1. Lesbian Kiss
The in-ring kiss between Beulah McGillicutty and Kimona Wanalaya took place while lesbianism was still taboo. Once the kiss aired, ECW lost several affiliates and lost their timeslot in other areas. This event almost forced ECW to close their doors five years too early. Since 1996, several events have taken place to make lesbianism on TV not a taboo topic. Since this event, the WWE has run several lesbian angles.
2. Mass Transit Incident
When Axl Rotten no showed a match, a rookie named Eric “Mass Transit” Kulas took his place. Unfortunately, he was underage and did not know how to cut himself. He allowed New Jack to cut him which turned out to be a very bad idea. Because his skin was not cut before, New Jack had to cut him extra hard with his machete type weapon and the wound became a gusher. When footage of this event got out, ECW lost their spot on PPV. It took a fans write in campaign to get ECW back onto PPV.
3. Shane tosses the NWA title
This was the event that made ECW extreme. Shane won a tournament to win the NWA title. The reason it was held in ECW was because they were the NWA affiliate with the best TV coverage. After winning the belt, Shane declared that he didn’t want to be champion of a company that died several years earlier and declared himself the first ECW World Champion. Except for Paul Heyman and Todd Gordon, no other representatives of the NWA had any idea that Shane was going to humiliate them.
4. A WWF wrestler beats a WCW wrestlers to win the ECW title
Mike Awesome was the ECW champion when he signed with WCW. After a lot of legal wrangling, it was decided that he would lose a match so ECW could get the title back. ECW chose for Tazz to take the belt off of Awesome. At the time, Tazz was in the WWF and Vince McMahon loved the idea of one of his wrestlers beating a WCW wrestler. He also loved the idea of Tazz then losing a match to Triple H on SmackDown! while still holding the ECW title.
5. Chair Tossing
One of the most famous events in the history of ECW was the chair tossing incident. After a match between Terry Funk and Cactus Jack in 1995, The Public Enemy interfered and battled both men. At one point, Funk asked a fan for a chair while in the ring. Instead of one chair, several dozen came flying in the ring and buried The Public Enemy. This moment is etched into every ECW fans memory because it has been replayed hundreds of times in the opening credits of ECW’s TV shows.
6. Fan Set on Fire
During a match between Tommy Dreamer and Cactus Jack, both Raven and Terry Funk interfered. Cactus tried to hit Terry with a chair that had a burning towel on it. The towel came off and burned Funk who then let the towel get into the audience. Security shot off fire extinguishers as the arena lights were shut off for an angle involving Dreamer and Raven. As you can guess, pandemonium erupted in the arena. Mick Foley discusses the incident and fans lawsuits in his first two books.
7. Ring Collapsing
In the early era of ECW, the fans were a big part of the show. They used to bring weapons to the arena for their favorite wrestlers to use on their opponent. As a way of thanking the fans for their support, The Public Enemy invited them into the ring to celebrate after a match. Too many fans entered the ring and it collapsed. Fortunately, no one was injured.
8. Spike Dudley Body Surf
During a match against Bam Bam Bigelow, Spike Dudley was pressed over Bam Bam’s head. Bam Bam then threw Spike several rows into the crowd. Instead of letting their hero fall, the fans caught Spike in mid-air. While in the fans grasp, Spike was bodysurfing throughout the crowd.
9. The Crucifixion
During the feud between Raven and The Sandman over The Sandman’s son, Raven instructed his flock to crucify The Sandman. The crowd went silent and Kurt Angle, making his debut in ECW, threatened to sue the company if he was shown as being a part of this. Raven then came out to apologize to the crowd. This is the only time a wrestler was forced to apologize for his actions in ECW. Footage of this event was not seen until several years after the demise of ECW.
10. Sandman Drunk & Mooning Incident
The Sandman loves his alcohol and usually drinks several on his way to the ring. Prior to an 8 man tag team match in Florida in 2000, The Sandman showed the crowd a little more than they wanted to see. After mooning the crowd a few times, he proceeded to take his pants down exposing his “other Singapore cane” to the crowd. He then proceeded to jump up and down in only his shirt while Tommy Dreamer tried to put his underwear back on.