Posted on 10/11/125 by Chuck Langermann
Scott Levy, the professional wrestler who is best known for
competing under the name “Raven,” was born in Philadelphia
in 1964. He spent much of his childhood in Springfield
Township, Montgomery County.
The wrestler’s father, Paul F. Levy, was a journalist,
working as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer and
Philadelphia Bulletin, and later as an editor at the
Philadelphia Daily News. In the 1980s, he worked as an
editor for the National Enquirer. Johnny Carson once
denounced his father as a “creep,” Raven remembers.
In 1975, when he was about 11, the family moved to Wisconsin
, a year he remembers because the Flyers had already won
both Stanley Cups by the time he left.
Scott Levy worked as a wrestler in various promotions, using
many names and gimmicks, including bodybuilder Scotty the
Body, surfer dude Scotty Flamingo, and Connecticut blue
blood Johnny Polo, the character he had when working as a
manager in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE).
“They made me a manager ‘cause I was small,” Raven told The
Inquirer, of his run in the WWF in the early 1990s. Later,
working as a behind-the-scenes TV producer, he made a six-
figure salary and even had health insurance, which pro
wrestlers traditionally haven’t been granted.
But he missed wrestling.
“When they took me off all TV, I realized that I was going
to be a producer or a writer or a booker for the rest of my
career, and that’s not what I wanted,” he said.
In 1993, he left his job to develop a new wrestling
character named Raven.
“I was only four years into my [wrestling] career at this
point … So, I came up with a new character… based on my
baggage and tortured, poetic soul,” he said.
In addition to Levy’s own issues and neuroses, the character
was influenced by the movie Point Break, 1990s grunge
culture, and the literary legacy of someone else with some
Philadelphia history, Edgar Allan Poe.
“I wanted to create this three-dimensional character where
you understood this character on a deeper level than just
[that] he wants to win a belt. That he’s plagued by issues.
He thinks he’s a martyr for society’s dysfunction.”
Levy had been living in Connecticut while working for the
WWF — “nobody wants to live in Connecticut,” he said — and
moved back to Philadelphia in 1993 after quitting. The next
year, he joined the South Philly-based Extreme Championship
Wrestling (ECW).
“I saw ECW on TV, and all I heard was that it was junk
garbage wrestling,” he said. “And then I watched the show,
and it was the most exciting, dynamic show I’d ever seen,
and I thought, ‘I’ve got to be a part of this show.’”
So he was brought in, originally with the idea that he would
do a limited run as a comedy-oriented act. But despite all
of Levy’s previous gimmicks, the Raven was a persona that
stuck, and he ended up being a mainstay of the company for
several years.
ECW, whose main creative head was future WWE manager Paul
Heyman, had its heyday throughout the second half of the
1990s, using ECW Arena (now known as 2300 Arena) in South
Philly as its main venue.
It was known as “hardcore wrestling,” which entailed lots of
over-the-top violence, including barbed-wire matches and
lots of blood. The company was also known for wild story
lines, even by pro wrestling standards, including one in
which Raven and his loyalists “crucified” another wrestler.
What he loved about ECW, Levy said, was how “creative and
dynamic” it was, and for that he credits Heyman.
“He understood that you have to touch the common zeitgeist,”
Levy added. He added that wrestling tends to be behind the
times, with one example being that “wrestlers had mullets
for 10 years after mullets went out of style.” But ECW was
more of the moment.
And a big part of ECW’s success, he said, was the passionate
but discerning Philadelphia crowd. The fans, Levy remembers,
always thought they knew what was about to happen, something
that he and the other wrestlers treated as a challenge.
ECW closed its doors in 2001 but was massively influential
on wider wrestling culture. Heyman was inducted into the WWE
Hall of Fame in 2024 when WWE’s WrestleMania was held in
Philadelphia.
“I didn’t make it to the top of the number one company,”
Levy said of the arc of his wrestling career. “I made it to
the top of the number three company.”
Doing it in his hometown was special.
“I love Philly,” Raven said. “I love the architecture, I
love the fact that City Hall sits right in the middle of the
street, the busiest street.”
And while Raven, now in his 60s, still gets in the ring from
time to time, he said that he stopped watching mainstream
pro wrestling years ago.
A new documentary film, Nevermore: The Raven Effect, tells
the story of his life and career. We see him in Philly, both
in archival and contemporary footage, including a visit to
the 2300 Arena, where he wrestled all those years ago.
The film, which is different from the sort of slick
documentaries that WWE produces, will have its Philadelphia
premiere on Oct. 11 and 12 at PhilaMOCA.