Episode 230: ECW Hardcore Heaven 1995

In honor of Halloween and Dia de la Muertos, discover the legend of La Parka! From WCW’s chair-strumming icon to lucha libre's bitter legal battles, heartbreaking tragedy, and a new generation, explore the history of wrestling's legendary Skeleton Reaper.

We're picking up where we left off, right after Bash at the Beach 2000. We're stumbling our way through this one, laughing at more absurdity all the way to the historically comical (and distasteful) New Blood Rising PPV. Woo boy, this is bad... and hilarious.

I've got just 3 words for you: Monster Truck Sumo. That's right! Hulk Hogan takes on The Giant in a Monster Truck Sumo match on top of Kobo Hall. Once it's finished, Hogan pushes the big, stinky giant off the top of the arena and... then he comes back at the end of the night. And if that wasn't bad enough, we've got stupid heel turns, crazy promos, bad matches, and the debut of the Dungeon of Doom's latest weapon, the Yeti (or should I say, "YET-AY!"). You're in for it with this one, folks.

It's Troy & Greg's 4th time digging deep into the pile of crap that was Vince Russo's tenure writing and running WCW Nitro, and we're not even near done! We're going from just after WCW Great American Bash 2000 all the way through the infamous Bash at the Beach 2000. If you listened to parts 1-3, you know how we do. We're covering THE WORST moments (and the biggest moments) from Vince's run. And ooooh boy, this one is juicy!

We're still in May, slogging through the Bog of Eternal Stench that was WCW Nitro under the untethered reign of Vince Russo. We managed to make it all the way to Great American Bash 2000, where we put a bow on this episode and look ahead to the Pit of Despair ahead. But hey, at least we're able to look back and laugh our a**es off.

ECW Hardcore Heaven 1995 was gritty, schizo, and a bit sloppy. Not surprising for ECW in '95. It featured the Dudley Brothers' debut, Axl and Ian Rotten in a Taipei Deathmatch, The Sandman facing Cactus Jack for the ECW World Title, and Public Enemy's ECW goodbye. At the end, I'm including some short bonus content from ECW in 1996!

After Vince Russo left WCW (took his ball and went home to cry because he was told "no" about something), he was eventually talked into coming back. This time, he was full-time on screen as an authority figure along with Eric Bischoff. The storylines got dumber. The matches got weirder. Everything got sleazier. And there were TOURNAMENTS GALORE, BRO!

Debuting in 1994 and shooting straight to the top, Paul Wight had a meteoric rise in professional wrestling but an overall goofy, bumpy career. Was it successful? Yes. Is he a legend? Yes. But was he also used terribly and the butt of too many jokes? Absolutely. We cover it all and have fun with this look back at the life and times of the Big Show!

We're starting a new series about what WCW Monday Nitro looked like under the Vince Russo regime. Part 1 is going to be the nicest we're going to get for ol' Vinny Ru-Ru as we cover his start in 1999, going only by the name "The Powers That Be." It's soooo bad... but trust me... it gets worse!

A sequel to last week's episode, Troy follows up on part 2 of Kane's career. We're starting from Kane's first unmasking and follow "The Big Freakin' Machine's" career up until his Hall of Fame induction.