Wrestlepalooza (1995)


Wrestlepalooza was the first Wrestlepalooza professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling. The event took place on August 5, 1995 at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a stretcher match, in which The Gangstas defeated The Public Enemy. On the undercard, Mikey Whipwreck defeated The Sandman in a Singapore cane match, 2 Cold Scorpio, Dean Malenko and Cactus Jack defeated Eddie Guerrero and The Steiner Brothers in a six-man tag team match and Raven, Stevie Richards and The Dudley Brothers defeated Tommy Dreamer, Cactus Jack and The Pitbulls in an eight-man tag team match.

Storylines

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches played out on ECW's television program Hardcore TV.
The Gangstas debuted in ECW at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams, where they attacked The Public Enemy. This led to a feud between Public Enemy and Gangstas as both teams exchanged wins at the Hardcore Heaven and Heat Wave events.
On the August 1 episode of Hardcore TV, Mikey Whipwreck won a battle royal to earn a title shot at The Sandman's ECW World Heavyweight Championship, which he received later in the main event. Sandman defeated Whipwreck to retain the title and then caned him seven times to injure him despite the referee's constant warnings, leading to a Singapore cane match between Whipwreck and Sandman at Wrestlepalooza.
At Hardcore Heaven, The Pitbulls left Raven's Nest by refusing to follow Raven's orders of superbombing Luna Vachon and they attacked their leader Raven instead. Pitbulls formed an alliance with Raven's rival Tommy Dreamer as the two teams defeated Raven and The Dudley Brothers at Heat Wave. On the July 25 episode of Hardcore TV, Raven's Nest attacked Pitbulls after their match until Luna Vachon and Dreamer made the save.
At Heat Wave, 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko defeated Eddie Guerrero and Taz in a tag team match. The two teams faced in a rematch on the July 25 episode of Hardcore TV, which Guerrero and Taz won. However, Taz broke his neck in the process and was put out of action. On the August 1 episode of Hardcore TV, The Steiner Brothers made their ECW debut alongside Taz and it was announced that Taz and Steiner Brothers would compete against Scorpio, Malenko and Chris Benoit in a six-man tag team match at Wrestlepalooza.

Event

Preliminary matches

In the opening match, J.T. Smith defeated Hack Meyers.
Next, Big Val Puccio defeated Tony Stetson by disqualification.
Next, the team of Tommy Dreamer, Cactus Jack and The Pitbulls took on Raven, Stevie Richards and The Dudley Brothers in an eight-man tag team match. Dreamer seemed to have the match won when he executed a Piledriver to Raven on a steel chair and then Jack turned heel on him by hitting him with a DDT, enabling Raven to pin Dreamer for the win.
This was followed by a six-man tag team match, in which Cactus Jack substituted for Chris Benoit, who had left ECW, as the tag team partner of 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko against the injured Taz's substitute Eddie Guerrero and the debuting Steiner Brothers. After a back and forth match, Guerrero attempted to hit a brainbuster to Malenko but Malenko countered with a roll-up, pinning Guerrero to gain the victory.
Later, The Sandman competed against Mikey Whipwreck in a Singapore cane match. Whipwreck hit a diving crossbody on Sandman to win the match. After the match, Sandman refused to take the lashes with the cane until the referee warned him to strip him of the World Heavyweight Championship if he did not cooperate and take the lashes. Sandman's valet Woman convinced Sandman to take the lashes until Sandman nailed Whipwreck with the cane shots. The Public Enemy made the save by attacking Sandman.

Main event match

Public Enemy took on The Gangstas in a stretcher match in the main event. The Sandman interfered in the match and attacked Rocco Rock, leading to Gangstas winning the match. After the match, Mikey Whipwreck made the save by caning Sandman with several shots.

Aftermath

Four matches of the event were later aired in syndication on the August 15 and August 22, 1995 episodes of Hardcore TV.
The involvement of The Sandman in Public Enemy's match against The Gangstas resulted in Mikey Whipwreck forming an alliance with Public Enemy to feud with Sandman and The Gangstas. The two teams competed in the titular Gangstas Paradise steel cage match at Gangstas Paradise.
The Pitbulls and Raven's Nest continued their rivalry as Raven and Stevie Richards defended the ECW World Tag Team Championship against Pitbulls in a two-out-of-three falls dog collar match at Gangstas Paradise.
Cactus Jack's betrayal of Tommy Dreamer led to the two men entering a rivalry against each other which carried on for the next few months, culminating in a tag team match where Dreamer teamed with Terry Funk to take on Jack and Raven at November to Remember.
Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko continued their feud after the event. On the August 8 episode of Hardcore TV, Guerrero defeated Malenko to capture the ECW World Television Championship. He would lose the title to 2 Cold Scorpio at a live event on August 25. On the August 29 episode of Hardcore TV, Guerrero and Malenko competed in a two out of three falls match, which ended in a draw. This was their farewell match as they left ECW to jump ship to World Championship Wrestling.

Results