We’re catching up on ECW 1999 with ECW Living Dangerously 1999. This show drew 3,900 to the Asbury Park Convention Center with a Taz defending the ECW World title against career nemesis Sabu, who is defending his FTW title.
The Best
Living Dangerously 1999 opened with Super Crazy taking on Tajiri in a match that would end up winning the crowd over in under 10 minutes. Amazing. The key here was that while these two could do something decent on the mat, their battles were typically spot-oriented. They showcased their lucha libre skills while also looking evenly matched the whole time.
I guess they figured out “These fans want either spots or violence” from watching previous cards or seeing that the Michinoku Pro six-man from the year prior and RVD’s matches had fans engaged. All they had to do was shorten that for a promotion that tends to run long on the featured matches.
That aside, this was a good match—technically great if we factor in the card it’s on—and these two would only get better as ECW rolled on.
Rob Van Dam defending his ECW TV title against Jerry Lynn: banger. That’s all that needs to be said. Actually, this is the first of a few matches that would’ve benefited from less time because the pace here was great for something that’s 15-minutes tops. After a certain point, things just start to drag—which happened here.
However, this match had the benefit of being exciting and fast-paced early on. It also established another rival for RVD in Lynn, one of ECW’s true ring generals.
The main event between ECW World Champion Taz and FTW Champion Sabu was a showdown that was very late in coming. It’s Living Dangerously 1999 and the big super match between these two rivals should’ve taken place in 1997.
Multiple things set the feud back, so it was slow going in getting this bird in the sky but the end result was pretty damn good. Sure, some of the anticipation was gone, this was Heyman’s “Either you’re gonna do the feud or drop it” matches.
With that said, this was a good bout. Also, as a World title main event, it was actually the perfect length. ECW gets it right once every couple of shows.
The Rest
Balls Mahoney packs up Steve Corino in under 4 minutes in a match that could’ve opened the show. It wasn’t bad in execution but it wasn’t good either. I believe it’s just no one really requested the match and it’s a match that would be easily forgotten but at least it didn’t hurt the show overall?
It’s a hard-to-explain match because it’s like “Why is this here and not on Hardcore TV?” However, some matches that were on PPV and weren’t big matches often made it to their one-hour show.
Little Guido taking on Antifaz del Norte was fine but the crowd was indifferent. It’s sinking in that at least for ECW, some matches on a PPV were meant for later TV tapings. This wasn’t exactly a match that was going to have fans salivating or excited—and not all matches on a PPV need that thrill ride approach.
It’s just something that’s nice to have on an event that you’re paying to watch from home. You want every match to be worth the dollar. Moving on, New Jack facing Mustafa was a stock midcard brawl. If you’ve watched even a few months of ECW, you knew where this match was going and it did not disappoint with a balcony dive onto a restrained Mustafa.
I’ll say that this was an acceptable match given that it had a storyline to finish out and this was a solid finish to the match and the story. New Jack defeats his former tag partner and takes the crown of Original Gangsta.
The Dudley Boyz taking on Sid and Spike Dudley didn’t feel as if it was longer than it ran for at all. While it was another ECW brawl with a guest star, it was actually fun. The Dudley Boyz made this a match worth putting on the card.
What I love most about this match is that it’s exactly what Sid Vicious should’ve been in the late 1990s-early 2000s: a big badass with two moves who put people through tables because he’s Sid.
That should’ve been Sid’s gimmick! Give him a brief brawl but always know that the table is close by and chances are that Sid isn’t the one going through it!
Tommy Dreamer teamed up with Shane Douglas to face the Impact Players of Justin Credible and Lance Storm. While a perfectly acceptable tag match, it suffers from ECW’s first great sin: lengthy-ass matches. This ran for pretty much 19 minutes but this could’ve been done in 14 or 15 minutes and it would’ve been digestible on yet another show with too many lengthy matches.
If you’re wondering about ECW’s second great sin: shows with too many matches on top of lengthy ass matches.
ECW Living Dangerously 1999 Verdict: Bronze Medal (5/10)
Honestly, this kind of felt as if ECW Hardcore TV had gotten two or three hours to work with instead of an hour. Not great but not bad at all. Even some of the matches in “The Rest” could be enjoyed. The match length problem is something ECW never shakes but this is an improvement from Guilty as Charged. I’m giving Match of the Show to Super Crazy versus Tajiri and a close second to RVD versus Jerry Lynn.
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