ECW Hardcore TV 8/24/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

Eastern Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 8/24/1993
From: Philadelphia, PA

Matches:
1.) Eddie Gilbert & Dark Patriot defeated JT Smith & Tommy Cairo in a first round match for the ECW Tag Team Champions
2.) Shane Douglas defeated Don E. Allen & Hervo Ernesto in a handicap match
3.) Super Destroyers defeated The Suicide Blonds by forfeit in a first round match for the ECW Tag Team Championships
4.) Terry Funk defeated The Canadian Wolfman
5.) Tito Santana defeated ECW Heavyweight Champion Don Muraco to win the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Eddie Gilbert messes with Jay Sulli and his mother before talking about Ultra Clash ’93 where he will be teaming with Abdullah the Butcher to take on Stan Hansen and Terry Funk.

2.) Cairo and Patriot kick off the tag match. Patriot gets the cheap advantage with an eye rake but Cairo comes back with several hip tosses and a spinning heel kick knocking Patriot to the floor. Smith tags in and delivers an axe handle to the arm of Patriot, but Gilbert gets tagged in and is arm dragged by Smith. Smith takes Gilbert down with an arm bar. Cairo tags in and they are focusing their offense on Gilbert’s arm. Sherri Martel comes down to ringside to stalk Freddie Gilbert after he tripped Cairo from the floor. Freddie runs to the backstage area while Patriot maintained control on Cairo. Cairo misses a splash in the corner and hits the corner rib first. Paul E. Dangerously comes down to ringside as Cairo is sent over the top to the floor by Patriot. Patriot leaps off the top and takes Cairo out with a cross body on the floor. Patriot hits a double axe handle on Cairo for a second high risk move.

Gilbert enters and scoop slams Cairo but misses an elbow and Smith gets the tag cleaning house with power slams and fall away slams on both Gilbert and Patriot. Gilbert enters with a chain and accidentally nails Patriot with the chain! Smith leaps off the top to hit a cross body and pins Patriot to pull off the upset! Wait a minute, the referee finds the chain on JT Smith and he reverses the decision giving the match to Gilbert and Patriot. (*1/4. As good as Gilbert is as a heel, he really needs to give something to the faces in the company. Once it was announced the decision was reverses there was a deflated feeling the crowd let out. This was a poor booking decision.)

3.) Tod Gordon introduces a debuting wrestler for ECW, Shane Douglas. As soon as Douglas enters the ring, the Dangerous Alliance enter the ring to confront Douglas. Paul E. Dangerously excuses himself and thinks the fans need to learn everything about the Dangerous Alliance or Hotstuff International. Dangerously embraces Douglas and he has joined the heel stable. Douglas says it feels great to be onboard. Douglas says that winners surround themselves with champions and that is what he has done with Gilbert, Snuka and ECW Heavyweight Champion Don Muraco. Gordon can’t believe this has happened. Douglas thanks Ted Turner for the money he gave him. Douglas issues an open challenge to anyone who thinks they can pin his shoulders to the mat. Douglas is confident considering he has seen the talent in ECW. Two jobbers enter the ring and take up the offer and naturally fail.

4.) Hunter Q. Robbins says that he told the Suicide Blonds to not come to the match and admits he made a mistake allowing the Super Destroyers to get away. Robbins recalls having all the money and the gold with the Destroyers. Destroyers say they don’t need Robbins and they never needed him. They say they can’t be bought and Robbins falls to the mat before running away.

5.) Santana hammers away on Muraco at the start of the match and grabs the championship from Freddie Gilbert tossing him into Muraco who dumps Freddie over the top to the floor. Muraco gets control working on the left arm of Santana. Muraco yanks Santana down by his hair and keeps the advantage working over the arm. Tito misses a splash in the corner and Muraco maintains his control with basic strikes. Muraco wraps Tito’s left arm around the ring post, which Jay Sulli says it was his leg, but it wasn’t. Muraco drives Tito down with a shoulder breaker and uses a taped thumb to drive into Tito. Tito nearly wins with an inside cradle after countering a power slam attempt. Freddie has the referee distracted as Muraco had the cover and probably would have retained. Muraco hits a swinging neck breaker but Freddie gets on the apron again to distract the referee. Tito sends Muraco into Freddie and Mursco slaps Freddie off the apron. Tito has a second wind and hits a flying forearm to win the match and title. (*. This was a crappy match with mainly rest holds and killing time before the finish. Even in the loss, Muraco is protected since Freddie was a distraction.)

6.) Paul E. Dangerously cuts a promo saying that ECW is blood, guts and violence. He mocks SMW’s catchphrase in the process. Dangerously hypes up Ultra Clash taking place on September 18th. Eddie Gilbert chimes in and says that everyone thinks he is going to stand behind Abdullah the Butcher. Gilbert promises that he is going to take out Terry Funk and Stan Hansen all by himself.

Final Thoughts:
Shane Douglas in ECW marks for a new era in my opinion considering what he would eventually mean to the company. Having him start off as a heel is ideal and the best way to effectively use him. The title change to Tito Santana probably makes for a better work-rate, but the match sucked and was largely rest holds. It was a better effort this week than many of the other episode in ’93 thus far

Thanks for reading.