ECW: The Complete History

[Old School Fan]

7 hours ago, sonny912 said:

Is Jimmy Jannetty related to Marty by any chance?

From what I saw at WrestlingData.com, nope.

[Hollywood]

14 hours 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.

This is still Mr. Sandman in his surfer gimmick.

11 hours ago, sonny912 said:

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.

Jimmy and Marty are not related.

[dstephe4]

Also, this image reminded me a LOT of a bloodied Steve Corino.

Maybe this was a case of history repeating itself.

Edited July 4, 2023 by dstephe4

[Hollywood]

33 minutes ago, dstephe4 said:

Also, this image reminded me a LOT of a bloodied Steve Corino.

Maybe this was a case of history repeating itself.

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

[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!

[dstephe4]

Sandman

DC Drake

Eddie Gilbert

Don Muraco

[Kirby]

Mr. Sandman vs. Larry Winters - Should be an easy win over The Doghouse lacky.

DC Drake vs. Tony Stetson - The clock is about to strike midnight on this Cinderella story from Stetson.

Eddie Gilbert vs. Glen Osbourne - I feel like Osbourne's cheating ways are going to catch up with him this time. Gilbert should have it scouted and The King's crusade for the ECW crown should continue.

Jimmy Snuka vs. Don Muraco - I think Muraco is a red herring, Snuka has this in the bag.

(I'm assuming the tournament will continue in post order, if not ignore these delusional ramblings)

Mr. Sandman vs. DC Drake - I love Sandman as much as the next guy, but this beach bum doesn't stand a chance against The Mad Dog.

Eddie Gilbert vs. Jimmy Snuka - I think this will be a good long contest and both men will give it their all, but father time will remain undefeated. Gilbert will take the torch from Snuka and go on the finals.

Eddie Gilbert vs. DC Drake - The King's coronation will have to wait as despite his best efforts, Drake (likely with the help of The Doghouse) will win and become the first ever ECW Heavyweight Champion.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Kirby

[Lord Byron]

My picks:  Mr. Sandman, DC Drake, Eddie Gilbert, and Jimmy Snuka...

[Old School Fan]

5 hours ago, Kirby said:

Mr. Sandman vs. Larry Winters - Should be an easy win over The Doghouse lacky.

DC Drake vs. Tony Stetson - The clock is about to strike midnight on this Cinderella story from Stetson.

Eddie Gilbert vs. Glen Osbourne - I feel like Osbourne's cheating ways are going to catch up with him this time. Gilbert should have it scouted and The King's crusade for the ECW crown should continue.

Jimmy Snuka vs. Don Muraco - I think Muraco is a red herring, Snuka has this in the bag.

(I'm assuming the tournament will continue in post order, if not ignore these delusional ramblings)

Mr. Sandman vs. DC Drake - I love Sandman as much as the next guy, but this beach bum doesn't stand a chance against The Mad Dog.

Eddie Gilbert vs. Jimmy Snuka - I think this will be a good long contest and both men will give it their all, but father time will remain undefeated. Gilbert will take the torch from Snuka and go on the finals.

Eddie Gilbert vs. DC Drake - The King's coronation will have to wait as despite his best efforts, Drake (likely with the help of The Doghouse) will win and become the first ever ECW Heavyweight Champion.

The way I see it, from the time I first heard about him and saw him, DC Drake came across to me like a late-'80s/early-'90s version of Buddy Colt ring style-wise, as both were vicious brawlers in the ring (I know this from an article I read in one of the Apter mags in the early-'90s, written by one of its writers in the persona of the fictitious Matt Brock, that reminisced in detail about an early-'70s match between Colt, then the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion, and Eddie Graham that saw Colt, acting much the same way Drake later did, savage Graham (who ended up winning when Colt was disqualified).  Reading that article, I could've replaced Colt with Drake in that Graham match and the action described would've been little different.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Old School Fan
Minor spelling

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

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!

 

Quarterfinals

Larry Winters vs. Mr. Sandman

D.C. Drake vs. Tony Stetson

Eddie Gilbert vs. Glen Osbourne

Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka

Semifinals

D.C. Drake vs. Mr. Sandman

Jimmy Snuka vs. Eddie Gilbert

Finals

D.C. Drake vs. Jimmy Snuka

[Hollywood]

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly

 

Eastern Championship Wrestling
May 25, 1992
ECW Arena (625)

ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on May 25 from the ECW Arena Viking Hall in Philadelphia. The group ran a one-night tournament to crown their first Heavyweight champion. Scott Williams filed the following report…

1) Mr. Sandman beat Larry Winters in eight minutes to advance in the tournament. A hot blonde named Miss Peaches is now working as Sandman’s manager.

2) DC Drake defeated “The Hitman” Tony Stetson in roughly nine minutes to advance in the title tournament. Drake beat the tar out of Stetson and they brawled around the ECW Arena.

3) “The King of Philadelphia” Eddie Gilbert beat “The Madman from The Badlands” Glen Osbourne in seven minutes to advance. Osbourne smacked Gilbert in the head with a metal cross but Gilbert’s high wrestling IQ meant he fell out of the ring to not get pinned. Gilbert was busted open and managed to come back to win the match.

4) Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco fought for twelve minutes before things descended into chaos after the beautiful Tigra got involved. She handed “The Rock” a chair and he dented it over Snuka’s head a few times. The brawl continued after the match with both legends throwing hands all the way to the back. Promoter Tod Gordon noted that both men were eliminated from the tournament because of the ending of the match, so Mr. Sandman got a bye to the finals.

5) The Super Destroyers beat Don E. Allen and Jimmy Jannetty in about four minutes. With Hunter Q. Robbins III at ringside, the Destroyers dominated the match like they usually do.

6) JT Smith rolled up Johnny Hot Body in just over four minutes. Hot Body cut a promo before the match and was irate that he wasn’t involved in the big tournament so he was issuing an open challenge to anybody in the back. Smith answered and outsmarted Hot Body by rolling him up quickly for the win.

7) In a return match from last month, Eddie Gilbert once again beat DC Drake in ten minutes to advance to the finals. Much like the insane bloodbath last month, Gilbert’s head wound was opened back up and he bled all over the ECW Arena again. Drake targeted Gilbert’s arm and tried to break it with a chair but Gilbert somehow fought back to win. Tod Gordon tried to talk Gilbert out of continuing because of the probably broken arm but “The King” refused.

8.) The Pitbulls beat Max Thrasher and The Canadian Wolfman in eight minutes. Just like the Super Destroyers did earlier, The Pitbulls dominated their opponents for the easy win. The Canadian Wolfman is one of the worst wrestlers I have ever seen enter a ring.

9) Mr. Sandman beat Eddie Gilbert in nine minutes to become the first ECW Heavyweight champion after a bloody brawl. Gilbert fought one handed because of his injured arm. Miss Peaches was still at ringside and cheered on Sandman. In an act of desperation, Mr. Sandman hit a super hurricanrana for the win!

After the match, Tod Gordon came out once again to present the ECW Heavyweight title belt to Mr. Sandman with Miss Peaches at his side. The ECW will be back at the ECW Arena next month with Mr. Sandman’s first title defense. Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco will also be in action!

Miss Peaches, Mr. Sandman, and Tod Gordon

Edited July 10, 2023 by Hollywood

[sonny912]

On 7/4/2023 at 11:08 PM, Old School Fan said:

The way I see it, from the time I first heard about him and saw him, DC Drake came across to me like a late-'80s/early-'90s version of Buddy Colt ring style-wise, as both were vicious brawlers in the ring (I know this from an article I read in one of the Apter mags in the early-'90s, written by one of its writers in the persona of the fictitious Matt Brock, that reminisced in detail about an early-'70s match between Colt, then the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion, and Eddie Graham that saw Colt, acting much the same way Drake later did, savage Graham (who ended up winning when Colt was disqualified).  Reading that article, I could've replaced Colt with Drake in that Graham match and the action described would've been little different.

Who's buddy colt?

[Old School Fan]

5 hours ago, sonny912 said:

Who's buddy colt?

Wikipedia article on Buddy Colt

[DarK_RaideR]

On 7/10/2023 at 3:08 AM, Hollywood said:

Mr. Sandman hit a super hurricanrana

Now that makes for an interesting mental image!

[Hollywood]

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly

 

Eastern Championship Wrestling
June 25, 1992
ECW Arena (630)

ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on June 25 from the ECW Arena Viking Hall in Philadelphia. Tony Sirico filed the following report…

The show started with a big shock when “The King of Philadelphia” Eddie Gilbert came to the ring with his arm in a sling and a concerned look on his face. Despite his best efforts last month, Gilbert said he fell short of winning the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight title and tore several parts of his arm in the process. The injuries are career threatening and he regrets going to see a doctor because he’s being forced to retire…

But his retirement party was cut short when “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff rushed the ring with a chain around his neck and beat down “The King”. He left Gilbert lying in a pool of blood as promoter Tod Gordon tried to get the referees and security to restore order. Gilbert was helped to the back by a ringside doctor in what was seemingly his last appearance in the ECW Arena.

1) The Super Destroyers beat Cry Baby Waldo & The Canadian Wolfman in six minutes. With Hunter Q. Robbins III by their side, The Super D’s destroyed their opponents yet again in the Viking Hall.

2) Not to be outshined, The Pitbulls dominated and beat Jimmy Jannetty & Stevie Richards in five minutes with an aided superbomb… despite getting the job done in quicker fashion, The Pitbulls were beat down after the match by The Super Destroyers. Hunter Q. Robbins III signaled that his team of monsters want Tag Team championship gold.

3) “The Madman from the Badlands” Glen Osbourne beat Herve Renesto in four minutes. Osbourne hit Renesto with a metal cross for the win.

4) Johnny Hot Body defeated Max Thrasher in seven minutes.

5) DC Drake & Larry Winters beat JT Smith & Tony Stetson in just under ten minutes when Winters pinned Stetson. The little feud between the old Tri-State Wrestling Alliance guys continues. It looks like DC Drake might be working with some old injuries.

6) “The Rock” Don Muraco demolished Don E. Allen in four minutes. The legend, with Tigra by his side, prevailed in this one-sided ass-kicking.

7) Like they’ve been doing on all loops, Jimmy Snuka beat The Metal Maniac in seven minutes with a gnarly Piledriver. After the match, Don Muraco rushed the ring and started yelling at Snuka about their match last month in the title tournament. Tigra caused a distraction that allowed Muraco to pearl harbor Snuka and the fight was on! ECW promoter Tod Gordon got the fighting to stop when he made a match official for next month: Jimmy Snuka & The Metal Maniac versus Don Muraco & Don E. Allen!

8.) Mr. Sandman beat King Kaluha in nine minutes to retain the ECW Heavyweight title. With the beautiful Miss Peaches by his side, Mr. Sandman makes his first defense of the top prize in Eastern. After the match, the surfin’ duo cut a basic promo promising to stay as champion in the ECW…

But that was interrupted by a bandaged-up and still bloody Eddie Gilbert storming the ring holding his own chain. Gilbert wanted a fight and said that Tod Gordon made a match official for next month in the ECW Arena: Eddie Gilbert versus Ivan Koloff in a Russian Chain Career vs. Career match! Gilbert continued to yell for “Koloff” to come out and face him like a man. “The Russian Bear” started to walk to the ring, yelling the whole time, but Nikita Koloff jumped the guardrail and blindsided Gilbert!

Making his return to wrestling following a brief hiatus, Nikita joined forces with Ivan once again as the two-on-one attack left Eddie down and out in the middle of the ring just one month before the big Career vs. Career Russian Chain match!

Nikita Koloff

[619]

This is a blast. I love that you're staying true to the feel of early ECW rather than bringing in lots of future stars ahead of their time. Where you have reworked it, it's an upgrade, like how Sandman with Peaches retrospectively feels like the perfect first champion, or The Pitbulls teaming on arrival. I love how the violence feels organic and natural, a lot of it flowing from that initial six-man feud, rather than forced and gimmicky. And I love the results format: it looks great and is an ideal length for early ECW, where there's no real need for hold-by-hold breakdowns. I also like the era immersion like Tod Gordon promoting on his radio show. The best is yet to come in seeing in which ways you follow the true trajectory and where you diverge.

I wrote the above before reading the latest show and what an angle to close on and great swerve. It speaks to another thing that works really well: there not being many angles feels both true to the era and means that they're really impactful when they do happen, which is definitely the case with the Gilbert ones to start and close this show. Congratulations on completing the first half-year.

[Larrikn]

Love Eddie Gilbert as a territory ace. 

[kanegan]

You are really portraying Gilbert as a true ace here. Sandman as a first champion looks like a great choice.

[dstephe4]

Making his return to wrestling following a brief hiatus, Nikita joined forces with Ivan once again as the two-on-one attack left Eddie down and out in the middle of the ring just one month before the big Career vs. Career Russian Chain match!

 

---

 

As the writer of the second most regularly updated Russian diary, I can vouch for the quality of those chains. Eddie had better watch out!

Really liking this dynasty. The 1992 aspect makes it really interesting.

 

[Hollywood]

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly

 

Eastern Championship Wrestling
July 14, 1992
ECW Arena (651)

ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on June 14 from the ECW Arena Viking Hall in Philadelphia. Doc Santoro filed the following report…

1) Mr. Sandman beat Stevie Richards in about six minutes to retain the ECW Heavyweight title. Miss Peaches was at ringside cheering on her champion.

2) Salvatore Bellomo defeated The Canadian Wolfman in four minutes in an awful match that went too long.

3) “The Madman from the Badlands” Glen Osbourne beat Jimmy Jannetty in just under five minutes. Osbourne hit Jannetty with a metal cross and then a chokeslam for the win.

4) The Super Destroyers beat The Pitbulls in around nine minutes to become the first ECW Tag Team Champions. The match was hard-hitting and decent and the Super Destroyers got the win after a distraction from Hunter Q. Robbins III.

5) Johnny Hot Body, Larry Winters and DC Drake defeated JT Smith, Tony Stetson and Max Thrasher in nine minutes. This TWA hold-over feud is losing a bit of steam and things looked back when DC Drake collapsed and held his knee in the corner of the ring while the rest of the wrestlers finished the match. Drake was helped to the back by the other members of The Doghouse.

6) Don Muraco & Don E. Allen beat Jimmy Snuka & The Metal Maniac in thirteen minutes. Muraco hit the Muraco Hammer on Maniac for the win. The match was fine when Snuka and Muraco were wrestling each other, the other two guys were pretty bad.

Tensions boiled over after the match when Snuka and Muraco would not stop attacking each other. Promoter Tod Gordon came out with a whole army of security and demanded they settle things right here in the ECW Arena in the only way they know how: inside a Steel Cage! He booked the match for next month’s show!

7) In a brutal and bloody affair, “The King of Philadelphia” Eddie Gilbert beat “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff in a Career vs. Career Russian Chain match in fifteen minutes. Gilbert looked tremendous and took one hell of an ass-kicking from Koloff but came back to win the match. After the match, both men were bloody messes but shook hands as a sign of mutual respect.

Gilbert gave Koloff the floor to give a goodbye message to the Philadelphia fans. He mentioned that he loved wrestling in the area and he respected the fans even if they didn’t like him. He went over some career highlights like being the guy to pin Bruno Sammartino in the Garden. This was a total break of character and it seems like he is really done wrestling…

But before he could finish his speech, Nikita Koloff jumped into the ring and laid out his uncle! Nikita ripped off his shirt and wiped Ivan’s blood on his chest! Promoter Tod Gordon looked distraught but in true promoter fashion let everyone know that Nikita’s first match in Eastern will happen next month!

"The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff

[619]

It feels like everyone came out of that main event better off: Gilbert gets the big win, Ivan goes out on his back but with the crowd behind him and Nikita replaces him as an instant supervillain. I like going true to life with Super Destroyers as first tag champions too: it gives The Pitbulls something to work towards, while I enjoyed Hunter Q during my early ECW watch-through.

[Stennick]

I'm really loving the Gilbert stuff keep this up!

[dstephe4]

On 7/13/2023 at 3:43 PM, DarK_RaideR said:

Now that makes for an interesting mental image!

Yeah, I remember him doing that move - the Heinekenrama!

[Hollywood]

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly

 

 

Eastern Championship Wrestling
August 22, 1992
ECW Arena (639)

ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling) promoted an event on August 22 from the ECW Arena Viking Hall in Philadelphia. Dickie Moltisanti filed the following report…

1) Jerry Lynn beat The Lightning Kid in around ten minutes. Real independent wrestling fans know this has been a traveling circus match of sorts, where they come and do the same match in different territories and promotions. This was fantastic with good wrestling and the crowd reacted accordingly.

2) The Super Destroyers defeated Tony Stetson & JT Smith in just under six minutes to retain the ECW Tag Team titles. The old Tri-State guys tried their best but Hunter Q. Robbins III’s goons overpowered them for the win.

3) The Doghouse (DC Drake, Larry Winters, Johnny Hot Body) beat Cry Baby Waldo, King Kaluha, Tommy Cairo in nine minutes. Winters beat Cry Baby Waldo, who was hated by the rowdy Philadelphia crowd.

4) “The King of Philadelphia” Eddie Gilbert beat “The Madman from the Badlands” Glen Osbourne in ten minutes after reversing a metal cross attack. Gilbert’s experience gave him an edge over the angry Osbourne.

Chaos ensued as usual following Gilbert’s match when the Dark Patriot ran down to the ring to put the boots to “The King”. Promoter Tod Gordon made his first appearance of the night to get the ringside officials to break up the fight. Gilbert fought back but no one came out of the brawl as a winner.

5) Mr. Sandman defeated The Metal Maniac in seven minutes to retain the ECW Heavyweight title. Miss Peaches celebrated with her man after the match.

6) "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff made his Eastern debut and beat Stevie Richards in six minutes with the Russian Sickle. Koloff dominated for most of the match and looked like a beast against the local young guy. After the match, Koloff said he was in Philadelphia for one reason: to beat the sh~t out of Eddie Gilbert! Tod Gordon grants him his wish and the match is official for next month here in the ECW Arena Viking Hall.

7) Jimmy Snuka beat Don Muraco in fourteen minutes in a Steel Cage match. The match itself was nothing special but things were wild in the post-match. After pinning Muraco in the ring, Snuka set his eyes on Muraco’s manager Tigra. The crazy-eyed Snuka grabbed her by the hair and refused to let go despite her pleas. Snuka gave her a sickening Piledriver to take her out… and then climbed to the top of the cage to recreate history by splashing “The Rock” from the top! Snuka is a man possessed.

The Lightning Kid

[619]

Really nice homage to the era to bring in the Lynn-Waltman match. It feels like the cards are really starting to fill out while still making room for the early ECW staples like Tony Stetson, JT Smith and Tommy Cairo. Being able to use Gilbert in the midcard but with two big main events seemingly on the horizon for him, and likewise having Sandman and Koloff in action too but with something hot in reserve to close the show highlights the surprising depth. The Snuka-Tigra spot was discomforting given some of the allegations around him, but unquestionably authentic to ECW.