Legends of the Arena - 27 юни 2009

[nWoHulkster]

ECW Original Francine will be promoting "Legends of the Arena" on Saturday 6/27 at the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA. The event will feature an afternoon convention followed by a card that evening featuring roster members of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling.

The show is being put together with a portion of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. Francine lost both her father and sister to the disease last year as both passed away within four days of each other.

Currently scheduled to appear:

Raven

The Sandman

Sabu

Shane Douglas

Terry Funk

Rhino

Justin Credible

Al Snow

Balls Mahoney

Axl Rotten

Spike Dudley

2 Cold Scropio

Francine

Tammy Lynn Sytch

Tod Gordon

Bill Alfonso

Nova

The Blue Meanie

Little Guido

CW Anderson

Chris Hamrick

Tracy Smothers

Joel Gertner

Jaime Dundee

Crowbar

Scotty Riggs

Big Sal

Gary Wolfe

Jason Knight

Jack Victory

Angel

Tony DeVito

Judge Jeff Jones

Chastity

Referee John Finnegan

Bilvis Wesley

Legendary Musketeer

Referee John "Pee Wee" Moore

[nWoHulkster]

Обявени мачове:

Sabu (with Bill Alfonso) vs. The Sandman (with Tod Gordon) - special guest referee: Terry Funk

"The Franchise" Shane Douglas vs. Al Snow (with Head)

South Philly Street Fight: Raven vs. Justin Credible (with Jason & Chastity)

Rhino vs. Spike Dudley

The Chair Swingin' Freaks (Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten) vs. The Baldies (Angel & Tony DeVito)

Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido & Tracy Smothers, with Big Sal) vs. Blue World Order (The Blue Meanie & Super Nova)

CW Anderson (with Jack Victory) vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

Crowbar vs. Chris Hamrick

[nWoHulkster]

Legends of The Arena

Philadelphia, Pa. at The Arena (a/k/a ECW Arena)

In typical ECW fashion, the show did not start at the advertised bell time of 8:00 p.m. Rather it had a start time of 8:02. A quick video running down the history of ECW as well as the history of the ECW arena before the show fully kicks off. Bob Artese is out to start the show following the quick video, but was abruptly cut off by Joel "First it was Cyberslam, than House Party and November 2 Remember, tonight's latest induction is my legendary member" Gertner!" This brings us into our opening contest...

1. 2 Cold Scorpio defeated CW Anderson. The referee was John "PeeWee" Moore. 2 Cold over CW at 9:53 follwing a sommersaul leg drop from the top rope. A decent opener that saw Scorpio land a moonsault legdrop after the match finished. Crowd seemed pretty hot so far.

2. Bilvs Weasley over The Muskateer. The ref was John Finnegan. Bilvis over Muskateer at 5:12 with a school-boy. Bilvis had New Jack's music play to swerve the crowd and the Muskateer, and then rolled him up for a quick finish.

3. Chris Hamrick beat Crowbar. Finnegan was the referee. Hamrick won in 9:33 following an anaconda vice. Crowbar began the match by running down Taz, and putting over his WCW legacy, which the crowd shat all over. An okay match, but neither of these guys belonged on this show.

4. Rhino defeated Jamie Dundee and Scotty Anton. The ref was Finnegan. Rhino went over at 2:37 after goring Dundee. Prior to the match, Dundee got on the mic and ran down Rhino and Anton, calling Anton Bagwell's bitch and comparing Rhino to Jeff Jarrett's butler. Rhino took legit heat with this, and spent the whole match with a pissed off glare at Dundee. Rhino quickly hit a gore after Dundee and Anton tried some comedy spots. Rhino abruptly left ringside. Guess he did not want to be here tonight.

The Hardcore Hall of Fame induction followed. The usual HOF bit here, although it got semi interesting as Sandman began shooting on Raven, saying he was only here for the money, and he's in the back bitching about his percentage. This coerced Raven from his autograph table where he was sitting, and began throwing full cans of beer at Sandman. Raven stole the mic and said, "If you need me, I'll be at my table signing autographs," and left. Other than that, nothing else much happened.

5. Balls Mahone and Axl Rotten defeated Da Baldies in 8:33. Pee Wee reffed. The usual Balls/Axl blood bath/chair shots. Balls legit lost a tooth during the contest, and seemed legit upset, as he was seen chewing out a Baldie in the ring post-match.

Intermission...

6. The BWO (Blue Meanie and Nova) defeated The FBI. Finnegan was the ref. The BWO went over in 7:27. The match saw a dance off erupt mid way thru between Sal E and Blue Meanie before BWO took it home for the win. Post match, another dance off ensued as both teams said it's their last match at the arena.

Francine came out to cut her promo and said thanks for the support. It lasted around five minutes. She looked really really pregnant. She drew a raffle winner, and they got to announce the next match.

7. Al Snow beat Jerry Lynn (Subbing for Douglas) in 18:20. Slow paced match that began with a lot of takedowns and headlocks, and quickly built up pace, leading towards two ref bumps, two false finisher finishes, and an inevitable "Head" shot to end the match.

8. Sabu (w/Fonzie) and Sandman defeated Raven (w/Chastity) and Justin Credible (w/Jason) with Terry Funk as special referee. Sabu and Sandman with the win at 14:20. The finish saw Sabu hit Credible with the Arabian face buster through a table after both of Sandman's sons returned to The Arena to get a matter of revenge on Raven. Sandman's youngest son hit a DDT on Raven as Sabu covered Credible for the 1-2-3.

Notes: All in all, a few misses here and there, but also a few strong matches as well. The crowd was able to keep some of the ECW spirit through out the show. Unfortunatley, most of the wrestlers didn't have the same passion as the fans. As an Original ECW fan, it was entertaining to see it ONE MORE TIME, but I feel these reunion shows have really run their course, as there's not much they can do anymore to bring back the fire the original shows once had.

Legends of The Arena took place yesterday before crowds larger than most anticipated, for all the day's events the afternoon premium priced meet-and-greet, and the evening's show which had at least 600 in the building . Given that the event was a cancer fundraiser and charged a bit more, some were concerned about what the show would draw given the economy. The organizers of this event had nothing to worry about as the pre-show line (minus the SuperTicket fans, who were already in the building) extended down the block down past Forman Mills.

The event had a pre-show meet and greet. The talent and the fans clearly were having a blast; truth be told, the talent had just as much, if not more fun than the fans. During the meet-and-greet, Balls Mahoney acted like a little kid at Christmas. Everyone (big shock) gravitated over to Terry Funk all day long.

The only sour note of the day was Shane Douglas's no-show. I've gotta wonder what in the hell made Douglas no-show a cancer fundraiser. It could have been a medical problem. Maybe the local pharmacies were closed or he had an allergy to doing jobs. I hear Benadryl works wonders. As for the other two advertised that didn't work, Spike Dudley didn't work on the show, but was in the building. No idea on Jack Victory.

The evening show began with a quick video running down the history of ECW and the ECW Arena before the show fully kicks off. Bob Artese is out to start the show, then is cut as in days of old by by Joel "first it was Cyberslam, than House Party and November 2 Remember, tonight' latest induction is my legendary member" Gertner!

# 2 Cold Scorpio over CW Anderson (with Referee John "PeeWee" Moore) at about 10 minutes with his somersault leg drop from the top rope. Decent opener that saw Scorpio land a moonsault legdrop after the match finished. Crowd was really juiced at this stage.

# Bilvis Wesley defeats The Muskateer (with Referee John Finnegan) by pinfall at five minutes with a school-boy. Bilvis teased New Jack's music playing to swerve the crowd and the Muskateer, and rolled him up for a quick finish.

# Chris Hamrick defeated Devon "Crowbar" Storm (with Referee John Finnegan) with an anaconda vice. Crowbar began the match by running down Taz (the two have legit heat, plus he cracked on Taza for not coming to a cancer fundraiser, then heeling himself out by putting over his WCW titles.

# Rhino defeated Jamie. Dundee vs. Scotty "Riggs" Anton (with Referee John Finnegan) after goring Jamie Dundee. There was a lot more mike work than match here, as Dundee got on the mic and ran down both Rhino and Anton, referring to Anton as Bagwell's bitch and suggesting Rhino carrried Jeff Jarrett's bags. Rhino didn't seem to care for this promo, and kept giving Dundee dirty looks all during the brief match. Rhino quickly nailed a gore after Dundee and Anton try some comedy spots, and Rhino abruptly leaves ringside.

The Hardcore Hall of Fame induction follows... with Eddie "Hot Stuff" Gilbert and Chris Candido as memorial inductions; with Tod Gordon and Sabu inducted. The Shane Douglas induction was pulled for obvious reasons. No idea on why the Bigelow induction was. It was mentioned that both ECW and all that's followed in the Arena was because of people like Terry Funk (inducted two years ago), Eddie Gilbert and Tod Gordon...not to mention this guy named Heyman.

# Balls Mahoney/Axl Rotten defeated Da Baldiez vs (with Referee John "PeeWee" Moore) in about nine minutes in the typical Axl/Balls blood bath/chair shot formula. Balls Mahoney legit lost a tooth (he was holding it in his hand after the match)

# Following intermission, Nova and Meanie [as the bWo] defeated Sal E. Graziano and Little Guido Maritato [as the FBI] by pinfall (with Referee John Finnegan) in about 8 minutes. A lot of comedy as you'd expect, with a hilarious dance off erupting midway in the match with Sal E. and Blue Meanie, before Nova and Meanie took it home for the win. Another dance-off post match, with both teams said it's their last match at the arena.

Francine then came out to cut her promo and thanking the crowd for their support. Francine is VERY, VERY pregnant. The usual wits in the audience suggested she's give birth in the ring anto a "She's hardcore" chant. Since that didn't happen, Francine talked about her sister and father who'd died of cancer, and her one sister (sitting in the balcony with the other family members) who beat cancer. The SISTER got the "she's hardcore" chant instead.

# In the semi-main event, Al Snow defeated Jerry Lynn (subbing for the no-show Douglas) in eighteen minutes. The match began slowly, tyhen picked up well. It was the ECW Arena, and they actuallly GASP wrestled. The finish saw two ref bumps, two false finishes, and the expected "Head" shot to end the match. Guess Shane Douglas doesn't like getting Head.

# Main Event

Sabu (with Bill Alfonso) and Sandman defeated Raven (with Chastity) and Justin Credible (with Jason); and Terry Funk as special referee

Sabu and Sandman with the win at about 15 minutes when Sabu hit Credible with the Arabian face buster through a table after both of Sandman's sons (the fact that Tyler Fullington, the "little kid" in the Raven-Sandman storyline is now grown and teller than his father made a lot of people feel REALLY old). Storyline was that Tyler returned to the Arena to get a matter of revenge on Raven. Then, Sandman's youngest son hit a DDT on Raven as Sabu covered Credible for the pinfall.

At the very end of the show, Justin Credible finally let his inner heel down long enough to say in a surprisngly heartfelt way to the crowd "Thank you for giving me the best four years of my life".