Did Heyman wait too long to showcase.....

[Guest NoCalMike]

Ok, I know Heyman was in negotiations for a ppv at the time, but IMO, he waited about 3-4 months too long to finally put on the match. By the time the match finally aired at Barely Legal, the most hated man in ECW(Taz) already had turned a good 50% of the crowd onto his side, just by being the cool, unstoppable heel he was. Also, it was just too dragged out. When it was teased at November To Remember '96, the fans wanted it RIGHT THEN, and not a second later, and if anything, sometime during the December to Dismember tour. I remember watching Barely Legal live and the Taz/Sabu match wasn't bad, but it felt like I was watching a match I had already seen for some reason. The emotion was not there. Taz was pretty much the MOST HATED man in ECW up to that point, but it didn't seem to reflect at Barely Legal......I don't know what went wrong. Their rematch at the next ECW Arena show was much better also, and the emotion seemed to creep back in ten fold....so does anyone remember this?

[LooseCannon25 0]

I might be wrong but I believe that match was almost a whole year in the making with Taz breaking Sabu's neck. The PPV at Barely Legal, which I own, had an ok match with taz vs. Sabu, but not great by any means...so it was kind of dissapointing. It's like something was missing like the emotion. Anyway, you're right cause the crowd was 50/50 with Taz and Sabu and the angle after the match with Sabu and Alfonso turning heel outshined the match itself.

[Guest Loss4Words]

That's probably Heyman's greatest flaw as a booker. He's great at getting fans into a feud and getting them caring about the characters, but he waits entirely too long and never gives them a proper blowoff. He has on a few occasions, but most often not.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

The feud, in all actuality, lasted about a year and a half...

 

Sabu returns from WCW at NTR '95. Taz, fresh off recovering from a neck injury, turns heel as a ref at the same show.

 

1996 saw the heel Taz join up with Fonzie and start the "Path Of Rage". Sabu feuded with, then teamed with Van Dam.

 

Finally, we got the NTR '96 staredown. THIS is probably where the feud should have ended (do the staredown at the previous months show). NTR is the ECW equivalent of Wrestlemania, so having the Taz/Sabu match would have finalized the "booking year".

 

The buildup to Barely Legal did seem to drag. At first, it was great, old school build (both guys wanting to face off, but never touching...such as the King of the Hill battle royal where Taz refused to enter if he wasn't seeded first to ensure he would meet up with Sabu)...but week after week of Fonzie going through a table got repetitive.

 

Barely Legal DID however, sow the seeds for the Mr. Monday Night gimmick and the Sabu/RVD/Fonzie stable, and it turned Taz into a monster face (which as stated, was inevitable due to crowd reaction), so it all worked out in the end.

[Guest imajackoff?]

The BL match between Taz and Sabu seemed more like a battle of tweeners than anything else. Douglas looked to be the #1 heel in the company IMO.

[Guest snuffbox]

The biggest thing Heyman waited too long for was giving RVD the main event world title push. Waited so long in fact to put the strap on the most over guy in the company that ECW folded before it even happened.

 

Now RVD is over in the wwe and the bookers continue to keep him away from the main event and the top championship...

[Guest converge241]

"The biggest thing Heyman waited too long for was giving RVD the main event world title push. Waited so long in fact to put the strap on the most over guy in the company that ECW folded before it even happened."

 

yes that is easily number one, Sabu-Taz is number 2 in bad decisions in waiting for ECW.

 

You could see they were starting to lead to it with Rhyno having the belt , to having a RVD- Rhyno showdown but the end was near at that point.. granted Rob was hurt for a while but it should have happened even before that

 

The Sabu-Taz wait started hitting major walls in suspension of disbelief after a while..i mean how , in ECW, can you not get your hands on someone in general..let alone for 18 months?!?

 

number 3 and 4 would both involve Tommy Dreamer

 

number 3 is Dreamer getting the belt. Him losing the belt the same day, while nice in theory to build heat for Justin, was still kind of insulting..and im someone who doesnt like Dreamer at all but i can imagine people who did or just people with the company for a while

 

number 4 is Dreamer's win over Raven

[Guest Black Tiger]

If Wade Keller wasn't such an asshole, the fans would have gotten the match in October of 1996, Keller had to go and send all the PPV companies footage of the Raven vs. Sandman crucifying angle and delayed the PPV for six months.

 

The idea was there, for Taz to consistantly bad mouth Sabu and destroy the wrestlers who the fans loved, Hack Meyers, Chris Jericho, Mikey Whipwreck ect. But it got dragged too long and fans knew Taz was winning going into the match anyways and it killed the heat. Watch Taz vs. Varleans, or Taz vs. Jericho as compared to Taz vs. Sabu at the PPV.

 

The same goes for Dreamer vs. Raven, why not have Raven lose the title before the PPV and give Dreamer his first win on PPV, Raven vs. Dreamer and Taz vs. Sabu as the double ME would have got a killer buyrate.