ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling)
Unreleased Volume 1 is a best-of collection hosted by Joey Styles
(who was the commentator for ECW). I have a problem right off the
bat and that is WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) claiming that
this is the first time that these matches have been released to DVD
and blu-ray. While this is correct for blu-ray the following matches
have been released on DVD before with the Delta releases from the UK
being a good example. Does this necessary make this a bad
collection? Hell no it doesn't.
The matches they do include in this set
are very top notch and worth watching (the list of matches will be
stated at the end of the review). The matches do suffer from
censorship like music replacement and bleeping out the cuss-words.
One bizarre case is them censoring out Sabu diving through a table
(the match was Tazz vs Shane Douglas at Guilty as Charged 1999) while
the rest of the matches he does it they leave it in. The music they
used to replace is laughable at best but I guess the reason they did
it was due to licensing. The censoring of the “bad words” I do
have a big problem with as this release isn't aimed at kids by any
means so us grownups don't really need words like...well you know
those words so I don't really need to say them (what a cop out)
censored out. Cause let's face it there are stuff in this set that
are far more offensive then an old man saying “cocksucker”.
Again that does not make this a bad release.
If you are looking forward to any
special features then sadly people who have the DVD version miss out
as only the blu-ray version has any. Special features included in
the blu-ray are two matches from the 1994 event “The Night the Line
Was Crossed”, Tommy Dreamer vs. Jimmy “Super-fly” Snuka, and a
60-minute three-way dance for the ECW World Championship Terry Funk
vs. Sabu vs. Shane Douglas.
I do see this appealing the people who
are interested in seeing what ECW was all about and using this
release as a gateway drug before moving onto some of the much better
releases. The hardcore ECW fans would already have these matches on
much MUCH better home video releases. Overall I do recommend
checking this one out as it was a good watch but there are much
better ones out there.
Here's the list of matches that are
included in this release:
(NWA World Title Match)
Shane Douglas Vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
Hardcore TV (August 27, 1994)
Tommy Dreamer Vs. Raven
Hostile City Showdown (April 15, 1995)
Deal Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio Vs.
Tazz and Eddie Guerrero
Heatwave (July 15, 1995)
(ECW World Television Championship
Match)
Dean Malenko Vs. Eddie Guerrero
Hardcore TV (July 28, 1995)
Shane Douglas Vs. Cactus Jack
Cyberslam (February 17, 1996)
Chris Jericho Vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
The Doctor is in (August 3, 1996)
(Tables and Ladders Match for the ECW
World Tag Team Championship)
Rob Van Dam and Sabu Vs. The
Eliminators (Perry Saturn and John Kronus)
Cyberslam (February 23, 1997)
Sabu Vs. Tazz
Barely Legal (April 13, 1997)
(ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Match)
Shane Douglas Vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
November to Remember (November 30,
1997)
(ECW World Tag Team Championship Match)
Sabu and Rob Van Dam Vs. Hayabusa and
Jensei Shinzaki
Heatwave (August 2, 1998)
(ECW World Television Championship
Match)
Rob Van Dam Vs. Jerry Lynn
Hardcore TV (August 15, 1998)
(ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Match)
Shane Douglas Vs. Tazz
Guilty as Charged (January 10, 1999)
Impact Players (Lance Storm and Justin
Credible) Vs. Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn
Heatwave (July 18, 1999)
(ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Match)
Mike Awesome Vs. Masato Tanaka
November to Remember (November 7, 1999)
(ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Match)
Tazz Vs. Tommy Dreamer
Cyberslam (April 22, 2000)
(ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Match)
Tommy Dreamer Vs. Justin Credible
Cyberslam (April 22, 2000)
(ECW World Television Championship
Match)
Rhino Vs. Sandman
Heatwave (July 18, 2000)
(ECW World Television Championship
Match)
Rhino Vs. Spike Dudley
Massacre on 34th Street
(December 3, 2000)
Jerry Lynn Vs. Christian York
Hardcore TV (December 30, 2000)
(ECW World Tag Team Championship Number
1 Contenders Match)
The Unholy Alliance (Yoshihiro Tajiri
and Mikey Whipwreck) Vs. Kid Kash and Super Crazy Vs. The FBI (Little
Guido and Tony Mamaluke)
Title: ECW Unreleased Vol.1
Genre: Sports, Wrestling
Running Time: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Distributor: WWE Home Video, Shock
Records
Rating: MA15+ (Strong Sporting
Violence)
Price: $25 - $35
Recommended: Yes (but most hardcore
fans would already have these in their collection)
3 comments:
I am picturing Jerry Terrifying seeing this on his website, making big animoo eyes and falling over backwards in his chair.
I've been meaning to get this blu-ray along the CM Punk, nWo, and Attitude Era ones. Funny how most of those revolve around wrestling over 10 years ago. I'll pick it up when its on the cheap. *smashes beer can in to skull until blood pours out*
E-C-W!
E-C-W!
E-C-W!
E-C-W!
E-C-W!
A review for NWO The Revolution should be out this weekend.
nice
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