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Post by Kilgore on Feb 24, 2024 19:39:31 GMT
Yeah Pete has brought the Re-C-Dub to my attention here and it looks really cool, also love the effort and that it is a thing. But I'm not too keen on the digital remaster of the ECW tapes the WWE did. They just look off to me, I like the VHS look of the AVI files a lot more. The few ECW VHS tapes I have are original white box HHG Corp tapes and they are the most vintage and pure way to watch, my 6 hour Eddie vs Dean tape is the greatest wrestling tape ever made. I mostly agree. Of the VHS rips of Hardcore TV episodes that have been circulating for god knows how long, generally speaking, 1994 and 1996 are a quality I love watching. The perfect amount of tape wear. Could watch it that way forever. 1995, though, must have come from someone taping SLP, or was a multiple generation dub, because they are in bad condition. Will enjoy seeing those upgraded. 1997/1998/1999 also significantly worse quality than 1994/1996. But I get it, ECW feels wrong in HD, needs to come from a VHS rip. Now I'm going to have both, the original rips, and RE-C-DUB.
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Post by Baker on Feb 24, 2024 23:49:01 GMT
The PW HOW ECW fan club celebrating 30 years anny of Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA title belt this year... I feel like Baker would be the guy in the red shirt Red Shirt resembles the owner from my early-mid 2000s restaurant job. Actually, scratch that. They all do. For the longest time I thought he was a jerk because he ignored every "hello." Then I found out he was basically deaf from attending too many rock concerts in his youth. The PW HOW ECW fan club celebrating 30 years anny of Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA title belt this year... I feel like Baker would be the guy in the red shirt He does go against the grain. Everyone knows it's WHITE New Balances. Double swerve. My current pair is gray while the pair in the on deck circle is predominately blue.
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Post by Baker on Feb 25, 2024 1:31:41 GMT
Every so often I'll check to see if the first Youtube video I ever watched is still up. Success!
Love how it mirrors the fun, early days of Youtube. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for in passion and ambition.
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Post by Ness on Feb 25, 2024 1:43:20 GMT
Twas a simpler time. You did it not because you wanted ad money. Not because you were following a formula of like comment subscribe. Not because you had to "put out content". You did it for the love of it. Because it was STILL REAL to you dammit.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 2:39:41 GMT
I'm so 1995 ECW pilled right now. Going through old hard drives to put RE-C-DUB in its new home and found a folder called "ECW DRAFT" which was one of our roster drafts on the old PW. I drafted Austin first, then drafted the rest of the roster based on if they could appear in ECW in late 1995 to do a rebook of Austin never leaving ECW for the WWF. Started booking the alternate history the day after November to Remember 95. Found these fake posters and TV opening I did for the roster head-to-head battles. Looks like I got to draft Austin, Funk, Raven, The Extreme Nation (Simmons, Scorpio, Gangstas), Public Enemy, Mike Awesome, RVD, Mikey Whipwreck, and 911. I was probably so heartbroken missing out on Sabu. Anyway, fun time! {Spoiler}
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 3:32:12 GMT
One incredible spot worth mentioning. The Sheik is working Dory with the spike, just brutally stabbing his forhead. Dory, from his knees, punches Sheik to the gut to temporarily stop the assault. Sheik gets folded down from the body shot leaving himself open for another strike, so Dory uncorks an uppercut from Sheik's boots all the way up to his face. Sheik goes tumbling backwards, the spike gets launched in the air as Sheik falls, and Dory, like the coolest motherfucker who ever lived, just casually makes a basket catch of the spike from his knees. This is, genuinely, one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. Thinking about this spot again.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 8:59:28 GMT
Yes the fucking Extreme draft! It was a pure fucking mollywhopping I remember nobody got a single vote against Kilgore in 3 rounds, complete shutout in all 3 matches. Also remember that halfway through the draft everybody ran out of wrestlers to draft, people were seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel I think we even considered cutting a few of the last rounds but managed to finish. While you're digging around in there Kilgore I'm going to need any Extreme Nation paraphernalia you made. Definitely feeling the extreme vibes, woke up and decided to watch some late night 95 HCTV enjoy some me time while little manny is asleep, where is my bong!?
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 9:02:05 GMT
Ahhhh that fucking video you made Kilgore YESSSSS!
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 9:05:08 GMT
The PW HOW ECW fan club celebrating 30 years anny of Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA title belt this year... I feel like Baker would be the guy in the red shirt Red Shirt resembles the owner from my early-mid 2000s restaurant job. Actually, scratch that. They all do. For the longest time I thought he was a jerk because he ignored every "hello." Then I found out he was basically deaf from attending too many rock concerts in his youth. He does go against the grain. Everyone knows it's WHITE New Balances. Double swerve. My current pair is gray while the pair in the on deck circle is predominately blue. The guy second from left is me explaining how I see this AEW the kids posts about, what little I've seen looks cool but the owner looks like a huge dork and I don't have cable so I have no idea how to even watch it.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 9:06:28 GMT
Kilgore, Baker, and Pete to my left discussing who hit who with a Stunner first Mikey or Austin
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 9:11:09 GMT
Type O Negative played during a commercial for an ECW VHS tape, the way they cut from Summer Breeze intro to Christian Woman god I love that so much
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 9:35:54 GMT
Just watched Austin's entire ECW run. Man, it might seem romanticized, the whole narrative that he figured it out during that ECW run, finally put it all together, but goddamn, that's really what happened. You watch him add one thing every appearance that would become staples of Stone Cold. Calling people son, talking about whooping asses, the buzzcut, drinking his first beer in a wrestling ring, he even beats The Rock to appropriating the use of Jabroni on television. To top it all off, his last ECW promo, he drops not one, but two, "And that's the bottom line." That last promo is something. He's rambling a bit. Not his best promo. But there are the flashes. "4 years in WCW, no title shots. I run my mouth here in E-C-Dubya, immediately get two title shots, and I dropped the ball." "Maybe I won't become the superstar everyone thought I'd be." Then he talks about taking two weeks off to figure things out and ends it like this ...
"Man, I'm telling you I'm gonna be the ECW champ. I guarantee you, I'll be the ECW champ. The only champ that means a damn thing. And that's the bottom line." I don't remember the exact timeline and specifics of WWF signing him soon after that promo, but it really seemed like he was leaving things open to becoming a full time ECW wrestler if he didn't get an offer he liked (or an offer at all!). And holy fuck. Imagine. Anyway, here's some Austin in ECW images I screencapped along the way.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 9:44:13 GMT
Type O Negative played during a commercial for an ECW VHS tape, the way they cut from Summer Breeze intro to Christian Woman god I love that so much The Nancy video set to Christian Woman is one of Paul E's masterpieces of editing. Maybe my favorite ECW montage. Which is saying a lot! Extreme Nation photoshops mysteriously missing in that folder, but I know I have the logo somewhere. Saw it not that long ago. Will post it when I find it again.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 9:59:21 GMT
Also worth noting, this is fucking cinema, man. Think about wrestling in 1995, meanwhile ECW was creating images like this. Insane.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 10:02:05 GMT
Beautiful ❤️❤️❤️
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 25, 2024 10:06:37 GMT
Just think of the investment opportunity there with ECW in August to December 1995 what all they had there, how cheap it all could have been bought in that moment, how huge of an opportunity there was to make billions in a few decades. I always thought about that as we watched Zuffa do what they did for the UFC especially carrying them through those dark days 2001-2004 when they just kept pumping money into it while it was going nowhere. I know it seemed destined to fail but I can’t help but believe there was a small window there in 95 where it could have been massive in the right hands scooping it up and bankrolling it, (while also leaving the wrestling product alone)
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Post by Ness on Feb 25, 2024 13:11:52 GMT
Loving this turning into an ECW forum. Even YT is telling me...
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Post by Big Pete on Feb 25, 2024 14:38:58 GMT
I knew JR had a role in bringing Austin to the WWF, I didn't realise how instrumental Kev was. Those two obviously go way back, but after watching his ECW promos, Kev was practically begging Vince to bring Austin in. The only problem was, as soon as Austin arrived, he couldn't wear any of his gear because only Diesel wore black.
Neo Zeed, I wish AEW would hurry up and announce a streaming deal. There's some great wrestling on the show, but you really have to sift through the card to find it and ignore all the goofy/amateur/self-indulgent stuff to get to it. I think the Baker made the mistake of trying to watch the last PPV and got locked in one of the most powerful sleeper holds of all-time.
I don't think there's any chance of you getting back to the WWE. Unless you just stick with Gunther, Dragon Lee & Bronn Breaker, otherwise it's still the same sterile product you've come to loathe.
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Post by Baker on Feb 26, 2024 2:46:40 GMT
Neo Zeed , I wish AEW would hurry up and announce a streaming deal. There's some great wrestling on the show, but you really have to sift through the card to find it and ignore all the goofy/amateur/self-indulgent stuff to get to it. I think the Baker made the mistake of trying to watch the last PPV and got locked in one of the most powerful sleeper holds of all-time.
I don't think there's any chance of you getting back to the WWE. Unless you just stick with Gunther, Dragon Lee & Bronn Breaker, otherwise it's still the same sterile product you've come to loathe. That AEW PPV introduced me to the greatness of "Timeless" Toni Storm so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Which reminds me....I had no idea she wasn't an Aussie until you mentioned it the other day. Should have known. Toni hailing from The Gold Coast was too good to be true. Oh well. At least you'll always have Outback Jack. AEW has Double J & Timeless Toni. WWE has LA Knight & Dirty Dom. Those are my dime magnets in modern wrestling. And let's go with Nia Jax as a nickel magnet. =========== Some vintage HoW discussion in here of late pertaining to ECW. Love to see it. =========== Good call on the ECW Draft Neo Zeed. Hadn't thought about that in years. Pretty sure I made the finals before doing the j-o-b in a blowout to Kilgore. That was back when I was the early 90s Buffalo Bills of PW Drafts forever going down in the finals. Also pretty sure I remember my roster. Let's find out... Furnas & LaFon, JT Smith & Tom Brandi as my FBI, Sabu, Benoit, Flair, Chetti, Super Crazy, Hakushi, "Mallrat" Erik Watts, and maybe Stevie. Then I got Taz in a steal. Stevie is the one I'm least confident in. Might have got him in a steal as well. Also feel like a picked up a Pitbull or 2 along the way. First card iirc... Furnas & LaFon vs. FBI- Tag Title Match "Mallrat" Erik Watts vs. Chetti- Former Rookie of the Year vs. Current Rookie of the Year Crazy vs. Hakushi- Workrate Match Flair vs. Stevie (or Pitbull #2?)- ECW Championship Match Sabu vs. Benoit- Grudge Match built around Sabu getting revenge on Benoit for breaking his neck Also ran Sabu/Crazy/Hakushi, Flair vs. Chetti, Taz vs. Benoit, Furnas vs. LaFon, and I think Sabu vs. Taz at some point.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 26, 2024 3:36:01 GMT
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Post by Big Pete on Feb 26, 2024 6:02:54 GMT
Which reminds me....I had no idea she wasn't an Aussie until you mentioned it the other day. Honestly, imigrating from New Zealand from an early age and going onto become a star athlete only makes you MORE Australian. We wouldn't have a Rugby team otherwise.
Besides, she's clearly from the Gold Coast. Look at some of the other locals:
{Spoiler}
That's AEW for you. There's something for everyone, but they struggle to put a cohesive show together. Wrapping this back around, but I agree that it's a reflection of the talent moreso than Tony. Tony is giving them the freedom to make themselves stars and instead of carefully mapping out their programs and making sure the show is the best it could possibly be they're just trying to get their friends work.
The few guys who care get ratted out to the dirt sheets while the rest beg for Tony to bring in some outside talent so they can have some 'fun' in the middle. Throw in producers who book themselves to be the designated job team and Tony trying to be a 'cool-boss' and it just gives the company this weird air about it.
I can understand not wanting to be a Vince McMahon, but a Paul E could take those ideas and help direct/coach talent. Combine that with a generation that wants to get over and make money, it usually made for a stronger overall show.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 27, 2024 5:46:35 GMT
Shane, why don't just quit? Like you quit everything else. You quit WCW. You quit The Dynamic Dudes. You quit WWF. I'm a real man. I don't quit. I get thrown out of town!
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 27, 2024 9:15:59 GMT
Cool discovery for me tonight. So, I'm back in an ECW groove. Watching an episode from 1997, I saw the Barely Legal VHS Ad and was once again reminded about the greatest mystery in ECW Soundtrack history. You see, Paul E. used a song in that ad, as he always did, but this song was one I had never heard, and even in this post Shazam world we live in, there was no technology available to figure out what song this was. Upon uploading it to YouTube, I found out that many people have also been wondering, for DECADES, what the fuck this song was. So, there are ECW Soundtrack completionists out there. People who have tried to mark every song ever used on ECW television. This song was the white whale. One man, named Giovanni Bertran, apparently made it a mission to find this song out. 7 years ago, in the comments of the ad, he wrote, "I've been trying to find this song forever, if anyone knows it, i would really appreciate it." Then in 2022 he returned in the comment section triumphantly to write, "The song is 'Boom Bangin' by B-Fam" and provided a link to it, which he uploaded himself. You see, this song was so obscure, and never previously on the internet, this is why Shazam and Google always struck out when trying to figure it out. Giovanni Bertran wrote about his odyssey in the description: "In 1997, ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) aired a commercial to advertise their inaugural pay-per-view (Barely Legal) available to purchase on VHS. (remember those?) The song in the video has been long sought-after by many people, myself included. In May of 2022 though, i came in contact with some great folks who like me, are on a quest to find every piece of music used by the promotion. They led me directly to the unknown song information and I immediately started playing Magnum P.I. to see if the song was available online. Digitally, this song never really existed.....until now. I purchased their cassette single "Boom Bangin'" on eBay, and to this day i can't really do anything with it. So, after a little more "private investigating", I came across a CD entitled "NM (National Music) Showcase - Sampler '96" also on eBay and made a digital file out of it. So please, enjoy the sights and the sounds of ECW!!"There you have it. Mystery solved. ECW fans, man. The greatest of all time. Once again completely charmed that after all these years, ECW still has a hold on people that experienced it.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Feb 27, 2024 11:34:02 GMT
Oh that is too sweet, I started to make a ECW playlist on my Amazon music but It’s All The Way Live by Coolio isn’t on there so I said fuck this.
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Post by Ness on Feb 28, 2024 0:02:01 GMT
"Throw out of town"
I always got a kick out of a loser leaves town match. Wrestling the traveling circus...
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 28, 2024 3:05:31 GMT
Shane Douglas loves to tell the Brian Pillman Baby story in shoot interviews. For anyone that needs a refresher, as Shane tells it: Brian Pillman tells Shane, "Let's just wing it," as direction for their upcoming segment. It begins with a Shane Douglas ring interview, Brian Pillman arrives in the first row, Pillman starts heckling him, Shane goes to the floor to confront Brian (nWo shit months before they'd start doing this). During the confrontation, Shane picks up a chair, as he's swinging it, Pillman grabs a baby from a mother in the audience, Shane has to stop short with the chair. Shane talks about how reckless this was and how close he came to accidentally hitting a baby with a chair. Only that's not what happened. Not really. Once the confrontation begins, Shane challenges Pillman to come over the guard rail and face him like a man, Pillman in chickenshit heel mode talks about, how the last time he went into the ring he got arrested and he was just here as a fan with friends, then he introduces a woman to his left as his "Cousin Debbie and her beautiful son." Then Shane goes, I'm going to give you to the count of three. One ... Two ... Three ... Then as Shane is bringing back his fist to throw a punch, Pillman grabs Cousin Debbie, who is holding the baby, Shane's fist doesn't come close to them, and this was clearly planned. It also creates this beautiful image. Douglas says, "Put the baby down, Pillman," which is a very funny line. Pillman facewashes Shane, then Shane grabs a chair and security tackles him before it gets close to Pillman and/or the baby. I bring this up for two reasons: 1. It's terrifying how malleable memory can be on every side of this. I had seen this segment many times, and yet, by hearing Shane's version so many times, I had started to remember his version more than what actually happened. 2. Wrestling minds are truly fascinating. The segment rules, there is no reason for Shane to kayfabe it as something more, especially something so easily disprovable. It's amazing how wrestlers, even in shoots, still kayfabe, for no reason, and I wonder if they even know they're doing it, or if they start to believe their own versions. Have they molded their memories into their own versions of reality? Is that what we all do? Anyway, I always knew wrestlers were unreliable narrators, but it's just funny the degree they are pathological. And it was fun being reminded that the Shane Douglas version was not close to reality re-watching this last night. Also, once again, heartbroken at the Pillman car accident injury, because he was really locked in and was going in so many cool directions in ECW. He was going to wrestle Douglas for sure, has a brief moment face-to-face with Taz, and is even being credited as one of young upstart Chris Jericho's trainers from the Dungeon days (who he briefly saves from a Taz attack before thinking better of locking up with Taz in a wonderful physical comedy moment). He could have squeezed in so much cool shit in ECW before the WWF signing.
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Post by Baker on Feb 29, 2024 1:41:22 GMT
Speaking of Cheers, I've been watching 2 episodes per weeknight for the past 2-3 months. Still one of my all time favorites shows. So far they've had 3 mentions of wrestling. One time the gang was watching it, possibly at a Thanksgiving party, when Cliff of all people talked them into changing the channel. Wanna say Hogan/Studd was shown for a second or two. Watched this again last night and can clarify a few things... The match shown was Hogan/Orndorff. It was the Thanksgiving episode. Buzzkill Diane was actually the one who objected to wrestling (or anything, to be fair) on tv. Cliff just preferred football to wrestling. Still not ideal, but I can live with it.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 29, 2024 1:43:55 GMT
Speaking of Cheers, I've been watching 2 episodes per weeknight for the past 2-3 months. Still one of my all time favorites shows. So far they've had 3 mentions of wrestling. One time the gang was watching it, possibly at a Thanksgiving party, when Cliff of all people talked them into changing the channel. Wanna say Hogan/Studd was shown for a second or two. Watched this again last night and can clarify a few things... The match shown was Hogan/Orndorff. It was the Thanksgiving episode. Buzzkill Diane was actually the one who objected to wrestling (or anything, to be fair) on tv. Cliff just preferred football to wrestling. Still not ideal, but I can live with it. Did a Cheers re-watch about 10 years ago (tapped out a couple seasons into the Rebecca years, Diane Chambers years man til the day I die). One of the greatest things I've ever done for my own mental health. GOAT sitcom.
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Post by Ness on Mar 2, 2024 15:21:02 GMT
This bugs me, but does anyone else almost "see" AEW behind Austin in Kilgore 's signature. Well, for those that are still sporting desktop mode at home.
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Post by Baker on Mar 3, 2024 2:06:49 GMT
Had to drive my mom to a doctor's appointment on Thursday. During the ride she called somebody a jabroni. My work as a son has been successfully done. ==================== In a weird coincidence I stumbled upon two podcasts on classic Texas rasslin' this week. One from Bruce and the other from Brisco & Bradshaw. That got me to thinking about the Wrestling Capital of America...
It was definitely Tennessee when I started reading the Apter Mags in 95-96. USWA & SMW were 2 of the 5 "major" promotions in the US. Both were based in Tennessee. Considering the location of those two promotions, it's no surprise most of their ranked wrestlers in the back of the magazine hailed from the Volunteer State. Their Show Results section also featured a ton of lesser Tennessee indies. Really felt half the people in TN were pro wrestlers and every town in the state held at least one wrestling show every single weekend. I wanted to move there!
TN was also strong before and after this period. In earlier days the mid-sized state had multiple major promotions running at any given time. Usually at least one in the West (Memphis) and another based in the East (Knoxville) + the most famous of all outlaw territories in Poffos ICW. After the demise of USWA & SMW they still had Music City in Nashville, PPW/MCW/KAW in Memphis, and then early TNA in Nashville. Unfortunately, this once thriving wrestling hub has been more or less dead since TNA relocated to Orlando way back in the 2000s. Sad.
Texas may have been even stronger than mighty Tennessee during the 70s and into the 80s. They had 4-5 major promotions running at the same time for some of those years. You had the Von Erich's World Class in Dallas, Blanchard's Southwest in San Antonio, the Funks running Amarillo, Gory Guerrero in El Paso (which I admittedly never heard of until a few days ago), and Paul Boesch running Houston. Even after WCCW closed up you had people trying to fill the void with Jarrett's USWA TX, Pedicino's Global, and Jim Crockett giving it one last try with NWA Dallas. Most of these promotions aired in syndication*. Again, a gold mine for the hardcore wrestling fan even if Texas fans themselves were burned out and wouldn't really return in any great number until Austin brought them back.
*Always remembered one of those fly by night promotions on DC Channel 50 in the early 90s (I would later discover it was USWA Texas) ran a Texas vs. Tennessee "Civil War." Makes sense given they were the 1a & 1b Wrestling Capitals of America from (at least) the 70s-90s. That channel aired A LOT of Texas & Tennessee rasslin' in spite of the considerable distance between those states and Washington DC.
By the late 90s-early 2000s the balance of power had shifted North to Philadelphia. ECW started the shift, ironically by using a souped-up version of the old blood & guts Southern rasslin' Texas & Tennessee had been built on. By the early 2000s there was no more debate. Philly had surpassed Tennessee to become the new Wrestling Capital of America. ROH, CZW, CHIKARA, 3PW, XPW for a spell, plus smaller time promotions like PWU and Liberty All Star Wrestling all called Philly home during the early-mid 2000s. An embarrassment of riches for the Philly wrestling phan. Plus Corino's PWF in Pottstown, Kettner's ECWA in Delaware, and DeSantis's PCW in Reading were all somewhat big, credible indies within an hour's drive of America's new Wrestling Capital.
Then the balance of power shifted South again to Florida with WWE/NXT, TNA, and AEW all being headquartered there. ============ Have 2-3 long, meandering storytimes in the works. One about the wrestling radio show I listened to in 96-97 with an ECW tie in/question at the end and the other about this kid named Tommy who wore an NWO shirt.
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