Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam

[8.0] "This match freaking RULES dude. The story itself from what I heard from the match doesn't seem like anything interesting but this match is brutal. The dives rvd takes into the crowd from the ring is freaking sick some of the craziest I've seen rvd do. This is such an underrated match. (****)"

[9.0] "Bigelow is a guy I don't trust, for every good match he has, I feel like he has 2 or 3 lazy duds waiting in the wings. However he really brought his best self here, and did a great job as the big man vs. the super athletic man RVD. I'll also say this, I can't look at RVD the same after seeing what a tremendous heel he was in ECW, I almost think he missed his calling playing babyface for so many years. The dude is a tremendous arrogant prick who can just legitimately do things most folks can't in that ring, especially in 1998. So these two just found some really good chemistry and the bout took off from there, it was violent and surprising and worked really well for all involved. Also a nice story that RVD was supposed to just soften up Bigelow for Sabu's PPV TV title shot, yet RVD managed to actually win the title, causing conflict within Alfonso's camp. I dug this a lot."

[9.0] "The beginning of the legendary Rob Van Dam television title reign, and for my money the best match of his career. Bam Bam is a great base and monster to play off of Van Dam's acrobatics"

[9.0] "Start of the greatest title reign in ecw history, legendary moment for rvd. I watched a fan cam of this match and alfonso making rvd break was killing me"

[7.0] "Good match and the start of RVDs legendary Tv title run that would last until I think 2000. Good match with the obvious highlights being the back to back insane dives RVD hit into the crowd on Bam bam. Absolutely insane shit. Bam bam did good here was still pretty good at this point of his career and RVD was still on the rise but this match helped solidify him with the ecw crowd. Good stuff 3.75/5"

[8.0] "This was a fun match to watch. Bam Bam Bigelow is one of the best big men of his era, and someone who doesn't get talked about enough for how good he was. Rob Van Dam was on the ascent, but he had one job, which was soften up Bigelow for Sabu to beat him on the next PPV. Obviously RVD saw things differently and pulled out all the stops to win the title. Being a bigger guy, Bigelow forced RVD to slow down and sell his big power moves. My favorite spot of the match was the somersault dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Sabu interfering actually made sense considering what the objective was, but when RVD won the title, he was not happy. They were already on again, off again rivals and would continue to be so after this. This was also the start of RVD's great 23 month run with the title. One of Bam Bam Bigelow's best matches here. ****"

[7.0] "What a delightful freakin' mess. The guys are fighting everywhere in the arena, the crowd loves every bit of it and despite a slow start the intensity of the match prevails. The ECW-style can truly benefit from guys like that who can actually wrestle."

"I love when guys just cook in front of a hot crowd, this might be my favorite Bam Bam Bigelow match I definitely think it's better than a 7 and if this match happened on the modern scale I think Dave would of given this at least 4.5. Nothing in the world like late 90s ECW"

[8.0] "This was RVD's best match so far during his career, with Bam Bam forcing him to sell instead of moving on to the next high spot. Bam Bam reminded me of Vader here and RVD bumped like a maniac for him. The match starts off slow with RVD taking a lifetime by stalling outside the ring and talking trash to the camera, but it's not too long before RVD is risking life and limb by making huge leaps from the ring to all the way into the crowd. Although Bam Bam doesn't dominate this match, this still felt like a David vs. Goliath match with them taking time on the ground to milk drama after every big spot. Bam Bam ends up re-opening his cut after he drops an elbow through a table and RVD attacks the re-opened wound like a shark. The interference during the last few minutes felt warranted, with Sabu working together with RVD to help him win. It gave their on-off rivalry another thread to work with as RVD is cocky that he wanted to win this one on his own. The fans went absolutely mental for the title switch and it's clear at this point that RVD is going to be one of the biggest babyfaces in ECW."

[6.0] "Mainly RVD pulling out a few crazy hi-flying spots, other than that Bigelow didn't add alot to the match besides an elbow thru the table. Pretty entertaining though and the crowd was going nuts the whole time."