Wrestlers You Didn’t Know Wrestled in ECW
Before they were ever called ‘extreme,’ ECW was Eastern Championship Wrestling, and aligned with the NWA. It was little different to most other independent promotions in the 1990s, showcasing a range of local talent, with a few big names thrown in. ECW founder Tod Gordon had learned his lessons well; prior to starting ECW, he had been a silent partner of Joel Goodhart’s Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. While the TWA drew good crowds, their talent expenditure was overwhelming. In starting his own promotion, Gordon was much more conservative. It is during this more obscure period of ECW that we stumble upon a host of names that made appearances for the company.
Being based in the Northeast, ECW brought in names who – while in the twilight of their careers – had been household names for the WWWF. One of those was ‘The Russian Bear’ Ivan Koloff, who appeared on the very first ECW show on February 25, 1992. It was on this debut event that Ivan – the man who ended the reign of the great Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Title – was pinned by local wrestler Tony Stetson. It was also the first example of a veteran (voluntarily according to Gordon) putting over an unheralded talent in the company. Later, ‘Uncle’ Ivan introduced his ‘nephew,’ Vladimir.
Don Muraco and Jimmy Snuka were bitter rivals in the WWF, and took their feud to ECW. Snuka won a battle royal in his debut (April 25, 1992), and then beat the man he eliminated (Sal Bellomo) to become the first ECW Heavyweight champion. He dropped it a day later to Johnny Hotbody, but got his win back on July 14, before dropping the belt to the hated Muraco on September 30. After losing the rematch to Muraco, Snuka turned heel, first managed by Hunter Q. Robbins III, and then joined Eddie Gilbert’s Hot Stuff International.
Remarkably, it was with Gilbert’s faction that Snuka aligned with Muraco. ‘The Magnificent One’ went on to lose to Mr. Sandman (yes, that Sandman) in November, but defeated him after help from Paul E. Dangerously. His reign ended on April 3, 1993, when he lost to Tito Santana. Yet another big attraction in the Northeast, Santana did not stick around very long. The record books show that Santana lost the Heavyweight title by forfeit to Shane Douglas, however, Santana claimed he was simply never asked to come back.
Meanwhile, Snuka did hang around for some time. ‘The Superfly’ captured the vacant ECW Television Title after winning an eight-man tournament, until losing to Terry Funk in a cage at NWA Bloodfest 1993 in the very early days of Heyman as booker (Heyman’s debut as ECW booker – Ultra Clash – was the previous month). Tommy Dreamer and Taz benefited by being put over by Snuka; while Dreamer would go on to be defeated, much was made of the fact that Dreamer kicked out of the Superfly splash. Snuka also handed his boots to Taz – then known as The Tazmaniac – in what was seen as a ‘passing of the torch’ moment.
Other notable names to appear in the formative days were Road Warrior Hawk, Stan Hansen (making a very rare appearance in the United States), Nikolai Volkoff, Jim Neidhart and The British Bulldog. Bulldog appeared on a card co-promoted by ECW and Dennis Coralluzzo’s NWA New Jersey (Battle of the Belts 93), the same show that featured a masked Kerry Von Erich, who defeated Sal Bellomo (sadly, this also marked Kerry’s final wrestling appearance before tragically taking his life).
While much is known and written about ECW’s relationship with the WWF (Co-Operation in the Wrestling Business), the company actually worked with WCW first. ECW helped promote WCW’s Slamboree 1994 pay-per-view in Philadelphia, and in turn, Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton were released to appear on When World’s Collide on May 14, 1994. In the main event, Eaton teamed with Sabu against Anderson and Terry Funk, which Eaton and Sabu won when Anderson turned on Funk.
When WCW co-promoted a lucha show featuring wrestlers from AAA and IWC and called it ‘When World’s Collide’ (November 6, 1994), ECW sued. As part of the settlement, WCW sent Sherri Martel, Kevin Sullivan and Brian Pillman (subbing for an injured Steve Austin). Sherri had appeared in ECW previously after her release from the WWF in the summer of 1993, managing Shane Douglas.
Sullivan had also come to ECW in 1993, along with his then-wife, Woman. He was paired with The Tazmaniac; in their first match as a team, they won the ECW Tag Team titles. Sullivan was slated against Abdullah the Butcher at the aforementioned ECW When World’s Collide, when Woman turned her back on him, and Sullivan returned to WCW.
Pillman worked a one-off tag match, teaming with Douglas (with Sherri as their manager) against Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio, however, it would not be the last time Pillman would appear in the company. Simmons – the former WCW World champion – worked for ECW in 1994-95, challenging Douglas unsuccessfully for the ECW Heavyweight title.
In early 1995, during one of his frequent absences from the WWF, Marty Jannetty turned up and challenged both Heavyweight champion Douglas, and Television champion Eddy Guerrero respectively, losing on those occasions. The former Rocker was set for a match with Sabu, but it never materialised as he made yet another return to the WWF. Around this time period, former Horseman Tully Blanchard made some appearances, also unable to wrest the Heavyweight title from Douglas.
While Jake Roberts made two appearances on ECW pay-per-view that most fans probably know about (Hardcore Heaven 1997 and November to Remember 1998), Roberts actually stopped into ECW back in 1993 after leaving WCW. After Hardcore Heaven 97, he also worked a six-man tag match, where he teamed with The Headhunters against FMW’s Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki and Masato Tanaka.
ECW fans made their voices heard at the WWF’s King of the Ring 1995 pay-per-view, which was held in the heart of extreme territory – Philadelphia. After the tournament had been won by Bret Hart in 1993 and then Owen Hart the next year, Mabel was an unpopular choice to take the gong, and the Philly fans let him know about it. Regardless, Mabel turned up at ECW’s November to Remember 1997 as a one-night member of the Full Blooded Italians. In a short, impromptu bout, he was pinned by Spike Dudley.
Another unlikely act in ECW were Luke and Butch, The Bushwhackers. In a previous life, the New Zealanders were The Sheepherders, an extremely violent team that would not have looked out of place if ECW had been around in the 1980s. They did not revert to the olden days though, and were cast as ‘cousins’ of The Dudley Boys for a couple of appearances in 1998.
In the WWF, there was the renowned Kliq, not a faction that you saw on television, but behind-the-scenes. Scott Hall was one of the members of this power group, that was often blamed for political maneuverings that got wrestlers demoted or released. Three of those came together in ECW as the second version of The Triple Threat – Shane Douglas, Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow. In what had to be an awkward occurrence, Hall came in and worked two matches at a house show in Poughkeepsie, New York in autumn 2000. He was pinned by the massive Sal E. Graziano, and then beat Justin Credible (a friend of The Kliq from his WWF days) in the main event. While unlikely to spend a lot of time in ECW, with the Triple Threat now ruling the roast, Hall made no further appearances for the company.
