If someone had told us that the promotion founded by this center city pawnbroker would see the creation of the most memorable new character of the last decade, a character called Raven… and that the company would change the direction of the professional wrestling industry… if someone had told us ALL these things would happen and more…it would have seemed the most improbable, impossible dream conceived.
Yet that is exactly what happened…and it happened because Tod Gordon founded ECW. Without Tod Gordon’s initial involvement and investment, there would have been no ECW. Tod Gordon was first involved in professional wrestling as a partner with Joel Goodhart and his Tri-State Wrestling Alliance.
When the TWA closed its doors in January 1992, Gordon founded what was then known as Eastern Championship Wrestling, using much of the same local talent as the TWA. The promotion its first show on Tuesday, February 25, 1992 at the
Then, in September 1993, Gordon brought in Paul Heyman as booker of ECW. That night began a period where ECW became THE promotion in the
Gordon’s product inspired such a word of mouth fan reaction that fans traveled to ECW Arena shows from all over the east coast each three weeks that shows ran at the Arena. The TV spread from SportsChannel Philadelphia beginning in 1993, first available locally (and on satellite) for five years; then followed by New York’s MSG Network, Florida’s Sunshine Network, then many of the PRIME (now Fox Sports Net) affiliates. Along with PRIME’s national feed, ECW’s TV was syndicated nationwide on the America One Network, as well as on numerous other independent stations.
Gordon sold ECW to Paul Heyman in 1996, but remained in a business role with the company, including taking the company to PPV in April 1997 when the Barely Legal PPV hit the air. At 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, in the most improbable of locations: the converted Bingo Hall that staff had painted and fixed up on their own, down the street from a bargain basement store and vacant buildings… the home of a wrestling promotion founded by a downtown storefront pawnbroker, started with little more than hopes and dreams… the impossible dream came true, as “Barely Legal” went hot and started the era of ECW on PPV to the United States.
Gordon has been involved since then with other independent promotions. But he’ll be remembered always as the man whose dream founded ECW.
Sabu – Many see Sabu as the epitome of the “extreme” style featured in ECW from 1993-2001.
Sabu debuted in 1991 with his uncle The Sheik in
Gordon initially brought Sabu into ECW, where he did the gimmick of being an “uncontrollable madman” with a Hannibal Lecter mask brought into the ring on a gurney. Sabu became known for breaking tables.
Sabu was most noted during his first tour of duty for ECW for the The Night the Line Was Crossed against Terry Funk and Shane Douglas in February 1994, a one hour time limit draw. His other major program was (together with Taz) against The Public Enemy for the ECW Tag Team Championship in the first “double tables” match.
After a brief stay in WCW, Sabu returned to ECW in 1996 at the November to Remember supershow. Sabu was most known during that time for his wrestling with and against Rob Van Dam, winning the ECW Tag Team title twice with Van Dam. A slow build also started when Taz challenged Sabu everywhere he could for a year, culminating . This standoff culminated in a grudge match at ECW’s first pay-per-view, Barely Legal. Taz and Sabu worked on and off for the next four years.
Sabu was later included in the WWF invasion angle, in which ECW wrestlers invaded WWF’s Monday Night Raw program and held ECW-style matches and angles on the show. The invasion angle also led to a heel turn, as Sabu was set up to be defending WWF’s style over ECW’s with Rob Van Dam and manager Bill Alfonso. This program saw RVD and Sabu wrestling ECW “loyalists” Tommy Dreamer and Sandman.
Sabu’s most famous ECW match may well have been his no-rope barbed wire match with Terry Funk at Born to be Wired, a match which was indeed “too extreme even for ECW”, even for the bloodthirsty ECW Arena fans of the day. At one point, Sabu did his “Air Sabu” splash onto Terry Funk, only to go into the barbed wire and legitimately tear open his bicep.
We hope to see you there this coming Saturday.
