The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “palooza” as a large-scale festival or event, characterized by a specific thing or person. While CM Punk finds the name “ridiculous,” Wrestlepalooza kicked off a new era of WWE PLEs on ESPN. Wrestlepalooza was originally an event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) until the company went out of business in 2001, and WWE acquired the assets in 2003.

Wrestlepalooza is not the first time WWE has used an event name from ECW’s past. Heatwave was ECW’s summertime pay-per-view and is now an NXT PLE. ECW held four Wrestlepalooza events, featuring a total of 29 matches between 1995 and 2000. Despite ECW’s reputation for consistently delivering memorable cards, there is one Wrestlepalooza to rule them all.

Wrestlepalooza ‘97 emanated from South Philadelphia’s ECW Arena on Saturday, June 7, 1997. It was a fun time to be a diehard wrestling fan as the Monday Night War was on fire. WCW Monday Nitro was 12 months into its infamous streak, beating WWF Monday Night Raw in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, ECW influenced changes within the industry, in front of and behind the camera.

Wrestlers were constantly jumping ship to different promotions, creating a “You never know who will show up next” atmosphere across the big three promotions in the United States. A hallmark of ECW was its ability to make the most of its shocking arrivals. One of ECW’s top stars was leaving the promotion for greener pastures, while a star from another company crashed the party in lights-out fashion.

The voice of ECW, Joey Styles, and “Ravishing” Rick Rude opened the show to announce a change to the world title match. Stevie Richards was pulled from the match due to what was thought to be a career-ending neck injury. Terry Funk would now defend the ECW World Heavyweight Championship against the Triple Threat’s Chris Candido on short notice.

Continue reading “ECW Wrestlepalooza ’97 Review: Dreamer vs. Raven, Taz’s Triumph, and Lawler’s Invasion” →