Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 2/13/2000
From: Jacksonville, FL
Matches:
1.) Masato Tanaka & Balls Mahoney defeated Vic Grimes & Angel
2.) Tajiri defeated Super Crazy in a Japanese Death Match
3.) Tommy Dreamer & Dusty Rhodes defeated Steve Corino & Jack Victory in a street fight
Angle Developments:
1. Earlier in the day, New Jack was attacked by Da Baldies, so Balls Mahoney will compete in a handicap match. Apparently, ECW won’t allow New Jack to wrestle due to having surgery on his foot.
2. Mahoney knocks both Baldies down with clotheslines and goes to use a spike but is stopped by Angel. Grimes uses a pizza cutter on Mahoney. Masato Tanaka runs down and helps Mahoney. Grimes gets sent over the top with a double clothesline. Tanaka drops Angel with a sit-out side slam. Grimes misses a splash and hits the railing. Tanaka plants Angel with a tornado DDT and they go to the floor. Grimes works over Balls with a series of splashes in the corner. New Jack comes out and hits Grimes with a chair and Tanaka gets the win with a roaring elbow. (*. As per usual, matches involving Da Baldies doesn’t produce much of anything. Tanaka didn’t get a huge reaction as some may have expected.)
3. Crazy quickly hits a springboard dropkick but Tajiri comes off the ropes to dropkick crazy on the left knee. Tajiri backdrops Crazy over the railing into the crowd. Tajiri tosses a chair into the ring and kicks the chair into Crazy’s head. Crazy is put in the tree of woe and Tajiri puts three chairs in front of his face. Tajiri kicks the chairs into Crazy’s face! Crazy has been busted wide open while a few more chairs are sent into the ring and Crazy had gotten a table out on the floor. Crazy fights back with a clothesline and a springboard moonsault followed by a quick power bomb. Crazy sets up a table on the floor after pushing the railing back a little bit and Tajiri is placed on it. Crazy goes up top and hits a leg drop through the table! Crazy gets several chairs from the front row. Tajiri fights back with the green mist after a handspring back elbow and plants Crazy with a brain buster! Tajiri gets shoved off the top rope and Crazy hits a missile dropkick. Crazy hits a moonsault off the top and through the table for a near win. Tajiri drives Crazy face first onto several chairs with a tornado DDT. Tajiri places a bunch of chairs on Crazy and double stomps Crazy from the top for the win. (***. A lot of the hardcore spots were kind of flat and these guys wrestle so often that it just feels like the same match over and over again.)
4. Corino and Dusty go at it while Victory and Dreamer brawl. Dusty delivers a few elbow smashes and turns his attention to Victory. All four men are brawling in the crowd at this point in the early stages of the match. Dreamer sends Corino into the concession stand area and they head back towards the ring. Rhodes gets his hands on Corino again with a low blow. Dreamer sends a bloody Victory back first into a ladder. Dreamer is sent into the ladder and walks into a super kick from Corino. Dreamer fights back but Corino hits a spinning heel kick. Dreamer drops Corino face first across a ladder and tags in Rhodes. Dusty proceeds to clean house with strikes. Dusty and Dreamer hit DDT’s at the same time and elbow drops. They cover and both get three counts. After the match, Rhino attacks Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Dreamer. Here comes the Sandman to even the odds. (*1/2. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine when a street fight turns into a tag match that has rules regarding tags and whatnot. I’ve never understood that. The match isn’t great, but it’s neat to see Dusty Rhodes in an ECW atmosphere. Nothing memorable here, though.)
5. Paul Heyman wants all the fans to come to NYC for an autograph signing. He wants a news story to be developed out of the audience being there. All of this is for the release of the video game.
Final Thoughts:
A better show than what we’ve been getting thus far as the matches had bigger names and better action. I’ll give it a thumbs up this week.
Thanks for reading.