ECW Hardcore TV 4/25/1999

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 4/25/1999
From: Buffalo, NY

Matches:
1.) Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney defeated Little Guido & Big Sal
2.) Taka Michinoku defeated Papi Chulo
3.) D-Von Dudley defeated ECW Tag Team Champion Rob Van Dam to win the titles

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Paul Heyman hypes up the show and how the lives of RVD, Sabu, Dudley Boys, Lance Storm and Justin Credible will all change drastically.

2.) Joey Styles says that the commission has taken all the footage of the main event and that could be bad news for Sabu. They may suspend Sabu’s wrestling license and that would impact several other states.

3.) Axl is going to start the tag match, but wants Big Sal to start it off as well and the crowd wants that, too. Guido starts off the match with Rotten, though. Rotten backs Guido into the corner, but Guido counters and bails to the floor after shoving Rotten. Rotten low blows Guido to get out of a hammerlock and decks Guido with a right hand into the corner. The crowd wants Mahoney to enter the match, but Rotten doesn’t tag out. Rotten shoulder blocks Guido for a two count. Mahoney tags in and leg drops Guido after a drop toe hold. Mahoney tries for a right hand, but Guido stops Mahoney with an eye rake. Mahoney tries for a slam, but Guido breaks free to dropkick Mahoney. Sal gets tagged in and Mahoney backs off to a corner. Sal shoves Mahoney into a corner and taunts the fans. Sal shoulder blocks Mahoney coming off the ropes. Guido kicks Mahoney from the apron and Sal plants Mahoney with a side walk slam.

Sal scoop slams Mahoney and tags in Guido leading to a near fall. Guido keeps Mahoney on the mat with a cross arm breaker. Mahoney manages to reach the ropes and is stomped on by Guido. Guido shoulder rams Mahoney in the corner and runs into a boot. Guido takes Mahoney down with another arm bar. Guido leg drops Mahoney’s arm. Sal drives Mahoney down with a side slam for another near fall. Guido stands on Sal’s shoulders but misses a leg drop. Guido recovers to stomp on Mahoney to maintain control. Guido keeps a sleeper on Mahoney. Mahoney takes Guido over with a back suplex. Rotten tags in and misses a clothesline but settles for jabs to knock Guido down. Rotten clotheslines Guido. Mahoney hits the Nutcracker Suite on Guido and low blows Sal from behind. Mahoney and Rotten have chairs and proceed to destroy Sal with them for the win. (*. I’m really not a fan of the Rotten/Mahoney team and it has everything to do with Rotten. The fans popped for the chair stuff, but this wasn’t all that good and I think they could find something better for Mahoney.)

4.) Joey Styles tells us that Chris Candido has been fitted with a halo and his career is in question moving forward due to the attack by Taz at Cyberslam.

5.) Taka Michinoku vs. Papi Chulo is actually from Cyberslam, too. Chulo is better known as Essa Rios. The match appears to be heavily clipped, so it won’t get a rating from me. There is some quality moves shown throughout the match and I must say if Taka and Chulo were regulars in ECW then there’d be countless potential matches that would be highly entertaining. Taka won the match following a sit out reverse DDT.

6.) We see stills of a tag match where Jerry Lynn and Super Crazy got an upset victory over Justin Credible and Lance Storm. Dudley Boys came out to beat on Crazy and Lynn to make them even, but that wasn’t the case for Credible and Storm. Credible and Storm want the Dudley’s to win the tag titles for them. RVD wrestled D-Von Dudley in a singles match for the tag titles.

7.) Sabu has had his wrestling license suspended and that’s because his jaw is broken and not healed. That’s the reasoning they think that Sabu isn’t being allowed to wrestle.

8.) RVD arm drags D-Von as the match is joined in progress. RVD spin kicks D-Von and delivers a few more kicks to drop Dudley followed by a twisting leg drop. RVD tries for a hurricanrana, but D-Von plants RVD with a powerbomb. D-Von goes for a cover, but RVD quickly prevents his shoulder from staying down. D-Von nails RVD with a spinning back elbow strike and yells at the referee after getting a two count. D-Von hammers away on RVD in the corner to keep control of the contest. D-Von eye rakes RVD in the corner and keeps control with more right hands. RVD tries for a somersault into the corner, but D-Von avoids RVD and hits a neckbreaker off the middle rope for a two count. D-Von slams RVD to the mat and goes to the middle rope hitting a leg drop. D-Von tries for a cover managing a two count. D-Von hammers away on RVD some more, but RVD fights back with kicks to stagger D-Von into the corner. RVD kicks D-Von in the corner and sits D-Von on the top to deliver another kick to the face.

RVD slams D-Von and hits a rolling thunder splash for a two count. RVD takes D-Von over with a northern lights suplex and gets a chair from Alfonso. RVD hits a split legged moonsault onto a chair that was over D-Von. Bubba is on the apron and clotheslines the referee as RVD went for a cover. D-Von plants RVD with a reverse DDT as a second referee comes out leading to another two count. D-Von shoves the referee into the corner out of frustration. D-Von beats on RVD in the corner with strikes. RVD low blows D-Von off the middle rope and delivers a kick and hits the Five Star Frog Splash! RVD has the cover, but Bubba pulls the referee out and decks the referee on the floor. D-Von low blows RVD again and spikes RVD with a piledriver for a two count. RVD comes off the ropes to drop D-Von with a spinning heel kick. RVD dropkicks D-Von into the ropes and sits D-Von on the top rope. RVD kicks D-Von and Alfonso holds a chair in front of D-Von’s face. RVD kicks the chair into D-Von’s face.

Bubba elbow drops the third referee and attacks RVD to help D-Von. Bubba plants RVD with a side slam and D-Von hits a splash for a two count. Bubba holds RVD’s legs to allow D-Von to hit a middle rope headbutt to the groin of RVD. Dudley’s hit a belly to back suplex/neckbreaker combo for another two count. RVD plants D-Von with a DDT to counter a 3D. RVD kicks a chair into Bubba’s face after Alfonso tossed a chair at Bubba, who caught it. RVD goes to the top rope, but Lance Storm crotches RVD. D-Von holds RVD on the middle rope and the Dudley’s hit a middle rope 3D! Sabu slides into the ring, but D-Von pins RVD to win the tag titles! (**1/2. A better than expected match and a strong finish to the match to justify D-Von pinning RVD. I think hyping up the finish as a controversial one was a mistake as there wasn’t much to question here.)

9.) Lance Storm elbow drops RVD a few times to get a few shots in. Sabu gets in the ring and cleans house with right hands. Justin Credible whacks Sabu from behind with a kendo stick shot. Credible whacks Alfonso in the face with the kendo stick, too. Dudley Boys flip off Lance Storm and Justin Credible as they aren’t handing the titles over to them, which was apparently a deal made by the two teams prior to the match.

Final Thoughts:
An average episode this week as I wish they had shown the Taka/Chulo match in full. It looks like Storm and Credible may be feuding with the Dudley Boys next, which will be interesting since they are both heel teams.

Thanks for reading.