ECW Hardcore TV 11/1/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 11/1/1997
From: Philadelphia, PA

Matches:
1.) Little Guido & Tracy Smothers defeated ECW Tag Team Champions John Kronus & New Jack to win the titles
2.) Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten defeated Dudley Boys
3.) Chris Candido & Lance Storm defeated Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon
4.) ECW Television Champion Taz fought Rob Van Dam to a no contest

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) On November 30th, at the Golden Dome in Pittsburgh, PA, ECW World Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow will defend against Shane Douglas at November To Remember.

2.) Joey Styles mocked Jim Cornette’s opinion style segments on WWF RAW by explaining that Rick Rude got what he wanted from Shane Douglas and there was no honor amongst thieves. He then revealed a tennis racket to make it clear what he was doing.

3.) Kronus beats on Guido and Smothers with a traffic sign and New Jack has a guitar to break over Smothers head. Smothers has been busted wide open just moments into the match. Jack nails Smothers with a fake leg and Kronus continues to beat on Guido. Kronus has a violin and whacks Guido over the head with it. Guido has been busted wide open, as well. Jack takes out the referee with a weapon shot. A second referee enters the match as the FBI continues to be beaten up. Jack headbutts an Nintendo onto Smothers groin. Jack brings Tommy Rich into the ring from the apron and has a guitar. Rich ducks a guitar shot and Jack takes out the referee. Kronus slams Rich and goes to the top rope hitting a 450 splash. Kronus has a cover, but there’s no referee and Rich isn’t in the match legally. The Dudley Boys storm the ring and attack the champions. Kronus is met with a 3D. Jeff Jones is in the ring as Guido covers Kronus to win the match and titles. (*1/2. Well, obviously it’s not a very good match since it’s just the FBI getting destroyed with weapons. However, it advances a feud between the Dudley Boys and Kronus/Jack. It certainly appeared that the crowd reacted in the right kind of way to make it look as if the angle went well.)

4.) Mahoney and Axl enter the ring and go right after the Dudley Boys to go right into our next match. Mahoney jabs Bubba several times in the corner and Bubba gets control with a chair shot to the back. D-Von nails Axl with the fake leg that was used earlier. Jack and Kronus come back out and brawl with the FBI. All four teams are in the ring brawling art this point and there’s complete mayhem. D-Von and Axl are the only ones left in the ring as D-Von slams Rotten and hits a leg drop for a two count. Jeff Jones isn’t interested counting for Axl Rotten and Big Dick enters to chokeslam Rotten. D-Von has the cover, but a second referee stops Jeff Jones and tackles him! Rotten whacks D-Von with a chair shot to the back and hits a reverse DDT onto a chair to win the match. (*1/4. Similar to the first match. I’m not a fan of Axl Rotten and having him in a top title feud or any feud just doesn’t work for me.)

5.) LaFon and Storm kickoff the tag match with LaFon going to ropes to stop Storm’s early momentum. LaFon kicks Storm in the midsection and Storm tags in Candido. Candido chops LaFon in the corner, but LaFon comes back with chops to drop Candido to the mat. Furnas tags in and shoulder blocks Candido. Furnas nails Candido with a standing dropkick and LaFon returns to the match with a rollup for a two count. Storm returns to the match and double teams LaFon in the corner. Storm comes off the ropes to elbow drop LaFon quickly. Storm keeps a sleeper on LaFon, but LaFon fights out with a German suplex. Furnas returns to the match and Storm rams Furnas into the corner before tagging in Candido. Candido tags in Storm and they hit a double dropkick to send Furnas to the floor. Candido takes Furnas out with a crossbody to the floor. Storm does the same to LaFon on the other side of the ring. Candido argues with Storm over who did that better. LaFon and Furnas attack them from behind. Candido is met with a double backdrop. Storm suffers the same fate. LaFon puts a surfboard on Storm and Furnas delivers a kick to the chest. Candido kicks LaFon to break the hold.

Furnas takes Storm over with a powerslam for a two count. Furnas scoop slams Storm and goes for a Boston Crab and locks it in. Candido decks Furnas from behind and LaFon puts a chin lock on Storm. LaFon plants Storm with a Samoan Drop. Candido misses a top rope diving headbutt and hit Storm leading to a near fall for LaFon. LaFon kicks Storm in the corner. LaFon takes Storm over with a snap suplex. Furnas scoop slams Storm and delivers a leg drop for a two count. Furnas kicks Candido off the apron. Storm is choked over the top rope for a few moments while the referee is distracted. LaFon beats on Storm in the corner but runs into a boot and collides with Storm on stereo clotheslines. LaFon and Candido trade right hands until Candido hits a clothesline in the corner. Furnas stops Candido on the middle rope. Candido kicks Furnas away and takes LaFon off the middle rope with a hurricanrana. Candido knocks Furnas off the apron and goes through a table. LaFon stops Candido on the middle rope. Storm brawls with Furnas as LaFon backdrops Candido off the middle rope. LaFon messes up a move on the top rope. LaFon hits a Tiger Driver, but Storm breaks the cover. Candido hits a vertical suplex on LaFon and LaFon kicks Storm to avoid a springboard. Furnas runs into a spinning heel kick by Storm. Furnas hits a standing hurricanrana for a two count on Storm. Furnas tosses Storm with a German suplex for a two count. LaFon powerbombs Candido and Storm kicks Furnas on the head to get the win. (**1/2. A decent tag match that got a little clunky. This is the first time Storm and Candido teamed together and it’s being played up as being an upset. I don’t know if I’d put Furnas and LaFon on that kind of level, but I can see what they’re trying to do. From the get go, Candido and Storm are going to be partners that clearly don’t work together very well.) After the match, Storm and Candido shake hands with LaFon and Furnas.

6.) RVD starts off with a spin kick to stagger Taz in the corner and follows up with strikes and stomps. RVD dropkicks the championship into Taz’s face. RVD continues with forearm strikes and boots a charging Taz. Taz low blows RVD in the corner and hits a Tiger suplex sending RVD rolling to the floor. Taz rolls RVD into the ring and delivers several overhand strikes. Taz blocks a springboard kick trying for a suplex, but settles for a clothesline to send RVD rolling to the floor. Taz continues to hammer away on RVD, but RVD sends Taz into the guard railing. RVD springboards off the railing to kick Taz on the floor. RVD continues to beat on Taz with strikes at ringside. RVD rolls Taz into the ring and hits a slingshot leg drop for a near fall. RVD drives Taz face first down to the mat with a double under hook. RVD delivers a leg drop for a two count. RVD dropkicks Taz on the mat and crotches Taz over the top rope. RVD hits a springboard heel kick to knock Taz down to the mat for a near fall. RVD dropkicks Taz to maintain control of the contest. RVD slams Taz and gets a chair from Alfonso. RVD hits a split legged moonsault and both men are hurting. Taz punches RVD but is met with a spinning heel kick.

RVD slams Taz to the mat and goes to the top rope hitting a frog splash for a two count. Taz tosses RVD with a release German suplex. Sabu enters the ring and gets dumped over the top to the floor. Tommy Dreamer ha come down to ringside and brawls with Sabu at ringside. RVD boots Taz in the ring. Sabu and Dreamer continue to trade strikes. RVD has grabbed Beulah, but Taz hooks RVD with a head and arm suplex to drop RVD head first on the mat. The Pitbulls and Lance Wright are making their way towards the ring and they are wearing white suits. The Pitbulls are smoking cigars, too. They enter the ring as Taz is the only one standing. The bell is ringing as the match has been thrown out. Taz fights off the Pitbulls with strikes. #2 clotheslines Taz to stop his offense. RVD spin kicks a chair into Taz’s face. (**1/2. The aftermath with the Pitbulls was done poorly and it’s just not a good direction for Taz to go in. RVD and Taz work fairly well together and RVD did a great job selling for Taz throughout the match. There’s enough heat here for these guys to have a big match on PPV.)

7.) RVD cuts a promo saying that Taz is just a paper champion. RVD is going to tell Taz what he stands for. They have the WWF flag with them. RVD declares the building as being the WWF arena. Thus, every fan is a WWF fan and the championships are under the WWF banner. RVD says that Taz is the WWF Television Champion. Taz gets up again and tosses lawyers with suplexs. ECW World Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow has entered the ring and is apparently there to help Taz. Taz stares down Bigelow and grabs a microphone. Taz thinks that Bigelow is a little confused and notes that Bigelow is a new champion and tells Bigelow that he’s the only real champion. Taz doesn’t need Bigelow’s help or anyone’s help. Taz tells Bigelow we’ll see who the real champion is. Taz gets into Bigelow’s face and rub chests together until Bigelow shoves Taz and the locker room empties to keep them apart.

Final Thoughts:
Action wise, the show was pretty solid for the most part. It felt like the closing segment was a tease for Bigelow vs. Taz for the ECW World Championship. I’m not sure if they got the ideal reaction from the crowd. There appears to be interest, but they weren’t going nuts for the showdown.

Thanks for reading.