Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc.'s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our universally celebrated loved/hated format! This time around, we're going somewhere this particular column has never gone before: THE EXTREME!
It's true that the first-ever edition of WWE Wrestlepalooza kicks off Saturday, September 20, on ESPN. However, WWE didn't come up with that name by themselves. In fact, the name was a WrestleMania parody ironic in a world where WrestleMania is heading to Saudi Arabia while Wrestlepalooza sticks around to entertain WWE fans in the United States first used by Extreme ChampionshipWrestling in 1995. They ended up doing four of these, but only one is readily available to American fans on Peacock, and that's Wrestlepalooza 1998, widely known as one of the worst, if not the worst, ECW shows in history.
But hey, it's a Wrestlepalooza to get us ready for Wrestlepalooza, and just because fans back in 1998 didn't like it, doesn't mean we won't find things to enjoy! And also things to bash, naturally. That's the entire point of this column in the first place! Who's ready for a PPV main-evented by Shane Douglas and AlSnow? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about ECW Wrestlepalooza 1998!
As someone who prefers his pro wrestling mostly without bloody hardcore matches and misogyny, ECW has never been my favorite promotion. As a result, it pleases me a great deal to report that the very first match on the supposed worst ECW show of all time is one that I greatly enjoyed!
It helps that I'm a sucker for tag team wrestling, and for underrated perennial lower-midcarders like Little Guido, Tracy Smothers, and Super Nova (the Blue Meanie is also here). Guido would go on to become WWE's Nunzio and not be a complete embarrassment, which is more than I can say for Nova's "Simon Dean" gimmick, but those two in particular are really at the peak of their powers in the mid-to-late 1990s, and Smothers will always be one of the great comedy heels of this era. Even Meanie does his part, though Nova spends most of the match as the legal man as a side note, there's a small touch I love where Nova makes the hot tag to Meanie and Meanie starts cleaning house, but then the FBI take the advantage again for just a second, just long enough for Meanie's next big move to come after a counter, far more interesting than "heel run toward face, heel fall down, repeat."
But let's be honest, the best part about this match (and the reason people like Dave Meltzer probably hated it) is the in-ring dance-off between Meaning and Smothers, which is followed by an utterly ridiculous sequence that sees Nunzio accidentally hit double team moves on Smothers with members of the opposition team, the referee hit both members of the FBI with bodyslams, and the referee attempting to cover Smothers while Meanie counts the fall(Smothers kicks out). It's such a clear vision of what was to come in the form of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla that you can almost hear the 13-year-old and 9-year-old Matt and Nick Jackson laughing hysterically and vowing to have this exact kind of tag match when they grow up. Say what you want about the Bucks and PWG (and I have) but at the end of the day, wrestling is fun and stupid by nature, and I love it when the wrestlers embrace that. Great work,ECW. What say we call that the main event?
(Okay fine, the next one can main event.)
Written byMiles Schneiderman
I'm just going to make this very clear before we get into this. ECW Wrestlepalooza 1998 is one of the worst ECW shows that there ever was and is not going to be on top of anyone's watchlists anytime soon, so saying we "loved" something should maybe be taken with a pinch of salt. With that said, even ECW's worst shows still have a few hidden moments of fun, and on this pay-per-view, it was Mikey Whipwreck vs. Justin Credible.
To add some backstory to the match, Whipwreck had been put on the shelf with a knee injury by Credible at the end of 1997. Credible would gloat about how he put one of the most beloved members of the ECW locker room out of action, leading to Whipwreck returning at the Living Dangerously pay-per-view in 1998. Credible would continue to go after Whipwreck's knee when he came back, beating him down so badly that their initial meeting in April 1998 was an easy win for Credible as he would just go after the knee. However, Whipwreck's knee was virtually 100% by the time Wrestlepalooza came around, and while they had crossed paths already, this was the first match to take place on an even playing field.
What follows is a good/very good TV wrestling match that just so happens to stand out on this show because, as you can probably tell by now, this show is not an easy watch from start to finish. Whipwreck comes out all guns blazing, beating Credible from pillar to post to the joy of the crowd, only for Credible to get back into things by capitalizing on Whipwreck's mistakes. One thing that should be noted is just how well Whipwreck bumps. He bumps and sells everything like he's just been killed, generating honest sympathy from the crowd which in turn gives Credible actual heat throughout the match. It's no wonder that Paul Heyman never gave Whipwreck a finishing move when he could just bump like crazy.
When Credible is in control, it plays into Whipwreck's biggest strength; being the underdog. Fighting off Chastity and "The Sexist Man Alive" Jason (he might be onto something there) during his comebacks, even delivering a Whipper Snapper to Chastity from the top rope in the closing stages to really get the crowd behind him, believing that he might have overcome the odds. Sadly, it wasn't to be, and Credible picked up the sneaky heel victory with a rollup.
Again, this isn't a match where if you don't watch it you will lose sleep over it, but for a pay-per-view as poor as this one, Whipwreck vs. Credible comes as a welcome surprise. Had it taken place on "ECW Hardcore TV" in the ECW Arena, it might have actually been remembered more fondly and stood out more, but it's on this show, which is good because this show is poor and this match isn't, but it's also bad because, say it with me now, this show is poor.
Written by Sam Palmer
On paper, Bam Bam Bigelow and New Jack facing one another appeared to be a mess in waiting. In actuality, no, yeah, that is exactly what it was.
The late New Jack was as entertaining for the viewer as he was horrifying to work with, a man that embraced the very idea of scripted homicide and as a result produced some of the better worked hardcore matches, as well as a handful of reasons why he really shouldn't have been allowed near a ring.
This match was hardly another Mass Transit incident, but it was also hardly a match at all, with them spending more of their time fighting outside of the ring in what was effectively a drawn out brawl segment. Was it the most exciting thing? No, but then neither realistically was most of the card. What it did to, in retrospect, is capture that rare feeling also embraced by the likes of Sharknado; in that it was so terrible, it wound up being a fun little spot.
Sure, if I had paid to watch the show live then I would most certainly be looking at this differently, and there is all the reason to despise the fiber of its being. But the beauty of this is that I didn't and it managed to be a spot of fun on an otherwise really bland and confusing watching experience.
Written byMax Everett
If you're a regular reader of these loved and hated pieces that we do (specifically the AEW pieces), you will know that I am the one person who works at Wrestling Inc. that loves a little bit of the old ultraviolence. A match with blood? Sign me up! A match with weapons? Absolutely! A match with gory self-mutilation? You better reserve a front row seat for me because I will be hooting and hollering like a bloodthirsty lunatic! So I'm as shocked as anyone that I thought this match between New Jack and Bam Bam Bigelow at ECW Wrestlepalooza 1998 was genuinely so bad that it's almost impressive.
For context, this match was added at the very last minute, being put on the card during the final episode of "ECW Hardcore TV" before the pay-per-view, and with a New Jack match, you kind of know what you're going to get. Dr.Dre and Ice Cube blaring over the speakers, every weapon under the sun being used, complete with a little demonstration from Jack on how to use it, and a balcony dive. This match had all of that and it was still terrible, so what happened?
Two things, one backstage, and one during the match. The thing that happened backstage was that Jack was engaging in some extra curricular activities that caused him to blow up about three minutes into the match. When I say extra curricular activities, what I actually mean is that he was snorting enough cocaine to make Pablo Escobar consider rehab, and according to a story told by Jimmy Yang (who was in attendance that night), he legit punched the Junkyard Dog because he owed him money for crack. The thing that happened in the match was that Jack knocked himself out doing his balcony dive, and was genuinely unconscious when Bigelow pinned him to finish the match.
Speaking of Bigelow, I haven't really mentioned him much, and that's because he didn't really get the chance to do anything. You're always very limited when it comes to wrestling Jack, and while Bigelow can certainly brawl, just look at the two matches with Taz on the pay-per-views either side of Wrestlepalooza for examples, having him in this sort of position just feels like a waste. Bigelow is widely considered to be one of the best big men in the business, so to have him wait almost an entire minute for Jack to climb up to the balcony, only for Jack to become completely useless immediately after is just sad to see.
Overall, this match is a mess, but unlike what my good friend Max said, I feel like it's messy for the wrong reasons. It's a match that certainly felt like a fight, but that fight was Jack wrestling the actual comedown he was having mid-match, and to have that on a pay-per-view is just bad. To put it simply, this match is a prime example of why Wrestlepalooza 1998 is remembered for being a terrible show.
Written bySam Palmer
I know, I'm surprised too.
On paper, Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu sounds like it would be the match of the night on any ECW show. Their original feud from 1996 was not only one of the major highlights of that year, but it helped legitimize the man who would go on to become "Mr. Pay-Per-View" in the eyes of the most hostile audience around. Just a few weeks earlier, RVD had that legendary match with Bam Bam Bigelow where he did the somersault senton into the crowd that features on every ECW video package, and captured the ECW World Television Championship in the process. RVD was only meant to soften Bigelow up as Sabu was the number one contender, but now the tag team partners had to go head-to-head once more.
ECW Wrestlepalooza 1998 has the reputation of being the worst ECW pay-per-view, but if you have a match like RVD vs. Sabu on there, surely it can't be that bad right? Well that's where you're wrong, because this match is truly a chore to get through.
To start with, and spoilers if you haven't seen the match or the show, but this match between RVD and Sabu went to a time limit draw. The two men wrestled for 30 minutes, with the overarching story being that their manager Bill Alfonso wouldn't pick a side and that he'd call the match right down the middle daddy (this would be the time to blow a whistle if you have one close to you). However, that really doesn't factor into things too much. Sure, there are a few moments where Fonzie is asked to hold up a chair for Van Dam, only to move it at the last second, but by the halfway point of the match, Fonzie is just kind of there, blowing his whistle at ringside, which can add to the atmosphere when a match is good, but the crowd just couldn't get into this.
Even the tables that Sabu tried to use wouldn't agree with him, with the two he balanced between the ring and the guardrail either not breaking or breaking too early. The table he brought into the ring broke its leg, causing a chorus of boos to be sung by the crowd, and while they did their best to improvise, the match was always one step forward, two steps back. It was very evident by the 20 minute mark that this match should have been that; 20 minutes. Trim the fat, work at a quicker pace, and this would be a match good enough to call Wrestlepalooza 1998 a one match show. They were just making spots up during the final third, and with no time-calls to let the fans know it was ending soon, the end result was just a mess.
Unless you're an ECW historian, don't worry about missing this match. However, if you want to see Sabu legitimately vomiting off the ring apron, then go right ahead and watch it I guess.
Written bySam Palmer
Going into this retrospective I must admit that Shane Douglas had escaped my memory, and I can officially say, having been reminded of him ad nauseam throughout this show and then in the main event as he defended the ECW World title against Al Snow that I was much the better for it.
Douglas talkeda lotthroughout this show, getting his rear-end handed to him by Taz after the promo equivalent of taking a microplane to the frontal lobe, appearing once more totalkagainin a backstage segment, and then committing the ultimate atrocity in trying to wrestle a match in the main event. Any Shane Douglas was too much Shane Douglas, and I cannot stress enough how much of this show was just Shane Douglas. I'm not saying that Douglas speaks to why ECW went out of business, but I will just posit that this man was the world champion on no less than four occasions of a promotion that went out of business. May not be a causation, but there is definitely a correlation.
The main event was a ridiculously popular Al Snow against the living cure for insomnia, and said living cure for insomnia also happened to be very clearly carrying an injury. Surely, just surely, after the injured living cure for insomnia had been further injured by Taz earlier on in the night, the stage had been set for a title change when all was said and done. That obviously was not what happened and after 13 minutes of a wrestling match that made watching paint dry feel like a cinematic experience, Shane Douglas continued to be the world champion and the monumental waste of time that was Wrestlepalooza had found its rightful conclusion. And it was dreadful, from start, to finish, to having to rationalize what it was that had actually just happened.
Written by Max Everett
