On this episode of Chewin’ The Fat with Chubby Dudley, Bay Ragni welcomes longtime friend Don E. Allen for a deep, funny, and surprisingly emotional conversation about wrestling, music, Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, early ECW, the Philadelphia area wrestling scene, and what it was like being one of those guys who was always there, always willing, and always ready to do whatever the show needed. Bay introduces Donnie as “Mr. 499,” “the devious one,” and one of the nicest people he ever met in wrestling, maybe too nice for the wrestling business.
The heart of this episode is Donnie’s attitude toward the business. He never presents himself like he was supposed to be a main event star or a guy who got robbed of a bigger run. Instead, he understood his role: be reliable, get people over, take the bump, fill the spot, help backstage, and make sure the show was better because he was there. That mindset is exactly why he became one of those early ECW/TWA names everyone remembers fondly, even if he was often getting destroyed on television.
The early ECW material is especially strong. Donnie talks about the move from TWA into Eastern Championship Wrestling, the first Arena tapings, getting thrown in there with Road Warrior Hawk, and how much it meant to him just to share a locker room and a ring with people he had watched as a fan.
And yes, the Mr. 499 story comes up. Donnie explains that he was listed as 500 the first year, 499 the second, 498 the third, and then disappeared from the list with the added rib that his height was listed as 5’10”, which stuck around online for years afterward.
For fans of TWA, early ECW, Don E. Allen, Chubby Dudley, Johnny Hotbody, D.C. Drake, Woman, Todd Gordon, Eddie Gilbert, Paul Heyman, Road Warrior Hawk, Stan Hansen, Ernesto Benefica, Tony Stetson, Raven, Stevie Richards, and the underappreciated guys who helped build the foundation before ECW became “Extreme,” this is a tremendous listen.
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