I’ve previously written a list of wrestlers you may not know were in ECW. In that piece, it was heavily implied that almost everyone who was anyone in wrestling wrestled at least once in the Philadelphia promotion. Even with that considered, some of these matches that took place in ECW may have you going “Boy, those are some wrestling matches that surprisingly took place in ECW”, which is handy considering the title of this piece, really.
And it is one match per wrestler, for the record.
Ax vs The British Bulldog
In the Winter of 1992, The British Bulldog was released from the WWF. After receiving growth hormones from a home pharmacy in England, Smith was let go despite having only had the moment of his career triumphing in the SummerSlam 1992 main event for the Intercontinental title in front of 80,000 fans.
Smith quickly jumped to Eastern Championship Wrestling, both bizarre encounters. In his debut, he beat former ECW World Heavyweight champion Jimmy Snuka managed by Hunter Q. Robbins III.
In his second match at Battle Of The Belts, he beat The Masked Superstar in just under two minutes. Masked Superstar, a former WWF world title contender, had too been noted for his role in the WWF in the years prior as Demolition Ax.
Bulldog won the match with his patented running powerslam. Bill Eadie, who portrayed The Masked Superstar, would walk away with this as his only match in the company.
Hawk vs Mr. Hughes
The ECW runs of both Hawk and Mr. Hughes are not unremarkable but a match featuring the two seems out of place in WCW. A guess as to what promotion this could have taken place would likely result in a guess of the NWA or WCW.
Hughes’s career is quite surprising in hindsight, working in ECW, WCW, and the WWF within a span of just over a year. Perhaps his ECW run was most memorable, albeit not so much so, for his work as the bodyguard of reigning ECW champion “The Franchise” Shane Douglas. Hughes faced some bizarre opponents during his ECW run from Johnny Gunn (Tom Brandi, Salvatore Sincere, etc.) to Dory Funk Jr. to Chris Kanyon.
Hawk’s run on the other hand consisted of only nine matches. The most memorable being at the inaugural edition of flagship event November To Remember in 1993. In that, he main evented, teaming with Sabu in a win over Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy in a match for the Television and Heavyweight belts.
Hawk and Hughes actually fought a few times. At events on March 5th and March 26th 1994, Hawk defeated “The Ruffneck” on both occasions. They also clashed at Ultimate Jeopardy as well that month in the namesake match, an eclectically-packed eight-man steel cage in which a harsh stipulation would be imposed on the loser. In case of Hughes’ loss, his manager Jason would be locked in a cage with the opposite team and had Hawk lost, he could no longer call himself a Road Warrior. As it goes, neither man was involved in the decision.
In fact, Hawk never lost during his ECW run, winning sometimes by DQ if ECW booked themselves into a corner. Yes, I know the Eastern was very different to the Extreme iteration but come on – a DQ in ECW?
Nikolai Volkoff vs Don Muraco
You would be easily forgiven for forgetting Don Muraco is an ex-ECW champion – twice!
In September 1992, “Magnificent” Muraco beat Jimmy Snuka. In his first title defense, only two days later saw him defeat former WWF World Tag Team champion and former Soviet (equally prestigious titles) Nikolai Volkoff.
Although it sounds more like a standard WWF undercard match from the mid-late ‘80s, this was actually in what would soon be the home of the likes of Raven, “Loose Cannon” Brian Pillman, and New Jack.
Volkoff’s ECW run was short, having a brief feud with Vladimir Markoff. Who? Imagine Nikita Koloff but without any of the good qualities of Nikita Koloff. Volkoff even returned for a single match in late 1993 to lose to (and here’s that name again): Jimmy Snuka.
The Cuban Assassin vs Marty Jannetty
Marty Jannetty’s career is certainly an odd one. By 1994, Jannetty had already not garnered a squeaky-clean reputation. Paralysed by Jannetty after a botched Rocker Dropper, Charles Austin took the WWF to court to which the promotion reacted by showing the heart and soul of The Rockers…friend, the door; Austin won $26.7 million.
On the 21st of July 1995, at the Expo Center in Tampa, Florida, Jannetty defeated The Terrorist (not the Nazi stormtrooper of the same name operating in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling) as a building block win for the future New Rockers member.
Surprising as it may be that Jannetty was in ECW, The Terrorist might be odder. Although not a household name, he is better known as The Cuban Assassin although he has had more names than a schizophrenic Puff Daddy.
Known in South America for his work in the World Wrestling Council, he has wrestled across the United States across various NWA territories, WCW, and PNW (Pacific North-West). In WCW, he was part of various tag teams alongside Ricky Santana and a Cuban/American feud with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. His NWA run saw, most memorably, a PPV outing versus “Wildfire” Tommy Rich during Rich’s run as “The Comeback Man Of 1989”. He’s wrestled all across the globe against names from Antonio Inoki to Andre The Giant to Ric Flair; the latter ended in a 60-minute time limit draw.
So to see Marty Jannetty wrestle The Terrorist in ECW is quite bizarre.
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 7th 1993 (aired on August 17th), Hansen wrestled Television champion Jimmy Snuka. Main eventing the 19th 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 3rd, 21st, and 22nd, 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.
Jim Neidhart vs Ron Simmons
Unlike the majority of the listed wrestlers on this list, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart wrestled in both Eastern and Extreme Championship Wrestling. Ron Simmons, on the other hand, jumped ship to ECW between runs in the two major companies of the time: WCW and the WWF.
Simmons’s biggest win was a battle royal in Hamburg. He also in title matches for Shane Douglas’s Heavyweight title (even at flagship annual event November To Remember) and The Public Enemy’s World Tag Team belts. His last major match saw an upset when the first (and only) African-American NWA champion lost to 911 at Hostile City Showdown 1995. Neidhart’s run was less successful, having three matches per run – of which he had two. His only other three opponents were Marty Jannetty (during that second run), The Sandman in a match at November To Remember ‘93 ending in a double DQ, and Salvatore Bellomo who Neidhart lost to by count-out but got his win back shortly after.
When Simmons and Neidhart collided, Ron got the win. Taking place in Dover, Delaware at the Caesar Rodney High School in front of 375 fans, Simmons got the win in just over 10 minutes. The finish was the classic staple of the NWA in which the wrestler on offence loses after performing a German suplex bridge that keeps his but not his opponent’s shoulders down.
The Steiner Brothers vs Dudley Dudley & The Vampire Warrior
The Steiners racked up nine ECW matches but made sure they competed alongside the best during that time: Taz, Raven, Malenko, Guerrero, Cactus Jack, and 2 Cold Scorpio to name a few.
In their debut match on July 28th 1995, they defeated a rather oddball team. One of these was Dudley Dudley, one of the more forgotten members of The Dudleyz (and that’s saying something!). He did little of note outside ECW. His partner however did.
Whilst The Steiners’ brief ECW excursion between the WWF and WCW was weird enough, they faced Dudley and The Vampire Warrior. Better known to us now as Gangrel, the blonde Warrior had fangs and pronounced eyebrows even before he started spewing blood with The Blood.
The bigger-name talent Steiner Brothers obviously went over.
The Warrior’s biggest match was a loss to Tommy Dreamer at Barbed Wire, Hoodies and Chokeslams.
That same card saw a Neidhart/Jannetty double DQ, a match featuring The Sandman and contested for the world title end in DQ, and Jim Power actually winning. I also must presume then that night was day and black was white on that day too!
Steve Williams vs Johnny Smith
Johnny Smith may not be a name so well-known across the pond. That said, the British wrestler was known enough to get short ECW runs out of his name value.
A kayfabe relative of The British Bulldog, Smith most famously spent time in Stampede Wrestling, becoming a four-time British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight titleholder. So not exactly the man you would expect in “The Land Of Extreme”.
“Dr Death” Steve Williams had a detour in ECW for some big matches too, having rarely wrestled outside of All Japan in the preceding years.
The encounter on October 26th 1996 saw Williams walk away victorious, continuing his push to get over the Colorado-born powerhouse. Yes, the Gaijin face of All Japan who rarely stepped outside the nation to wrestle and a Brit most famous for his work in Canada – neither of whom had particularly memorable ECW runs – faced off in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania in front of 432 people.
Fun fact: When Williams lost to Raven at Crossing The Line Again 1997 for the ECW title, it was Williams’s last loss in the US in nearly a decade. As for Smith, he was set to headline Anarchy Rulz 1999 against TV champion RVD but was replaced by Balls Mahoney – do with that information what you will.
Kevin Sullivan vs Abdullah The Butcher
If you were ever to cast two people perfect for ECW who were never there, it would not be these two because they have been in ECW.
In a refreshing twist, this match actually seems to have some sort of story.
At ECW Ultra Clash 1993, Kevin Sullivan and Abdullah The Butcher, both debuting in ECW, lost to the team of Terry Funk and Stan Hansen. The match was a Bunkhouse match in which they got DQ’ed because of interference from Eddie Gilbert. Stupid finish aside, Sullivan and Abby started brawling, presumably both frustrated about the awful match that had just taken place that looked more like four drunk dads searching for dropped house keys.
The next month at NWA Bloodfest on the opening night, the team of Abdullah, JT Smith, and Terry Funk beat Don Muraco, Jimmy Snuka, and Kevin Sullivan. Later that night “The Prince Of Darkness” fought the future WWE Hall Of Famer to a double DQ singles outing. The next night, we finally got something conclusive in this feud as Sullivan beat The Butcher in a steel cage match in front of 400 people in the ECW Arena.
Abby left, only competing in matches featuring Sullivan whilst Kevin won the ECW World Tag Team titles twice. It is a shame, at least I think, that neither man stayed in the promotion for too long, so we never got to see what either man could really do in the company. That said, at least ECW had a butcher’s hook at their skills and did not (Dungeon of) doom their characters in the process!
ECW: More Than Just Hardcore
As it figures, ECW is a lot more than tables, taboo, and tits.
Indeed, ECW was a breeding ground for all aspects of characters covered in this list from hard-hitting hosses to high-flying acrobats to the Japanese style to those in the twilight of their career to the extreme wrestlers. With this, many passed through their doors, even for as brief a period as mentioned above.
It is surprising these matches took place in ECW, illustrating just how diverse and welcoming the company was. If there is one thing you can say about Eastern (as many examples here were from) or Extreme Championship Wrestling, it is that it was always the home of true unpredictability.
Long live the legacy of ECW!