promises a lot but fails to deliver, 1 Jul 2004

RVD and Lance Storm seemed to spend more time brawling in the crowd than they did in the ring, which is detrimental to both men as their main strengths are their wrestling skills. When they were in the ring the match showed potential, but by this time they had spent so long in the crowd that there wasn't much time left. And by the time the match finally started to get going it ended. It should have been great but they didn't play to their strengths and that match suffered for it.

The Stairway to Hell match between Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer should have been great, but turns out to be very average at best. It bares little resemblance to the last Stairway to Hell match between Sabu and Sandman, so if you are expecting a similar masochistic blood bath you will be disappointed.
Perhaps back in January 99 (when the event took place) a lot of the things Dreamer and Credible do with the ladder would be revolutionary, but since then the WWE have stolen their ideas and pulled them off a lot better. And when you have seen the Dudley's, Hardy's and Edge and Christians TLC matches, it's perhaps hard to appreciate how good this match was when it originally took place. But when you watch it now it just can't compete with what has come since.

The rest of the matches on this video are nothing to shout about, the wrestling isn't particularly bad, but it isn't that great either.

This event ultimately promises a lot more than it delivers, it is never really boring, but it doesn't surprises or excites either. This still is much better than current WWE, but it falls short of ECW's usual high standards, there are much better ECW videos around, I would give this one a miss.

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My favourite ECW PPV thus far....., 28 Oct 2001

There are better matches on PPV's prior to this but for sheer mix of styles & entertainment then this is the best of them.

The opener being a 3-way dance tag match between Doring/Roadkill v FBI v Balls Mahoney Axl Rotten. Starts off with FBI v Roadkill/Doring before Mahoney & Rotten comes to the ring & Rotten gets on the mike & says "it looks like we have gatecrashed a homosexual dance party".....heheh. Nothing too spectacular but theres some good wrestling and some nice entertainment thrown in as well. Did I say no high flying? Look out for Mahoney (all of about 350 pounds of him) jumping off the top turnbuckle onto the floor!

Tajiri v Super Crazy is Tajiri's PPV debut and he shows off what he can do in a match that can go longer than 5 minutes with someone who can also "go". WWF could & should really do something with a cruiserweight division with WCW (ditch the lightweight belt & concentrate on WCW's forthcoming new show) & sign Super Crazy. Tremendous wrestling that you wont see on WWF tv with a unique style of Mexican & Japanese wrestling thrown in at an incredible pace. Great technical action!

Syd v Kronus was 'Syds' PPV debut and was basically a way to show what devastation Syd is capable of.

Dudleys v New Jack/Spike Dudley was basically a highly entertaining brawl. Probably one of the best I have seen of this style of match as there was a bit of.....dare I say it when it involves a New jack match, wrestling thrown in as well. Outside interference from the Dudley family also added to the carnage & chaos caused in & outside of the ring. Highly entertaining with the winner of this match wrestling the re-debut of The Public Enemy the following week which can be seen on the House Party 99 tape.

RVD v Lance Storm for the TV title was a great bout pitting two great wrestler against one another. Both wrestlers looked great in this match, especially Storm who adapted well to RVD's style of match & even did some of his own highflying on occasion. This one did NOT dissapoint!

The semi-main event was the ladder match pitting Tommy Dreamer against Justin Credible. Theres a sense of a great build up leading up to this match which benefits the match. Theres plenty of stiff shots in this one with even someone from the crowd haning an object to Dreamer & being utilised on Credible! Try that in a WWF show & you would get escorted to the exit. Good match with a great finish to it that looked like it HURT!

Taz v Shane Douglas has a great history video clip played earlier in the tape re-capping their history prior to the PPV. A slow start to the match sees Taz & Douglas take it to the outside & spend about 5 minutes outside before they come back & the match starts to liven up. This is where it really starys to get entertaining, especially when Sabu shows up & the fans go wild! Great psychology to this one as well as great wrestling. Although a slow start, the middle & end of this match are great as is the interference from Sabu which is perfectly booked. Did I mention you also see Candido & Sunny play a small role in this??!

Like I said, you will see other indivitual matches that are better than some of these on other tapes BUT the overall quality of these matches have not been surpassed by any other ECW PPV prior to this. A must have tape!!!

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