Rebooking ECW: Resurgence (08/01/97)

With the Born To Be Wired supershow a little over a week away, things couldn’t be more turbulent in Extreme Championship Wrestling! Tonight in White Plains, New York, ECW’s latest chapter unfolds as “The Franchise” seeks to set the record straight once and for all with The Triple Threat. In tag team action, Rob Van Dam teams with the former ECW Heavyweight Champion, Sabu, to take on the current ECW Heavyweight Champion, The Sandman, and a partner of his choosing. As the tipping point is reached with Taz and Saturn, what’s next for them and the ECW Television Championship? All this and much more tonight!

1. Opening segment: “The Franchise” Shane Douglas, “The Head Cheerleader” Francine, Chris Chetti, and “No Gimmicks Needed” Chris Candido all stand in the ring. After a thunderous response from the crowd, Douglas wasted no time before getting on the mic. “For most of this calendar year, I have fought against men that I once thought to be my brothers. 1997 has been a hell of a pain in the a** for “The Franchise”. I’ve done battle with Bam Bam Bigelow, Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, hell, even Chris Candido!” Douglas turned around to face Candido who gave a gentle bow. Douglas continued. “But, that was then, and this is now! What you see before you, isn’t the new Triple Threat… No, this right here, is something far beyond that! You see, instead of has-beens, and never will-bes, what you see in this ring is young, hungry, highly-skilled, and talented athletes looking to take the professional wrestling world by the balls! With our collective differences left in the past, we become The Franchise Players, and any professional that isn’t standing in this ring right now, can hereby be considered a waste of time and money. We will lead the charge forward for ECW into the new millennium. Which brings me to our first order of business. Next week. Born To Be Wired 1997! We wage our first war… The Franchise Players welcome The Triple Threat to stand across the battlefield, August 9th, 1997, in a no-rope bared wire match!” Douglas passed the mic off to Candido, “If those three pansy-a**, big-time rejects simply can’t cut the mustard! So, even though “The Franchise” and I haven’t seen eye-to-eye the past couple of months, the fact is, I’ve learned more from him than any other man in this business! I will proudly wave The Franchise Players banner high as we march on everybody!” Chris Chetti also affirmed his position, claiming that Douglas gave him the time and opportunity, so he’d do what he had to do for him. 

2. “The Main Man” Tracy Smothers took on ‘The Human Suplex Machine” Taz tonight in a bout that saw Smothers work Taz over pretty well, to start. Once the momentum swung though, Taz was able to put “The Main Man” on his back with the Tazmission. The rest of The FBI didn’t want any of Taz, so they stayed well out of the situation!

3. Commercial break + Born To Be Wired 1997 information.

4. The Gangstas took on The Dudleys after Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von appeared with “The Quintessential Stud Muffin” Joel Gertner and ran them down about how last time they took them on in a match they beat them, and that with fact, they should be the ECW Tag Team Champions right now! Obviously taking exception to this was Mustafa and New Jack! The match was a brawl with The Gangstas coming out on top. Following the match, New Jack got on the mic and demanded that if Lee and Kronus were such killers, they should get their a**** to the ring, and prove it. He then reminded the crowd that it was them who whooped their a**** at Heatwave and that they’d be glad to do it again. “Matter of fact, let’s go get ’em right now!” The champs headed towards the back with there theme playing.

5. Paul E. appeared in the backstage area in front of the ECW banner where Joey Styles usually stands. He announced to the audience at home that Extreme Championship Wrestling had been afforded yet another pay-per-view event, scheduled for August 17th, called Hardcore Heaven 1997! He stated that ECW had been able to wedge their foot strongly in the door of the bigwig cable companies with Barely Legal, but it would be up to the fans if that door was truly to be busted wide open with Hardcore Heaven. He also stated that if what the viewer at home was enjoying what they were watching every week that they hadn’t seen anything yet!

6. Commercial break + Hardcore Heaven 1997 ordering information.

7. The Sandman and “Ravishing” Rick Rude entered and had a few things on their minds. Rude reminded the fans that only a few dates were left on their contracts with ECW and that soon they’d be on your television screens every Monday night! Rude also stated tonight, as a token of goodwill towards WCW, The Sandman would single-handedly take care of the bWo for their blatant disrespect of the nWo who Rude claimed was filled with far more rich and talented individuals that the three in the bWo. “Hollywood” Nova and “Big Stevie Cool” Stevie Richards made their way to the ring and announced that they had a little surprise for Sandman and Rude. They gestured toward the entrance curtain where “Revolting” Meanie Rude was coming out, who was The Blue Meanie dressed and acting out his best Rick Rude impersonation. Meanie got in the ring and asked Rude if he was good enough for Ted Turner now, to which Sandman reacted with a thunderous cane shot. After the bWo got the best of the ECW Heavyweight Champion for a minute or two, he and the Singapore cane exacted their revenge, along with a few briefcase swings complements of Rude. The impromptu handicap match started and stopped within five minutes after Sandman caned down the bWo. Rude held up Sandman’s hand and they exited.

8. Roadkill took on the self-proclaimed “Anything But Boring” Danny Doring, in a rematch from Heatwave. Doring once again asked Roadkill to be friends, though this time he would cheap-shot him. Oppositely than Heatwave, it was Doring who put the boots to Roadkill. Before Doring was able to score the pin though, Spike Dudley ran down to the ring. With a storied past, Doring came off the pin and readied to further put the boots to Roadkill with Spike’s help. As Roadkill came to his feet, the three men looked at each other. Suddenly, Spike turned to Doring and began throwing punches. After an Acid Drop, Roadkill hit a huge splash and pinned Doring once and for all. Spike and Roadkill, former ECW Tag Team Champions, shook hands and let bygones be bygones in an effort to get rid of the annoying Danny Doring.

9. Commercial break + Recap of the past weeks leading up to Born To Be Wired.

10. Rob Van Dam and Sabu were in the ring with Bill Alfonso. Alfonso exclaimed that Sabu would once again be the ECW Heavyweight Champion, but tonight, their team was on the same page looking to let off some steam. The Triple Threat came down to the ring and didn’t stop there. Storm and Awesome jumped in the ring and the match began. The teams tore the house down in what was the best ECW match in some time! Bigelow worked the outside, taunting Alfonso and throwing a chair to his fellow Triple Threat members at one point. The chair would backfire with Sabu in the ring! After getting the better of Storm and Awesome, The Triple Threat began hightailing it before The Franchise Players cut them off! Stuck between the two groups, they hightailed it through the crowd. The Franchise Players followed behind them and both factions brawled in the parking lot. The six men made it to the very edge of the lot, taking turns whipping each other into the rusted fencing. the feed was cut away as the brawl outside the arena continued with no clear advantage one way or the other.

11. The feed picked back up on a hooded man sitting somewhere else in the parking lot. He stood and approached the camera as he brought the ECW Television Championship into the camera and removed his hood. Saturn looked distraught under the yellow-orange lights of the parking lot. “The Human Suplex Machine” has suplexed me before, and stood back up. He choked me out, and I stood back up. I took his best, and I stood back up! And not only that, I beat him for his ECW strap! Now, he says he doesn’t respect me? He knows I survived him, and it drives him crazy. Taz can’t cope. The machine has broken down, complements of Saturn… Saturn then threw his hood back on and walked off camera.