NWA - ECW June 8th, 1992 HS @ The Blue Horizon

[misawamark]

NWA - ECW
Blue Horizon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 8th, 1992
Ring Announcer : Bob Arteze

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Hillybilly Jim & Festus d Ring Lords via Jim submitting RL 2 with a bearhug (5:12)

Masked Superstar / King Kong Bundy d Steve Gatorwolf, Barry Hardy and Tommy Cairo via a big splash by Bundy pinning Hardy and Gatorwolf at same time (5:09)

Taka Michinoku d James Maritato w/ Glen Giberti via sunset flip from top rope (9:22)

Hellraisers: Hawk / Misawa d Old Glory : Smothers / Fullington w/ Tommy Rich via Tiger Driver (9:21)

** Intermission **

Nikita Koloff / Dusty Rhodes d Mega Mahara (Axl Rotten) / Tazmaniac w/ Kevin Sullivan via DQ. (11:11)

A few seconds after Sullivan entered the fray, causing a DQ, Blanchard comes out to even the odds and a wild melee ensues.

Koloff and Rhodes fight Mahara and Taz to the back, causing the Main Event to begin

Main Event - Street Fight: Tully Blanchard v Kevin Sullivan

All technique goes out the window here and both men bust each other open within moments. Blanchard hits a slingshot suplex to win the match finally but hardly looks the winner as doctors and their respective teams come out to assist both men out of the ring.

Winner - Tully Blanchard (18:29)

[Grape Ape]

Interesting house show. More than the matches, looking forward to an explanation on the changes in the characters. Who is Hillbilly Festus? Jim Fullington as a member of Old Glory? Axl as Mega?

Some of that is what makes Fantasy Wrestling fun to read.

Big Tully fan, so anytime he wins is a plus from me.

[somethingsavage]

Agreed with Ape on the character changes & stuff. Could have used a little detail or explanation on some of those things, but I guess all will come to light in due time. Bringing the Hillbillies to Philly is just plain strange, but I'm on board for it. Could be loads of fun if it's presented right, man. It's good just for being bizarre right away.

Old Glory, huh? Curious to see if this is a spin on the Wild-Eyed Southern Boys and THUGS. With Smothers & Rich involved, it sure looks that way. If so, then kudos for using a little creativity to bring a more southern flavor to your ECW. And hey. The Sandman DID sport those hideously ugly, baggy American flag style sweatpants back in the day! Surely some of you guys remember that?!

"Would you wanna catch a roundhouse to the face when I'm wearing THESE bad boys? HI-YAHHH. FUH-GET ABOUT IT!!" (Probably reaching over some people's heads with that one.)

There were a lot of veterans in action here. I think you could probably afford to scale back on using so many of them & start to crank away at producing the younger talent. Heyman was all over this notion back in the day. There's a nice order & balance to things when you approach it right. Spotlight the stars with name value & recognition, but do it in a way that enhances the local & smaller guys to help elevate & catapult them up the ladder.

The finish to the Taka match was a little tame, even for 1992. I definitely would have him busting out bigger moves from his arsenal to get him over with the fan base. This is foreign territory, so there's no guarantee that the crowds will warm up to him without his awe-inspiring performances.

I thought we were getting Hawk running solo, but here you've got him running the Hellraisers shtick. It could be worse. At least he'd be producing solid matches alongside Misawa. Eager to see where you take that. Opens up some possibilities, for sure.

Still digging the alliance you've forged with Dusty, Nikita, and Tully. I would have granted you some bonus points, but you never mentioned Tully taping his fists. So yeah. Bit of a letdown there.

All in all, this was a good card. With more exposure from your group & more events behind them, things should improve & the characters should be a little more fleshed out. For a starting point though, this isn't bad.

[Deleted]

Interesting show that has me excited for TV so I can see what some of these gimmicks are truly all about.

I will say I'm not big on Misawa as a Hellraiser, the gimmick doesn't suit him at all. The Sasaki as Power Warrior worked due to Sasaki himself always being portrayed as a power house. Plus the idea was Sasaki needed a rub Vs. Misawa was already an established main eventer at this point IRL. Heck in all honesty with the Phily crowd being consisted of diehard tape traders and all that jazz, the people would be more likely to buy into Misawa as a main eventer for sure. The face painted Hellraiser thing though, just doesn't suit the guy.

[somethingsavage]

I kind of felt the same way when I initially read this, Drew. That's why I said I was hoping I was under the right impression with Hawk going for a solo act here. But, like I said, there is some value in this premise. Misawa turning on Hawk, betraying a brother in paint, etc. could be one route. I mean, there's a few different ways it could go.

I must agree that the early Philly faithful would've known enough about Misawa to embrace him for his in-ring work alone, but it's still early. I'd be much more stoked about a Hawk singles run & some good old Misawa dominance, but there's plenty of ways to get us there from here.

[Chief]

Very old school ECW here. I like it.

I can't wait to see some of these characters get fleshed out. Some very interesting things are happening here.

Masked Superstar and Bundy sounds like a fun act. I like that they squashed three jobbers.

Tracy Smothers and the Sandman as Old Glory will take some fleshing out for me. Hope to see it on your next TV.

I'm going to give it some time to warm up to Misawa as a Road Warrior. He needs a bad ass name though.

I love the Super Powers being full force here. I'm glad you could find a spot for Koloff.

Awesome freakin' win for Tully Blanchard. I like that you are mixing Eastern with a bit of Extreme.

Would've liked to see Shane Douglas, even if it was another one of his rants. Douglas can get majorly over talking. I'd like to see more of that.

Fun old school show. Can't wait for TV.

[somethingsavage]

Couldn't agree more about Shane Douglas. Any opportunity to hear the guy spew his venom on the mic is a moment of bliss for me. That mic in his hand is a golden ticket, man. Say what you will about the guy, but he was always a HELL of a talker. Some of his real life promos gives me goosebumps. I can sit down, KNOWING full & well what's he about to say like a memorized & recited script... And just the delivery alone will have me sold on every word. The guy speaks with conviction.

So yeah. Above all else, keep the Franchise talking. The more he talks & targets Hogan, the more anticipation it builds for Hulk's arrival - which will be a milestone moment in itself. The Hulkster marching into Philly? Wow. It's gonna be HUGE.

[appstorm]

Sullivan and his minions ran up against a brick wall in Rhodes, Koloff, and Blanchard. I marked out for Masawa/Hawk as a team. I want to know more about the Smothers/Sandman team, as well.

Great stuff.