An Extreme Original

Today is a day of rememberence for me. An unknown hero of  ECW was laid to rest today. Many people have heard stories of the crazy Original ECW. Some have even grown into urban legend. Some stories have been fabricated or truth stretched in DVD’s,books or movies. I was there through most of the stories and have a fond memories of them all. The tv show ECW was produced in a small surburban home in Pelham NY. Someone’s den was converted into a tv studio and all of those great TV moments came from that house. Lena Buffone was the woman who let ECW into her house. She was one of the nicest person I have ever met. She was an old school Italian woman, who welcomed every ECW  wrestler into her home. I spent much of my twenties  in that studio learning, creating and becoming a bigger fan of the business I love. Lena put up with crazy Paul E yelling on the phone trying to fix one of ECW many problems. Wrestler interviews were done in her basement. All the Joey Styles OH My Gods came from her house. Her kitchen table would be surrounded with tapes that had to go to the different tv studios. She would interupt her own families laundry so we could do interviews. One time some wrestlers went out to smoke a “special ” cigarettes and when they thought they got busted in an uncomfortable situation, she offered then ashtrays as she described for their funny little cigarettes. ECW was 24hours a day for me,Paul and her son Ron. We would work through the night editing the tv show and Joey Styles would come in the morning to voice over the finished product. She would leave food out for us at night and have breakfast in the morning. She made a cameo apperance in the movie Beyond the Mat, ironing clothes which was set up for movie purposes, but wasn’t to far of a stretch of the truth. Wrestlers would stroll thru her living room to create their interviews so their stories would be continued. Pitbulls  with their chains,Gangsta’s, Shane Douglass, Rick Rude, scantily clad women, Raven,BWO and Mick Foley’s favorite promos were done in her house.

I just wanted the world to know about an unsung hero of  ECW’s passing. Without her love and support of her family, ECW would have never aired anywhere. She didn’t want anyone to be sad of her passing. So I wanted to share some great thoughts with my other family, the wrestling world. I will miss seeing you every Christmas Eve. I hope when I get to heaven you are waiting for me with a plate of pasta because as she always said “I am a growing boy”. Maybe in her honor you can all think of a great moment from someone that has passed or better yet reach out to someone and let them know how much you care about them.

Lena Buffone I annoint you as the Matraich of ECW, because without you ECW couldn’t have existed. I am a better person for having you in my life. Now that some of  your story has been told, I hope the rest of the world is as well. God bless

Thanks for reading

Tommy Dreamer