They think THEY are the show with their chants and attitude. Let THEM get in the ring and get hurt trying to put on a good show and we'll never have to hear ‘YOU FUCKED UP' again. Poor J.T. Smith was nearly dead after he missed that one dive, but instead of being concerned the ‘fans' just laughed," wrote Sam.
These "loyalists" (wow, has a lot of text been added since I attempted
to make my transitions to get in and out of these lists) are the ones who spurt
out all kinds of ludicrous statements such as: 
1) Rob Van Dam & Sabu are two of the best wrestlers in the world
"If you judge soley on blown spots and weak looking punches then RVD is the God of Wrestling. Apparently some people now think that RVD has really improved because he gave such a ‘great' performance at the latest PPV. All I saw was the same spot-blowing machine that makes him a very poor man's Chris Jericho, of course minus Jericho's ability to actually be entertaining and make you laugh," wrote Michael.
"Wrestling is an art, and like all art, there are different levels and subjectivities. Liger is a Picasso, while Van Dam is like a big eyed Keane painting," wrote Sam.
2) ECW is hardcore wrestling with some great technicians like Shane Douglas
"What exactly is hardcore wrestling? When a guy like New Jack has probably never used 3 different wrestling holds in any of his ECW matches, how can what he does be a genre of wrestling? I think everyone realizes that Douglas constantly trashes Flair and Michaels because he knows he'll never be considered as great as most perceive those two to be. It's far worse when people try to defend Dreamer by saying he can wrestle when he has to," wrote Michael.
Yeah, especially if you have witnessed the horror of Dreamer trying to be a "technical" wrestler in IWCCW. He's the only guy I've ever seen do a Russian leg sweep where his opponent didn't hit the ground.
"I disagree on the concept of ‘Hardcore' not being a genre of pro wrestling, just because they don't know many wrestling holds. If we start judging by that standard there are guys in the "big two" who also would be in trouble. Pro wrestling ultimately is not a set of holds, it's stylized, simulated violence with pre-determined finishes, normally acted out in a wrestling ring in front of a live crowd. How it is acted out shows what style a match and/or wrestler is working. ‘garbage,' ‘Lucha,' ‘American,' ‘hardcore,' or whatever. New Jack's wrestling is a style simply because all wrestling falls into some category, and they just call his hardcore," wrote Miko.
3) Only the toughest and best can wrestle in ECW
"First of all, the toughest aren't those who can take the most chair shots to the head and keep getting up. The toughest are those like Lance Storm who are man enough to try to get over without taking that shit. The best what wrestle in ECW? Perhaps the best ‘woman abusers,' but certainly not the best wrestlers," wrote Michael.
4) ECW wrestlers are a family and everyone busts their ass to give you "good" matches
I agree for the most part that the effort is there, but...
"You can bust your ass as hard as you want and still have a shit match. We in Steel City try harder, but you can try harder and still do all the wrong things," wrote Sam.
"ECW wrestlers are a family until some of them are smart enough to take the money and run. At that point the ECW fans make them out to be the prodigal sons by turning their back on them and chanting ‘you sold out.' They may bust their asses in the ring, but any human being is capable of busting their ass. Working hard doesn't make a bad match a good match, period," wrote Michael.
"The ‘You Sold Out' chant seems like it is also encouraged by the ECW and it's confrontational ‘you are with us or against us' attitude. Not to say fans are stupid for chanting that, but that those are exactly the fans ECW is trying to draw. As for working hard, I expect a certain degree of effort because this is what they are paid to do. However, just working hard doesn't make a great wrestler any more than it makes a great basketball player or a great anything else," wrote Miko.
As far as their confrontational attitude goes, Styles constant bashing of the "big 2" is pathetic, and the "us vs. them" thing in general is just as lame. Now, at some points this has been hilarious, for instance when Austin was making fun of Uncle Eric, but what is the point of "feuding" with a promotion like WCW that would never work with them in 1000 years? Sometimes a grandstand challenge can be a good thing that can help create or reassert the myth that your company or one of your wrestlers is "the real deal," but that was never the point in ECW and when Styles rolls out 20 cuts a week they go from being a good point on why the opposition sucks to a habit that isn't worth noticing. I realize their point is to make us think their product is superior, but how many viewers are they still fooling and how does that compare to the number of viewers who laugh at this each week, or at least did before they heard it so many times the joke wore off?
I don't like the "You Sold Out" chants because it once again shows the fans don't give a damn about the wrestlers as people and/or have no knowledge of the business. In baseball and basketball, I think to an extent that calling the players greedy is fair. I mean, you'll have guys leaving their team that they supposedly still really want to play for to make $2 million more on a 7 year $70 million contract or something ludicrous like that (me thinks Bernie will be gone, for way more money than this of course, and good riddance because once he's exposed for what he really is in Arizona I won't have to hear all the annoying Yankee fans try to tell me this guy is better than Lofton, Lankford, and so on). When the $2 million difference is something like going to WCW for $2.5 million a year to work a far less tolling style or staying in ECW for $0.5 million a year where there is a far greater risk of injury, I don't see how you can fault the guys for taking the money. It is a business after all, and one where it's been proven that a big money offer might be a once in a lifetime occurrence. Now, you can certainly say they were stupid to go to WWF or WCW because they got a guarantee of money, but it was quite obvious there was no spot for them in this company so they would become just another glorified jobber. Making a bad career move and "selling out" are two entirely different things though.
"I disagree with the sports part because the owners don't have any loyalty to the players either. As far as I'm concerned, you make as much as you can while you're still able to because once you retire you don't get paid anymore. Regardless of how much you are making, $2 million is $2 million and if someone is willing to pay you more then you'd be stupid not to except it unless there is a specific reason for it, like not wanting to play in NY because of the media or getting an extra year or two on a contract or a no trade clause or something else similar. Wrestling is a business, and it's much easier to get a career ending injury in wrestling, so you are more inclined to go where the money is no matter how you are used. Look at Public Enemy. They could have went back to ECW, but they resigned with WCW to occassionally be used as jobbers on Nitro. It's much easier working in WCW than ECW, so if you actually care about a wrestler, more than just seeing him in a ring, then you should be ‘happy' he's in WCW. That being said, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be pissed about how he is being used, but unfortunately you rarely get to have your cake and eat it too." wrote Michael.
Having a wrestler you like in WCW is slightly better than having them be retired. I almost haven't noticed Ultimo Dragon is gone, which is one sad comment since he's been one of my real favorites since the first time I ever saw him. No real wrestler can even scratch the surface in the amount of times guys WCW guys are allotted for their entire "match."
5) Heyman is a true booking genius because his ideas are so original
"He made Public Enemy look like a good, or at least servicable, tag team. He made 911 look unbeatable. His ideas for better or, well, screw that, worse, always show up in the big 2. The abuse of women, the run-ins, the rules out the window, and so on. The beating of women could take me hours to debate. In the words of Anton Lavey, when one says he hasn't the words, his vocabularity isn't big enough. I don't have the vocabulary to say how mad it makes me," wrote Sam.
"If Heyman is such a booking genius then explain why his best talent, guys like Jerry Lynn, Tommy Rogers, Paul Diamond, and Tracy Smothers were/are all buried. Some of his ideas are good, but if he was so good at getting guys over then how come most of the fans don't really care when any of these stars leave and seem to get off on chanting ‘You Sold Out' at them? Everyone in ECW is dispensable, which is good or bad depending on how you look at it. It's not saying anything for Heyman when a big star like Fullington leaves and no one cares. It does mean that these guys aren't half as over as they everyone seems to think they are. Heyman could throw practically anyone out there and as long as they use props, profanity, and juice they'll get over because that is what the drunks come to see. One example of this, who I'm not saying is a total no talent, is the former Portuguese Man of War Aldo Motoya. The same fans who would have laughed at him in WWF now call him ‘the hottest young wrestler in the business.' He has gotten a little better wrestling wise, but the reason he is over is that his character is a blatant rip off of Austin, Raven, and X-Pac. He's not half as talented or over as any of them, but the fans like the gimmick so they will settle for second rate. I will say this for Heyman, no one can work a crowd like him because in one night he got them to hate Sabu and love Taz, which shows how gullible the smarks really are. Now they love everyone Heyman wants them to love, but, of course, only until Heyman tells them to ‘think' differently," wrote Michael.
"He should be renamed Justin Adequate," wrote Sam.
"I do think that Heyman has a clue how to book and get guys over, but there is a point here. Heyman has created a product that is more based on the wrestling style than purely on the wrestlers themselves. The fans have been trained to react in certain ways to certain things, and are given the impression that they are part of an ‘elite' because they are ECW fans," wrote Miko.
"Yeah, like all cults ECW fans embrace closed-mindedness in the shell of open-mindedness and an outlaw image, when in truth they are as close-minded as those they claim oppress them," wrote Sam.
I definitely agree that the fans first and foremost come to see the ECW style. Whether you possessed any of the characteristics they like when you wrestled elsewhere is relatively unimportant. What is important is that you are "capable" of doing and saying what they want once you get to the Bingo Hall. That said, the reason for this is not that a bunch of people woke up one morning and said, "I want to see wrestling with a lot of blood, swearing, and half naked chicks," rather, it's what's been engrained in their heads as great, cool, hardcore, Extreme, etc. throughout the existence of Extreme Championship Wrestling. This is not to say that the ECW fans didn't like these things before, I mean what guy doesn't want to see a half naked chick if she is attractive (which to me lets out the majority of women in American wrestling, but nonetheless), but that a wrestling promotion wasn't where they turned to find it.
6) Heyman made Benoit, Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, Misterio Jr., Psicosis, Juventud, etc. into stars
"To quote the ECW fan in my house, THEY STOLE THEM FROM US! I sat in this crowd and heard them catcall Psicosis and Rey Jr. before their first ECW match. Then, they blew the roof off! The next time they were there, I thought I would hear them get some respect, but the catcalls kept up until they went to their highspots. Eddy got such a nice sendoff, but fans were still chanting anti-Mexican stuff at him the whole time," wrote Sam.
7) ECW is a great live product, but doesn't translate well onto television
I think this line of thinking is closer to, when I'm not "Fully Loaded" even "Heyman editing" cannot make these matches look good.
8) Joey "Tiger bomb" Styles is still the best announcer in the business
"He has been so exposed since they went to PPV that only Fagger Lee Marshall and anyone in the WWF not named J.R. is worse than Jo-Jo. Shilling up the wazoo, altering the established names of moves to name them after ECW wrestlers who didn't invent them, and overselling everything in his trademark grating voice has made the mute button the greatest thing since sliced bread," wrote Michael.
The "space flying Kronus drop" among others is beyond disgraceful, but there's no way in hell that Schillin' Joey is worse than Lyin' Tony, whose nose would stretch from Georgia to Tokyo if he was Pinocchio. Remember, this is the guy who recently said "Of all the great matches Hogan has had in his career," not to mention tried to claim an average (***1/4 ROFTLMAO) Goldberg vs. Page match was "the greatest world title match he'd ever seen."
"Tony's this is the best match of all time...even better than the former best of all time from last week is just awful," wrote Miko.
ECW is crap to most anyone else, even the WWF fans who think the same ECW-esque material is great when they see it in the WWF. Most people see ECW as a promotion being held back by the swearing, scantily clad women, and certain angles they run, which is at worst partially true because it keeps them in late time slots or off tv all together. However, despite
1) delivering crap even though they have, in comparison to ECW and FMW, a basically unlimited supply of money to use the best talent
Wasn't it just the funniest thing when Vince was trying to claim that "Billionaire Ted" was trying to spend his poor little family owned company out of the business? It's just hilarious when people whine when they feel their "own" tactics are being used against them.
2) burying almost every talented worker they have
"Yeah, Vince is a creative genius. Just look at how over K-DX is. Look at how he destroyed one of the best, if not the best, monster of all-time in Vader. Look at how Mero got over after his wife turned into Dolly Parton. What about Owen's huge push to compensate for the departure of Bret? Good job Vinnie, you the man," wrote Michael.
3) having perhaps one good match per show when there's no reason they couldn't have several
"With their roster, they can't have quality matches no matter how much DM goes with the flow and overrates their matches," wrote Michael.
I agree with Michael to some extent because the guys who have a role, with the exceptions of overrated Austin, overrated Mick of the many names Foley, and vastly overrated King of Overexaggeration Michaels, suck in one way or another. However, the WWF has brought in plenty of guys who were delivering the goods elsewhere, right up until they entered the WWF in fact, only to have about zero very good matches in the WWF. Wrestlers do not forget how to work overnight or fall that fast without a major injury, so the problem obviously comes from above. Namely lack of push gives them no reason to work hard or lack of emphasis on having quality matches gives them no reason to worry about delivering the goods.
4) using a bunch of stiffs on top when anyone pushed could draw against Austin
"That's the way it was, the way it is, and the way it always will be because Vince has a fetish for big stiffs, and that's the bottom line. Austin could draw against a broom right now, but he keeps facing the same two or three guys over and over again. Even if he fueds with Maivia, Owen, Michaels, or HHH it's already something we've seen too much of. His only fresh opponent is Shamrock, and that would be a crappy match because Austin can't carry anyone anymore." wrote Michael.
"I have to say that WWF has done a much better job getting over some of their younger guys during this boom period than WCW has done, but Vince unquestionably likes the big stiffs," wrote Miko.
We can't forget that WCW has made that young lion Diamond Dallas Page a main eventer though.
"I can't argue with Miko about that, but who in the WWF is over because of their wrestling ability? Again, look at the Outlaws. They have the most over catch phrase on the planet right now, but once they shut up and the bell rings no one cares. It's like WWF fans come to hear the catch phrases and crotch chop themselves, but then they all go to the bathroom or concession stand when there is actual wrestling. Some guys in WCW are getting over due to their talent, Kidman, Juvi in some areas, Saturn, and a few others, but since none of them are that good on the mic (not that they've been given the chance to be) they don't get the crowd response that the Outlaws do when they are introduced. Goldberg is over due to destroying almost everyone in under two minutes, but no one else gets that kind of push. For the majority of US wrestlers nowadays, mic skills make or break you, which is sad," wrote Michael.
I think things have degenerated to the point that no matter how pathetic what you do or say is, if performers go out there and beat it into the marks heads enough, they will think it's cool and start saying and/or doing it themselves. This must also be how Sheryl Crow is able to sell her pitiful records because what is any one of her songs beyond the same couple of lines and the same couple of beats over and over again?
5) marketing an adult product to a bunch of 5-year-olds
"I disagree here. While I condemn the crap that the WWF and ECW do, almost no one watches the WWF for their ‘wrestling' matches, so it's the parent's responsibility to know what their child is watching and either change the channel when the ‘bad' parts are coming up or just not let their kid watch any of it. Since it's fake, it's ‘okay' to have a guy use a gun on national TV twice in the last two years, just like it's ‘okay' for guns to be used on a million other television programs. The WWF's crap is so ludicrous that anyone who actually buys into it needs help anyway," wrote Michael.
"The Vampire guys are one of the best gimmicks in the WWF, simply because there is nothing disgusting or ‘adult' about them. They are corny, but fun to watch. If I had kids, I would have no problem letting them watch Edge, Gangrel and Christian. On the other hand, I think it is ridiculous to have a pimp as a face. A PIMP!! JEEZ! I would gladly put up with vampire nightmares rather than try to explain Val Venis or Godfather and his ho's," wrote Chris.
"I think it's rather amusing that people are puzzled about the reason Nitro has such a huge edge in female viewers. It's pretty obvious why that is the case, and also why WWF draws a more teenaged audience, despite focusing on supposedly ‘mature' and ‘adult' themes. What the WWF presents to me seems more like the classic male teenage rebellion themes, which I'll get into when talking about their storylines. To my mind WWF is more juvenile than ‘mature,' so it is wrong to call it an ‘adult' product. That is, unless someone can convince me that having a guy named Venis running around spraying people with a big pink supersoaker is the act of an adult," wrote Miko.
6) being by far the most sexist and racist promotion on the planet
According to Chris, sometime in the future a WWF ring announcement will go something like this "coming down the aisle, from Silicon Valley, California, weighing in at 120 lbs. and 38dddd!! Saaaaable!!"
"I agree, but Heyman is almost as much of a sexist as Vince. Actually, Heyman may be worse because violence against women is encouraged in ECW whereas Good Ol' J.R. usually acts disgraced by it. Thus, it's ‘okay' when it happens in WWF because they apologize for it while Heyman and his ‘family' enjoy it," wrote Michael.
"Sex appeal has a place in wrestling, no doubt, but there is a fine line between using it and abusing it and the WWF stomped over that line long ago. To me they are worse than ECW because of the constant theme of women being used as property. Only Chyna really seems to make a difference in matches that are not bad comedy," wrote Miko.
7) pulling stunts like nipple shots on their TV show and PPV that would have everyone saying Heyman had lost it if he had done the same thing (which in a way is true because at the moment WWF can get away with it and ECW couldn't)
"Hey, why use the pause button when WWF will show you the replay? At least Vince delivers what his fans want, and in wrestling that makes everything ‘okay.' At this point, the WWF as a whole is in the same dangerous situation that Cactus is in. It's not only Cactus playing can you top this with himself, but it's the entire league in one way or another, and one day it'll come back to haunt them," wrote Michael.
"The danger of anything done for shock value is that sooner or later it wears off and often there is backlash. I can kinda see why people love Sable so much because she's willing to strip down to nothing more than a G-string and see through lingerie. The problem with this is that once the fans are desensitized to that, there is nothing more she can take off without WWF going R-rated," wrote Miko.
"Eventually the WWF will have to either do enough to get an R-rating, or keep finding new women to parade out there because you can only see Sable barely dressed for so long until you get tired of her (or she melts) and want someone else," wrote Michael.
I disagree with Michael because people haven't noticed anything other than Sable's surgically "enhanced" chest in all this time, so it's not like they care that she already looks like an over fourty washed up stripper. As long as enough marks still find her appealing, and she doesn't explode or get so top heavy she keeps toppling over when they run her out in next to nothing, we are probably stuck with her for a quite a while. Luckily, no one lasts all that long in WWF.
8) doing the same things that are considered crap or bad ideas when FMW or ECW does them
"I think the difference is that people look at the WWF as wrestling and FMW and ECW as something different. The WWF isn't wrestling, and they don't even promote it anymore as anything other than a secondary form of ‘entertainment.' I don't see how anyone can lump FMW in with these groups because FMW has more wrestling, and at this point they are not relying on shock value to keep people hooked. I seriously doubt that if FMW brings the women back you'll see Kaori pop out of her top or Hayabusa piledrive her. FMW uses props, but not nearly as much as ECW because in FMW they are PART of the match, not the WHOLE match. The WWF and FMW are completely different, and anyone who needs and explanation as to why needs glasses," wrote Michael.
WWF is a major league promotion. Thus, they are wrongly considered great entertainment led by the god of all wrestling Steve Austin because people with double standards said so. If I want to see great entertainment, I can watch arguably the best actor in Hollywood (at least on some Dog Day Afternoon's, Pacino is better), Kevin Spacey, in his best role playing probably the best evil boss ever in one of the most underrated movie U.S. movie of the 1990's, Swimming With Sharks. I don't need to put on USA to see Mr. Overact Vince McMahon's not even suitable for Up All Night version.
"I can't argue with Kevin Spacey being the best actor. Spacey was a perfect sadistic boss in this movie. He could be such a bastard, but then look so sincere, even almost sympathetic, later on when he wanted something," wrote Miko.
"Everyone says how compelling the WWF storylines are yet no one ever says why they are so compelling. I think the reason is that they simply cannot explain why they, or anyone else, buys into it. This goddamn angle between Austin and Vince has seemingly been going on since Austin was feuding with Chris Adams in Texas and Eric Embry was fighting for the pride of WCCW. As long as Vince is enough of an asshole that people can chant that at him they'll probably continue buying this crap. Anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass and isn't trying to sell newsletters *wink, wink* realizes how retarded the WWF is and that, just like WCW and ECW storylines, none of it makes any sense. I'm sure that if a guy constantly embarrassed us on national TV and beat us up, at one point taking things so far that he pulled the Frank Whaley and held us hostage, we'd still not only let him keep his job, but continue pushing him to the moon, wouldn't we? One other question, how come it's only unrealistic when guys get arrested in WCW and ECW? Well those guys in Phili actually do get arrested, so I guess I just mean the guys in Atlanta," wrote Michael.
"I always just figured the storylines are popular with a large part of the crowd because they are adolescent fantasies. Rebellion that renders authority impotent (how much has McMahon -really- done to hurt Austin? Certainly not even close to what Austin has done to him). Women as sex objects, and enjoying it. People from outside the United States obviously not being nearly as intelligent or advanced as Americans. As far as arrests go, don't forget how many times Hall has been arrested in real life," wrote Miko.
If I want to see great wrestling from the a wrestler on the WWF roster, no scratch that, wrestling worth my time if I have 3 months off and absolutely nothing to do, I usually have to put on a tape of a match they had before entering the WWF. Excuse me for not seeing what makes this league any good, but all I see are matches so short that even Kawada couldn't fit any build into, a bunch of never ending bad soap opera angles, a bunch of women who are lucky to still be able to stand up straight, and a bunch of guys who do the same creative things like pointing to their "Venis" twenty times a week. It's not that I think what WWF and ECW do is improper, and I'm the last person that would ever support any form of censorship of these products. I simply find what the WWF and ECW do to be a pitiful and downright pathetic. Their antics and gimmicks are merely an excuse to not deliver any quality wrestling, or in the WWF's case, any wrestling at all.
Special Thanks to Michael Smith, Miko Kubota, Sam Panico, Chris Martinez, Hadi, Zach Arnold, & Glenn Tsunekawa