Tonight, it is Shane Douglas’ house. The Television Champ is in the building and rumor is, is that he’s go some major info to drop on Extreme Championship Wrestling! With the latest events surrounding Douglas and the dissolved Triple Threat stable, who knows what “The Franchise” will have on his mind… Also scheduled for tonight, Chris Candido in action and the number one contenders for the ECW Tag Team Championships, The Pitbulls, facing off against The Dudley Boyz!
ECW HARDCORE TV 02/13/97 (Philadelphia, PA)
1. Chris Chetti (who has thus ditched the ‘Van De Lay’ name for his own real name) defeated Stevie Richards in a strong opener to start off the show. The two wasted no time with throwing good shots at each other and keeping the tempo above normal. Stevie showed well and really made Chetti look good. Instead of a screwed finish that was typical for Stevie and the rest of the bWo, this match and even post-match stayed completely clean. The men shook hands and once Stevie left ringside he got on the mic and announced, “If it wasn’t for trainers like Mikey and my cousin Taz who are both in the back right now, I wouldn’t be here. if you people enjoyed even a little bit of my performance tonight, you can directly thank those two men. Then off the mic he thanked the crowd for the ovation they had given him out of respect of how he has come along. (13:55)
2. Commercial break + Merchandising information and prices are presented.
3. “The Human Suplex Machine” Taz defeated Chris Candido in an awesome match up. The number one contender for the Television title fought “The Human Suplex Machine” to his last breath, even surprising Taz himself. Candido proved his mat wrestling skills even further by keeping up with the mat general who is Taz. The two chain wrestled, grappled and scored numerous near falls and really put on a show for the ECW Arena and the viewers at home. After being just about outlasted, Taz slapped on the Tazmission to which Candido just lost consciousness after refusing to tap out to what was such a hard fought battle. After the match, Lance Storm would make his way to ringside to see to Candido’s coming to consciousness. (16:09)
4. Commercial break + ECW Cyberslam hype video package.
5. “The Franchise” Shane Douglas promo: A boastful Shane Douglas and Francine sauntered down to ringside and into the ring to share his big announcement with everybody. His mood seemed oddly cheerful in light of both of his fellow stable members taking up arms against him and his TV Title reign. Once on the mic, Shane began to gloat even more. “With Candido and Storm outta’ my hair, I no long have to babysit.” He also claimed that with these two gone, “The wasteful fat was cut from the Thriple Threat team!” “With all that said, I’m going to whip the green-eyed monster Chris Candido at Cyberslam in a couple of days and once that lesson is taught, ’cause believe me I will do some teaching, you all are going to be able to meet one of the new members of the new-and-improved Triple Treat stable!” “You all may have forgotten about the man but, I promise you, he hasn’t forgotten any of you. He is looking forward to seeing you all real soon…” With that, the snide Douglas said nothing more and his entrance music played him to the back as he walked out in self victory.
6. The Pitbulls defeated the Dudleys shortly after breaking down D-Von and keeping Buh-Buh a safe length away from helping his partner at all. The Pitbulls worked as a well-oiled machine and prevent the Dudleys from gaining nearly any momentum. It was clear that at this point, The Pitbulls are dead-set on their victory and subsequent gaining of the ECW Tag Team Championship from The Eliminators. After Pitbull #2 got the pin over D-Von, both Pitbulls tossed him from the ring causing him to crash down onto a disoriented Buh-Buh Ray. (15:31)