Despite some serious road blocks preventing ECW from getting their first pay-per-view event, which ECW created, it was finally announced that on April 13, 1997, live from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, ECW would hold its first-ever PPV card called Barely Legal.
Perhaps the biggest match on the card was the ultimate grudge match between two former tag team partners Sabu vs. Taz. This match had been almost two years in the making. In April 1995, Sabu no-showed an event and was legitimately fired, leaving Taz without a tag team partner.
At November to Remember 1995, Sabu returned to ECW after wrestling in Japan and a brief stint in WCW. Taz was mad that Sabu was brought back and Taz, who now was aligned with referee Bill Alfonso, and began challenging Sabu to a match and called him out. For a year, Taz called out Sabu only for Sabu not to answer. Finally at November to Remember 1996, Taz and Sabu finally faced each other in the ring.
Taz defeated Sabu in a thrilling match where he made Sabu tap out to the Tazmission. After the match, Taz offered Sabu a handshake as a matter of respect, which Sabu did. All of a sudden, Sabu's teammate Rob Van Dam attacked Taz.
Sabu argued with RVD only to join RVD in attacking Taz. Sabu even choked Taz out with the Tazmission. Bill Alfonso came into the ring and took off his Team Taz shirt to reveal a Sabu shirt underneath as Alfonso double-crossed Taz and joined Sabu and Van Dam.
The first main event was a Triple Threat match between The Sandman, Stevie Richards, and the ageless Hardcore icon Terry Funk where the winner would fight Raven for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship after. Tommy Dreamer was supposed to be in this match, but he gave up his spot for his mentor and friend Funk.
Funk won the match as Raven came in and immediately attacked Funk for their title match. Dreamer was sitting at ringside doing color commentary with Joey Styles for the match rooting on his mentor to defeat his biggest nemesis. Dreamer soon hit Raven with the DDT and put Funk on top of him as Funk won the ECW Title. Dreamer celebrated with Funk.
Other matches on the first ECW PPV include The Eliminators defeating The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) to win the ECW World Tag Team Championships, RVD beating Lance Storm with the Van Daminator (kicking a steel chair into his opponent's face) and a Moonsault, as well as the debut of bWo Japan.
The other big match on the card was Shane Douglas defending his ECW World Television Championship against Pit Bull #2. Last year, Douglas beat Pit Bull #2 to win the TV title when Pit Bull's valet Francine turned on him and helped Douglas win the title and join forces with The Franchise. Also, Douglas broke Pit Bull #1 Gary Wolfe's neck, putting him out of action and Douglas bragged about what he did.
Douglas had several riot squad members with him to protect him from Wolfe, who was sitting at ringside, as well as protecting him from a masked man, who had been stalking Douglas and Francine since the beginning of the year. The masked man was thought to be Ravishing Rick Rude as the man sounded and acted a lot like him.
Thanks to interference from Francine and Triple Threat member Chris Candido, Douglas retained the title. The masked man returned wearing Rude's robe and planted a big kiss on Francine. Douglas attacked the man. The man unmasked himself only to be revealed as Triple Threat member Brian Lee.
All of a sudden, one of the riot squad members took off his helmet and revealed himself to be Rick Rude. Douglas pleaded as Rude nailed him with a punch and Lee chokeslammed Douglas. Lee was kicked out of the Triple Threat and replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow.
Paul Heyman was still business partners with Tod Gordon despite buying the company from him two years prior. However that relationship would be terminated when it was found out that Gordon was a "mole" in ECW helping WCW to acquire top ECW talent as Heyman and ECW had a working relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWF.
Apparently, WCW was willing to pay Gordon a ton of money to get the best ECW had to jump over to WCW in a massive walkout that probably would have ended ECW at that time. Heyman got wind of this and fired Gordon for this.
Raven, Stevie Richards, and Perry Saturn already had left ECW for WCW during the year while The Public Enemy left for WCW the previous year as they already lost wrestlers to WCW before. Gordon claimed this was all a work as he was originally supposed to come back to take on Heyman yet Heyman claims otherwise believing Gordon screwed him over.
Going back to the beginning of 1997 even before the Barely Legal PPV, ECW had been involved in a "war" with the WWF as Jerry "The King" Lawler badmouthed ECW on WWF Monday Night Raw after hearing fans chant "ECW" at WWF events. Lawler challenged ECW to come to the WWF and fight their guys.
On the February 24, 1997 edition of Raw from the Manhattan Center in New York City, ECW "invaded" WWF Raw. Paul Heyman entered the ring with The Eliminators and they give Total Elimination to a ring attendant as Heyman tells Lawler challenge accepted. This was done to help promote the Barely Legal PPV.
Heyman joined Vince McMahon and Lawler for commentary. "Big Stevie Cool" Stevie Richards, leader of the bWo, defeated Little Guido. Taz easily made Mikey Whipwreck tap out to the Tazmission. Tommy Dreamer, with Beulah McGillicutty, then quickly defeated D-Von Dudley with the DDT while Lawler and Heyman were going at it back-and-forth during the match.
After the match, Buh Buh Ray Dudley came out and attacked Dreamer. As the Dudleys were about to give 3D to Dreamer, Sandman rushed into the ring to help Dreamer and attack the Dudleys. ECW wrestlers came into the ring as a big brawl ensued as Heyman was going after Lawler on commentary.
Heyman said this show sucked without ECW as WWF Raw really struggled in early 1997 competing with WCW and Nitro as they got their asses kicked in weekly ratings each and every Monday night in 1997 going back to the middle of 1996.
During this time, Rob Van Dam would call himself "Mr. Monday Night" as he proclaimed he should be working for either WWF or WCW on their Monday Night shows and should be paid a lot more saying he was too good for ECW. Van Dam aligned himself with ECW hater Jerry Lawler to bring ECW down.
When he aligned with Sabu and Bill Alfonso, they too joined Van Dam and Lawler in their anti-ECW crusade. Van Dam and Sabu would even wrestle on episodes of Raw during May and June 1997 as they were portrayed as traitors for bashing ECW and being pro WWF. The ECW wrestlers all wanted a piece of RVD, Sabu, Alfonso, and especially Lawler for his anti-ECW rants.
While the stuff of getting their first PPV on the ground along with the battles with the WWF, there was still one final score to be settled and that was none other than the long-time, legendary feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Dreamer had never pinned or beaten Raven since Raven came to ECW in January 1995 and had one more chance to do so or else.
Their score would finally be settled at Wrestlepalooza on June 7, 1997 from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. The loser of the match must leave ECW as Dreamer only had one chance to beat Raven or he'd be gone from ECW. Raven was going to leave ECW anyway as he going to go back to WCW after this match, where he was Scotty Flamingo.
Dreamer overcame the odds despite interference from Raven's valet Chastity and follower Lupus along with Louie Spicolli. Chastity sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes only for Beulah to go after her in a cat fight!! Spicolli DDT'd Dreamer as Raven pinned him only for two. Spicolli then went for the Death Valley Driver only for Dreamer to counter it into a DDT.
Spicolli soon left ECW to go to WCW to work as a lackey for his friend Scott Hall and the nWo. He helped Hall in his feud with Larry Zbyszko and was booked to face Zbyszko at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998. Sadly one week before the PPV on Feb. 15, Spicolli was found dead as he was just 27 years old.
Raven then hit Dreamer with a DDT again only gets a two-count. Raven goes for yet another DDT only for Dreamer to counter that into the Death Valley Driver. Dreamer then grabs Raven for a DDT as he yells out "EC fucking W" and drops him with the DDT and covers him for the 1-2-3 as finally after two-and-a-half years of misery, Dreamer finally pinned Raven and sent him packing to WCW.
Before Dreamer can celebrate, however, the lights go out. When they came back on, Rob Van Dam was standing in the ring and attacked Dreamer. Dreamer fights back, but the lights go out again. When they came back on, Sabu was in there as he and RVD double-team him, only for Dreamer to again fight back and simultaneously DDT the duo.
Then the lights went back out for a third time. This time when they came back on, Jerry Lawler was standing in the ring. Dreamer goes after The King only to be tackled by both Sabu and RVD as they kick the crap out of Dreamer. Lawler then trashes ECW and calls out their wrestlers. Sabu and RVD would take out anyone who came in the ring, including The Sandman. Spicolli is holding and restraining Beulah as Lawler insults her.
Finally, Taz comes out and takes on Sabu in a revenge match. Taz quickly locked the Tazmission on Sabu and choked him out as he refused to let go of the hold. Refs tried to get him to break the hold only for Taz to lock them in the Tazmission. Finally, he was able to get his hands on Bill Alfonso and choked him out.
ECW TV Champion Shane Douglas was sitting up in a stage at the arena telling Taz to leave the ring. Taz insults The Franchise telling him to come into the ring to make him. Taz then challenges Douglas for the TV Title where he will make him tap out in three minutes or else he'll leave ECW for 60 days. Taz got the Tazmission on Douglas and made him tap out just before three minutes were up and Taz was the new TV champ.
A month later, Jerry Lawler again comes out to insult ECW. Dreamer attacks Lawler and finally gets his hands on Lawler and it about to DDT him when the lights go out. When they came back on, fellow WWF personality and ECW hater Jim Cornette whacks Dreamer in the back hard with his tennis racket.
Cornette, Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all attacked Dreamer and The Sandman. Lawler uses Sandman's kendo stick on both Sandman and Dreamer. He nails Dreamer in the balls with the kendo stick and rupturing Dreamer's testicles and sending him to the hospital. Lawler was fearing for his life what would happen to him by the ECW crowd for seriously injuring their hero.
At the Heatwave event on July 19 from the ECW Arena, Dreamer and Sandman were about to take on Lawler, RVD, and Sabu in a Steel Cage match as it was going to be a 3-on-2 Handicap match. However just before the match started, Rick Rude, who was doing commentary since he could not compete in the ring due to his real life back injury, said he would be Dreamer and Sandman's partner.
The trio entered the ring much to the shock of the crowd and the anti-ECW crusade. However, Rude double-crossed Dreamer and Sandman by attacking both as Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all beat the hell out of Dreamer and Sandman. Rude then threw Beulah into the cage and locked the cage door shut so no one could get in and help them.
For quite a long time, they beat up Dreamer and Sandman (and even give a few shots to Beulah) badly. They handcuff Dreamer and Sandman to the cage and keep beating on them as Lawler again gets on the microphone and again insults Dreamer and Sandman as well as the fans.
Dreamer finally got his hands on Lawler at Hardcore Heaven on August 17 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in ECW's second-ever PPV event behind April's Barely Legal event. Before the match, Lawler again cut a promo on ECW and hyping up the upcoming WWF PPV: Ground Zero.
Dreamer quickly destroys Lawler and makes him bleed as the brawl goes to the outside and into the crowd. As Dreamer had the upper hand in the match, the lights go out as usual and Rick Rude was in the ring when they came back on and nailed Dreamer with a garbage can. Lawler pins Dreamer but only gets two.
Dreamer goes for a piledriver, but again the lights go out. When they come back on, it's Jake "The Snake" Roberts who attacks Dreamer. He gives Dreamer a short-arm clothesline and then nails him with the DDT. Roberts then nails Lawler with the short-arm clothesline for good measure. Lawler again goes for the cover but again only gets two.
Dreamer again goes for the DDT when the lights go out for the third time. When they came back on, Sunny was in the ring as she sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes. Beulah attacks Sunny as we have a good old fashioned catfight!! Lawler grabs Beulah as she low blows Lawler. Dreamer then gives Lawler a testicle claw and then DDTs him for the win and ending their feud as Lawler never returns to ECW.
With Lawler out of the picture, Dreamer, Sandman, and Taz still had revenge on their minds against the traitors Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Bill Alfonso as they battled them for the rest of 1997. WWF wrestlers and fellow ECW invaders Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon were also involved in the feud.
Whenever Dreamer and Sandman did not team up to take on RVD and Sabu, Dreamer would go after RVD and Sandman would fight Sabu in singles matches. RVD and Sabu attacked Sandman at the beginning of Hardcore Heaven and sent him to the hospital.
Sandman returned and attacked Sabu during his ECW World Heavyweight Championship defense against both Terry Funk and Shane Douglas. The two brawled and it ultimately cost Sabu the title.
Dreamer beat RVD one time where Sabu attacked him after the match and RVD and Sabu draped a WWF flag on top of Dreamer. They would do the same thing to Sandman a week later. This ultimately setup matches between the two at the third ever ECW PPV: November to Remember, the first November to Remember shown on PPV.
Dreamer took on RVD in a violent "Flag Match" that ended in a no-contest when the WWF invaders (and the returning Stevie Richards) attacked Dreamer and joined RVD and Sabu attacking Dreamer and even Beulah until Sandman came out for his Tables and Ladders match with Sabu. Sabu won when he gave Sandman an Arabian Facebuster onto the ladder.
Dreamer teamed with Beulah to take on RVD and Bill Alfonso at As Good as it Gets. Dreamer and Beulah defeated RVD and Bill Alfonso "Fonzie" when Beulah pinned Fonzie. Van Dam pinned Dreamer in a match where he a leg drop onto a trash can on Dreamer's face. Van Dam and Sabu defeated Dreamer and Taz at Better Than Ever on December 6.
Late in 1997, my hometown of Buffalo hosted an ECW event at Erie Community College's (ECC) Burt Flickinger Center as Dreamer fought Taz to a no-contest when Sabu and RVD interfered. Dreamer then fought RVD to a no-contest. Sabu defeated Sandman in a "Death Match."
Sandman defeated Sabu in a wild and violent Stairway to Hell barbed wire ladder match at House Party '98 in January 1998. Sabu broke his jaw and Sandman defeated him by using the Singapore Cane on him. The feud between these four finally ended in early 1998.
Shane Douglas started 1997 on top of his game and ended 1997 on top of ECW. As mentioned before, he lost the TV Title to Taz but would rebound to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship for the third time on August 17 at Hardcore Heaven in a Triple Threat match between the champion Sabu and Terry Funk.
Sabu had won the title from Funk eight days before at Born to Be Wired in a brutally violent barded wire match. The match was so violent where both men bled profusely and both men were tangled together in barbed wire and had to be cut free from ring technicians. The match was dubbed "Too Extreme even for ECW." The match might be the most violent in ECW history and that's saying something.
Douglas still had The Triple Threat backing him up and even had Ravishing Rick Rude "handpicking" wrestlers for Douglas to defend his title against. However in October, Rude picked Triple Threat member Bam Bam Bigelow to face Douglas. Bigelow defeated Douglas to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion and being kicked out of The Triple Threat.
Douglas would not be down for long. He defeated Bigelow to win back the ECW World Title at November to Remember and would not give up the World Title until January 1999, which would be an ECW-record 406-day reign. Bigelow's spot in the Triple Threat would be replaced by Lance Storm as Storm and Chris Candido ended the year as ECW World Tag Team Champions.
Douglas and The Triple Threat would be very strong in 1998 as ECW was still going strong despite being a lot smaller than the WWF and WCW. Over the next couple of years, the strongest ECW wrestlers would soon bolt for the "greener pastures" of WWF or WCW.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
ECW 1996: Raven Reigns Supreme; Dreamer Still Can't Beat Him; The Franchise Returns; Sandman "Crucified"; "Mass Transit" Incident; Taz Becomes a Star; Rob Van Dam Debuts and Feuds With Sabu
Raven had a very successful first year in ECW in 1995. But 1996 would be even better as 1996 would be the "Year or the Raven, Nevermore!" On January 27, 1996, Raven defeated Sandman, who held the title for most of 1995, to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and would hold the title for most of 1996 going into 1997.
Raven had a thrilling feud with arch nemesis Tommy Dreamer in 1995 and while he defended his title successfully against Dreamer several times in 1996, as Dreamer still couldn't beat him, Raven mostly feuded with The Sandman in a violent and personal feud.
In early 1996, Raven and Dreamer's rivalry went to new heights when Raven's girlfriend and valet Beulah McGillicutty announced she was pregnant and the father was none other than Dreamer. This incensed Raven who went after Beulah only to be saved by Dreamer.
Raven brought in a new valet Kimona Wanalaya (the best play on words maybe ever "Come on I wanna lay ya!") to replace Beulah. Shane Douglas, who returned to ECW in January after the disappointing stint in the WWF, told Dreamer that Beulah was not pregnant and had been cheating on him.
Dreamer wanted to know who she was cheating on him with, figuring it was Douglas. Kimona then shocked everyone by saying it was her as she kissed Beulah to the mat!! This was the first lesbian angle in pro wrestling history. Dreamer than grabbed both of them and said "I'll take them both, I'm harcore!" and kissed them both.
Raven's lackeys Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie, and new comer Nova began entertaining the crowd by imitating wrestlers from other organizations as well as imitating rock bands, most notable The Jackson 5 and their famous parody: KISS. Buh Buh Ray Dudley (Mark LoMonaco) mentioned to them a great idea that they parody WCW's New World Order (nWo).
After clearing the idea with Paul Heyman, they formed their version of the nWo called the Blue World Order (bWo). They wore blue t-shirts printed "bWo" on them. Richards was "Big Stevie Cool" (Kevin Nash), Meanie was "Da Blue Guy" (Scott Hall), and Nova was "Hollywood Nova" (Hollywood Hogan). Others came in and out of the bWo but the trio remained the same as this was friggen hilarious!!
Another hilarious gimmick created in 1996 was that of the "Full Blooded Italians" otherwise known as "F.B.I." They were a group of guys portraying the stereotypical Italian gimmick with Italian accents, sayings, mannerisms, and even hand gestures.
The 5'7 Little Guido was perhaps the best known F.B.I. member. What was funny was that guys who had been a part of the stable except Little Guido (who had Italian ancestry) had no Italian in them whatsoever.
The gimmick was started as part of a comedy where African American wrestler J.T. Smith fell and suffered "mild brain damage" and thought he was Italian and nicknamed himself the "Italian Stallion" J.T. Smith. Southern white wrestlers with no Italian Blood whatsoever in Tracey Smothers and "The Big Down" Tommy Rich.
In the middle of 1996, Raven "brainwashed" Sandman's wife Lori Fullington and then-7-year-old son Tyler Fullington as they turned on Sandman and joined forces with Raven. Raven told Tyler that his parents divorce was all Sandman's fault and had his son deny Sandman as his father which made Sandman break down emotionally one more than one occasion. Tyler began dressing and acting like Raven and even doing Raven's signature "Crucifixion" pose.
On October 5, 1996, Sandman won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship when he teamed with Tommy Dreamer to take on Raven's henchmen Brian Lee and Stevie Richards, who subbed for Raven who no-showed the event. Since Sandman pinned Richards, he was awarded the ECW Title.
This led to the "High Incident" show on October 26 at the ECW Arena in one of the most controversial moments in pro wrestling history. Star amateur wrestler Kurt Angle, fresh off of winning the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, was in attendance even doing commentary as he was convinced to attend the event by fellow Pittsburgh native Shane Douglas. This was about three years before he joined the WWF/E.
At the event, Sandman and son Tyler reconciled before Raven came from behind and nailed Sandman with the Singapore Cane as this was a setup. He piledrove Sandman through a table and knocked him out. Raven's lackeys Stevie Richard and The Blue Meanie came out with a wooden cross.
They would tie Sandman to the cross and put a barbed wire crown on his head and "Crucified" him much to look like how Jesus Christ was crucified. They carried him out of the ring on the cross. The ECW Arena was stunned and silent as perhaps even ECW went to far if you can imagine that. Many of the ECW staff and wrestlers were Christian or Catholic and they were outraged by this.
One in particular was Kurt Angle, who was angry and offended by the incident. He told Paul Heyman to not air this with Angle being shown or his name was associated with this in any way otherwise he would sue Heyman and ECW so the incident never aired on TV.
Angle mentioned during the 2005 ECW One Night Stand reunion produced by WWE that he came and left ECW in a shoot. Ironically, he would join ECW the next year when ECW came back full-time under the WWE before he left for TNA.
Many wondered why Angle wasn't offended when before he was in the WWF in 1998-1999 when The Undertaker tied Stone Cold Steve Austin to his symbol and Austin did the same to Undertaker and Undertaker tying Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie. Yet, Angle still joined the WWF. Angle believed it wasn't a crucifixion to resemble the crucifying of Jesus Christ.
Many in ECW believed Paul Heyman knew of this, but he claimed he didn't and said he would not approve of such an angle. Heyman ordered Raven to go back out there and apologize to everyone, which he did as he did not seem to be too sorry in his apology. Both Raven and Sandman were mad that Raven had to go out and apologize.
Many believed that Raven used his own religious beliefs as he is Jewish along with Heyman and Tod Gordon as he deliberately used the crucifixion as an "anti-Christian" statement. Raven says he did not do this to insult Jesus Christ but to mock The Sandman "by using religious iconography to convey an artistic standpoint."
Raven defeated The Sandman in December to win back the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in a bloody Barbed Wire match. Eventually, The Sandman reunited with his son Tyler and wife Lori after Raven turned on them.
On November 23, 1996, one of the most notorious events in professional wrestling took place known as the "Mass Transit Incident." The event took place at an ECW house show in Boston. D-Von Dudley was scheduled to team with Axl Rotten to take on The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa Saed). However, Rotten could not make it due to a family emergency.
17-year-old Eric Kulas told Paul Heyman that he was 23 years old and was trained to wrestle and had been trained by Killer Kowalski. Heyman told him to go out there then. Kulas went by the name "Mass Transit" as he was a bus driver wearing a bus driver's uniform.
Before the match, Kulas told New Jack to blade him since he never did it and New Jack agreed. During the match, New Jack hit Kulas with many objects including crutches, a toaster, and others. When it came time for Jack to blade Kulas, he used a surgical scalpel and cut Kulas too deep and it severed two of Kulas' arteries in his forehead. It caused blood to gush out extensively and him to pass out.
The Gangstas continued to beat on the badly bloody and injured Kulas, causing Kulas' father Stephen Kulas to scream "Ring the fucking bell!! He's only 17!!" While medics rushed to the ring to tend to young Eric, New Jack got on the microphone and cut a promo that was anti-white and anti-Boston and saying he didn't care if he died.
The event was not televised due to it being a house show, but "Extreme Fan Cam" was on hand and recorded the event on a camcorder, which would be used later as evidence in legal proceedings. Heyman and ECW were anticipating their first PPV but that was pulled on Christmas Eve due to this incident. Eventually, Heyman got his first PPV in April 1997.
New Jack was acquitted on all criminal charges and later found not liable to the serious injuries in a civil trial. You can read more about the incident and legal ramifications here. Sadly, Kulas would pass away in 2002 with complications from gastric bypass surgery.
ECW signed Chris Jericho early in 1996. The long blonde haired somewhat pretty boy was actually very popular with the bloodthirsty ECW fans due to his high-flying style and especially his ability to take serious bumps, like one particular vicious one from Taz.
Jericho had success early on as he defeated Pitbull #2 to win the ECW World Television Championship in June. He lost the title a month later to Shane Douglas. Jericho soon left ECW for greener pastures to go to WCW in August.
At the In Your House: Mind Games PPV in September held in Philadelphia, ECW's Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman were shown sitting in the front row of the event. They were causing trouble as fans in attendance shouted "ECW!" The Sandman spit his beer at Savio Vegas as Sandman and Dreamer were escorted from the arena.
This marked the first time the WWF and ECW did a cross-promotion and started a working and talent relationship between Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman. McMahon first noticed the popularity of ECW when at the 1995 King of the Ring, held in Philadelphia, heard the fans shout and chant "ECW!" and would do so at other shows.
Taz started in ECW in 1993 as "The Tazmaniac" and was even put in a tag team called "The Tazmaniacs." He eventually teamed with Kevin Sullivan and later Sabu until Sabu was legitimately fired in April 1995 for no-showing. This would cause an eventual feud between Taz and Sabu.
Taz suffered a broken neck in July 1995 when Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio botched a spike piledriver. Accoring to Tommy Dreamer, the hospital staff could not believe Taz walked to the hospital how bad his neck was. Taz says Paul Heyman still paid Taz despite Taz not being able to work per Heyman's oral agreement. Taz has loyalty towards Heyman for this.
Taz came back at the end of 1995 and had a new attitude and was a heel, aligning himself with crooked referee Bill Alfonso. Taz claimed Alfonso was the only person who looked after him while he was out with the broken neck, not even Heyman, which was storyline as Heyman legitimately paid him while he was out.
Taz had a new look as he was not the barefoot wildman known as "The Tazmaniac" as he was now simply known as Taz. Unlike the Tazmaniac gimmick where he did not speak, Taz cut angry, profanity-filled promos as he portrayed surly, pissed off son of a bitch. Alfonso would annoying talk trash to people because he knew he had Taz backing him up.
Taz would be more intense as he would throw his opponents all over the ring with different suplexes dubbed "Tazz-plexes" by Joey Styles. He finished his opponent off by locking him in the Tazmission/Kahatajime submission hold.
His opponents would tap out to signal the submission much like they do in mixed martial arts/UFC instead of saying yes or nodding their head. Soon after, the WWF/E and WCW soon adopted this method of submission. Taz became the first MMA/UFC style fighter in pro wrestling.
Taz spent the entire year undefeated and choked everyone in sight with the Tazmission including being the first one to choke out 911 as well as choking out Bam Bam Bigelow. At Hardcore Heaven on June 22, 1996, Taz took on UFC fighter Paul Varelans in what was supposed to be a "legitimate shoot fight." It was a work, however, as Vareleans agreed to tap out to Taz's Tazmission.
Taz was upset that Sabu had been brought back to ECW after being fired and spent the whole year calling out Sabu, which Sabu would not answer the call. Then came the 1996 November to Remember event, one year which saw Taz turn heel and align himself with Bill Alfonso and also the return of Sabu.
At the event, Taz came out at the beginning of the show to say that Paul Heyman was working on a match between he and Sabu at what would be ECW's first ever pay-per-view event. Later that night, Taz again cut an anti-Sabu promo where Tod Gordon came out only to be put in the Tazmission.
Heyman also came out but it did no good either as he was given a Tazplex and also put in the Tazmission when the lights suddenly went out. When they came back on, Sabu was standing in the ring as the two finally were in the ring face-to-face. The lights went out again and when they came back on, the ring was empty.
Perhaps ECW's most talented and most popular wrestler ever, Rob Van Dam (RVD) joined ECW in 1996. He made his ECW debut at the House Party event at the ECW Arena on January 5, 1996, where he defeated Axl Rotten with his thrilling split-legged moonsault. Van Dam worked the Indy circuit in America, minus his brief stay in WCW as "Robbie V" in 1992-93 as well as getting fame for working in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Van Dam was popular early on due to his laid back attitude and high-flying martial arts style of wrestling. Van Dam had some awesome variety of high-flying moves as well as flying martial arts kicks. Van Dam's early finisher was his split-legged moonsault and then to the Five Star Frog Splash.
Van Dam was also well known for his use of the steel chair which really got him over with the blood thirsty ECW fans. Van Dam used the chair as a springboard for some of his high-flying moves as well as using the steel chair to kick it into his opponent's faces which he called the "Van Daminator."
Van Dam soon started a feud with his best friend Sabu, who trained to be a pro wrestler alongside Van Dam in their home state Michigan for Sabu's uncle The Sheik (Ed Farhat). The feud was over respect, which Van Dam would not show to Sabu, causing Sabu to be wrestle him. RVD and Sabu faced off in a series of thrilling, high-flying matches throughout the spring and summer of 1996.
RVD beat Sabu in a "respect match" where the loser had to shake the winner's hand and say "I respect you." As Sabu was about to, RVD did not shake his hand and called him a piece of shit. Sabu defeated RVD in two brutal matches where finally RVD respected Sabu and the two soon became a tag team.
"The Franchise" Shane Douglas returned to ECW at the House Party event in January 1996 after a horrible stint as "Dean Douglas" in the WWF. Douglas feuded with Cactus Jack after Jack renounced ECW and its hardcore ways and praising the WWF, where he would soon join. Douglas ripped him since he came from the WWF and it was horrible. Douglas also joined forces with Tommy Dreamer in his feud with Raven.
Douglas won the ECW TV Title twice in 1996. The second time, he defeated champion Chris Jericho, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Pit Bull #2 in a Four-Way match. Douglas accidentally broke Pit Bull #1's neck and The Pit Bulls' manager Francine turned on them and helped Douglas win the title. Late in 1996, Douglas reformed the Triple Threat with Chris Candido and Brian Lee along with manager Francine.
1996 was no doubt an exciting year for ECW. They had no way of competing financially with the WWF and WCW but it was no less exciting. 1997 would see big things on the horizon for ECW such as "invading" the WWF as well as their first ever pay-per-view event called Barely Legal.
Raven had a thrilling feud with arch nemesis Tommy Dreamer in 1995 and while he defended his title successfully against Dreamer several times in 1996, as Dreamer still couldn't beat him, Raven mostly feuded with The Sandman in a violent and personal feud.
In early 1996, Raven and Dreamer's rivalry went to new heights when Raven's girlfriend and valet Beulah McGillicutty announced she was pregnant and the father was none other than Dreamer. This incensed Raven who went after Beulah only to be saved by Dreamer.
Raven brought in a new valet Kimona Wanalaya (the best play on words maybe ever "Come on I wanna lay ya!") to replace Beulah. Shane Douglas, who returned to ECW in January after the disappointing stint in the WWF, told Dreamer that Beulah was not pregnant and had been cheating on him.
Dreamer wanted to know who she was cheating on him with, figuring it was Douglas. Kimona then shocked everyone by saying it was her as she kissed Beulah to the mat!! This was the first lesbian angle in pro wrestling history. Dreamer than grabbed both of them and said "I'll take them both, I'm harcore!" and kissed them both.
Raven's lackeys Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie, and new comer Nova began entertaining the crowd by imitating wrestlers from other organizations as well as imitating rock bands, most notable The Jackson 5 and their famous parody: KISS. Buh Buh Ray Dudley (Mark LoMonaco) mentioned to them a great idea that they parody WCW's New World Order (nWo).
After clearing the idea with Paul Heyman, they formed their version of the nWo called the Blue World Order (bWo). They wore blue t-shirts printed "bWo" on them. Richards was "Big Stevie Cool" (Kevin Nash), Meanie was "Da Blue Guy" (Scott Hall), and Nova was "Hollywood Nova" (Hollywood Hogan). Others came in and out of the bWo but the trio remained the same as this was friggen hilarious!!
Another hilarious gimmick created in 1996 was that of the "Full Blooded Italians" otherwise known as "F.B.I." They were a group of guys portraying the stereotypical Italian gimmick with Italian accents, sayings, mannerisms, and even hand gestures.
The 5'7 Little Guido was perhaps the best known F.B.I. member. What was funny was that guys who had been a part of the stable except Little Guido (who had Italian ancestry) had no Italian in them whatsoever.
The gimmick was started as part of a comedy where African American wrestler J.T. Smith fell and suffered "mild brain damage" and thought he was Italian and nicknamed himself the "Italian Stallion" J.T. Smith. Southern white wrestlers with no Italian Blood whatsoever in Tracey Smothers and "The Big Down" Tommy Rich.
In the middle of 1996, Raven "brainwashed" Sandman's wife Lori Fullington and then-7-year-old son Tyler Fullington as they turned on Sandman and joined forces with Raven. Raven told Tyler that his parents divorce was all Sandman's fault and had his son deny Sandman as his father which made Sandman break down emotionally one more than one occasion. Tyler began dressing and acting like Raven and even doing Raven's signature "Crucifixion" pose.
On October 5, 1996, Sandman won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship when he teamed with Tommy Dreamer to take on Raven's henchmen Brian Lee and Stevie Richards, who subbed for Raven who no-showed the event. Since Sandman pinned Richards, he was awarded the ECW Title.
This led to the "High Incident" show on October 26 at the ECW Arena in one of the most controversial moments in pro wrestling history. Star amateur wrestler Kurt Angle, fresh off of winning the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, was in attendance even doing commentary as he was convinced to attend the event by fellow Pittsburgh native Shane Douglas. This was about three years before he joined the WWF/E.
At the event, Sandman and son Tyler reconciled before Raven came from behind and nailed Sandman with the Singapore Cane as this was a setup. He piledrove Sandman through a table and knocked him out. Raven's lackeys Stevie Richard and The Blue Meanie came out with a wooden cross.
They would tie Sandman to the cross and put a barbed wire crown on his head and "Crucified" him much to look like how Jesus Christ was crucified. They carried him out of the ring on the cross. The ECW Arena was stunned and silent as perhaps even ECW went to far if you can imagine that. Many of the ECW staff and wrestlers were Christian or Catholic and they were outraged by this.
One in particular was Kurt Angle, who was angry and offended by the incident. He told Paul Heyman to not air this with Angle being shown or his name was associated with this in any way otherwise he would sue Heyman and ECW so the incident never aired on TV.
Angle mentioned during the 2005 ECW One Night Stand reunion produced by WWE that he came and left ECW in a shoot. Ironically, he would join ECW the next year when ECW came back full-time under the WWE before he left for TNA.
Many wondered why Angle wasn't offended when before he was in the WWF in 1998-1999 when The Undertaker tied Stone Cold Steve Austin to his symbol and Austin did the same to Undertaker and Undertaker tying Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie. Yet, Angle still joined the WWF. Angle believed it wasn't a crucifixion to resemble the crucifying of Jesus Christ.
Many in ECW believed Paul Heyman knew of this, but he claimed he didn't and said he would not approve of such an angle. Heyman ordered Raven to go back out there and apologize to everyone, which he did as he did not seem to be too sorry in his apology. Both Raven and Sandman were mad that Raven had to go out and apologize.
Many believed that Raven used his own religious beliefs as he is Jewish along with Heyman and Tod Gordon as he deliberately used the crucifixion as an "anti-Christian" statement. Raven says he did not do this to insult Jesus Christ but to mock The Sandman "by using religious iconography to convey an artistic standpoint."
Raven defeated The Sandman in December to win back the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in a bloody Barbed Wire match. Eventually, The Sandman reunited with his son Tyler and wife Lori after Raven turned on them.
On November 23, 1996, one of the most notorious events in professional wrestling took place known as the "Mass Transit Incident." The event took place at an ECW house show in Boston. D-Von Dudley was scheduled to team with Axl Rotten to take on The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa Saed). However, Rotten could not make it due to a family emergency.
17-year-old Eric Kulas told Paul Heyman that he was 23 years old and was trained to wrestle and had been trained by Killer Kowalski. Heyman told him to go out there then. Kulas went by the name "Mass Transit" as he was a bus driver wearing a bus driver's uniform.
Before the match, Kulas told New Jack to blade him since he never did it and New Jack agreed. During the match, New Jack hit Kulas with many objects including crutches, a toaster, and others. When it came time for Jack to blade Kulas, he used a surgical scalpel and cut Kulas too deep and it severed two of Kulas' arteries in his forehead. It caused blood to gush out extensively and him to pass out.
The Gangstas continued to beat on the badly bloody and injured Kulas, causing Kulas' father Stephen Kulas to scream "Ring the fucking bell!! He's only 17!!" While medics rushed to the ring to tend to young Eric, New Jack got on the microphone and cut a promo that was anti-white and anti-Boston and saying he didn't care if he died.
The event was not televised due to it being a house show, but "Extreme Fan Cam" was on hand and recorded the event on a camcorder, which would be used later as evidence in legal proceedings. Heyman and ECW were anticipating their first PPV but that was pulled on Christmas Eve due to this incident. Eventually, Heyman got his first PPV in April 1997.
New Jack was acquitted on all criminal charges and later found not liable to the serious injuries in a civil trial. You can read more about the incident and legal ramifications here. Sadly, Kulas would pass away in 2002 with complications from gastric bypass surgery.
ECW signed Chris Jericho early in 1996. The long blonde haired somewhat pretty boy was actually very popular with the bloodthirsty ECW fans due to his high-flying style and especially his ability to take serious bumps, like one particular vicious one from Taz.
Jericho had success early on as he defeated Pitbull #2 to win the ECW World Television Championship in June. He lost the title a month later to Shane Douglas. Jericho soon left ECW for greener pastures to go to WCW in August.
At the In Your House: Mind Games PPV in September held in Philadelphia, ECW's Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman were shown sitting in the front row of the event. They were causing trouble as fans in attendance shouted "ECW!" The Sandman spit his beer at Savio Vegas as Sandman and Dreamer were escorted from the arena.
This marked the first time the WWF and ECW did a cross-promotion and started a working and talent relationship between Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman. McMahon first noticed the popularity of ECW when at the 1995 King of the Ring, held in Philadelphia, heard the fans shout and chant "ECW!" and would do so at other shows.
Taz started in ECW in 1993 as "The Tazmaniac" and was even put in a tag team called "The Tazmaniacs." He eventually teamed with Kevin Sullivan and later Sabu until Sabu was legitimately fired in April 1995 for no-showing. This would cause an eventual feud between Taz and Sabu.
Taz suffered a broken neck in July 1995 when Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio botched a spike piledriver. Accoring to Tommy Dreamer, the hospital staff could not believe Taz walked to the hospital how bad his neck was. Taz says Paul Heyman still paid Taz despite Taz not being able to work per Heyman's oral agreement. Taz has loyalty towards Heyman for this.
Taz came back at the end of 1995 and had a new attitude and was a heel, aligning himself with crooked referee Bill Alfonso. Taz claimed Alfonso was the only person who looked after him while he was out with the broken neck, not even Heyman, which was storyline as Heyman legitimately paid him while he was out.
Taz had a new look as he was not the barefoot wildman known as "The Tazmaniac" as he was now simply known as Taz. Unlike the Tazmaniac gimmick where he did not speak, Taz cut angry, profanity-filled promos as he portrayed surly, pissed off son of a bitch. Alfonso would annoying talk trash to people because he knew he had Taz backing him up.
Taz would be more intense as he would throw his opponents all over the ring with different suplexes dubbed "Tazz-plexes" by Joey Styles. He finished his opponent off by locking him in the Tazmission/Kahatajime submission hold.
His opponents would tap out to signal the submission much like they do in mixed martial arts/UFC instead of saying yes or nodding their head. Soon after, the WWF/E and WCW soon adopted this method of submission. Taz became the first MMA/UFC style fighter in pro wrestling.
Taz spent the entire year undefeated and choked everyone in sight with the Tazmission including being the first one to choke out 911 as well as choking out Bam Bam Bigelow. At Hardcore Heaven on June 22, 1996, Taz took on UFC fighter Paul Varelans in what was supposed to be a "legitimate shoot fight." It was a work, however, as Vareleans agreed to tap out to Taz's Tazmission.
Taz was upset that Sabu had been brought back to ECW after being fired and spent the whole year calling out Sabu, which Sabu would not answer the call. Then came the 1996 November to Remember event, one year which saw Taz turn heel and align himself with Bill Alfonso and also the return of Sabu.
At the event, Taz came out at the beginning of the show to say that Paul Heyman was working on a match between he and Sabu at what would be ECW's first ever pay-per-view event. Later that night, Taz again cut an anti-Sabu promo where Tod Gordon came out only to be put in the Tazmission.
Heyman also came out but it did no good either as he was given a Tazplex and also put in the Tazmission when the lights suddenly went out. When they came back on, Sabu was standing in the ring as the two finally were in the ring face-to-face. The lights went out again and when they came back on, the ring was empty.
Perhaps ECW's most talented and most popular wrestler ever, Rob Van Dam (RVD) joined ECW in 1996. He made his ECW debut at the House Party event at the ECW Arena on January 5, 1996, where he defeated Axl Rotten with his thrilling split-legged moonsault. Van Dam worked the Indy circuit in America, minus his brief stay in WCW as "Robbie V" in 1992-93 as well as getting fame for working in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Van Dam was popular early on due to his laid back attitude and high-flying martial arts style of wrestling. Van Dam had some awesome variety of high-flying moves as well as flying martial arts kicks. Van Dam's early finisher was his split-legged moonsault and then to the Five Star Frog Splash.
Van Dam was also well known for his use of the steel chair which really got him over with the blood thirsty ECW fans. Van Dam used the chair as a springboard for some of his high-flying moves as well as using the steel chair to kick it into his opponent's faces which he called the "Van Daminator."
Van Dam soon started a feud with his best friend Sabu, who trained to be a pro wrestler alongside Van Dam in their home state Michigan for Sabu's uncle The Sheik (Ed Farhat). The feud was over respect, which Van Dam would not show to Sabu, causing Sabu to be wrestle him. RVD and Sabu faced off in a series of thrilling, high-flying matches throughout the spring and summer of 1996.
RVD beat Sabu in a "respect match" where the loser had to shake the winner's hand and say "I respect you." As Sabu was about to, RVD did not shake his hand and called him a piece of shit. Sabu defeated RVD in two brutal matches where finally RVD respected Sabu and the two soon became a tag team.
"The Franchise" Shane Douglas returned to ECW at the House Party event in January 1996 after a horrible stint as "Dean Douglas" in the WWF. Douglas feuded with Cactus Jack after Jack renounced ECW and its hardcore ways and praising the WWF, where he would soon join. Douglas ripped him since he came from the WWF and it was horrible. Douglas also joined forces with Tommy Dreamer in his feud with Raven.
Douglas won the ECW TV Title twice in 1996. The second time, he defeated champion Chris Jericho, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Pit Bull #2 in a Four-Way match. Douglas accidentally broke Pit Bull #1's neck and The Pit Bulls' manager Francine turned on them and helped Douglas win the title. Late in 1996, Douglas reformed the Triple Threat with Chris Candido and Brian Lee along with manager Francine.
1996 was no doubt an exciting year for ECW. They had no way of competing financially with the WWF and WCW but it was no less exciting. 1997 would see big things on the horizon for ECW such as "invading" the WWF as well as their first ever pay-per-view event called Barely Legal.
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