Sunday, August 8, 2010

8/8/10 HardCORE Justice

Tracey Smothers, Tony Luke, & Guido vs. Kid Kash, Simon Diamond, & Swinger: Very good. Match had a bunch of nice spots in it, although I would have loved the match more without that "dance-off." **1/2

Too Cold Scorpio vs. C.W. Anderson: Scorpio still has it -- and then some. Very good stuff here as well. Definitely would have wanted them to go longer, but the action was great for what it was. **1/2

Stevie Richards vs. P.J. Polaco: I believe Polaco couldn't use "Justin Credible" because I heard someone else was currently using that name in wrestling. Again, good stuff. Very nice moves. Too short for me to grade high, but they still got it. **1/4

Rhino vs. Al Snow vs. Brother Runt (Elimination): It was entertaining. Brother Runt took a couple of nasty bumps in this one. Didn't like the two falls being so close to one another, but otherwise it was good. **1/4

Brother Ray & Brother Devon vs. Axl Rotten & Kahoneys (Street Fight): Yes, "Kahoneys" is Balls Mahoney. Anyway, this is the type of match I wanted to see. Chaos and more chaos. Some of the loudest weapon shots you'll ever hear. And of course, the fiery table! Excellent. ***3/4

Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer (Street Fight): I loved this match as well. Not only did it have the brutality of the Dudleys vs. Rotten/Mahoney street fight, it featured a long-running ECW rivalry and storyline. I felt the match would have been better without any outside interference, but seeing Beulah on TV was nice. The crossface with the barbed wire was great, and I have no clue how Dreamer got that DDT on Raven while he was handcuffed. ***3/4

Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu: And to end the night, we have another big-time rivalry from the old ECW. Tremendous balance of hardcore wrestling with traditional wrestling. This was my personal match of the night, and a match-of-the-year candidate. ****
__________________

MVPs: Everyone. The old gang still has it -- and never lost it.

Overall Rating: Even though all the originals were not there, it was still nice to see taped cameos from people like Blue Meanie and Francine. The crowd felt like the old ECW -- very hardcore and rowdy. From wrestlers to referees to ring announcers, it was great to bring back the old crew.

I also liked the matches because there were zero rest holds. They were to the point and had great action. There were no bad matches. I feel TNA hit a home run here. ***3/4

No comments: