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Former WWE and ECW star Mike Bucci had his retirement match last night in Toms River, NJ in the main event of the Stand Alone Wrestling Contest of Champions event, teaming with Aron Stevens and Frankie Kazarian to defeat Pat Buck, Matt Cardona and Brian Myers, pinning Buck with the Kryptonite Krunch.
After the bout, Bucci gave a speech about how proud he was ending it where it all began and how proud he was of being from Toms River. He said that he was proud of going as far as he did in wrestling and pointed out that on the same show, fellow Toms River natives UFC fighter Frankie Edgar and MLB star Todd Frazier appeared, and that he hoped it showed everyone who was in Toms River that if they have a dream, they can make it happen.
Bucci's daughter Olivia was snuck into the ring to present him with a special Nova championship belt and the night ended with a tribute video to Bucci footage set to The Foo Fighters' Hero. It was a truly nice moment.
Bucci first debuted in the early 1990s as Super Nova after training under Mike Sharpe. He debuted in ECW in 1996 and was with the promotion until it closed in 2001. After traveling for a year working internationally, Bucci signed a WWE developmental deal in 2002 and immediately won the OVW title. He was brought to the main roster as Simon Dean and worked as an undercard heel before retiring and moving into WWE's corporate structure and working on the company's developmental side. He moved on to work in the financial world after exiting WWE and currently runs two banks in Louisville, Kentucky. He had originally planned to quietly retire last year without announcing it but when the idea of having his farewell match in his hometown was proposed, he pushed it off a year. He had only performed six matches, including last night, over the last five years.
I could (and may) write a long piece on my years of friendship with Bucci, but I will say this - he was and always will be one of the most supportive friends I've ever had in pro wrestling and I was extremely proud to see him end his in-ring career on his terms, in his hometown, with his twin brother Donnie and his daughter Olivia (who saw him wrestle in person for the first time last night, something which was very emotional for Mike) and a lot of his family and friends from all eras of his life there with him. I don't know what more anyone could ask for in that moment.
I'll have more on the show later, but here are the quick additional results:
*The Wolves, Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards defeat The NU Graysons, JP Grayson & Tommy Grayson.
*Tommy Dreamer defeated Warhorse to become the RetroMania Wrestling Champion.
*SAW Women's Champion Miranda Alize defeated Christina Marie.
*Jerry Lawler defeats Rik Ratchet.
*SAW Tag Team Champion The REP, Dave McCall & Nate Carter, defeaed The SAT, Joel Maximo & Jose Maximo. Johnny Kashmere of The Backseat Boyz and Pro Wrestling Unplugged returned to wrestling for the first time in a LONG time, managing the SAT.
*Anthony Greene defeated Alec Price and Ant Bennett and Dan Maff and LSG and Myles Hawkins to become the first-ever SAW Skywalker Title Sinister Six Way Elimination Match.
*Nick Aldis defeated Shawn Donavan to become the new Stand Alone Wrestling Champion.
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