ECW Hardcore TV 1/2/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 1/2/1996
From: Queens, NY

Matches:
1.) Mikey Whipwreck defeated ECW World Tag Team & ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio to win both titles
2.) The Gangstas defeated Public Enemy

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Mostly the show is centered around highlights from ECW’s first New York show. Tommy Dreamer hits everyone with a kendo stick from Raven to Sandman. He also spikes Beulah with a piledriver. The highlights are out of sequence for the Raven and Dreamer feud as we see Beulah blinding Raven on accident leading to him hitting a DDT on Stevie Richards on accident. Cactus Jack is associated with Raven at this point as he hit a DDT on Sandman but that didn’t lead to a victory.

2.) Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie cut off Joey Styles during the opening segment of the show. Stevie insults the fans calling several people transexuals and whatnot. We see that Missy Hyatt is in the front row, which the fans don’t seem to care about. Hyatt insults Richards calling him a putz. Stevie manages to convince Hyatt to go on a date with him by promising a date with Raven. Hyatt makes out with Richards right there and says to give that to Raven. “I know Raven, too.” – Joey Styles

3.) Scorp is putting it all on the line including his tag partners belt. Some nice standing switches to start out. Mikey gets a roll up for 1. Scorpio works an armbar. Scorpio botches a spinning kick. Lethal kick from Scorpio. Running sequences end with a Mikey tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a pair of dropkicks. Scorpio bails so Mikey hits a slingshot senton. Back inside Scorpio dodges a top rope dive. Mikey escapes a powerbomb and hits a monkey flip. We cut to Missy Hyatte for no reason. Low blow from Scorpio. Drop suplex from Scorpio but he refuses to cover. Tombstone piledriver from Scorpio but he refuses to cover and hits a moonsault. He refuses to cover again. Powerbomb from Scorpio and he drops the bomb for 2 (that’s his moonsault flipping into a legdrop). Scorpio comes off the cover at 2 it wasn’t a kick out. Superkick from Scorpio. He spits on Mikey. Scorpio gets crotched and Mikey hits a rana off the top for 2. Scorpio misses the Stinger splash and gets rolled up for 2. Ref bump and Scorpio accidentally splashes the ref. Superkick on Mikey. Twisting splash from Scorpio but the ref is down. Backbreaker and a powerbomb from Scorpio. Cactus Jack does a run in and hits the double arm DDT on Scorpio. Mikey pins for the win at 11.53 and Cactus takes his place as Mikey’s tag team partner. **1/2. Scorpio has no clue how to put a match together and he was the senior guy. It wasn’t a bad match it just had no flow whatsoever. Mikey and Cactus celebrate, sort of. Mikey doesn’t want the belt that way so Cactus hits the Cactus clothesline on Scorpio. (credit: Arnold Furious, Holiday Hell ’95 Review)

4.) I hate both these teams so I’m not looking forward to reviewing this. New Jack uses a fork or something. Moonsault press on Mustafa gets 2 for Rocco. Everyone is bleeding already. Loads of plunder shots. Rocco gets put through a table. Mustafa gets 2 from a powerslam. Stun gun from New Jack nearly gets the fall but Rocco is saved by Grunge. Rocco moonsaults Mustafa through a table, which doesn’t break. Mustafa puts Rocco through a table but it happened off camera so I don’t know how. Inverted DDT from Grunge and a senton from Rocco but the referee isn’t paying attention. Rocco gets a chair in the face and Mustafa rolls him up to stop the pain at 8.26. DUD.(Credit: Arnold Furious, Holiday Hell ’95, Review)

5.) New Jack and Mustafa cut a promo to end the program. They are going to crash the party despite being suspended by the promoter. They got suspended with no pay. Jack says they are going to give the Public Enemy a nasty ass kicking before they go off to World Championship Wrestling.

6.) Public Enemy cut a promo as well about House Party and their final appearance. They came in with a bang and they are going to leave with one, too. This isn’t about love and it’s not about liking anyone. Rocco says this is going to be the most violent match anyone has ever seen.

7.) Backstage, Cactus Jack has the ECW World Tag Team Championship with his mentor Raven. Cactus has Mikey Whipwreck to bow down to Raven, but Raven rejects him. Raven calls Whipwreck garbage. Beulah chimes in and says she can make Mikey a man. Mikey says he isn’t happy with being a partner of Cactus Jack, and he sure as hell won’t be associated with Raven. Raven shoves Cactus several times and says “don’t ever fail me, Jack.”

Final Thoughts:
As you may have guessed, when it comes to non-Hardcore TV original program, I’ll insert those match reviews from the super card events that have been reviewed already. A fine first episode for ECW programming to start ’96. The oddball relationship between Raven and Cactus is interesting. I’m quite interested in seeing how the Raven/Dreamer saga goes on throughout the year.

Thanks for reading.