Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 4/5/1997
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Matches:
1.) ECW World Champion Raven & ECW Television Champion Shane Douglas defeated Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk
2.) ECW Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boys defeated The Gangstas and The Eliminators to retain the titles
3.) Sabu defeated Louie Spicolli
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Backstage, Raven cuts a promo about the trauma and misery that the Sandman should beware there are worse things Raven is capable of. He believes that high school probably feels like forever ago for Stevie Richards being shunned and treated like a misfit. No friends or family nothing but agony and knowing that nobody liked him. Raven doesn’t believe Richards all make it to the main event of Barely Legal. No, instead he’ll get Terry Funk. On April 13th, God won’t be there but he will be. He will carry Funk and allow Funk to almost taste victory. Raven will pray that Funk dies an honorable death, dying in combat but he will carry Funk to the end. He’ll look into Terry’s eye and see his father, and he’ll hurt his father when he beats Funk and ends his comeback. Raven will force everyone to admit that he is the greatest wrestler on the planet.
2.) Douglas and Funk kick off the match with neither man able to get a clear advantage. Funk strikes Douglas in the midsection and strikes Douglas to the corner causing Raven to drop down to the floor. Douglas kicks Funk on the floor and they return to the ring where Dreamer gets tagged in. Raven tags in as well to combat Dreamer. Funk tags in but Douglas tags back in as well. Douglas works over Funk with strikes in the corner. Funk decks Douglas causing Douglas to roll to the floor. Raven and Dreamer tag back in and Raven quickly tags in Douglas who came off the top with an axe handle followed by an arm breaker. Dreamer fights back with right hands on Douglas. Dreamer botches a bulldog on Douglas and Douglas stops Dreamer with a low blow, which seemed to be mistimed. Raven comes back in and tried a vertical suplex but Dreamer countered with a suplex of his own. Douglas works over Funk with strikes and chops sending Funk to the apron. Douglas comes off the ropes and knocks Funk to the floor. Douglas takes Funk out with a slingshot cross body. Dreamer sends Douglas into the guard railing. Raven takes Dreamer out with a slingshot dive. Funk spikes Douglas with a piledriver on the floor while Raven missed another dive and went through a table.
Funk nails Raven with a broken piece of the table and same goes for Douglas. Funk hit the Rude Awakening on Douglas and Dreamer sent Raven through a piece of table in the corner. Douglas hits Dreamer and Funk with a frying pan to get control of the match. Funk works over Douglas with strikes and Dreamer sends Raven into the railing. Dreamer drives Douglas across the guard railing groin first. Funk tossed Raven into the crowd. All four men are brawling in the crowd. Brian Lee appears and attacks Dreamer at the top of the bleachers. Lee tosses Dreamer down the bleachers. In the ring, Funk has Raven while Dreamer is getting destroyed by Douglas and Lee. Funk leaves the ring and saves Dreamer in the crowd. Raven whacks Funk with a steel chair over the head. Raven puts the spinning toe hold on Funk in the middle of the ring! Stevie Richards gets in the ring and nails Raven with a super kick! Douglas drops Dreamer throat first across the railing. Sandman appears and whacks Richards and Funk with a kendo stick! Richards is working over Raven on the floor. Funk low blows Douglas and hit a DDT. Beulah goes after Francine and they have a cat fight. Douglas prevents a piledriver on Francine and hit a belly to belly suplex on Dreamer. Raven rolls back in and steals the pin. (**1/4. Once they got to the brawling aspect of the match it was enjoyable. The attempt to actually have a wrestling match at the start was just not very good.)
3.) The Eliminators go after the Dudley Boys with kicks off the middle rope to avoid a sneak attack. Saturn and Kronus kick the Dudley’s as we go to commercial. The Gangstas have come out to get in on the action and use several weapons. Kronus power slams Mustafa for a near fall while there is a brawl going on in the crowd and around ringside. Mustafa splashes Kronus for a near fall as Saturn made the save. New Jack has been hammering on D-Von in the crowd. Kronus hit a moonsault on Mustafa for a near fall. Mustafa came back with a power slam later on as the match is clipped. New Jack leaps off the top but Bubba hit an ace crusher and that eliminates the Gangstas. Saturn hit a moonsault on Bubba and Kronus hit a somersault leg drop. Kronus gets powder thrown into his eyes and Dudley’s hit a 3D but Saturn makes the save on the cover. Saturn delivers a few super kicks and hit D-Von with an ace crusher on both champions. Big Dick breaks a pane of glass over Saturn’s head. D-Von gets the cover and wins the match. The match was clipped, but the action was enjoyable for what they showed.
4.) Backstage, Joey Styles interviews Chris Candido who has an injured arm. He is here to offer his expertise but is bummed that he doesn’t get a chance to take Sabu’s spot at the Barely Legal main event.
5.) Spicolli takes Sabu down to the canvas and they trade some mat wrestling. Spicolli works over Sabu with strikes but Sabu casually takes Louie over with a backdrop and a springboard heel kick. Louie dumps Sabu to the floor. Sabu sends Spicolli into the crowd and takes Louie out with a dive over the railing. They both have chairs and they go into the ring with the chairs. Spicolli tackles Sabu and hammers away on Sabu with right hands. Spicolli attempts the Death Valley Driver but Sabu gets out. Spiciolli hit a spine buster and gets a near fall. Spicolli gets another near fall with a northern lights suplex. Sabu spin kicks Spicolli and hit a springboard somersault leg drop for a two count. Sabu springboards off the chair to take Louie over with a hurricanrana. Sabu clotheslines Spicolli over the top to the floor and sets a table up across the apron and railing. Louie shoves Sabu off as he got to the apron. Sabu blocks a suplex and brings Louie back in with a suplex. Sabu splashes Louie in the corner but is caught on the second one. They fall backwards and they land on the chair. The referee gets knocked down, too. Sabu springboards but is met with a chair shot and Louie hits the Death Valley Driver! Louie tries to put Sabu through the table but Taz comes in and dumps both guys over the top putting Sabu through the table and Louie falls to the floor. Sabu gets up and shoves Taz into RVD hitting RVD with a chair as well. Taz puts the Taz Mission on Spicolli for some reason. Sabu hit a springboard moonsault and pins Louie. (**. Taz did that so he can be the only one to hurt Sabu. The crowd didn’t seem to care about this, but there was some decent action provided by these two. The ending makes sense for the match between Sabu and Taz.)
6.) Backstage, Taz says that Sabu has the best insurance policy because it’s him. He’s going to make sure nothing happens to Sabu over the next week to make sure he gets his hands on him on April 13th.
7.) Backstage, Terry Funk finds Raven and greets him in a not so flattery way. Funk sits down and Raven is confused by this. Funk calls into Raven’s lack of manhood saying Raven is a wimp who just sits in the corner and doesn’t standup because he doesn’t have it between the legs. Raven doesn’t listen to Funk and gets up and repeatedly stomps Funk leading to a brawl on the floor to bring an end to the show.
Final Thoughts:
A fine episode that had some good advancement for the pay per view and it’s obvious that they are going for Raven/Funk in the main event. They probably should have just gone in that direction.
Thanks for reading.