ECW Extreme Rules ReviewsECW Extreme Rules
Extreme Championship Wrestling is back with a vengeance. After a four-year hiatus, the maniacal Paul Heyman and his band of Extremists have returned, delivering the “anything goes” Extreme Rules matches that sports-entertainment fans have come to love. ECW: Extreme Rules will deliver some of the best matches of today, mixed with incredible early ECW matches that set the standard. This two-disc collection is hosted by Tazz and Joey Styles, and includes their alternate commentary of the legendary Extreme Death Match between Tazz and Sabu from Living Dangerously 1999 to unify the FTW and ECW championships. Also, Tommy Dreamer and Jonathan Coachman provide alternative commentary of the jaw-dropping Scaffold Match between Dreamer and Brian Lee from High Incident 1996.
Rating:  List Price: $ 29.95 Price: $ 17.30 |
(out of 22 reviews)
Review by Janice Catalano for ECW Extreme Rules
Rating:
Hosted by Tazz & Joey Styles
Number of discs: 2
Released: 1/3
Disk #1:
- Sandman vs. Cactus Jack (Singapore Cane vs. Barbed Wire) Hardcore Heaven ’95.
- Gangstas vs. Eliminators in a Natural Born Killaz cage weapons match (8/24/96).
- Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee High Incident scaffold match (10/26/96, with Jonathan Coachman & Dreamer doing new secondary commentary).
- Sandman vs. Sabu Stairway to Hell (House Party ’98).
- The Dudleys Boyz vs. The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer & Spike Dudley in Extreme Street Fight (Heatwave ’98).
- FTW champion Sabu vs. ECW World champion Tazz: ECW Death match – Living Dangerously ’99.
- Mike Awesome vs. ECW World champion Masato Tanaka White Plains, NY 12/31/99.
- Tables, Ladders, Chairs & Canes: ECW World champion Steve Corino vs. The Sandman vs. Justin Credible (Guilty as Charged ’01).
Disc #2:
- The Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman (ECW One Night Stand).
- WWE World champion Rey Mysterio vs. Rob Van Dam (WWE vs. ECW special).
- WWE World champion Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu (ECW One Night Stand II).
- Mick Foley & Edge & Lita vs. Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk & Beulah (ECW One Night Stand II).
- ECW World champion RVD vs. Big Show (7/4/06).
- ECW World champion Big Show vs. Ric Flair (7/11/06).
- Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam: Ladder match (8/16/06).
- Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Test & Mike Knox (9/5/06).
- Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly from 9/26/06.
Source: Mike Johnson
Review by D.P. for ECW Extreme Rules
Rating:
From what I understand…this is suppost to be the tracklist for the newest ECW DVD release from WWE. They will give you a mix of the original promotion & the return of ECW under the WWE banner. While the original ECW disc is filled with matches already released via DVD, those DVD’s are rare to find & out of print so it will run you around $50+ each (6 matches are on 4 different releases which I’ll list) so it’s good to save you some bucks but at least they put in 2 unreleased matches that would make this appealing to the ECW diehards who want every matches they can get their hands on. However, the disc of WWE’s ECW has 3 matches that have already been released via the One Night Stand DVD’s that you can still pick up anywhere instead of putting matches from ECW on Sci-Fi that came close to almost resembling the original ECW or were just good action.
Disc One – The Original ECW
ECW Champion Sandman vs. Cactus Jack – This is the match were Cactus Jack had his arm wrapped in barbed wire while Sandman had his singapore cane. The match was mostly just a brawl like most Sandman matches are but the bigger picture here was the Shane Douglas storyline where he was leaving for WWF that night (remember Dean Douglas?) and had issues with both men leading to a cameo appearence in the end. The ending was a little weak as most of their matches were but still, it’s a good brawl.
(Also available on Hardcore History)
Weapons Cage Match: Tag Team Champions Gangstas vs. Eliminators – I know this is going to piss the hardcore alumni off but don’t expect to hear “Natural Born Killaz” during this match since WWE doesn’t own the music rights. This was the best Gangstas match I’ve seen because it didn’t involve their usual “come to the ring with the trashcans full of weapons & use them non-stop” formula. The match looked like a legit fight with an occassional weapon here or there plus all the dives that Saturn did off the cage were right out of Jimmy Snuka’s playbook & Shane Douglas makes a cameo appearence here as well. Again, the best Gangstas match I’ve seen.
(Also available on Hardcore History)
High Incident Scaffold Match: Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee – There’s not much to a scafford match except climb up the scaffold & knock the other guy off but in this case, there were tables stacked to crash through below. However this one had them brawling all over the building & even had Tommy take the hardest crotch shot before the eventual ending happened. Nothing really special here but Dreamer & Coach do alternative commentary so that might be something to listen to as their previous two were.
(Also available on Hardcore History)
Stairway To Hell Match: Sandman vs. Sabu – The object here was to climb up the ladder & grab barbed wire to use during the match. It was pretty brutal as Sandman took one hell of a fall off the ladder at one point through two tables & was bleeding like a stuffed pig. Good hardcore match between these two.
(Also available on Deep Impact)
Street Fight Match: Dudleys (Bubba, D-Von, Big Dick) vs. Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Spike Dudley – This had the typical Dudley formula of having another brawl all over the building with a couple of comedic spots involing Joel Gertner & Sign Guy Dudley & various weapons such as tables, ladders, chairs, canes, etc… Great ECW hardcore violence.
(Also available on Heatwave ’98)
Unification Death Match: ECW Champion Tazz vs. FTW Champion Sabu – This was from Living Dangerously ’99 and hthey fought non-stop with some good wrestling inbetween the two. This was the best televised match I saw between the two.
Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka for the ECW title – Honestly, I don’t know if this was the match that Tanaka won the title or the one that Awesome won it back but these two never disappoint in their matches as the first One Night Stand showed. I would have preferred their N2R ’99 match as that was recieved as one of the best ECW Title matches in history.
Tables, Ladders, Chairs & Canes Match: ECW Champion Steve Corino vs. Sandman vs. Justin Credible – This match was real good as it was full of weapons (hence the match title) and mix of brawling & actual wrestling. One of the last matches people saw of the original ECW.
(Also available on Guilty As Charged 2001)
Disc 2 – WWE’s ECW
Dudleys vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman – Before the match even begins…you get run ins from the bWo, Kid Kash, Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten where Joey styles hits the line of the night the moment Nova got hit in the head with a chair, “That’s more painful than having to be Simon Dean every Monday night.” The rest of the match was your typical ECW wild brawl full of blood, weapons, & the cheesegrader. After a while, you get more apparences from the Impact Players, Francine, the return of Beulah, and in the end…Spike Dudley came out for the flaming tables finish. This was the last appearence in the Dudleys WWE (and ECW) so this was one hell of a way to go out.
(Also available on One Night Stand ’05 & ECW Collectors Pack)
Rey Mysterio vs. Rob Van Dam – This was from the WWE vs. ECW special they had days before One Night Stand ’06 and this was one of the rare great performances Rey Mysterio had in ’06 as World Champion. They both pulled out some of their old ECW maneuvers that you have rarely (if ever) seen in WWE…mix that with high flyin’ & some good wrestling. This is a match I have no complains about.
World Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu – This was another rare matches in Mysterio’s title reign where he was able to showcase what he’s all about & he obiviously learned his lession from last year’s event as he & Sabu went extreme. Chairshots, high flyin’ action, broken tables. The ending was a little cheap but it doesn’t take away from the match for me.
(Also available on One Night Stand ’06)
Mick Foley & Edge & Lita vs. Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk & Beulah – This match was like an updated version of the November 2 Remember ’95 match…only replace Raven with Edge. Just great hardcore action with Funk stuck in barbwire, Dreamer & Edge brawling, the catfight with Beulah & Lita and even Foley on fire. Just great non-stop action…plus it was nice to see Beulah again (you can never get enough of her).
(Also available on One Night Stand ’06)
ECW Champion RVD vs. Big Show – This was when RVD’s title reign when “Up In Smoke” as he lost the title to the Big Show in what was dubbed “The South Philly Screwjob” when Paul Heyman turned on RVD helping Big Show win the title. The match itself wasn’t much as we all know Big Show & really limited and only has “hit or miss” matches but the crowd made it better than it was since it was in Philidelphia & was an ECW ONLY show.
ECW Champion Big Show vs. Ric Flair – Again, another match that really wasn’t much past the fact that Ric Flair at his age was taking punishment that most wrestlers couldn’t take at half his age. I remember Flair being slammed on thumbtacks with nothing on but his wrestling tights & boots…no t-shirt, jeans, or anything else to help cushion the fall.
Ladder Match: Sabu vs. RVD – I’ve said time & time again that RVD vs. Sabu never disappoints…but this was the first time they faced each other since Jan. of 2000 so I guess they were just off that night because I remember a bunch of blown spots & attempted manuvers that didn’t work out so well. Overall, the match was good but if this was in the ECW area…you would hear “You F’d Up” alot.
Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Test & Mike Knox – This was the first time RVD & Sabu teamed up together & hopefully, they will edit out Joey Styles comment of “Knox and Test will have the advantage because Sabu and Van Dam are singles competitors” when they were multitime ECW tag team champions. The match itself was nice to watch as RVD & Sabu looked like they didn’t lose a step as a team while Test & Knox were able to hold their own.
Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly – This was the match that gave Hardcore Holly a huge gash on his back that had to been at least 6 inches long yet he still kept fighting. The match itself was your basic “extreme rules” match but seeing Holly still fighting with that deep scar on his back was something to see & at least gave me more respect for him…which I don’t have alot of.
The main negatives about this DVD set are that the original ECW disc has too many of the matches that look so similar to each other (brawls & weapons) when I know there are actual “wrestling” matches in ECW that WWE hasn’t used yet featuring such people like Benoit, Malenko, Scorpio, Guerrero, Jericho, ect. And as for the WWE’s ECW disc, again THREE OF THESE MATCHES ARE ON THE ONE NIGHT STAND DVDS!!!! I mean, 3 matches right off the top of my head that could have gone on here instead of those were Dreamer/Sandman vs. Knox/Test from the Hammerstein Ballroom, RVD vs. Kurt Angle, and RVD vs. Test in what many concidered to be one of the best (if not THE BEST) matches in Test’s entire career. Bottom line, WWE dropped the ball with this release based off the tracklist info that I recieved. I would normally give this around 3 stars but overcrowding the second disc full of One Night Stand matches knocks it down a step. If you don’t have alot of ECW DVD’s or just a hardcore fan who has to have EVERYTHING ECW then I would pick this up…but you aren’t a big fan of ECW on Sci-Fi & have the previous ECW matches elsewhere, pick it up for a rental or pass.
Review by for ECW Extreme Rules
Rating:
While other reviewers have already noted that the match between Tommy Dreamer and Brian Lee has alternate commatary feat. Tommy Dreamer and Coach it should also be known that the Taz Vs. Sabu match from Living Dangerously 99′ has alternate commatary feat. Joey Styles and Taz. That should be interesting to listen to. As for the DVD itself, do not buy it if you already own the original ECW pioneer DVDs, all of these matches have already been released except for two. While i hate the WWE version of ECW, some of the matches on here where pretty good. Ric Flair Vs. Big Show and RVD Vs. Hardcore Holly were brutal matches.
Review by Chris Gallo for ECW Extreme Rules
Rating:
Okay, Bloodsport definatly had better matches on it as a whole collection but these two DVD’s aren’t horrible. Yes, the first DVD is a lot better than the second because the old ECW was better than the new ECW. ECW being run by Vince McMahon is a joke and it’ll never be what it used to be. That being said I had no problems with the matches on first disc, it was solid and well worth the price alone. Now, yes like I said, I don’t really like the new ECW but some of the matches are pretty good for it being under the rule of Vince McMahon. The only match I seriously hated was RVD and Sabu Vs Test and Mike Knox because I hate Test and Mike Knox. The only new ECW wretler I can seriously say that I like is CM Punk and I have been a fan of his for years following his career and I own many ROH shows featuring his great matches. I guess you can say I am a CM Punk fan, not a new ECW fan. Anyway, get this set for the first disc because it’s great and think of the second disc of like an extra disc that was included as a bonus disc, although like I said it isn’t horrible.
Review by Movie Fan for ECW Extreme Rules
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I’m not going to get into the whole debate about whether or not it was a good idea to relaunch ECW as a brand extension of WWE. It is what it is, another form of WWE “sports entertainment”. What I want to address here is the fact that most ECW fans (myself included) who have been fans from the beginning and traded vhs tapes and bought the bootleg tv shows from RF Video back in mid 90s, want to see the original ECW on DVD, not this. Like it or not, WWE owns the entire ECW tape library. I thought the “Rise + Fall of ECW” and “Bloodsport” were great DVD releases. This is what all of us want to see, the classic footage from ECW (and trust me, there’s a lot of it!), not a collection of tv matches from the ECW relaunch. To me, it’s a mistake to mix the two on this release. This is a 2 disc set with classic ECW matches on Disc One and the new ECW dominating Disc Two. I am excited that my favorite Sabu vs Taz match is FINALLY getting released on DVD and that’s the FTW ECW World Title Unification match from Living Dangerously. Also making it’s debut is a brutal weapons cage match between the Eliminators and the Gangstas, Sandman vs Cactus Jack in a barbed wire match, Tommy Dreamer vs Brian Lee in one of their gimmick matches and a few more classics that have already been released on DVD. It’s worth picking up for the classics, but I can do without the new ECW matches from the Sci-Fi tv show. Sure, they’ll put the violent match between Flair and the Big Show on this disc (which is worth seeing if you missed it on tv), the RVD vs Sabu ladder match and probably RVD vs Hardcore Holly (where Holly cut his back deep and hardway), but the problem is that this isn’t ECW. It has the look and feel of Raw most of the time and you can’t escape the fact that this truly is WWE. So, after seeing the WWE’s 2007 list of DVD releases, I was very disappointed to find this on the list instead of a “Bloodsport Vol. 2″ or the start of a History of ECW release. And with no best of ECW release planned for 2007 and no interest in the current ECW by WWE (there are rumors that Vince will either fold ECW or change it to “WWE Extreme”) it looks like we may not see anymore classic ECW footage available on DVD again. I have all of the out of print Pioneer DVD releases, and they’re great, but there is SO MUCH MORE that has yet to see the light of day on DVD that I and a lot of other ECW fans (and wrestling fans in general) would love to get our hands on. The original Funk vs. Sabu matches, the Night the Line was Crossed 3-way dance, Sabu vs. the Tazmaniac, Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio (ECW TV Title – one of the best ECW matches ever!), the complete series of tag matches between RVD + Sabu vs. The Eliminators… I could go on, but you get the idea. I want to see classic ECW, not this relaunch mess. I’m so passionate about it, that I’ve already written WWE and have asked them to release more classic ECW matches on DVD. If you want to do the same, here’s the address…
WWE Corporate Headquarters
Attention: WWE Home Video
1241 East Main Street
Stamford, CT 06902
If enough people voiced their opinion about wanting to see more matches from the original ECW make their way to DVD, the WWE would listen. As for this release, like I said, it may have a few decent WWE style matches on it, but by no means is this ECW!