Coming off the heels of a bloody Born to be Wired, who walked out of the six man no-rope barbed wire match with their health and bragging rights? We will find out TONIGHT, the night before ECW presents its second Pay-Per-View, Hardcore Heaven 1997! Also, “Ravishing” Rick Rude shares some words on behalf of his client, the ECW Heavyweight Champion, Sandman.
ECW: Resurgence – LIVE from the GFCC Gym in Ocala, FL – 08/16/97
- Opening Segment: Joey Styles welcomed us to Extreme Championship Wrestling and was shortly interrupted by The Triple Threat. Bigelow, Storm, and Awesome bullied Styles into the corner and hijacked the opening to gloat about their victory in the main event of Born to be Wired. They mentioned that Chris Chetti was no more and that he will never be heard from or seen again following his injury at the show! From the crow’s nest, “The Franchise” Shane Douglas and “No Gimmicks Needed” Chris Candido were on microphones promising to avenge their fallen man. Douglas assured the crowd that Chetti would be back and better than ever in no time, and that in the meantime, he couldn’t say the same for The Triple Threat because this WASN’T OVER! Tomorrow night for Hardcore Heaven, he and Candido wanted a piece of all three of them again, handicap match or not! The Triple Threat had no problems with that and agreed.
- Commercial + ECW Hardcore Heaven 1997 ordering details are given.
- Taz Interview: The “Human Suplex Machine” Taz is seen working out hard in a barebones gym without Bill Alfonso. He hoped that Saturn understood why he decided to leave him high and dry at Born to be Wired. Him walking out was just business, as its his goal to take away Saturn’s ECW Television Championship. Tagging with Saturn wasn’t working toward his goal, so it was time for him to hit the showers. He’s training harder and stronger than he did last time around and promises that Saturn’s reign is just a flash in the pan!
- In a competitive singles bout, “Prime Time” Brian Lee put away Balls Mahoney. Kronus, on the outside, was able to keep a chair-swinging Axl Rotten at bay long enough for Lee to score a dirty pin over Mahoney. (6:36)
- Commercial break + Hype Central for merchandising info.
- “Anything but Boring” Danny Doring squared off with Tommy Dreamer in a heated singles match. Doring was nearly booed out of the building before the bell even rang, his voice being drowned out on the microphone. Finally hearing enough, Dreamer kicked him in the gut and hit a DDT on him to kick things off. A table was found shortly after and Tommy got to punishing ECW’s loudmouth. Dreamer put Doring away after some weapons left their mark. (10:11)
- Mikey Whipwreck Interview: Mikey was pacing backstage pulling at his hair. He claimed that AJ Fatal was starting to get too big for his britches and needed to be a lesson in tough love. He hasn’t earned his right to shake Mikey’s hand, but he was going to give him a chance to earn that opportunity at Hardcore Heaven… When falls count anywhere!
- Commercial break + Local show dates promoted.
- The Gangstas Interview: New Jack and Mustafa Saed laid into The Prime Time Killers after their victory at Born to be Wired! The Gangstas said that they were in a giving mood, so if the chumps want another shot at the champs, they had no problems with that. After they make short work of The Pitbulls tonight, they be strolling into Hardcore Heaven waiting for whoever decides to stroll through the curtain to fight them.
- In the main event of the evening, The Pitbulls gave the ECW Tag Team Champions a run for their money. After several back and forth swings of momentum, Pitbull #1 was finally pinned by Mustafa Saed while New Jack carved up Pitbull #2 on the outside. Lee and Kronus rushed to ringside and tangled with both teams until all six men were brawling. (14:21)
- Rick Rude Interview: A feed featuring Rick Rude broke up the fighting inside the arena. Mentioned that his client, The Sandman, looked forward to leaving as ECW Heavyweight Champion tomorrow night. He still plans on hand-delivering that piece of tin over to ‘big-time executives’ when he signs his brand-new contract with the ‘Atlanta office’. Rude told the fans to kiss their precious title goodbye and he plans to allow them to do just that when he walks the belt around ringside to the fans for the last time. He blew a kiss as the show came to a close.