ECW has been one of the most famous professional wrestling company till date. In the 90s, WCW was not the only competition for WWE. ECW was a big competition for both WWE and WCW. WWE.com looked at the top matches of ECW;
Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven: Wrestlepalooza 1997 (June 6, 1997)
“This is a big match because it took so long for Tommy to finally get a victory over Raven,” Styles revealed. “Of course, he finally beats Raven and then it goes to this horrific moment where Jerry Lawler comes in and invades ECW and cracks Tommy Dreamer with a kendo stick. God, the blood curdling scream that came out of Tommy’s mouth was nothing like anything I’ve heard come out of a grown man only because I’ve never seen anyone tortured. Tommy had to be rushed to the emergency room. But Tommy loved being the martyr. Tommy never wanted to win, because fans would just get behind him more and more (when he lost).”
Sabu vs. Terry Funk: Born to be Wired (Aug. 9, 1997)
“I don’t like gory movies. I think it’s even worse when it’s real,” Joey Styles admitted before discussing what has been called the most brutal match in sports-entertainment history. “Terry Funk and Sabu wrestled in real barbed wire. If you look at the end of the match, there really isn’t a pinfall, because Terry Funk’s shoulders really aren’t on the mat, because the two had become so intertwined in the barbed wire that they were just entangled in this giant ball that was just piercing both of them. Terry Funk was very lucky, because there was one piece of barbed wire that was sticking out that was very close to his eyeball. We had to cut them free from one another with wire cutters and get them both to the emergency room. That was the most atrocious thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Everyone who did a barbed wire match before that realized that they had been topped.”
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley: As Good as it Gets (Sept. 20, 1997)
“What makes this a must-see moment is not the insanity of one Superstar throwing another Superstar into the crowd. It’s the fact that we trusted our fans would catch Spike,” The Extreme Announcer said of the night Bam Bam Bigelow launched Spike Dudley into the front row of the ECW Arena. “We absolutely knew that our crazy fans would catch Spike, but we didn’t know they would body surf him all over the place. That was just fantastic. If you were going to do something like that in any other organization, the entire audience would have to be filled with paid actors. There are a lot of insurance issues involved. None of that happened in ECW. Those were real fans and for whatever reason we just went on good faith that none of them would sue us.”
Sabu vs. The Sandman: House Party 1998 (Jan. 10, 1998)
“You know why I remember this match? I’m standing on the stage with Paul Heyman, facing the ring and Sandman tumbles off the ladder and does a somersault completely to the floor,” Joey Styles remembered with disbelief. “So I think The Sandman has free fallen 20 feet to the concrete floor and I start screaming at Paul about how out of control this all is and he’s screaming at me for overreacting. He’s saying, ‘Why don’t you go down there and stop the match in front of all these people?’ And I’m calling him irresponsible. It’s all a misunderstanding, because I can’t see the tables! I guess there were two tables set up there, which actually broke his fall so he didn’t splat on the concrete floor. They weren’t pleasant to go through, but it’s better than hitting the concrete floor.”
Tazz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow: Living Dangerously 1998 (March 1, 1998); Tazz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow: Heat Wave 1998 (Aug. 2, 1998)
“There had been moments in wrestling where people came up through the ring to snatch somebody and pull them down, but I think we were the first ones to drive somebody through the ring,” Style said about the Living Dangerously ’98 brawl between ECW Television Champion Tazz and legendary big man Bam Bam Bigelow, which ended when Bigelow jumped backwards with The Human Suplex Machine on his neck, sending both men crashing through the canvas. “What broke out among the fans there in Asbury Park, N.J., is what I like to call a “fecal chant.” Absolutely nobody saw it coming. Then we had Tazz and Bam Bam Bigelow go through the ramp in their rematch. They were just awesome moments.”
Rob Van Dam vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (April 4, 1998)
“This match is a must-see match, because of the dive that Rob took,” Joey Styles said of the 1998 showdown between ECW TV Champion Bam Bam Bigelow and Rob Van Dam in Buffalo, N.Y. “Rob went up to the top turnbuckle and did a somersault dive onto Bam Bam Bigelow (who was in the crowd). Rob cleared the ringside area, Rob cleared the guardrail, Rob easily used those massive quadriceps of his to launch himself five rows deep onto Bam Bam. It’s just phenomenal to watch. It started RVD’s 23-month run as ECW TV Champion, which only came to an end because he broke his ankle and was stripped of the title. It really solidified Rob as the man to watch. To this day, Rob is now 41 and I don’t think he’s lost a step.”
Tazz vs. Shane Douglas: Guilty as Charged 1999 (Jan. 10, 1999)
“This match between Shane Douglas and Tazz is a must-see, because it was the one real passing of the torch we had,” Styles said about the long-awaited ECW Title bout between The Franchise and The Human Suplex Machine. “Shane was our top guy, especially at the very beginning. Coming out of WCW, he had the matinee idol looks, the physique and he was phenomenal on the microphone. Shane was the perfect champion for us. At the same time, it was obvious Tazz was ready to be the guy. In ECW, he had gone from being The Tazmaniac to being the first wrestler to use an MMA persona, the first wrestler to use an ankle lock, the first wrestler to make his opponents tap out. If you look at our two greatest champions, it’s Shane Douglas and Tazz. And Tazz defeating Shane Douglas was the passing of the torch.”
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn: Hardcore Heaven 1999 (May 16, 1999)
“I loved calling (matches between) Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn,” Joey Styles admitted when recalling one of ECW’s most noted rivalries. “What I did during those matches was exactly what WWE didn’t want me to do when I got here, which is call play-by-play. The reason I did that is because Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn moved so quickly that for me to call every single hold, counter hold, reversal, switch and move meant I had to speak as quickly and as clearly as the Micro Machines pitchman. I did it to prove that I could. I think it got to the point where they were going as fast as possible just to get a chuckle out of me trying to keep up. But Jerry and Rob had chemistry that I think may have even been better than (Dean) Malenko and (Eddie) Guerrero.”
The Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer & Raven (Aug. 26, 1999)
“One thing ECW always did is when someone was going away we’d bring in someone else,” Joey Styles revealed. “The night that The Dudleys left in Queens, N.Y., they made it very clear they were leaving with the ECW Tag Team Titles to WWE to lay these titles at the feet of Vince McMahon. They said the one thing they needed to do before they left was rid ECW of Tommy Dreamer. So, of course, Tommy is about to be hurt and in comes Raven, who returns the same night The Dudleys are leaving. Paul (Heyman) always tried to bring in someone new on the night we were losing somebody. It’s something that still works. If you look at the night after WrestleMania this year, the first segment was The Rock coming in to talk about his victory over John Cena. Later in the show, John Cena comes out and he’s attacked by Brock Lesnar. It’s a technique that still works.”
Tommy Dreamer vs. Tazz: CyberSlam 2000 (April 22, 2000)
“Tommy never wanted to be champion. Tommy wanted to be the martyr, but in this case, we had to have one of our own win that title back from Tazz,” Joey Styles said while explaining the complicated turn of events that led to this bout. In the wake of then-ECW Champion Mike Awesome’s exodus to WCW with the ECW Title, a legal injunction from Paul Heyman’s father and a working relationship with WWE led to a match where WWE competitor Tazz beat WCW competitor Mike Awesome for the ECW Championship. One week later, The Human Suplex Machine lost the title to Dreamer. “Of course, Tommy Dreamer never even got to wear the title, because right afterward he was challenged by Justin Credible, had victory stolen from him and lost the championship. But WWE wouldn’t let us show this match on TV, so the home video release now is the first time we can see this match.”