ECW Hardcore TV 7/3/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 7/3/1999
From: Chicago, IL

Matches:
1.) ECW Tag Team Champions Dudley Boys defeated Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley in a street fight to retain the titles
2.) ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Lance Storm to retain the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) A video highlighting the debut of Rhino taking on Taz last week is shown. Rhino lost to Taz, but appears to be associated with Steve Corino and Jack Victory. The video also highlights the feud between Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible where Lynn refused to lay down despite Lance Storm helping him go to the hospital. That led to the Impact Players spiking Lynn with a piledriver and now Lance Storm will get the ECW Television Championship match against Rob Van Dam this week.

2.) The Dudley Boys are in the ring with Bubba Dudley cutting a promo about how much he thinks Chicago sucks. Bubba confronts Spike Dudley telling him that the match is a tag team bout. Bubba says that they all know that Spike can’t beat them in a tag match. So, Bubba gives Spike the chance to pick a partner in the arena. Spike reveals his partner as being Balls Mahoney. Mahoney makes the match a tag title match with street fight rules and falls count anywhere.

3.) All four men start brawling in the ring to start the tag title match. Spike takes Bubba over with a hurricanrana out of the corner and Mahoney superkicks Bubba to the floor. Mahoney press slams Spike over the top to the floor. Bubba plants Spike with a side slam to gain the advantage. Bubba gets a cheese grater from Sign Guy Dudley. Bubba proceeds to use the grater on Spike’s forehead. Bubba continues to use the grater on Spike’s forehead. Mahoney uses a drink on D-Von outside the ring. Spike forearms Bubba to the floor. D-Von and Mahoney have returned to the ring with D-Von controlling Mahoney with strikes. Spike is bleeding and uses the grater on a bloodied Bubba. Spike uses a chair on Bubba over the railing. Mahoney boots D-Von in the corner and delivers a right hand. Spike and Bubba are brawling in the crowd. Mahoney is digging a fork into D-Von’s forehead. We go to commercial with Bubba and Spike still brawling into the crowd.

Spike is on the second level of the arena and jumps off onto Bubba to hit a crossbody in the crowd! Bubba nails Spike with a chair as they return to the ringside area. Bubba continues to beat on Mahoney with right hands. Mahoney plants Bubba with a sit out spinebuster and Spike hits a leg drop leading to a near fall on both Dudley’s. Balls and Spike hit stereo face busters for another near fall. Bubba and D-Von fight back with right hands, but the challengers hit an Acid Drop and Nutcracker Suite for another stereo two count. Sign Guy enters and decks Spike, but Mahoney grabs Sign Guy. D-Von low blows Mahoney and delivers a reverse DDT. Dudley’s hit the 3D on Spike, but Mahoney makes the save with chair shots. Mahoney murders D-Von with another chair shot. Mahoney puts tacks on table and then lit the table on fire. Well, he tries to anyway, but D-Von whacks Mahoney with a chair shot from behind. D-Von adds more gasoline to the table and Bubba sets the table on fire. Bubba powerbombs Mahoney through the flaming table! That’s good enough for a three count. (***. A fun brawl and the finish was strong enough to justify Balls and Spike getting another title shot. I don’t think there’s a lot of challengers to the Dudley’s at this point so I’m fine with an extended program with Balls and Spike.)

4.) Storm starts the main event with wrist control, but RVD counters quickly. RVD takes Storm down to the mat maintaining arm control. Storm backs RVD into a corner and delivers a few shoulder rams. RVD hits a middle rope crossbody for a two count. RVD breaks free of a head scissors quickly and they have a standoff. RVD monkey flips Storm and Storm bails to the floor to regroup. RVD shoulder blocks Storm, but Storm manages to roll through and gets a half Boston Crab locked in for a moment. Storm lets go to grab Bill Alfonso, who had grabbed Dawn Marie. RVD hits a slingshot leg drop over the apron and lays Storm over the railing to hit a spinning leg drop off the apron. RVD rolls into the ring and plays to the crowd. RVD sends Storm into the railing back first. RVD misses a running crossbody and goes over the railing into the crowd hitting a chair. RVD drops Storm over the railing throat first and hits a somersault dive off the railing onto the floor. RVD goes to the top rope, but Storm crotches the champ. Storm hits a back suplex off the middle rope.

RVD runs into a superkick leading to a near fall for Storm. They begin to trade strikes with RVD getting the advantage, but Storm drops RVD face first down to the mat for a near fall. Storm continues to beat on RVD with strikes. Storm hammers away on RVD in the corner. RVD knocks Storm off the apron with a forearm. RVD kicks Storm off the apron with a kick to the head. Storm sends RVD into the railing face first. Storm leaps off the top to clothesline RVD for a near fall. Storm continues to beat on RVD with right hands as the show goes to commercial.

RVD atomic drops Storm and then dropkicks a chair into Storm’s face. RVD nearly wins the match and then smiles on a near fall. RVD tries for a back suplex, but the referee does down. RVD sits Storm on the top rope. Justin Credible whacks RVD with a kendo stick. Credible beats on RVD to help Storm. The lights go out and when they come back on it’s Sabu! Sabu smashes Credible with a chair and brawls with Credible into the crowd. Sabu hits a springboard dive into the crowd onto Credible! Sabu sends Credible into the railing and lays Credible onto a table over the railing and apron. Sabu leaps off the top to put Credible through the table with a swanton bomb! Jerry Lynn enters the ring and helps RVD kick a chair into Storm’s face! Joey Styles tries to tease who Lynn was helping, but it was clearly for RVD. RVD leaps off the top to hit the frog splash for the win. (**1/2. A fine main event that had a messy finish with Sabu, Lynn and Credible getting involved. I’m glad there was a finish to the match and there was some advancement to the tag feud. Impact Players continue to lose big matches, though.)

Final Thoughts:
A strong week for ECW television this week as it was focused mostly on in-ring and we got two entertaining matches. I can’t complain about that.

Thanks for reading.