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PWTorch features unmatched archives of live wrestling reports (not just results, but match details, context, and analysis). The following is a report originally published here 20 years ago this week…
ECW house show
August 21, 2006
Altoona, Pa.
Report by Dave Maddas of Altoona, Pa., PWTorch correspondent
I just got back from the ECW house show in Altoona, Pa. There wasn’t much advertising done for this show in the area so the Jaffa Shrine which holds maybe 1,000 people was maybe less than half full. I came into the show not expecting much from reading some of the other show results but I have to say I left pleasantly surprised. I had front row seats for the event and I thought the show was very entertaining. ECW was in Altoona three times during its hayday in the mid-to-late-’90s. Now, if you are a fan of the old ECW and go to the new ECW and are expecting blood and weapons you are in for a rude awakening. So if you are looking for that, then don’t bother coming because you will be disappointed. For me, though, I wasn’t expecting that so I was able to enjoy the show for what it was. The crowd was into almost everything which helped the show also. So with that here is a recap of the show.
(1) C.M. Punk beat Rene Dupree.
Rene came out first and got on the mic and ran down Altoona and talked about being the French Phenom and now that he doesn’t have the dog or the flag he can be the best pure wrestler today. CM Punk came out next to one of the biggest ovations of the night. I wasn’t sure how over Punk would be here but the crowd loved him. There were ton of CM Punk chants at the beginning and during the match. The match was a very good back and forth match with many near falls for both wrestlers. CM Punk at one point dove through the ropes onto Dupree right in front of where I was sitting which started an ECW chant. In the end Punk whipped Dupree into the ropes and caught Dupree and put him straight into the Anaconda Vice forcing Dupree to tap.
(2) The FBI beat O’Reily & Neikirk.
This was the first I have seen of O’Reily and Neikirk. FBI got a nice ovation when they first came out and the usual “Where’s My Pizza” chant started. Both Guido and Mamaluke both shrugged their shoulders to that question. FBI had the offense early but then Guido was isolated for a good bit of the match until he made the hot tag to Mamaluke who came in like a house of fire. But O’Reily took out Guido and then tripped up Mamaluke which give Neikirk the chance to catch him in a side slam/backbreaker combo for the victory.
(3) Hardcore Holly beat Balls Mahoney.
Holly made a surprise apperance. He comes out and runs down Altoona and says that ECW is supposed to be hardcore. A spark plug chant starts up and Holly tells of the fans for it. He calls out Mahoney since he supposed to be hardcore. This brought out Balls. I have always heard the stories about how stiff Hardcore works and he proved it tonight. Right of the bat Holly throws a punch at Balls and nails him right in the mouth with it and what I thought was spit lands near where I’m sitting. I see Balls holding his mouth and then I look back down and part of one of Ball’s tooth is sitting on the floor near me. Twice during the match Balls starts to punch Holly which gets the Balls chants going but Holly stops them before Balls can finish. Finally on the third try Balls is able to finish the chants. At one point in the match a guy sitting behind us was cheering for all the heels and was cheering for Holly. Holly comes over to the ropes near us and looks at the guy and goes “stop that”. Holly ended up getting the win with the Alabama Slam.
(4) Rob Van Dam beat Kevin Thorne (w/Ariel).
RVD got the biggest ovation of the night. The first five minutes RVD just absorbed the ovations. At one point the crowd started a “she’s a crack whore” chant at Ariel. Then a fan had a sign that said RVD 4:20 then under that it had a joint with the words “puff puff pass”. Security tried to take the sign from the guy but RVD came out and took the sign and held it up in the ring for everyone to see. Then RVD rolled it up and pretended to light it up. Thorne then took the sign and ripped it up. This was a very entertaining back and forth match. Thorne was able to hit all his big moves and had several near falls. But RVD was able to hit his Five-Star frog splash to get the victory.
They then went to an intermission.
When they came back from intermission Matt Stryker came out and started to do the usual run down of Altoona saying how he normally is in front of 50,000 fans every Monday but tonight he has to be here in Altoona, Pa. This started a “You suck dick!” chant. He corrected everyone and said that it is a penis. And he then went on to say this would lead into his lesson, anatomy. He then started to technically describe a woman’s anatomy from their mammaries to their labia. This then lead into:
(5) Francine vs. Kelly Kelly – Extra Body Contest.
Francine got the old ECW ovation but I was really surprised at the ovation for Kelly Kelly. I had been hearing most places booing her but not here. Kelly won and afterwards Francine offered to shake Kelly’s hand and did but then grabbed her hair from behind and they did the usual ECW cat fight which brought out Mike Knox who shoved Francine out of the ring. This then lead to Sandman coming out. Sandman did his usual entrance going around to all corners out side the ring area. Sandman got into the ring and nailed Mike Knox with the Singapore cane twice in the head. Then Matt Stryker got the stupid idea to attack Sandman and he tasted the cane next. This then lead to Test coming out and attacking Sandman which of course then lead to Tommy Dreamer coming out to even the score. Dreamer and Sandman cleared the ring and Dreamer then took the mic and talked about tearing down the house here in Altoona in 97. He asked Test if he was even wrestling in ‘97. Dreamer then went on to thank everyone in attendance for being here at ECW instead of at home watching some show on TV called Monday Night Raw which got a huge pop. Dreamer than challenged Knox and Test to a tag match which lead to:
(6) Tommy Dreamer & Sandman beat Test & Mike Knox.
This was your typical ECW brawl but without the extreme rules. At one point Sandman hung Mike Knox in the middle of the top rope and then climbed to the top turnbuckle and did a leg drop onto Knox’s neck. At the end of the match in front of us Dreamer grabbed a beer from a fan and nailed Test in the face with it while in the ring Sandman was able to roll up Knox to get the victory. After the match Dreamer grabbed a Yield sign from a fan that had “please use my sign” written on the back of it. Test then decided to rush back into the ring only to eat the Yield sign.
(7) Big Show beat Sabu to retain the ECW Title in an Extreme Rules match.
This was the main event of the night. Sabu got a big ovation. Right of the bat Sabu tried to throw the chair a Show but Show just swatted it away. About half way through the match Show came out in front of us and pulled a table out from under the ring and set it up in front of us. He then pulled a 2nd table out and tried to set that up but knocked over the 1st table. The fans in our section started to laugh at Show and he just said this is for all of you since you guys want tables. Meanwhile in the ring Sabu would get up and then lay back down playing possum. He did this like two or three times so Show could get the table’s set up. As Show was trying to get back in the ring Sabu attacked him with the chair which sent Show backwards of the apron through the tables in front of us. Sabu then pulled another table out on the other side of the ring and set it in the far corner. Show then got back in and was able to get back to the offense and set up the table near the corner. He then sat Sabu on the table and then started to climb to the middle rope. He then did his splash off the middle rope onto Sabu through the table for the three count. It looked like Show may have gotten the worse of that as he was holding his ribs after the match.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall I thought it was an entertaining show. We went out back of the Jaffa after the show to see the wrestlers leave. I was able to shake hands with Rene Dupree and got Tony Mamaluke’s autograph. My friend got Balls Mahoney’s autograph. Now my friend told me that he heard Mahoney talking to someone and they asked him why Kurt Angle was not here since he was advertised and Mahoney said that Angle has a torn groin muscle and it was pretty bad. Mahoney also said he saw it So take the for what it is worth. Tickets were only $25 so I definitely think it was money well spent.
[Thanks also to PWTorch.com reader Douglas Mellott for sending quick results of this show.]
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