Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 10/9/1998
From: Dalton, GA
Matches:
1.) Lance Storm defeated Chris Chetti
2.) Justin Credible fought Balls Mahoney to a no contest
3.) Masato Tanaka defeated Bubba Ray Dudley
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The show is joined in progress with Chetti hitting a springboard leg drop for a near fall. Chetti misses a double springboard moonsault but dropkicks Storm on the top rope. Storm elbows Chetti off and hits a top rope spinning heel kick for the win. I feel like seeing those two compete for ten minutes would be a fun match, instead we get twenty-seconds of footage.
2.) A slow start to the Credible/Mahoney match with Mahoney controlling Credible on the canvas and not a lot of action going on in the first several moments. Mahoney jabs Credible in the corner and drops Justin with a right hand before hitting a spinning heel kick sending both men over the top to the floor. Mahoney punches Credible with a beer in hand and the fans are loving the action at ringside. Mahoney catapults Credible face first into a chair shot from Axl Rotten and into the ring post. Balls hits a power slam back in the ring for a two count. Jason gets involved hitting Balls with a kick and Credible has control as we go to commercial.
Mahoney no sells being rammed face first into the corner several times and returns the favor to Credible. Mahoney misses a splash in the corner and Credible gets control of the bout again. Credible misses a baseball slide and hits the ring post groin first. Mahoney rams Credible into the post a second time. Credible flips in the corner and Mahoney hits a sit down power bomb but doesn’t go for the cover. Balls heads to the top rope and hits a frog splash but again doesn’t go for the cover. Balls screams for the Nutcracker Suite but Chastity gets involved only for her to be given the Nutcracker Suite. Rotten enters with a steel chair and misses Jason, but Mahoney doesn’t. Credible nails both Mahoney and Rotten with the kendo stick. Credible continues to attack Rotten with the kendo stick. Credible hits Mahoney several times, as well. Tommy Dreamer comes out and hits Credible with a side Russian leg sweep and uses the cane on Credible. (*1/2. The match isn’t anything special and I would have just put Credible over since he is a rising heel in the company.)
3.) Back from commercial, Axl Rotten is bleeding and selling the attack from Credible.
4.) Tanaka drop toe holds Bubba in the corner early on into the match. Tanaka leaps off the top to hit a missile dropkick and Dudley bails to the floor. Tanaka attempts a slingshot cross body but is dropped throat first across the railing. Bubba continues to work over Tanaka with strikes and chops. D-Von gets a few cheap shots on the floor while the referee was distracted. Tanaka sends Bubba into the railing back first and smashes Bubba with a chair! Bubba blocks a second attempt with a big boot. Bubba shoves the referee on the floor, but he shoves right back. Back in the ring, Bubba taunts Tanaka while delivering a few more strikes. Tanaka battles back with a backdrop and a side suplex for a near fall. Bubba blocks a second attempt by landing on top as the show goes to commercial.
Bubba hits the Bubba Bomb to keep control after Tanaka tried to get some momentum going in his favor. Bubba scoop slams Tanaka and hits a middle rope senton splash for a two count. Bubba whacks Tanaka over the head with a steel chair, but Tanaka doesn’t sell it. Here comes the Triple Threat as Bubba splashes Tanaka in the corner. Bubba slaps Tanaka in the corner and begins to hammer away on Tanaka until Masato hits a power bomb out of the corner. Tanaka knocks D-Von off the apron and goes for the tornado DDT but Bam-Bam holds Tanaka’s ankle and it allows Bubba to hit a Samoan Drop onto a chair! Bubba slams Tanaka onto the chair a second time but Tanaka continues to fight back with forearm shots. Tanaka hits a bad looking Diamond Dust and Bigelow enters to attack Tanaka. Sabu and Rob Van Dam enter the ring and cause a brawl and the match is thrown out as a result. Van Dam and Sabu hit a frog splash/leg drop combo on Bubba. Wait, the match isn’t thrown out and Tanaka pins Bubba. (*1/2. It was pretty basic and the interference was just not needed at all.)
5.) The Triple Threat attack Sabu and Rob Van Dam after the main event but here comes Taz. Taz takes everyone out with suplexs. Van Dam and Sabu dive to the floor and Taz takes Douglas over the railing into the crowd with a belly to belly suplex! The show comes to an end with everyone brawling and Taz hitting a dangerous suplex in the crowd on Douglas!
Final Thoughts:
The Triple Threat brawl with Sabu/RVD and Taz was the best part of a rather underwhelming program.
Thanks for reading.