Dr. K's Waiting Room

The Build-Up:
After wrestling guru Paul Heyman established a cult following in Philadelphia, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) produced their first-ever pay-per-view on this day in 1997. One of ECW’s biggest stars, Raven embarked on a lengthy and memorable feud with beloved underdog Tommy Dreamer that saw them fight over Beulah McGillicutty and Raven constantly best Dreamer. With ECW colliding with the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Raven due to leave for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the two were set to end their personal feud in a match that would banish the loser from ECW.

The Match:
Accompanied to the ring with Chastity and Lupus from his extremist “Nest” stable, Raven was showered with jeers of “You sold out!” from the ECW faithful, who historically had no love for the “Big Two” of professional wrestling. Despite this, Raven remained focused on his lifelong rival, who came to the ring with the gorgeous Beulah McGillicutty, whom Tommy Dreamer had wooed away from Raven’s clutches prior to the match. The two rivals briefly went nose-to-nose once the bell rang and then circled each other apprehensively before Lupus awkwardly took to the microphone and urged his “boss” to simply walk away as he had no reason to fight and nothing to prove. Although Raven took the advice and fled the ring, Dreamer shoved Lupus and pursued his archenemy through the raucous crowd, ramming him into a shutter door and smashing a steel chair across his spine amidst the braying masses. Dreamer bashed a fan’s juice bottle over Raven’s head, took a swig, and spat the red liquid into Raven’s face before they tumbled off the bleachers and through a merchandise table. Raven recovered first but failed to drive the bloodied Dreamer through a table as the hardware tipped over, spilling both to the concrete. Undeterred, Raven forced Dreamer onto a small stage on the bleachers and suplexed a table onto him before propping it against the wall and driving Dreamer through it. Raven then set a second table up and tried for a piledriver, only to bounce his tailbone off the wood when Dreamer countered with a back body drop. However, Dreamer crashed through the wood when Raven rolled off to avoid a running jogging body splash, leaving Dreamer favouring his elbow as “The Franchise” Shane Douglas and Franchise gleefully watched on.

Although Raven capitalised by tossing Dreamer into a steel barricade, Raven ate the metal and landed crotch-first on the barricade when Dreamer reversed a second attempt. Finally back at ringside, Dreamer planted Raven to the concrete with a running bulldog, splitting his forehead open, before tossing him into the crowd to whack a steel chair over Raven’s head. Fighting near the Philadelphia Eagles’ private box, Dreamer tried to haul Raven up a small ladder and ended up being dropped onto a vending machine and taking a few shots to the back from a steel chair. Once they returned to the ring, Raven tripped the dazed Dreamer into the chair with a drop-toe hold and dropped a fist to Dreamer’s balls. Raven then muscled Dreamer to the top rope and teased a superplex onto the chair. Although Dreamer fought back with a low blow, Tommy still took the bump when Raven tossed him from the top and into the chair with a Rocket Launcher, though Dreamer kicked out at two. Dreamer then countered a hip toss with a DDT and grabbed a fan’s sign, resulting in a tug of war that saw the referee get knocked down. Nevertheless, Dreamer bashed Raven with the sign and planted him with a piledriver onto it, only for Lupis to break up the cover and launch an ineffectual assault on Dreamer that Beulah ended with a DDT. Distracted by his woman, Dreamer got hit with a low blow and barely kicked out of a roll-up, only to return the favour and almost score the victory. Chasity then blasted Dreamer with hair spray for another near fall, leading to a cat fight between her and Beulah.

When Raven pulled Beulah off and tried to reconcile with her, he took another shot to the balls and ate a DDT from Dreamer, though he still kicked out before the three. When Dreamer signalled for a second DDT, Raven muscled him into the corner, taking the referee out again so there was no one to count the pin when Dreamer hit the DDT. Dreamer’s other rival, Louie Spicolli, then attacked Dreamer with a DDT, only for Dreamer to kick out of Raven’s follow-up pin. Although Dreamer countered Spicolli’s Death Valley Driver, he got drilled with Raven’s beautiful Evenflow DDT…for a two count! When Raven tried for a second, Dreamer landed a Death Valley Driver and triumphantly stood over his exhausted rival before hitting a DDT to finally get the better of Raven. Tommy Dreamer’s hard-fought victory was short-lived, however, as “Mr. Monday Night” Rob Van Dam suddenly attacked, egged on by his ever-annoying manager, Bill Alfonso, and aided by “The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death–Defying Maniac” Sabu, who threw a chair in Dreamer’s face and joined the “Whole Dam Show” in stomping Dreamer as Raven wandered from the ring. When Dreamer fought back with a double DDT, Jerry “The King” Lawler arrived and had his cronies assault Dreamer and the ECW roster with boots and steel chairs as part of the WWF/ECW invasion angle. After finally getting the mic to work, Lawler mocked the crowd and ECW, before eventually being chased off by the “Human Suplex Machine” Taz. Sadly, this all completely distracted from what was supposed to be a massive win for Dreamer, though it was honestly more memorable than most of the match, which was mainly a messy brawl through the crowd more than a brutal and personal war between these two hated enemies.

The Aftermath:
As per the match stipulation, Tommy Dreamer’s victory saw Raven kicked out of ECW. He made his dramatic return to WCW later that same month, watching matches from ringside to scout recruits for his newest band of misfits, the Flock, who eventually secured him the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in 1998. Dreamer was unsuccessful at getting payback on RVD and Sabu at the following month’s Orgy of Violence event as he and the Sandman were defeated by Lawler’s flunkies thanks to a surprise appearance by Jim Cornette. To make matters worse, Dreamer ended up in hospital getting his testicles drained after an errant low blow with a Singapore cane! This wasn’t the last time Dreamer and Raven crossed paths, however, as Raven was back in ECW by 1999 and unexpectedly won the World Tag Team Championship with his nemesis. When ECW folded in 2001, Raven and Dreamer ended up in the WWF prior to and during the ill-fated “Invasion” story. While they only had one match, it did result in Raven’s banishment to Heat being lifted…though Raven was released shortly after. Raven and Dreamer also fought with and against each other in Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and Pro Wrestling Superstars (PWS), but never recaptured the magic of their memorable and personal feud in ECW.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy this Loser Leaves Town match between Tommy Dreamer and Raven? Do you agree that their rivalry was a high point of ECW? Were you disappointed that so much of the match was basic brawling? What are some of your matches and moments of these two competitors? Whatever your thoughts on Dreamer, Raven, and ECW, leave them below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other ECW matches for the site.