ECW: The Complete History

[Hollywood]

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.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Hollywood

[Stennick]

I absolutely love the idea of going all the way back to 92 plus I'm assuming you're using the 92 mod which makes it all the better. 

[Kirby]

EC-DUB. EC-DUB. EC-DUB.

Can't wait to see where this goes. Good Luck!

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

Do you guys start as an ECW affiliate?

[sonny912]

If Gilbert's got the book then maybe some other gwf alumni will jump with with him. Jerry lynn, Sean waltman, Bradshaw, booker t and Stevie Ray, the patriot, Raven, Marcus Bagwell, cactus jack, his brother Doug gilbert, Barry horowhitz, Mike Shaw, they'd be great help towards getting ecw off the ground.

 

You could also start hiring guys that the big 2 resently either hired or fired like 2 cold Scorpio, the barbarian, bam bam Bigelow, British bulldog,Bulldog, Masahiro chono, Bobby Eaton, tatsumi fujinami, Tom Brandi, Haku, Hercules hernandez, Marty Jannetty, Kamala, max moon Tom boric, Jim neidhart, Paul orndorff, diamond Dallas page, leaping lanny poffo, razor Ramon Scott hall,Hall, Jake the snake roberts, red rooster Terry Taylor, Butch Reed, sid eudy, the Steiner Brothers Rick and Scott, Kevin Sullivan, ultimate warrior, Dr death steve Williams, Kerry von Erich and yokozuna, with guys like these your company would be amazing!

Edited June 22, 2023 by sonny912

[Hollywood]

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

[sonny912]

1 hour ago, Hollywood said:

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

Oh no, I was afraid of this, I have no idea who most of these guys are.

[Old School Fan]

19 hours ago, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Do you guys start as an ECW affiliate?

NWA, actually - that's how they started out IRL.

[Old School Fan]

4 hours ago, sonny912 said:

Oh no, I was afraid of this, I have no idea who most of these guys are.

I do remember a couple of the guys listed in this report - Larry Winters and DC Drake were archrivals in the Philly-based National Wrestling Federation in the 1980s (I remember seeing an NWF cage match on TV from around that time that had Winters teaming with Bruiser Brody to defeat Drake and Damien Kane).

Edited June 23, 2023 by Old School Fan
Specification

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

19 minutes ago, Old School Fan said:

NWA, actually - that's how they started out IRL.

Sorry, meant NWA -- typo. 

Interested to see if you have someone throw down the belts like Douglas did in real life. 

Either way, hope you bring in Sabu for a bit.

[siah463]

Went back and watched through this era of ECW recently, there's a charm to it and a lot of different directions to take it from here which is dope.

[Hollywood]

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

[DarK_RaideR]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:35 AM, siah463 said:

Went back and watched through this era of ECW recently, there's a charm to it and a lot of different directions to take it from here which is dope.

Exactly this. Keeping tabs on the diary.

[Hollywood]

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

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

Pitbull Rex & Pitbull Spike vs. Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards
The Super Destroyers vs. Cry Baby Waldo & Salvatore Bellomo
“The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne vs. "The Hawaiian Hurricane" King Kaluha
Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body vs. JT Smith & Mr. Sandman
Jimmy Snuka vs. The Metal Maniac
Russian Chain Match: “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff vs. “The Hitman” Tony Stetson
“Mad Dog” DC Drake vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert

Edited July 3, 2023 by ColdBloodedSausageMaker

[Old School Fan]

Pitbull Rex & Pitbull Spike vs. Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards
The Super Destroyers vs. Cry Baby Waldo & Salvatore Bellomo
“The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne vs. "The Hawaiian Hurricane" King Kaluha
Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body vs. JT Smith & Mr. Sandman
Jimmy Snuka vs. The Metal Maniac
Russian Chain Match: “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff vs. “The Hitman” Tony Stetson
“Mad Dog” DC Drake vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert

 

[monrapi3]

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

[Bigelow Cartwheel]

Pitbull Rex & Pitbull Spike vs. Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards
The Super Destroyers vs. Cry Baby Waldo & Salvatore Bellomo
“The Madman from The Badlands” GlenOsbourne vs. "The Hawaiian Hurricane" King Kaluha
Larry Winters & Johnny Hot Body vs. JT Smith & Mr. Sandman
Jimmy Snuka vs. The Metal Maniac
Russian Chain Match: “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff vs. “The Hitman” Tony Stetson
“Mad Dog” DC Drake vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert

[Hollywood]

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

[dstephe4]

"Gilbert loses half his blood in Philly" is exactly the sort of headline I can get behind.

Is Sandman still wearing those American flag trousers at this stage?

Enjoying this diary. And looking forward to hopefully Snuka vs Don Muraco.

[Jaylan]

That Insane

[Old School Fan]

1 hour ago, dstephe4 said:

"Gilbert loses half his blood in Philly" is exactly the sort of headline I can get behind.

Is Sandman still wearing those American flag trousers at this stage?

Enjoying this diary. And looking forward to hopefully Snuka vs Don Muraco.

I think at this point, Sandman was still doing his early surfer gimmick.

[sonny912]

5 hours ago, Hollywood said:

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

Is Jimmy Jannetty related to Marty by any chance?

The ecw belt is either going to Snuka as in real life or Gilbert the new king of Philadelphia.

[Kirby]

Now this is the ECW I love to see! Really enjoying this so far.

Long Live The King!

[kanegan]

Great story so far, loving the new King of Philadelphia.