NWA Bloodfest

NWA Bloodfest
The ECW Arena.
PromotionEastern Championship Wrestling
DateOctober 1, 1993
October 2, 1993
(aired October 5 to November 9, 1993)
CityPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, US
VenueECW Arena
Attendancec. 250 (night one)[1]
c. 400 (night two)[2]
Event chronology
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NWA Bloodfest was a professional wrestling live event produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on October 1 and October 2, 1993. The event was held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States.

NWA Bloodfest was the second ECW event to be produced by Paul Heyman, who had taken over booking of the promotion from Tod Gordon earlier that year. The commentator for the event was Joey Styles, whose commentary was added following the event in post-production. Excerpts from the event aired on episodes #26 to #31 of ECW Hardcore TV, ECW's syndicated television program, in October and November 1993.[3]

The event saw the debut of Sabu, the Tazmaniac (the future "Taz"), and Tommy Dreamer - all of who would go on to be ECW mainstays - as well as the Bad Breed. Heyman used the event to catapult Sabu to the top of the promotion. On the first night, Sabu defeated the Tazmaniac; he was led to the ring on a gurney wearing chains to establish his character. During the match, Sabu's "daredevil tactics" won him the favor of the ECW crowd. On the second night, Sabu defeated Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.[4] Heyman also used the event to build sympathy for Tommy Dreamer by having him repeatedly kick-out before being pinned by The Tazmaniac.[3]

NWA Bloodfest has been described as marking the onset of the "more darkly violent direction" for ECW under Heyman's leadership.[4] Heyman used the event to condition the audience to accept that "there really are no bad guys or good guys", noting "in every segment the guy that they didn't want to win won".[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kreikenbohm1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kreikenbohm2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Loverro2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Williams2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).