The first ever Guilty As Charged PPV begins with a video message from Paul Heyman. He hypes up the night's show and talks about, unlike WWE or WCW, they're not going to bait-and-switch people and they're going to come right out and say what line-up changes are going to happen. Of course, telling people these updates after they had purchased the PPV doesn't mean anyone's getting a refund so...
To the ring we go for our opening contest - The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido and Tracey Smothers) vs. Danny Doring and Roadkill. The match, oddly heel/heel, barely begins before Ian Rotten and Balls Mahoney show up and, after basically calling the competitors a bunch of homosexuals (not exactly a line that aged well 23 years later), turning the match into a 3-Way Dance. Guido and Smothers are almost always at least passable and they're no different here. I don't think their act would've ever worked in WWE or WCW at the time, but that's not to say it couldn't have been replicated with maybe someone in place of Smothers (who I'm guessing Vince saw as "too southern" considering his one run in the company was working as Freddie Joe Floyd). Doring is better here than he was at November at Remember and Roadkill also looks a bit sharper. Oddly enough, in terms of actual wrestling content, the heels shine brightest here while the Chair Swingin' Freaks come across as more one-dimensional. Eventually the babyfaces get the W to pop the crowd after around 10 minutes, which was the right amount of time for this match despite it being fought under elimination rules. Perfectly fine opener, but nothing special. (2/5)
After a promo from Terry Funk, we get an international face-off between Mexico's Super Crazy and Japan's Tajiri. These two - along with Little Guido - would go on to have many, many encounters, but if I'm not mistaken, this was their first in ECW (if not anywhere). Like the Mysterio/Psicosis and Dean/Eddie matches, this was all about showcasing talent rather than necessarily getting either guy's character over (something I'm not sure they ever actually accomplished over the next two years). In that respect, this match is a total success. What's fun about this match is that the crowd doesn't really have any reason to dislike or cheer either guy at the onset, but because Tajiri smiles more and Super Crazy tries to lead some chants in Spanish, they end up assuming clear face/heel roles as the match progresses. Both guys hit a bunch of the signature spots that would become their calling card, but I wouldn't degrade this by calling it a spotfest - the submissions look painful, the technical exchanges are convincing, the shots are stiff, the high-flying is well-executed, and there is progression and escalation of offense. I wouldn't call this "must see," but it was very, very good and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who may have thought ECW stopped bothering with cruisers after WCW basically stole all of them away. (3.5/5)
John Kronus comes out to the ring. He was doing a lunatic gimmick, not too dissimilar to what Al Snow had been doing months earlier (at least to my eyes). Its a shame that the peak of the Eliminators team happened at a time when ECW did not have the exposure it would get from 97' onward as Kronus' career became a footnote in the career of Perry Saturn (the "forgotten" Radical). Former ECW referee Judge Jeff Jones shows up, makes a few jokes about the justice system in the US (including an OJ one that is at least few years late), and then welcomes his client...Sid! The crowd absolutely loses it, which isn't surprising considering that Sid had been off TV for most (all?) of 98' after leaving the WWE in mid-97'. As usual, he looked like a million bucks and the physical charisma that had carried him to the main event of WCW and WWE was still there. More than anything, Sid had star power that nobody else in ECW really had as even the company's most popular homegrown talents still often seemed like big fish in a small pond. Again, say what one may about his in-ring skills, by 99', Sid had main evented two WrestleManias and something like half-a-dozen other pay-per-views over the course of a decade when pay-per-views weren't always monthly affairs. Anyway...Sid comes in and just destroys Kronus. The only thing I don't like about this segment is that they go to the outside and Sid usually a chair, which is just unnecessary and Sid's chair shots don't look as hardcore as ECW's (highly dangerous) "norm." The crowd wants to see a powerbomb and they get it. I don't think Sid stuck around ECW too long - which is kind of a shame because his run in WCW wasn't all that great and it was fun to see him in this environ. For what this was, it wasn't perfect...but it was almost there and the crowd ate it all up. (3/5)
The Dudleys make their way down the aisle and cut a lengthy, lengthy promo. This had become the norm for them and eats up lots of time, but...there wasn't much in the way of innovation going on here. That being said, this might be the most tasteless of their pre-match promos (at least up to this point) as they really lay it on thick with the Disney references for the Floridians. They issue an open challenge and out comes longtime rivals New Jack and Spike Dudley. As one would expect, this is just a wild brawl, though there are some high points - specifically Bubba launching Spike into the crowd, a cool Mexican stand-off moment with the babyfaces holding guitars and the heels holding chairs, and a pair of 3Ds to end the match. After the bell is rung, Bubba cuts another promo running down all the other tag teams they've defeated and, in some cases, sent packing from ECW. I like how, while he's cutting the promo, they continue to put the beat down on New Jack, who just won't leave the ring and end the fight. Its a neat way to protect New Jack and show how much of a bad ass he is. The Dudleys call out Public Enemy, who were coming back to the company after what could only be described as failed runs in WCW and then WWE (the latter being infamously brief and featuring a near-shoot fight with the APA that is cringey to watch). Some reviewers really loathe this sort of match, but it was kept relatively short (under 10 minutes) and it was effective in making it clear that the Dudleys, even without the ECW Tag Team Championships, were still the top team in the company. (2.5/5)
Rob Van Dam was set to defend the ECW TV Title against Masato Tanaka, but because Tanaka is out, his challenger is Lance Storm (with Tammy Lynn Bytch in tow) instead. This match features some really strong action, but as was common for RVD, there are some lulls. Lance Storm has a reputation of being a boring wrestler, but he was quite good here in the delivery of his pre-match promo and then, as expected, his execution of some pretty stiff maneuvers, including a reverse DDT on the outside that looks like it legit concusses him. Maybe that's why there's a lull in the minutes that follow? RVD looks genuinely out of it and starts talking to himself/the audience and its not entirely clear what he's talking about (though it seems he's referencing that their not even halfway through the match yet). Anyway...eventually a chair gets tossed into the fray and then, in a surprising twist, Lance Storm gets the visual pin. I'm not sure other ECW stars on the rise like RVD would've been as willing to put Storm over, but really, throughout this match, Van Dam has really helped make Storm look like an absolute killer and maybe the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the company. Van Dam eventually wins with a german suplex, another twist that I liked but will admit came a bit of nowhere - especially in 2022, when basically no match ends until someone hits their finisher. (3/5)
Next up...a Stairway to Hell match (basically a Cane-on-a-Pole match) between Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible. Heyman had been trying to push Credible as a major star in ECW, but it just never took as he's rarely mentioned in the same breath as any of the other "ECW Originals" despite being on so many ECW shows over the years (and being featured fairly prominently). I'm not sure why they didn't just book Funk/Dreamer for this show, but I'm guessing it was because the main event had been built up for so long that they didn't want to put another big marquee match on the card? Dreamer and Credible are fine brawlers and know how to use weapons, but because they are using weapons from around minute two, there's very little suspense or struggle over, y'know, getting the cane. I mean, who needs to bother when you can use a chair or ladder right away? There's some fun stuff with Credible's motley crew of hangers-on (Nicole Bass, Jazz, and Jason) too and I like that they didn't do the obvious and have Dreamer piledrive any of the women. There's a bit more of a story to this match than some of the wild brawls that came before it as Dreamer gets his arm banged up, but it doesn't really play into the ending. Speaking of the ending, the biggest spots of the match occur in the end with Dreamer doing a Diamond Cutter off the ladder and then also doing a nifty jumping DDT off the ladder too - neither of which required him to grab the cane (which he also did). The nail-in-the-coffin is a devastating and gnarly That's Incredible piledriver from Credible to Dreamer on the ladder that I can't believe Tommy had the balls to take as it was a move that could've so easily gone terribly, terribly bad for him. (There's also a Terry Funk run-in towards the end to further that feud.) This wasn't terrible and, on paper, should've made Justin Credible an even bigger and *ahem* more credible top guy, but it didn't. (3/5)
Main event time - Taz vs. Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. The build for this match was months and months long, which put Taz and Douglas in the rough position of having to deliver on a huge amount of build-up despite Douglas still being injured. This match has lots of detractors, but I found it to be a fun brawl even if this sort of thing had now been done to death (and better) by the WWE. This felt like a fight, but maybe not a title fight if that makes sense, more like a grudge match due to the amount of crowd brawling and the use of tables. The main reason this match seems to have such a bad reputation, though, is the overbooked finish. Instead of giving Taz a clean and well-earned victory to solidify him as the top guy in ECW (which wouldn't have even hurt Douglas too much considering the length of his reign and the fact that he wrestled this match in a cast), we get a Sabu run-in - which was admittedly cool - and then a Chris Candido run-in (and turn) on top of that. The Sabu run-in could've been saved for the post-match and would've been a perfect way to advertise the Sabu/Taz match at the next PPV (Living Dangerously 99') while the Candido turn fell flat with the live crowd when it likely could've been a bigger moment on ECW TV. This is better than its reputation, but did almost nothing for Taz, who really deserved the entire spotlight to be on him after how long this rivalry had gone. (3/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.86-out-of-5, ECW Guilty As Charged 99' is a well-paced, mostly good wrestling show that I'd argue is a bit underrated mostly because it failed to live up to expectations. The main event wasn't the epic title fight that the storyline had been building to, but its a heated brawl and Sabu's return is undeniably thrilling. Tajiri/Super Crazy is excellent, RVD/Storm is good, and Credible/Dreamer is about as good as it possibly could be considering how bland Credible could be (even given every weapon under the sun to work with) and how bad some of Dreamer's matches had been in 98'. The Dudleys match is exactly what you'd expect, but its kept relatively short (unlike their pre- and post-matches) and seeing Bubba toss Spike into the crowd is still a sight to behold 20+ years later. Oh, and there's Sid. Sid, in this context, is awesome and different. Only the opener feels unworthy of being on a PPV, but isn't too offensive. What hurts this show more than anything else is that it doesn't feature a single truly great match (Tajiri/Crazy is close but lacks stakes and feels more like an exhibition of new talent than an important contest) and the main event doesn't deliver on the promise of the Taz/Douglas rivalry.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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