We skipped over some ECW when kicking off “Into the Vault” 1999, so let’s look at ECW Guilty as Charged 1999, a show that kicked off an extreme 1999! This show took place in Kissimmee, Florida, and drew 2,600 fans for a main event World title match as champion Shane Douglas took on Taz.
The Best
After an opening bout that could’ve been left off of the pay-per-view, we get a brief but dope showdown between Tajiri and Super Crazy. This would kick off their long-running ECW rivalry and give the fans a taste of what to expect in PPVs to come out of these two.
What I loved about this match which is something everyone else should’ve taken note of is how to get your sh** done and entertain the crowd with less time than everyone else. Tajiri and Super Crazy stole the show in less than ten minutes, folks.
The thing is—this wasn’t even the best match of their rivalry. It was just the best match on ECW Guilty as Charged 1999.
The ECW Television title match saw RVD defend against Lance Storm in a good, competitive match that suffered from running a bit long. Honestly, 15-minutes is enough to do most of the bigger ECW matches in, get the story told, and avoid the fatigue of a meandering match—and this one started to meander.
That aside, this was one of the better matches on the card but the ending left something to be desired.
The Rest
The show opens with a mess of a three-way dance tag match between The FBI, Danny Doring & Roadkill and The Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks. Almost 11 minutes of this. Honestly, this should’ve been a regular tag match between two of the three teams. If it’s going to be this messy and continuous, make it brief.
Sid Vicious comes out and spanks Kronus in a minute and a half. Poor Kronus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBuevMVCaH4
The formula for an ECW tag team match should be that if it’s a brawl and loaded with weapons—keep it to about 10 minutes. Anything else—15 minutes. ECW has this bad habit of meandering matches.
Mind you, the tag team bout between the Dudley Boyz and New Jack & Spike Dudley didn’t meander much. It was kept around that 10-minute window and you knew what you were getting.
As long as this didn’t run for 15 or 20 minutes it was going to at least be watchable. I will say that it’s one of those matches that you watch once and forget about it.
When I first watched the Credible vs. Dreamer Stairway to Hell match, I was all-in on that level of carnage and potential violence. Watching it 23 years later along with the ECW Hardcore TV episodes leading up to it and the whole thing could’ve been scrapped.
The feud was meh but it made sense that ECW ran with it since Dreamer was positioned as Mr. ECW after talent raids took a number of long-time ECW guys. However, this match was not it for how long it ran. I’ve said it several times in this review but this could’ve been shorter and gotten the story told.
Dreamer can do lengthy matches—as could Justin Credible—but these lengthy brawls/extreme matches aren’t it…and the placement on the card isn’t it either.
The thing that stood out about the main event World title bout between Shane Douglas and Taz wasn’t that Taz won the ECW World title. That should’ve been the big thing to leave this match on. No, we got Sabu interference—and Sabu always stole the attention in ECW—and Douglas being turned on by Chris Candido.
Taz winning the belt was like third. Fourth if you include how long this match ran for and what we all got out of it.
This match should’ve been a bit better as a whole. Without the extra nonsense going on, this could’ve been a rock-solid title match–but that wouldn’t necessarily be ECW. It wasn’t an awful match to end on promotion-wise but it was a meh ending that had a lot of the wind taken out of its sails.
ECW Guilty as Charged 1999 Verdict: Bronze Medal (4.25/10)
This event can be summed up as having two matches that are either fun or enjoyable with one of them being the must-watch—our Match of the Show, Tajiri vs. Super Crazy. There might be a match or two that you might enjoy but this show as a whole just…wasn’t the way to kick off 1999 for ECW.
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