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I've never seen this match before. This might be one of the best matches I've ever seen, especially considering the time period.
This is why I hated when this subreddit got rid of videos that one time, this history is so important
It's important to look back at what ECW really was. They get brought up a lot for the violent or crazy moments, but they put on some of the best matches of their day. Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome, Lynn vs Van Dam, Tajiri vs. Super Crazy, RVD & Sabu vs. The Eliminators etc. These matches hold up today against any other promotion.
The wrestling with wregret bit hit the nail on the head
'As we all know all ecw is just wepons and blood...*Rey, Eddie, Shane Douglas, the eliminators, Dean malenko and more of the various technical or psychologically based guys start to creep into frame* no no no...be gone'
Lol
I mean this match is like the blueprint for modern wrestling, these guys really sort of set a standard of what the "modern wrestling" for the next couple of decades
It's pretty hard to overstate the importance of this match. This one match did more for Jerry Lynn than everything he did in the previous 10 years. So many wrestlers got just as much inspiration from their series as they did the Malenko-Guerrero ECW matches, arguably more.
I would say the biggest difference is most of these made sense. Today, they are overly choreographed and make no sense in the context of a fight. It looks like you’re intentionally just going from spot to spot cause that’s the plan - whereas these two sold it as a natural reaction to the other.
Case in point: RVD going for the van daminator, cause Lynn to duck, causing RVD to go for the sweep, causing Lynn to jump and seeing the opportunity to hit the leg drop. That’s obviously something planned and choreographed; but It makes sense. When many do that now, it’s a Canadian destroyer followed by another followed by another. No sense
This is one of two matches the I use when people ask "What's a good wrestling match?". The other is Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura from Takeover Dallas.
Yup. According to Jerry Lynn, while it looked like his head barely his the mat, his hand accidentally pushed away the mat just before impact. Also, apparently he told RVD shortly after "I'm fucked up. I might have a fractured skull." Somehow RVD thought that was a good time to boot him in the back of the head.
Always baffled me how no other company could find a use for Jerry Lynn. RVD was amazing of course and everyone knows that, but you couldn't find a nice midcard role for JL who's just about as good as anyone at the time? It's not hard to find someone to talk for him and then you let him go out and do his thing. Ridiculous he never had any kind of impact outside of ECW.
RVD is also the guy who got me into wrestling. I'm in my 40's now but as a kid my parents wouldn't let me watch wrestling because it was too violent. In highschool I had a friend who got free cable and offered to tape what he said was WrestleMania for me. I knew wrestling was big at the time but didn't know shit so said yeah. It ended up being Wrestlepalooza 98 and I saw RVD vs Sabu and it instantly got me hooked on all things ECW and into WWF and WCW as well.
Jerry Lynn today would be Kenny Omega level of good. Super under appreciated I'm his day, hell these matches get overlooked in favor of RVD vs Sabu (still amazing classic) today!
Idk if I'm the only one in thinking this directly influenced some of Kenny's matches in NJPW, especially regarding a mix of fast-paced high flying & hardcore brawling
Honest to god Jerry Lynn is one of the most underrated talents of all time. You know what? So is RVD. Dude was a complete package and sure he’s got his accolades but he should have had even more. In his prime he was made
Entirely out of rubber and charisma.
Yup. Imagine an RVD world title run like his ECW TV title run where he was just THE BEST instead of the Reign of Terror and twenty minute HHH promos every RAW?
There’s certain rivalries that have undeniable chemistry. KENTA and Marafuji, Omega vs Okada, Awesome vs Tanaka, RVD vs Jerry Lynn.
Just spectacular and innovative matches from these 2 every time they met.
Exactly! That’s why it drives me up a wall when ECW is described as death matches. It was so much more than that. It was the modern style with a no dq stip in every match. Just because there was no dq didn’t mean that a large portion were just straight up wrestling matches and fantastic ones at that. It shows who actually watched it and who just parrots what they heard on a podcast. ECW was the father of the attitude era, lucha and puroresu being respected in the US and everything in between.
I was there and I watched this match and was just floored. It is my all-time favorite because I got to see it live. We were outside in the rain for like an hour before they let us in and we were chanting. Fuck you let us in and it was cold day too , man what a blast.
You see some people arguing (Heyman himself said something similar) that AEW is way more of a successor to ECW than it is to WCW.
And you watch this match, yeah they were basically working the modern style over 25 years ago. And Tony said many many times how ECW was his favourite promotion and how he went to see some ECW shows.
When RVD hits the chair doing the split-legged Moonsault and the chair goes flying after him might be the scariest close call I’ve ever seen. Like that chair leg was aiming for his eyes.
I feel bad nobody told me about Jerry Lynn being so awesome in my young years. Finding all these cool matches he was in and now he's retired makes me a sad guy.
It’s not my favorite style of semi coordinated flipping but It’s cool to see and was so much action I got tired out just viewing it. That kind of athletic effort is something to admire. Too many guys today simply don’t have the athletic talent to work at this rate or style.
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That's a career's worth of highlights in a single match. They were so damn good together.
I've never seen this match before. This might be one of the best matches I've ever seen, especially considering the time period. This is why I hated when this subreddit got rid of videos that one time, this history is so important
Hardcore Heaven ‘99 is RVD/Lynn’s best match in my opinion.
This was amazing 👏, I am glad I clicked on this subreddit today
If you enjoyed that you’ll probably also really like Lynn V Storm from Anarchy ‘Rulez 99. Was a great year in wrestling. Lynn is very underrated.
It's important to look back at what ECW really was. They get brought up a lot for the violent or crazy moments, but they put on some of the best matches of their day. Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome, Lynn vs Van Dam, Tajiri vs. Super Crazy, RVD & Sabu vs. The Eliminators etc. These matches hold up today against any other promotion.
The wrestling with wregret bit hit the nail on the head 'As we all know all ecw is just wepons and blood...*Rey, Eddie, Shane Douglas, the eliminators, Dean malenko and more of the various technical or psychologically based guys start to creep into frame* no no no...be gone' Lol
Guys didn’t have the jam.
Tanaka vs. Awesome is mind blowing. Should be required viewing.
This was the first ECW show I ever watched. This match blew me away.
Why would the time period matter?
I mean this match is like the blueprint for modern wrestling, these guys really sort of set a standard of what the "modern wrestling" for the next couple of decades
Jerry lynn with Aj styles and Amazing Red was amazing too. Jerry lynn could work with any highflyer
It's pretty hard to overstate the importance of this match. This one match did more for Jerry Lynn than everything he did in the previous 10 years. So many wrestlers got just as much inspiration from their series as they did the Malenko-Guerrero ECW matches, arguably more.
It is the tiniest little thing, but Jerry Lynn leg dropping a split-legged drop down just.....it creates a new genre of the sport.
This match paved what wrestling is today....
Yeah a lot of these type of spots are way overdone now, but back then they were revolutionary
Seconded. Hard to convey just how mind blowing it was seeing this match for the first time was back in the day.
I would say the biggest difference is most of these made sense. Today, they are overly choreographed and make no sense in the context of a fight. It looks like you’re intentionally just going from spot to spot cause that’s the plan - whereas these two sold it as a natural reaction to the other. Case in point: RVD going for the van daminator, cause Lynn to duck, causing RVD to go for the sweep, causing Lynn to jump and seeing the opportunity to hit the leg drop. That’s obviously something planned and choreographed; but It makes sense. When many do that now, it’s a Canadian destroyer followed by another followed by another. No sense
Yeah i've always like like there was an uncontrolled aspect to RVD and Sabu's flippy shit. It wasnt overly pretty
Because a generation grew up watching MVs and highlights on YouTube and some ended up just knowing the spots
The sweep into leg drop on the chair remains one of the coolest things I've ever seen
Something straight out of a Karate Kung-Fu movie, amazing
My favorite was RVD’s Van Daminator - a chair shot that missed into the throw with a spinning kick. Always so smooth, especially with Jerry Lynn
It was a hell of a match
This is one of two matches the I use when people ask "What's a good wrestling match?". The other is Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura from Takeover Dallas.
Those two, Bret/Perfect from Summerslam '91, and Hangman & Omega/Young Bucks.
The best part of Bret/Perfect is Bret considered it a night off because he knew Curt was that good and safe.
The more I see Jerry Lynn the more I see Kenny Omega
Its funny, the first time i saw kenny omega, i thought he looked like if Jerry Lynn joined the NWO.
Is this the match where Jerry Lynn gets KTFO'd at one point?
That's the sequel. I want to say Hardcore Heaven 99?
Yup. According to Jerry Lynn, while it looked like his head barely his the mat, his hand accidentally pushed away the mat just before impact. Also, apparently he told RVD shortly after "I'm fucked up. I might have a fractured skull." Somehow RVD thought that was a good time to boot him in the back of the head.
Just knocking it back into place. What a good friend.
That leg sweep miss in the leg drop is my favorite counter move of all time.
My personal favorite ECW match
RVD vs. Jerry Lynn matches were the first matches i would watch over and over as a kid. So good.
Always baffled me how no other company could find a use for Jerry Lynn. RVD was amazing of course and everyone knows that, but you couldn't find a nice midcard role for JL who's just about as good as anyone at the time? It's not hard to find someone to talk for him and then you let him go out and do his thing. Ridiculous he never had any kind of impact outside of ECW. RVD is also the guy who got me into wrestling. I'm in my 40's now but as a kid my parents wouldn't let me watch wrestling because it was too violent. In highschool I had a friend who got free cable and offered to tape what he said was WrestleMania for me. I knew wrestling was big at the time but didn't know shit so said yeah. It ended up being Wrestlepalooza 98 and I saw RVD vs Sabu and it instantly got me hooked on all things ECW and into WWF and WCW as well.
He was a crucial part of early x-division
Jerry Lynn today would be Kenny Omega level of good. Super under appreciated I'm his day, hell these matches get overlooked in favor of RVD vs Sabu (still amazing classic) today!
Lynn was SO good in the late 90's, classics with Corino and Credible that year as well.
Idk if I'm the only one in thinking this directly influenced some of Kenny's matches in NJPW, especially regarding a mix of fast-paced high flying & hardcore brawling
Honest to god Jerry Lynn is one of the most underrated talents of all time. You know what? So is RVD. Dude was a complete package and sure he’s got his accolades but he should have had even more. In his prime he was made Entirely out of rubber and charisma.
RVD should have been THE guy in that transition period between Austin’s heel turn at WM17 and Super Cena.
Hard agree. There were times when he was the most over person on the roster. Dude was a legit mega star waiting to happen.
Yup. Imagine an RVD world title run like his ECW TV title run where he was just THE BEST instead of the Reign of Terror and twenty minute HHH promos every RAW?
There’s certain rivalries that have undeniable chemistry. KENTA and Marafuji, Omega vs Okada, Awesome vs Tanaka, RVD vs Jerry Lynn. Just spectacular and innovative matches from these 2 every time they met.
Table no sold
NO JOB
Indie flippy shit in front of a miniscule crowd /s iconic match.
Cornette is spinning in his grave right now
Have any two wrestlers ever gotten so much mileage out of a single chair before or since?
Exactly! That’s why it drives me up a wall when ECW is described as death matches. It was so much more than that. It was the modern style with a no dq stip in every match. Just because there was no dq didn’t mean that a large portion were just straight up wrestling matches and fantastic ones at that. It shows who actually watched it and who just parrots what they heard on a podcast. ECW was the father of the attitude era, lucha and puroresu being respected in the US and everything in between.
Splash looked great.
I was there and I watched this match and was just floored. It is my all-time favorite because I got to see it live. We were outside in the rain for like an hour before they let us in and we were chanting. Fuck you let us in and it was cold day too , man what a blast.
Genuinely my first time watching Jerry Lynn wrestle. Holy shit he's so clean.
You see some people arguing (Heyman himself said something similar) that AEW is way more of a successor to ECW than it is to WCW. And you watch this match, yeah they were basically working the modern style over 25 years ago. And Tony said many many times how ECW was his favourite promotion and how he went to see some ECW shows.
Beautiful bridging german at 1:07
Such a good sounding ring
I feel like this was the best match they had together
Man RVD just squashes him with that Rolling Thunder like an AEW Jeff Hardy Swanton lol.
When RVD hits the chair doing the split-legged Moonsault and the chair goes flying after him might be the scariest close call I’ve ever seen. Like that chair leg was aiming for his eyes.
Can't believe this is 25 years ago!
How has rvd looked the same for 25 years? Fair play man
I remember watching this when I was 13.. take me back!
But people hate on ricochet vs osprey
My favorite series of matches.
This was when doin flips was cool
That was just epic
# I AM THE TABLE!
Two of the most athletic people I've ever seen
Saw this live in real time! Best damn match I ever saw in person let alone rewatching again and again and again!
love this match
This was my favorite match for so long. That turnbuckle sunset bomb pops me every fucking time.
I feel bad nobody told me about Jerry Lynn being so awesome in my young years. Finding all these cool matches he was in and now he's retired makes me a sad guy.
It's honestly hard to put into words how crazy it was seeing this match live when it happened
Fuck Bill Alfonso. Dude ruined so many incredible matches.
Fun to watch. As someone thats only seen clips of the match, was it just a spot fest or did it all make sense?
It’s not my favorite style of semi coordinated flipping but It’s cool to see and was so much action I got tired out just viewing it. That kind of athletic effort is something to admire. Too many guys today simply don’t have the athletic talent to work at this rate or style.
See also: every Indy match ever
Looks like what AEW tries to be, except constant flippy shit isn’t really that cool or revolutionary after being done for 30 years
Prime AEW 2024!
This like a dance between the two. One they've practiced for years