WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray shares about the incredible night of debut ECW Pay-Per-View Event
Bubba Ray Dudley, aka Bully Ray, posted a heartfelt video of the 25th Anniversary of ECW Barely Legal pay-per-view, the inaugural pay-per-view event held by the original ECW promotion led by Paul Heyman.
Bully Ray shared a video that showcased the legendary speech of Paul Heyman and all the other stars listening to it. He also mentioned that it was an incredible night. IT was captioned as “we changed the world.”
Happy 25th Anniversary to #BarelyLegal and to all my fellow ECW wrestlers who shared that incredible night. We all did what they said couldn’t be done. We changed the world.
Barely Legal was held at the legendary ECW Arena in Philadelphia on April 13, 1997. The show was headlined by WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk, defeating The Sandman and Stevie Richards in a Three-Way Dance to become the new #1 contender.
Paul Heyman marks the 25th Anniversary of ECW Barely Legal
Heyman took to Instagram this week and shared about the historic milestone. He posted behind-the-scenes footage from Barely Legal and also commented on how ECW took on WWE and WCW, which was, according to him, the “ most hyper-competitive environment” in pro wrestling history.
The Special Counsel said that he will forever be indebted to the ECW fans and will spend the rest of his career continuing the passion, drive and ambition to be part of something where the level of performance is extreme.
April 13, 1997: #ECW’s very first PPV, BarelyLegal.
Sigh.
I suck at being nostalgic. I’m still too ambitious, looking for new things to accomplish. Yet I would be remiss if I didn’t say SOMETHING about this anniversary. ECW Barely Legal did not take place at a time where there was 1 brand so dominant, it was easy for companies to call themselves alternative or revolutionary. We took on two billion-dollar companies during the most hyper-competitive environment in the history of the industry.
ECW’s fight to get on PPV has been covered in books, documentaries, et al. From PPV distributors’ confusion w/ MMA; our competitors doing everything to keep us off PPV; our uncompromising insistence on doing the show w/ our directors, a one-man announce booth, from the world’s most infamous bingo hall on literally the wrong side of the tracks in South Philly; we were willing to die before we’d sell out our vision.
As much credit as we get for being outlaws, true to our cause … we weren’t the ones who got ECW cleared on PPV. It was our fans.The emails; letter-writing campaigns; bombarding cable company execs w/ round-the-clock faxes (what’s a FAX?); picketing #Cablevision offices. ECW was a true revolution.
We didn’t have sponsors, billion-dollar trust funds, secret financiers. We had balls, a belief in ourselves and our fans, who championed the cause, changed the industry forever.
I don’t like writing these looks back because the journey to PPV was filled with such moment-by-moment heart-pounding pressure, it’s impossible to encapsulate in mere words. It’s why I’ve shunned all pushes for a scripted movie to be made about it. #BubbaRayDudley likes to say ECW was wrestling’s version of #Napster. We weren’t meant to last. We were there to lead the revolution, indeed evolution, of where the business would go. I often tap out trying to describe it better.
We did it. We made it. The ECW fans got us there.
For that, I will forever be indebted … and I’m going to spend the rest of my career continuing that passion, drive, ambition to over-deliver past anyone’s expectations; to be part of something where the level of performance is … all puns intended…EXTREME!
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