Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 2/1/1997
From: Scranton, PA
Matches:
1.) ECW World Champion Raven defeated The Sandman to retain the title
2.) Pitbull #2 defeated Brian Lee by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The show starts off with a match between Chris Chetti and Mikey Whipwreck being joined in progress. Chetti nearly wins following a top rope clothesline. Mikey crotches Chetti on the top rope but Chetti elbows Mikey back to the canvas. Chetti misses a swan ton leg drop and Mikey wins with a rollup. They show mutual respect after the match.
2.) Joey Styles is in the ring to hype up the crowd for the show. He introduces ECW TV Champion Shane Douglas for an interview. He has Brian Lee and Chris Candido with him as they are the new and improved Triple Threat. Douglas saying that if he smells like a rose, looks like a rose and grows like a rose, then it must be a rose. Douglas says the guy in the mask last week acted just like him. Him, is in reference to Rick Rude, whom they can’t mention by name. Douglas isn’t happy with his resolution to screw with him in 1997. Douglas knows that Rude wants something he can’t have, and that’s Francine. Douglas has his hands full with Tommy Dreamer and Pitbull #1. Douglas puts over Brian Lee and Chris Candido as being the men who will win the ECW Tag Team Championships from the Eliminators. They have hired someone to make sure that Francine is always safe. That man is Mike Awesome! Douglas puts over Awesome as tougher and says that Awesome is in a rude mood.
3.) Terry Funk says that sometimes it takes a loss to put your life into focus. Funk sat in the locker room and he thought about a lot of things, including Tommy Dreamer. Funk says that Dreamer reminds him a lot of his father. Funk talks about his father passing away and the last words he spoke to him. It was the saddest day of his life when his father died. Funk says that if he got the chance to battle ECW World Champion Raven that he would be able to defeat him. He wants to do it for the hardcore fans and to do it for the old farts to prove they aren’t one foot in the grave. Funk invites every ECW fan in that arena and wants them to raise their hands in the air and say “we did it our way” and not the way of the other major companies. “We did it our way, because we love it that way.”
4.) Taz cuts a promo about having shoulder surgery in early December. Taz says it was an old surgery and he needed to have it done. He was destroying guys in ECW at 80%. Taz says he is healed and is competing at 110% which is bad news for a lot of people, including Sabu. The beating and path of rage for Sabu is going to be much worse. Taz laughs at the thought of Rob Van Dam slowing him down, but calls RVD a wannabe. Taz is pissed that RVD would use a steel chair and all he needs is his arms to compete. He thinks that Terry Funk needs to be buried and his hands are the shovels to bury him. Taz is going to beat RVD at his own game as they will play with weapons.
5.)ECW World Champion Raven cuts a promo on Stevie Richards reminding him what he does for fun, including taking a wife, son and a man’s sanity. Raven tells Richards to think before he flies solo and says that nobody gets out of here alive.
6.) If Raven loses tonight to the Sandman, not only will Sandman win the ECW World Championship, but Raven will shave his head in the middle of the ring. Remember, Sandman has possession of the ECW World Championship despite not being the champion.
7.) Raven attacks on the floor and whacks Sandman over the head with the kendo stick. Raven goes for a cover but Sandman powers out at two. Raven plants Sandman with a piledriver and goes to the floor to slide a table into the ring. Sandman is able to send Raven chest first into the table in the corner. Sandman pours beer onto Raven and knocks the champ to the floor. Sandman tosses a table onto Raven on the floor. Raven sends Sandman chest first into the railing and back first to get the advantage in his favor. Raven tosses Sandman through a table against the guard railing. Raven stomps on a chair that’s across Sandman’s head. Raven elbow drops Sandman across the apron and Sandman hangs upside down on the apron. Raven tosses a piece of broken table into Sandman. Raven gets a chair from Lori but Sandman kicks the chair into Raven’s face a couple of times. Sandman plants Raven with a DDT onto the chair but Lori enters and breaks up the pin. Sandman rips Lori’s shirt off and she is wearing a BWO t-shirt, which doesn’t make Raven especially happy. That cues the BWO music to play and the group enters the ring. Raven shoves Richards and points his kendo stick at Stevie. Richards ends up hitting a super kick on Raven, who lands onto Sandman and gets the three count. (**. It was a fine brawl, but the match was much more of an angle advancement involving Richards and Raven it felt like with the issues between Raven and Sandman being secondary.)
8.) Pitbull #1 backdrops Lee to kick off the main event and clotheslines Lee with his chain. Pitbull follows up with a spinning heel kick but is stopped by a low blow. Lee tosses Pitbull to the floor but they quickly return to the ring. Lee drives Pitbull down with a choke slam, but Pitbull no sells it. Lee proceeds to hit a second choke slam. Pitbull recovers and hammers on Lee until Shane Douglas and Chris Candido run into the ring and cause a disqualification. Pitbull #1 enters the ring and cleans house with strikes on the Triple Threat. Tommy Dreamer comes out and brawls with Brian Lee at ringside. Francine is brought into the ring but Douglas saves Francine by attacking Pitbull #1’s previously injured neck. Pitbull #2 saves his friend, who is saying his neck is hurt. Pitbull #2 is allowing himself to get beaten up to save his partner. Triple Threat stand tall and they leave the ring.
9.) A masked Rick Rude enters the ring and says that Douglas isn’t going to get out of Scranton that easily. Rude wants the lady and will let Douglas go free for now. Francine makes her way to the ring but here comes Mike Awesome. Rude ducks the attack and hits the Rude Awakening! Douglas is freaking out saying “it’s him, it’s him!”
Final Thoughts:
A find episode this week with some advancements going on here, including a fun little brawl match between Raven and Sandman. I do wish that it had a more big-time feel to it considering the stipulations. Rick Rude is really a great guy to have in the company and the fans pop major for him. They really touched on the major stories going on and made for an easy watch.
Thanks for reading.