10 Huge Pops WWE Fans Gave To Outsiders

2. ECW

Sandman Paul Heyman Tommy Dreamer ECW
WWE.com

Is it really an invasion if the whole thing is an agreed promotional opportunity? No, obviously not, but this is professional wrestling. Everything is a work is a shoot is a work, so it is generally best to enjoy everything at face value and try not to analyse it all too much. The same goes for wrestling-centric lists.

Anyway, ECW was just making a bit of headway in 1996, and Vince McMahon wasn’t about to ignore an opportunity to broaden the horizons and pop a crowd. WWE was running In Your House: Mind Games in Philadelphia, a notorious hotbed of ECW loyalist fans. Even in wrestling, two plus two equals four.

The show is best remembered for the fantastic Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind WWF Championship match, but it may be the ECW invasions that make it of most historic importance. As Savio Vega and Justin Hawk Bradshaw were strapping seven shades of tar out of each other, none other than The Sandman spat beer at Vega before smashing himself over the head with his beer can. The crowd was more confused than anything else, but the pop was there.

All that changed by the time Taz jumped the rail the next night on RAW. Holding aloft a sign that read ‘Sabu Fears Taz’, the Human Suplex Machine received a wild ovation from the Philly crowd as British Bulldog, Owen Hart and the Bodydonnas looked on from the ring.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.