Tommy dreamer

Tommy Dreamer’s “House of Hardcore” review

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Last weekend one of my friends attended the House of Hardcore show and I asked if he can bring home some footage, when I saw the footage from the show and based on what my 2 friends told me more about,I quickly decided to do a review on the show.

My biggest concern about this show is that it was going to be another attempt to make money off of ECW’s legacy, and aside from Stephen DeAngelis being ring announcer and a few of the same stars this was NOTHING like ECW!

The opening match was Crowbar (Devon Storm) vs. Shawn Daivari.

This match was a really strong opening match and both guys worked very hard to please the crowd and oh, did they ever.

It was a back and fourth match that went outside the ring. Crowbar was impressive in this match and has made a bigger impact this year than he did his entire run in WCW thanks to his matches here and earlier in the year in Extreme Rising

Daivari took the victory in this one after landing a tornado DDT and following it with a top rope splash. The crowd really enjoyed the match and the efforts.

This match gets an 8 out of 10 in my opinion which is fantastic for an opening match. I hope Devon Storm keeps improving and that Daivari continues to impress.

The next match was FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) vs Roadkill and Danny Doring.

The FBI had Big Sal E. Graziano as a corner man while Roadkill and Doring had some other Amish man as a corner man. It has been reported since that Smith James was the other Amish man but I cannot confirm this.

This match was pretty much what you would expect from these two teams and was just very good wrestling. Roadkill looked excellent seeing to how he has not wrestled a match since he left WWE/OVW in January of 2008.

When I watched this match it really felt like I was watching two teams of guys in their twenties or thirties. Everyone was so extremely impressive and it was a nice bit if nostalgia for old ECW fans as well.

The match was won by Danny Doring and RoadkIll when they hit their old ECW finisher on Mamaluke.

This match also gets an 8 out of 10 but I almost felt it needed more because of the classy moment that followed.

After the match Roadkill got a mic and asked all of the FBI to return to the ring. Roadkill said he respected all the work they did together in ECW as well as respecting The FBI themselves. This, of course, led to an “ECW” chant.

Roadkill then said that ECW was a thing of the past and HOH is going to be the future. He thanked everyone and then gave the mic to Danny Doring.

Doring said that it doesn’t matter where they are at, of if you chant ECW, HOH, or something else the fact is there would be no Doring/Roadkill team without The FBI. It was a top notch promo and a very classy moment.

Jazz vs Winter is up next.

This match was an OK match but really had a lot to follow after the first two matches and I really think this match should have opened the card to really get people into it.

Winter and Jazz both worked her and did the best they could with the time they were given. I am a huge fan of both ladies but this just felt out of place.

Good technical moves during this match including chops, sharpshooters, and more. The crowd seemed to enjoy the match just fine but not like the first two.

The match ended when Jazz reversed a slam into a Michinoku driver. I would give this match a 6 out of 10 despite efforts from both ladies.

Alex Reynolds vs Tony Nese with Mikey Whipwreck as special referee.

This was a fantastic match with a lot of back and fourth maneuvers. Lots of reverses and Nese landed a very impressive move off the top rope which resulted in “HOH” and “This is awesome. Chants.

Nese missed a 450 splash which resulted in Reynolds landing a forearm and a ‘lungblower’ but it was another two count. Reynolds had begin to grow frustrated with the two counts and eventually had words with Mikey Whipwreck

This match ended when Reynolds received a whippersnapper by Mikey and then a 450 splash by Nese. A lot of “This is awesome” chants and they were well deserved

This match gets a 9.5. This truly was an excellent match. I wish more matches would have had unestablished stars like this one.

Scott Steiner vs. Luke Gallows

Scott Steiner comes out next and cuts a promo about how Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were pus$*es and when he told the truth about it he ended up in a lawsuit. He thanked all his followers for following him on twitter.

Luke Gallows and Eddie Kingston came out and Gallows and Steiner begin brawling. They battled outside the ring and Gallows took a chair shot to the head.

Later Steiner took a chair shot and Rick Steiner came to check on him. After Steiner recovered he went for a top rope move, Kingston interfered and was chased in the ring by Rick.

The match ended when Rick nd Scott hit Steinerlines on Gallows and Kingston. Good match. Everyone worked hard I give this match an 7.5 out 10. This match felt more like a fight than a wrestling match. Entertaining especially for old school wrestling fans.

Chris Mordetsky’s (Chris Masters) Masterlock Challenge

Mordetsky did his usual promo where he rips on Poughkeepsie (or whatever town he is in). He ripped the fans and picked some kid name Adam to attempt the Masterlock challenge.

The crowd was very upset over the person picked and a loud “bullshit” chant broke out. Hale Collins came out and wanted to accept the challenge. The crowd popped loud as Collins is from the area

Chris Mordestsky vs. Hale Collins

This started as a Masterlock challenge but when Collins was about to break the hold, Mordetsky hit him in the back and begin stomping in him.

Collins made a decent comeback and held his own and the fans were really really behind him through the whole thing.

The match ended when a masked man pushed Collins off the top and Mordetsky hit a spinebuster. This was not a bad match but not one of the best of the night either, but, to be fair, it had stiff competition with those opening matches.

I would give this match a 7 out of 10. The fans almost turned and got lost at the beginning but Collins helped win them back. Great effort, especially from Collins.

“War Machine” Rhino vs. “Death Machine” Sami Callihan

This was another excellent match and the crowd loved this one. This is the match I was looking most forward to of all the advertised ones.

Sami Callihan is an excellent wrestler and easily held his own against Rhino. This was a battle that went all over the place.

They fought all over ringside before finally making there way back inside the ring. Rhino landed everything he could but Callihan kicked out of the TKO, pile-driver and even the gore which really shocked the crowd.

Rhino took the victory with a Rhino-driver off the middle turnbuckle. This is another 8 out of 10 but with the Sami and Rhino involved it could have been so much better. Excellent match nevertheless!

Big Daddy V (Viscera) vs. ???

Big Daddy V had a manager named Nicky Benz (Nick Berk). They entered the ring and completely destroyed a “jobber” whose name I don’t know. This was a quick short match and Benz called out someone else got Big Daddy V.

Jobber #2 came out and landed some useless dropkicks on Big Daddy V. V did a chokeslam turned into a sit-down power bomb for the win. Benz called for a third guy and out came….SPIKE DUDLEY

This was a nice surprise for the crowd and they loved it. Spike delivered a kick and acid drop to V for the victory. After the match, Benz was mad and went after Spike. Spike delivered an acid drop on him as well.

This match gets a 6 out of 10 due to the match not being a real match but gets points for crowd reaction and it was typical Spike Dudley. As said was a nice surprise the crowd enjoyed!!!

Edge(Adam Copeland) Promo

Edge came out and cut a promo saying he was only here because of Tommy Dreamer and that this was first time he had done a show of this level since 1997. He said seeing Sami Callihan get piledrived by Rhino reminded him of Hulk Hogan getting piledrived by Paul Orndoff.

He said the teams in next match remind him of Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz and that Young Bucks, Paul London and Brian Kendrick are going to do things now that The Hardys, Edge, and Christian couldn’t do in their prime.

The Young Bucks (Generation Me) vs. Brian Kendrick and Paul London

This was an absolute amazing match and nothing I write here will do this match justice.

Both teams worked very very hard and definitely impressed the live crowd. This match was fast paced and full of crazy high spots.

This match alone will be worth the price of the upcoming DVD. Double hiptoss’s, double planchas, and a whole lot of near falls.

Brian Kendrick and Paul London won this match after Kendrick nailed sliced bread and London landed a shooting star press. This match was insane and the crowd chanted “HOH” after.

This match easily gets a 10 out of 10 and was match of the night in my opinion,

Main Event: FWE Championship Match – Mike Knox vs. Carlito vs. Tommy Dreamer (Champion)

This was yet another good match with a lot of wrestling involved. There was a funny spot where Carlito ate part of his apple and spit it at Knox, Tommy then ate part of the apple.

Carlito took the victory after nailing Tommy with a backstabber. Knox went for flying leg drop but missed and Carlito covered Tommy.

After the match Tommy handed the belt to Carlito. This led to a “Thank You Tommy” and “HOH” chants.

Knox and Carlito shook hands and then Knox knocked Carlito out and Raven entered the ring and evenflo DDTd Tommy Dreamer. Raven continued to beat on Dreamer until “Enter Sandman” played.

Sandman did his usual long entrance and when he finally hit the ring he ducked an attempted Knox clothesline causing Knox to clothesline Raven.

Sandman then caned both Raven and Mike Knox which caused them to flee and run out of the ring. Tommy Dreamer grabbed a mic.

Before Tommy could speak the crowd erupted with “Thank You Sandman”, followed by “Thank You Tommy”, and finally “Thank You Both” chants.

Tommy finally spoke and said he wanted to thank everyone for making it a success and spoke about how he thought it was going to be a disaster. He spoke of how a short time ago his mother had a stroke and he thought she was going to die, but she is here selling merchandise for the show. He said Edge blew off neck surgery to be there. He also said his wife (Beulah) and kids were in the back and had been very supportive.

The closing match and segment was a lot of fun and very entertaining. I give the ending match and segments a 9 out of 10 as the crowd loved every bit of it.

My thoughts: The whole show was a lot of fun and definitely exceeded my expectations. For an opening event Tommy Dreamer and House Of Hardcore blew this one away. Dreamer has said there would be an HOH 2 and I highly recommend anyone who could go to go. I appreciated the fact that Tommy didn’t try to make money off the legacy of ECW. The show was original and definitely established itself as its own product. I hope and believe this company will go a long way if they keep this up.

 

The feedback at the show as well as online have been nothing but positive and believe me this is well deserved. Tommy has definitely sparked interest in this promotion and needs to keep delivering. People are interested and this could be a very successful thing.

Changes I would make: There really are not many changes to be made as it was an excellent first show, this could, of course change going forward but as it sits right now House Of Hardcore is on the right track to hang around and last for awhile. The ONLY change I would suggest is to have more unknown stars in the future as they did with Alex Reynolds and Tony Nese.

Overall Show: I would give the overall show a 9.5 out of 10 as it delivered everything and everyone as promised. Had a few surprises which is always a plus. When the DVD comes out I highly recommend everyone buy it and if you can attend the next show if possible, if it’s like this one it will be worth your time and money.

This show had the perfect mix of technical wrestling and fan reaction. It was better than anything I have seen put out in years. It had some cane shots, chair shots, and high flying insane spots so it would appeal to ECW fans. Also of the stars and wrestlers involved depending on what ECW meant to you and what you liked about it. Anyonen who appreciates wrestling would enjoy it.

If you are a wrestling fan and care about more than promos this is for you. If you want to see wrestling at its best, this is for you.

Tommy Dreamer is a well respected person within the wrestling community and has ties with WWE, TNA, and ECW. This level of respect maybe the reason people like Roadkill and Spike Dudley were on the card despite being retired for the last few years.

More info can be found http://www.houseofhardcore.net

 

Retro feud: Tommy Dreamer vs Raven

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

The number one way to make money in pro wrestling is with a great feud. Nothing draws bigger at the box office than a rivalry pitting good vs. evil. Today I spotlight one of professional wrestling’s greatest feuds.

Raven vs.Tommy Dreamer

In speaking of pro wrestling’s greatest feuds, one of the greatest from the last decade began locally in the city of Philadelphia, PA.

Extreme Championship Wrestling was in the early stages of a revolution in 1995 that arguably changed the industry forever. The days of boring matches, intelligence-insulting storylines, and characters you couldn’t relate to were over. ECW would bring their fans closer to their heroes and villains than any other company in the history of the business.

In walked Scott Levy. Levy, just out of the WWF under the name, “Johnny Polo” where he went from an in ring talent to an outside of the ring employee. Tape collectors who followed Scott Levy from his early days in Portland, to trips through Memphis, Global, and WCW were aware of his talents. At this stage in the game, it was truly a make or break career move for Levy to go from the WWF to ECW under a completely different gimmick.
Tommy Dreamer entered ECW as a muscle headed jock with overalls, and a pretty-boy smile. His in ring talents were never questioned, however the character became the antithesis of everything ECW fans hated about pro wrestling. Tommy would morph his character from smile to grunt as he became angry, took off the overalls, donned black pants and a black t-shirt, came back for beating after beating, and completely reinvented himself to something the fans could identify with.

The feud started when Stevie Richards began wearing some of Scott Levy’s old ring jackets to the ring. Richards and Dreamer had some altercations, and Levy would emerge as Raven.

Raven wore t-shirts, ripped jeans, and was anything but the “Scotty Flamingo” character Levy portrayed in WCW. Raven was dark, evil, manipulating, a cross between Jim Jones, Jim Morrison, and the scary kid who walked the school halls alone with little to no friends.

The back story to their rivalry was that the two were friends from summer camp. As kids, Dreamer got all of the girls and had all of the friends, while Raven was a loner. The two became rivals then, and this would continue into ECW. Raven hated Dreamer and Dreamer learned to hate Raven.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven turned into the longest running feud in ECW history. Starting in 1995 and continuing through 2000 when the two became a hostile team. Not enough credit is given to Dreamer, Levy, and booker Paul Heyman for sustaining fan interest over such a long period of time. On paper the storyline looks rather ridiculous. But the emotion, the intensity, the hate, the drama, the twists and turns in the story, and the tremendous abilities of Levy and Dreamer made it work.

The golden years of the feud were from 1995-1997. During this time period Dreamer and Raven had wrestled each other at least once just about every weekend, in every kind of match possible. Raven would include his crew of followers which included Beulah McGuillity, Mick Foley, the B.W.O, and others. In a business today where wins and losses are forgotten by the week, Dreamer was never able to beat Raven. During that time period the frustration and angst that Dreamer would carry with him into the ring against Raven made for wrestling heaven for ECW fans.

Their matches were the last of a dying breed of old-school brawls. The two would brawl all over the arena, come back to the ring, wrestle, brawl all over ringside, use chairs, ladders, tables, bleed buckets, and leave the fans standing on their feet yelling, “ECW” in unison.

In 1997 ECW took the company to a whole new level by entering the world of pay-per-view. WCW started to take them seriously, and raided ECW by signing then champion Raven. Raven and Dreamer had what was billed as their final encounter at Wrestlepalooza in an old-school “Loser Leaves Town” match.

This presented an interesting scenario to everyone involved in this at the time. The ECW fans read the Internet, read the newsletters, and were already aware of Raven’s signing with WCW. The news would obviously telegraph the result of the match. Behind the scenes up until the match, Raven had politicked hard to win the match, completely throwing off logic and the fans. Would Paul Heyman go the traditional route and do what was right for business or leave the fans stunned?

The two had one of the greatest ECW matches of all-time. The fans went nuts from start to finish. Unlike in the past where fans would split down the middle, this was bigger than Raven vs. Dreamer. This was now WCW vs. ECW and there was nothing more the ECW fans hated more than WCW.

The match itself was even more of a roller coaster ride than their previous wars. Dreamer, Raven and everyone involved wrestled this match as if they were in the main-event of WrestleMania. The match featured tons of interference, foreign objects, and twists and turns. Every time the fans expected the match to end, someone would kick out and the war would continue. This wasn’t about a championship it was about life to these two men.
Tommy Dreamer eventually won the match. The war was over, Raven was leaving for WCW, Dreamer theoretically represented ECW by killing off the (WCW) enemy, and the book on this feud was complete. Or so the fans had thought.

Just like great feuds of the past including Dundee-Lawler, Freebirds-Von Erichs, Flair-Steamboat, the feud would see new life several years later. Just like those great feuds of the past, the feud would never come close to reaching earlier proportions the second time around.

Raven would return to ECW three years later from WCW. A new twist of the feud saw Raven and Dreamer strike a small truce and win the ECW World Tag Team titles. The constant tension between the two provided for some great teases that never seemed to get off of the ground. Some things are better left untouched.

Also to note, they are the only two to have a feud in ECW,WWE and TNA

ECW: Top 10 extreme moments

Rob Leave a Comment
By Julian Cannon
Some of these moments may not seem extreme today but back when they occurred they were. You have to look at many of these events and remember that at the time the WWF was running angles between guys with day jobs trying to prove that their job was better than the other guys. ECW revolutionized the business and was always a step ahead of popular culture. You will also notice that many of the events include fan participation which is the reason why the fans would not let ECW die.
please note that some of these were mentioned in the rise and fall of ecw and forever hardcore dvds

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.