Legends of The Arena
Philadelphia, Pa. at The Arena (a/k/a ECW Arena)
Report by Dot Net reader Tim J. from Philly

In typical ECW fashion, the show did not start at the advertised bell time of 8:00 p.m. Rather it had a start time of 8:02. A quick video running down the history of ECW as well as the history of the ECW arena before the show fully kicks off. Bob Artese is out to start the show following the quick video, but was abruptly cut off by Joel "First it was Cyberslam, than House Party and November 2 Remember, tonight's latest induction is my legendary member" Gertner!" This brings us into our opening contest...

1. 2 Cold Scorpio defeated CW Anderson. The referee was John "PeeWee" Moore. 2 Cold over CW at 9:53 follwing a sommersaul leg drop from the top rope. A decent opener that saw Scorpio land a moonsault legdrop after the match finished. Crowd seemed pretty hot so far.

2. Bilvs Weasley over The Muskateer. The ref was John Finnegan. Bilvis over Muskateer at 5:12 with a school-boy. Bilvis had New Jack's music play to swerve the crowd and the Muskateer, and then rolled him up for a quick finish.

3. Chris Hamrick beat Crowbar. Finnegan was the referee. Hamrick won in 9:33 following an anaconda vice. Crowbar began the match by running down Taz, and putting over his WCW legacy, which the crowd shat all over. An okay match, but neither of these guys belonged on this show.

4. Rhino defeated Jamie Dundee and Scotty Anton. The ref was Finnegan. Rhino went over at 2:37 after goring Dundee. Prior to the match, Dundee got on the mic and ran down Rhino and Anton, calling Anton Bagwell's bitch and comparing Rhino to Jeff Jarrett's butler. Rhino took legit heat with this, and spent the whole match with a pissed off glare at Dundee. Rhino quickly hit a gore after Dundee and Anton tried some comedy spots. Rhino abruptly left ringside. Guess he did not want to be here tonight.

The Hardcore Hall of Fame induction followed. The usual HOF bit here, although it got semi interesting as Sandman began shooting on Raven, saying he was only here for the money, and he's in the back bitching about his percentage. This coerced Raven from his autograph table where he was sitting, and began throwing full cans of beer at Sandman. Raven stole the mic and said, "If you need me, I'll be at my table signing autographs," and left. Other than that, nothing else much happened.

5. Balls Mahone and Axl Rotten defeated Da Baldies in 8:33. Pee Wee reffed. The usual Balls/Axl blood bath/chair shots. Balls legit lost a tooth during the contest, and seemed legit upset, as he was seen chewing out a Baldie in the ring post-match.

Intermission...

6. The BWO (Blue Meanie and Nova) defeated The FBI. Finnegan was the ref. The BWO went over in 7:27. The match saw a dance off erupt mid way thru between Sal E and Blue Meanie before BWO took it home for the win. Post match, another dance off ensued as both teams said it's their last match at the arena.

Francine came out to cut her promo and said thanks for the support. It lasted around five minutes. She looked really really pregnant. She drew a raffle winner, and they got to announce the next match.

7. Al Snow beat Jerry Lynn (Subbing for Douglas) in 18:20. Slow paced match that began with a lot of takedowns and headlocks, and quickly built up pace, leading towards two ref bumps, two false finisher finishes, and an inevitable "Head" shot to end the match.

8. Sabu (w/Fonzie) and Sandman defeated Raven (w/Chastity) and Justin Credible (w/Jason) with Terry Funk as special referee. Sabu and Sandman with the win at 14:20. The finish saw Sabu hit Credible with the Arabian face buster through a table after both of Sandman's sons returned to The Arena to get a matter of revenge on Raven. Sandman's youngest son hit a DDT on Raven as Sabu covered Credible for the 1-2-3.

Notes: All in all, a few misses here and there, but also a few strong matches as well. The crowd was able to keep some of the ECW spirit through out the show. Unfortunatley, most of the wrestlers didn't have the same passion as the fans. As an Original ECW fan, it was entertaining to see it ONE MORE TIME, but I feel these reunion shows have really run their course, as there's not much they can do anymore to bring back the fire the original shows once had.

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