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112-869: Among its roster included Extreme Championship Wrestling regulars such as Raven , Stevie Richards , The Blue Meanie , Damien Kane , Pit Bull #2 , referee "Judge" Jeff Jones, and The Bad Breed ( Ian and Axl Rotten ) as well as some of the leading independent wrestlers such as Cueball Carmichael , Johnny Gunn , Max Thrasher , Devon Storm , Morgus the Maniac , Boo Bradley , Jimmy Cicero , Hollywood Bob Starr , Ruckus , Dino Casanova , Corporal Punishment , The Bad Crew and Darkside (Glen Osborne and Rockin' Rebel ). Former World Wrestling Federation wrestlers such as Barry Horowitz , Road Warrior Hawk , Jim Neidhart , The Honky Tonk Man and The Headbangers as well as World Championship Wrestling veterans "Jumping" Joey Maggs and Disco Inferno also had short stints in

224-431: A Double Chain match , when Cabana forced Corino to tap out. On October 16, 2010, Cabana defeated Corino in an "I Quit" match to end their feud. Following Steen's departure from Ring of Honor after December's Final Battle 2010 , Corino proclaimed himself a changed man and turned babyface . Corino began feuding with Mike Bennett , and the two faced each other at Manhattan Mayhem IV on March 19, with Bennett picking up

336-741: A Fight Without Honor . Although the two still hated each other, they shook hands after the match and Corino allowed Homicide to shave his head. After announcing that his retirement would come at the end of 2007, Corino began a retirement tour and traveled to various federations as a part of the tour. On October 6, 2007, Corino captured the B4W North American title in Morganville, New Jersey from then-champion Tommy Thunda. On November 3, 2007, Corino survived three rounds of an 8-man, single-night tournament in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to become

448-653: A Limp Bizkit concert and protesting the immoral conduct. In late 1999, Corino took Jack Victory on as a manager, and became an advisor for Tajiri and Rhino . He then began feuding with Dusty Rhodes , who defeated him in a gory Bullrope match at Living Dangerously . At Heat Wave 2000 , he lost to Jerry Lynn. Corino went on to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on November 5, 2000, at November to Remember by defeating Justin Credible , Sandman and Champion Jerry Lynn in

560-464: A World Heavyweight Championship – calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated 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

672-692: A Double Jeopardy match; then to successfully defend it in December at Massacre on 34th Street (against Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible in a three way dance ) and at Holiday Hell 2000 (against Justin Credible and The Sandman in a three way dance). Due to repeated failures of ECW paying Corino his salary, he left the company on January 7, 2001, the night he lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to The Sandman at Guilty as Charged 2001 . His friend Dustin Rhodes got him

784-821: A contract in World Championship Wrestling , but he never got to make an appearance despite being due to debut at the company's third to last PPV Sin . When World Wrestling Entertainment took over WCW in March 2001, they released Corino from his contract. He went on to wrestle for many of the National Wrestling Alliance regional promotions. On April 24, he won the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship. Corino continued his feud with Rhodes in his Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion as well as Southern Championship Wrestling and

896-504: 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 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

1008-599: A few try-out matches for WWE over a span of two days. Dusty Rhodes, Corino's former rival, was hopeful that WWE would sign him, but he was not offered a contract. Corino stated on his MySpace he enjoyed his time with WWE but felt he was too old school for the company. On the January 4, 2008, Corino won his third Zero1-Max United States Openweight Championship as Mr. Wrestling 3 (named after Mr. Wrestling I and II ) by beating Ricky Landell in Valdosta, Georgia. He then lost

1120-541: 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

1232-462: 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 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

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1344-503: 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

1456-517: A month at Dundalk's North Point Flea Market and held a memorial show for Dino Casanova on June 20, 2002. The following year, Burke promoted a show with Ring of Honor in Glen Burnie, Maryland on January 29 and World Wrestling Entertainment in Fair Hill, Maryland on July 31. The promotion was unable to keep the fanbase of Maryland Championship Wrestling, however, and, within several months,

1568-543: A number of appearances for Frontier Wrestling Alliance in the United Kingdom , where he entered a short rivalry with Alex Shane . The feud culminated in the main event match of Hotwired, where Corino defeated Shane with the assistance of then FWA Heavyweight Champion, Doug Williams . As Steve Corino was a major part of ECW towards the end of its run, rumors swirled surrounding Corino possibly signing with World Wrestling Entertainment and returning to his ECW roots as

1680-758: A part of the new version of ECW , but he squashed those rumors in a posting on his LiveJournal. Instead of signing with WWE, Corino worked in various independent promotions, including Zero-One , Hustle in Japan , Ring of Honor in the United States and both One Pro Wrestling and Celtic Wrestling in the United Kingdom . He was also president of World-1 Fighting Arts, which runs shows in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Corino also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during its early days. Corino had matches with Low Ki and many other stars before leaving

1792-612: 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

1904-468: 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,

2016-426: A roll of quarters, McGuinness suspended and banned him from commentary, but then, he was reinstated as a wrestler and was scheduled to fight Whitmer in a Fight without Honor at Final Battle , but Corino announced that he was gonna have neck surgery and that his career may end. He continued to commentary with a mask under the name of Mr. Wrestling 3. Even he was taking that gimmick, Whitmer was saying that Mr. Wrestling 3

2128-776: A sold out crowd in Michigan City, Indiana. Corino's retirement tour came to an end December 28, 2007, when he wrestled his final match for the Showcase Wrestling Revolution in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. On that night he faced off with "The Prophet" Jeremy Barnoff, "The Seasoned Veteran" Brick Crawford and "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen for the SWR International Championship in a fatal four way elimination match. Corino wrestled

2240-593: 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

2352-473: A tag team match that saw him team with Colt Cabana to defeat Low Ki and Homicide . On December 3 in New York City at Steel Cage Warfare , Homicide lost to Corino in a rematch from their feud of 2003 after Colt Cabana, under a mask, interfered in the match. During the match, Homicide separated his shoulder , but opted not to have surgery. As a result of his injury, Homicide was unable to compete at

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2464-521: A third time on November 29, 2003, at War of the Wire in a barbed wire match . This time however, Julius Smokes threw in the towel for Homicide after Corino throttled him with a length of barbed wire . Corino offered Homicide a handshake after the match, indicating that he finally respected Homicide, but Homicide refused to shake his hand. On October 14, 2005, at Enter the Dragon , Corino returned to ROH in

2576-607: 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

2688-568: 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

2800-581: 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

2912-464: Is also Steven. Corino married Nicole Holmstock on June 14, 1997. Together they have a son, Colby (born August 28, 1996), who is a professional wrestler. Corino and Nicole divorced in 2003. On November 12, 2005, Steve Corino got engaged to his Finnish girlfriend Saana-Maria Huhtimo. They were married on May 12, 2006, in North Carolina . However, the couple separated in mid-2008, divorcing

3024-662: The 2300 Arena , is host to the Hardcore Hall of Fame , which recognizes its history with hardcore wrestling. Steve Corino Steven Eugene Corino (born May 29, 1973 ) is a Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler signed with WWE as a trainer at the Performance Center and a producer for the promotion's developmental brand NXT . He is best known for his tenure with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1998 to 2001 and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2002 to 2006 and 2009–2016. Corino has held

3136-645: The Christian York winning the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup as well as the MCW/MEWF Cruiserweight Championship defeating Joey Matthews , Reckless Youth, Qenaan Creed , Jay Briscoe and Crash Holly in a six-way elimination match. The event also featured Headbanger Thrasher , Gillberg and Van Hammer . In early 2002, Tim's wife, Donna Burke took over day-to-day running began promoting shows twice

3248-561: 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

3360-520: 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

3472-576: 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

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3584-857: The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship , the ECW World Heavyweight Championship , the MLW World Heavyweight Championship , and the 1PW World Heavyweight Championship once each, and the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship and the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship twice each. In addition to these titles, he has also held the ROH World Tag Team Championship once, as well as numerous titles on

3696-940: The ROH World Championship . On June 23, S.C.U.M. was forced to disband, after being defeated by Team ROH in a Steel Cage Warfare match . Since the dissolution of S.C.U.M., Corino has been working with ROH as their regular color commentator alongside play-by-play commentator Kevin Kelly and occasionally Nigel McGuinness while simultaneously having a running feud with B. J. Whitmer and The Decade . The rivalry has included Whitmer goading Corino to join The Decade, with Corino refusing, but Whitmer wasn't talking about Steve but his real-life son Colby and successfully recruiting him into The Decade. During his feud, McGuinness warned Corino that he can't attack any ROH employee or he will be suspended. After attacking Whitmer with

3808-555: The WWE Performance Center . Shortly afterwards, it was reported that he had signed to become a full-time trainer for WWE , starting January 2017. On January 12, 2017, it was confirmed that Corino was now working for WWE. According to Pro Wrestling Torch in September 2017, Corino teaches the advanced class at the WWE Performance Center, the third of four levels of classes. In November 2018, it

3920-583: The independent circuit . Corino began wrestling in 1994 and spent four years working on the independent circuit. During this time, he was a part of the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts , a promotion run by Matt and Jeff Hardy . Corino began an anti- hardcore gimmick on the independent circuit , because he felt he would have more chance of getting work if he did not work hardcore matches. He gained experience, working in Puerto Rico for

4032-559: The "King of Old School", defeated Vordell Walker with assistance by Jillian Hall and the "Tokyo Monster" Kahagas in Orlando, Florida to become the PWX (Pro Wrestling Extreme) Heavyweight Champion. Corino, although bloodied, successfully defended his title against Tommy "Wildfire" Rich on April 28, 2012, in Orlando, Florida. On December 28, 2012, Steve Corino made his appearance for an ECW "revival" company as he appeared for Extreme Rising as

4144-690: The "mystery challenger" for Stevie Richards ' Extreme Rising World Championship , where he was defeated by submission. In September 2014, Steve Corino defeated Doug Williams for the WAW World Heavyweight Championship in England which he would then defend in the USA in 2014 and 2015 against Curt Robinson and Joe Black. On May 9, 2015, Steve Corino made an appearance at TWE in Red Bank, Chattanooga against Ray Fury, where he

4256-688: 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

4368-544: 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

4480-610: 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

4592-702: 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

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4704-802: The GSW Heavyweight Championship in Oberhausen, Germany which was his very last appearance in Europe. On December 8, 2007, Corino made his final Northeast appearance for B4W. He lost the North American title to Jihad in a submission match after his protege Ricky Landell had to throw in the towel. Corino won the Platinum Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title on December 14, 2007, after defeating "The Indy Wrestling Superstar" Erico in front of

4816-686: 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,

4928-667: The MEWF held a fundraiser for the North Carroll High School in Hampstead, Maryland to help purchase computer software for its business department. The card included stars such as "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert , A.C. Golden , Morgus the Maniac , Axl Rotten , The Cream Team ( Dino Casanova & Rip Sawyer ), female wrestlers Rusty "The Fox" Thomas and MEWF Women's Champion Heidi Lee Morgan , and midget wrestler Haiti Kid . Max Thrasher wrestled The Honky Tonk Man in

5040-743: 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 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

5152-577: The U.S. Title to SJK on March 8, 2008, at the Devil Bhudakahn Memorial Show in Munhall, Pennsylvania. He now wrestles as "Mr. Wrestling 3" Steve Corino without the mask, and sometimes as just Mr. Wrestling 3 with the mask. On July 24, 2008, Corino announced he would begin wrestling full-time again in his online blog. Corino plans to return to Japan where he has been the most successful. On July 19, 2008, Corino participated in

5264-464: The Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Eddie Osbourne in the first round by pinfall, Pepper Parks in the second round by referee stoppage and "Fabulous" John McChesney in the finals by pinfall following a pair of lariat clotheslines. On November 10, 2007, Corino successfully defended the B4W North American title against Jihad. On November 24 he beat Absolute Andy for

5376-560: 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 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

5488-580: The Valley" event. Since August 2010, Corino has made appearances in Germany for German Stampede Wrestling. On April 23, 2011, Corino returned to WWC and defeated Carlito , Gilbert and Shane the Glamour Boy in a gauntlet match to win the vacant WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He would lose the title to Carlito on June 4, 2011. On January 28, 2012, Steve Corino, billed as

5600-590: The WWC, working under the ring name Lightning Kid (which had been a gimmick previously used by Sean Waltman ) and also made some appearances for the WWF as a jobber from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, Corino debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling as a heel manager . He stood out in ECW as a result of his "King of Old School" gimmick , where he would deride hardcore wrestlers, at one point invading

5712-437: 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

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5824-521: 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

5936-406: 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

6048-423: 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

6160-523: 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

6272-427: The World 2016 , he will do things that he will never apologize for. At Best in the World, Corino faced Whitmer in a Non-Sanctioned Fight without Honor, but he lost after the interference of Kevin Sullivan . After Best in the World, Corino returned to commentating, but during Whitmer's matches, he was continuously berated by Sullivan. At the Final Battle event, Cody , who defeated Jay Lethal, proceeded to cause chaos in

6384-741: 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

6496-422: 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

6608-468: 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

6720-431: 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

6832-519: 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 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

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6944-587: 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

7056-487: The company. During early 2010, Corino formed a partnership with Kevin Steen and together the two of them started a feud with Steen's former tag team partner El Generico and Colt Cabana. On April 3, 2010, Corino made his ROH pay-per-view debut at The Big Bang! , where he and Steen were defeated by El Generico and Cabana via disqualification, when Steen used a chair on his former partner. On September 11 at Glory By Honor IX Generico and Cabana defeated Steen and Corino in

7168-423: The debut of Pat Patterson, Jr. (the kayfabe "son" of Pat Patterson ); the card was the first professional wrestling event ever held in Annapolis. Expanding outside the Baltimore-area, the promotion regularly appeared at the Secret Cove , a popular restaurant and bar in southern Fairfax County, Virginia . During the next several years, some of the top lightheavyweight wrestlers appeared in televised matches for

7280-477: The event WWC Anniversary but only to lose to Eugene . Later on September 20, 2008, he participated in the event Septiembre Negro where he defeated Sabu . Recently he is one of the members of a group called "La Familia", and is in a feud with BJ for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship . In this feud thanks to the beatings that lead disqualification by the members of "La Familia", Ray Gonzalez saved BJ and after that Steve Corino attacked Ray Gonzalez in

7392-403: The finals of a tournament to win the vacant ROH World Tag Team Championship . They lost the title to the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) on December 16 at Final Battle 2012: Doomsday in a three-way match, which also included the team of Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander . On April 6, 2013, Corino became the new leader of S.C.U.M., when the stable turned on Kevin Steen, after he had lost

7504-421: 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

7616-480: The following show, Final Battle 2005 . He did show up, however, but with the intent on killing Steve Corino. Following Corino's match, Homicide ran down to the ring and attacked him. Colt Cabana ran down to the ring to save Corino, only to have Homicide pour Drano down his throat. He returned to ROH in August 2006 after a long absence, reigniting his feud with Homicide. The feud culminated on November 4 in Philadelphia , at The Bitter End when Homicide beat Corino in

7728-408: The following year. Corino married Jordan Pennypacker in 2013, and had their first child together, a son named Beckham, or "Becks" for short. Corino has repeatedly stated that his favorite old school wrestlers are Tommy Rich and Tully Blanchard . Corino has said that his favorite match while in ECW was the infamous Texas Bullrope Match against Dusty Rhodes at Living Dangerously 2000. Corino hosts

7840-418: 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 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

7952-431: 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 was proving to be the strongest member of what remained of the National Wrestling Alliance. It was therefore decided by consensus between ECW and

8064-510: 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),

8176-415: 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 the creative direction of Paul Heyman, ECW rebranded itself as "Extreme Championship Wrestling" in 1994 and orientated its entire style and presentation towards

8288-531: The locker rooms and this began a feud for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship . On February 7, Steve Corino beat Ray Gonzalez to become WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion . On July 11 at Aniversario 2009 he lost the title to BJ. On June 26, 2010- Corino was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, West Virginia at their annual "LPW Rumble in

8400-731: The main event. During its early years, the promotion featured such wrestlers as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart , Road Warrior Hawk and Jake "The Snake" Roberts , however, their cruiserweight division gained a considerable following with The Lightning Kid and Jimmy Jannetty feuding over the Light Heavyweight Championship during early 1993. On July 8, 1995, the promotion held an event at the National Guard Armory in Annapolis, Maryland which featured Corporal Punishment, Axl Rotten, Mad Dog O'Malley and

8512-446: The match, Corino applied a cobra clutch to Homicide, while the rest of The Group mocked New York City, instigating a worked riot . Corino and Homicide had a rematch August 16, 2003, at Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies which saw Corino defeated. After twenty minutes of fighting which saw both men bleeding and carrying injuries, Homicide trapped Corino in a modified STF , prompting Corino's corner man, Guillotine LeGrande, to throw in

8624-556: 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 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

8736-601: 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

8848-616: 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

8960-553: The promotion became inactive after its last card at Hunter's Sail Barn in Rising Sun, Maryland on October 30, 2004; this was the first wrestling event ever held in the building. Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion

9072-597: The promotion including Mark "the Shark" Shrader , Earl the Pearl , Steve Corino , Danny Doring , Quinn Nash , Adam Flash and Joey Mercury , with whom Christian York feuded with The Hardy Boyz , as well as participated in the ECWA's Super 8 Tournament during the late 1990s. In 1998, following a dispute with MEWF management and wrestlers over creative control and payment disagreements, Corporal Punishment and Mark Shrader left

9184-566: The promotion some time later. Steve Corino appeared in the inaugural event “The Era of Honor Begins” on color commentary. Responding to a challenge from The Backseat Boyz , Homicide invited anyone in the locker room to be his partner. Steve Corino made his ROH debut and responded to his offer, resulting in the two facing the Backseat Boys later that night. In the course of the match, Corino turned on Homicide after Homicide accidentally hit him, Old School Kicking his partner and leaving

9296-576: The promotion taking half of its roster with them to form Maryland Championship Wrestling . After a nearly 5-year rivalry, the two promotions began working together in October 2002 and eventually co-hosted Maryland Championship Wrestling's final event at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland on July 16, 2003. During this interpromotional card, the MCW Championship titles were merged with Mid-Eastern Championship Wrestling most notably

9408-606: The promotion. Dennis Wippercht, after promoting several wrestling events during 1990, joined Tim Burke in establishing the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation holding its first card in Pasadena, Maryland on August 2, 1991; during the event, the Lords of Darkness ( Pain and Agony ) would defeat Cream Team ( Dino Casanova and Rip Sawyer ) to become the first MEWF Tag Team champions. Three months later,

9520-516: 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 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

9632-517: 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

9744-448: The ring and then he pushed Corino. The night at the event, Whitmer said that a "brother" has to be sacrificed, which was revealed that Corino was about to fight Cody, who berated Corino's actions with Dusty Rhodes. In their match, Corino lost to Cody, which was Corino's last match in ROH. Corino's ROH contract expired on December 31, 2016. In November 2016, Corino worked as a guest trainer at

9856-701: The ring, enabling the Backseat Boyz to easily defeat Homicide. Homicide and Corino would then begin a four-year rivalry , with Corino criticizing Homicide's lifestyle and somewhat checkered past. The feud culminated in a match at the One Year Anniversary Show on February 8, 2003, in Queens, New York, New York . Homicide was the hometown favorite, but lost to Corino following interference from The Group ( Samoa Joe , Michael Shane , C. W. Anderson and Simply Luscious ), Corino's entourage. After

9968-531: 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 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

10080-659: 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

10192-442: The special guest referee and Jim Cornette at ringside, Kevin Steen defeated his former mentor, Corino, in a No Disqualification match to be reinstated in ROH. Corino later returned to ROH on May 12, 2012, when he formed the S.C.U.M. (Suffering, Chaos, Ugliness, and Mayhem) stable with Steen and Jacobs. On September 15 at Death Before Dishonor X: State of Emergency , Corino and Jacobs defeated Charlie Haas and Rhett Titus in

10304-539: 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 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

10416-522: 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 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

10528-521: 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),

10640-490: 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

10752-427: The towel, awarding the match to Homicide. In the course of the match, Corino suffered a legitimate ruptured eardrum , and permanently lost most of the hearing in his left ear following a stiff slap to the side of the head from Homicide. Homicide has since stated in a shoot interview that he is not sorry for costing Corino his hearing, claiming Corino had been stiff with him the whole match. Homicide faced Corino for

10864-444: 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,

10976-545: The victory. On May 21 at Supercard of Honor VI , Corino revealed the returning Jimmy Jacobs as the sponsor, who had helped him change his ways. Kevin Steen returned to ROH on June 26 at Best in the World 2011 , seemingly wanting redemption as well. However, after saving Corino from the House of Truth, Steen turned on him and Jacobs, before being dragged out of the arena. On December 23 at Final Battle 2011 , with Jimmy Jacobs as

11088-491: 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

11200-466: The world today to come to 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

11312-505: Was defeated. On May 22, 2015, Steve Corino became the PWF World-1 Heavyweight Champion defeating Jagger, Emmanuel Ortega and former teammate CW Anderson in a Fatal Four-Way. On March 6, 2016, Corino, along with CW Anderson, returned to Zero1 to take part in the promotion's 15th anniversary event. On the December 7 edition of Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet , a video was shown hyping Corino's return to

11424-571: 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

11536-458: 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, the promotion was rechristened as Extreme Championship Wrestling. The promotion was known for highlighting a " hardcore wrestling " style, with matches regularly featuring weapons (including

11648-518: Was indeed Steve Corino and was convincing Colby, that Corino replaced him for Corino's new wife and son, and Whitmer continued torturing Colby in front of Corino's eyes. At War of the Worlds , Corino returned as the Steve Corino character, admitting that he didn't want to be the "Evil Man" anymore, but after Whitmer's deeds, he promised that at the newly reinstated match that will happen at Best in

11760-526: 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 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

11872-839: 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

11984-546: Was part of the Extreme Horsemen with C. W. Anderson and Barry Windham . He was also part of the Extreme Horsemen in Major League Wrestling with C. W. Anderson, Justin Credible and Simon Diamond . They were briefly managed by the legendary J. J. Dillon before MLW folded. Also, Corino went on to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship before the promotion was folded. In 2004 Corino made

12096-594: 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

12208-486: Was revealed through a leaked script of NXT Takeover WarGames that same month that Corino is currently working with NXT as a producer as he was credited for the NXT Championship match between champion Tommaso Ciampa and The Velveteen Dream for a role as a producer for that particular match. Corino is the older brother of retired independent wrestler Allison Danger , and has a half-brother whose first name

12320-612: 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

12432-436: 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

12544-519: 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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