Another idle Saturday night, home alone, I decided to pick out another ECW DVD to watch and then stick on eBay. I landed on Heat Wave 96, which came from the ECW Arena on the 13th of July in that year. '96 is a strange year in ECW, not quite the heyday, which would come nearer the turn of the century, and still utilising the odd legend. Several gimmicks are still not quite nailed down as to what they would become and that's reflected in a show that's a real mixed bag.
The Gangsters vs the Samoan Gangsta Party opens the event, which is a really short bloodbath that ends quickly in a no contest. Mikey Whipwreck squashes Paul Lauria in about 90 seconds, but then stays in the ring to be joined by Sabu for a losing effort against The Eliminators. The Dudley Brothers defeat the Full-Blooded Italians. There's another hardcore match between Tarzan Goto and Axl Rotten. Shane Douglas wins the TV championship over Chris Jericho, Too Cold Scorpio and Pitbull #2. Louie Spicolli beats El Puerto Riqueno in another squash, before Sabu returns to the ring and defeats him. Then The Sandman beats Raven in an enormously complicated match.
So, there's lots of this show that isn't good. The Gangsters fight is mercifully short which unfortunately can't be said for the Goto Rotten match, which is a brutal but uninspired affair. The first of Sabu's matches is unfortunately marred by a couple of botched spots but his second match, with the late Louie Spicolli is much better. The Dudleys vs. The FBI is marred by way too much story and too many characters in the match and is often unwatchable.
The main event is better, but a bit too complicated for its own good. What is pitched as three matches. Raven and Sandman in the cage, Stevie Richards against Terry Gordy on the outside and Tommy Dreamer vs Brian Lee elsewhere soon becomes all of them fighting in the cage at the same time. What should have been a decent story, with Raven having to keep Richards from losing as well as himself (as the title was decided in the Gordy/Richards match with them as proxies for the pair) gets lost when they're all together in the ring. When you add Lori and Tyler Fullington into the match, as well as Beulah and Missy Hyatt too there's just too much happening.
Which is interesting as the best match, and a template for telling stories within a complicated match, was also on this show, with the Four-way Dance for Chris Jericho's TV title. Making them tag in and out was a nice addition as it meant that the Jericho and Scorpio could work most of the match, whilst the storyline, between Douglas and Pitbull #2 could be kept alive by Douglas staying away from his opponent. This really was an excellent match, almost half an hour before the first elimination and lasting 40 minutes in total, it involved a big heel turn and some outside interference but a dropkick from Scorpio to a mid-Lionsault Jericho was amazing and that match was really excellent.
The dvd again has the licensed music replaced by awful dubbed over tracks, and several of the entrances are not present.
As I say, not the best overall PPV in the history of the company, but certainly one of it's best matches.
