Customer Reviews

Hardcore Homecoming: Platinum Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Two days before WWE was having their "ECW: One Night Stand" event, a bunch of non-WWE talents got together for a reunion show of their own at the building formerly known as the ECW Arena titled "Hardcore Homecoming." Due to WWE owning the ECW footage & all their copyrights, this show as limited in some ways that effected this event in regards to editing (the DVD goes mute whenever an "ECW" chant happens) & re-dubbing (Joey Styles had to redo the commentary alone when he had Cyrus with him during the event itself) which hurt the event but the second disc full of extras, the use of current TNA stars & those who chose this show over the WWE show heavily make up for it. They also use footage from the "Forever Hardcore" documentary as a back-story/highlight video for each match/event of the night. Disc one had the actual event while disc two was full of DVD extras.

The show opened with Todd Gordon acknowledging the crowd followed by Joey Styles (who was almost in tears), Cyrus, and Joel Gertner doing their usually opening promo full of dirty sex jokes to the point where even Cyrus had to break character & laugh before this went the direction you knew it was going to go with Gertner & Cyrus.

Chris Chetti & Mikey Whipwreck vs. C.W. Anderson & Simon Diamond - This was just your average opening match with both Anderson & Diamond working over Chetti's back (which was injured years ago) building up the hot tag to Mikey.

Blue Meanie vs. Tracy Smothers w/J.T. Smith (F.B.I.) - A comedy match filled the the typical spots you expect from the two from the referee getting involved to the dance off.

Fallen Heroes of Hardcore Trible - A nice tribute by Johnny Grunge (Public Enemy), Gary Wolfe (Pitbulls), Tammy Synch (Chris Candido) with appearances from Danny Doring, Roadkill, and 911.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Kid Kash - This was build up as "Old School vs. New School" with both of these men having the reputation for being some of the best high flyers in ECW. Kash was in heel mode to the point where he picked on Hat Guy in the front row before Scorpio grounded Kash. The match turned into a very physical & athletic contest both in & out of the ring with Kash pulling off his somersault from the stage to the floor while Scorpio later did his own somersault legdrop off the top rope along with the 450 splash. Great contest.

New Jack/Kronus vs. Ian & Axl Rotten (Bad Breed) - This was originally suppose to be a reunion of the Eliminators against a mystery team but Perry Saturn got injured leaving Kronis alone to fight a mystery team...the reunited Bad Breed. This wasn't an official match but a hardcore brawl as they beat down Kronis until New Jack made the save turning this into what you expect from a New Jack match...a bloodbath weaponsfest complete with a balcony (in this case, scaffold) dive. Stay tuned afterwords when New Jack let his feelings known about his history in that building the only way New Jack can.

Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible w/Jason - This was Lynn's first match back after a year due to shoulder surgery. They started off slow with ground wrestling but picked up the pace over time with Justin bleeding on the outside causing Jerry to work over the cut including biting him. A chair got involved with Justin powerbombing Lynn right on his shoulder while Jason kept getting involved causing an old nemesis of his to appear to even out the odds. Good encounter between both men.

Sandman vs. Raven - For those who complained about Sandman's entrance music being dubbed over on the One Night Stand DVD, it's done on here too & replaced by footage of Sandman talking various thing such as the significance of his entrance & the evolution of his character. There's a couple of comedy spots involving Meanie & Musketter at the beginning before the match actually starts with Raven beating up Sandman on the outside with his own cane & suplexing him on a ladder. Sandman returned the favor using the ladder to bust open Raven before doing his "rolling rock" off the top rope onto Raven onto the ladder on top of Raven & the airplane spin with the ladder. A tables came into play as Raven went through one via a leaping somersault by Sandman. We got appearance from various people including Blue Meanie doing 3 Meanie-saults that ended up injuring his ankle & others ending in a "Stone Cold" whippersnapper for Sandman.

Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas w/Francine vs. Sabu w/Bill Alfonzo - It should be noted that Terry was accompanied to the ring by Tammy Lynn Sytch, Sabu was managed by Bill Alfonzo, and Shane Douglas was managed by Francine making this the first time they've appeared together in 6 years. This was a rematch from the 3 way dance that put ECW on the map from "The Night The Line Was Crossed" with a bonus addition of it being a no ropes barbwire match which you saw how effective it would be right from the start as Shane Douglas had some issues getting into the ring via the wire. You had some traditional spots in this match such as the 3 way tie up & headlock chain before the match turned into a brawl with the wrestlers fighting on the outside. The wire came into heavy effect throughout the match such as all 3 men had their head raked across the wire, Sabu's leg got caught causing him to tape it up, Funk's arm got wrapped up between two strands of it causing it to be cut lose with wire cutters, Sabu's head caught between the two wire ropes. Chairs & a ladder were brought into play with the ladder being so unsteady that it collapsed on Funk at one point. The big surprise here was the appearance of Mick Foley as a special referee only for him to do bring in an object that caused the arena to boo him until he got hardcore with it. This was "extreme" to say the least but definitely a performance you expect from these three men.

The second disc was full of behind the scenes events like a hidden New Jack promo with a fan outside the building, a tour of the former ECW area, Axl Rotten with the fans outside, Shane Douglas & Francine meeting for the first time in years, and watching the fans enter the area as the doors open. There was also footage of the autograph signing & the "Q&A" session after the event. There's an interview with Axl Rotten & another one with Blue Meanie who talks about the events at both ECW events from the weekend & gives his side of the story involving the assault by J.B.L. Matches from the XPW promotion (since they couldn't use any ECW footage) featuring Douglas vs. Candido with an appearance from Sabu, Douglas vs. Funk, Douglas vs. Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn vs. Juventud Guerrera & a hidden match between Axl Rotten & Kronus. There's also snippets from the "Forever Hardcore" documentary with the wrestlers talking about things revolving around Hardcore Homecoming (ECW area, their matches, the fans, their history) along with a hidden clip of Joey Styles telling a story about an incident involving his wife, Dawn Marie, Electra and their boobs. Commercials & video clips from the website round out this DVD extras.

Basically, good event with a great set of extras. I would recommend for any ECW fan.

Hardcore Homcoming took place on June 10, 2005, where a lot of top names such as; Sandman, Raven, New Jack, Sabu, Justin Credible, Terry Funk, and Jerry Lynn came together along with others for one night of Hardcore action at its finest.

The only problem is that the editing really brings down the atmosphere as every single ECW chant is blocked out. Other than that and some medicore matches, there are some treasures in here that are worth it.

Chris Chetti, Mikey Whipwreck vs. Simon Diamond, CW Anderson:

Okay match with Mikey Whipwreck getting a lot of cheers from the crowd. Some nice chain wrestling and Chris Chetti, who hadn't wrestled in a while, shows no ring rust at all. Mikey Whipwreck and Chris Chetti win. 7.5/10

Blue Meanie vs. Tracy Smothers:

More of a comedy match than an actual match. Tracy Smothers and JT Smith continue to complain about illegal holds that didn't happen. Tracy challenges Blue Meanie to a dance contest before attacking him from behind. The ref even got involved and gave a scoop slam to Tracy Smothers. In the end JT Smith hits Blue Meanie with a chain and Tracy gets the pin. 7/10

Two Cold Scorpio vs. Kid Kash:

Kash got in the fan's faces a lot during the match. The action spilled to the outside as both men continue to give chops and stiff kicks throughout the entire match. Scorpio hits a summersault leg drop from both the middle rope and the top rope before hitting the 450 splash for the win. 8/10

Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn:

One of the best of the night. Both men use chain wrestling at its finest and chairs were used throughout the entire match. One great moment was when Jerry Lynn uses a hurricanrana type move and sends Credible and himself through a table. The self proclaimed sexiest man on earth, Jason, interferes but Jerry Lynn still gets the win with the cradle piledriver. 8.5/10

Kronus and New Jack vs. Ian and Axl Rotten:

Wild, bloody brawl, with both Ian and New Jack using a knife on each others heads. Chairs, street signs, and a scaffold come into play as New Jack jumps 15 feet off the ground onto Ian through a table. No clear winner was declared, but all four men shook hands after the match. 8/10 Best moment was the jump by New Jack, no question about it.

Sandman vs. Raven:

Another hardcore war by these two men. A ladder, two tables, and even a sword was in this match as Raven's friend, the musketeer, duels the Sandman at the beginning of the match.

Highlights include the Rolling Rock by Sandman on the ladder onto Raven, and Raven caning Sandman repeatedly in the head. Mikey Whipwreck helps Sandman for a while, drinks a beer with him, and then gives him the whippersnapper for Raven to get the pin. [The only problem was that it was WAAAAY too short. 8/10

Three Way Dance
Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas vs. Sabu

Know why this was the best of the night? Instead of ring ropes they used coils of BARB WIRE!!! Sabu didn't even have a shirt on!!! All three men cut each other up and both Terry and Sabu have to be cut free from the wire as Terry gets his hand caught up and Sabu gets his neck caught up in it.

The lights go out as Douglas is on a ladder and come back on and Mick Foley is standing in the ring with a ref shirt on. Mr. Sock comes out to boos from the crowd, but turn too cheers as Mick wraps it up in barb wire. First Douglas is pinned, then Sabu gets the pin after a ladder collapses for Terry's weight as he tried to climb it. 10/10 Absolutely brutal and worth it.....

The only problem again, is the editing. However if you can mind the sudden quiet moments and the sound changing to dubb out the ECW chants, the main event, Raven/Sandman, and Lynn/Credible matches are well worth the money. The extras aren't that bad either.

I saw this live, and it was one of the best nights of wrestling ever. The crowd is into it, the matches were fantastic, and the atmosphere unreal. I couldn't wait to see it on DVD. But...

well...

It doesn't hold up.

2 reasons.

1) Dubbing. They overdub ALL the music. It's noticeable most with Tracy Smothers dancing to nothing, and Sandman getting a split screen interview while walking in the crowd as everyone sings along to a song you don't hear. AND they overdub EVERY SINGLE TIME an "ECW" chant starts. AND Cyrus doesn't do commentary, though we saw him doing so live.

2) Most of the matches aren't that good. Kash vs. Scorpio wasn't bad, Sandman vs. Raven was the usual, the 3-way was unreal, but the rest was mediocre at best. So, actually, it was like a REAL ECW show!

If you're looking for a knock-down, drag out event that shows only the best of ECW, it's not happening here, ESPECIALLY with the overdubbing. But if you want a nice complement to One Night Stand, it does do that, and the main event is really, really awesome. And that takes a lot for me to say, since I hate both Terry Funk and Shane Douglas.

Extras are sparse, too, just so you know.

This dvd was alright, but not the greatest show as the box said. New Jack and Kronus VS Axel and Ian Rotten was very good, but the ending sucked. Raven VS Sandman was a joke, and I actully didnt watch the whole three way brawl. The speical features was what made this dvd. I love ECW, but this wasnt there best effort. At least they got Joey Styles to do commentery before WWE neutered him. Anther small gripe about the dvd is when you press enter on any feature on Disc 2, you have to hear the famous Style's line Oh my god! A little annoying. Watch it once at least

I love ECW and all the characters and huge spots. The dvd has a lot of little extras and a few bonus matches which were all in XPW and decent as well. The main Hardcore Homecoming matches are ok at best up until the last few with Raven & Sandman, Funk and Douglas and Sabu in a three way, and Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible. All those matches were good and I especially enjoyed the funk/douglas/sabu match and raven/sandman match. The other matches were all forgettable and some of the wrestlers are noticeably past their prime. Especially Johnny Grunge who thank god didn't wrestle in this event, and a very bad and overweight looking John Kronus. This event is mainly nostalgia and has a few heart warming tear jerking speeches and such. The matches are about even with a few really good and a few eh. Overall I'd say it was a good show and dvd. The bonus features include four more matches and some little snippets and interviews. B+!

The Mikey Whipwreck/Chris Chetti-Simon Diamond/CW Anderson tag team match was not great but pretty good. The Tracy Smothers-Blue Meanie match was an awful comedy filler. The 2 Cold Scorpio-Kid Kash match was a solid,high-flying brawl. The tag team match between The Gangstanators(New Jack & John Kronus) & The Bad Breed(Axl & Ian Rotten) was a bloody,hardcore,hard-fought brawl. The Jerry Lynn-Justin Credible match was the showstealer of the event. The match between Raven & The Sandman was a good reminder of thier matches back in the 1990's. The Terry Funk-Shane Douglas-Sabu-3 way Barbed Wire match was a pretty solid,hardcore,hard-fought,bloody,brawl. I give this event a 8 out of 10.

If your looking for an ecw reunion... it aint here. The wrestlers are there but for some reason the spirit just doesnt cross over. Mostly due to the poor quality of the dvd. And the wrestlers dont really give it their all.

Just two days before ECW One Night Stand 2005, this DVD's event was filmed in the old Bingo Hall, the ECW arena, in south Philadelphia.

The "unofficial" ECW One Night Stand, this event has much to be compared with the actual ECW One Night Stand that happened two days later.

I won't compare the two, because One Night Stand is obviously far superior with regards to quality and budget, but I feel like I have to compare the summation with One Night Stand.

For the goods first, this was a great ECW-style event with familiar faces coming to compete. It has more of a shoot feel to it, as Joey Styles openly refers to certain stars as Faces or Heels at points in their career, or whether they are now. Athletics were top notch, and it was an exciting event to see, also featuring many ECW originals that weren't there for One Night Stand.


Now for the bad... unfortunately for Shane Douglas, who sponsored this event, Vince McMahon has a strangle-hold on virtually all the old Pro wrestling organizations, the biggest being WCW and ECW. He owns all the rights to ECW, and with ECW One Night Stand only two nights apart, Hardcore Homecoming is cursed to not be able to mention ECW, and instead say "hardcore" when referring to past events and their old franchise. Even the fans chanting "E-C-W!" is heavily edited, made thick in some instances so it can't be interpreted, cut off at the W, or just muted and pasted over with generic crowd cheers.

The low budget of this event also means that superstars' music is edited over. The Sandman, who had his music edited over in One Night Stand, has his music edited over here, into an even MORE generic sounding trash muzak, basically the main theme of Hardcore Homecoming.

It's understandable that due to the low production values of the event and no support from heavy moneymakers, it wouldn't be as great to look at or hear as ECW One Night Stand, but the sound quality of the microphones is so terrible that I cannot understand what most of the people are saying (especially Joel Gertner, who speaks so low it becomes mumbling beneath the screams of the fans), and even those who speak loudly and clearly are difficult to fully make out.

With all the heavy editing done, it's a wonder they didn't edit some parts of the tribute to fallen stars, including Chris Candido, when his fiance Tammy Lynn Sytch came out in a highly skimpy dress, with fans screaming and chanting "SHOW US YOUR TITS!" constantly, stopped only when Candido or Pitbull 2 or Rocco Roc (the dead stars they're honoring) are mentioned so they can cheer. It significantly lessens the emotional impact of this event when you hear random people in the crowd screaming "SHOW US YOUR TITS!" while they're talking.


Another thing which really disturbed me is made even worse by the fact that ECW One Night Stand didn't have a match like this: The Blue Meanie vs Tracy Smothers was essentially a joke. It was a joke match. It starts with like 15 minutes of just Smothers and Meanie posing for the crowd, dancing trashily, and riling up the crowd, then some pillow strikes, wrestling moves, then Smothers complaining and changing the match into a dance-off, which they then both do, then Smothers attacks Meanie and the match resumes. In the end, Smothers pins Meanie when his partner attacks Meanie as he's about to do his second actual wrestling move (the first being a bulldog) of the match. A total waste of time, and there was no explanation as to why a black guy and a redneck from Memphis are wearing tights from the F.B.I. (Full Blooded Italians). I'm assuming that's something only an ECW fan from back when it was on TV can answer.



In summation, this cannot stand up to ECW One Night Stand, but it is a worthy event to watch, with a highly brutal main event of Shane Douglas vs Sabu vs Terry Funk in a barbed wire rope match. The flaws are numerous, but not enough to drag this down.


Mostly, it's painful to watch them be unable to say the words they love so much, it makes you want to scream at the screen "EEE SEE DOUBLE-YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!"

It was an incredible that all of that wrestling history took place inside of a hot sweaty Bingo Hall in South Philly. I was seated in the bleachers on the camera right side of the building. The match results were as follows and reviews:

1. Chris Chetti and Mikey Whipwreck d. CW Anderson and Simon Diamond 3/5 Good beginning, always cool to see Mikey with those weird ass clothes and to see Simon and CW for the first time as well. Fast pace, good match.

2. Tracy Smothers d. Blue Meanie 2/5 Funniest thing was seeing Tracy Smothers dance classic. Big pop for Meanie with the BWO chants, wished Meanie won though. Goofy dancing was awesome too.

3. 2 Cold Scorpio d. Kid Kash 4/5 First chants of Boring during the show was during this match. A lot of high flying spots and 2 Cold sporting some Japanese championship belt. I don't want to say it was a cruiserweight match but like I said it was a lot of high flying and good, solid wrestling.

4. Kronus and New Jack brawled with Ian and Axl Rotten. New Jack cut a promo afterwards. Not Rated. First time seeing New Jack his promo was classic and his jump off the scaffold was priceless. Would had been better if Saturn didn't break his neck a couple days before so we could had seen the match but then again who knows if New Jack would had come out.

5. Jerry Lynn d. Justin Credible via the cradle piledriver. 4/5 First time seeing the New F'N show and he lived up to t he hype and for a 42 year old guy still has the moves that he posses when I watched the tape of Guilty as Charged against RVD. First time seeing Justin and he seems to be a good worker and getting good heel heat from the crowd.

6. Raven d. The Sandman 3/5 Story of the Night!!!! When Raven came out the place exploded in the flashbulb lights from the cameras. The Sandman came out to a bigger pop then Raven. Then he walked around the building and low and behold he went to around our section so we left our seats and we started to slap him on the back and he did the traditional beer can bashing against his head and I got beer in my hair and my shirt with the Sandmans beer. I'm on the DVD but Id come in better if they didnt have the split screen and interview the Sandman. Great match. Wish Whipwreck didn't give Sandman the Whippersnapper and it could had gone a little longer.

7. Sabu d. Terry Funk & Shane Douglas w/Francine 5/5 Terry Funk came out to a respectful ovation as well as he deserves for being a Living Legend and he pretty much gave the quote that shook the bingo hall: "Its time......TIME TO GET WIRED." No Ropes, Barbed Wire/ Three Way Dance. The ring crew came out got rid of the ropes and started putting the wire on but then took off and there was a delay. Apparently the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission has banned barbed wire matches so they had dull the wire so it wasn't as sharp but as the match ensured that wasn't the case. Shane Douglas came out first to a huge pop and chants of "Thank you Shane" from the crowd for putting it together. And cut his tremendous shoot promos and Sabu came out with Fonzie and Funk came out with Tammy Sytch aka Sunny. It was one of the most gruesome matches I've ever seen and this was my first time seeing a barbed wire match (obviously I need to watch Born to be Wired) all three men were a bloody mess. Terry Funks arm was caught in the wire, Sabu's throat was stuck in the wire and Shane was so tapped up the worse effect he had were probably on his back. Meanwhile toward the end, Shane is on the ladder and POOF!! The lights go off and suddenly Cactus Jack in the ring and started beating Shane and takes out Mr. Socko to much boos in the ECW Arena. So he wrapped it in the barbed wire with the mandible claw. Cactus is the temporary ref and Shane is eliminated by Funk, I believe. Then Sabu gives Funk the Arabian face buster and pins him and the match was over.

Obviously all the music is dubbed with an imitation song or a generic song or with the wrestlers interview courtesy of the "Forever Hardcore" DVD. But overall its definitely worth it! This DVD is EXTREMELY perfect for the ECW fan!!!

caution i am going to give match results for this event. before i do that i just have to say that this was a great show that i saw live in the Viking Hall. lets go into the reviews.

Match 1-CW ANDERSON AND SIMON DIAMOND VS. MIKEY WHIPWRECK AND CHRIS CHETTI **** good tag match considering these four men have never teamed before. WINNERS: MIKEY WHIPWRECK AND CHRIS CHETTI.

mATCH 2-BLUE MEANIE VS. TRACY SMOTHERS *** this match really gets the stars because of comedy. they had a dance off in the middle of the match which was cool. the fighting parts were also pretty good.

Segment-MEMORIAL SEGMENT ***** one of the best segments in all of wrestling. started out with a tribute video played on the big screen. afterwards Johnny Grunge and Pitbull Gary Wolfe made their way to the ring with Tammy Sytch. Danny Doring and Roadkill then came out and started attacking Grunge and Wolfe. After a beatdown 911 made his way out and chokeslamed Roadkill twice. a few table spots here as well.

Match 3-KID KASH VS. 2 COLD SCORPIO ***** Awesome match with lots of high flying spots WINNER: 2 COLD SCORPIO

Match 4-NEW JACK AND JOHN KRONUS VS. IAN AND AXL ROTTEN *****
this really wasn't a match but a wild brwal with lots of weapons. at the end of the brawl New Jack set up Ian on the table and dived off a scaffold onto him. WINNERS: NEW JACK AND JOHN KROUNS BY KO

Match 5-JERRY LYNN VS. JUSTIN CREDIBLE ***** we all knew this was going to be good and it was. an awesome table spot were jerry lynn hit a tope rope hurracanranen on justin and they both went through the table. WINNER: JERRY LYNN

Match 6-RAVEN VS. SANDMAN ***** this one did not disapoint. some nice table and ladder spots in this one. sandman even pulled out some moonsaults out of his arsenal. WINNER: RAVEN

Match 7-SABU VS. TERRY FUNK VS. SHANE DOUGLAS IN A BARBED WIRE MATCH ***** nice match to close the event. lots of blood and use of the barbed wire. sabu even had to be cut loose from the barbed wire in the middle of the match. the only thing that disappointed me was sabu didn't do a lot of high flying moves, it was basically a slower paced brawl. WINNER: SABU

GOOD BYE EVERYONE AND IAM DEFINETLY GOING TO BUY THIS EVENT ON DVD. YOU SHOULD TO BECAUSE FOR 14 DOLLARS IT'S WORTH IT.