Val Puccio

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time, we’ve got something weird- apparently when John Tenta was just starting out in wrestling, he was in ALL JAPAN of all places, teaming up with the Ace and weighing only 300-ish lbs., and fighting the legendary Road Warriors!

Also I found more of that bizarre Land of Giants team, as they take on… The Undertakers? Yes- it’s a pair of obese twins with a name the WWF actually bought off of them. Then wen see a “Battle of the Kings” as King Mabel decides to take out Ken Shamrock shortly after his King of the Ring victory- a shockingly good attempt at putting a guy over from MABEL of all people! And then, in a fantastically-terrible bout, come see the legendary POWER UTI, villain of Mick Foley’s first book and national hero of Nigeria, take on the worst wrestler in AEW- Doc “Super Festus” Gallows! And then we cap things off with WCW’s Wrath & Mortis vs. The Faces of Fear in a shockingly-good Hoss Brawl!

JUMBO TSURUTA & JOHN TENTA vs. THE ROAD WARRIORS (Hawk & Animal, w/ Paul Ellering):
(All Japan, 1987.6.8)
* Haha, oh Jesus- look at this! Baby John Tenta, fresh out of sumo and having lost a LOT of weight, is in the early stage of his pro wrestling career in All Japan as the Ace’s tag team partner, and they’re going up against the early form of the Road Warriors, in full black spike-vests and ’80s facepaint! Tenta, in his navy-blue singlet with a Canadian flag on it, is almost unrecognizable, being barely 300 lbs. and scarcely larger than Jumbo- he’s all straight lines! Even at 24 he’s lost almost all the hair on top of his head, though.

Joey Styles calls the action, coming from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from August 26.

Joey Styles says that tonight’s footage will come Wrestlepalooza ’95, which took place at the ECW Arena on August 5.  He reviews some of the events that transpired there, including the Sandman caning Mikey Whipwreck until Woman told him to stop because she did not want the Sandman to forfeit the ECW Championship.  The Sandman sat in the ring as part of a strike, triggering a confrontation with the Public Enemy because they had a stretcher match with the Gangstas.  A disjointed recap over still photographs reveals that the Sandman cost the Enemy the match and that Whipwreck returned to battle with the Sandman after the match was over.

The Enemy and Whipwreck are in the hood, with the Enemy giving Whipwreck a Public Enemy jacket.  They try to educate him in the ways of the street before Johnny Grunge screams about the Enemy being the “MacDaddys of violence in ECW” and that they are going to take the Sandman to the extreme.  As all three walk away, Whipwreck does the Enemy’s celebration wave.

Footage of fans celebrating in the ring with Public Enemy at one of ECW’s Florida shows, and the ring collapsing because of it, is shown.

Joey Styles says that the matches on tonight’s show come from the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, New York.

Highlights of Tommy Dreamer, the Pitbulls, and Luna Vachon fighting Steve Richards, the Vampire Warrior, Raven, and the Dudley Brothers in Florida is shown.

Joey Styles calls the matches on the card, which come from ECW’s July 21 show from Tampa, Florida.

Joey Styles does commentary for the show, which took place at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 15.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew 1,000 fans.

Joey Styles does the commentary from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The show took place on July 1, 1995 and, according to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for June 10, it drew a crowd of 1,075.

Joey Styles does commentary for the show, which took place at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 17.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the card drew a crowd of 1,150 fans.