Today in ECW History - June 1st

 

Today in ECW History - June 1st, 1996

ECW Fight The Power

ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

• Devon Storm def. El Puerto Ricano
• Rob Van Dam def. Mikey Whipwreck
• The Full Blooded Italians (JT Smith and Little Guido) def. The Dudley Boys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley)
• Taz def. Jason Helton
• 6-Man Elimination Tag Team Match: The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2) and Tommy Dreamer def. Brian Lee and The Bruise Brothers (Ron Harris and Don Harris)
• ECW World Heavyweight Championship: Raven (c) def. Pitbull #2 to retain the title
• The Sandman def. Stevie Richards
• ECW World Television Championship: Shane Douglas (c) def. El Puerto Ricano to retain the title
• ECW World Television Championship: Shane Douglas (c) def. Don E. Allen to retain the title
• ECW World Television Championship: Shane Douglas (c) def. Devon Storm to retain the title
• ECW World Television Championship: Shane Douglas (c) def. Mikey Whipwreck to retain the title
• ECW World Television Championship: Pitbull #2 def. Shane Douglas (c) to win the title
• ECW World Tag Team Championship: The Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) (c) def. The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) to retain the titles

Wrestler birthday(s): Ian Rotten, formerly of The Bad Breed (with Axl Rotten) turns 53 years old today. Ian is best remembered in ECW for his teaming with Axl Rotten, which ended in a bloody and violent feud which lasted throughout the summer of 1995. After the feud, Rotten would be fired from the promotion and he returned to his home of Louisville, Kentucky where he founded the promotion IWA: Mid South in early 1996. 

Wrestler death(s): In 1998, wrestling legend Junkyard Dog passed away at the age of 45 years old. JYD made his last public appearance on May 3rd, 1998 at ECW's WrestlePalooza 1998 pay-per-view event from Marietta, Georgia. 

In 2015, wrestler Tommy Rogers (of The Fantastics) passed away at the age of 54. Rogers appeared in ECW at various times between 1997 and 1999 and had a brief feud with Jerry Lynn. He was also known to work backstage at ECW events as a sort of road agent to the talents due to his experience in the business. He would return to WCW in 2000, shortly before the company folded. In 2005, he and Bobby Fulton reunited and reformed the Fantastics on the independent wrestling circuit, where they won the SCW Tag Team Championships by defeating The Midnight Express in a steel cage match. He would have hip replacement surgery in 2007 and retired following that. On June 1st, 2015, he was found dead in his Honolulu, Hawaii home by his room mate. The cause of death was never released to the public to my knowledge. 

In 2018, wrestler Rockin' Rebel passed away at the age of 52. Rebel was one of the talents that was an ECW original as he had came from Joel Goodhart's Tri-State Wrestling Alliance promotion that ECW founder Tod Gordon bought out when he formed Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992. Rebel (real name: Chuck Williams) died of an apparent murder suicide after he and his wife Stephanie were found dead. In the early hours of June 1st, 2018, he apparently fatally shot his wife Stephanie, before turning the gun on himself. Tragically, their bodies were found by their children, who were only 10 years old at the time. Following the tragedy, the family of Rebel reportedly donated his brain for CTE research. CTE is allegedly the condition in which Chris Benoit had before he allegedly did the horrific things that he allegedly did. This could be another case of someone with CTE who blew up.