Tommy Platinum

I have hardly seen any ECW, and although I once thought of it as nothing but a trashy hardcore promotion, I have been told that it regularly produced some great wrestling matches as well as edgy storylines and ultraviolent action. However, as far as naming actual matches is concerned, I only recall people talking about the RVD/Jerry Lynn matches. Aside from this, what were the best matches ECW ever produced and what was so great about them? (ie, don't just post a list).

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King Steventon

Some off the top of my head:

- RVD vs Sabu (Guilty As Charged)- Can't remember much about it but I remember liking it alot. Not mind-blowingly good at all, but worth checking out.

- Steve Corino vs Tajiri (Hardcore Heavon) - Awesome, awesome angle, awesome blow-off. Corino had basically been using Tajiri as his puppet to do his dirty work, then Tajiri turned face on him. The match is mostly just Tajiri getting his revenge and beating the ever-loving crap out of Corino. Corino takes some nasty bumps and does his trademark sick bladejob. Plenty of cool spots throughout, great heelwork from Corino, Tajiri was a total badass, what else do you want? The finish was also fucking great. Maybe not one of the best matches but one of my favourites.

- RVD & Sabu vs Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (Heatwave 1998) - Yes it is spotty, but it's so much fun. RVD and Shinzaki kick each other's faces in, Sabu and Hayabusa have history. Some big dives and overall a fun match.

- Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero (any match) - They had a lot of great matches together that were far better examples of the technical ECW matches than the RVD/Lynn series. The famous 2/3 falls match is great: tight matwork, well booked falls, lots of bombs, etc. The match from the Eddie DVD (which I believe is their first match) is just as good and features lots of good legwork from Malenko and equally good selling Guerrero, as well as (again) alot of tight matwork, and a really well done finish that leaves you wanting more.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Steve Austin vs Sandman (1995) - Another match that was SO WELL BOOKED. Whipwreck comes in as the world champ who is the ultimate underdog (who happened to beat Austin the week before). It starts with Austin beating Whipwreck up and even at this point in his career Austin was uber-great. Sandman finally comes out and battles with Austin. They fight alot with Whipwreck managing to get in some real nice spots out of nowhere to play him up as the underdog. Austin finally eliminates Whipwreck then him and Sandman brawl for a while. Finish was really good with Austin trying to win with the knucks, only for Sandman to use them on him. Not amazing match but a very good one.

Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome (any match) - Arguably one of the best fueds ever and one of the best match-ups ever. None of their ECW matches were as good as their '97 one in FMW, but they still had some battles. Most of them just lasted about 10-15 minutes, but they were all balls-out wars with loads of awesome brawling, striking exchanges and nicely teased/built up spots. I'm not as hot on their November To Remember match as others, but the Heatwave match was pretty good IIRC (though the ONS match is my fav). Mike Awesome is sooo underated and these matches show it. The pure agility he had was amazing and the dive he did in the Heatwave match was batshit crazy. Any match with these two on opposing sides is worth watching.

Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Mexican Deathmatch) - This may be my #1 pick. Tajiri was just a psycho heel, both men bleed loads, so many great violent spots that are built up to and teased, loads of nice pay-offs. I'll have to rewatch it because it's been ages since I've seen it but I remember it being great. Any combination of Lynn/Tajiri/Crazy/Guido was good.

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