Ranking the Top 10 WWE moments in Philadelphia

Cody Rhodes called Philadelphia the “perfect spot” for WrestleMania as next year’s showcase will take place over two days in April at Lincoln Financial Field. It will be the biggest show ever in a city that has long been a hotbed for pro wrestling. But it won’t be the first time an outdoor stadium in South Philly hosted the squared circle. In 1986, the NWA started their Great American Bash tour at Veterans Stadium with a ring atop the Phillies’ infield.

The city is well remembered for being a stomping ground for the WWE and for the genesis of ECW. But it was also a popular spot for the Southern-based NWA, who regularly held shows at the Civic Center. And their outside show at The Vet nearly 40 years ago provides a taste of what WrestleMania 40 will look like. In the main event, Dusty Rhodes teamed with Road Warrior Animal to win a tag-team cage match against Arn and Ole Anderson. It was outdoor wrestling in South Philly. His son, Cody, could find himself in a similar place next year.

The match was short and nothing remarkable but the last appearance on WWE TV by The Legion of Doom is historic. The Road Warriors — who regularly wrestled in Philly in the 1980s during their NWA days — made a surprise return in May of 2003 to WWE on Raw to challenge Kane and Rob Van Dam for the tag-team titles. It looked for a moment that the gold would be theirs before their Doomsday Device misfired. Hawk and Animal wrestled one more match for WWE — a non-televised bout a few days later — before moving on. Road Warrior Hawk died that October. One of pro wrestling’s all-time tag teams was famously billed from Chicago, but let’s not forget that Road Warrior Animal grew up in Northeast Philly as Joe Laurinaitis.

The Spectrum was an all-time WWE venue as the company stopped there nearly every month, making South Philly one of the promotion’s hubs. The double main event of SummerSlam 1990 — the Spectrum’s first pay-per-view event — saw Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior leave on top, but the undercard may have been more memorable. The Hart Foundation won their second tag-team title by defeating Demolition in a best-of-three falls match with a little help from the Legion of Doom. The match was great and so was the Hart Foundation’s backstage interview, which Bret Hart ended by referencing a Phil Collins song and saying he and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart would be “two hearts beating as one.” That’s how you get ready to fight.

» READ MORE: WrestleMania 40 tickets go on sale Friday. Here’s everything you need to know.

Ronda Rousey’s time in WWE hasn’t been all that memorable, but her debut at the end of the Royal Rumble in 2018 was significant. She was one of the biggest stars in combat sports and was joining the WWE on a full-time contract after a historic run in the UFC. Her time in WWE seems to be coming to a close, but it sounds like she’ll have a key role next year when WrestleMania returns to Philly — which would be fitting since it’s where she started.

ECW was born in South Philly at Swanson and Ritner Streets, where they revolutionized the wrestling business inside what is now the 2300 Arena. WWE’s “Invasion” angle was still years away, but the sight of ECW stars sitting ringside at a 1996 WWE pay-per-view gave wrestling fans a rare glimpse of watching wrestlers from rival companies on the same show. Paul Heyman, The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Taz were positioned ringside at what is now the Wells Fargo Center during the Mind Games pay-per-view. The ECW guys made their presence felt throughout the night. It was a neat touch as it was hard to tell if it was a work — the wrestling term for something that’s planned — or if it was organic and what the business calls a “shoot.”

It was obvious that a title change would happen here when the match was quickly thrown together after Rob Van Dam was arrested a day before on drug charges following a traffic stop. But it felt like the championship was headed back to John Cena, who Van Dam defeated less than a month earlier thanks to Edge’s assistance at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view. So it was a huge shock to see Edge win the title, especially in the dramatic way he won by stealing the pin from Cena. A perfect finish.

» READ MORE: WWE’s Cody Rhodes says Philly is the ‘perfect spot’ for WrestleMania’s 40th edition in 2024

Cody Rhodes described the Philadelphia wrestling crowd as “contrarian,” as the fans might not always go along with the way the show is promoted. And that seems like the perfect way to describe how they acted at Survivor Series in 2006. The stars of a five-on-five elimination match were supposed to be Shawn Michaels and Triple H, who had reunited months earlier as D-Generation X. But the Philly crowd only seemed interested in CM Punk, who made his name wrestling in South Philly at the Murphy Rec Center with Ring of Honor. They chanted Punk’s name until he was finally tagged in as they wanted to see the guy they watched in the old gym a few blocks away.

» READ MORE: CM Punk’s rise to pro wrestling’s ‘Best in the World’ can be traced back to a South Philly rec center

Forgotten in the boos for Roman Reigns after he won the 2015 Royal Rumble was a great triple-threat match earlier in the night for the WWE heavyweight title. Brock Lesnar spent the second half of the match on the outside of the ring, seeming to be actually injured after going through a table. But Lesnar recovered just at the right time — the way it always seems to happen — and reversed Rollins’ stomp with an F-5. A great finish to a great match.

WWE forever changed in January of 1984 when Hulk Hogan won his first title, which he would hold for 1,474 days. A few days earlier, the Iron Sheik — who was champion for just 28 days — made one of his final defenses in Philly before dropping the belt to Hogan. The Sheik fought Tito Santana to a double disqualification on Spectrum Wrestling, the show that aired on Prism and carried the cards from South Philly. He was interviewed before the match by Kal Rudman, one of the city’s radio pioneers who moonlighted as a WWF backstage announcer, “Killer Kal.” Dick Graham and Gorilla Monsoon, the WWE Hall of Famer from South Jersey, called the action. It was simple and it was how Philly watched wrestling. A few days later the business forever changed.

WWE tried everything to avoid Roman Reigns being booed after winning the Royal Rumble in January of 2015 as they even wrote The Rock, Reign’s real-life cousin, into the finish of the match. But the Philly crowd didn’t care as they jeered Reigns the whole night. So it was pretty stunning to see the way Reigns was revered months later when he won the heavyweight title from Sheamus in December of 2015 on Raw. The crowd went wild as Reigns won over Philly. It was a special moment. Next April, Reigns will likely be in the main event at the Linc. And who knows, maybe The Rock will be his opponent in a dream match.

WWE had a long relationship with Philadelphia but it took 15 years for the company to hold their signature event here. They twice hosted ‘Mania in Atlantic City before finally coming to South Philly in 1999. It was worth the wait as the show is considered to be the peak of the company’s “Attitude Era.” Steve Austin defeated The Rock in the main event as the icons met for the first of three WrestleMania showdowns. How much has WrestleMania grown since then? That event was held in front of 20,276 fans at what is now the Wells Fargo Center. Next year’s two-night event will have roughly 70,000 fans per night.