ECW Hardcore TV 4/8/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 4/8/1998
From: Buffalo, NY

Matches:
1.)FBI defeated Blue Meanie & Nova
2.)Justin Credible defeated Mikey Whipwreck
3.)Rob Van Dam defeated ECW Television Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow to win the title

Angle Developments/Notes
1. The starts off with New Jack coming out with a bunch of weapons to beat up the heels. This time around its Roadkill, Danny Doring and Droz who are greeted with shots to the head.

2. Meanie and Smothers started off the tag match with Meanie hitting a pair of dropkicks and Nova taking Guido out with a moonsault off the top to the floor. Nova plants Guido with a sit out slam and Meanie comes in to splash both members. Novocaine by Nova on Guido. Rich enters up hitting Meanie with the Italian flag and Smothers gets the win. (NR. A heavily clipped match, but they showed some of the good action. Crowd was into it, it seemed.)

3. Whipwreck wastes no time going after Credible and low blows Justin as he comes out of the corner. Mikey rams Credible groin first into the ring post. Whipwreck wraps Creidble’s knee around the ring post a few times. Whipwreck smashes a chair across Credible’s knee and kicks Credible around in the ring hitting him on the knee. Credible falls to the floor after being dropped throat first across the top rope. On the floor, Whipwreck sends Credible into the guard railing back first. Whipwreck rams Credible head first into the wall near the entrance. Credible avoids the Whippersnapper but takes Mikey down with a snap powerslam! Credible slams Whipwreck face first into the chair. Justin hits a sit down powerbomb out of the corner for a near fall. Jason is on the microphone taunting the fans throughout the match. Credible sends Whipwreck shoulder first into a chair set up in the corner. Mikey fights back with a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. Credible is crotched on the top rope and Mikey hits a super Whippersnapper but Jason pulls the referee out! Jeff Jones runs into the ring as Mikey hits the Whippersnapper on Jason. Mikey hits the move on Jeff Jones but a low blow allows Credible to hit the That’s Incredible for the win. (**1/4. Not a bad match, but Credible needs to be able to beat people on his own. He has a good heel character to rise up the ranks. Plus, a clean win over the hometown boy would be added heat.) After the match, Credible whacks Whipwreck’s knee with a chair several times. Tommy Dreamer runs out to run Credible off.

4. Bigelow uses his size advantage early on to work over Rob Van Dam and drops the challenger with a big shoulder block. RVD ducks a clothesline to hit a spinning heel kick. Bigelow stops RVD with a powerbomb after countering a hurricanrana. Bigelow works over RVD with a few headbutts to the back of his head. RVD hits a top rope cross body and a top rope kick to knock the champ down. RVD hits a rolling thunder splash for a near fall. RVD is sent flying over the top to the floor as Bigelow ducked a running attack. On the floor, Bigelow sends RVD into the ring post. RVD leaps off the railing to kick Bigelow. Bigelow flips RVD into the third row and they begin to brawl in the crowd. RVD drops Bigelow face first across the guard railing and leaps off the railing to hit a hurricanrana on the floor! RVD leaps off the top and dives onto Bigelow, who was still in the crowd! RVD decides to head to the top and this time hits a somersault dive onto Bigelow in the crowd! He should have just done that the first time. RVD leaps off the apron to leg drop Bigelow across the railing. Bigelow stops RVD with a clothesline. Bigelow powerbombs RVD onto a table at ringside, which doesn’t break. So, Bigelow delivers an elbow drop off the apron onto RVD to break it! RVD gets up first and hits the champ with a chair. Bigelow is busted open due to the cut near his eye he got a few weeks ago. Bigelow suplexs RVD off the apron and tosses the challenger to the floor. RVD tries for a top rope hurricanrana but Bigelow powerbombs him. Bigelow misses a top rope moonsault! RVD hits a top rope frog splash but Bigelow powers out at two! Bigelow flapjacks RVD for a two count. Bigelow drives RVD down with a brain buster but can’t get a three count. Bigelow splashes a chair into RVD and goes for the Greetings From Asbury but the referee goes down. Sabu runs out with a chair and hits Bigelow with it. Bigelow tosses Sabu into RVD. Sabu blocks a powerbomb by hitting Bigelow with a fork! RVD kicks the chair into Bigelow’s face and wins the match! (***1/2. A really good match that saw Bigelow pull out all the spots and RVD just delivered on his high risk moves. This will just add more tension between Sabu and RVD moving forward. A really good match.) After the match, the lights go out as Douglas and Candido check on Bigelow.

5. Backstage, we hear from the Triple Threat. Douglas thinks that RVD robbed Bigelow of the title. Douglas thinks everyone is against them. Douglas says that ECW will have to come up with something better to get the belt off of him!

6. Axl Rotten is mocking Chris Candido and says that the ECW World Tag Team Champions are afraid of them and their chairs. He and Balls Mahoney are going to hit the champs with chairs.

7. Bill Alfonso, Sabu and ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam are celebrating their victory. Paul Heyman comes over and says the scene is for Sabu. Heyman tells them that Sabu is getting the shot at RVD’s gold. Sabu tries to yank the belt and they tug over it to end the show.

Final Thoughts:
A very good episode this week as RVD/Bigelow really put on a good match that wasn’t at all clipped. It takes up about half the show and should be watched as it’s one of Bigelow’s last good matches and a statement match RVD. A thumbs up from me.

Thanks for reading.