ECW Hardcore TV 3/12/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 3/12/1996
From: Queens, NY

Matches:
1.) Dudley Boys (Bubba and Dances Dudley) defeated The Headhunters
2.) Chris Jericho defeated Cactus Jack
3.) Taz defeated Mikey Whipwreck

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Shane Douglas comes out to the ring and tells Shawn Michaels to kiss his ass. Douglas tells Vince McMahon that you can try and replicate this but he can’t touch this. Douglas is ready to step over two doors and rock and roll with the prettiest girls in New York. Brian Pillman is freaking out in the front row and apparently wants a piece of Shane Douglas. Douglas says that he has had enough of Pillman. Joey Styles throws a shot at Pillman saying he couldn’t cut in WCW and not to entertain him. Douglas cools off and continues his interview. Well, Douglas decides that he’s going to actually confront Pillman. Douglas gives Pillman two choices to either jump the railing and fight him like a man or he’ll drag him over. Pillman is here with his agent and his son. Douglas gives Pillman to the count of three and Pillman taunts Douglas to punch him. Douglas goes to punch Pillman but he puts his son in the way and Douglas is livid that Pillman would do that. Pillman tells Douglas to quit like he’s quit everything else in his life. Pillman says he is a real man who doesn’t quit and rather gets thrown out of town. Pillman slaps Douglas and Douglas loses it trying to get his hands on Pillman but isn’t successful. Security prevents Douglas from jumping the railing numerous times. Douglas is pissed and wants Pillman right now but isn’t going to get him.

2.) Bill Alfonso gets in the ring and confronts Tod Gordon saying that he ran Gordon out of Florida. Alfonso slaps Gordon and that doesn’t end very well for him. Styles got hit by a full cup of beer during the segment. Gordon takes Alfonso down but here comes Taz who gives Alfonso a chair to whack Gordon over the back with. Bam-Bam Bigelow enters the ring and no sells a chair shot causing Taz to bail to the floor.

3.) The match between the Dudley’s and the Headhunters is less than three minutes. Bubba hit Damien Cane with three chair shots over the head and Damien literally sold them like they were punches. That was kind of annoying. Bubba got the win with a simple rollup. After the match, the Headhunters hit a moonsault on Dances. Big Dick Dudley broke a wooden object over the back of the Headhunters.

4.) Backstage, Bill Alfonso cuts a promo being mad that in the WWF nobody wanted his autograph but rather they wanted Bam-Bam Bigelow. Taz wants Bigelow to stick around a little longer so that he can choke him out. Alfonso also lost money on the match between Bigelow and Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI and he’s mad about that, too.

5.) Mustafa makes his way out to answer an open challenge by the Headhunters, but here comes New Jack to even the odds leading to the typical hardcore brawl that the Gangstas prevail in.

6.) Backstage, the Gangstas cut a promo on the Headhunters where New Jack talks about being let out of jail because he made bail. They are going to beat their asses no matter where they gonna be.

7.) This is Chris Jericho’s TV debut. Jericho knocks Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie to the floor with a dropkick after they were doing a strut with Cactus Jack. Cactus shoulder blocks Jericho but misses a leg drop and is met with a dropkick. Cactus gets control of the match and works over Jericho with stomps. Jericho takes Jack over with a monkey flip and dropkicks Cactus to the floor. Jericho works over Jack with several strikes but Cactus hits a clothesline in the corner. Cactus hammers away on Jericho in the corner to maintain control of the bout. Cactus misses a splash in the corner and Jericho dropkicks Cactus to the apron where Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to knock Cactus to the floor. Jericho hits a double axe handle and crotches Cactus on the railing. Jericho attacks Meanie and Richards on the floor a well. They are both on the apron where Cactus misses a splash hitting the ring post face first and crashes to the floor. Jericho leaps off the apron but is met with a clothesline in midair. Cactus works over Jericho with a steel chair, embracing violence again. Cactus drops Jericho throat first across the top rope and backs off as Richards and Meanie get a few cheap shots in.

Cactus keeps the advantage with running knee lifts to the midsection and chin of Jericho. Cactus comes off the ropes and hits a splash across the middle rope for a two count. Cactus puts Jericho in the tree of woe where Cactus hits a leaping forearm smash. Cactus knocks Jericho to the floor with a baseball slide and tosses Jericho into the railing chest first. Cactus tosses a chair into the ring as he hits a suplex on the floor. Cactus delivers a leg drop and gets a two count on Jericho. Cactus heads to the middle rope but Jericho smashes Jack with a steel chair. Jericho hits a top rope hurricanrana! They begin to trade strikes with Jericho dropping Jack with a dropkick and gets a two count following an elbow drop. Jericho slams Cactus and heads to the top rope hitting a big splash but Cactus manages to power out at two. Cactus stops Jericho with a piledriver, but Jericho gets up rather quickly. Cactus takes Jericho to the floor with a clothesline over the top. Cactus follows up with a springboard back elbow onto Jericho and they crash into the railing! Jericho won’t stay down as he hits a back suplex on the floor! Cactus drops Jericho throat first across the railing! Cactus comes off the apron to hit an elbow drop on Jericho. Cactus spikes Jericho with a second piledriver for a two count. Jericho takes Cactus over with a German suplex managing to hang on with a bridge for the win! (***1/2. That was loads of fun, guys. Some great brawling and Jericho looked incredible here. Jericho getting a victory over Cactus really makes him look like a big deal.)

8.) Taz shows disrespect towards Whipwreck by slapping him a couple of times against the ropes. Mikey comes back with a slap and works over the arm of Taz. Taz hits a northern lights suplex for a two count. Taz takes Whipwreck over with a hip toss and ducks a clothesline attempting a suplex, but Whipwreck counters with a back suplex. Mikey baseball slides Taz into the railing and hits a slingshot somersault dive to the floor. Mikey ducks another clothesline and dropkicks Taz to get out of a choke slam. Mikey misses a splash in the corner and Taz hits an overhead belly to belly suplex over the top to the floor. Taz is nearly pinned by Mikey with a rollup. Whipwreck attempts a suplex but ends up low blowing Taz as he fell down. Mikey goes to the top but misses a cross body. Taz waits and hits an exploder suplex. Taz locks in the Taz Mission and wins by submission. (**. Mikey kept this fun and competitive. Taz comes across like a force to be reckon with and plays the badass part extremely well.) After the match, Taz won’t let go of the hold so Bam-Bam Bigelow comes to the ring and Taz bails but Bill Alfonso is in the ring. Taz chop blocks Bigelow’s knee as he went for a press slam. Taz has the Taz Mission on Bigelow! Several enhancement talents enter but Alfonso takes them out with a chair shot to the back.

Final Thoughts:
Alright, this is a great episode for ECW. The Douglas/Pillman segment was an explosive way to kick off the program. Then, we get a stellar debut match for Jericho, who goes over a top act in Cactus Jack. The Taz/Bigelow stuff was solid, but I didn’t think Taz choking out Bigelow at the end was needed. That could have been dragged out longer as the fans seemed to deflate when Bigelow got choked out. Regardless, this was a stellar episode of TV.

Thanks for reading.