Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 6/7/1997
From: Monaca, PA
Matches:
1.) ECW Tag Team Champions The Eliminators & Taz defeated D-Von Dudley, Rob Van Dam & Sabu
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The program starts with an announcement regarding Stevie Richards. Richards has suffered a serious injury and ECW is in a state of disarray. Joey Styles reveals that Richards has been pulled from the main event against ECW World Champion Terry Funk at Wrestlepalooza this weekend. Rick Rude feels bad for Richards for being close to realizing his dream in his hometown. Chris Candido will now challenge Terry Funk at the event for the ECW World Championship in place of Stevie Richards.
2.) There was a lengthy video showing a match involving Richards and Funk recently that also included Raven and Sandman. It was presented in a music video style rather than a match or even clipped match. They are spending a lot of time focusing on Richards and his injury as the first fifteen minutes has been focused only on Stevie.
3.) Chris Candido cuts a promo mocking Stevie Richards for being hurt and not being able to challenge for the championship. Candido has been hurt before and believes that the first pay per view would have not happened if it was not for him. Nobody cared about him when he was hurt and doesn’t know why people should care about Richards. Candido thinks he should have gotten a title shot at Barely Legal instead of Funk. He’s going to get what is his and take out Funk. Candido is going to prove Funk isn’t the same man that he was in 1975. Candido is a former NWA World Champion and defeated three men in one night for it. He won the WWF Tag Team Championships which Funk never has done! Candido says that Funk is a crippled piece of shit and he’s going to beat him.
4.) Joey Styles explains the Taz and Sabu match at Barely Legal. Bill Alfonso had bet all his money on Sabu prior to the match despite being the manager for Taz. Their rematch was supposed to take place at Hardcore Heaven in August, but it will instead now happen at Wrestlepalooza.
5.) Taz cuts a promo about Sabu saying that they both knew who the better man was before Barely Legal. He beat Sabu in the middle of the ring. He’s going to beat Sabu a second time at Wrestlepalooza. Taz stuck his hand out to shake Sabu’s, but that was a stupid move on his part. He is going to choke Bill Alfonso out as well for doing him wrong. The point now is he is going to beat Sabu up. Taz suggests that Sabu would make a fat paycheck in ECW if he didn’t go to Japan for paychecks. He is going to lay their bodies on top of each other at the ECW Arena.
6.) Eliminators super kick Big Dick but he doesn’t go down. Taz instead takes Big Dick over with a German suplex to send Dick to the floor. Taz and Eliminators stand tall in the ring to kick off the match. Chris Candido is in the corner for Taz and the Eliminators. Saturn and D-Von legally start the match trading hammerlocks until D-Von delivers a clothesline. D-Von continues with a flying forearm smash. D-Von scoop slams Saturn and goes to the middle rope hitting a leg drop for a near fall. Saturn elbows D-Von in the midsection followed by a leg sweep. Saturn springboard off the middle rope to kick D-Von. Sabu enters and clotheslines Saturn after coming off the ropes. Sabu clotheslines Saturn but Saturn comes back with a double under hook sit down power bomb. Sabu dropkicks Kronus followed by a springboard big splash off the middle rope. Kronus works over Sabu with a few strikes and a scoop slam. Kronus hits a somersault leg drop for a near fall on Sabu. RVD gets tagged in but Kronus puts RVD over the top rope followed by a leg drop. Taz gets tagged in and he stomps on RVD a few times. RVD misses a spin kick but plants Taz with a double under hook face buster. RVD nearly pins Taz after the rolling thunder. RVD kicks Taz in the corner and nearly wins with a rollup out of the corner. Taz drops RVD with a German suplex. D-Von decks Taz and hammers away on him. All six men are brawling in the ring as Taz low blows D-Von. Saturn is getting worked over by Bubba with a crutch. Bill Alfonso brings a chair into the ring and Sabu goes for a springboard but Saturn kicks his legs on the top rope.
Saturn scoop slams Sabu before heading to the top rope. Saturn attempts an elbow drop but RVD dropkicks Saturn in midair! RVD takes Taz out with a somersault dive to the floor. Sabu connects with a triple jump moonsault on Saturn but Kronus breaks up the cover. Sabu hits a somersault leg drop off the middle rope on Kronus. Eliminators double team Sabu with double leg sweeps. The same happens to D-Von. Big Dick plants the Eliminators with double choke slams. Chris Candido whacks Big Dick with a crutch over the back. Sabu puts Kronus through a table on the floor, but the camera missed it. Taz takes D-Von over with an overhead suplex. Sabu and Taz are left in the ring and they trade blows. Taz goes for a suplex but Sabu counters with a t-bone. Taz no sells it and Sabu taunted Taz. Taz takes Sabu over with a t-bone and plays to the crowd. D-Von attacks Taz from behind and stomps him with Sabu and RVD. Saturn and Kronus finally get back in the ring and it leaves Taz in the ring with D-Von. Taz manages to put the Taz Mission on D-Von but Sabu makes the save with a leg drop. Total Elimination takes out D-Von for the win. (**1/2. A match full of consistent action and it held my interest. It was pretty obvious that D-Von would take the loss.)
7.) Tommy Dreamer cuts a promo on Raven saying that their feud comes to an end at Wrestlepalooza. He’ll be man enough to take out Raven. Their hatred comes to an end.
8.) Raven cuts a promo on Dreamer talking about how he couldn’t beat him in Philadelphia, Florida, Japan, or New York. Dreamer chimes back in and says there has been too many victims. He is going to run Raven out of ECW.
Final Thoughts:
A decent show to lead into Wrestlepalooza. It’s a shame that Stevie Richards got hurt considering how much time they spent on getting him over. The feature match was solid enough and they hyped up the major matches pretty well.
Thanks for reading.