Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 8/15/1995
From: Philadelphia, PA
Matches:
1.) JT Smith defeated Hack Myers
2.) ECW World Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards, Big Dick Dudley & Dudley Dudley defeated Cactus Jack, Tommy Dreamer & The Pitbulls
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Unless I’m not realizing this, but Wrestlepalooza ’95 wasn’t released on VHS or anything of that nature. Luckily, over the next few episodes the major matches from that event are shown, so it’s not a big deal, I guess.
2.) A recap of what happened between Sandman and Mikey Whipwreck at Wrestlepalooza is shown with stills. Sandman beat Whipwreck with a kendo stick and Sandman remained in the ring drinking a beer and smoking. Public Enemy came out and attacked Sandman leading into the stretcher match between the Gangstas and Public Enemy, which was the main event of the event. Sandman ended up costing Rocco Rock the match hitting Rock with a kendo stick and Rock was put through a table. Gangstas won the match. Mikey Whipwreck came out and hit Sandman with the kendo stick to make the save.
3.) Public Enemy and Mikey Whipwreck share some thoughts in the hood. Public Enemy is trying to toughen Whipwreck up. Mikey acts like he would basically allow The Gangstas do whatever they want but when it came to Sandman he would kick his ass hardcore style. Johnny Grunge suggests the Gangstas check their track record to see that they are innovators and the king of extreme.
4.) Joey Styles is standing at ringside and says he has no choice but to introduce the ECW World Tag Team Champions Stevie Richards and Raven for their requested interview time. Stevie says there is a lot of stuff going on in ECW these days involving them. Raven gets annoyed with Richards talking about non-important things like his Wringer shirt. Richards talks about Francine, his girlfriend. He thinks she needs exposure. So, Richards brings Styles over to Francine, who is standing at ringside. They go all around the ring only for her to be standing in front of them. Francine calls Stevie sweet cheeks in reference to his butt. Raven wants to end the social gathering right now. Francine wants to make sure that the slut, Beulah, isn’t in the picture. Beulah refutes Francine’s claim saying she was turning men down while Francine was doing something that was censored. Beulah calls Francine to the ring and she jumps the railing to enter the ring for a cat fight. Several officials enter the ring to break up the fight.
5.) Tommy Dreamer and the Pitbulls cut a promo on the Dudley Boys. Pitbull #2 says that the Dudley Boys will not be able to handle their bite. Richards and Raven will pay a severe price for crossing them. Pitbull #1 chimes in and says they are 100% hardcore. Tommy says that Raven’s men of war are getting lower. Dreamer says they have a plan that can’t go wrong.
6.) The Dudley Boys, Raven and Stevie Richards are backstage playing in trash, apparently. Raven says in his world child abuse runs rampant and a dysfunctional family exists. Richards talks about when they won the tag titles and when he got the hottest groupie in all the world, Francine. Beulah appears to be jealous of that. Stevie says the Dudley Boys are here to combat the Pitbulls. Big Dick Dudley isn’t saying anything and grabs the other Dudley. They say that they have a lot of Dudley’s from where they came from. No matter what happens they aren’t going to be able to hurt Big Dick and they won’t allow the Pitbulls to hurt Stevie Richards and they will not get close to getting their hands on Raven. Raven tells Dreamer there is no master plan as his brilliance will overcome Dreamer’s ignorance.
7.) Dreamer’s plan to overcome Raven is to have Cactus Jack as his partner. Cactus says that any time that Dreamer calls him for a favor he is going to be there. Jack puts over his partners to destroy the tag champs and the Dudleys. Cactus finishes off saying that he digs Raven for his look and the sexy ladies. An odd way to finish the interview, I thought.
8.) Cactus Jack is mimicking Raven at the start by sitting in the corner. Raven gets on the microphone and says he understands Jack’s pain and feels his pain. Raven lists the various things that have happened in his career and says he understands the pain.
9.) Raven slaps Cactus at the start of the match and wants Cactus to slap him back but Cactus doesn’t do it and instead tags out to Dreamer. The match is heavily clipped as Dreamer works over the heels sending Dudley into Stevie and hits both men with a DDT. Richards is sent into a chair on the floor by the Pitbulls. With a chair wrapped over his head, Stevie is hit with another chair over the head. Cactus pummels Dick with forearms in the corner. Cactus is refusing to touch Raven during the match, which is probably a sign of a heel turn. Richards pulls the ropes down to cause #1 to fly over the top to the floor. #2 comes over with a chair to help his partner out. Dudley hits a top rope elbow drop on Dreamer for a near fall. Dick press slams Dreamer like he was nothing to him. Dreamer plants Richards with a neck breaker. Raven prevents a tag from being made. Richards drives Dreamer down with a power bomb but Tommy kicks out at two. Cactus whacks Dick several times with a chair but he no-sells them. Raven drops Tommy with a chair shot. Cactus gets in the ring and goes after Stevie. Dreamer goes for a piledriver on Raven driving him down onto a chair! Dreamer plays to the crowd but Jack kicks him in the gut and hits a DDT! Raven has the cover and pins Tommy. (NR. Since it’s clipped, no rating, but the heel turn became rather obvious early into the match. It’s a good twist, though. Cactus as a heel is probably better off in this environment.)
10.) Cactus Jack is backstage somewhere to share some comments to close the show. Cactus says that he was two hours late to a building he was in dozens of times before because he couldn’t remember how to get there. When he felt his ear getting torn from the side of his head, it hurt. He recalls all the painful things that has happened to him and they all hurt badly. It hurt when Shane Douglas left of the WWF but nobody understands his pain. However, one man does understand his pain and it is Raven. How can he turn his back when Raven has a higher purpose and understands everything about Cactus? Cactus is prepared to live with his actions. Cactus says that maybe next time he will kill Tommy Dreamer and get it over with quickly.
Final Thoughts:
Every week they focus on Dreamer/Raven and you’d think it would get annoying or stale, but each time something new developments and it is like there is a never ending amount of layers to the feud. Cactus associating himself with Raven makes that unit even stronger. It continues to make Dreamer an underdog face, which is perfectly fine and ideal. These shows continue to be top notch.
Thanks for reading.