ECW Hardcore TV 7/19/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 7/19/1997
From: Asbury Park, NJ

Matches:
1.) ECW Television Champion Taz defeated Nova to retain the title
2.) Shane Douglas, Chris Candido & Bam-Bam Bigelow defeated The Pitbulls & Balls Mahoney

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Shane Douglas and Francine are standing on a beach for a promo to start the show. Douglas says you blaze a trail instead of following footsteps. Douglas says he’s fearless with Francine by his side. He’ll go places that most men would never go to. Douglas has never been afraid to wrestle Taz. Douglas says that he has played mind games with Taz and says that Taz lost. Douglas got tired of carrying around ECW Television Championship and made a plan to lose the title. He felt like losing and tapped out on purpose to lose the championship. Douglas is claiming to have taken a fall. Douglas wants sixteen pounds of gold and he wants the ECW World Championship that is held by Terry Funk. Douglas says that something has been missing from their fun and that is the ECW World Championship. Douglas has allowed several different guys to wear the gold for a while. However, he’s coming for it now. He’s driven to get the ECW World Championship back around his waist.

2.) ECW Television Champion Taz cuts a promo about Raven needing someone to drive him around and wipe his ass. That’s exactly what Stevie Richards is doing now with Raven as he has jumped ship to WCW, as well. Taz tells Nova he’ll get a wrestling lesson tonight. He’s going to end the BWO tonight by himself. Taz turns his back and Nova dropkicks him, which didn’t do much of anything. Taz clotheslines Nova and continues to stomp away on him. Taz takes Nova over with a German suplex and plays to the crowd. Taz locks in the Taz Mission and wins the match in less than 90-seconds. After the match, Taz chokes out the BWO’s version of Dennis Rodman. Blue Meanie spits on his BWO shirt and runaway to avoid being attacked. This appears to be the death of the BWO.

3.) Mahoney and the Pitbulls storm the ring with Mahoney brawling with Douglas. Candido and Bigelow attack the Pitbulls on the floor while Mahoney jabs Douglas. #1 gets busted open after a shot with a chain. Mahoney backdrops Douglas out of the corner while Bigelow hammers away on #2, who is also busted wide open. Mahoney scoop slams Douglas but Douglas dropkicks the knee of Mahoney. Douglas spikes Mahoney with a piledriver. Candido and Bigelow get in the ring and taunt the crowd. Wait… here comes New Jack to make the save. Douglas works over Mahoney with boots in the corner. Jack gets attacked by the Dudley Boys on the entrance way! Several wrestlers try to make the save but they get knocked out, too. Douglas takes Mahoney out with a slingshot cross body to the floor. Dudley Boys continue to brawl with New Jack on the floor. The Eliminators are on the ramp where Saturn whacks D-Von with his crutch over the head. Kronus sends Bubba down the steps. Mahoney comes off the middle rope hitting an elbow drop on Douglas for a two count. Mahoney nails Douglas with a lid. Mahoney whacks Douglas with a steel chair and heads to the top rope. Mahoney misses a top rope leg drop. Kronus hits an ace crusher on Bubba on the entrance. Mahoney takes Douglas over with a belly to belly suplex for a two count. Mahoney powers out of a rollup by Douglas while Bigleow rams #2 face first into the ring post. Candido is chokes out #1 with his dog collar.

Mahoney has a chair and prevents Douglas from leaving the ring. Francine gets in the ring and stands in front of Douglas trying to save him. Mahoney misses a chair shot on purpose and gets slapped by Francine. Douglas low blows Mahoney and whacks him over the head with the chair. Mahoney no sells it and grabs Douglas by the throat. Bigelow chop blocks Mahoney and Balls gets worked over by Bigelow. Dogulas takes Mahoney over with a belly to belly suplex for the win. (**. I honestly had no interest in seeing these guys wrestle a straight up six man tag match. So, when it was mostly a wild brawl involving guys that weren’t in the match, I was pleasantly surprised. Douglas going over makes sense considering he wants to be back in the heavyweight title scene.)

4.) New Jack cuts a promo somewhere backstage on a staircase. Jack talks about having his closest friends dying in his arms. Tonight, he held Mustafa before they sent him away in an ambulance. Jack has had enough of the Dudley Boys. They have pushed him to a point where he doesn’t care anymore. Jack says they are going to get them in the cage and promises to take them out. The only way they will survive the match is by killing New Jack. They will look at a man who came into the cage with a mission. Jack says they are going down and he’s going to take them out. Jack is going to testify and he swears on his father.

5.) Joel Gertner says that what is good for New Jack is good for him. He’ll make a guarantee himself saying that if the Dudley Boys aren’t the ECW Tag Team Champions entering Hardcore Heaven then he will shave his head and his chest. He’ll do that live on pay per view. The Dudley Boys will stay at home and watch as he shaves his head and chest. Gertner is confident that the Dudley Boys will keep the titles. Gertner seems less confident as the promo goes on but stands by the guarantee. Gertner notes that his chest tends to burn in the sun, but he still promises to do it.

6.) Rob Van Dam and Sabu cut a promo with RVD wearing a WCW t-shirt. Bill Alfonso comes over and puts over the team for kicking ass in ECW. Alfonso says they have traps setup for this Saturday night. RVD actually is wearing a Wrestle War 92 t-shirt. RVD says that Paul E. was upset about RVD jumping to WWF to showcase his talents. However, he notes that Paul E. was the same age when he was working for WCW. RVD says he’s going to sellout the ECW Arena full of RVD fans. They are going to beat some major booty at the ECW Arena.

7.) Jim Cornette cuts a promo at a WWF studio. Cornette says that it took himself, Lawler, Sabu and RVD to take out ECW. Cornette is giddy about Dreamer having fluid drained from his testicle. Cornette believes that Lawler will have things in hand moving forward. Cornette isn’t going to be back at the ECW Arena. However, he says that if the chance to stick it to Paul E. comes up then he’ll take the chance.

8.) Tommy Dreamer, Sandman and Beulah are outside. Dreamer says that nobody knows what ECW means to them. Dreamer says they were there since the inception and everyone has seen them hurt. ECW is in their heart and in their blood. Dreamer says they end up laid out when the lights go out and whatnot. Dreamer. wants Taz as his partner for the cage match.

9.) ECW TV Champion Taz says he doesn’t do what everyone wants him to do. He’s not a company man and declines to be Dreamer’s partner in the cage match. Taz says he has little respect for them since they work in the same company. Taz notes that the partner he had screwed him over and tells Sabu and RVD to come after his championship. He is tired of the WWF and isn’t looking to rundown anything. He’s not going into the cage and won’t tolerate being told to do anything. He’ll do whatever the wants.

10.) Shane Douglas and Francine are at the beach. Douglas knows it would be great to have him in the cage since he is the ultimate WWF hater. However, he has bigger things to deal with and that’s Terry Funk.

11.) Jerry Lawler is standing behind a cage and says he’ll be locked inside a cage this Saturday night. Jim Cornette insults Sandman calling him a drunk.

12.) Rick Rude is fired up about the steel cage match and says they gotta take out Sabu and RVD.

13.) Tommy Dreamer cuts a promo about getting hit in the groin with a kendo stick by Lawler. The blackness set in and says he is used to that. Dreamer says that Cornette woke him up from his inner peace when he was hit with a tennis racket. Dreamer recalls a long needle being inserted into his groin and drained a lot of blood and fluid. He had to do that to avoid a rupture. Dreamer can’t sleep at night and can’t lay down on either his back or stomach. Dreamer is going to get revenge. Dreamer suggests that Lawler shouldn’t worry about his mystery partner but rather how he’ll escape the cage alive.

Final Thoughts:
The weekend show is shaping up to be a big one with a couple of cage matches and Funk/Douglas for the heavyweight title. The episode this week was solid in promoting the event. I enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading.