 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As a long time fan of ECW, prices aside, there was no way I was going to miss the "Hardcore Homecoming" on June 10th, in Philadelphia, PA. Knowing that this would be the closest thing to what ECW once was, it was a chance to try and relive some of the past. (For more on my thoughts about this and the WWEcW PPV, check my column here.)
I know I am jaded. I will be the first to admit it. I know this is all about the $$ (and GOD knows Shane made a killing on this show). However, who would not want to try and relive those amazing years.
The journey began on Thursday evening. Ron and I (who attended the ECW shows in Philly for YEARS) drove to NJ and picked up Frank. We headed down to Philly (stopped at Pat's and got a cheesesteak) then hit the Hilton.
Friday morning we met Nick (an ECW first timer). By noon, there were already people lining up outside the arena. We had lunch at the Oregon Diner then decided to see what the "tailgate party" was all about. They had a truck with a large monitor playing CZW clips as well as people handing out vitamin water. Free water in 90 degree weather is NOT a bad thing.
Figuring we should cool down a little before the show begins, and knowing the temperature inside the ECW Arena, we walked over to Cheerleaders. Luminaries in attendance included Sarge and a confused looking Stephen DeAngelis who just walked around the bar aimlessly. Hells Belles arrived just before we headed out so we never saw them in action. Hey, we tried!
Back at the Arena, the doors opened a little after 7 and the huge line filtered in. The line, which wrapped down the block past the Forman Mills and around the corner, filtered into the Arena quite fast. I would say a good 1500 people were in the building. We made our way to our seats which were directly across from where I used to sit, right on the aisle where the wrestlers entered. (Karen Belcher and Destiny somehow got my original "Club ECW" seats! LOL)
Too many luminaries to even try and name here. Referees for the evening" Mike Kehner, Pee Wee, and John Finnegan.
A large screen played clips from the Forever Hardcore documentary while a smaller screen beneath it ran images of some of the featured matchups for the evening. VIP ticket holders had a note on their chairs to go to the merchandise table to pick up a copy of the Program as well as the Lithograph (and a Black Sharpie) as part of their ticket package. That was a nice addition (as the two items were selling individually for $25 each).
Hat Guy made his entrance to an amazingly huge pop. "Where's Your Hat?" chants began. He then put the hat on and the crowd began to chant "ECW". At that moment I knew that this was not the old, die hard, ECW crowd.. These were a lot of newbies. Why? Any fan who was there from the beginning would have known that the follow up chant to him putting that damn hat on is "Your Hat Sucks!!"
Jeremy Borash was looking a little nervous as he walked around prior to the show. Who could blame him?
A little after 8:00 the music hit and Bob Artese and Rocco Musciano headed to ringside. Bob welcomed us and threw out some hats to the crowd. He told us that he was not allowed to use those three letters but no one was going to stop the fans from yelling them, thus inducing "ECW" chants. Bob then introduced Tod Gordon who came to the ring and seemed to get a bit choked up when talking about starting the fed so many years ago. Of course, near the end of Tod's speech, the mic died which got a "You Fucked Up!" chant to start.
Enter Joey Styles and Cyrus to a HUGE pop. Joey Styles waited, the crowd grew silent, and he let out an "Oh My God!" to which the crowd erupted again. Joey also got choked up a bit while welcoming everyone back. Cyrus then got on the mic but was quickly interrupted by the Quintessential Studmuffin, Joel Gertner who made his way to the ring to give the crowd one of his Gertnerisms. Gertner then speared Cyrus and a catfight began that Joey broke up.
In the opening match, Mikey Whipwreck & Chris Chetti defeated CW Anderson & Simon Diamond after Mikey hits the WhipperSnapper on Simon. I was thrilled to see Simon there, as originally he was not scheduled (and was in fact announced for another show in NJ that night). Simon and CW are two consummate professionals with amazing wrestling ability. Excellent opening bout with all the men hitting their finishers before Mikey hit his on Simon for the pinfall.
Tracy Smothers and JT Smith then made their way to the ring. JT Smith began to serenade the crowd with his rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon" but was interrupted by the Blue Meanie's music. Tracy and Meanie started wrestling but Tracy challenged Meanie to a rematch of the dance off they had 10 years ago. Tracy started and Meanie went next. Tracy then attacked Meanie from behind. Smothers was able to defeat Meanie when JT tossed him a chain. Great comedy match and it was even better to see Tracy and JT in action again.
Bob Artese then announced that may ECW stars had lost their lives over the years. A video tribute played showing pictures of all the people who worked for ECW that had passed away. EVERYONE that ever worked for the company was included. (It seems that, since the majority of the fans in attendance, were not the original die hard fans that some of the faces shown got a small response. Candido did get the loudest of the chants).
"Here Comes the Hotstepper" then played over the loudspeaker as Johnny Grunge and Pitbull Gary came out to the ring. When their music stopped, AC/DC's "Back in Black" began and Tammy Sytch came to the ring. All three spoke about losing their partners. Pitbull then talked about how the two greatest teams in ECW were PE and the Pitbulls. This caused Danny Doring and Roadkill to come out as they felt they were one of the best teams. Doring and Roadkill got pissed and attacked Grunge and Gary. Tammy ran from ringside only to return with 911! 911 chokeslammed Danny Doring then Roadkill through a table. After the bout, 911 lifted Tammy onto his shoulder but his knee seemed to give out and they both fell to the mat (laughing). 911 did limp out of the ring and was limping the rest of the night. Overall, a great tribute to some of our most missed wrestlers.
Kid Kash then came to the ring. He tore apart the crowd and also mentioned that the only reason he was booked was because the original opponent for Too Cold Scorpio passed away (it was supposed to be Candido). I guess he has to do whatever he can to get over as a heel. Scorpio then came out and the two men brawled all over the arena. Scorpio hit two of his legdrops off the top rope before finishing Kash off with his 450 splash.
John Kronus was introduced next. It was explained that The Eliminators had issued an open challenge to anyone BUT Perry Saturn had broken his neck in a match a few days earlier and would not be at the show. Kronus agreed to stick with the challenge and face any team on his own. The Bad Breed of Ian and Axl Rotten came out and the brawling began. As the Rottens busted Kronus open, the music played and New Jack hit the ring with all sorts of weapons. Within a matter of seconds, all 4 men were gushing blood. They too, brawled outside of the ring. Jeremy Borash, Scott D'Amore, and some security pushed some scaffolding over to the ringside area (which felt all to staged for me, as that would NEVER have happened in ECW. Could you imagine Tod Gordon and Paul E pushing some scaffolding over to be used in a match, then wheeling it away when it was done?) New Jack climbed the scaffold and jumped off to splash through Ian, through a table, in the ring. After the match, Frank Talent (of the Athletic Commission) said to us "You got your blood. Next you'll get your barbed wire." (It has since been explained to me, by Mike Johnson, that the scaffold had to be wheeled in due to the Athletic Commission not wanting New Jack outside the barricades after being busted open. Fine, that makes sense. HOWEVER, as a simple, life long ECW fan sitting at ringside, not knowing what's going on backstage, etc. it still just felt weird to see D'Amore pushing it in! LOL)
Jerry Lynn defeated Justin Credible in an excellent match. Credible was accompanied to the ring by Jason. Jason, who interfered whenever possible was eventually attacked by Jazz who crawled thorough the crowd (scaring the shit out of Frank, as she crawled next to him) and hopped the guard rail. Jerry Lynn (who after the match announced that he would be 42 next week) is still as amazing as ever. Hurracanrana's off the top rope through tables, suicide dives, the match had it all. Credible wore a black wristband with the initials CC on it during the match.
Raven with Meanie and the Musketeer defeated the Sandman. Raven said that Sandman had to get through his Musketeer first if he wanted to get to him. Musketeer and Sandman then had a duel, sword vs cane. Sandman won. He then caned Meanie and Raven attacked. Another classic brawl between the two that saw interference by Meanie and Musketeer whenever possible. Don E Allen even ran in to help, revealing his "49 F'N 8 shirt". Mikey then ran down and knocked him out of the ring. Mikey hit a Whippersnapper on Sandman, allowing Raven to get the pinfall.
"Desperado" played as Terry Funk came to the ring. He asked if he could have 20 minutes of our time. He then called out the barbed wire. The main event three way dance was now going to be a barbed wire match. The ropes were removed from the ring but soon, the State Athletic Commission came out and said the barbed wire was not going to go up. Strange since Talent was bragging about it earlier. The crowd was getting heated as we waited to see what would happen. Somehow, the Commission was convinced, and the barbed wire went up. (I'm sure their percentage of the extremely large gate didn't hurt in influencing their decision).
Shane Douglas entered the ring first, accompanied by Francine. He got on the mic and talked about he and Francine putting their differences aside and how tonight he was going to send Terry Funk home in a wooden box. Sabu entered next, accompanied by Bill Alfonso. It was so weird to see Sabu in just his normal tights while Shane was wrapped up like a mummy (guess he doesn't like barbed wire LOL). Terry Funk was introduced last and was accompanied to the ring by Tammy Sytch.
The match saved the show on may levels (if for no other reason than, if they announced a barbed wire match then couldn't pull through with it because of the Athletic Commission, there may have been a riot.) All three men took bumps into the barbed wire. Terry got caught in it several times, to the point that he had to be cut out of it. Sabu had a huge gash in his leg at one point. The lights went out. When they came back on, Cactus Jack was in the ring, in his ref shirt. The crowd went wild, until... he pulled out Socko and hit the mandible claw on Shane. The crowd booed and chanted "WWE Sucks". Cactus then called for something. Out came some more barbed wire. He wrapped Socko in the barbed wire and put the mandible claw on Shane. Funk rolled up Shane and Foley made the three count. This left Sabu and Funk. The two men continued to battle until Sabu hit an Arabian Face Buster and Funk for the pinfall and the victory.
The locker room came out and circled the ring, as Sabu, Alfonso and Cactus helped Funk to his feet. A "Terry" chant broke out, this was soon followed by a "Sabu" chant, a "Foley" chant, and finally a "Thank You Shane" chant. What an amazing match.
Bob Artese then announced that it would take 10 - 15 minutes to set up for the fan fest. Tables were set up, with chairs around ringside. I guess the idea was to have all the wrestlers sitting there and the fans walk around to them. However, may of the wrestlers just started coming around and signing. Fans stood by the guard rails, chairs on the tables, as many wrestlers walked around and signed. Sabu, who was near the ramp grabbing everything he could find to sign, made his way towards us and saw how our entire row had our chairs set out and ready. As he signed he said "This is a hell of a lot easier" as he made his way down the row.
They then did a Q and A where fans asked questions to Shane, Francine, Terry, Tammy, Tracy Smothers, and anyone else who happened to walk by. Shane talked very openly about Bam Bam Bigleow seemingly disappearing and no one being able to find him. He talked about the WWE PPV and how they had a billboard truck driving past the arena all afternoon. Wrestlers then talked about their favorite moments in the building. Tracy Smothers said there would be an FBI Reunion on Sunday, then plugged the IWA MS show he'd be wrestling at on Saturday!
They then auctioned off the original ECW Arena sign that hung outside. Shane started the bidding at $500. Sabu even bid $700. Tammy announced that anyone that bid $800 cash, she would flash. Damn if someone didn't bid $800. Shane announced that they'd all sign the sign as well. The sign went for $800 (which went to the Candido Foundation). Tammy did flash the guy (away from the rest of the crowd). Unfortunately, for the guy, I know Shane never signed his sign, as he went to the back never to be seen again. (He must have been counting all the money he made).
My biggest mark out moment for the night (and believe me I had many) was when I went to get JT Smith to autograph my chair. He was asking each person where they came from and said that he was truly amazed whenever anyone mentioned anyplace outside of Philadelphia. When I got up there and he asked, he actually said that he recognized me and even pointed out where I sat for all those years back in the 90's. JT SMITH RECOGNIZED ME! Happy Dance!
Was the show a blast? Hell, yes. Was it great to see all these guys get one more chance in the spotlight? Hell, yes. Was the atmosphere there as electrified as it once was? Eh. Yes, the crowd was loud. It just seemed they chanted just for the sake of chanting sometime. It seemed to lack the pure emotion that once filled the arena.
Did every individual who stepped into that ring put forth their best effort? Hell, yes. In no way, shape, or form, do I want to take away from any of the wrestlers performances. Everyone from Bob and Rocco, to Joey, Cyrus, and Joel, to every single wrestler that stepped foot into that ring, stepped in there ready to give it their all. For all of these guys, some who haven't worked since ECW, to get their chance to shine one last time, was truly awesome to see. I could not have been happier to see JT Smith one more time. Tracy Smothers, who rarely comes to this area, was simply phenomenal. The list goes on and on.
The show was a blast. The show was great. If you look at the show as "just another indy show" it could easily be a card of the year candidate. However, they had some huge shoes to fill. They chose to call it the Hardcore Homecoming and made no attempts at trying to not push this as an ECW type event. No matter how hard anyone tries, it will never be ECW. ECW was a phenomenon. It will never be reproduced to the extent that it once was no matter how hard anyone tries.
Thanks go out to Mike Johnson for being able to get me the ringside seats. Kudos to Shane Douglas, the promoter of the show. I'm sure with the amount of money this show made, not to mention merchandise, that there will be one in the future. If there is, I just hope it's not too soon. Thanks to Jeremy Borash for finally getting out of the way. After standing in front of me for all the opening festivities, I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to be able to see the ring. Seriously though, Jeremy did not stop moving all night long. He seemed to be the glue that was holding this all together and for that he deserves a lot of credit.
