Scott Levy - Pro-wrestling Veteran: Part Two
Created | Updated Nov 10, 2006
What about ME... What about Raven?!?
After having severed all ties with the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and struck out alone, the promotion known as Eastern Championship Wrestling had made a bold move. Masterminded by visionaries Eddie Gilbert and Paul Hayman, the promotion served up a low-budget product of ultra-violent wrestling that was set apart from the tried and tested mainstream by its content and the intensive work-ethic of all involved, either in the ring or behind the scenes. The renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling took the pro-wrestling underground by storm with its daring new angles and provided a stage where young talents on the indie circuit could gain exposure, and veteran performers could relive their former glories. Provided that both old-timers and rookies were able to produce the goods the ECW was willing to put its weight behind them.
The Birth of a Hardcore Legend (1994-1999)
Into this arena stepped Scott Levy, but not as Scotty 'the Body' Anthony, Scotty Flamingo or Johnny Polo. Any one of these previous characters would have crashed and burned in the ECW and so Levy was forced to create a new persona, fitting for the raw and brutal environment of the promotion.
The character that emerged would become the most enduring that Levy ever portrayed and stand alongside names such as the Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam as the talents upon which the reputation of the promotion was built. That character was, of course, the eternal misfit and quintessential outcast known as 'Raven'.
Torn jeans, T-shirts proclaiming the names of the original and best bands on the grunge scene (even his modified DDT signature move was named the 'Even Flow' after the Pearl Jam song from the seminal album Ten) and a battered biker jacket marked Raven out as a bold change in direction for Levy. Gone were the clean-cut image and garish Hawaiian shirts that had characterised Scotty Flamingo and Johnny Polo as light-hearted blue-chippers. Instead Raven stood out as a dysfunctional product of an indifferent society, the pro-wrestling personification of the angst-ridden 'Generation X'.
Perhaps wisely, Levy never chose to flesh out Raven's background in great detail save to say that he hailed originally from the area known as the Bowery in New Jersey and had 'more issues than Time magazine and National Geographic put together'. As with most of his previous incarnations, Raven was a heel by the strictest definition of the term, capable of despicable acts in the pursuit of his goals and never afraid to stoop low in order to come out on top. Normally these qualities would have earned the hatred of the crowd, but in the ECW the crowd revelled in the depths to which the grapplers would descend and the often horrific acts of violence they committed. Here a character like Raven could not fail to rise to the status of an anti-hero and as a result his following began to grow steadily, helped not least by the fact that Levy had become exceptionally good at the art of the interview. These brooding proclamations delivered by Raven from such locations as boiler rooms and midnight playgrounds truly added a unique dimension to the character.
Leader of the Pack
Another aspect of the Raven character that shone through in the ECW was the fact, that while he was an impressive athlete, he was also a master of psychology both in and out of the ring. Like all good villains, Raven surrounded himself with a following of loyal henchmen from whom he commanded almost blind obedience and hero-worship. These lackeys included Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, both mediocre talents at best who nevertheless managed to shine in association with Raven. It was with Richards that Raven twice lifted the ECW tag-titles in June and later October of 1995 by besting the team of the Pitbulls on both occasions.
But Raven's success was not limited to the tag-team ranks and in January of the very next year he eased the Sandman's burden by relieving him of the ECW world title. The ensuing feud that raged between the two throughout the following year as they battled over the title saw some of Raven's finest moments as he not only succeeded in 'brain-washing' the Sandman's wife and son into deserting him and joining the ranks of his followers, but also side-stepped a title defence against the same opponent as a result of having a bad case of gout, rather than the traditional broken leg or torn ligament that often crops up in pro-wrestling. In the light of his injury, Raven threw Stevie Richards into the ring to take on the Sandman in his place, and as a result lost his title. Forced to defend the belt against the actual champion rather than his lackey in a rematch in December of 1996, the Sandman once again dropped the belt to Raven.
Despite trading the world title with the Sandman, the defining feud of Raven's first tenure in the ECW was with one Tommy Dreamer. Raven and Dreamer, (so the story was told), had been the closest of friends as children. But in their teenage years their friendship had been rent asunder by their mutual affection for a girl called Beulah McGuilecutty. In the end Dreamer had won Beulah's affections and she now accompanied him to the ring as his valet in the ECW. Of course when Dreamer's old rival Raven turned up things were bound to come to a head. Though the two met many times the feud was kept vital by the fact that Dreamer never managed to pin his nemesis and at every turn along the way Raven appeared to taunt him again and again. The feud was finally brought to a head at the 'Wrestlepalooza 97' supercard when Dreamer won their 'loser leaves town' match.
Raven's Flock
After three years in the ECW Raven was beginning to attract the attention of the big two (ie, the WWF and WCW), both of which were busily plundering the original ideas that had made the small-time promotion a success, in order to revive their own flagging products. Rather than simply stealing the ideas alone, the WCW in particular at that time decided to lure away the popular talent from the promotion as well.
Raven and the Sandman were two of the most prominent ECW wrestlers to jump ship to the WCW (World Championship Wrestling). But of the duo it was the Sandman who got the raw end of the deal being rebranded as 'Hardcore Hack' and plunged into the turgid hardcore division against has-beens such as Brian Nobbs and Scott 'Bam-Bam' Bigelow. Raven, making his debut on the Monday Nitro programme broadcast on 30 June 1997, on the other hand, was kept to the formula that had made him a success in the ECW and soon surrounded himself with another band of blindly loyal underlings over whom he had complete control. 'The Flock' as they were known, consisted of different members as time progressed including old crony Stevie Richards, Billy Kidman, Perry Saturn, Scotty Riggs, Van Hammer, Sick Boy, Lodi and Reese.
Entering the promotion at a time when the lunatics were truly running the asylum and the billionaire Ted Turner's vast fortunes were bankrolling the WCW, Raven fared well to begin with. While not commanding the ludicrous wages and privileges demanded by top echelon stars such as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, Levy managed to keep a high profile in the ranks.
In April of 1998 he defeated Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW United States heavyweight title, arguably a belt rivalling the status of the ECW world title he had previously worn. Unfortunately, his reign was brought to an end by Bill Goldberg in his rampage through the lower level talent (intended to push the rookie to the very top). Raven later captured more WCW gold in the shape of the tag-team titles which he and Perry Saturn won from Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jnr almost a year later in May of 1999.
The Tide Turns Again
But by this time the bubble of the WCW had well and truly burst. The ratings war with the WWF, which the WCW had been winning for a long time, turned suddenly against the promotion as everything went pear-shaped.
The problems stemmed from the fact that the WCW had used Turner's billions to lure the contracts of big names who had quit the WWF or left under 'less than friendly' terms. Attracting these wrestlers was not as simple as offering them large sums of money however, and the contracts negotiated between the two parties often granted the wrestler the right to pick and choose who he competed against and what the outcome of the match would be. Kevin Nash, for example, was informed at one point that he had been suspended for frequently failing to turn up at the arena when he was booked to wrestle. In response he calmly pointed out to the WCW management the clause in his contract that strictly forbade them from suspending him in any way, shape or form.
It was obvious that when the 'proverbial' hit the fan the guys living it up at the top were not going to be the ones to feel the effects. The matter came to a head for Levy in August late 1999 when the WCW was in Las Vegas for a television taping. Responding to rumours and whispering about the state of the promotion and the immediate future, WCW supremo Eric Bischoff made it clear that there were going to be changes on the horizon. When some wrestlers, Levy included, raised their concerns Bischoff put it to them bluntly that if they didn't like what was on the table then they were free to walk out of the door, as the company would release them from their contracts. Not at all happy with his lot, Levy took Bischoff up on his offer there and then.
A mere three days after he had quit the WCW, Raven walked back into the ECW and teamed with his old rival Tommy Dreamer to defeat the Dudley boys and win his third ECW tag-team title on 26 August, 1999. Despite losing the belts soon after he then teamed with ECW champion Mike Awesome to win the title back from Dreamer and Masato Tanaka on 4 March, 2000. Despite the tag-team gold he wore in this period, Levy was still unhappy with his lot, and virtually sleep-walked through his second tenure with the ECW, hoping to re-join the WWF at the first opportunity.
Further Reading
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Other Links
One of the best presented and researched sites on the veteran wrestler can be found at the aptly named: http://www.scottlevy.com
