ECW Hardcore TV 9/12/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 9/12/1998
From: Philadelphia, PA

Matches:
1.)Jerry Lynn defeated Mikey Whipwreck
2.)Tommy Dreamer defeated Jack Victory in a death match
3.)Masato Tanaka defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow

Angle Developments/Notes
1. Bill Alfonso comes down to the ring to chat with Joey Styles. Alfonso wants ECW World Champion Taz to come down to the ring so he can cash in his favor from the champion. It doesn’t take long for Taz to make his way down to the ring. Taz threatens Alfonso saying he has one minute to talk. Alfonso wants to shake hands with Taz to form an apparent alliance with RVD and Sabu. Styles asks if this could be a new Triple Threat!? Taz looks at the crowd and is thinking about it. Taz goes to shake hands but that brings out the actual Triple Threat! The crowd is eating this all up. Douglas doesn’t care what the fans want. Douglas says that Taz isn’t a world champion and couldn’t hang with the Triple Threat. Taz challenges Douglas to take the belt from him. Douglas doesn’t want the FTW Championship. Taz knows that Shane wants the belt. Taz dares Shane to toss the FTW Championship on the ground. A brawl ends up happening after Alfonso says Francine wants to have sex with a microphone. Bigelow comes off the top to head butt Taz as he was held down by Douglas and Candido. Candido plants Taz with a DDT. Bigelow has Alfonso and lets go of him when RVD and Sabu enter the ring. They actually don’t touch each other to end the segment.

2. Backstage, Lance Storm and Tammy Lynn Bytch cut a promo. Storm talks about Sytch ripping Bytch’s clothes off. Storm says he was on his back with Tammy on top of her and the going rate for that is $20. Storm is a complete dick here.

3. Early on, Lynn and Whipwreck go with a fast pace offense approach and have a stand off because neither man got the advantage. Lynn gets control of the match with some basic offense. It’s a fairly slow match and uninteresting after the flurry start. Lynn counters the Whippernapper but runs into a dropkick. Lynn locks in the Texas Cloverleaf but Whipwreck reaches the bottom rope. They end up on the floor where Mikey rams Lynn face first into the guard railing and back first into the railing. Whipwreck hits a slingshot cross body on the floor from the ring. Lynn dropkicks Whipwreck off the top to the floor. Lynn comes off the top to take Whipwreck out with a cross body as well. Mikey atomic drops Jerry and hits a side Russian leg sweep. Whipwreck shoves Lynn off the middle rope but misses a diving headbutt. Lynn nearly wins with a sit down powerbomb. Lynn plants Whipwreck with a tornado DDT! Whipwreck hits the Whippersnapper but Jerry gets his foot on the bottom rope! Lynn rolls through a top rope hurricanrana and gets a three count! (**1/2. A decent match between these two. The crowd was really into the action, which wasn’t overly great or anything. Some solid action throughout, regardless.)

4. Tommy Dreamer was going to have a death match with Jack Victory, but that was changed to a gauntlet match, apparently. Danny Doring was up first to take on Dreamer. Danny gets some decent offense against Dreamer. Dreamer gets Doring in the tree of woe, but a bodyguard comes in and Dreamer drop toe holds him into Doring who had a chair up against his face. Dreamer goes after Jack Victory and their death match starts, I’d imagine. Victory powerslams Tommy on the concrete floor! Dreamer is attacked by Lance Wright’s followers. Dreamer dropkicks a guard railing into Victory’s face! They brawl into the crowd where Victory is busted wide open after chair shots. Dreamer breaks wood over Jack’s back. Dreamer tries to smash a chair against Jack’s head that was up against the railing but misses. Victory drops Dreamer groin first across the railing. Jack spikes Dreamer with a piledriver on the guard railing! Dreamer is now getting beaten up by all of Wright’s guys. Here comes Blue Meanie and Nova with weapons to make the save. Nova uses a Captain America shield! Dreamer plants the Equalizer with a DDT on the shield. Blue Light Special on Doring and another Wright fellow. Dreamer whacks Victory on the groin with a bowling ball against the shield! Dreamer covers and wins. After the match, Dreamer rolls the bowling ball into Wright’s groin. (**1/4. A decent brawl between these two guys or group of guys. I was entertained more than I thought I was going to be, actually.)

5. A pretty big main event for the show this week. Bigelow pummels Tanaka early on to get the early advantage. Tanaka hits a belly to back suplex but Bam Bam hits a quick clothesline. Tanaka countered a powerbomb and follows up with clotheslines sending Bigelow to the floor. Tanaka hits a suicide dive on the floor! Tanaka rams a chair into Bigelow’s head and goes to the apron to deliver another chair shot. Back in the ring, Tanaka comes off the top looking for a chair shot but is caught and Bigelow hits a spine buster. Bigelow plants Tanaka with a powerbomb! Bigelow goes for the cover but Tanaka kicks out at two. Bigelow splashes Tanaka and teases that he may toss Tanaka into the crowd. Tanaka drop toe holds Bigelow into the middle turnbuckle. Bigelow catches Tanaka off the top but Masato wiggles free to deliver a forearm and a running bulldog! They both have chairs and begin to swing at each other. Bigelow delivers the first chair shot but Tanaka isn’t all that hurt by it. Tanaka hits a chair shot and a forearm for a near win. Bigelow is bleeding from the back of head pretty badly as a table is brought into the ring. Bigelow counters a tornado DDT and sends Tanaka crashing through the table. RVD and Sabu come down to the ring and attack Bigelow. Bam Bam is put on a table. RVD and Sabu hit a double leg drop sending Bigelow through the table! Tanaka is put on top of Bigelow and gets the win! (**1/2. An average main event to close the show. I guess the involvement of RVD and Sabu makes sense to advance the feud. A clean win for Tanaka over Bigelow wouldn’t be all that smart.)

Final Thoughts:
An average show for ECW this week. The feud between the Triple Threat and the new Triple Threat is the best thing ECW has going at the moment as the crowd is eating all that up. Aside from that and the Storm/Candido feud it’s kinda uninteresting time in ECW.

Thanks for reading.