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81-675: The original Full Blooded Italians began in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After suffering a legitimate concussion at Wrestlepalooza in August 1995, J. T. Smith adopted the gimmick of believing himself to be an Old World Italian (despite being African American ). Smith formed an alliance with the Italian American wrestler Val Puccio . In April 1996 at Massacre on Queens Boulevard , Smith announced that he had discovered that Damien Stone

162-686: A "disgrace" and said he would move to have Douglas stripped of both the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, as he was "undeserving" of both titles. Gordon made the following announcement on the next edition of ECW programming: I listened with great interest as the representative of the NWA board of directors took it upon himself to inform you that they have

243-488: A comedy act and more of a serious tandem until Tony Mamaluke was added to the duo in early 2000. Together, managed by Graziano, the group feuded with Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri , a team led by The Sinister Minister , over the ECW World Tag Team Championship . The group vied for number one contendership of the title in the company's dying months. Little Guido had been competing on

324-541: A figurehead commissioner. Years after being the ECW "Commissioner", Gordon left ECW in May 1997, his absence was explained on-air that he retired from wrestling due to family. Rumors circulated, however, that Gordon was fired by Heyman after he was suspected as a "locker room mole" for a rival wrestling promotion, helping to lure talent to World Championship Wrestling. Storyline-wise, Vince McMahon first became "aware" of ECW while at

405-503: A local, up-and-coming promotion on the air. The following night on WWF Monday Night RAW , broadcast on September 23, 1996, at the onset of a match between The Bodydonnas vs. The British Bulldog and Owen Hart, Bill Alfonso, and Taz could be seen invading the program. Both Taz and Alfonso were able to successfully jump the security rails, and Taz was able to prominently display a bright orange sign with black lettering that read " Sabu Fears Taz-ECW". On February 24, 1997, ECW "invaded" Raw from

486-545: A new national television contract, and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. purchased the assets of the company from bankruptcy in January 2003. The company would nominally remain active until 2007. Following the success of the One Night Stand tribute show in 2005, WWE relaunched the ECW franchise as a third brand in 2006 alongside their existing Raw and SmackDown brands. It debuted on June 13, 2006, on Sci Fi in

567-612: A recently established promotion which imitated the style and presentation of ECW. Six members of the XPW roster purchased front-row tickets to the PPV and attended the show. Prior to the start of the main event, a legitimate out-of-character brawl broke out between the XPW contingent and members of the ECW roster, which spilt out into the parking lot of the venue. Although ECW and XPW as organizations were considered to have great dislike for each other, several ECW talent would perform for XPW following

648-468: A reunion event that featured ECW alumni . Shane McMahon had the idea of an online, low budget show, but they asked television stations and PPV producers and they were interested in ECW. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere show of the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a WWE brand , complementary to Raw and SmackDown . On June 13, Heyman,

729-478: A six-man tag team match. On the following edition of TNA Impact! , the ECW alumni, known collectively as EV 2.0 and represented by F.B.I. members Guido and Luke, were assaulted by A.J. Styles , Kazarian , Robert Roode , James Storm , Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan of Ric Flair 's Fourtune stable, who thought they didn't deserve to be in TNA. The following week TNA president Dixie Carter gave Guido, Luke and

810-593: A stable as part of the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, later WWE) Invasion storyline. On the July 9, 2001, edition of Raw is War , Heyman, who had been hired by the WWF as Raw color commentator while ECW was still in bankruptcy proceedings, joined several former ECW alumni on the WWF roster (including the debuting Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer) and claimed that he was bringing ECW back to participate in

891-481: A symbol of governmental authority. The wounds inflicted by a club are generally known as strike trauma or blunt-force trauma injuries. Police forces and their predecessors have traditionally favored the use, whenever possible, of less lethal weapons than guns or blades. Until recent times, when alternatives such as tasers and capsicum spray became available, this category of policing weapon has generally been filled by some form of wooden club variously termed

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972-525: A truncheon, baton, nightstick, or lathi . Short, flexible clubs are also often used, especially by plainclothes officers who need to avoid notice. These are known colloquially as blackjacks , saps, or coshes. Conversely, criminals have been known to arm themselves with an array of homemade or improvised clubs, generally of easily concealable sizes, or which can be explained as being carried for legitimate purposes (such as baseball bats ). In addition, Shaolin monks and members of other religious orders around

1053-607: A wrestling promotion named after the ECW wrestling school and inspired by the hardcore style of wrestling. Since then, HOH has held numerous wrestling events mainly in areas where ECW was held such as the ECW Arena. Throughout its existence, ECW cultivated an image of a rebellious organization that lived on the edge and "pushed the envelope". Not only did ECW engage in a wrestling style considered more dangerous than its larger competitors, but it also performed riskier and more controversial angles (storylines) as well. This culture within

1134-568: Is War moving to TNN. Paul Heyman stated he believed that the inability to land another national television deal was the cause of ECW's demise. ECW struggled for months after the cancellation, trying to secure a new national television deal. On December 30, 2000, ECW Hardcore TV aired for the last time and the January 7, 2001, broadcast of Guilty as Charged was ECW's last PPV. ECW's January 13, 2001 show in Pine Bluff, Arkansas would prove to be its final event of any kind. Living Dangerously

1215-581: Is War that February (replacing Jerry Lawler , who quit the WWF in protest after his then-wife, Stacy Carter , had been fired by McMahon), had supposedly never told his wrestlers that ECW was on its last legs and was unable to pay them for a while. Heyman also noted in later years that he had made an effort to put ECW on the USA Network (then the former home of Raw is War ) unsuccessfully, despite McMahon having sent an email encouraging USA Network executive Steven Chau to add ECW to their programming. ECW

1296-495: Is a more sophisticated descendant of the club, typically made of metal and featuring a spiked, knobbed, or flanged head attached to a shaft. Examples of cultural depictions of clubs may be found in mythology, where they are associated with strong figures such as Hercules or the Japanese oni , or in popular culture, where they are associated with primitive cultures, especially cavemen . Ceremonial maces may also be displayed as

1377-495: The 2300 Arena , is host to the Hardcore Hall of Fame , which recognizes its history with hardcore wrestling. Club (weapon)#Blackjack A club (also known as a cudgel , baton , bludgeon , truncheon , cosh , nightstick , or impact weapon ) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood , wielded as a weapon or tool since prehistory . There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused by clubs in

1458-589: The Cruiserweight Championship from Paul London . Soon after, a profile of Vito in SmackDown! Magazine "officially" referred to the new twosome as "The F.B.I.". The two mainly competed in singles competition. Unlike previous members of the team, Vito often avoided helping Nunzio to keep himself out of peril. The team initially ended when the two had an argument in the ring. A few weeks later, Nunzio took offense to people thinking their alliance

1539-561: The DVD documentary Forever Hardcore was released by the same production crew as a counterpart to WWE's Rise and Fall of ECW. Following Tommy Dreamer 's June 2010 debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), a new stable was formed called EV2.0 consisting of former ECW alumni. TNA President Dixie Carter agreed to give the stable their own reunion show at TNA's annual Hard Justice pay-per-view. Billed as

1620-520: The Golden Dome in Monaca, Pennsylvania . In June 1997, the company's Wrestlepalooza '97 event featured Raven's final ECW match before leaving for WCW. In this match, Tommy Dreamer finally beat Raven, his longtime nemesis. Dreamer's celebration was short-lived, though, as Jerry Lawler , along with Sabu and Rob Van Dam showed up to attack Dreamer. This set up a match between Dreamer and Lawler at

1701-619: The Latin American Xchange in their first match to win the Tag Team Championship . Their success did not last long, as the F.B.I. lost the titles to D-N-A (Dixie and Azrieal) on December 13. The Full Blooded Italians were announced for the first-ever match of the new Extreme Reunion organization in 2009; which is conceived as a continuation of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling. Their opponents were announced as The Blue World Order (Stevie Richards and

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1782-576: The Manhattan Center . They advanced a storyline, plugged their first ever pay-per-view and worked three matches in front of the WWF audience while McMahon called the action with both Jerry "The King" Lawler and Paul Heyman. The Manhattan Center in New York was peppered with a large number of ECW fans, who gave the WWF wrestlers "Boring!" chants when they felt it was warranted. Likewise, when the ECW performers arrived, they popped and introduced

1863-544: The U.S. , ranging from Mexican lucha libre to Japanese puroresu . Heyman's creative direction created new stars, and established ECW as the third major national wrestling promotion in the United States in the second half of the 1990s, competing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). HHG folded ECW in 2001 when it was unable to secure

1944-688: The 1995 King of the Ring event in ECW's home base of Philadelphia. During the match between Mabel and Savio Vega , the crowd suddenly started to chant, "ECW! ECW! ECW!". On September 22, 1996, at the In Your House: Mind Games event in Philadelphia, ECW stars The Sandman , Tommy Dreamer , Paul Heyman, and Taz were in the front row with Sandman even interfering in one match (when he threw beer on Savio Vega during his strap match with Bradshaw ). McMahon acknowledged ECW's status as

2025-544: The 2001 Survivor Series when Kurt Angle attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin , allowing The Rock , who had himself gotten attacked by Chris Jericho during the match (trying to help The Alliance in the process), to get the winning pinfall. The WWF's victory also marked the end of the Invasion storyline and WCW and ECW wrestlers were reintegrated into the WWF. On January 28, 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. purchased ECW's assets from HHG Corporation in court, acquiring

2106-458: The American audience. Based in the working-class city of Philadelphia, ECW had its origins in 1989 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA) owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon , who created his own promotion from TWA's remnants, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW). When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it

2187-618: The Blue Meanie). They would lose to them. They reunited again on October 6, 2012, being defeated by Danny Doring and Roadkill in the House of Hardcore 's first show. On August 4, 2010, it was confirmed that the F.B.I. would be taking part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 's ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice , on August 8. At the event Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke (billed as Tony Luke) and Tracy Smothers, accompanied by Sal E. Graziano, defeated Kid Kash , Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger in

2268-610: The ECW Arena. Throughout the 2000s, ECW's home base of Philadelphia was considered a highly potent source of fans for Independent wrestling promotions. Following the release of commercially successful ECW retrospectives by WWE in the mid-2000s, WWE tapped into the legacy of ECW with reunion shows before attempting to fully revive ECW. This move was mirrored all across American professional wrestling, with several independent revivals springing up and several established promotions pivoting their content to incorporate hardcore wrestling and former ECW stars. The former ECW Arena, now known as

2349-702: The ECW World Championship belt in the trash can on television, as had been done previously with the WWF Women's title by Madusa when she jumped from the WWF to WCW. After Paul Heyman filed an injunction, WCW refrained from having Awesome appear on Nitro with the belt, but did acknowledge him as the champion. Eventually, a compromise was reached. Awesome (a WCW employee and the reigning ECW World Heavyweight champion) appeared at an April 13, 2000, ECW event in Indianapolis, Indiana , where he lost

2430-439: The ECW to challenge for that belt. This is the ECW, Extreme Championship Wrestling, changing the face of professional wrestling. Douglas' metaphorical and literal casting down of the NWA and Gordon's subsequent renaming of the promotion were later considered the definitive beginning of Extreme Championship Wrestling as not just an independent promotion, but a prominent player in American professional wrestling. ECW's primary venue

2511-606: The F.B.I. in All Japan Pro Wrestling . Then they went to the Italy -based Nu-Wrestling Evolution, using the gimmick to make themselves top fan favorites in the company until they left the promotion at the end of the year. Also they went to Mexico and split up in 2006. On November 15, 2008, Little Guido and Tracy Smothers formed a version of the F.B.I. in Jersey All Pro Wrestling , and defeated

Full Blooded Italians - Misplaced Pages Continue

2592-686: The Invasion by themselves (at the time, however, the ownership of ECW, including the use of its name on-air, was disputed despite Heyman still technically owning ECW when he jumped ship to the WWF. In addition, WWF faced legal action by Harry Slash & The Slashtones for the use of the song "This Is Extreme!" which was eventually settled). Before Raw is War was over that evening, Heyman and Shane McMahon , who had ( kayfabe ) purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW), revealed that they were in cahoots with each other and that Heyman had (also kayfabe) sold ECW to Stephanie McMahon , forming The Alliance to try and wrestle power from Vince McMahon. At that time,

2673-489: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship title upon winning it, stating that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion" that "died seven years ago." He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title belt and declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship – calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated

2754-523: The NWA and relaunch ECW as its own standalone entity. Gordon and Heyman had lost faith in the NWA to provide any value to them as wrestling promoters. Additionally, instead of offering cooperation and mutual support, other member promotions of the NWA were undermining ECW's business with underhanded tactics, something Gordon and Heyman wanted revenge for. At the NWA World Title Tournament held on August 27, 1994, Douglas threw down

2835-529: The SmackDown brand as Nunzio. After a loss to Rikishi , Nunzio threatened to bring in his "family" to gain revenge. The next week, he directed Chuck Palumbo and Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli to attack Rikishi. This latest incarnation was mainly referred to simply as "The FBI". It was heavily implied to be a mafia organization led by Nunzio, loosely based on the movie Goodfellas . This was further reinforced by video vignettes stylized by stakeout footage showing

2916-497: The United States and ran for close to four years until it aired its final episode on February 16, 2010, on the rebranded Syfy . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Following the lead of the World Wrestling Federation, the majority of American professional wrestling promotions in the 1980s and early 1990s orientated their style and presentation towards catering to mainstream audiences, families and casual fans. However, under

2997-496: The WWF Monday night audience to some trademark ECW group chants. This invasion sparked an inter-promotional feud between ECW and Lawler's United States Wrestling Association . Lawler disparaged ECW on-camera and convinced wrestlers such as Rob Van Dam and Sabu to join him in an anti-ECW crusade. Throughout 1997, ECW wrestlers appeared on USWA television programs, and vice versa. As part of the working relationship between ECW and

3078-581: The WWF throughout 2001 that pitted the WWF against the "invading" WCW and ECW. The storyline began proper at the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time. The storyline ran until November's Survivor Series , and thereafter former ECW talent were integrated into the WWF without being directly tied to the ECW branding. Former ECW talent such as Rob Van Dam would be prominent parts of WWF/WWE programming thereafter. Outside of

3159-497: The WWF, a number of WWF-contracted wrestlers were sent to ECW for seasoning in 1997, including Droz and Brakkus . After approximately 18 months of negotiating with pay-per-view providers, ECW broadcast their first pay-per-view (PPV) wrestling card Barely Legal on April 13 1997, highlighted by Terry Funk defeating Raven to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Gaining access to PPV

3240-423: The WWF, former ECW talent were integral in helping new promotions find their feet. Alumni such as Raven were important figures during the startup phase of NWA: Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor . Many promotions, such as Combat Zone Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling , attempted to directly imitate ECW and capture its audience once it folded, to the point that these companies directly competed for control of

3321-646: The Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts . 17-year-old Erich Kulas, an aspiring professional wrestler who used the ring name "Mass Transit," was seriously injured in a tag-team match against The Gangstas ; the most severe injury occurred when Kulas was bladed too deeply by New Jack (Jerome Young), severing two of his arteries . Further controversy arose when it came to light that Kulas had lied to ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman about his age and professional wrestling training. The incident led to

Full Blooded Italians - Misplaced Pages Continue

3402-849: The air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61 . It later moved to a former independent broadcast station ( WGTW 48) in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night, and at 1:00   a.m. or at 2:00   a.m. Shows were also aired on the MSG Network in NYC on Friday nights (early Saturday morning) at 2:00   a.m. Due to the obscurity of the stations and ECW itself, as well as the lack of FCC oversight at that late hour, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these showings, along with extensive use of copyrighted music and music videos. In 1995, Tod Gordon sold Extreme Championship Wrestling, to his head booker , Paul Heyman , trading as HHG Corporation. Afterward, Gordon remained in ECW as

3483-481: The attack, a wooden cross was brought from under the ring and the members of Raven's Nest proceeded to "Crucify" Sandman with it, and enforced the use of religious iconography by placing a "crown" made out of barbed wire on his head in a direct allusion to the Crucifixion of Jesus . ECW's normally rowdy crowd was shocked into silence and the angle was immediately considered to have backfired. That same night, Raven

3564-672: The brand's former owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand , recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand 2006. During the first few months of ECW on Sci Fi , the show operated under the creative direction of Paul Heyman and was supervised by Vince McMahon. The ECW brand initially retained many elements of

3645-486: The company sometimes led to major controversies within the professional wrestling industry. One such instance was the "Sandman Cruxification angle" at ECW High Incident . As part of a long-running storyline between Raven and the Sandman, Sandman was attacked by Raven's Nest , which included The Sandman's real-life wife Lori Fullington and their young son Tyler, who in the storyline had become devotees of Raven. As part of

3726-587: The company's history, with the other disc featuring 7 matches from the promotion. The documentary proved to be one of the most popular pieces of media ever produced by WWE, with DVDs of the documentary selling in the 100,000s. In June 2005 an unauthorized DVD called Forever Hardcore was written, directed and produced by Jeremy Borash in response to The Rise and Fall of ECW . The DVD featured interviews with ECW alumni who were not employed by WWE telling their side of ECW's history. The success of Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore led to WWE reassessing

3807-457: The concept of "hardcore wrestling" (a style of professional wrestling associated with the use of objects as weapons) did not originate with ECW, they were widely credited with popularizing the style in the United States and were intimately associated with it. Although hardcore wrestling became the calling card of the promotion, ECW has also been credited with helping to introduce other professional wrestling styles such as lucha libre and puroresu to

3888-416: The creative direction of Paul Heyman, ECW rebranded itself as "Extreme Championship Wrestling" in 1994 and orientated its entire style and presentation towards a gritty, counter-cultural, underground-style presentation directly inspired by the emerging cultural forces of grunge music , hip-hop and extreme sports . In contrast to clean-cut wrestling shows centred around "superhero" archetypes, ECW pioneered

3969-459: The crowd would regularly chant "Where's my pizza?" at the group (Little Guido's family actually owned a pizzeria). The group would routinely come out to N-Trance 's cover of the Bee Gees ' " Stayin' Alive " and challenge their opponents to dance-offs. The group imploded when Smothers and Rich departed the company, leaving Sal E. Graziano to manage Little Guido on his own. The group became less of

4050-460: The final segment to close the show. The final WWE incarnation of The FBI debuted at the 2006 event. Little Guido had moved over to the ECW brand to reunite his tag team with Mamaluke. They were now managed by newest member Trinity . Big Guido was also in their corner for the pay-per-view, and ECW television debut, but left the company that same week. The tag team mainly served as enhancement talent. Trinity eventually began making appearances without

4131-421: The folding of ECW in 2001. ECW was very influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by ECW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure. In the immediate aftermath of ECW collapse, a significant portion of ECW's active roster was brought into the WWF. These former ECW talents would be used as part of a storyline that ran in

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4212-453: The following in a 1998 chat: The National Wrestling Alliance was old-school when old-school wasn't hip anymore. We wanted to set our mark, we wanted to breakaway from the pack, we wanted to let the world know that we weren't just some independent promotion. NWA representative Dennis Coralluzzo was interviewed after the event and declared that Douglas would be the world champion of the NWA "whether he likes it or not", calling Douglas' actions

4293-449: The group turned into fan favorites , they grew in popularity but just as they were getting over , Palumbo was sent to the WWE's Raw brand. This left Nunzio and Stamboli in the group. In November 2004, Palumbo and Stamboli were released, but Nunzio retained his current character. Vito appeared on the August 6, 2005 episode of Velocity by aiding Nunzio with a blackjack to help him win

4374-510: The last ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice aired on August 8, 2010. EV2.0 remained on the active roster for the remainder of the year. In 2012 Shane Douglas led a project called Extreme Reunion, later renamed Extreme Rising . The concept of the promotion was to produce shows in the style of ECW and feature new and upcoming talent, rather than strictly only feature ECW alumni. The promotion ran several shows in 2012 but folded soon thereafter. In 2012, Dreamer founded House of Hardcore (HOH),

4455-601: The original inter-promotional feud devolved into another internal power struggle among the McMahon family. The defection of WWF superstars to The Alliance continued the shift as less focus was placed on WCW and ECW performers – in fact, with rare exceptions such as Van Dam, the ECW alumni in The Alliance were given even less focus than WCW's performers, with WCW's logo even representing the entire stable. The feud lasted six months and concluded with WWF defeating The Alliance at

4536-475: The past, including at the site of Nataruk in Turkana , Kenya, described as the scene of a prehistoric conflict between bands of hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago. Most clubs are small enough to be swung with one hand, although larger clubs may require the use of two to be effective. Various specialized clubs are used in martial arts and other fields, including the law-enforcement baton . The military mace

4617-616: The pay-per-view, 1997 Hardcore Heaven , on August 17, which was won by Dreamer. ECW continued through 1998 and early 1999 with a string of successful pay-per-views. In August 1999, ECW began to broadcast nationally on TNN (for what was initially a three-year contract) as ECW on TNN . Despite very limited advertising, a minimal budget, and disputes with TNN (reflected in The Network stable), ECW became TNN's highest rated show and bolstered TNN's Friday night slot, both in ratings and line-up. However, within weeks of debuting on TNN ECW

4698-411: The power to force NWA-Eastern Championship Wrestling not to recognize The Franchise, Shane Douglas, as a world heavyweight champion. Well, as of noon today, I have folded NWA-Eastern Championship Wrestling. In its place will be ECW- Extreme Championship Wrestling - and we recognize The Franchise, Shane Douglas, as our World Heavyweight Champion. And we encourage any wrestler in the world today to come to

4779-416: The promotion was rechristened as Extreme Championship Wrestling. The promotion was known for highlighting a " hardcore wrestling " style, with matches regularly featuring weapons (including the frequent use of tables and fire) and revolving around adult-themed storylines. Though the hardcore style was the main focus, ECW also showcased various international styles of professional wrestling not usually seen in

4860-577: The rest of EV 2.0 TNA contracts in order for them to settle their score with Fourtune. On the August 26 edition of Impact! Guido and Luke were squashed by Roode and Storm in a tag team match. The match ended F.B.I.'s association with TNA. On May 3, 2024, the F.B.I returned on the Countdown To Under Siege with the returning Guido and new members, Ray Jaz and Zack Clayton, as they defeated The Batiri. Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW )

4941-517: The rights to ECW's video library. HHG would nominally remain active until it became defunct on January 31, 2007. Following World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.'s purchase of ECW's assets in January 2003, they used the video library to put together a two-disc DVD titled The Rise and Fall of ECW , which was released in November 2004. The main feature of the DVD set was a nearly three-hour documentary on

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5022-610: The same weekend as the ECW One Night Stand 2005 event another reunion show was held at the ECW Arena . Booked and promoted by Shane Douglas , Cody Michaels and Jeremy Borash , Hardcore Homecoming was held on June 10, 2005. The show featured former ECW performers who were not contracted to work the WWE produced event. Because of the success of the initial event, three additional shows were held in Autumn 2005 and later

5103-499: The tag team, and Tony Mamaluke was released from his WWE contract on January 18, 2007. The Full Blooded Italians would make their WWE return at NXT 2300 on November 6, 2024, where Mamaluke serves as the manager of Nunzio, whom challenge Tony D'Angelo for the NXT North American Championship , where Nunzio lost the match. After their release from WWE, Stamboli and Palumbo formed a tag team version of

5184-521: The temporary cancellation of the inaugural ECW pay-per-view Barely Legal, and legal action against New Jack. Due to Kulas's deception, however, Barely Legal was reinstated and the legal action ended in Young's favor. In July 2000, ECW made its West Coast debut, holding its annual summer pay-per-view Heat Wave in Los Angeles, California. At the time Los Angeles was home to Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW),

5265-490: The title to Taz (who was working for the World Wrestling Federation). Taz would then lose the title to Tommy Dreamer at CyberSlam 2000 to return the title to ECW's possession, ending what is considered to have been one of the more peculiar arrangements in professional wrestling history. By October 2000, ECW on TNN was cancelled (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2000) in favor of WWF Raw

5346-599: The trio involved with organized crime in New York City backstreets. Despite the publicity, they had very little success at first. Their fortunes changed after using a gimmick of running an illegal betting ring in the backstage area. This led to a series of feuds with notable wrestlers and tag teams, including Los Guerreros , Chris Benoit , Rhyno , and the APA . The FBI was also used by Mr. McMahon and Jamie Noble (Nunzio's storyline cousin) to attack their rivals. When

5427-548: The use of adult-orientated shows featuring high levels of violence, vulgarity, and sexuality centred around anti-hero characters to develop a niche separate to that of its peers. ECW further accentuated the ruckus atmosphere of its shows through the use of contemporary chart music instead of using stock music ; the performers in ECW would make their entrances accompanied by the music of artists such as Metallica , Alice in Chains , Pearl Jam , Dr. Dre and Ice Cube . Although

5508-444: The value of the ECW brand and directly resulted in WWE hosting ECW One Night Stand 2005 to further test how much strength remained in the ECW fandom. By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12,

5589-547: The wild and ruckus original ECW promotion, but gradually over the following months these were scaled back at the behest of McMahon and the show was brought in line with other WWE productions. This caused considerable discontent with Heyman, who walked off the project and left WWE entirely in December 2006, beginning a six-year hiatus from professional wrestling. WWE's ECW brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when it became defunct and replaced with NXT . On

5670-491: Was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Eastern Championship Wrestling. The following year, businessman and wrestling manager Paul Heyman took over the creative end of the promotion from Eddie Gilbert . Under Heyman,

5751-571: Was forced to make an out-of-character apology to the live audience. The footage of the "crucifixion" was never aired on ECW television. Olympian wrestler Kurt Angle, who was in attendance for the show and who had been considering wrestling for ECW in future - immediately left the ECW Arena in disgust due to the incident. Another instance of a high controversy that occurred in ECW was the Mass Transit incident . The Mass Transit incident took place during an ECW house show on November 23, 1996, at

5832-624: Was his Sicilian cousin, dubbing him "Little Guido". The partnership between Smith and Little Guido expanded to include multiple other wrestlers, including Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich . Guido has been involved in every ECW and/or WWE incarnation of the F.B.I. The running gag of the group was that most of the wrestlers were obviously not of Italian descent, but they often claimed to be and acted in stereotypical Italian American ways, including none-too-subtle Mafia references, constant hand gestures , and praising famous Italian figures such as Frank Sinatra and Rocky Balboa . During their ECW run,

5913-839: Was listed as having assets totalling $ 1,385,500. Included in that number was $ 860,000 in accounts receivable owed ECW by In Demand Network (PPV), Acclaim ( video games ) and Original San Francisco Toy Company ( action figures ). The balance of the assets were the video tape library ($ 500,000), a 1998 Ford truck ($ 19,500) and the remaining inventory of merchandise ($ 4). The liabilities of ECW totalled $ 8,881,435.17. Wrestlers and talent were listed, with amounts owed ranging from $ 2 for Sabu and Steve Corino to hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars. The highest amounts owed to talents were Rob Van Dam ($ 150,000), Shane Douglas ($ 145,000), Tommy Dreamer ($ 100,000), Joey Styles ($ 50,480), Rhyno ($ 50,000), and Francine Fournier ($ 47,275). A few months after ECW's 2001 demise, ECW resurfaced as

5994-494: Was looking for a new challenge. Heyman's creative influence had an immediate impact on ECW, and throughout 1993 and into 1994 the terms "Hardcore" and "Extreme" were increasingly used to characterize both the in-ring style and the general presentation of the promotion. Instead of relying on former WWF stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Heyman pivoted the promotion to centring around local up-and-coming talents such as Shane Douglas , Sabu , The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer . By 1994 ECW

6075-760: Was not a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), though it joined the alliance on September 3 1993 at the behest of its lead booker "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert . Gilbert, through his position as lead booker of ECW, managed to secure television time on SportsChannel Philadelphia starting in April 1993. Gilbert, after a falling out with Tod Gordon, was replaced in September 1993 by then-28-year-old businessman Paul Heyman . Heyman, known in professional wrestling as Paul E. Dangerously, had just been fired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and

6156-430: Was over, and greater offense to suggestions that Vito was a cross-dresser. But once Nunzio saw the allegations to be true, he ended his ties to Vito. The F.B.I. from the original Extreme Championship Wrestling reunited briefly at the first-ever One Night Stand pay-per-view event in 2005. Members Tracy Smothers , Tony Mamaluke , Big Guido and J.T. Smith accompanied Little Guido for his match, and then reappeared in

6237-497: Was proving to be the strongest member of what remained of the National Wrestling Alliance. It was therefore decided by consensus between ECW and the rest of the NWA that ECW's main star, Shane Douglas, would win a tournament to win the vacant NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship . However, unbeknownst to the NWA, ECW operators Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman secretly planned to use the occasion to publicly break from

6318-542: Was raided by the WWF, who hired away reigning ECW World Champion Taz as well reigning ECW Tag-team Champions the Dudley Boyz. Furthermore, in April 2000 reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome jumped ship to WCW in a move completely unforeseen by ECW. It has been suggested that Awesome refused to sign a new contract with ECW until Paul Heyman paid him overdue wages. There were rumors that WCW Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff wanted Awesome to drop

6399-612: Was scheduled to air on March 11, 2001, but because of financial trouble it was canceled in February. Heyman could not get out of financial trouble, part of this was because the PPV Distributors would not pay the money that was owed to ECW due to them by that point still not being able to have found a TV Network / Distribution by which time they then would have had their money released to them, Subsequently, ECW closed on April 4, 2001. Heyman, who became color commentator for Raw

6480-436: Was seen both internally and externally as a major milestone for ECW as it added a major revenue stream to the company in addition to greatly expanding the size of the company's audience. Although Barely Legal was broadcast from the ECW arena, ECW's transition to PPV would see ECW gaining access to much larger venues. For example, ECW's November to Remember 1997 PPV just months later saw the company perform before at 4,634 fans at

6561-519: Was the ECW Arena , a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95 . Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers , with the unconventional scene reflective of the gritty style of the promotion itself. It was from this venue that ECW's TV show ECW Hardcore TV was filmed for broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station ( SportsChannel America 's local affiliate, SportsChannel Philadelphia ) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off

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