9 Times ECW Was Better Than Literally EVERYTHING
4. Lights Off. Lights On. Taz & Sabu
In the aftermath of the November To Remember 1995 heel turn, Taz' year was spent continuing an aggressive rebrand from his Tasmaniac persona that had started shortly before his neck injury.
The suplexes of his animalistic era remained but they informed part of a deadly proto-MMA arsenal that included devastating strikes and submissions for the wrestlers as they lay decimated from brutal throws. He fought and defeated everybody that stood in his path of rage, each time ending the display by laying out a challenge to Sabu that went unanswered. The lack of response only made matters worse for everybody else in ECW, with the next opponent suffering more than the last before the cycle repeated. All until November To Remember 1996 - one year later - when the ECW Arena's lights came back on to reveal a confrontation that felt far longer than 12 months in the making.
The two circled to the soundtrack of one of the loudest sustained pops in wrestling history, before the the blasted lights went off again. Everybody wanted to see it but Paul Heyman knew just how valuable that desire was - this was going to be the biggest attraction at Barely Legal, the March 1997 debut on pay-per-view that, for a while, looked to be the vehicle that would legitimise and monetise Extreme Championship Wrestling more effectively than any point in its short history.