Hardcore Homecoming results

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=10865&p=1

 

HARDCORE HOMECOMING NOTES & NEWS

by Mike Johnson @ 12:15:00 PM on 6/11/2005

 

Last night’s Hardcore Homecoming in Philadelphia, PA was nothing short of an artistic and financial success, presenting many of the things that made the glory days of Extreme Championship Wrestling so great, from the work ethic, the electric atmosphere, to the surprises. It was a celebration, a farewell, and a return to glory for a number of those involved in ECW, all at once. It was the type of rare, special show that reenergizes you as a fan, and makes you remember what it is that you first loved about this strange sport we call professional wrestling. I’ll have my own live report shortly, but I deeply advise everyone to check out Buck Woodward’s great coverage from last night, as he expertly captured the experience.

 

The biggest surprise coming out of the show was the announcement that the main event would be a no ropes barbed wire match, which was touch and go for most of the day. At one point after Terry Funk announced the match to the live crowd, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission ordered the wire returned to the locker room. They were able to come to an agreement to have the match, which saved the show on so many levels it’s impossible to write in one article. Had they been unable to salvage the barbed wire aspect after announcing it, the show would have been ruined despite anything Sabu, Terry Funk, and Shane Douglas could have conjured up. There was a lot of irony behind the match taking place as well, as Hardcore Homecoming used CZW’s promoter Maven Bentley for the show and the last barbed wire bout in Philadelphia was April 2003 at a CZW event. There’s no word on what led the Commission to giving the go ahead on the bout, but my feeling is that they loosened up on the rules due to the percentage of the gate they were receiving since the ticket prices were so high. The Commission's Frank Talent actually told several fans after the New Jack match, "You got your blood and later you'll get your barbed wire." It will be interesting to see what effect the decision to allow the match will have on independents, including CZW, from this point on in the Philadephia market. The barbed wire match itself was a Terry Funk idea.

 

Hardcore Homecoming was booked by a combination of Shane Douglas, Tod Gordon, and Jeremy Borash, with the wrestlers themselves getting a lot of creative input into their bouts, especially main eventers like Raven, Sabu, and Terry Funk.

 

After the show, the post-show festivities included just about everyone on the show with the exception of Raven and the Sandman circling around the ring to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. They filmed a Q & A Session with Shane Douglas, Terry Funk, Sabu, Francine, Tod Gordon, Justin Credible, and Tammy Lynn Sytch among others moderated by Stephen DeAngelis. They auctioned off the original ECW Arena sign for $800 with the proceeds of the auction going to the Chris Candido scholarship fund. Sytch actually flashed the winner as part of the auction.

 

After last night's success, you can expect them to at least attempt to take the show on the road down the line to some other markets where ECW was successful. There have also been some discussions about taking the concept to Europe, which I would assume is through the connections Jeremy Borash has with former World Wrestling All-Stars promoter Andrew McManus.

 

Speaking of Borash, he deserves a ton of credit for his yeoman efforts as the glue who held the show together, and was running around like a marathon champion last night to make different aspects of the show were achieved. A number of those who work for TNA were helping Jeremy Borash out with backstage aspects of the show. Bill Banks was shooting footage backstage and ringside for the DVD release. Lee South was shooting photos. Cassidy Riley was doing a lot of the grunt work involved in the show, while Scott D’Amore helped run the locker room. Bob Ryder, who handled the travel for the show, was also in attendance.

 

Francine noted to several backstage that she was going to be relocating to New York City shortly for a job opportunity in the radio industry.

 

The New York Wrestling Connection out of Long Island contacted Hardcore Homecoming the week of the show and offered to donate the old ECW set, sans the ECW logo, to the show, so the old brick wall and fencing from the entranceway was used at the show. Hardcore Homecoming also featured a tremendous video wall, which was used to air the documentary “Forever Hardcore” before the show and airing a nice musical tribute to former ECW stars who had passed away.

 

In a shrewd and ironic bit of marketing, WWE had a truck with the ECW One Night Stand print advertisements circling the building before and during the event.

 

There were tremendous problems with traffic from New York to Philadelphia due to a 18 wheeler truck crashing on the New Jersey Turnpike. A number of those appearing on the show arrived at the last minute and a number of fans I know arrived close to an hour after belltime.

 

Merchandise last night at the show featured three different t-shirt designs, posters and an artprint for the show itself, a program featuring a foreword by Terry Funk and a number of bios on the wrestlers appearing. The program actually gave a spoiler for the fans in attendance, as it listed New Jack as appearing, when he was never advertised once for the event.

[Placebo Effect 0]

In a shrewd and ironic bit of marketing, WWE had a truck with the ECW One Night Stand print advertisements circling the building before and during the event.

 

Ohh snap.

[Carnival 0]

ya i'm suprised they weren't attacked.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Yikes, the ECW arena does look different now. I'm glad ONS picked Hammerstein even more than before now.

[algrim 0]

Yikes, the ECW arena does look different now. I'm glad ONS picked Hammerstein even more than before now.

 

Clarify. What are some of those changes?

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

Yikes, the ECW arena does look different now. I'm glad ONS picked Hammerstein even more than before now.

 

Clarify. What are some of those changes?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, besides the advertising it looks basically the same.

 

Heyman made it seem like they tore it down and rebuilt it from scratch on "Byte This".

[Art Sandusky 0]

That "skybox" thing is new, isn't it? I never paid too much attention to how the place looked before, but that leapt out at me when I saw the pictures.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

The DVD is coming out at the end of June!

 

http://www.hardcorehomecoming.com/merch.html

 

HARDCORE HOMECOMING EVENT DVD (Shipping late-June)

 

The official HARDCORE HOMECOMING event DVD will be a 2-disc set capturing every moment from the historic June 10th event! Plus hours of behind the scenes bonus footage!

 

(Pre-Orders $24.95 plus S&H)

[Art Sandusky 0]

Are there any other pictures online anywhere?

[Carnival 0]

Official Site

 

they have some up now.