#118 – Shane Douglas vs Bam Bam Bigelow, October 16, 1997
Dre and the Black Cat take a look back this week at a gem of a match between Shane Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow for the ECW title in at the legendary Elk’s Lodge. They also go over their trip to New Orleans, feedback from the Coal Miner’s Glove match show, and receive another visit from good ol’ Liz Hunter. Please support the Old School Wrestling Podcast by visiting flairchop.com to purchase our book “The OSWP 500,” our collected volumes of the first 75 episodes, an OSWP t-shirt, or one of our beautiful posters.
Hey Guys,
another great show!
growing up in queens and not far from the Elks lodge, i am ashamed to say i never saw ECW there.
i did however see the first ever ECW Show in NY, which was also in queens at the Lost Battalion Hall.its is about a 2 minute car ride up queens Blvd from the elks lodge.
the details are foggy but i want to say it was late 1995 or early 1996 and Sabu headlined, and i only remember that because he leaped into the crowd and almost landed on me.
ECW was definetly one of my favorite wrestling memories from the 90’s.
Have fun in NOLA and again get to the WW2 Museum and see the film “Beyond all Boundaries” its a 4-d movie that will have you shell shocked by the time you leave the theater.
Hello guys another great show. I remember watching the first ECW PPV on my illegally modified cable box… What a great time period for wrestling.
ON the HEll in the Cell verses War Games arguement. Hell in the Cell is the Match that War Games always dreamed of being. Hell in the Cell is a better concept and is a better match overall.
However looking at Wrestling in the 80’s I can understand someones arguement that War Games was better. There was nothing like it at the time and it did always contain the top starts of the promotion. Ofcouse understanding their point of view doesnt make them any less wrong.
In the 80’s I loved Brutus the Barber but watch his matches now…. They are crap
Used to love Billy Jack Haynes as well.. Again Crap.
The fact is looking at War Games Nastagically and remembering the emotions you felt when you were younger is not the same thing as having a solid match or a good Match concept.
Finally to prove my point- When was the last War Games match?
When was the last Hell in the Cell match?
There is a reason why one of these matches is not longer done in professional Wrestling.
Hey Boys,
Outstanding show this week! You hit the nail on the head about the love, or lack thereof, between The Franchise and the Philly fans. We F-ing hated him!! Even I did, and I usually love the heels. Douglas was so good at playing the Philly fans at the ECW Arena. One time, he wore a New Jersey Devils Scott Stevens jersey to the ring for his interview. This was after Stevens almost decapitated Flyer Eric Lindros in game 7 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Semi Finals, which we lost after leading 3 games to 1. Another time, he wore a Red Wings shirt and came into the ring with a broom, after the Red Wings swept the Flyers 4 games to none in the Stanley Cup Finals. Dirty bastard!!I was so happy when Bigelow beat him! One of the great ring psychologists of our time!
By the way, I’m posting a picture on your Facebook page. Once again…it’s Swanson and RITNER not Richter!!! Just like it’s not Apner, Embersol, Heffner, etc.
Take care!
I could listen to Dre and The Black Cat do interpretive readings of PWI interviews all day long. Perhaps a secondary podcast could be in the works? Dre and The Black Cat perform PWI.
And boys, boys, boys. Let’s just say that Francine was to me what Woman was to Dre and The Black Cat. Between Francine and Sunny, wrestling was a great thing to watch in my teens. Sunny days!
I always thought Shane Douglas was a bit forgotten in the history of wrestling. Maybe it was his outspoken nature, but I found him to be very entertaining, even when he went to WCW at the end of its run (kind of negating his whole hatred of Ric Flair thing).
Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader are probably my two favorite big men as far as wrestling ability goes. Akeem is my favorite fatty, but obviously couldn’t do a ton in the ring. I thought Brodus Clay could have been the next great monster big man, but instead they turned him into a funky dinosaur. Full disclosure, I loved that for the first few weeks. But like most of the current stuff, it didn’t evolve at all (dinosaur pun not intended).
Keep up the great work boys and I can’t wait for the next episode!
Hi guys. Recently discovered the podcast and am greatly emjoying it. Thought I’d throw in my two cents on this weeks discussion. I too was at the Pittsburgh ECW pay per view and it was exactly as described except you failed to mention the most memorable moment – there was a beach ball being batted around by the crowd as we awaited the start of the show. For whatever reason, there was a small boy who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old seated at ringside and someone batted the ball towards him. He misjudged his swat at the ball and it flew over the guard rail and into the ringside area. This, of course, prompted a loud, long chant of You F’ed Up! at him. Very funny to see his sheepish reaction to that classic ECW response. Can’t imagine how the bra and panties match didn’t make the top 3 stipulation matches, or for that matter the XPW classic buck naked match. Also a little disappointed that the putting up of a manager, valet or girlfriend wasn’t mentioned. And while I was thinking about that, I recalled the single worst stip match of all time – the ladder match for custody of Domenic Mysterio-Guerrero. I know it was highly rated and a lot of people were interested in the angle but the stip was ridiculous. It was one thing when Lori Fullington and her son abandoned Sandman for Raven – that played right into Ravens character. Eddie and Rey were in a ladder match for custody papers. Its wrong on so many levels. Starting to wonder how CYS would respond to that. Anyway, my vote for the best stip goes to Loser Must Eat Dog Food Match. Thats always a classic and always generates an awesome crowd reaction.
I haven’t seen much of ECW, apart from some recent video/podcast reviews of old PPV’s, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The place seemed like a bear pit and if you weren’t a strong character, then you’d never get anywhere in ECW. Ric Rude didn’t seem to be too bothered to be there (as the cloths choice suggests) and his face was a picture (I bet the he thought that he’s come a long way down from the classic Wrestlemania/Royal Rumble/Summerslam matches, he once had).
I was impressed with the match, as it was smooth and wasn’t too long, as I’m not sure how much was left in Bam Bam’s tank at this point. I did take not that the intro was longer than the actual match. Maybe that’s where WWE has taken some tips from?
Another great show guys. I like these short 1 match podcasts 🙂
Nearly up to date now and flicking through my OSWP 500 book at my leisure time.
And a small side note about Bam Bam is that even though his post WWE life wasn’t the best. I do believe there was a story of him saving the life of a child who was in a burning house. So kudos Bam Bam.