10 Greatest Things About ECW’s Final Year

9. Dusty Rhodes Vs. Steve Corino

ECW Paul E Dangerously Paul Heyman
WWE.com

It's a crying shame that Steve Corino was never afforded the chance to became a significant player on a major stage. Could the King of Old School have been a genuine main event attraction in, say, WWE? That's up for debate. For those who saw Corino's work in the final few years of ECW, though, the Canadian at least deserved an opportunity to showcase his skills to a wider audience.

While his initial role in ECW was as a prick manager and a goon who could bump around for the babyfaces of the promotion, Corino took on a more serious, cut-throat persona as an in-ring talent in 1999. Aligned with Jack Victory, Tajiri and Rhino, this freshened-up Steve Corino was soon on a collision course with the legendary Dusty Rhodes as '99 rolled into 2000.

Not only did this rivalry - which included a bloody, brutal Bullrope bout at Living Dangerously in March 2000 - serve to give the American Dream one more short run, but it also helped to solidify Corino as the real deal and someone who audiences should take seriously.

By November '00, the self-proclaimed God of F**king Professional Wrestling was the ECW World Champion and was a true MVP of the promotion's final days. While this ascension to the top of the mountain wasn't solely down to his rivalry with Dusty Rhodes, that feud played a pivotal part in cementing Steve Corino as someone who could believably carry the company on his back.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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