Written by: Bob Colling
Eastern Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 10/5/1993
From: Philadelphia, PA
Matches:
1.) Public Enemy defeated Silver Jet & Gino Caruso
2.) Sabu defeated Tazmaniac in a no disqualification match
3.) The Sandman defeated The Metal Maniac
4.) Terry Funk defeated ECW Television Champion Jimmy Snuka in a steel cage match to win the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Sabu is brought out on a stretcher and has his mouth covered with a mask acting like a complete lunatic and it’s honestly a great entrance.
2.) Sabu nails Taz with a spinning heel kick from behind as Hunter Q. Robbins was talking to Taz. Sabu sends Taz to the floor and hits a springboard moonsault to take Taz out on the floor! Sabu is tied up again but is let loose and he literally tosses chairs around and chases after fans. Taz hits Sabu with a chair in the crowd and the match officially starts. Taz works over Sabu with strikes but is met with a spin kick sending Taz to the floor. Sabu takes Taz out with a somersault dive to the floor. Taz sends Sabu chest first into the ring apron and uses a chair on Sabu several times. Sabu hits a split legged moonsault to hit Taz on the floor again. Back in the ring, Taz drops Sabu on his head with an exploder suplex and an overhead belly to belly suplex. Taz continues to control the match with a stiff clothesline hitting Sabu on the jaw, it appeared. Sabu rolls back into the ring but Taz has a table with him. Sabu recovers and sets the table up for himself to use. The table breaks with Taz on the table and Taz decides to suplex Sabu onto the broken table. Sabu dropkicks Taz onto the broken table but misses a slingshot leg drop hitting the broken table. Taz drives Sabu face first into the canvas and rubs his face into the canvas. Sabu clotheslines Taz in the corner but on a second attempt Taz moves and clotheslines Sabu. Sabu stops Taz on the top rope and goes for a hurricanrana but Taz held onto the ropes to block it. Taz heads to the top rope and misses a senton splash. Sabu leaps off the top and hits a moonsault to win the match. (***. Compared to literally everything else that ECW has aired on television, this felt like a match of the year contender for the promotion. I feel refreshed and I was actually entertained. I don’t even know how to react to this feeling for ECW ’93.)
3.) Rockin’ Rebel cuts a promo about ending Salvatore Bellomo career. Rebel laughs at the thought of Bellomo coming back. Rebel promises to finish off Bellomo for good if he comes back to ECW.
4.) If Terry Funk doesn’t win the match against Jimmy Snuka then he will not be given any more title shots.
5.) Snuka works over Funk at the start with a series of strikes over the back and continues to hammer away on Funk with chops. Snuka sends Funk head first into the steel cage, but it doesn’t seem to bother Funk all that much. Snuka continues to work over Funk with strikes and plants Funk with a piledriver. Snuka decides to try and climb out of the cage but Funk gets up and stops Snuka from escaping the cage and they trade strikes on the top rope. Snuka nearly punches Funk over the top of the cage to the floor but instead Funk drops groin first across the ropes. Snuka rubs the ear and forehead of Funk across the cage. Funk rams Snuka head first into the steel cage after seeing his own blood. Funk has Snuka and connects with a piledriver of his own. Funk delivers several headbutts but Snuka isn’t impacted by it and drops Funk with a chop. Snuka power slams Funk before heading to the middle rope but misses a headbutt attempt.
Back from a commercial, Snuka is hammering on Funk causing Terry to be upside down. Snuka continues to stomp on Funk causing Funk to drop down and hit the canvas head first. Snuka hits a swinging neck breaker to keep Funk on the canvas. Snuka drives Funk down to the canvas with a back breaker as we go to another commercial.
Snuka and Funk are trading right hands with Funk getting the better of the exchange. Funk sends Snuka head first into the steel cage several times. Snuka returns the favor but neither man drops down. Funk climbs the cage and tries to escape but Snuka stops Funk despite Funk being 90% over the cage. Snuka pulls Funk back up but Funk head butts Snuka to the floor and Funk drops down to the floor to win the title. (*1/4. Mostly just a brawl and a basic cage match between two legends in the business. This is an example of two top name guys failing to deliver a memorable match.) After the match, Funk tosses a few chairs into the ring.
6.) Joey Styles interviews ECW Television Champion Terry Funk backstage. Funk says it is fantastic to be champion and puts over Snuka as a tough competitor. He says he picked to compete in ECW by choice and the belt means a lot to him just as it would in WCW or WWF. Funk puts over the roster in ECW and the fans for coming out more and more. Funk says that ECW is showing the fans that wrestling exists.
7.) Paul E. Dangerously is knocking on Jimmy Snuka’s door but Snuka isn’t answering the door. Paul attempts to get in the room but the door is slammed in his face.
Final Thoughts:
This is probably the best episode for Hardcore TV to this point thanks largely to Sabu vs. Taz. It’s really the first match in the year that I’ve enjoyed and felt it was worth watching.
Thanks for reading.