RE-POST: WAW Hardcore Wrestling - Video Review

Greetings, and welcome to the latest instalment of The Two Sheds Review.

Well, after promising to do this a few months ago, I'm finally getting around to it. Following on from my view of WAW October Outrage 99 earlier this year, and to co-incide with the big WAW Fightmare event at the Norwich Sport Village next Saturday, I will be reviewing the WAW Hardcore Wrestling. Even though this event is in two volumes, I will be reviewing them as a whole. So let us begin.

First, the matches.
DUNK THE CLOWN (with Dink) V JOHNNY KIDD
A question presents itself here? Why is Dink the clown only about 5? How can I put this without sounding very un-PC? At least in the WWF, Dink was a...well...little person, and not a kid. Onto the match.

There was very little actual wrestling action here. It seemed to revolve entirely around the Clown's comedy act. As the saying goes, if you can't say anything nice....
WINNER; Dunk The Clown

BLONDIE BARRETT V SPIDER-MAN
Two words - copyright infringement. This happened a few years back in WCW with Arachnaman. It didn't work then, and it still doesn't work now.

Blondie Barrett still claims to be a cruiser weight - well, if he is, then I'm 6', blonde and very handsome.

To be honest, this match actually wasn't that bad, and definitely better than the comedy act of the last contest. However, it was ruined by the Spider-Man gimmick.
WINNER; Blondie Barrett

SGT. CYANIDE V THE U.K. UNDERTAKER
This falls count anywhere match had it's good points, but also it's bad. The old Lord of Darkness gimmick on a man about a foot shorter than Mark Calloway didn't really work. Cyanide dominated most of the match. The real Undertaker of old was never dominated in this way.
WINNER; THE U.K. UNDERTAKER

ZEBRA KID V BASH
This supposed ladder match turned into a tag-team match when The Executioner joined Bash in attacking the Zebra Kid. This brought out Kid's former partner Hot Stuff, tipping the scales in the Kid's favour, and reuniting the U.K. Patriots. There were plenty of high-flying moves from Kid and Stuff, but sadly, in a match of this kind, the ladder was not used enough, and the match was a tad too long.
WINNERS; ZEBRA KID & HOT STUFF

THE U.K. PIT BULLS (Big Dave & The Bulk) V THE SUPERFLYS (Ricky Knight and Jimmy Ocean)
This hard-core cage match, complete with weapons did prove to be highly entertaining. Although Knight isn't a high-flyer, and Ocean looks a little past it, they still pit on an entertaining match against my local boys. Although not as hard-core as a Raven, or even a Mick Foley at his best match, this was still quite an entertaining battle.
WINNERS; THE SUPERFLYS

10 MAN RUMBLE Including Kickboxer Kevin Kelley, Dink, Zebra Kid, Skeletor & The U.K. Undertaker.
Hey, this is no Royal Rumble, but it still wasn't that bad. Although you have to wonder what Dink was doing in this in the first place. He showed some talented, high-flying type moves, but he ended up being carried out of the ring by Ricky Knight, even though he wasn't actually eliminated.

The U.K. Undertaker emerged victorious from this one. Not bad.

THE PROMOS - In my review of October Rampage 99 I said that the promos were a real big let down on that video. Unless my review had somehow managed to travel back in time and they saw what I said, or they had been taking tips from the WWF, the promos were far superior. Those who cut promos showed some passion, some aggression, towards their opponents. It looked and sounded like they actually wanted to rip their opponents heads off, not merely shake them by the hand and say jolly good show, as was the case last time.

THE ANNOUNCERS - Sweet Saraya and Gorgeous George (a man, not the stripper!) Again, another improvement since October Rampage 99. Both seemed to know what they were talking about, with one acting as face (Saraya) and the other heel (George). However, my one major criticism here is that they both acted like colour announcers. It was let down by the fact that there was no play-by-play. Still a very good effort though.

In conclusion - a far better effort. Hardcore Wrestling is a better video buy than October Outrage 99. The production values are better, the matches are, mainly because they were not long, drawn out affairs, and the announcing a whole lot more passionate. This one definitely is worth watching. A good effort all around, and I'm not just saying this because I hope to meet some of the WAW people next Saturday!
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