Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 11/22/1997
From: Philadelphia, PA
Matches:
1.) Axl Rotten defeated D-Von Dudley, John Kronus & ECW Tag Team Champion Tracy Smothers in an elimination match
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) We see repeat footage from last week highlighting the brawl between RVD & Sabu taking out Tommy Dreamer and Sandman. Sandman made the save taking out RVD and putting Sabu through a table after coming off the ladder with a somersault dive.
2.) It is announced that Sabu will wrestle Sandman at November To Remember in a match where tables and ladders are legal. ECW Television Champion Taz will defend against Pitbull #2. ECW Tag Team Champions FBI will defend against Dudley Boys, John Kronus & New Jack, and Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney. Tommy Dreamer battles Rob Van Dam in a flag match. ECW World Champion Bam-Bam Bigelow defends against Shane Douglas.
3.) Backstage, Shane Douglas says he’s going to show Bam-Bam why he shouldn’t have turned his back on the Triple Threat. A fire has been lit under his ass and he thanks Bigelow for that. Douglas can take an ass kicking and wonders if Bigelow can. Douglas asks if Bigelow is prepared to win a mental game.
4.) Kronus savant kicks Smothers while Rotten and Dudley go at it. Kronus sends Smothers into the railing and Rotten hip tosses Dudley followed by a clothesline to the floor. Smothers and Kronus get into the ring while Rotten uses a chair on Dudley. Kronus drops Smothers with a spin kick. Kronus punches Smothers into the corner and delivers a few more strikes in the corner. Kronus gets knocked down by Smothers and Dudley with elbow strikes. D-Von decks Smothers with a strike and Rotten works over both men with strikes. Kronus nails D-Von with a knee strike and a heel kick to Smothers. Little Guido enters the ring to knock Rotten down and delivers a jawbreaker to Kronus. Guido tries to clothesline Kronus and on the third try is successful. Guido and Smothers elbow drop Kronus allowing D-Von to stomp away on Kronus. Balls Mahoney enters the scene with a chair and whacks D-Von followed by a clothesline to the FBI. Bubba enters to hit everyone with a cutter and Big Dick cleans house with chokeslams. The fans want New Jack to come out. Guido tries to hammer away on Big Dick and isn’t very successful with that game plan. Big Dick chokeslams Guido to stop that nonsense.
New Jack makes his way down to the ring and has a trash can full of weapons. That naturally leads to everyone using weapons on each other. At this point it’s just brawling and weapon shots both in the ring and around ringside. Axl drops Guido with a back suplex. It looks like just about everyone involved in the action is bleeding in some form. Axl has setup a table on the aisle way. New Jack has gotten on top of the stage as two tables are stacked for Guido. Bubba got on a scissors lift and was destroyed by New Jack with a guitar. Jack jumps off the stage to splash Guido through two tables and the crowd goes nuts for that.
Bubba hits Kronus with a cutter to allow D-Von to pin Kronus for the first elimination. Dudley’s play to the crowd as Balls Mahoney and Rotten use chairs on them. Mahoney hits the Nutcracker Suite on D-Von to allow Axl to pin D-Von. Smothers heel kicks Mahoney and misses a flag shot on Rotten. Axl hits Smothers with the flag, but Jeff Jones stops the count leading to a referee fight. Axl powerbombs Smothers and Jones stops the count again. John Finnegan dropkicks Jones and Rotten finally pins Smothers following a DDT. (**1/4. Had this been a normal four way match there’s likely no way I’d ever be interested or entertained by it. It was practically just a four way tag match with only four actual legal guys.)
5.) Sandman cuts a promo on Sabu saying that if he’s suicidal then he’s his Dr. Kevorkian.
6.) Shane Douglas recalls his head pounding after a powerbomb by Bam-Bam Bigelow. Douglas says that Rick Rude couldn’t handle Francine for more than one night. Douglas doesn’t care what the cripple man does any longer. Douglas says two destines will collide at November To Remember and Bigelow is worthy of any championship. The ECW World Championship is his championship. Douglas promises he’ll continue to get up and will wear Bigelow down.
7.) Bigelow says he’s the biggest and baddest man on earth.
8.) Chris Candido talks about winning the tag titles at WrestleMania XII. Candido is going to be on the biggest pay per view of all, November To Remember. Candido is going to steal the show and show why Lance Storm will follow in his footsteps.
9.) Douglas talks about what Vince McMahon had to to do to get the WWF World Championship off Bret Hart. He recalls Shawn Michaels handing the belt over to Douglas instead of losing.
10.) Sandman notes overcoming Tommy Dreamer, outdancing Public Enemy and beat Raven with his own move.
11.) Bam-Bam Bigelow reminds us that he’s the ECW World Champion.
12.) Tommy Dreamer is getting his heel wrapped up and says he needs back surgery and needs to be off his foot for three months. Dreamer says that RVD has no loyalty to anyone. Dreamer is going to take RVD’s life and he’s going to bust him up. We get a closeup on Dreamer’s busted heel.
13.) Sandman doesn’t think Sabu will go down without a fight at November To Remember. Sandman is going to be put away for what he does to Sabu.
14.) Shane Douglas wanted his rightful role in WCW to get out of Ric Flair’s shadow, but WCW wouldn’t give him the opportunity. When he went to WWF, he was going to prove he was the showstopper and main event. Instead, he didn’t get that chance. Douglas says the Franchise isn’t just a nickname you pick out. Douglas says you have to prove that you’re the Franchise. Douglas earned the name.
15.) Tommy Dreamer recalls Terry Funk telling him to fight for what he believes in. Tommy will show that to RVD. Beulah promises Bill Alfonso that if he gets involved then it will be a regret he never forgets.
16.) Sandman talks about barbed wire matches and cage matches that he’s had. He had a surgery after a cage match that people don’t know about. It’s going to be a extreme match on PPV.
17.) Bam-Bam Bigelow wants Shane Douglas to bring it to the PPV in Douglas hometown.
18.) Douglas knows the story of Bigelow being arrested in Mexico while being a bounty hunter. Douglas says that Bigelow has all the tools to be a great champion. Douglas says the championship belongs to him though.
19.) Tommy Dreamer says that his phone has been ringing for him to go everywhere else. Dreamer says he’s not going anywhere and he’ll die in ECW. He will takeout Rob Van Dam.
20.) Candido says his match at the PPV is worth the money alone.
21.) Douglas promises his performance will be one that you’ll never see again. Douglas is no longer being held back and ECW is giving him a platform to show what he can do. There are no more roadblocks in his way.
22.) Sandman says he’s politically incorrect and proud of it.
Final Thoughts:
Pretty much a hype show to promote November To Remember and it came across rather well. The card has a strong top with Douglas/Bigelow, Sandman/Sabu and Dreamer/RVD being more than enough to make it a likely worthwhile viewing experience. The build has been good throughout and it should be interesting to see where ECW goes coming out of the show.
Thanks for reading.