Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 5/10/1997
From: Asbury Park, NJ
Matches:
1.) ECW Tag Team Champions The Eliminators defeated The Gangstas & Dudley Boys in an elimination match to retain the titles
2.) Tommy Dreamer defeated Cpl. Punishment by disqualification
3.) Balls Mahoney defeated ECW Television Champion Shane Douglas by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The show starts with Bam-Bam Bigelow appearing at ringside. Bigelow had a front row ticket for the event and was getting insulted by ECW Television Champion Shane Douglas.
2.) The Gangstas start brawling with the Dudley Boys hitting them with various weapons to start the elimination tag match. ECW Tag Team Champions the Eliminators are also involved in the match hitting everyone with weapons. Saturn uses an umbrella on his opponents. Saturn takes Big Dick out with a Saturn Bomb and a springboard moonsault. Kronus comes off the top to hit a 450 splash on Big Dick. Luckily, the elimination match is clipped as we see the Gangstas brawling with the Dudley Boys in the crowd. Mustafa puts Bubba on a table as New Jack leaps off a balcony to put Bubba through the table! Back into the ring, Jack gets whacked by Bubba from behind with a chair. Big Dick plants Jack with a choke slam to eliminate the Gangstas from the match. D-Von is met with double spin kicks from the Eliminators. Big Dick eats a Total Elimination to give the Eliminators the victory. The match was announced has being twenty-four minutes and it was easily cut down to bout five, if that.
3.) Joey Styles welcomes everyone to the show and introduces the newest co-host for ECW television and here comes Rick Rude! Rude says that ECW is allowing their extreme style to head over to the commentary table. Rude is looking the wrong way as the hard camera is on the other side. He apparently realizes this and turns around. He is going to provide a rude flavor to the commentary table. He promise to continue to “f*** with the Franchise!”
4.) Rick Rude and Joey Styles talk about Bigelow and Douglas. Rude thinks that Bigelow would treat Douglas like a late night snack. Rude says that Douglas is either a kinky cat, or has balls of a mouse.
5.) Rude Cam knocks on the Blue World Order locker room door but nobody answers it. Well, a second attempt has Blue Meanie answering it and says that it’s a personal time and they need space.
6.) Louie Spicolli attacks Dreamer with a cast on his left hand, which was due to Dreamer’s attack last week. Louie brings a table into the ring as Dreamer has been busted wide open. Louie puts Dreamer through the table with a Death Valley Driver! Spicolli does another “too sweet” gesture and spits on Dreamer. Dreamer is helped out of the ring and is bleeding pretty badly. Rick Rude thinks that Spicolli has spit off a little too much than he could chew. Rude puts over Beulah’s butt.
7.) Joel Gertner is confident that there will be a third member in the Triple Threat tonight despite Brian Lee selling out. Gertner warns Rude about the Triple Threat and says Rude will be protected by other former broken down athletes in another organization. Rude insults Gertner and Douglas for having small penises. Gertner responds by wanting to strip. Styles and Rude cover their eyes.
8.) Back to the BWO locker room. We see Stevie Richards kicking Blue Meanie and Meanie is left confused as to what is going on.
9.) Tommy Dreamer is outside the building to share some comments. He’s actually on a beach and credits Spicolli for taking him out and now he’s going to make sure that Spicolli drowns in his own blood.
10.) Prior to the match, Douglas insults the New Jersey crowd and bails from the ring when New Jersey native Balls Mahoney scares Douglas and Francine with a steel chair. Mahoney takes out referee Jeff Jones with a chair shot over the head and the fans liked that. Douglas baseball slides Mahoney from behind and pulls Mahoney up to the apron delivering another strike. Douglas attempts a suplex into the ring but Mahoney counters by dropping Douglas across the top rope. Mahoney punches Douglas into the ring and puts a headlock on the champ. Mahoney keeps control of the title match with an arm drag. Mahoney knee drops the left arm of Douglas. Mahoney pulls Douglas down to the mat by his hair. Douglas hammers away on Mahoney but misses an elbow in the corner. Mahoney controls Douglas again with an arm drag. Mahoney lifts Douglas up into the air and drives him back down to the mat. Mahoney drives Douglas down with a power slam. Mahoney grabs his steel chair and swings at Francine. Douglas low blows Mahoney and dropkicks Mahoney to the canvas. Douglas delivers a headbutt and gets a rollup for a two count. Douglas stomps on Mahoney’s groin over the bottom rope. Douglas chokes Mahoney over the middle rope. Douglas low blows Mahoney in the corner for a near fall. Douglas keeps Mahoney on the mat twisting his neck. Douglas heads to the top rope but is met with low blow in midair. Mahoney atomic drops Douglas and delivers a few clotheslines for a near fall. Mahoney clotheslines Douglas in the corner and goes for the cover but Douglas kicks out at two. Mahoney takes Douglas over with a belly to belly suplex for a near fall. Douglas hits Mahoney from behind with the ECW Television Championship. Mahoney super kicks Douglas coming out of the corner. Mahoney grabs his steel chair but Francine gets in the ring to protect her man. Chris Candido comes in and whacks Mahoney with the chair to cause the disqualification. After the match, Bam-Bam Bigelow gets in the ring and helps Mahoney up. Wait a minute, Bigelow clotheslines Mahoney from behind and has aligned himself with Douglas and Candido to form a new Triple Threat! Bigelow delivers a falling headbutt on Mahoney! Here comes the Pitbulls to make the save and they clean house. Bigelow just stood in the corner waiting for the Pitbulls and that’s how the show ends. (*. Douglas couldn’t carry Mahoney to decent match here. Mahoney was best when he could just brawl and use his chair.)
Final Thoughts:
They are doing a good job with the Dreamer/Spicolli feud, which is making Spicolli into a bigger deal. Bigelow as the newest member of the Triple Threat makes them a substantially stronger group compared to when Brian Lee was in the group. The in-ring action was lackluster this week, but next weeks show has two strong matches lined up.
Thanks for reading.