Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 2/18/1998
From: Philadelphia, PA
Matches:
1.)Rob Van Dam & Sabu defeated Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman, the Dudley Boys & New Jack & Kronus in a four way elimination match
2.)Rob Van Dam & Sabu defeated Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney
3.)ECW World Champion Shane Douglas defeated Chris Chetti in a non-title match
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Sandman and Bubba kick off the match that gets underway after Justin Credible left after his big promo on Dreamer last week. Bubba arm drags Sandman much to the surprise of Joey Styles. They are actually doing wrestling moves with Sandman delivering hip tosses mainly, but at least he knows something! Sandman jumps over the top rope to take both Bubba and D-Von out with a cross body on the floor. Dreamer does the same move to take everyone out. This must have been clipped because Sandman and Dreamer are choke slammed. The Dudley Boys are standing tall until New Jack and Kronus come down. So, you know what happens. Jack and Kronus use a lot of weapons to beat up the Dudley Boys. Dreamer whacks New Jack over the head with a tray. New Jack just hates everyone, I guess. Kronus comes off the top to splash D-Von through a table in the ring. Sabu and Rob Van Dam come running out to brawl with everyone in the ring. Bubba dives over the top to take Dreamer and company out on the floor. New Jack and Kronus are put on a table and are driven through it by RVD and Sabu as they both came off the top rope! Um, Kronus and New Jack are eliminated after a three count. I had no idea this was a four way. RVD takes Sandman and Dreamer out with somersault dive and Sabu takes Dreamer out with a dive. Sabu is caught by the Dudley Boys but RVD dropkicks Sabu on top for a near fall. The Dudley Boys are rolled up by Dreamer and sandman to be eliminated. Dreamer and Sandman plant RVD and Sabu with DDT’s. Justin Credible attacked Mikey Whipwreck and calls Tommy Dreamer to come get some. Dreamer leaves the ring and brawls with Credible. Several wrestlers come over and try to break up the brawl. Sandman is left alone in the ring where RVD kicks a chair into his face for a near fall. Rolling thunder/slingshot leg drop combo on Sandman but that’s still not good enough. RVD hits a frog splash and Sabu leg drops a chair into Sandman’s face to win the match. (**1/2. Well, it was clipped a few times so I don’t know how the whole match went, but for what they showed it was a fine brawl.)
2. We hear from Beulah regarding Justin Credible. She asks if Credible has any idea what scars Dreamer has. She says that Credible is going to be seeing the man very few men have seen out of Credible. Beulah says Credible is going to lay in the bed he has made for himself.
3. The six man tag match took place in Florida, so they didn’t pull double duty in Philadelphia. Jason Knight appears at ringside and has something to say to Tommy Dreamer. The microphone is pretty bad so it will be tough to hear him. Jason truly apologizes to Tommy Dreamer for what Justin Credible said last week. Justin Credible appears and wants Dreamer so, Dreamer leaves the ring and chases after Credible! Credible is running outside and gets into a car to drive away. Dreamer chases after the car! Well, we go to the match where RVD kicked Axl Rotten from the top rope. Sabu jumps off of RVD’s back to splash Axl in the corner. Balls leg drops RVD after a drop toe hold by Rotten. Sabu kicks Mahoney into the crowd and takes him out with a springboard dive! Moments later, RVD hits a split legged moonsault on Axl and a table is set up by Sabu. Balls knocks RVD off the apron and Axl works over Sabu. Brakkus gets in the ring and casually powerslams Mahoney. Axl is slammed through the table! RVD and Sabu hit the Rolling Thunder/slingshot leg drop to win the match. (**1/2. A decent little match that promoted the Dreamer/Credible match and actually made Brakkus look like a force.)
4. We hear from ECW Television Champion Taz who talks about Bam-Bam Bigelow and Brakkus. Taz doesn’t want Brakkus to bother doing anything because their match will not go very long. Taz doesn’t like Brakkus because he never paid his dues. Taz is going to send Brakkus back to Titan Sports a beaten man! He turns his attention to Bigelow and their showdown at Living Dangerously. Taz says that Bigelow is in for hell in his hometown. Taz is going to kick the dog shit out of Bigelow at Living Dangerously. He knows he is in for the fight of his life and he hopes that Bigelow realizes he is in for a fight for his life as well.
5. ECW World Tag Team Champion Chris Candido cuts off Joey Styles and talks about Lance Storm using him to get to his girlfriend. Candido calls Storm a backstabber and a cheat. Candido is going to find a new partner.
6. Al Snow is hanging out on the beach with Head. Snow and Head are under sand. Al wants Head to let him out of the sand but can’t. We go back to Shane Douglas and Bigelow. Douglas thinks the joke involving Snow is done. Douglas hypes up Bigelow when Chris Candido comes back into the scene and is yelling on a phone. Candido reveals his mystery partner for Living Dangerously as being ECW World Champion Shane Douglas!
7. Douglas works over Chetti in the corner and doesn’t allow Chetti to get offense going for an extended period of time. They are clipping this as well as we see Chetti tossing Douglas into the guard railings but Douglas stops Chetti by dropping him across the railing chest first. Chetti hit a superplex! Chetti gets a two count following a spinning heel kick. Douglas goes for a belly to belly suplex but Chetti plants him with a tornado DDT for a near win. Chetti hits a double springboard moonsault for a near fall. Douglas avoids a moonsault and wins the match with a belly to belly suplex. (NR. For what they showed, it looked like a good match and Chetti showed some nice moves throughout.) After the match, Bigelow and Candido attack Chetti. Taz makes his way down to the ring through the crowd. Bigelow and Taz brawl in the ring with Taz countering a suplex with the Taz Mission.
8. Bigelow shares some comments saying he will kill Taz to prevent himself from suffering that hold. Bam-Bam says he likes living dangerously to close the show.
Final Thoughts:
I wish they didn’t show two matches involving RVD and Sabu. They have enough depth on their roster that they should be able to show matches involving different people. The show focused a lot on Taz/Bigelow and Credible/Dreamer. Those are two of the better feuds going on in ECW at the moment. I’m looking forward to see how those feuds continue throughout the year.
Thanks for reading.