(Throwing up some old reviews to get content on his ASAP *Written: 8/6/10*)
Some random ECW today, brought on by the Smark's Choice best of ECW poll and the discussion over on DVDVR that followed.
Devon Storm vs Louie Spicolli: I find Damien Kane incredibly annoying and I never understood what he brought to the table. Devon Storm was also never taken seriously in ECW which is too bad, I kinda liked that lime green attire and chair based moonsaults. But I think the ECW fanbase saw him as a clone of Sabu and never gave him a shot. Joey Styles is really pushing Louie on commentary, kind of like he would push Justin Credible before his world title run. They really did like halfway connected friends of the Kliq.
The roles seemed reversed from what the commentary is putting across. Louie works over the leg in a heelish manner, and Storm fights back with the chair based offense and high flying. There isn't much here, and Louie didn't show the "extreme style" Styles was trying to put over. He kicked Storm off a backdrop attempt and hit a DVD for the win. I still dig Spicolli using "Louie, Louie" as his theme.
Doug Furnas vs Rob Van Dam: This has been getting a lot of love lately, and I remember enjoying when I first saw this tape many many years ago. Re-watching now, I like it, but it's not my top ten favorite ECW matches.
The beginning I do enjoy, Furnas hits Rob hard and counters his flips with suplexes, and Rob responds by kicking Doug right in the mouth. Intentional or not, I am happy, there's a dynamic already.
The middle crowd brawling section feels unnecessary, especially on an ECW show that has a crowd brawling D-Von vs Bubba match and Terry Gordy vs Brian Lee match. Furnas gorilla presses Rob while on the top bleachers, which is a cool visual, but other than that, it's the normal walk around chair shot, ECW routine.
Rob's clothesline bump over the rail kicks off the last stage (and it's an awesome bump). This part is pretty good, I have liked the ending of the match just fine. There's a few sloppy moments like RVD's high cross, and I think there should have been a few less chair shots since the finisher was the Van Daminator, which, if not done perfect, comes off like a weak blow after so many of the hard chair shots these two were dealing out. Rob also just about no sells a flying clothesline so that he can go out and get a chair that plays into the end.
Doug brings some good work and offense, and Rob was pretty fun during the Sabu series 1996, but for some reason this didn't click with me as well as I remember it doing. I think of it as an average ECW match, and really not one of my fav's from Van Dam.
I must note however, how amazing the crowd is, I think I had forgotten how rabid they were for anything, and that really makes all this enjoyable to watch.
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