Michael Fitzgerald

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #351 – 15/01/2000

January 15, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Guilty As Charged 2000 is now in the bag and you can read my review of it by clicking right HERE.

In short, there were a few decent matches on the undercard and the main event of Mike Awesome Vs Little Spike Dudley was really good and well worth watching.

Normally with these post pay per view Hardcore TV’s they tend to just talk about the prior week’s event and don’t really give much in the way of new content, but maybe they’ll surprise us?

Anyway, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: ECW Guilty As Charged 2000 – 09/01/2000

December 31, 2019January 9, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

I wrote this up about a year ago as I didn’t plan I’d ever get this far in these ECW reviews. I’ve gone in and tightened some stuff up and added any additional bits I felt were necessary.

ECW made a big fuss in the build-up about how this was the first pay per view event of the new millennium, but it won’t mean much if the show itself isn’t any good.

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #350 – 08/01/2000

December 31, 2019January 8, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Last week’s Hardcore TV had a fantastic main event of Mike Awesome Vs Masato Tanaka followed by a strong angle where Awesome brutally clocked Spike Dudley’s girlfriend with a lariat, thus causing her to bleed from the mouth.

With Guilty As Charged 2000 one night away, I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of last minute hype for the show. I’ve actually reviewed that show for the Blog before, so I’ll give it a once over and post it up tomorrow.

Anyway, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 14 – Night Two (05/01/2020)

January 5, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Back for more New Japan, as we complete the Double Gold Dash to crown a dual Champion in the main event. It’s like WrestleMania VI but with more screaming Japanese fans losing their minds. What’s not to like?

Anyway, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 14 – Night One (04/01/2020)

January 4, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Here we are, back again with some more New Japan action as they start the first night of their Tokyo Dome double shot with Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night One.

To say that people are jazzed for this show would be an understatement, as Twitter was awash with pictures and videos of people excitedly making their way into the Egg Dome. Oh yes, people are up for this one lads and ladies!

So without further ado, let’s cut my prattling and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: ROH Without Remorse – 26/01/2008

January 2, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

I decided to journey back to the world of Ring of Honour (I’m English and we spell it with a “u”, soz abar me) and look at an event that featured a blow off to one of my own personal favourite ROH feuds.

As this show happened in 2008, ROH was actually still fun to watch as well, so there’ll probably be some good action to enjoy.

Anyway, less prattle, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #349 – 01/01/2000

December 31, 2019January 1, 2020 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Before we go further I’d like to wish everyone a very Happy Extreme New Year!

Last week’s Hardcore TV wasn’t that great from a match perspective but the Guilty As Charged pay per view on the 9^th of January has been promoted pretty well, with most of the big matches booked well in advance so that the company can heat them up.

Let’s see what ECW has in mind for this week!

Mike Reviews: New Japan Pro Wrestling “Wrestling World In Tokyo Dome” – 04/01/1996

December 29, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Seeing as we’re just under a week away from Wrestle Kingdom 14, I thought I’d do a recap of one of the earlier New Japan Tokyo Dome spectaculars from 1996, as I happen to own the DVD for it.

I honestly can’t recall when I bought this or even where I got it from, but I think some of the matches from this are on New Japan World if you want to check them out. It looks like a rip of the official Japanese release, so that probably means they’ll dub out a lot of the entrance themes with wacky in house music. Hey, New Japan didn’t become the biggest wrestling company in the world in the mid 90’s by spending loads of dosh you know!

The 1996 event was built around guys from the UWFi group coming in to face New Japan guys, as well as one of the big matches on the countdown to Antonio Inoki’s retirement as he took on Vader. Vader was, I think, a WWF guy at this stage, or at the very least was on his way to the WWF in time for the Royal Rumble, so this was one of those occasions where Vince McMahon decided to be accommodating for whatever reason and let him work the Dome show.

I’ll look to have reviews for both nights of 2020’s Tokyo Dome event, hopefully quite soon after they happen as both shows fall on weekends this year and it’ll be in the morning time over here in the UK, so I should have enough time to watch them baring some kind of issue.

Anyway, less wittering from me, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #348 – 25/12/1999

December 22, 2019December 25, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Before we go any further I’d like to wish everyone a very Happy Hardcore Holidays!

Last week’s Hardcore TV was mostly clips from the TNN Show and the most recent pay per view event (Which this one will probably also be because it’s the holiday edition) but hopefully there’ll be some interesting and fun stuff on it.

I already got what I wanted for Christmas with Carlo Ancelotti somehow being coerced into taking the Everton job. Hopefully there isn’t some kind of a Vince Russo “you didn’t read the fine print of the contract bro” swerve and Carlo is able to bail once he sees Oumar Niasse and Cuco Martina rocking up to training on his first day.

Anyway, let’s have some turkey/ham/nut roast (depending on your location and eating habits) and watch some chuffing wrestling eh?

Mike Reviews: WWF Action!

December 23, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

I’ve had this particular DVD in my collection for a while and have never gotten around to giving it a proper looksee, so I decided to do a review on it.

I actually bought this as part of Silver Visions “Tagged Classics” range, which was where they would put two releases in one DVD box from their cavernous back catalogue. One good thing about these releases was that they kept the old WWF “scratch” logo on them, which meant that pre-WWE Network they were by far the best option for watching retro WWF events, as they weren’t full of the horrible blurring and sound edits you’d find on regular WWE releases.

Released in September of 2001, “Action!” is meant to be a collection of all the “most thrilling” events that took place in 2001. Somehow I kind of doubt that, but hopefully there’ll be some interesting nuggets of gold nestled amongst the usual pap. This is the sort of thing they’d just put on the Network in the form of a playlist these days, rather than going to the trouble of doing a whole standalone DVD/VHS release.

The other DVD in this Tagged Classic collection is simply called “Hardcore”, and features lots of matches from the hardcore division (Although I’m sure some stores got a bit confused and thought the DVD might need to go in the adult entertainment section of the shop). If you like this one then I might review that one in the New Year.

Anyway, less jibber jabber from me, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling eh?

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #347 – 18/12/1999

December 17, 2019December 18, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Last week Super Crazy and Super Calo went at it in a fun bit of Extreme Lucha Libre, whilst Rob Van Dam and Tracy Smothers had an enjoyable old school style main event. The big angle was Raven seemingly having a breakdown and Tommy Dreamer trying to calm him.

Did he succeed? Let’s read on to find out!

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #346 – 11/12/1999

December 9, 2019December 11, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Last week Steve Corino crashed a Limp Bizkit concert and ended up getting busted open courtesy of a Balls Mahoney chair shot. Meanwhile, Rob Van Dam defended his TV Title against the monstrous Uganda and ended up enraging his former tag partner Sabu with an inflammatory promo.

Let’s have a look to see how these stories develop in this week’s Hardcore TV!

Mike Reviews: WWF Vengeance 2001

December 8, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Mike Reviews: WWF Vengeance 2001

Hello You!

Seeing as Chris Jericho is, in my opinion, doing a cracking job as the World Champ in AEW, I thought I’d look back to his very first World Title win in his career (Sorry if I just spoiled the result of the main event for you). Of course this reign ended up being a bit of a disaster (Owing mostly to the WWF booking Jericho to be an ineffectual putz as Champion) but it was someone new in the top spot for a change, which was refreshing at the time.

This event actually took place a month after Survivor Series 2001, an event that saw the WWF finally bring an end to the insipid “Invasion” angle by having The Alliance heel stable be defeated in the main event. As a result the company now had both the WWF and WCW Titles hanging around, so they decided to unify the two belts ahead of WrestleMania season, hence we get a four man tournament to decide who gets to take the two belts home.

Considering the December event this year is being treated as such an afterthought by WWE (To the point that it took till 10 days out to even announce any matches for it) it’s interesting to see such an important moment as unifying the two World Titles happening on this one.

There was actually a bit of controversy at the time as a lot of the marketing for the event seemed to strongly suggest that Triple H was going to make a return following his first torn quad injury, with his trademark sledgehammer all over the marketing and graphics for the show. Instead the WWF decided to have his return be changed to a Raw show in 2002. A video set to U2’s “Beautiful Day” (Which the WWE Network removes entirely) was added to the event to appease the people who might have wanted to see Triple H, but it mostly led to people feeling liked they’d be baited and switched.

Anyway, enough blabbing, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #345 – 04/12/1999

December 2, 2019December 4, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Last week we had a New Jack focused episode, as he stapled Spanish Angel in the eye and then put Tony DeVito through a table after jumping off a balcony. In most cases that would be a pretty definitive end to the feud, but this is ECW, where setting someone on fire is a hope spot, so I’m willing to bet that we’ll see more of that rivalry going forward.

Rob Van Dam is back on the show this week after going to a time limit draw with Sabu a couple of weeks back, so maybe we’ll see that story advance some more?

Mike Reviews: WWF Survivor Series 1989

December 1, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

I used to watch this one quite a bit back in my younger days as I had it on VHS, so seeing as we’re not far removed from the 2019 version of the show I decided to set the way back machine 30 years for some classic Survival action. In a nice bit of symmetry this event also took place in Chicago as well.

Back in 1989 we didn’t have “brand supremacy” or singles matches on Survivor Series events. Instead every match on this show is a survival format, with the change being that they’ve gone from 5 person teams to 4 person ones. This of course means the “Teams of Five, Strive to Survive” tagline is now ruined. They didn’t bother coming up with a new one for the four person teams. The best I could come up with was “Teams of Four, Go to War”, but if you can think of a better one then feel free to share it in the comments section.

Anyway, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling eh?

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #344 – 27/11/1999

November 27, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

I hope you’re all ready for a New Jack centric episode this week, because that’s what you’re getting regardless. Last week was all about Rob Van Dam and Sabu, as they wrestled to a stalemate for the TV Title, thus leaving the door open for more chapters in the story. However, there’ll be none of that this week as we have important New Jack business to attend to!

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #343 – 20/11/1999

November 18, 2019November 20, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Last week wasn’t a bad show all told, as they did some interesting stuff to advance the Raven/Dreamer/Sandman storyline by having Dreamer save Raven from a Sandman attack but not quick enough to placate Raven, thus causing him to have a seeming mental breakdown.

So yeah, it was fun for all the family!

Let’s see where they’re going next, as we hang various weaponry from the ceiling and once again take things to The Extreme!!!

Mike Reviews: NWA/WCW Starrcade 1989

November 18, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Back again with some NWA/WCW stuff (I’m not exactly sure what Turner’s company was called at this time and Wikipedia isn’t especially that helpful either as it lists both groups as hosting the event. The box art for the VHS release says WCW, but that might have been added in after the fact). Seeing as we’re creeping ever closer to December I decided I’d have a look at a show that I’ve never seen in full before with Starrcade 1989.

I remember watching the Turner Home Video cut of the show many moons back, but that featured a lot of clipped matches so that they could trim it down to fit onto the tape. However, thanks to the miracle of the WWE Network, I can now watch the near 3 hour show in its entirety.

Whether that’s a good idea or not is yet to be seen, as this Starrcade fell into the dreaded category of “concept show” (Which is something that happened quite a lot with Starrcade actually now I think about it. It’s strange how they did that so often with their biggest gala event instead of just promoting some big matches that fans cared about and then delivering them) with the concept being Round Robin tournaments for both the singles and tag divisions.

Of course the tag section is immediately weakened by not having The Midnight Express in it, with Jim Cornette relegated to commentary of all things, but the singles tournament features four genuine stars in the form of Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Sting and The Great Muta. It’s hard to think that having those four guys all working with one another couldn’t produce at least a couple of good matches.

I actually did this the old fashioned way by watching the show with an actual notepad and pencil before going away and typing it up later. Of course hand writing stuff takes a bit longer than typing so if I miss something pertinent it might be because I was busy scribbling something down, so apologies in advance if that should it happen.

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #342 – 13/11/1999

November 11, 2019November 13, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

Welcome to all the fallout from November to Remember 1999. As usual I expect this post pay per view show to be more of a recap than feature anything new, but maybe ECW will surprise me on that front?

Sadly I have now gone beyond the point that Scott Keith has reached in his ECW on TNN recaps, so I’m afraid I can’t link you up to some lovely Scott ECW goodness. However, I will share the link for his excellent review of AEW’s “Full Gear” Event, which you can read by clicking HERE, as well as Thomas Hall’s review, which you can read by clicking HERE.

I personally enjoyed the show and especially liked the Hangman Page Vs Pac match (I think Hangman’s “Cowboy S***” shirt is great, but I don’t know where I’d ever be able to get away with wearing it). I’m one of the few who didn’t really have especially strong feelings one way or the other in regards to the Lights Out main event. It’s not really my favourite genre of wrestling but there was other stuff on the show that I did really enjoy so I was content when all was said and done.

If you’d like to read my Review of ECW November to Remember 1999 then you can do so by clicking right HERE. I didn’t especially enjoy the show but it did have an excellent Mike Awesome Vs Masato Tanaka match, so that’s something to consider if you like both men.

So with all that dealt with, let’s break a glass table and cover the floor in its remains as we once again take things to The Extreme!!!

Mike Reviews: ECW November to Remember 1999

November 2, 2019November 7, 2019 by Michael Fitzgerald

Hello You!

So here we are again with another ECW pay per view event of 1999. It’s been a tad hit and miss for ECW on pay per view this year, with Anarchy Rulz being good whilst Heat Wave and Hardcore Heaven were kind of just there and Living Dangerously was pretty bad. Hopefully tonight ECW can knock this one out of the park, especially as this show is supposed to be the biggest one they do all year.

I actually bought the live American pay per view version of this show years back from the dearly departed Extreme Central UK store in Manchester, which was a fantastic place to buy ECW/CZW/ROH tapes without having to faff about with arranging things online. The picture is a bit fuzzy but I get the real entrance music at least, so I’m counting it as a win.