A Night At The Hardcore Opera…ECW Original Is Best…

ukevents · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Posts: 1941

A Night At The Hardcore Opera…ECW Original Is Best…

Jay Morey

How cool is Sandman? As thousands of fans stood waiting to get into Earls Court for the Smackdown taping last month, a few of us stumbled upon a large walkway against the side of the arena. My wrestling companion and I saw a smallish crowd develop and we realised that in the thick of it was ECW legend Sandman, signing autographs, taking pictures and even doing a Tom Cruise by talking on mobiles. He went for most half an hour, repeatedly asking if everyone was happy and stating that if it wasn’t for the fans he’d not have a career.

A different breed are the ECW Originals, men like Dreamer and Mahoney, they belonged to an organisation that didn’t compromise on the wrestling, that kept promos relevant and curt. And seeing this pre-show display heartened me as I went into the arena for the nights show. I love WWE, I adored the Attitude era, and I longed to see some live hardcore wrestling. So it figured I’d be most excited about the ECW taping, but I was unsure. WWE can’t deny that their version of this once great and exciting organisation had been a failure. Sacking Paul Heyman didn’t help, but neither did RVD getting himself suspended in its tentative first few months.

The Hardyz gave us a superb dark match, their entrance fireworks almost as crowd pleasing as their set moves. Swanton bombs, Twist Of Fates, and Jeff Hardy with genuine glee at hearing his name screamed until whole rows of twelve-year-old girls went hoarse.

On with main show, and a bigoted joke by Todd Grisham irritated. Apparently he had a sore throat from kissing a Welsh Girl the night before. Lashley was first out to mediocre applause. I had the feeling those of us on the top tiers were stalwarts of the originals and were awaiting the main event, an eight main elimination between the New Breed and the Originals. Ex-marine Bobby picked up Umaga’s idiotic manager and chucked him out of the ring at the end of a passable battle between the two. Much of the show was spent on small backstage segments of CM Punk bulking up the egos of the New Breed, harsh stares and shoulder massages were universal.

I forget the middle, but the main event did not disappoint. RVD, Dreamer, Sandman and Sabu took on the New Breed; those carefully honed developmentals that Vince wants us to think are so hardcore. The fans surrounding me went mad for the Originals, and with CM Punk being forced to watch his young new guys form ringside we waited for the baby face turn. Sabu and RVD made the most of a great reaction by showcasing all of their best moves. Sabu jumped over ropes, off chairs and RVD did a lot of useful thumb pointing toward himself. And the Van Daminator always guaranteed to raise a cheer.

CM Punk stole the show with a turn on his main man, Elijah Burke and giving the win to the Originals.

A small rumour had circulated before the show that a kid took a placard to Balls Mahoney to be signed. It said ‘CM Punk is the future of wrestling’ apparently Mahoney scribbled out the end and put down ‘CM Punk is the future of MY ASS.’ WWE wrestlers can’t buy that humour. They have to have it written for them. Shame.