Yesterday was the 20th anniversary in which the “Curtis Comes Home” Benefit took place that brought talent from all major companies including WWF, WCW, ECW and Smokey Mountain Wrestling to honor Brian Hildebrand (also known as manager and WCW referee Mark Curtis) who was battling stomach cancer. Hildebrand was from the Pittsburgh area and talent such as Mick Foley, Bruno Sammartino, Dominic DeNucci and Jim Cornette were on hand for appearances and top talent such as Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit and Shane Douglas competed on the card. In addition to that, the WWF Intercontinental & European Championships were defended in a match between D’Lo Brown and Al Snow with Foley as the special guest ref. The match went to a no decision after Foley locked in a mandible claw on both competitors and Hildebrand made the visible three count. The entire event raised over $20,000 that all performers completely donated their services to honor Hildebrand. It was only weeks after when Hildebrand passed away at the age of 37. You can re-live the full card below courtesy of announcer Hank Hudson:
*****EXACTLY TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY, JULY 30, 1999, ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP (BELLE VERNON), PA, ROSTRAVER ICE GARDEN, THE “CURTIS COMES HOME” BENEFIT WRESTLING SPECTACULAR, COMPLETE MATCH RESULTS*****
SHOW ORGANIZERS: Dr. Mark Keenan (Cody Michaels) and Troy Martin (Shane Douglas)
*****In a unique professional wrestling spectacular never duplicated before or since, wrestlers and personalities from four great, competing organizations (World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling) put aside their mutual competition for one unforgettable evening to honor and raise money for the cancer stricken longtime indy wrestling manager and current W.C.W. referee, Mark Curtis (Brian Hildebrand)!!! Approximately 1,500 fans attended raising over $20,000 on a card for which all performers donated their services!!!Unfortunately, Curtis would pass away less than six weeks later due to his stomach cancer at the age of 37!!!*****
RING ANNOUNCER: Hank Hudson
MASTER OF CEREMONIES: Les Thatcher
REFEREES: Cody Hawk, Troy Moidel, Scott Dickenson (W.C.W.)
TIMEKEEPER AT THE BELL: Troy Davis
NATIONAL ANTHEM: Deanna Dawn Denning (14-years-old Nashville recording artist and star of the “Grand Ole Opry”)
*****SHOW OPENING: “Master of Ceremonies” Les Thatcher with Sandy Scott and Mark Curtis (Brian Hildebrand)!!!*****
(1) “The Latin Dragon” Julio Sanchez (Julio Dinero) pinned Frank Parker in 3:55 after clocking him with an “enzuguiri”!!!
(2) WIIC-TV11 “Studio Wrestling” and W.W.W.F./W.W.F. legend Dominic DeNucci pinned local longtime indy competitor “His Royal Highness” Lord Zoltan in 6:02 after Mick Foley had sneaked out to push his foe down from the top of a ringpost!!! Afterward DeNucci would treat his defeated adversary to a ride from his famous “airplane spin”!!!
(3) BATTLE BETWEEN TWO OF DOMINIC DeNUCCI’S TOP STUDENTS: Dick Flanagan (a.k.a. Bobby Fox) pinned “The Ultimate Male” Preston Steele (with Deanna Kane) in 5:51!!! Steele grabbed the ring ropes in an effort to prevent his foe’s “sunset-flip” takedown!!! However, the ref broke Steele’s grip via a kick, so Flanagan could complete his maneuver for the three-count!!!
(4) THREE WAY DANCE: Eddy Guerrero defeated Shark Boy and Billy Kidman (Guerrero pinned Shark Boy via his “frog splash”) in 8:41!!!
(5) “TABLES” TAG-TEAM MATCH: “Public Enemy” (“Flyboy” Rocco Rock/Johnny Grunge) defeated “Death & Destruction” (Beau James/Roger Anderson) (Grunge pinned James) in 6:05!!! Rock executed a somersault plancha from the top of a ringpost to crash James through a table on the Garden floor and then tossed Beau back into the ring for Grunge’s victory cover!!!
(6) Cody Michaels (Dr. Mark Keenan) (with James E. Cornette) pinned “The Laughing Man” Hugh Morrus (with “The Duke Of New York” Al Getz) in 9:54!!! While Cornette was in the process of chasing Getz around ringside, James E. tossed his tennis racket to Michaels as the Duke was throwing knucks to Morrus!!! Michaels would beat his foe to the punch with a big racket smash to the chest to get the clinching three-count!!!
(7) W.W.F. EUROPEAN AND INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH WITH SPECIAL REFEREE MICK FOLEY DRESSED AS “CACTUS JACK”: Champion D’Lo Brown vs. Al Snow (with “Head”), NO DECISION RENDERED after 18:37!!! Foley eventually applied simultaneous “Mr. Socko” mandible claws to both Brown and Snow for a double-pin tolled by Mark Curtis!!!
(8) “Lionheart” Chris Jericho defeated Terry Taylor, “Liontamer” modified “Boston Crab” SUBMISSION in 7:37!!!
*****Special guest former two-time W.W.W.F. world’s heavyweight champion Bruno Sammartino was introduced and spoke briefly to the crowd!!!*****
(9) MAIN-EVENT SIX-MAN TAG-TEAM RIOT: “The Triple Threat” (“The Franchise” Shane Douglas/”The Canadian Crippler” Chris Benoit/”The Iceman” Dean Malenko) defeated “White Lightning” Tim Horner/”The Wild-Eyed Southern Boy” Tracy Smothers/”No Gimmick Needed” Chris Candido) (with Tammy Lynn Sytch) (Douglas pinned Smothers) in 14:05!!! With referee Cody Hawk knocked out of commission and with the other four wrestlers outside brawling on the Ice Garden floor, Mark Curtis stormed into the ring to toll Douglas’ winning three-count on Smothers via the “Pittsburgh Plunge” fisherman cradle-suplex!!!
