ECW Hardcore TV 9/20/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 9/20/1997
From: Waltham, MA

Matches:
1.) John Kronus defeated Big Dick Dudley
2.) Chris Candido defeated Jerry Lynn
3.) ECW Television Champion Taz fought Tommy Dreamer to a no contest

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) ECW World Champion Shane Douglas puts over Francine and how Rick Rude spent a night with Francine to do his dirty work. Douglas is the champion and has the girl. Thus, he is the franchise!

2.) Terry Funk was recently celebrated in Texas at a retirement show for himself. This took place on September 11th. Funk was presented with a championship belt to be the lifetime champion.

3.) Big Dick delivers a short arm clothesline to drop Kronus and follows up with a vertical suplex. This match has been clipped. Dick collides with D-Von, who had a chair on the apron. Kronus hits the 450 splash to win the match. After the match, Kronus gets beaten up by the Dudley Boys. Bubba powerbombs Kronus. New Jack makes his way out to make the save. Jack uses his guitar on D-Von. Kronus has gotten up and beats on the Dudley Boys with various weapons. Kronus drops Bubba with a spinning heel kick. Apparently, New Jack and Kronus are getting a ECW Tag Team Championship match against the Dudley Boys.

4.) This is Jerry Lynn’s TV debut.

5.) Lynn arm drags Candido causing Candido to regroup in the corner and complains of trunk pulling. Lynn sidesteps a dropkick and head scissors Candido for a two count. Lynn dropkicks Candido to the floor. Candido gets a rollup on Lynn for a two count. Lynn counters a wheelbarrow by driving Candido down to the mat face first. Lynn head scissors Candido again sending Candido to the floor. Lynn takes Candido out with a crossbody to the floor. Lynn baseball slide dropkicks Bigelow and Candido. Lynn gets caught by Bigelow on a crossbody and is driven into the ring post back first. Candido continues to work over Lynn with right hands in the corner. Candido works over Lynn with more strikes in the corner. Candido takes Lynn over with a snap suplex. Lynn takes Candido over with a snap suplex. Candido works over Lynn with strikes in the corner followed by a scoop slam and a forearm drop coming off the ropes. Candido sits Lynn on the top turnbuckle and tries for a hurricanrana, but Lynn holds on and they trade rollups. Candido kicks Lynn on the side of the head. Lynn gets held by Francine from the floor and Candido remains on the apron. Candido dumps Lynn to the floor, but Lynn yanks Candido onto the apron face first. Lynn rams Candido face first onto the stage. Lynn hip tosses Candido off the stage to the floor. Lynn runs off the stag to take Candido out with a somersault dive. Bam-Bam Bigelow runs over Lynn to give Candido some help. Candido plants Lynn with a powerbomb. Candido misses a diving headbutt. Lynn hits a leaping back elbow off the ropes. Lynn backdrops Candido and dropkicks Candido. Lynn with another running dropkick in the corner. Lynn sits Candido on the top rope and hits a hurricanrana for a two count. Candido shoves Lynn off the middle rope and tries for a hurricanrana, but Lynn hit a powerbomb for a two count. Candido avoids a splash in the corner. Candido crotches Lynn on the top turnbuckle. Candido hits a top rope double under hook suplex for the win. (**1/2. A fine match and a decent debut for Jerry Lynn, who should fit in with ECW. Candido looked good here and I’m glad they went with a clean win. Well, sure Bigelow got involved, but it wasn’t directly with the finish. They did enough here to keep my interest in the action.)

6.) Backstage, Bill Alfonso can’t wait for Sabu to get his hands on Sandman at the ECW Arena. Alfonso is confident that Sabu will win. Rob Van Dam enters the scene to calm Alfonso down. RVD wants to talk about his match at the ECW Arena. RVD will make a rare Saturday Night appearance.

7.) A video promoting the Great Sasuke is shown. He’ll be wrestling in ECW for three days in October.

8.) In the parking lot, ECW Television Champion Taz says that tonight he wants to show the world what extreme is about with Tommy Dreamer. He’s going to choke Tommy out tonight.

9.) Taz takes Dreamer down to the mat with a headlock, but Dreamer reaches the ropes quickly to break the hold. Dreamer hip tosses Taz followed by a dropkick to the back. Taz ducks a clothesline to hit a t-bone suplex. Dreamer rolls to the floor to regroup. Taz sends Dreamer into the guard railing back first followed by a strike. Dreamer sends Taz face first into the ring post. Dreamer whacks Taz with a few chair shots to the head. Taz hits a bridging northern lights suplex for a near fall. Dreamer ducks a clothesline and gets a sunset flip for a two count. Taz clotheslines Dreamer and taunts the crowd. Dreamer low blows Taz followed by a side Russian leg sweep. Dreamer slides a table into the ring and sets it up in the corner. Taz sends Dreamer into the corner and hit a belly to belly suplex. Taz puts Dreamer through the table with a t-bone suplex. Both men are down as Taz hit his head on the table.

Sabu and Rob Van Dam run into the ring and attack both Taz and Dreamer. That was completely expected. Sabu leaps off of RVD’s back to splash Taz in the corner. RVD spin kicks Taz. Sabu takes Dreamer over with a t-bone suplex and a double team leg drop onto Dreamer. Bill Alfonso has the WWF flag. The Sandman enters the ring and makes the save. RVD stops Sandman with a spin kick. RVD has a surfboard on Sandman as Sabu comes off the top and hits RVD with a chair on accident as Taz choked RVD. Dreamer plants Sabu with the Death Valley Driver. Beulah gets in the ring to get her hands on Alfonso with a low blow and a DDT to end the program. (*. Well, that was hardly an extreme match as they didn’t do much of anything outside of the table spot at the end of the match. So, it’s safe to say they didn’t deliver what was expected. The aftermath just continues the tag feud, which is fine enough.)

Final Thoughts:
It’s been two weeks in a row where they have failed to deliver a quality main event match after promoting it as being kind of a big deal. That’s a disappointing trend. It’s great to see Jerry Lynn on TV and should be a reliable worker for ECW.

Thanks for reading.