Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 3/18/1998
From: Queens, NY
Matches:
1.)Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney defeated Danny Doring & Roadkill
2.)Too Cold Scorpio & the Sandman defeated FBI
3.)Tommy Dreamer defeated Justin Credible
4.)ECW World Champion Shane Douglas, ECW Television Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow & ECW World Tag Team Champion Chris Candido defeated Jerry Lynn, Chris Chetti & ECW World Tag Team Champion Lance Storm
Angle Developments/Notes
1. Paul Heyman opens the show talking about being told he can hold a pay per view in Idaho and Philadelphia. He says that Time Warner will air them on pay per view. He says there are still people that think ECW is too violent and sexual. Heyman says they did something that WWF and WCW fans won’t do. They started a revolution. ECW has gotten onto Cable Vision. A fan rips up a “Cable Vision Sucks” sign to celebrate this moment.
2. ECW World Champion Shane Douglas and Francine come out for an interview with Joey Styles. Douglas gets angry when Styles makes a choke and Douglas loses it. He begins to grab at Francine and Styles tries to calm the champ down. Chris Candido comes out but is shoved. Bam-Bam Bigelow comes out and wrestles Douglas to the floor. So much for an interview. I’m not sure if I like the direction of the feud.
3. Rotten knocks Droz off the apron with a chair shot to open the tag match. Doring can’t get momentum going as he beaten down by Mahoney and Rotten. They hit a back breaker/top rope forearm smash. Mahoney misses a top rope moonsault. Roadkill gets tagged in and works over Mahoney. Roadkill splashes Balls in the corner a couple of times in the corner. Doring and Roadkill are finished off with double unprotected chair shots. (1/2*. Well, this was more or less a squash match for Mahoney and Rotten.)
4. Scorpio and Smothers started the next match with Scorpio controlling Smothers with a scoop slam and a twisting leg drop and cross body for a near fall. Guido tried to get involved but was kicked to the floor. Guido gets some offense on Sandman with a swinging neck breaker. Sandman is being controlled by the FBI as Guido came off the middle rope to hit a leg drop for a near fall. Sandman sends Guido into the referee and the match breaks loose with the referee down. Scorpio heads to the top and hits a top rope twisting splash but there isn’t a referee. Jeff Jones, a heel referee, has made his way out. Sandman nails the referee with a kendo stick to stop the count. Scorpio hits a cross body on Smothers and Rich. Sandman nails Guido with a kendo stick shot to win the match. (*1/2. Nothing too good about this one.)
5. The feud between Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible has gotten quite personal over the past month or so. Hopefully this is an intense match. Credible wastes no time going after Dreamer before the bell sounds. Dreamer low blows Credible and hits a side Russian leg sweep followed by a clothesline over the top to the floor. Dreamer sends Credible into the guard railing as the fans are eating this up already. Dreamer slingshots Credible into a steel chair and ring post. Back in the ring, Credible is begging off but Dreamer isn’t going to stop. Dreamer hits a wheelbarrow slam for a near fall. Dreamer dropkicks a chair into Jason in the corner. Credible takes advantage for the distraction by hitting a spear. Credible drop toe holds Dreamer face first into a chair. Credible drives Dreamer down across the chair with a reverse DDT. Credible plants Tommy with a swinging DDT as well. Dreamer sends Credible into a chair in the corner and crotches Justin on the top to hit an elevated reverse neck breaker! Tommy does an airplane spin before hitting the Death Valley Driver and goes for the cover but Nicole Bass pulls the referee out. Dreamer is distracted and Credible hits the That’s Incredible! Credible grabs Beulah from the floor! Credible goes for the That’s Incredible but Beulah gets out and low blows Credible! Beulah is clotheslined by Jason after a brief cat fight. Whipwreck comes out to hit the Whippersnapper on the heels. Dreamer plants Credible with a DDT for the win. (**1/2. A fine match, but the interference was done likely to protect Credible and build to a match between Whipwreck and Credible.) After the match, Nicole Bass kisses Dreamer. Credible attacks Whipwreck and Dreamer with a chair. You gotta get the heel heat back. Justin drives Tommy knee first down onto a chair. Credible hits the That’s Incredible on Whipwreck too.
6. Candido and Storm start off the main event, which will likely be clipped. They chop each other and Storm hits a spinning heel kick. Storm slams Chris head first into the mat several times. Bigelow press slams Lynn and holds him to showcase his strength before hitting it and delivering a falling head butt. Douglas taunts Lynn by holding the belt in front of his face. Not sure why he is doing that since Lynn isn’t a contender for the belt at this time. Candido enters to continue the dominance for the Triple Threat. Late in the match, Bigelow hits the Greetings From Asbury Park on Storm and Candido pins his former partner for the win. Since the match was clipped, no rating for it.
7. Shane Douglas puts Chris Candido for beating Lance Storm all by himself. Douglas assures the fans that the head is not getting into his head at all! Fans starting tossing some heads into the ring to get at Douglas. Shane destroys one of the heads. Al Snow comes out and hits him with Head. Snow drops Douglas across the top rope throat first and sends the champ to the floor to close the show.
Final Thoughts:
The best segment was the Dreamer/Credible match and aftermath. There isn’t really anything else that is catching my interest every show. Douglas/Snow just isn’t a main event feud I’d like to see. I’m going to give this show a thumbs down.
Thanks for reading.