Misnik's Musings 11/11/99
ECW most certainly made it a November to Remember with its last PPV offering of the year. No question about it- the show was outstanding top to bottom and everyone gave their all. While back I wrote about how if any one “deserved” to have a PPV, it was the fans of Buffalo, New York. They certainly didn’t disappoint adding to what was a memorable PPV and weekend as well.
Where as much will be sad about the event itself (as it damn well should be), I’d like to talk about the entire weekend as a whole and “report” from the scene.
First off – congratulations to the entire ECW team for an outstanding time. Weekend kicked off w/ a fan fest at the Broadway Market. Now, the Market is basically a farmers market, which is made up with stands and a large selection of meats and delicacies geared towards the large Polish populous of Buffalo. I was actually disappointed that the cruschiki stand was closed.
The Fan Fest was well represented by all of the superstars of ECW. They were split up “face and heel” on either sides of a broadcast area set up by the Edge 103.3 who was one of the co-sponsors of the event, along with WB 49 which airs ECW Hardcore TV in Buffalo, NY. Some 1500 fans attended the event and were able to get autographs and pictures. They had a chance to get their hands on some of the great new ECW merchandise. Needless to say that the ECW magazine was one of the biggest sellers of the day so that the fans had something to get autographed.
There was also a silent auction of special- one of a kind ECW items donated by the superstars. Items offered were Joel Gertner’s neck brace, pair of Nova’s gloves, Tajiri’s Japanese flag (won by ecwnews.com’s own Todd Daigler), one of Jim Molineaux’s referee shirts and more. The funds raised from the auction went to the Make A Wish Foundation.
The legendary Anchor Bar provided the wings for a Buffalo Wing eating contest between Joel Gertner and Sal E Graziano. Joel made it over Sal in a sprint, especially considering Joel had the super spicy suicidal wings. In celebration, Joel drank 2 bottles of the sauce and also the dressing for the celery. Some of the wings that Raven and Axl Rotten took from Sal’s box didn’t count toward his total.
The event was covered by much of the local media, including the Empire Sports Network as they had “Ivan the Impaler”, host of the “Off the Top Rope” wrestling show, which is seen Tuesday nights at 9:30 pm on Empire.
The mood at the Fan Fest was great- all of the wrestlers and fans were in good moods looking forward to the big show. Raven even added to the fun and confusing some of the fans as he signed names other than his own to posters and pictures. Some of the names that showed up included Paul Heyman, Baron Mikel Scicluna and Chainsaw Charlie to name a few. Luckily too, the tables were set up down wind of some of the aforementioned Polish foods.
But, one thing that stood out in my mind and the mind of everyone else was the excitement of the fans about ECW not only being back, but also being there for a pay per view and a November to Remember. I have had the opportunity to attend most of ECW”s PPV’s live and be around for a weekend and have never had more of a response than I had from wearing an ECW shirt or cap than I did in and around Buffalo. Thanks a lot again to all the folks who had kind words about ecwnews.com for either Todd Daigler or myself while we were around the Fan Fest or Walden Galleria in our shirts.
The Bert Flickinger Center is an excellent place to see ECW. Not really a bad seat in the house and even though I watched the show from up top on the running track, I tried to make my way around the building to get the flavour of what was going on with the fans and was not at all disappointed. Merchandise sales were brisk and there was a legitimate 3500 + in attendance live. With the exception of the areas blocked off for the TV cameras, there was not an open seat in the place. The fans were in it from the opening bell to the last and had a great time. Hey, why not, what a show. I hung out some in the lobby afterwards and the reactions were great and people pumped up from what was a hell of a show.
With a return date of April 8,2000
already announced, the buzz is already starting for ECW to come back to town-
why not- seems like the two were made for each other.