There’s only one song from the 1990s that, in the same verse, references both Extreme Championship Wrestling and Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly.
That song is “El Scorcho,” the first single from Weezer’s 1996 album Pinkerton, and it represents an intriguing confluence of pop culture moments from the mid-1990s that continue to endure to this day.
“Watching Grunge leg drop New Jack through a press table,” Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo sings in the song’s second verse, followed by “And then my heart stopped, ‘Listening to Cio-Cio San/Fall in love all over again.” (Cio-Cio San is a reference to Madame Butterfly, as is the album title, “Pinkerton.”)
“Grunge” and “New Jack” were wrestlers in ECW, and the spot in question, involving a legdrop through a table, took place at ECW Hardcore Heaven, an event held at Philadelphia’s ECW Arena on July 1, 1995.
Pinkerton History
Rivers Cuomo, between Weezer’s first and second albums, enrolled at Harvard, and he revealed in an interview with the Harvard Crimson in 2006 that he lifted lines from the song — heavily implied to be the references to Grunge, New Jack, and Cio-Cio San— from a classmate’s essay. The author of that interview? The writer now known as Abraham Josephine Riesman, the author of the acclaimed Vince McMahon biography Ringmaster.
Weezer’s sophomore album, Pinkerton, was famously considered a flop at the time, and even got negative reviews. It was a much angrier set of songs than Weezer’s debut (known as The Blue Album), and not as accessible or radio-friendly. However, the album was reclaimed by fans in later years, as Weezer regrouped five years later with The Green Album, and has continued as a popular act. I can say that Pinkerton is my favorite Weezer album by a wide margin.
ECW’s Legacy
As for ECW, it was hugely influential on pro wrestling, as it’s hard to imagine WWE’s Attitude Era happening if not for their example. The company wasn’t exactly financially successful, going under in 2001, around the time WCW also went under. WWE bought the name and library, even launching their own version of ECW that lasted for a few years. Johnny Grunge passed away in 2006, and New Jack in 2021.
And like Pinkerton, ECW’s legacy only got more solid after the turn of the millennium. Paul Heyman’s Hall of Fame induction and the WrestleMania that took place in Philadelphia in 2024 represented something of a validation of the ECW legacy.
Also, the old ECW arena in South Philly, now known as 2300 Arena, continues to host wrestling, including an AEW multi-show residency scheduled for later this summer.
As for Weezer, they continue to tour and perform, although they tend to play larger venues than the place where that famous wrestling move, immortalized in their song, once happened.
