Jimmy Snuka vs Stan Hansen

A match that would not look out of place in All Japan or during Hansen’s WWF run, this match really took place in ECW and even for a title belt. 

In his debut match for the promotion on August 7^th 1993 (aired on August 17^th), Hansen wrestled Television champion Jimmy Snuka. Main eventing the 19^th episode of ECW TV, Hansen challenged “Superfly” for his Television title which Snuka had held for 148 days since winning a tournament final. 

The match lasted just under four minutes. Hansen hit his patented Lariat on the promotion’s first world champion, closing in on the double-u but the pin was broken up by Eddie Gilbert. This led to a bizarre situation in which Hansen left head held high after ‘pantsing’ (as the kidz say) and spanking Freddie Gilbert. 

Hansen’s whole ECW run underutilised his talents. He had two tag matches, a singles match and a handicap affair. Other than the handicap squash win over the brilliantly named Twisted Steel and Sex Appeal (yes, really), his tag matches both ended with his team getting the DQ win, tagging with both Tito Santana and Terry Funk.  

One Man Gang vs Tommy Rogers

The One Man Gang’s ECW run is quite an oddity. 

Originally looking like a one-off loss when falling to “The Giant Killer” Spike Dudley, Gang returned for a more prolonged run, aligning himself with The Fully Blooded Italians (F.B.I.). He did get some title matches during this time for both Rob Van Dam’s Television belt and Shane Douglas’s Heavyweight title.  

Tommy Rogers, long after his peak days in The Fantastic tag teams and without Bobby Fulton, debuted in ECW in late 1997. In The Fantastics, he had feuded with The Midnight Express, The Sheepherders, and The Heavenly Bodies amongst others. Rogers was largely in the lower card during his ECW tenure, feuding with The F.B.I. whilst teaming with the likes of JT Smith and Chris Chetti.  

At a trio of live events in January 1999 – the 3^rd, 21^st, and 22^nd, Rogers lost out to One Man Gang; the now-Italian, South Carolina-native who was previously portrayed as being from “Deepest, darkest Africa”.  

A weird match to take place in ECW, in a few months the duo would share a PPV card: Heroes Of Wrestling. 

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