Hollywood

The Wrestler, from the publishers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated Eastern Championship Wrestling out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will crown their first Heavyweight champion in a special one-night tournament on May 25, 1992! Promoter Tod Gordon promises some exciting first-round matches that will determine who remains in the tournament as the night goes on. In the opening rounds, “Surfin’” Mr. Sandman battles Larry Winters, “The Mad Dog” DC Drake faces “The Hitman” Tony Stetson, the self-proclaimed “King of Philadelphia” Eddie Gilbert wrestles “The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne, and in a rematch nearly ten years in the making “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka battles “The Magnificent” Don Muraco! Only two men will survive the eliminator rounds to make it to the main event! Be there to see who will walk out of the ECW Arena as the first-ever Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion!

I know right!? I had to do a double take when I saw the pic in the Torch!

This is still Mr. Sandman in his surfer gimmick. Jimmy and Marty are not related.

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Eastern Championship Wrestling April 25, 1992 Viking Hall (574) ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on Apr. 25 from the Viking Hall in Philadelphia. This is their third and most violent show so far. Dalton Poster filed the following report… 1) The Pitbulls dominated Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards in under five minutes. Pitbull Spike and Pitbull Rex looked amazing and ate up the two young wrestlers. A very hot debut for the new team. 2) The Super Destroyers beat Cry Baby Waldo & Salvatore Bellomo in eight minutes. Hunter Q. Robbins III was great at ringside, barking orders to his Destroyers. In a holdover from the previous match, the crowd barked like pit bulls at the Super Destroyers. These two dominant teams might have a meeting down the line. 3) “The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne once again cheated to win to beat King Kaluha in seven minutes. Osbourne hit Kaluha with a metal cross to get the win. 4) Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body defeated JT Smith & Mr. Sandman in twelve minutes after Winters wrapped a chair over Smith’s head. This was the first bloody brawl of the night with this feud continuing to escalate. The brawling did not stop after the bell! All four men punched and kicked all over the Hall and the fight spilled outside onto the streets of Swanson and Ritner! 5) Jimmy Snuka beat The Metal Maniac in nine minutes with a wicked piledriver followed by the splash. Philadelphia hated The Maniac and were happy to see Snuka beat the crap out of him. After the bout, Snuka motioned that he’ll be champion in the ECW! 6) In a brutal Russian Chain match, “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff bloodied up and beat “The Hitman” Tony Stetson in around fifteen minutes. Koloff looked like a man possessed and had fun in the ring, bloodying up the young Stetson. To his credit, Stetson overcame a vocal crowd and fought back but it wasn’t enough against Ivan. 7) Eddie Gilbert survived DC Drake in thirteen minutes in one of the bloodiest matches in Philadelphia history. With the other guys of the Doghouse and Smith/Sandman out of the building after their match earlier, Drake and Gilbert were 100% focused on each other. They brawled all over the Hall and bled buckets. Gilbert looked like he lost most of the blood in his body. Nowhere in the ECW Arena was safe. Gilbert dropped Drake with a Piledriver in the crow’s nest area of the arena for the winning fall. After the match, Eddie Gilbert stumbled to the ring and gave a good speech to us new ECW fans. Gilbert crowned himself the “King of Philadelphia”. He’s earned it after that violent main event! NOTES: Tod Gordon promoted next month’s show by announcing a one-night tournament to crown the first ECW Heavyweight champion next month at the newly named ECW Arena. Eddie Gilbert, Jimmy Snuka, DC Drake, Larry Winters, and the debuting “Magnificent” Don Muraco were announced for the tournament. "The King of Philadelphia" Eddie Gilbert

Next at the Eastern Championship Wrestling: Tod Gordon, the President of the Eastern Championship Wrestling, took some time on his most recent episode of his late night Philadelphia wrestling radio show to promote the upstart company’s next big show at the Viking Hall at the corner of Swanson and Ritner. The exciting blood feud between Ivan Koloff and “The Hitman” Tony Stetson will come to an end in what will be a brutal Russian Chain match. Two men will enter but only one will walk out victorious. The rivalry between The Doghouse and the exciting trio of ECW stars continues as Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body take on JT Smith & Mr. Sandman in tag team action! And in the main event, DC Drake will battle with “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert. The ECW referees have been warned to stay out of the way as things will get violent! Jimmy Snuka returns to Philadelphia! Making his debut in the ECW, The Metal Maniac promises to make a good impression by beating “Superfly” Snuka. Will Snuka’s continued aggression in the ring give him the edge over the screamin’ maniac? Eastern Championship Wrestling @ Viking Hall April 25, 1992 1. Pitbull Rex & Pitbull Spike vs. Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards 2. The Super Destroyers vs. Cry Baby Waldo & Salvatore Bellomo 3. “The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne vs. "The Hawaiian Hurricane" King Kaluha 4. Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body vs. JT Smith & Mr. Sandman 5. Jimmy Snuka vs. The Metal Maniac 6. Russian Chain Match: “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff vs. “The Hitman” Tony Stetson 7. “Mad Dog” DC Drake vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Eastern Championship Wrestling March 24, 1992 Viking Hall (498) ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on Mar. 24 from the Viking Hall in Philadelphia. This group is trying to fill the spot of Joel Goodhart’s TWA and had a good debut show last month. Tony K. filed the following report… Jimmy Snuka was advertised locally on promoter Tod Gordon’s new late-night wrestling radio show but no opponent was announced before the show. The belief was that he’d be the third man in the main event but that wasn’t the case. 1) The Super Destroyers beat Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards in around 8 minutes. Hunter Q. Robbins III directed orders for his masked team from ringside. A decent match. 2) “The Madman From The Badlands” Glen Osbourne defeated Max Thrasher in just over five minutes by blatantly cheating. Osborne hit Thrasher with a metal cross to knock him out for the win. He did the same thing last month. 3) Salvatore Bellomo beat Cry Baby Waldo in seven minutes. Bellomo is doing a very weird wildman gimmick where he dresses like a gladiator but is doing things “for the kids”. The in-ring was awful. 4) Ivan Koloff eviscerated “The Hitman” Tony Stetson in about ten minutes. This was a return match from last month where Stetson scored a flash victory. Koloff was angry and beat Stetson up all around the ring and left him a bloody mess. After the brutality, Koloff wasn’t done, took out a chain and choked Stetson out. Security had to intervene and Tod Gordon had to calm Ivan down. There will be a Russian Chain match next month to settle the score. 5) Jimmy Snuka beat King Kahlua in around ten minutes. Snuka was advertised locally but this was a surprise match. Kahlua ran down Philadelphia and complained about them hating him until Snuka interrupted and socked him in the mouth. Snuka showed a vicious side and hit a wicked piledriver. 6) The Doghouse (DC Drake, Larry Winters, Johnny Hot Body) beat JT Smith, Mr. Sandman & Eddie Gilbert after about 20 minutes of wild brawling. Eddie Gilbert was a surprise partner and he was the first to bleed before all six men bled all over the Viking Hall. Drake and Gilbert were the main focus of the match and Drake managed to get the pinfall on Gilbert. Despite getting pinned, Gilbert bounced back up right after and continued to fight Drake and The Doghouse. Smith, Sandman, and Gilbert brought The Doghouse into the crowd to continue the brawl. Tod Gordon was in full promoter mode as the six guys brawled to the back - promising Eddie Gilbert vs. DC Drake and Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body vs. JT Smith & Mr. Sandman for next month in the Viking Hall. NOTES: The six-man feud is hot and picking up where Tri-State left off. Adding Eddie Gilbert and Jimmy Snuka to the promotion is a good boost to the shows. I am excited for the Eastern Championship Wrestling’s future. Eddie Gilbert

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Eastern Championship Wrestling February 25, 1992 Viking Hall (511) ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on Feb. 25 from the Viking Hall in Philadelphia. This is the group that is trying to fill the void left by Joel Goodhart’s former Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. Tom Filius filed the following report… 1) Jimmy Jannetty and Stevie Richards went to a 20-minute draw. The wrestling was alright and both young wrestlers pushed each other to the limit. As both wrestlers shook each other’s hands after the match, Hunter Q. Robbins III and the Super Destroyers came to the ring to beat them down and knocked both Jannetty and Richards senseless. 2) “The Madman From The Badlands” Glen Osbourne defeated Crybaby Waldo in about 8 minutes after blatantly cheating. Osborne hit Waldo with a metal cross to knock him out for the win. The fans did not care to see Waldo in the ring. 3) The Super Destroyers defeated Don E. Allen and Max Thrasher in about 9 minutes. The two Super Destroyers controlled most of the match with Hunter Q. Robbins III shouting instructions from ringside. He’s annoying! 4) “The Hitman” Tony Stetson defeated Ivan Koloff in around 13 minutes in a complete shocker! Koloff had Stetson finished but Tony dodged a clothesline and rolled up the former World champion for the win. Koloff was angry after the match and started beating the crap out of Stetson. Referees tried to break it up but the two brawled to the back. Good bout and fun after the match shenanigans. 5) King Kaluha defeated Salvatore Bellomo in 10 minutes. Very basic wrestling. The crowd did not care for Kaluha. 6) Johnny Hotbody and Larry Winters defeated DC Drake and JT Smith in about 18 minutes. All hell broke loose in this brawl. Hotbody and Winters are former TWA Tag Team champions and both have a history with DC Drake. Drake traded the TWA World title with Smith and they have lots of history. The history boiled over at the end when DC Drake turned his back on Smith and spike piledrove him with Hotbody and Winters! The upstart was pinned by Hotbody right after. Not loved by this Philadelphia crowd, Drake, Winters, and Hotbody christened themselves the “Doghouse” - an obvious play on Winters & Hotbody’s former team name “The Dog Pound”. They continued the beat down until Mr. Sandman ran in from the crowd to chase them off. He helped Smith to his feet and promised to find a partner for next month’s show. NOTES: This was a hot show closing angle after what was a very fun show. It’s not up to the same league as Tri-State but they can close that gap with some more great shows like this. So far, so good. The Doghouse - Larry Winters, DC Drake, Johnny Hotbody

ECW: The Complete History "Joel Goodhart was insane." - Terry Funk in a 1998 interview Let's go back to 1992. Eastern Championship Wrestling rises from the ashes of the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance - Joel Goodhart’s absolutely bonkers independent wrestling promotion that gave the merciless Philadelphia fans a taste of blood they desperately craved. Tri-State - representing the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware - gained a following among the hardcore fans for its quarterly four-hour specials with names like Gory, Gory Hallelujah. With big names like Cactus Jack, Eddie Gilbert, Terry Funk, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Ivan Koloff, The Sheik, Abdullah The Butcher, and Manny Fernandez all on ONE card, the company’s ability to turn a profit was virtually impossible from the word “Go.” And well they never turned a profit and things quickly fell apart for Goodhart and his Tri-State Wrestling. The costs of the talent lineup continued to add up and Goodhart - for whatever reason - always aimed to go bigger. The stars of All Japan Pro-Wrestling were announced for a January 25, 1992 show that obviously never happened. Goodhart made a fair amount of money in the insurance business but had blown through most of it by the end of 1991 - just two years after running his first wrestling event. Goodhart called it quits a week before the big January ‘92, making the announcement on his weekly wrestling radio show. “That was also the last time he was doing the radio show, and he told all of the listeners he was done.” - John “Straw Hat Guy” Bailey As Goodhart petered out in early 1992, the person who picked up the pieces and tried to move on was Goodhart’s ring announcer - a man named Tod Gordon. A silent partner in Tri-State, Tod Gordon was not eager to see his vision of local Philadelphia wrestling die and thus Eastern Championship Wrestling was born in Gordon’s office just days after Goodhart took his ball and went home. With his eyes on the future, local Philadelphia-area mainstay Larry Winters was positioned to be the company’s first booker… until a few days before the first big show when plans changed and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert exchanged his pencil of the Global Wrestling Federation for the pencil of the brand new Philadelphia upstart. A few days later, Gilbert, Gordon, and a flock of future stars stepped inside the Viking Hall (named so due to the South Philadelphia Viking Club) on the corner of Swanson and Ritner for an uneventful show that would kickstart the good heart of hardcore Philadelphia wrestling.

His worked botches weren't just to work Meltzer. They were to add even more unpredictability to his matches—one of the most influential US wrestlers of all time. Modern high-flying, modern indie wrestling, and hardcore wrestling were all changed by Sabu. ☝️

When will Tony pick up the pencil and book a good show again? #NotABooker

love love love this pic pack already

The Dream Is Alive ~ Fluorescent Lighttubes & Barbed Wire Board Death Match Drew Parker & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda #1 Contender‘s Match ~ Empty Can Board & Razor Cross Board Death Match Takayuki Ueki vs. Violento Jack King Of FREEDOM World Tag Team Championship ~ Thumbtack Board & Thumbtack Bat Death Match Toru Sugiura & Tomoya Hirata (c) vs. Daisuke Masaoka & Takashi Sasaki King Of FREEDOM World Jr. Heavyweight Championship Kamui (c) vs. Dragon Libre Hardcore Match Yusaku Ito, Mammoth Sasaki & Rina Yamashita vs. E.R.E (Dobunezumi Fukki, Kyu Mogami & Toshiyuki Sakuda) GENTARO, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Leo Isaka vs. Rekka, Takahiro Katori & Minoru Fujita

I am very confused. So Tony Khan is not the booker? It was very clearly stated that Tony Khan is not a booker.

Favourite diary on the board right now. Love the presentation and booking choices.

Very happy Drew Parker is still doing deathmatches in this universe.

This looks great. I can't wait to play it!

KC Navarro vs. Gino Medina vs. Myron Reed Nicole Savoy vs. Zeda Zhang Jordan Oliver vs. Alex Kane Mads Krugger vs. Alexander Hammerstone ©

IWA Caribbean Championship Match - Amazing Red vs. Low Ki (c) 5150 vs. Colons King Muertes vs. Carlito

Very true Dalton. I haven't been this excited to watch a weekly wrestling show since Mid-South.

Arez vs. Angelico El Hijo de L.A. Park and L.A. Park Jr. vs. Aramis and Samuray del Sol Pagano vs. Alexander Hammerstone © - Falls Count Anywhere Match for MLW World Heavyweight Championship

King Of FREEDOM World Tag Team Championship Soul Meat (Toru Sugiura & Tomoya Hirata) (c) vs. Takashi Sasaki & Mammoth Sasaki King Of FREEDOM World Junior Heavyweight Championship Kamui (c) vs. Takahiro Katori E.R.E (Drew Parker, Violento Jack & Toshiyuki Sakuda) & Orca Uto vs. Jun Kasai, Masashi Takeda, Rina Yamashita & Dragon Libre E.R.E (Kyu Mogami & Dobunezumi Fukki) vs. Brahman Brothers Tatsuhito Takaiwa & GENTARO vs. Ender Kara & Rekka Leo Isaka & Anarko Montana vs. REAL HIPSTAR (Jun Masaoka & Kohei Kinoshita)

Action Andretti was a literal unknown at the start of the month. I'm pretty plugged into the independent scene and had no earthly idea about this kid. People know about him now. So yes, he did get Andretti over while also getting over the next evolution of his character. You're out to lunch if you don't see that.

Drew Parker vs. Jun Kasai Soul Meat vs. Rina Yamashita & Alex Colon Mammoth Sasaki & Takashi Sasaki vs. Masashi Takeda & Yusaku Ito Minoru Fujita vs. Violento Jack Dragon Libre, Gentaro, Tatsuhito Akaiwa & Kamui vs. Jun Masaoka, Gaia Hox, Rekka & Takahiro Katori Brahmans & X vs. Dobunezumi Fukki, Kyu Mogami & Tashiyuki Sakuda

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