ECW Hardcore TV 3/11/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 3/11/1998
From: Waltham, MA

Matches:
1.)ECW World Tag Team Champions Chris Candido & Lance Storm defeated Tracy Smothers & Little Guido to retain the titles
2.)Sabu & Rob Van Dam defeated Too Cold Scorpio & The Sandman

Angle Developments/Notes
1. Porn star Jenna Jameson opens the show. She says there is nothing more she would want to give us than head. Which, leads into a music video for Al Snow. Snow is the number one contender to ECW World Champion Shane Douglas. He gets his shot at Wrestlepalooza.

2. Storm and Candido obviously don’t like each other since Candido turned on Storm a couple of weeks ago to form the Triple Threat with Douglas and Bigelow. Candido demands his own music and gets it. Storm hits a nice springboard top rope back elbow on Smothers in the opening moments of the match, but Tracy hits a spinning heel kick for a near fall. I wasn’t expecting that from Smothers. Guido enters and is worked over by the champions quickly. Guido hit a nice hurricanrana on Candido and the challengers regain control of the title bout. Smothers is showing some solid moves by hitting a slingshot kick from the apron back into the ring. However, he misses a leap off the apron and hits the guard railing chest first. Behind the referee’s back sees Guido work over Storm on the floor on the railing. Late in the bout, Candido drops Smothers with a powerbomb and Storm hits a top rope cross body on Guido. The champs shove each other and Smothers nearly pins Candido. The champs are able to hit a superkick/German suplex combo on Smothers to win the match. (**1/2. A decent match here that I wasn’t expecting to be all that entertaining. Especially seeing Smothers being able to hit some of the moves he did. A nice job by him and the other three involved.)

3. Too Cold Scorpio comes out and says he only trusts one person for his tag match tonight. That man is the Sandman. They teamed briefly a few years ago, so this makes since. Plus, their opponents are Sabu and Rob Van Dam. Both men have history with them so this is a big match.

4. All four men start going at it in the ring with RVD and Sabu getting the better of the exchange. Sabu is working over Sandman with a kendo stick while RVD backdrops Scorpio into the crowd on the floor. RVD tosses a chair at Scorpio and plays to the crowd. Scorpio works over RVD in the ring with a clothesline while Sabu and Sandman beat each other on the floor. A table has been set up on the floor. RVD hits a suicide dive over the top onto Scorpio on the floor. Sabu hits a springboard side kick onto Sandman and hit a slingshot somersault leg drop for a near fall. Sandman hits a hurricanrana off the top rope! Sandman comes back in with a slingshot leg drop from the apron. Sandman dives over the top to take everyone out on the floor. Sabu hits a top rope hurricanrana on Scorpio and botches his springboard dive, but does it again to put Sandman through a table. Sabu hits a top rope Arabian face buster but Scorpio made the save. RVD accidentally hits the frog splash on Sabu. Total Elimination on Sandman and Sabu follows up with a botched top rope Arabian face buster for the win. (**. Well, the botches by Sabu really killed this match. If he had hit his moves like he should have, this would have been much better. A decent brawl, but brought down by Sabu sloppiness.)

5. We hear from ECW Television Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow. Bigelow says he is the Taz-Killer. He is the toughest man to step into the ring. Bigelow says if anyone wants this belt they have to beat him.

6. Sabu is with Bill Alfonso and Rob Van Dam backstage. Alfonso is yelling and I can’t understand his jibberish. Seriously, this guy is ridiculous. RVD bails on a high five with Sabu teasing more tension between them.

7. New Jack is on the streets to cut his promo to say he is a original gangster.

8. ECW World Champion Shane Douglas says he isn’t bothered by what Al Snow is doing to him. Douglas isn’t going to let the mind games get to him. He is not bothered to see fans waving the heads that Snow uses. Douglas says ECW is his company and Snow is just another pretender to his throne.

Final Thoughts:
An average episode of Hardcore TV this week. I had high hopes for the second tag match, but Sabu just didn’t show up that night. The build up to Wrestlepalooza has been basic since they still have a month and a half before the show.

Thanks for reading.