Anthony Ricciardi gives his thoughts on one of the biggest NXT shows of the year, NXT 2300, from a firsthand perspective of being in the iconic ECW Arena
Professional wrestling has been a part of my life longer than it hasn’t been a part of it. For 26 plus years I have had a passion for this crazy business that we call professional wrestling. I have always viewed professional wrestling as an escape from the stresses of life whether it was from the pressures of school back in the day or the stresses of work today or the stresses of everyday life that can hit so incredibly hard at times that it can bring you to your knees.
Wrestling has always been that escape for me that no matter how hard things may seem, it gives me a few hours each week to just relax and be entertained. I certainly have been very fortunate to have gone to a number of historic events in wrestling especially the past few years including back-to-back Manias, which is still surreal to me and got to experience those with some very important people to me, friends that are more like my brothers.
I certainly didn’t expect Philly to get yet another major wrestling event in 2024 after WrestleMania 40, but the moment the rumblings came out that NXT maybe holding a show in the 2300 Arena or as it will forever be known in South Philly as the ECW Arena, I knew I had to be there. So, the moment the pre-sale was announced I pounced and got lucky ending up with tickets second row right behind the announcers.
Side note I even made it on camera during the moment Bubba Ray Dudley made Booker T. an honorary Dudley.
I was certainly stressed going into the show, even though it was on Wednesday, let’s just say it was already a stressful and long week and all that stress went away as soon as me and buddy, Chris got to the 2300 Arena. There is just something special being in line with fans that you don’t know, but you all have a love and a passion for this business. I was so looking forward to this show and they absolutely delivered and without any further delays let me get into it.
Before the show even started the crowd was chanting, they aired a Cody Rhodes ad for his Peacock documentary and the crowd started singing his song including the WOAH! Then as the lights were out and they began showing the special NXT 2300 intro with the iconic ECW theme, the crowd chanted ECW, but as soon as the NXT logo popped up it changed to an NXT chant.
Opening Match – Jaida Parker vs Lola Vice – Hardcore Match – Special Ref: ECW Legend Dawn Marie
Dawn Marie got a great pop from the crowd as they showed love for the ECW Legend, including a “you still got it!” chant as she made her way down to the ring. Jaida Parker and Lola Vice totally lived up to the legacy of ECW in this match and between this and the main event, is exactly why the hard to please Philly crowd showed their approval chanting “Women’s Wrestling”. This match was the start of a theme throughout the entire night, honor the past, but embracing the future of this industry.
These women were laying their shots in especially when Lola started swinging that Singapore Cane, they didn’t catch all of it on TV, but Lola was swinging that cane like Jaida owed her money. They were viscous shots, and Jaida was firing right back with shots of her own.
This match had all the physicality that absolutely laid the gauntlet down to everyone in the back of go ahead and just try and follow that. When you start a show with a match this good and a tough crowd like no other in Philly praising it, you know the bar has been raised for the rest of the show to live up to an already huge hype around it.
My only criticism for this match is I think they made a mistake not having the finish be the brick spot. A brick spot in general is very unbelievable to begin with if you aren’t selling it as some injury angle, but when Jaida hit Lola with the brick for Lola to kick out that was a massive mistake in my opinion especially since you had Jaida going over anyway. Jaida didn’t need to hit her finisher to end it in my opinion. I think the smart play would have been to hit the brick spot. Dawn Marie do the infamous X gesture signaling they need help. Have Jaida demand Dawn count the three and then stretcher Lola out. That way you can continue this feud because these women have a lot more in the tank for this feud and the future cannot be any brighter for both women.
Side note, neither there at the show or even watching the match back, I have no idea where the brick came from and no one around me knew either at the show.
They did have some exclusive show merch, which I picked up the NXT 2300 shirt and hoodie. It was 80 degrees in Philly in November so needless to say the hoodie wasn’t needed that night. They smartly didn’t put the special Dudleyz shirt for sale until after D-Von appeared later in the show.
Match 2 – Wes Lee vs Je’Von Evans
Before this match began, we got to see a little easter egg in the backstage assault of RVD by Wes Lee shot in a very old school ECW style only showing RVD’s feet at first. I’m not sure why WWE didn’t want RVD to wrestle in the building that made him famous, but maybe it leads to a Wes Lee feud for RVD, with the HOFamer putting Wes over down the road.
Je’Von and Wes are two of the brightest young talents in NXT. Although Wes has been in this business for a while, this heel run of his has been on another level for him. His reunion and subsequent feud with his real-life brothers in the Rascalz, Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel, has helped elevate Wes Lee’s trajectory in this business. It helped light a spark that was missing. Then when you look at Je’Von, it is like Wes is looking at his younger self staring back at him. The sky is the limit for Je’Von and he is delivering in that ring no matter whether it is the future HOFamer in Randy Orton a month ago or Wes Lee in the ECW Arena. His gear tonight was inspired by the ECW Legend, New Jack as well.
These men absolutely followed the hardcore match before them by delivering a hard-hitting, high-flying match that was reminiscent of ECW’s past in this building with Mysterio vs Psychosis. Je’Von crashed into the announce table with his dive that TNA and NXT reviewer, Archie Carter messaged me that he thought Je’Von was going to land in my lap.
This was a truly special match that showcased both men and the finish with RVD giving Je’Von the rub of a legend and Je’Von attempting a 5-Star Frog Splash that literally myself and everyone around me in unison all went he isn’t going to make it; Wes is too far away from the corner. Je’Von made the best of it and the Philly crowd was so impressed with both men’s performances in the match that they gave him a pass from the “you F’d up” chants. Here is the thing people outside Philly that criticize the Philly’s sports fans calling us as too hard on the athletes, we are not hard on those that show they are giving it their all. We expect and respect those that leave it all on the field. When the audience feels like you’re mailing it in or not giving it your all that is when the crowd will turn on you. To put it simply, we boo because we care and as long as the audience feels that you care then we got your back.
RVD raising Je’Von’s hand was an awesome passing of the torch moment for the young man and considering he has gotten the rub from both Randy Orton and RVD recently, it shows that WWE has a lot of faith in this kid and see a very bright future in him.
The light’s out surprise is an iconic ECW staple, where someone makes a surprise appearance on the show and for it to be the recent TNA HOFamer and last true ECW World Champion in Rhino being the surprise was an awesome move. The NXT/TNA partnership is easily one of the biggest and best things to come out of the year 2024 in wrestling. Getting to witness Rhino in the 2300 Arena twice this year, once wrestling Mustafa Ali in a hardcore match for the TNA X-Division Championship in March and now Goring Robert Stone for disrespecting Philly in the same building on NXT is wild.
Hearing a TNA chant in the ECW Arena on an NXT show is surreal, especially on a WWE show that had ECW, TNA and NXT chants throughout the night.
Match 3 – Trick Williams & Bubba Ray Dudley vs Ethan Page & Ridge Holland
Next up was the tag match featuring the TNA & WWE HOFamer and ECW Legend, Bubba Ray Dudley returning once again to wrestle in his home, the building that will always hold a special place in his and the other ECW Alumni’s hearts, the 2300 Arena. Trick Williams the reigning NXT champion, playing the role of Bubba’s tag partner and there is no bigger shoes to fill when Bubba’s brother and longtime tag partner, D-Von Dudley were the greatest tag team in the history of the business, the Dudley Boyz/Team 3D holding tag team gold everywhere they went.
The crowd gave an awesome pop to both men as “Whoop That Trick and ECW Chants” rang out in the building with the hot crowd. Bubba even had a moment anointing another tag team legend and fellow HOFamer, Booker T. into the Dudley family.
Their opponents tonight are Ethan Page, someone that I have been a big fan of his work for years, but first time seeing him wrestle in person and his tag partner, Ridge Holland, appears to be the person that the company is getting behind to be Trick’s next opponent. They had a great heel video segment with them insulting Philly while the iconic Rocky statue was behind them.
There were little things that you can only catch when you are there in person, like Ethan’s heel work on the apron making faces at his opponent’s expense and at one point a fan yelled “I love you Bubba” and without Bubba even looking at him yelled back “I love you too”.
This match was everything it needed to be, and Ridge picked up the surprise win, which makes sense since that appears to be the direction that they are going that Ridge and Ethan both have eyes on Trick’s NXT Championship. However, in order to also give the fans what they want they did a post-match brawl that gave the fans the What’s Up spot with Trick playing the role of D-Von and then as the crowd demanded tables, outcomes D-Von with a table when conveniently none were under the ring.
As Bubba and Trick did a double chokeslam putting Ethan through a table to a pop from the audience. The question was why not a 3D and the answer is RESPECT. That was the Dudleyz finishing move and only one team has ever kicked out of it and that was the MCMG at the Dudleyz request. Doing the What’s Up is one thing but the 3D is sacred and no one other than D-Von should do that move with Bubba.
Post match the visual of D-Von anointing Trick as an honorary Dudley was an awesome moment.
Match 4 – Tony D’Angelo vs Nunzio – NXT North American Championship
The pre-match vignette with Don D’Angelo’s Family crossing paths with ECW’s FBI’s members Nunzio (Little Guido) and Tony Mamaluke in front of South Philly’s Tony Lukes (now known as Tony and Nicks) it was done for a cheap pop for the Philly crowd and it being right down the street from the 2300 Arena there is a lot of history of it being a common eating place of the ECW Alumni.
To see the Don of NXT, who as an Italian I’ve loved the gimmick and character and loved to see the crowd so strongly get behind him. Unlike at NXT Stand and Delivery, I got to see Tony pick up the win. It was a quick match, which is what it needed to be. Nunzio couldn’t do a long match, but he got his little bit of offense to satisfy the ECW fans and yet put Tony D’Angelo over.
Post match it was great to see almost the passing of the torch as this was a great visual moment of the embrace between the FBI and The Family.
Main Event – Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, Kelani Jordan, Jordynne Grace & Zaria vs Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade & Fatal Influence
On paper this is an unbelievable match up and had a ton of hype to begin with and on a show that had a lot of hype and expectations from a very hard to please the crowd. This match absolutely delivered a phenomenal main event on a card that genuinely satisfied the audience. The face team is an absolute dream team that can best be compared to the 1992 Team USA Olympic Basketball team. The heels aren’t push overs either and these women created something truly special whenever the two teams came face to face.
This was an amazing showcase for all the women involved as the crowd was thoroughly behind all the women. It was a match that was absolutely physical and that is exactly what the fans wanted. As ECW Legend, Francine sat at ringside watching the women of NXT showcase that they are the best in the world.
Kelani popped the crowd with her amazing outside the ring moonsault. During the match when Kelani was looking for the hot tag, the crowd started chanting “Heeeyyy Heeeyyy we want some Jordynne”. It wasn’t picked up much on TV, but from where I was seated, I could see her smirking and saying to Zaria on the apron, ok then and she gave the one-minute signal to the crowd. The dream team picked up the win, but not before Zaria didn’t accidentally nail a viscous spear to Jordynne. They teased a potential feud between the current TNA Knockout, Jordynne Grace and NXT’s Zaria. If Jordynne does make the jump to NXT, I think there is a good chance that is her first major feud possibility. They were purposely on the opposite sides of the celebration and Jordynne and Zaria were staring at one another.
Final Thoughts:
This show was everything that it was supposed to be as not only a tribute to the past and also continue to push the future of this industry. The crowd was hot all night including during commercial breaks, during one with the lights out someone yelled “it’s too quiet in here”, which resulted in a ECW chant breaking out.
As Paul Heyman said during his WWE HOF speech in April, that ECW did not die in a courtroom 23 years ago, the spirit of ECW continues to live on in this business. ECW was a revolution in this business, it changed the business forever as the style and presentation that is still seen in WWE, AEW, NXT, TNA, ROH and others. It was a phenomenal show that I’m so glad I was privileged enough to see it live and hoping we get another NXT 2300 show possibly an NXT Barely Legal or NXT November to Remember.
ITTMP
