ECW Bloodiest Matches (taped various dates at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
This is the first compilation tape that ECW ever released. It has a one hour run time and features as you may have guessed from the title some of the Bloodiest Matches from ECW. This tape was never advertised on ECW TV so it is difficult to determine when it was released. It features matches that took place in 1993. It features some matches that did not make it to TV.
Tag Team Champions Eddie Gilbert & The Dark Patriot vs. Miguel Perez & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, ref John Finnegan (1993-08-08)
This would be the only title defense for Gilbert and Patriot as Gilbert would quit the company shortly after. They go to the crowd as soon as the bell rings. Perez is with Gilbert and Matsunaga with Patriot. Gilbert is bleeding before 1 minutes passes. Gilbert slams Perez’s head into a chair. Gilbert slamming a soda can into Matsunaga’s head. Perez and Patriot slamming each other into the wall of the building. In the ring Perez is busted wide open and Gilbert hits him with the time keeper’s hammer. We reach the 6 minute mark and this finally turns into an actual tag match. Patriot puts something in his mask and head butts Perez. Gilbert on the apron gets a tennis racket and hits Perez with it. This gives Paul E. Dangerously a chance to shit talk Jim Cornette. Perez goes nuts and starts hitting everyone including his own partner and the ref. The champions retain the title in 7.22 via DQ
Kevin Sullivan vs. Abdullah the Butcher, ref Jim Molineaux (Bloodfest Day 1 1993-10-01)
Sullivan attacks Abby with a briefcase in the aisle and we get the bell. Abdullah bleeding right away. After over 2 minutes of brawling on the floor they finally make it into the ring. Abdullah makes a come back with an object from his tights and they go back to the floor. Into the crowd they go and up towards the Eagle’s Nest. Sullivan now bleeding and these two guys are all over each other. Abby seems to have lost Sullivan in the crowd somewhere and I think we’ll call this match over after about 7 minutes. Abdullah starts throwing chairs and ripping apart the set looking for Sullivan.
Steel Cage Match: Kevin Sullivan vs. Abdullah the Butcher, ref Jim Molineaux (Bloodfest Day 2 1993-10-02)
Since Sullivan ran away last night this match takes place in a steel cage and this time Abdullah attacks Sullivan in the aisle with a piece of wood. Sullivan bleeding already. Woman charges the ring and attacks Abby. Abdullah grabs her and begins to choke her. Sullivan comes from behind with a chair. They make it into the cage and we get the bell to officially begin the match. Abby uses the fork on Sullivan. Sullivan fights back using the cage and busting open Abby. Both men bleeding like crazy. Sullivan tries to go out the door but is stopped and gets his face shoved into the cage. The Tazmaniac comes to ringside and throws the briefcase in the ring and begins climing the cage. Abby stops him but Sullivan picks up the case and starts hitting him with it. Sullivan goes for the door but Abdullah grabs the case and uses it. Abdullah goes to the door but Taz slams the door on him and helps Sullivan out of the cage ending the match in 6.51. Abby comes out of the ring and attacks both Sullivan and Tazmaniac with chairs and the ring steps. This was never shown or even explained on TV but this is where Sullivan and Tazmaniac join together.
The final two matches have already been recapped and are taken directly from those reviews. The next aired on the 8-31 TV episode and the final match is from UltraClash.
W*ING Tag Team Champions The Headhunters vs. Miguelito Perez & Mr. Danger, ref John Finnegan (1993-08-07)
They go right to the floor to brawl. Back in the ring Danger is power bombed but he kicks out. Perez is bleeding within the first minute of the match. Perez with a superplex and then he goes up top. Perez comes off with a missle dropkick. The Headhunter rolls to the floor and Perez hits a plancha. Perez nails the Headhunter with a chair to the head that busts him open. Tag to Mr. Danger and all 4 men come into the ring. Perez misses a 2nd rope senton. Headhunter with a moonsault he goes for the cover but Danger and the other Headhunter come in the ring. The first Headhunter gets off his cover and Danger gets a small package. Splash on Perez and NOW the ref counts. Each team has a man pinned and the match is declared a no contest at 4.59. So the legal man had a pin attempt but the ref didn’t count it. Then the illegal man had a pin and the ref didn’t count that then both teams had pins and he counts that?
Terry Funk & Stan “The Lariat” Hansen vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Kevin Sullivan, ref Jim Molineaux (UltraClash 1993-09-18)
The bell sounds a big brawl breaks out. With out Eddie Gilbert in this match has no back-story in ECW. Sullivan and Funk fight on the scaffold, Hansen and Butcher in the ring. Funk is busted open as all four men are back in the ring. Funk uses a chair on Butcher as we cross the 5 minute mark. Abdullah is cut opened. Sullivan hits Funk with a hammer. Sullivan hold Funk and Butcher goes to hit him with a spike but Funk moves and he hits Sullivan. Funk with a spinning toe hold and “Hotstuff” Eddie Gilbert hits the ring and attacks Funk causing a DQ in 7.01. Dark Patriot comes down also and he and Hansen fight to the back. Sullivan attacks Abdullah and a bunch of wrestlers come to try and break it up but get beat back. Hansen and Funk come back to the ring and lay a beating on Johnny Hotbody.
My thoughts on the show…
Nice to have some matches exclusive to the tape here. Nothing ground breaking, as it is all just a bunch of brawls with blood of course. I love ECW brawls but this is from before the crazy crowds and before Joey Styles was any good at his job, and because of that these didn’t have the same feel as the classic ECW brawls we all remember. Thumbs in the middle on this one.
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ECW Wildest Matches (taped various dates at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA)
Another one hour comp tape released by ECW. This tape was released in the early months of 1994 but all matches took place the previous year. All but the final match on the tape have already been recapped so will just be copy and past jobs from their old reviews.
Dark Patriot (w/ “Hotstuff” Eddie Gilbert) vs. JT Smith, ref Kevin Christian (1993-05-14)
This show was filmed before Super Summer Slam so the ref is not Freddie Gilbert yet. Patriot forces Smith back to a corner and gives him a hard shot to the face. Dangerously points out that Gilbert and the Dark Patriot don’t actually like each other. Side slam by the Patriot. Smith with a flying head scissor, body slam and top rope moonsault for 2. Patriot whipped into the corner and Smith misses the charge and hits his shoulder on the post. They go to the floor and Smith whips Patriot into the ring post. Corner whip is reversed and the ref gets in the way and goes down. The go back outside the ring and into the crowd. Smith gets sent into the wall and they go up to the eagles’ nest. Patriot throws Smith at least 15 foot to the floor and then dives onto him. Gilbert helps Patriot back into the ring as the ref wakes up and counts out Smith in 5.51.
Tag Team Champions Suicide Blondes (w/ Hunter Q. Robbins III) vs. Super Destroyers & “Wildman” Sal Bellomo, ref Jim Molineaux (1993-05-14)
Christopher Candido starts off with the Super D 1. He overpowers Candido so Jonathan Hotbody comes in to try and help but he also gets over powered. Candido goes for a power bomb but gets tossed off. Press slam and Candido bails and tags Hotbody and Super D 2 comes in. We go to a commercial break before they lock up. Back to the action and Hotbody is thrown into the corner and body slammed as Bellomo is tagged in and hits a big splash. Super D 1 back in with a pump handle slam and suplex. Hotbody bails to the floor and the Blondes regroup. Back in and Hotbody gets power bombed. Tag to Super D 2 and he comes in with a standing senton and then tags Bellomo. Bellomo with a drop kick and again Hotbody goes to the floor. Back in the ring Super D forces Hotbody to tag Richard Michaels. Michaels gets the advantage but misses a big top rope splash. Super D 1 ones back in a gets a powerslam for 2. Bellomo comes back in and Michaels is able to get him into the Blondes’ corner. Candido tagged in and as Michaels distracts the ref they use Robbins cane. Robbins gets hit and Dangerously gets so mad he goes to ringside to check on him. Paul E. gets nailed which bring the Dangerous Alliance to the ring and we get a 3 team brawl. The ref calls for the bell after 7.55 of the match is shown. We go off the air with everyone still in the ring brawling and hitting each other with trash cans.
TV Champion “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka (w/ Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Terry Funk, ref Kevin Christian (1993-05-15)
Funk gets whipped into the corner and slammed a few times. Funk favors his lower back and we go to commercial about 3 minutes into the match. Back from break Snuka comes off the second rope with a headbutt to a standing Funk. Suplex by Snuka gets 2. Funk blocks a second attempt and gets a suplex of his own. Swinging neck breaker by Funk. Funk goes for the spinning toe hold but Snuka pokes him in the eyes. They trade off small packages and then Funk headbutts Snuka ten times. Snuka head butts the ref and more refs hit the ring. Funk double noggin knockers the refs with Snuka. A few wrestlers come to the ring to break it up as we get a bell at 8.13 shown. The Dangerous Alliance come to the ring and attack Funk. The Koloffs come out and attack the Dangerous Alliance. The rest of the locker room empties and a WILD brawl breaks. Tod Gordon who was at the commentary table for the match goes to ringside and gets on the mic screaming for the brawl to stop. He gets laid out when Sal Bellomo and Jonathan Hotbody crash into him.
South Philly Hood Match: Public Enemy vs. Badd Company ref John Finnegan (November to Remember 1993-11-13)
Paul Diamond and Rocco Roc start off. Roc throws Diamond to the floor for a little brawling. The first guy to bleed must leave making the match 2 on 1. Back in the ring Diamond charges at Roc in the corner but misses. Roc gets clotheslined to the floor and his face smashed into the apron. Roc makes the tag to Johnny Grunge and Pat Tanaka also tags in. Tanaka hits a flying forearm. Roc tags back in and they hit a double back drop. PE makes a few tags back and forth until Tanaka gets busted open with brass knuckles at 7.42. Diamond attacks PE on the floor with a chair and throws both of his opponents into the walls of the building. The 2 on 1 eventually proves to be too much for Diamond and PE work him over with a chair. Grunge holds Diamond and Roc goes up top for a standing moonsault but Diamond moves and it hits Grunge. PE immediately back on top though. Diamond clotheslines both PE and then hits a double DDT. Diamond with a gordbuster on each and then a rocker dropper on Roc. Diamond throws Grunge to the floor and slams him. Missile dropkick on Roc gets two. Diamond goes up top again but Grunge pushes him off to the mat. Roc takes out the brass knuckles again and hits Diamond. Grunge hits the reverse DDT and Roc lands the somersault senton of the top to end the match in 16.01. After the match PE keeps on Diamond until Tanaka comes out to make the save and they all brawl to the back.
My thoughts on the show…
Pretty decent comp here. The first and last match are worth seeing and of course as I mentioned, this is the only place to see the November to Remember tag match. Thumbs up.
Nice complimentary piece here to play along with the 1993 ECW results. Some very unique matchups on these shows, definitely something to pop in and watch on a rainy day. Really enjoyed the trip through 1993, you’re a better man than me to plow through all of that Johnny Hotbody stuff. 😉
Hotbody was awful!!! Overall 1993 was pretty painful to get through especially since this was my second time watching them all. The whole year was about 35 hours worth of footage that I could probably break down into 2 hours of must see stuff.
Just wanted to put a quick correction here. I have listed a ref Joe Dinoli appearing throughout 1993. I was using this name based on what I was understanding Joey Styles say when he would say the guys name. I always like to do some research when I don’t know someone and was never able to find anything on the guy. I have just found out that his name is Joe Zanolle.