Last week, we spoke of a rivalry between two competitors that was built out of respect. This week, we review one that has burst out of seething hatred between two men, a hatred that has returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the past, a legendary past that we look back upon.
The year was 1994. A fledgling star by the name of Stevie Richards was on a somewhat impressive winning streak cloning the many ring personas of the man then known as "Johnny Polo." That streak ended towards the end the year when he came across the youngster known as Tommy Dreamer in Hamburg, PA. The shocked Richards pouted, claiming to anyone who listened that his idol would avenge the rookie's loss to Dreamer. Dreamer paid him no mind as he had a tour of All Japan Pro Wrestling to look forward to. Neither did anyone else; how fearful could anyone be of Johnny Polo?
Dreamer left for the Orient, but no sooner than he was gone, the man formerly known as Johnny Polo appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Now hiding something deep and disturbing behind his gritty slacker look and cryptic interviews, Raven had arrived. Leaving his new life as a roadie for Grunge rock Gods Pearl Jam behind, Raven took Richards under his wing as a protégé and used ECW's Television Network to taunt Dreamer from, yet never allowing anyone to understand the meaning behind his vague threats, only asking Dreamer if he "felt his pain." Back in Japan, however, Tommy Dreamer knew exactly what Raven was talking about, but being halfway across the world, he was powerless to stop him.
Dreamer returned to ECW in February of 1995 at "Double Tables." Welcomed back by ECW fans, Dreamer quickly made short work of Stevie Richards again, but when he challenged Raven to get in the ring, Raven stared coldly at him, and walked away. It was the beginning of a mind game that would make many turns over the next several years.
Raven continued to toy and taunt Dreamer, but would not touch him, almost as if he was so deeply depressed, he was unable to break out of the oppressive funk that held his dark presence. Finally, Dreamer could take no more and physically attacked Raven, who at first took the punishment, then snapped and the pair brawled back to the locker room, with wrestlers being unable to restrain them.
A month later, Raven struck first blood. Wrestling a Gauntlet match Dreamer defeated Richards, Johnny HotBody and Tony Stetson for the chance to face Raven in the ring. When he went to release a handcuffed Raven to wrestle, Raven was actually already free. Raven attacked and bloodied Dreamer. Handcuffed to the ropes, Dreamer was beaten as he helpless hung there, bleeding. Raven had crucified Dreamer. Dreamer had "felt his pain."
This led to their first singles match on April 8, 1995 at the "Three Way Dance." On this night, however, a turn in their lives that neither saw coming took place. Stevie Richards had tracked down the person who turned out to be the catalyst of their feud, a young woman named Beulah McGuillicuty, who went to summer camp as a child with both Raven and Beulah. Raven was enraged that Richards had tracked down the "fat piece of hell" from his past, but when Beulah arrived it was obvious this former Penthouse Pet had lost all baby fat.
Dreamer and Raven met in the ring. Dreamer had Raven defeated with a DDT, but came to his former childhood sweetheart's aid when Richards began choking her. Beulah thanked him by spraying hairspray in his eyes: It had been a setup. Raven DDT'd Dreamer on the concrete floor of the ECW Arena and pinned him. It would be the first of many setbacks for the man who would become to be known as "The Innovator of Violence."
After their first meeting it was apparent the two were mirror images of the other, yet opposites. While Dreamer earned his place with hard work and loyalty, Raven was the opposite, using others as a means to his end. Both utilized a lethal DDT, both relied on a brawling style that overshadowed their technical abilities, and both were quickly becoming linked as mortal enemies by fans and press alike.
A week after their first meeting, the pair met again at the second annual "Hostile City Showdown," with similar results. After destroying the ECW Arena as they brawled using everything they could get their hands on, including the kitchen sink, Dreamer had Raven pinned, but Richards tried to interfere. The referee, hoping to give the fans a clear cut winner, opted not to disqualify Raven, but Dreamer ended up knocking him unconscious and causing his own disqualification. Beulah went after Dreamer, but enraged, Dreamer turned her upside down and dropped her on her head in a piledriver. Although he had lost the match, Dreamer celebrated a moral victory over his past.
A month later, at "Enter the Sandman" Raven and Richards teamed to defeat Dreamer and Mikey Whipwreck when Dreamer again found himself disqualified. He tried to go after Raven but was held back by a number of wrestlers. Later that night, Raven and Richards attacked Dreamer and left him unconscious after DDTing him on a piece of steel grating. Dreamer returned to avenge that humiliation the same evening by attacking Raven and when Richards attempted to help his mentor, Luna Vachon attacked him and sent him scurrying.
Dreamer later revealed that while Raven had brought Beulah to ECW as a figure from his past to play mind games, Dreamer had entered into a game of one-upmanship by bringing in Luna, who Raven was attached to when they worked for the World Wrestling Federation.
May 1995 saw Extreme Championship Wrestling venture into the Sunshine State of Florida for the first time, but not even the change in climate could sedate the hatred between Dreamer and Raven. When ECW held a party where fans could mingle with the wrestlers at Killian's Rock Club in Fort Lauderdale, Raven took the chance to catch Dreamer unaware and attack him from behind.
Emotions continued to escalate as ECW entered the summer. At "Barbed Wire, Hoodies, and Chokeslams" Raven's interference allowed Beulah to pin Luna Vachon. Raven began beating on her and when Dreamer came to her aid, he walked into a trap as Raven and his cronies overcame him. In one of the most brutally graphic displays in ECW history, Raven viciously broke several of Dreamers fingers by snapping them in the ring, and then followed it up by handcuffing Luna to the ring ropes. Dreamer was forced to defend her, leaving himself prone for further beatings.
Raven and Richards won the ECW World Tag Team championships from a then-game Public Enemy at "Mountaintop Madness" and their first challengers were Dreamer and Luna at "Hardcore Heaven '95. Ahead of its time, Extreme Championship Wrestling was allowing its female performers to compete in a climate tantamount to the men years before other wrestling promotions would even consider it. Raven and Richards were hardly able to hold onto the championships.
At "Heatwave '95" Vachon faced Stevie Richards inside a Steel Cage. In the aftermath of the match, Dreamer and Raven brawled. Dreamer got the better of Raven and snapped his fingers, breaking them, then handcuffed Raven to the steel cage. Dreamer grabbed a steel chair and screamed his now trademark "E-C-W!" and slammed Raven in the head with the chair with a force that broke the steel chair apart. Perhaps the most famous incident in ECW's past, this moment has made more highlight reels than any other in ECW history. The "Innovator of Violence" was born. Raven was unconscious and vanquished. Tommy Dreamer had crucified the Raven and gained vengeance, or so he thought.
A month later, with Luna gone from ECW, a victim of the wars with Raven, Dreamer was teamed with the Pitbulls and Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) against Raven, Richards and the Dudley Boyz. In the midst of the match brawling out of control, Dreamer prepared to finish Raven off with a DDT in the center of the ring, but Cactus Jack attacked his friend, and left him laying, prey for Raven to gain the victory. Raven had gained a new follower: Cactus Jack.
Raven had many followers in what had been called the "Nest" but none with the dangerous reputation and respect Mick Foley held in the wrestling world. Cactus Jack went on the ECW Television network and blasphemed ECW, its concepts, and Dreamer for not walking away from the promotion. Suffering from a deep depression in part for his inability to gain revenge against Dreamer's mentor Terry Funk, Cactus warned Tommy that if he did not heed his advice to leave the promotion, Cactus would be forced to release his pain, the pain Raven had helped heal, by doing to Dreamer everything that had befallen Cactus Jack in his career. Dreamer confronted Raven and Cactus Jack. He was left unconscious and beaten. He was outnumbered. It was time to call his mentor.
On October 28, 1995, Dreamer with Terry Funk in his corner, faced Cactus Jack, with Raven in his corner. It was the first night Dreamer had main evented the ECW Arena. Dreamer was beaten beyond his physical limitations, but Funk and the ECW fans encouraged him on. Dreamer somehow came back and got the pin over Cactus Jack. Raven and Cactus attacked Dreamer. Terry Funk came to his protégé's aid. The lights went out, and in the madness, something terrible happened to Dreamer. When they returned, Dreamer was unconscious and bloody hanging by ropes in the Eagle's Nest, an alcove the ECW Arena where Joey Styles did commentary.
Raven stood before him and mocked him, making the crucifix before Dreamer's defeated form. No words were spoken, but the message was clear: Even in Dreamer's greatest victory, Raven would still defeat him. Tommy Dreamer would always feel his pain.
Next week, we continue to look back as we Tommy Dreamer attempts to rebound from this tremendous loss, Raven suffers a loss of his own, and the Legend of this feud continues to weave its web of violence.
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