Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 12/25/1998
From: Philadelphia, PA
Matches:
1.) Yoshihiro Tajiri defeated Antifaz Del Norte
2.) ECW Television Champion & ECW World Tag Team Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Balls Mahoney to retain the title
3.) ECW World Tag Team Champion Sabu defeated FTW Champion Taz to win the title
Angle Developments:
1.) FTW Champion Taz makes his way down to the ring to kick off the program to be interviewed by Joey Styles. Taz says that he is going to give Sabu receipt number three tonight in Philadelphia. Taz wants to take out Sabu so that he gets the ECW World Championship match.
2.) A random African American female enters the ring after Chastity got in her face. They have a cat fight until Justin Credible and Jazz break them up. This would be the debut of Jazz in ECW. Credible nails Chastity with a kendo stick and Jazz beats the crap out of her with it. Credible hits the ring announcer several times until Tommy Dreamer runs into the ring and makes the save with a steel chair in hand. Terry Funk comes out and taunts Dreamer on the microphone. Funk says that he would love to kick Dreamer right in the balls because Dreamer is yellow and a chicken. Funk puts one hand behind his back and calls Tommy gutless. Credible and Funk attack Dreamer while the fans try to get behind Dreamer to no avail. Funk stands over Dreamer and says he has a new protege in Justin Credible. Credible picks Dreamer up and hits the That’s Incredible. Jason tosses a ladder into the ring and Credible puts Tommy’s leg between the ladder and smashes a chair against the ladder. Justin and Terry lock in two spinning toe holds to leave Tommy laying in the ring.
3.) Tajiri gets out of an arm lock and standoffs with Norte. This match will be clipped as well. They trade kicks to the back and Tajiri hits a seated dropkick, which impresses the crowd with his quickness in hitting the move. Tajiri kicks Norte from the apron and hits a top rope cross body. Tajiri hits a handspring back elbow and Norte goes rolling to the floor. Tajiri hits a springboard moonsault to the floor and the fans are eating this up. Tajiri delivers a kick on the apron and ties Norte up in the ropes with the Tarantula. Tajiri puts a camel clutch on Norte but lets go and misses a moonsault. This whole segment is seemingly just putting over Tajiri. Norte takes Tajiri out with a corkscrew dive over the top to the floor. Tajiri avoids a tornado DDT and kicks Norte right in the head.
Norte counters a hurricanrana with a power bomb. Norte hits a slingshot corkscrew splash from the apron for a near fall. Norte goes to the top rope and hits an elbow drop for a near fall. Tajiri is stopped on the top rope by Norte. Norte hits a top rope hurricanrana. Tajiri rolls Norte around the ring with his legs but can’t get a three count on the cover. Tajiri plants Norte with a brain buster for a near fall. Tajiri takes Norte over with a dragon suplex and wins the match. This did a great job of showcasing Tajiri and I’m sold on wanting to see his rise in ECW. His stuff was very exciting and fun to watch.
4.) Robert Gibson is interviewed backstage until Danny Doring and Roadkill come over to cut him off. Doring embraces Gibson as being his father after Gibson and Morton double teamed his mother… that just happened. Roadkill just says chickens and shakes hands with Gibson. Doring is overly happy about knowing his father is Gibson.
5.) RVD/Mahoney is joined in progress as Mahoney clotheslines Van Dam over the top to the floor. Balls goes to the floor and continues to work over Van Dam sending him into the railing. Van Dam fights back with jabs and sends Mahoney into the railing. Van Dam comes off the dialing to take Mahoney out in the crowd. Van Dam leaps off the top to take Mahoney out with a somersault dive in the crowd! Van Dam knocks Balls to the canvas but only gets a near fall after the frog splash from the top. Mahoney nails RVD with a short arm clothesline. Mahoney scoop slams Van Dam and goes to the top to hit a frog splash of his own but Van Dam kicks out at two. Balls works over RVD in the corner with several strikes before hitting a big splash. Van Dam gets a chair but spin kicks the referee instead of Mahoney. Balls drops Van Dam with a clothesline.
Mahoney superkicks a chair into Van Dam’s face and lays RVD onto the chair. Mahoney misses a middle rope leg drop hitting the chair instead. Van Dam misses a leg drop and is met with a piledriver onto the chair. The referee has been busted open due to the kick from RVD. Van Dam goes to the top and kicks the chair into Mahoney’s face. RVD goes for the cover and nearly wins the match but Mahoney kicks out at two. Balls hits the Nutcracker Suite but RVD kicks out at two. Mahoney whacks RVD with an unprotected chair shot but only gets a near fall as Bill Alfonso entered to save the title. Mahoney is distracted and gets a chair kicked into his face. Van Dam hits the frog splash onto a chair on Mahoney for the win. (**. I’d think the landing on a chair would hurt RVD more than Mahoney, but what do I know? Anyway, chair shots and kicks is what you got here.)
6.) There isn’t a lot of time left for the main event. Taz hits a German suplex dropping Sabu on his head within the first ten seconds of the match. Sabu low blows Taz and hits a clothesline for a near fall. Sabu hits a springboard heel kick but only gets a near fall on the pin attempt. Sabu gets a table and sets it up in the corner. Sabu sends Taz into the ladder and hits a leg drop to break an already broken table when Taz ran into it. Sabu places Taz on a table on the floor and springboards off a chair to hit a splash on Taz crashing through the table. Taz rams Sabu head first into the railing and hits Sabu with a cooking pan. Taz tosses Sabu over the railing and they brawl into the crowd. Taz tosses Sabu off the bleachers to the floor. Taz sends a bloody Sabu into the wall and they continue to brawl in the crowd.
They make it back to ringside where Taz delivers several more blows and sets a table up in the corner. Sabu leaps off a chair to splash Taz in the corner. Taz hits a full nelson suplex to put Sabu through the table in the corner! Shane Douglas comes out and Taz flips off Douglas and Alfonso. Taz lays down and puts Sabu on top of him. Sabu gets the three count and Douglas is pissed that Taz did that. Taz leaves through the crowd while Sabu is laid out in the ring. (**. There was some good action and the finish is rather confusing, but I like the mind games.)
7.) Taz says he always picks his spots and he did the heist while Douglas will pay the price. Taz speeds off in his car to end the program.
Final Thoughts:
I thought this was a great episode to end the year. Tajiri is a star for ECW and the feud between Douglas/Taz has continued to be very entertaining to me.
Thanks for reading.