Customer Reviews

ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) - The Best Of Cactus Jack

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Long before he became a best-selling author and world famous WWF superstar, Mick Foley (Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love) was independent wrestling's hardcore legend and his trek to superstardom led him through the "hallowed" halls of the ECW Arena. This DVD chronicles Mick's two-year (1994-1996) stint as an Extreme warrior of ECW including his best matches and promos and his feuds with Sabu, Sandman, Terry Funk, the Public Enemy, Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas and his alliances with Mikey Whripwreck and Raven. The DVD does not have any DVD special features, but in all seriousness, it doesn't really need any...

Here's a rundown of the DVD:

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1. Opening Cactus Jack montage

2. Match 1: Jack vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E and 911). Brutal hardcore fight between the two hardcore legends. Lots of tables, lots of high impact. 3 stars. Shane Douglas, Mr. Hughes and the Bruise Brothers also appear.

3. Cactus Jack promo followed by a Paul E. promo

4. Clips of Mikey and Cactus beating Public Enemy for the tag belts. Cactus and Mikey promo.

5. Match 2: Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck vs. the Public Enemy. Crazy, arena-spanning brawl. Lots of tables and a balcony dive. 4 stars.

6. Cactus promo where he recruits Kevin Sullivan to replace an injured Mikey. Match highlights, Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. the Public Enemy where Sullivan betrays Cactus. Cactus and Mikey promo.

7. The Cactus-Sandman/Funk feud: Cactus promo (where Woman interrupts and Sandman attacks). Match Highlights 1: Match between Cactus and the Sandman (Sandman gets KILLED). Match Highlights 2: Sandman jumps Cactus, Terry Funk helps Sandman and Shane Douglas makes the save.

8. Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas promo. Match Highlights: Cactus and Douglas vs. Sandman and Funk, featuring the flaming branding iron!!!

9. Match 3: Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk. Battle of the two hardcore legends. Brutal match with even crazier spots with the flaming branding iron. 4 stars.

10. The Cactus-Douglas feud. A Cactus/Douglas promo. Clips of the world title match between Cactus and Sandman where Douglas interferes and costs Jack from winning the title.

11. Match 4: Barbed-Wire Match - Cactus Jack vs. the Sandman: INSANE match with barbed-wire. Slow start at first but it snowballs as the action goes on. Lots of blood, lots of barb-wire, lots of caning, ALL HARDCORE. 5 stars.

12. The Cactus-Dreamer "Anti-Hardcore" feud. Clips of Dreamer/Cactus vs. Raven/Stevie Richards.

13. Montage of Cactus Jacks Anti-Hardcore promos. ONE OF THE DVD HIGHLIGHTS. This is the collection of some of Foley's BEST promos ever. Great footage of Mick at home for X-mas and at parks around the country cutting on the ECW fans and hardcore wrestling in general. 10 stars

14. Match 5: Dreamer vs. Cactus and Raven. Standard hardcore fare, tables, barbed- wire, etc. 3 stars. Dreamer promo

15. Match 6: Tommy Dreamer/Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack/Raven: All-out "garbage-match" hardcore war. ALL kinds of plunder. Everything gets used from dust pans to VCR. Tazz and Richards also appear. 4 stars.

16. The Cactus-Mikey Feud: Cactus promo with Raven and Mikey. Cactus-Mikey promo. Clips Cactus and Mikey vs. the Eliminators where Cactus betrays Mikey.

17. Match 7: Cactus Jack vs. Shane Douglas. Douglas returns to face Cactus Jack. Outstanding psychological contest. Hard-fought, old-school style wrestling with a good mix of hardcore warfare. Classic Douglas. Features handcuffs and chairs. Mikey screws Cactus. 5 stars. Cactus' famous "Doritos" promo on Mikey.

18. Mick Foley's Last ECW Appearance...Match 8: Cactus Jack vs. Mikey Whipwreck. Great athletic contest, solid spots. 4 stars.

19. Post-match: Cactus' Farewell Speech. Replay of the Cactus Jack montage and an ending skit with the Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards.

Overall, this is an OUTSTANDING collection. The pacing is "just right" on this. A lot of the matches are clipped and only highlights, but it's mostly the boring stuff they took out (as opposed to the not-as-well paced Dudley Boyz DVD they put out as well). There's rarely a slow moment in this one. The DVD contains great matches (particularly the barbed-wire match with the Sandman, the Funk match and the Douglas match) and collects his best promo work. The promos may not be as controversial or riot-incenting like the Dudley ones, but these are good case studies on how to cut good promos. Foley's a master at this.

The only downside to this video is the (...) audio whose level fluctuates throughout. ECW's production values were "less than professional" so a lot of the source footage and audio are pretty sub-par and it shows here (as well as the Dudley Boyz DVD).

Overall, if you are a Foley-lover, this is a MUST for your collection.

Highest Recommendation (for all wrestling fans).

If any one wrestling superstar symbolizes ECW and hardcore wrestling, it is Cactus Jack (Mick Foley). This DVD includes some of the bloodiest feuds between Foley and superstars such as Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, and the Sandman. The Best of Cactus Jack also also takes a look at the unlikely duo of Mikey Whipwreck and Cactus Jack. Any ECW fan knows some of the greatest promos in the promotions history were cut by Mick Foley, which will be evident on this DVD. I highly recommend this DVD to all ECW fans and Mankind fans alike.

This is the one of two "profile" sets put out by the original ECW with one starring Bubba & D-Von, the Dudley Boyz & this one featuring Mick Foley under his "Cactus Jack" character. Now unlike how the Dudley Boyz DVD was where it was mostly just highlights & various matches, this goes through each storyline Cactus Jack has had during his career in ECW though match highlights, promos and footage from events. Various highlights include his controversial post-match interview from his match with Sabu where he spat on the WCW Tag Team title, his unlikely World Tag Team Championship partnership with Mikey Whipwreck & feud with Public Enemy, how a match teaming with Kevin Sullivan evolved into a feud with The Sandman & Terry Funk along with an unholy alliance with Shane Douglas, the era where Cactus turns on Tommy Dreamer to join Raven's nest which leads to a collage of his creative "anti-hardcore" promos.

Complete Matches Include:
vs. Sabu - This match was more about the post match brawl between the two than the match itself. Foley said on his "Greatest Hits & Misses" DVD that the hype & reputation between these two set a standard that nobody could match which was true in this case.
(Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses)

vs. Terry Funk - The "teacher vs. student" match here that was the defination of ECW hardcore violence. This turned into a big hardcore war that started near the broadcast position & worked it's way into the ring with a heavy amount of tables & chairs used between the both of them such as taking hard chairshots to the head & Cactus even missing an elbow drop on Funk causing him to land through a table. As usual with ECW, you had unusual weapons such as a toilet seat & a plunger & a trash can & a flaming branding iron. If your really into violence then watch out for this very sick part where Funk takes a broken beer bottle & continues to slice Cactus' arm & chest. This was a very violence match.

Barbed Wire Match vs. Sandman - They started this match off well with both men avoiding the barbed wire until Sandman hit it first...in the worst possible place for any man to hit barbwire. As usual with a Sandman/Foley match, this was just a slowpaced brawl between both men taking some punishment thanks to the wire like Cactus' arm being cut & hair caught in the wire while Sandman's wrapping himself in it came back to haunt him.

w/Raven vs. Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer - The classic ECW wild weapons brawl as they had everything including the kitchen sink. It would get sick as you see things like Cactus ripping at Funk's arm with glass. With cameo's from Taz & Bill Alfonzo, this is worth watching again & again.
(Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses)

vs. Shane Douglas - This was an usual situation as Cactus made it clear that he was headed to the WWF while Shane Douglas had just came back from there & these two had unfinished business from a year earlier when Douglas left. Foley wasn't prepared to wrestle as Douglas beat the street clothes off of him in the early going. Shane Douglas was determined in this match as you saw him do things that you normally don't see like him doing a dive off the top rope into Cactus in the crowd. The wild card here is that the special referee was future WCW referee (who later died from cancer) Brian Hildabrand who also trained with Douglas & Cactus when breaking into the business as that came into play during the match along with the ending where Cactus ended up taking one of the most wicked chairshots I've ever seen from someone he didn't expect it from.

vs. Mikey Whipwreck - This was Cactus' last match in ECW against the man he took under his wing & helped make a superstar. This match definately had it's moments since both men knew each other so well like Mickey using Cactus' own "over the top rope" clothesline onto Cactus himself while Cactus was able to block certain moves Mikey did. This was a good match to the point where everyone stood up & cheered the heel Cactus Jack afterwards as a show of respect.
(Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses)

If you're a fan of Mick Foley, this one is thumbs up recommended...no questions asked.

Quite simply, this just rocks. I won't give a rundown of the whole DVD as other reviewers have taken to that task. I will say this though. There are several clipped scenes, but it seemed to me the full scenes greatly outnumbered all of those that were clipped. That, or they edited it really good...eh...Either way I don't know what all the whining is about concerning the clipped scenes. The matches overall are quite good; it's nigh onto impossible not to smile when Cactus drops the elbow. Also, the "Anti-Hardcore" promo chapter is masterful. If his goofy promos don't make you laugh, or his serious ones go "...Wow..." I'll come right out and say somethings's wrong with you. The one where he mentions the Dynamite Kid, Ray Stevens, and Harley Race was especially amazing in my opinion. Mick Foley will go down as probably the greatest talker in the business along with Flair by virtue of these promos alone. (Many of his WWF ones will cinch that spot for him also.) In summary, you need this DVD. If you have ever even thought about buying it, do it. If you haven't, do it. If you ended up here by mistake and don't know a thing about Foley, do it. Also, buy his books. Good reads. Buy all that is Foley! Especially this DVD.

What wrestling fan doesn't remember watching Mick Foley's insane bumps as Mankind in the WWF? Well before that, he was doing even crazier stuff in Extreme Championship Wrestling as Cactus Jack. This DVD features most of Foley's best matches in ECW and is second only to his matches in Japan. A must have.

GOOD POINTS
*Its Cactus Jack!
*Over 3 hours
*Cactus' anti-harcore promos
*Some rare, early ECW matches
BAD POINTS
*Pretty shotty audio and camera work, the camera misses some of the most hardcore things and when a wrestler uses the house mike, its nearly impossible to understand them.
*A lot of the matches are edited.......LOTS. There is only about 4 full length matches on the whole DVD, the rest of the matches go on for no longer then 5 minutes.
*Some of the matches are already on the "best of" ECW DVDs, so if you have bought them, you have already got the best this DVD has to offer.

If your a hardcore Cactus fan: By it
If not, I recommend the "best of" ECW DVD series instead.

Anyone who is a fan of Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, Mankind or Dude Love (although there are no Dude Love references at all on this DVD, thank God) must get this DVD. If just for the interviews alone, you will laugh your a.. off. But for the smarks out there, they make you think and it is sad, when you look at today's landscape of pro wrestling, and what Mick Foley has done to himself to contribute to this great sport, and what his consequences are today. This DVD shows only a small part of his ECW career, as he has wrestled in Memphis, Atlanta (WCW), and various independent promotions. BUY THIS DVD!!!!!!!!

In it's short life, ECW was the best wrestling promotion in the world, bar none. The DVDs are a great way for longtime fans and those who are curious to see what the "revolution" was all about. The Cactus Jack DVD, while good, falls a little short. It's indicative of a trend in the ECW DVDs, and that is edits. The Pay Per View DVDs (and others, including this one) edit out the the wrestler's ring entrances and other little things, and this DVD features a lot of edited matches, some are in fact just mere snippets of a match. One good move is that Jack's first and last ECW matches are presented in their entireity. But then much of Jack's farewell to the fans gets the edit treatment too. That's a crime. The choice of matches are kind of unusual. Jack either loses, or comes up short in the post match brawl in most of them. Two impressive matches Jack had with the Sandman (both in Florida) are not on the DVD. Big mistake as they were quite impressive, the first of the two in fact featured the nastiest chair shots I had ever sen up to that time. Also nowhere to be see is the famous "Uncle Willy" interview, the single best Cactus Jack interview segment in history. It was done after his participation in the imfamous "IWA King of The Death Matches" tournament, and the fans are really being cheated by the abscence of this interview.

A good DVD all around and worth your time. Problem is, it should have been a "great" DVD.

The greatest wack job in pro wrestling history. He could pull off characters like nobody else could, sometimes seemingly changing gimmicks in mid-promo. I prefer his ECW years, but I prefer everybody's ECW time. He can also write a mean autobiography.

I don't know what's better. The matches or the legendary Cactus promos! Cactus v.s. Sabu, probably the 2 most hardcore wrestlers ever. Terry Funk and Sandman are here as well and they rank almost neck and neck with Sabu and Cacti. You have Cactus with the Franchise, Cactus and Dreamer and probably Cactus's most memorable period in ECW: his friendship with Mickey Whipwreck and their reign as tag champs! I fell on the floor so many times from the backstage interviews that I felt like I was in a hardcore match! Also, for those of you who know Cactus's history from WCW...Kevin Sullivan is here too! Definitely worth it!! Now I just wish they would make a 4 hr all promo tape from all the federations Mick has worked in!!!