Sunday, June 24, 2012

ECW unreleased volume 1 DVD set

I never got to see much ECW stuff till they started doing PPVs. First I heard of them was through the Apter mags. I read some reviews of some of their shows. Then saw a ad selling VHS tapes of the TV show. Well I spent like 40 bucks and got 2 tapes. Both tapes had 3 or 4 shows on them. But the picture quality of the tapes was horrible. So I didn't bother getting anymore even though I enjoyed the product. Well in February of 1997 I moved from the MS gulf coast to the Golden Triangle area of Texas. Well on the gulf coast we didn't get the ECW syndicated show. But about a month after I moved some channel in that area started showing it. Thankfully not to long after I moved to Texas I met someone that ordered all the ppvs. So I would watch them. Then the ECW show on TNN started and enjoyed that.

This DVD set is 3 discs. Each is loaded down with matches that WWE claims are "unreleased". Now the only match on here I know for sure was "unreleased" is the Tazz vs Tommy Dreamer for the ECW title match. And that was cause of various contracts.

Well the first disc starts off with the infamous Shane Douglas vs 2 Cold Scorpio NWA World title match. From August of 1994,this match is very well known. Mainly cause of Shane throwing down the NWA world title and changing Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme CW. Decent match that I am betting was released on VHS back in the day. Next up is Tommy Dreamer vs Raven from Hostile City Showdown 1995. I am a fan of Raven,but this match was kind of boring. Up next is Dean Malenko/2 Cold Scorpio vs Tazz/Eddy Guerrero. After watching this match it is easy to see why WCW stole Malenko and Guerrero away from ECW. Plus I love 2 Cold,he is a guy that if he didn't have the issues he has ,could have been huge in the USA. Dean Malenko vs Eddy Guerrero for the ECW TV title is next. From July of 1995,this is one of the best ECW matches I have ever seen. Shane Douglas vs Cactus Jack from Feb 1996 is the next match. I swear this match is on the old Pioneer ECW best of Cactus Jack DVD. Closing out this disc is Chris Jericho vs 2 Cold Scorpio from August of 1996. Amazing match,so far this set is pretty good. We get 6 matches,and only one of them is crappy.

Disc 2 starts off with RVD/Sabu vs The Eliminators in a tables and ladders match from CyberSlam 1996. Very fun match.Then from ECW's first PPV we get Sabu vs Tazz. Sadly this match hasn't held up that well. Shane Douglas vs Bam Bam Bigelow from November to Remember 1997 is next. Decent match,but by this time Douglas is starting to show his age. Then from Heatwave 1998 we get Sabu/Rob Van Dam vs Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki. Fun little tag match,but not the best tag match ever. To close out the disc we get one of my all time favorite ECW matchs. Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn from 1998. This is the match that aired on the ECW syndicated tv show.

The last disc ,sadly is from an era of ECW that really didn't have as many good matches. We start off with Shane Douglas vs Tazz from Guilty as Charged 1998. Very disappointing match. Then from July 1998 we get Rob Van Dam/Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm/Justin Credible. Ok tag match,but I have never been a fan of Justin Credible. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka from November to Remember 1999 is up next. Good match but I rather they had put on the Awesome vs Tanaka match from the ECW on TNN show. Up next is the only match on here I am sure was unreleased. Tazz vs Tommy Dreamer from CyberSlam 2000. Mike Awesome had jumped to WCW while he was still the ECW champ. So WWE let ECW borrow Tazz. Tazz won the belt and then quickly lost it to Tommy Dreamer. Fun match,one of the best matches I have seen from Tazz and Dreamer. And from the  same event we get Dreamer vs Credible.Really bad match. We jump ahead to July and get a fun Rhino vs Sandman ECW world title match from Heatwave 2000. This is one of the better Sandman matches I have seen. Jumping ahead to Decemeber of 2000 and we get Rhino vs Spike Dudley from the ECW world title. Pretty fun match,and one of  Rhino's best matches.Then from the syndicated tv show we get Jerry Lynn vs Christian York. Never saw this match before and it is amazing. Kind of sucks York never got a shot in WCW or WWE. And the final match is Tajiri/Mikey Whipwreck vs Kid Kash/Super Crazy vs The FBI. Great well paced tag match.

Over all this set is worth getting if you are a ECW fan.There is 20 matches,and outta that 20 there is only 4 bad matches. ECW unreleased volume 1 gets a B+.

Archie comics overview

 
I really can't remember when I read my first Archie comic. But it had to be in the mid to late 70s. By the time I was 10 or so I was buying the various Archie digests. And had become a huge fan of Lil Archie and Sabrina the teenage witch. Well as I became a teenager I quit reading the Archie stuff. For years I didn't even think about Archie. Then while I was in boot camp one of my friends had his mom mailing him a Archie digest every week. And since we all had nothing really to read that digest got passed around most of the platoon. Well when I got out of the army I would a few times a year pick up a digest and read it. Then fast forward to 2008. I had a job where I worked for 11 hours 4 nights a week. But during that 11 hour shift I really only had to work about 3 hours,so I was looking for stuff to help me pass the time. Well I started buying every Archie digest I could find in this small town I live in. Then I saw that you could buy the older digest direct from Archie comics. So I put in an order for about 40 digests. Around this time I also discovered that the local Fox channel was showing the "Archie's Weird Mysteries" show every morning. So I started recording them. I loved the show and thanks to the internet was able to track down and buy every issue of the Weird Mysteries comic book.  Well in the middle of 2009 I left that job. And kind of just stopped buying the Archie digests. I pretty much forgot about Archie again. Then I discovered that there is a weekly Archie comics podcast. A link to it should be on the right hand side of the screen. Called the Riverdale Podcast,this show is a one man production. Jonathan Merrifield is the host,and his love of all things Archie shines through in each episode. He puts up a new show each Saturday,and normally each episode is 20 minutes tops.

Now I have been reading Archie comics off and on for over 30 years now. And I have a few questions that seem like they will never be answered. Like why does Jughead most of the time wear a shirt with a big "S" on the front? Or why does Archie bother chasing after Betty and Veronica,when Josie and Sabrina are also right there?

Here is some links to my reviews of 2 issues of Archie comics.

Jughead's Soul Food review

Jughead #327 Punk vs Funk issue