ECW - Houseparty 98 [VHS]

The main event is a stairway to hell match between Sandman and Sabu, this is basically a ladder match with barbwire hanging above the ring and the first one to get to it can use it. In theory it sounds great, but in truth it isn't very good.

Sandman isn't known for his wrestling, in fact he doesn't know how to wrestle but he can certainly take the pain. Sabu is also known for taking a lot of punishment, but he can also wrestle, but Sandman's lack of ring ability brings the worst out in Sabu as this match descends into little more than a demonstration of both men's extremely high pain threshold. Unlike other similar matches you may have seen in other organisations, this isn't a series of impressive stunts, the ladders and barbwire are real and there is no faking this violence. I love ECW and I am all for extreme wrestling, but when there is no wrestling and a match is just 2 men mutilating their bodies it is no longer fun or entertaining.

At one point Sabu falls on the barricades and breaks his jaw, despite being in agony he tapes his mouth shut and carries on! At this point you think that this match has gone too far. And you stop actually caring about being entertained and start to genuinely feel sorry for the competitors. It is hard to watch and by the end of the match you are just glad that it is over before either man does any more damage to their injured bodies.

This is very much the sick spectacle that the barbwire match on the Born to be wired video is. If you liked that match then this will be to your taste.

Elsewhere on this video wrestlers take far to long to get in the ring, and wasted time cutting useless and unentertaining promos and talking trash to the crowd. The best example is before the Al Snow and Roadkill match, Roadkills manager Chastity grabs the mic then starts to talk, she winds up the crowd and then continually makes long pauses every time a chant starts, so you are basically sitting for nearly half an hour listening to the fans chanting! You end up waiting 30 odd minutes for about 3 minutes worth of promo and she doesn't even say anything interesting or relevant to the match. Similar things happen elsewhere in the video, it is boring, pointless and adds nothing to the matches.

As for the in ring action, all of the wrestling is slow paced and average at best, even matches that have potential all end abruptly or disappointingly. There are only 2 cameras, so often the lack of cameras or badly positioned camera men mean you get bad views or completely miss some of the action this is especially frustrating in the chaotic 6-man tag match.

The only match that is half decent is Justin Credible vs The Great Sasuke.

Ultimately this event is not very good, average wrestling, and the long spells between matches stops the event from creating any excitement, poor camera work also doesn't help matters. The main event relies solely on sick violence and just isn't entertaining. There are so many better ECW events out there, that are perhaps less violent but are much more entertaining.