Credit: Mike Johnson and Pwinsider.com
The first-ever Legends of Wrestling event at The New York Mets’ Citifield in Flushing, NY was held yesterday featuring meet and greets and a Q&A followed by a legends wrestling show. The number I’ve heard from a few people in terms of attendance is 4-5 thousand, which sounds awesome, but that’s barely 1/10th of Citifield and there were a lot of discounted tickets available on sites like DailySocial and Groupon and I had a few friends who happened to be at nearby Flushing Meadow Park the day of the show tell me they were offered comp tickets by someone walking through the park the morning of the show.
The ring was set up in the Stadium’s outfield, which is weird considering the infield would be a lot closer to the fans. Rob Van Dam was a mystery opponent facing Scott Steiner in the main event. They went about 8 minutes with Van Dam winning with a Van Daminator. Steiner was accompanied by Doc Gallows while RVD had Bret Hart with him. The heels beat down Van Dam, leading to Bill Goldberg entering a wrestling ring for the first time in years to make the save and hit a spear to close the show while making the save. Steiner cut a promo knocking Hulk Hogan before the show, which is either really funny or dumb based on your perspective given the TNA lawsuit against him and Hogan’s wife pressing criminal charged against Steiner in California after Wrestlemania weekend.
Ric Flair was there and did an in-ring promo, only to be confronted by Aces & Eights, Luke Gallows and Mr. Anderson of TNA fame. The Nasty Boys hit the ring for the save and then beat Aces in what we were told is a pretty stiff, brutal match with a lot of weapons shots. Brian Knobbs was one of the primary people putting the show together.
Matt Sydal defeated Luke Gallows in what I was told was a great big man vs. little man bout.
Tommy Dreamer and Brian Myers both went the local babyface route using New York Mets-inspired clothing to get pops. Dreamer wore a Mets jersey en route to defeating former TNA star Wes Briscoe. Myers, the former Curt Hawkins, who now bills himself as the “Prince of Queens” with blue and orange inspired gear, played babyface en route to pinning Tyrus, the former Brodus Clay.
Hacksaw Duggan worked his basic match against Robbie E, with each playing a lot to the crowd before Duggan got the pin with the three point stance.
The opener saw Flex Armstrong & Andy Anderson (managed by Greg Valentine) defeated Bam Shaw and Mr. TA (with John Cena, Sr.) These talents work for Big Time Wrestling, who’s banner were being used by the event in NYC.
The show used Matt Striker and Ashley Massaro for live commentary. Virgil and Lita appeared during the pre-show signing. Former WCW ring announcer David Penzer was brought in for the show.
I was told it was pretty obvious the Stadium staff was overwhelmed by wrestling fans and there was a long intermission with no explanation before the final matches. I know a lot of other major leage teams were waiting to see how this show did before pulling the trigger on similar events. The impression I had is that there was a lot of money spent on talent and beyond the Mets pushing it themselves, there wasn’t a lot of local promotion until the last few days. There wasn’t even a card released until the days leading up to the show. I’ve heard differing reports on whether the show was filmed or not.
