IMPACT Wrestling traveled to the ECW Arena in May 2019 for television tapings that were centered around ECW legends such as Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Tommy Dreamer.
During the tapings, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander teamed with Moose to take on the legendary ECW trio and Page was worried things were going to get a little "old school" due to a backstage conversation he had with Dreamer prior to the match.
"You're talking about Sabu, not talking bad about him, and literally Sabu walks out of the backroom, you see him and are like, 'He knows I wasn't talking about him, right?' Now, I have to work this up a little," Dreamer recalled on his House of Hardcore podcast. "We put together the match and Sabu tells Josh, 'just shoot around with me.' Josh shoots around with Sabu and as soon as he does something, Sabu goes, 'fuck! Guy is crowbar!' The spot doesn't get messed up, but they were shooting around. They break, Sabu comes to the corner and goes, 'Guy is crowbar. He's stiff.' I go, 'then just tag me in.' 'Fuck you, Dreamer' and he tags me in. That was our conversation and it's normal to us."
Dreamer had stated earlier in the conversation that wrestlers used to carry blades and other weapons on them back in the day in case fans got a little rowdy, which worried Page as he heard Sabu saying Alexander was working a little too stiff.
Page gave his side of the story, saying, "I'm freaked out because you tell me [Sabu] is gonna stab people and then I hear him say that Josh is stiff. Josh comes over and I'm like, 'Is he gonna stab you, Josh? I'm pretty sure there's an issue with what's happening. He looks hot, he's yelling at Dreamer.' I don't know if we can even do the rest of the match at this point. It's ECW Arena, he's around his friends, and I'm convincing myself that I or Josh will be stabbed by Sabu."
Fortunately, no one was stabbed during or after the match.
The ECW legends were victorious at those particular tapings, but The North got the upper hand in a tag team match against Sabu & RVD at the next set of tapings at Melrose Ballroom.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Page explained the origin of The Karate Man gimmick. You can find the story by clicking here.
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