Fans dressed to impress, ECW tributes, a title change, and the best moments from Monday Night Raw in Philly
It’s always entertaining when WWE comes to town, especially in a city this steeped in wrestling history.
The Wells Fargo Center was flooded with fans wearing luchador masks, championship belts, and outfits paying tribute to their favorite WWE superstars — past and present — as the arena hosted Monday Night Raw on the road to WWE Crown Jewel.
The two-hour show made its return to Philadelphia for the first time since the post-WrestleMania edition of Raw took place earlier this year in April. From title changes and returns to fans cherishing Philadelphia’s rich wrestling history, here’s everything you missed on Monday night in South Philly …
Fans dressed ready for action
Fans came dressed ready for action on Monday night — including four fathers, Anthony Bucci, Todd Staples, Erik Iverson, and Scott Ritterman, and their seven sons. They all arrived to the event dressed as iconic wrestlers from the past, including The Rock, Ric Flair, Big Boss Man, Macho Man, Mr. Perfect, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and Hulk Hogan.
It looks like the fathers are teaching their kids about the greats while they’re still young. And their wives approved … kind of.
“The wives let us loose,” Bucci said. “They kind of looked at us like, ‘ … Oh.’”
Lets just say the interview went exactly how one would predict, even if some of the kids tried to cut their own WWE promo in the middle.
Philly-themed wrestling gear
For fans who weren’t sporting their own wrestling gear, they could buy new gear at the tables located in the concourse — including special Philadelphia themed merchandise.
Jey Uso was seen cutting a promo backstage in one of the shirts — a Yeet City Flyers themed shirt. The other Philly-themed shirts included a “Stone Cold” Steve Austin shirt with “Philly 3:16″ written across the front, as well as a Philadelphia Nightmare Cody Rhodes shirt. Fans could also get exclusive Philadelphia sports championship title belts at the event.
Fans cherish the rich wrestling history in Philly
Philadelphia has a rich history of wrestling, especially at the corner of Swanson and Ritner Streets, the former home of Extreme Championship Wrestling. The promotion blazed a trail of hardcore wrestling that included flaming chairs, thumbtacks and blood … lots of it. Fans continued to show love to ECW at Monday Night Raw.
“We all know ECW, ECW, ECW,” said Seth George, who was dressed as wrestler Montez Ford. “It started here in Philly. It’s a wrestling town and to bring Raw to Philly, it’s always special. You look around, you see a huge crowd. You see big energy. Philly is wrestling.”
The Philadelphia fans won’t have to wait too long for WWE’s next return to the city. WWE announced that NXT will broadcast live from the former ECW Arena, now called the 2300 Arena, on November 6th. Fans like Amahr Brown are excited for the WWE’s return to the House of Hardcore.
“So the history behind, as you can see I have the ECW shirt on,” Brown said pointing at his shirt. “The history behind ECW for me, their story in the way that they went up and they went down, they have this aura to them. It’s always been a dream.
“I’ve gotten to come to Wells Fargo, I’ve wanted to go to Madison Square Garden. Now, I get to go to the ECW Arena to watch the new generation, see Trick Williams, Je’Von [Evans], and everybody just go absolutely insane.”
Memorable Monday Night Raw at Wells Fargo
When it comes to memorable moments in wrestling, the Wells Fargo Center has hosted its own iconic returns, high-stake matches, and landmark episodes. That continued that Monday with the return of the Wyatt Sicks. The group, led by Uncle Howdy, attacked the Final Testament during the show — getting up close and personal with the crowd.
The Philadelphia faithful also witnessed a title change in the main event. Bron Breakker defeated Jey Uso to win the Intercontinental Title — due to some interference from the Bloodline. Uso’s title reign came to an end in just 27 days.
The return of Lilian Garcia
Lilian Garcia made her return to the WWE on Monday Night Raw. This comes after announcer Samantha Irvin announced her departure from the WWE earlier in the day on Monday.
Garcia was previously with the WWE from 1999 to 2009 and then made a second run from 2011-2016. During the show, Garcia was welcomed with an announcement from the New Day, a tag team featuring Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.