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The IWA promotion headed by Rob Russen ran their second live event in conjunction with Sal Corrente's WrestleReunion 2 convention this past Saturday 8/27 at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA in front of an estimated 500-600 fans.
This was a show that shouldn't be judged as a regular wrestling event, but more of an “Old Timers Day" as there was no way physically that many of those performing could live up to the levels they worked at in their prime. Still, there was a flat feel to some of the show as opposed to the fun feel of the Tampa event last January.
I've thought about why for some time and I really wonder if part of it was because the show took place before a harder, more jaded Northeastern wrestling audience as opposed to fans in Florida. Whatever the reason, it was still a very unique night for wrestling fans with a lot of major names from the past under one roof.
The Show opened with a ten bell salute for Sailor White, with promoter Sal Corrente coming out and noting that he was one of the Moondogs and for a long time the Moondogs and the Wild Samoans were the biggest teams in the area. Corrente then began discussing that the theme of the weekend was the anniversary of the Shea Stadium bout between Larry Zbyszko and Bruno Sammarino, which brought out Larry. Zbyszko cut a promo saying that tonight was the chance he had to destroy the rumors that Bruno had beaten him all those years ago when the truth was he had the luck to fall out of their Steel Cage match. Zbyszko said that he was the Living Legend and he had retired Bruno Sammartino and Nick Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel came to the ring and was announced by Corrente as being the official commissioner of the evening, but wasn't seen again after this. Bockwinkel reiterated the rules for Larry's match with Diamond Dallas Page, and Larry ran down Bruno again. Sammartino emerged from the locker room and tried to get in the ring but all the referees (including Dick Woerhle, God bless him, still going strong and looking great) held Bruno back.
*In what was billed as father and son tag team attraction, Don and Joe Muraco defeated Bob and Brad Armstrong when Joe pinned Brad with a top rope splash. Joe Muraco, who has been training at Afa's WXW school, is thin and gangly and wore a bandana over his head, making him look like a taller version of New York City indy wrestler Deranged. I don't think the crowd took his offense seriously, so when he scored the pin, it was more a surprise then anything else. I'm sure teaming with his Dad was a major deal for him. There were some “Beach Bum" chants for Muraco. Brad Armstrong did his best to carry the match but it never seemed to get out of the gates. Still, it was nice to see Don Muraco live one more time. The Muracos beat down the Armstrongs after the match until the Samoan Island Tribe made the save.
*In a six person tag match, Wendi Richter & George South Jr. & The Patriot (Tom Brandi) defeated DC Drake & Amy Love & Gary Royal when Richter pinned Love with a powerbomb. South Jr. is the son of famous NWA enhancement talent George South. This was the first match from Drake, a headliner in the old Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and NWF companies in this area since a February 1995 ECW bout against Mick Foley. Drake had his daughter with him the next day at the signing convention and seemed to be very touched by the fans that knew who he was and brought items to be signed, moreso then just about anyone else. Love's offense on Richter looked really bad here. They went back and forth for awhile before going to the finish.
*Ivan Koloff defeated Dominic DeNucci in a Russian Chain match after touching all four corners. Koloff was accompanied by Nikolai Volkoff and they sang the Russian National Anthem. Koloff was limping badly and shouldn't have been in the ring. This was painful to watch at times because as one person said to me after the show, "You're not there to see Whitey Ford pitch a no-hitter. You're there just to see Whitey Ford." They tried to put together a no hitter, but it just wasn't happening. It was also weird to see DeNucci going for pinfalls with the referee counting them when it was a touch all four corners bout.
*The Fantastics won a Four Corners bout by defeating The Thunderfoots, The Backseat Boys and Samoan Island Trible with a double pin on the Thunderfoots as the Tribe beat down the Backseats outside the ring. Trent Acid was trying hard to turn the crowd on them by yelling from the corner. This was decent for what it was.
*Bill Apter and Jimmy Hart brought out Bret Hart, who thanked everyone for their support this weekend, plugged his WWE DVD, which got a huge pop, and said that he was excited to see the true legends like the Funks and the up and coming stars in action. Hart said that he was humbled by the fans remembering him but that there were other names that were the true legends.
*Larry Zbyszko pinned Diamond Dallas Page after Page hit the Diamond Cutter and pulled Larry on top of him and let him score the pin. At one point, Zbyszko ended up on the floor to escape DDP and hit Bruno from behind. Larry "won" five minutes, with no ref, with Bruno Sammartino. Bruno got in the ring and began beating down Larry, then choked the hell out of him in the corner, with all the referees pulling Bruno off. This was fine for what it was, but when you advertise five minutes on the house mic at the start of the segment and then don't deliver, you leave fans scratching their heads. Sammartino really laid the punches in on Zbyszko and looked to be in as good of shape today as he ever did.
*Dusty Rhodes & The Blue Meanie & Tom Prichard & D'Lo Brown defeated Steve Corino & Andrew (Test) Martin & Original Evil Clown Matt Borne (the original Doink) & Masked Superstar when Meanie pinned Corino after a moonsault. Rhodes looked to have lost weight and was wearing tights as opposed to his jeans and t-shirt bunkhouse gear. This was advertised as an elimination bout but I believe Rhodes and Corino called an audible to change it that day to keep the match from getting stale. This was what you would expect. I got a big kick out of all the babyfaces doing the Blue Meanie dance at the end.
*In his first match back since beating cancer, Steve Williams defeated King Kahlua with a powerslam. Kahlua was a longtime Northeastern independent wrestler in the 1980s who actually helped break Steve Corino into the business. Williams wore a bandana over his throat. Before the match he got on the mic said, "I told you'd be back." Williams looked like someone who hadn't been in the ring for some time but given all he went through, he put on a hell of a performance. After the match, he said that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and looked really touched.
*Tito Santana defeated Greg Valentine with a rollup to win the IWA Title. This was a reprisal of their famous WWF feud for the Intercontinental championship, albeit it a little slower these days. Still, Santana took a hell of a bump to the floor. Fine for what it was.
*The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane & Bobby Eaton, with Jim Cornette) defeated Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr. & Mick Foley (with Bobby Heenan) when Eaton pinned Terry in a fun match. When all eight were in the ring, I joked that they should just pass the mic around the ring and by the time they were done, we'd have our money's worth. Foley was dressed in full Cactus Jack regalia, but then got on the mic and told jokes, which for some reason always strikes a nerve I don't like personally. He was announced as Foley though. Foley's mic work was funny as he ripped on Dennis Condrey for owing him $20 for eight years, on Stan Lane for being a sexual deviant that Foley was “forced to listen to, through a hotel room wall with a glass pressed to his ear and Bobby's....well, I don't have anything bad to say about Bobby." Tremendous! At one point all three members of the Express were trapped in spinning toeholds. Dory is still really fluid in the ring. Terry took a header out of the ring to the floor where he brawled up the aisle with Eaton. Foley pulled out Socko towards the end. Cornette whacked Terry with the tennis racquet to set up the pinfall. In the end, Cornette was left with the babyfaces. The Funks both put spinning toeholds on him, and when Cornette screamed, he got Socko in the mouth. They then depantsed Cornette. It was entertaining.
*3D (aka The Dudleys) defeated Matt Hardy & Rhino in a great main event. 3D worked in T-Shirts and jeans. Bubba said that the fans can call them anything they want, but they know what the fans want and held the mic up. The fans yelled for "Tables." Talia of 3PW fame accompanied Hardy to the ring. 3D were working really hard here in their first post-WWE appearance. Bubba and Rhino had one of the greatest back and forth collar and elbow tieups I can ever recall muscling each other back and forth. Bubba was busting his rear end big time, and D-Von made the hot tag and cleaned house on Rhino and Hardy. Talia got on the apron, but was pulled in by D-Von. They teased a Wazzup headbutt, but Hardy saved her. Rhino walked out and returned with a table. They tried to whip Bubba into it, but D-Von saved him. Hardy hit the Twist Of Fate, but the referee had been bumped. Bubba missed a senton splash off the ropes. Hardy was waiting to hit the Twist Of Fate, but Rhino, aiming for Bubba, gored Hardy through a table. Bubba then pinned Hardy. Great main event.
After the match, Sal Corrente put over 3D and Hardy for working the show, saying there had been a lot of obstacles for them to overcome but they were there and kept their commitment to the fans. Corrente was referring to WWE telling the Dudleys they didn't ave the rights to use the names that they had been using for years prior to their WWE tenure and WWE trying to pull Hardy from the show. Bubba took the mic and said that yesterday was their last day “You know where" but that today was the start of a whole new ride for them and they were looking forward to seeing where it took them. He told Hardy that if they could only dance with one more team for the rest of their lives it would be the Hardy Boyz.
Hardy took the mic and thanked everyone, noting that he was making his last appearance on the indy scene before returning to WWE and said that if the fans cheer or boo him, that's "OK because they have that right", but he hopes they respect him and what they tried to do in the ring for them. He said that if he had the chance to dance with one more team for the rest of his life, it would be the Dudleys.
Rhino, who rarely talks on the mic outside of promos, noted that he was in ECW after the Dudleys and that in ECW, everyone tried to steal moves from the Hardys so that meant Matt was part of it too in a sense. Hardy waved off that suggestion. Rhino said that after all he has been through in the last few years, that hearing the fans chanting ECW and getting behind him means more then he can ever express. He then said that if had the chance to dance with someone for the rest of his life, he wanted it to be "that fine piece of a**" outside the ring, meaning Talia, who popped. They made a few gore jokes on the mic.
The show closed with all four celebrating together, hugging and raising each other's arms. It was a cool way to end the live show and was the perfect match booked the perfect way to end the live card.
Notes:The show was open to any VIP ticketholders for the convention or to the general public for $75. Fans were lining up 2-3 hours early to get ringside seats, as it was general admission seating. Tom Prichard and Jimmy Hart were instrumental in the production end of the show while Afa of the Wild Samoans ran the locker room. Prichard was helping with a lot of the business end of things all weekend including overseeing transportation and other logistical issues on Sunday, which is why he never made the autograph signing...The production for the show was awesome and probably a higher grade production then Extreme Championship Wrestling ever had at any point. There were six cameras filming the action with two hard cameras, two ringside cameramen, a stationary camera sitting above the entranceway shooting the wrestlers as they headed to the ring, and the old NWA Crockett favorite, a camera that was above the center of the ring looking down upon the action's....Lance Russel was the lead commentator with Joey Styles doing color and Jimmy Hart rounding out the team. Clear Channel, which handled the production, had a production truck there doing live editing from shot to shot and even had plasma screens for the commentators to watch....The production used original music for all of the performers, probably to make it easier in the editing process. That's a smart move as removing the music from the DVD releases destroys the atmosphere of the show, as anyone who' seen the Sandman's entrance on the ECW One Night Stand DVD will tell you....So Cal Val handled the ring announcements, incorporating past championships held by the talent into the announcements. The crowd was catcalling her all night, but not in a lewd way....Other referees used including former ECW great John Finnegan and former WWWF referee Billy Caputo.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.
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