ECW - Guilty As Charged '99 (DVD)

...me explain what and who ECW are. They were a pro wrestling federation that ran up until 2001. The intials ECW stood for Extreme Championship Wrestling, they were based in Philidelphia and were ran by Paul Heyman (who is now GM on Smackdown at time of writing). They revoultinised the busisness by introducing the market to hardcore wrestling, which WWF repackaged for themselves as "attitude". They often honed talent, and were a step in the ...
...Taz and many more. However ECW often had better matches than any other promotion around, and soon ECW was the place to watch with its constant violent and real matches, or its super athletic bouts.

Here is a review of one of their best selling events, Guilty As Charged 1999. It is certificate 18, and was released by Delta Music in 2000, however it has now been deleted due to WWF buying out all the ECW footage, but you can still pick ... more

Firstly let me explain what and who ECW are. They were a pro wrestling federation that ran up until 2001. The intials ECW stood for Extreme Championship Wrestling, they were based in Philidelphia and were ran by Paul Heyman (who is now GM on Smackdown at time of writing). They revoultinised the busisness by introducing the market to hardcore wrestling, which WWF repackaged for themselves as "attitude". They often honed talent, and were a step in the door for many WWE talent today such as Chris Jericho, RVD, Lance Storm, Taz and many more. However ECW often had better matches than any other promotion around, and soon ECW was the place to watch with its constant violent and real matches, or its super athletic bouts.

Here is a review of one of their best selling events, Guilty As Charged 1999. It is certificate 18, and was released by Delta Music in 2000, however it has now been deleted due to WWF buying out all the ECW footage, but you can still pick it up for under a fiver from E-Bay. It is a 3 hour show, and has commentary from Joey Styles.

Start:

Paul Heyman explains changes to the card due to some wrestlers being injured.

3 Way Dance
Danny Doring & Road Kill vs. FBI Guidd & Tracy Smothers vs. Balls Mahoney & Axel Rotten
The match starts without Balls & Axel and the action is boring are anything. Then the hardcore twosome storms the ring and after a promo from Axel and Balls the match restarts, with all 6 men going at it. It’s hard to keep an eye on all the action in the ring, but certain spots seem to draw the most attention. Danny & Road Kill are the first to go, but the action doesn’t slow down for a second. This is an excellent opening bout which doesn’t fail to live up to its expectations.

Super Crazy vs. Yashirio Tajiri
The match starts with lots of technical wrestling performed at a really fast pace, but soon Tajiri has brought his hard shoot style kicks into the fight. Tajiri’s style and skill are displayed beautifully for the most part of the match, and Super Crazy produces some breath taking moments as well, like his suicide somersault out of the ring. Lucha wrestling also has a huge part to play in this bout, meaning if caterers for everyone, meaning if you like Japanese, Mexican or American wrestling than this is a excellent match for you.

Kronus vs. Sid
The bout starts with “The Judge” Jeff Jones hitting the ring and introducing ECW to the debuting Sid Vicious.
The actual match starts very abruptly with Kronus being chokeslammed through some tables on the outside of the ring, Sid then destroys him with some chair shots and a powerbomb occurs within a couple of seconds within the match.
The match is over within a minute of its beginning. This match will be déjà vu for early WCW/NWA fans who witnessed Sid do the same in the NWA around 1989.
This is a good debut match.

Dudleyville Street fight
The Dudleys vs. New Jack & Spike
After a call out from the Dudleys, this unscheduled bout begins, hardcore style and with some dodgy drum and bass music. Some nasty bumps, as expected, are taken by little Spike Dudley and the match just consists of frying pan and chair shots etc…. No killer bumps are taken, which is a little surprising, although because there is no real story behind the match it would be hard to get enough heat to justify a killer bump. This is disappointing.

ECW TV Title
Rob Van Dam w/ Bill Alfonso vs. Lance Storm w/ Tammy Lynn Bytch
After a shockingly good promo RVD hits the ring to a huge ECW pop. The match starts technically with lots of reversals and arm bars, but not for long, because as expected Rob Van Dam soon changes the style of the match to more of his style, lots of spots and stiff bumps.
RVD’s cork-screw leg drop onto the steel guard rail is scary as hell, especially if you were in Lance’s shoes. Although Storm display’s his talent as well executing every Super kick, Jaw breaker, and clothesline perfectly. An inverted DDT onto the floor looks particularly painful as RVD’s head bounces off the concrete, but the bump of the match award goes to Lance’s springboard leg drop off the top rope into the crowd. This match is a classic. Easily match of the night, this is unmissable.

Ladder Match
Justin Credible w/ Nicole Bass, Jason, & Jazz vs. Tommy Dreamer
Note: Instead of a Title at the top of the ladder is a Singapore cane.
The match starts with some hard hitting, fast paced action in which Dreamer takes the wrath the most, soon however Credible is taking the bumps the just as hard and furious with both men seemingly having no care for themselves, especially when a ladder gets involved. The first major bump that gets the crowd shouting “E-C-Dub” is when Credible is sling shot face first into the ladder and the match becomes a crazed, bloody battle, in which all of Credible’s posse involve themselves literally beating the hell out of Dreamer. After Dreamer’s huge bump off the ladder out of the ring, Terry Funk the king of hardcore heads to rings and starts beating down on Tommy further more. This bout is finished off nicely making it all good all round ladder match, although if I was given the choice of this and a WWE TLC match, I would probably go for the latter.

Taz Interview

Shane Douglas Interview

ECW World Title
Taz vs. Shane Douglas w/ Francine
This match begins with lots of tie ups and take downs from a methodical point of view this is quite a strange way to start a super heated feud match. But soon Taz is incorporating his suplexs into the action and within no time the action spills into the audience, the sight of Shane being tossed over a barrier onto concrete is an image that will stick with the viewer for some time.
Finally when the action is back in the ring the violence seems to increase, from Tazplexs through tables to Sabu hitting the ring and destroying both men with an array of table, ladders and chair, the carnage seems endless. Then Chris Candido & Tammy Lynn Sytch hit the ring and chaos ensure.
The well planned main event unfortunately falls short due to infuriating constant interruption and a screw-job finish.

This tape is a perfect example of most of ECWs cards in 1999, good but not great. With some matches which will have you gaping but not chanting ECW. However I recomend this to all grappling fans who haven't seen anything other than WWF/WWE as ECW is not something to be missed. 

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