Written by: Bob Colling
Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 12/20/1997
From: Buffalo, NY
Matches:
1.) Sabu defeated The Sandman in a death match
2.) Justin Credible defeated Mikey Whipwreck
3.) Al Snow defeated Paul Diamond
4.) Chris Chetti defeated Pitbull #2
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Sandman tosses a ladder into Sabu on the floor as the show begins. Sandman tosses the ladder over the top onto Sabu in the ring followed by a slingshot somersault leg drop. Sandman works over Sabu with strikes in the corner. Sabu comes back with a springboard, but Sandman hits an electric chair slam. Sandman sets the ladder up on the floor and a table. Sabu takes Sandman out with a suicide dive. Sandman was apparently going after RVD on the floor. Sandman elbows Sabu several times and lays Sabu onto the table. Sandman climbs the ladder and misses a somersault dive crashing through the table! Sabu lays Sandman onto another table. Sabu springboards of the top rope and leg drops Sandman through the table! Sabu goes for a cover and only manages a two count. Sandman dropkicks a ladder into Sabu. Sandman lays a ladder over Sabu and goes to the top hitting a senton splash. RVD springboard kicks the ladder into Sandman’s face. Sabu hits a top rope Arabian face buster for the win. (NR. I don’t believe this is the whole match. If it were to be, that was a quick bout. Regardless, this feud has grabbed the attention of the ECW fans.)
2.) Whipwreck backdrops Credible and follows up with a clothesline to send both men over the top to the floor. Whipwreck delivers another clothesline to send them both over the railing into the crowd. Whipwreck hammers away on Credible a few times. Whipwreck tosses Credible back to ringside and catapults Credible face first into the ring post. Mikey rolls Credible back into the ring. Jason grabs Whipwreck on the floor allowing Credible to deliver a baseball slide. Credible sends Mikey back first into the guard railing. Credible rolls Mikey back into the ring. Credible comes off the top to hit a missile dropkick for a two count. Credible dropkicks a seated Whipwreck and taunts the crowd. Credible continues to beat on Mikey with chops and jabs in the corner. Credible sits Mikey on the top turnbuckle and hits a hurricanrana! Credible goes for the cover, but Mikey kicks out at two. Whipwreck nails Credible with a stunner. Mikey blocks right hands and staggers Credible with left hands. Mikey boots Credible in the corner and hits a tornado DDT for a near fall. Mikey falls to the mat holding his knee after Credible did a leapfrog.
Credible drives Whipwreck down to the mat by his left leg and Whipwreck is screaming in agony. Credible keeps a leg lock on Mikey and the referee calls for the bell. Jason shoves the referee as the referee deemed Mikey unable to continue the match. After the match, Credible spikes Mikey with That’s Incredible two times. The locker room empties to run off Credible and Jason. (**. An interesting turn of events to use an injury angle to continue the feud. Credible needed a win to even the odds and he looked solid in there. The aftermath was effective and really adds to Credible’s heat. I’ve been enjoying their TV matches.)
3.) Mikey Whipwreck did a stretcher job for the attack.
4.) Snow works over Diamond in the corner with chops and headbutts. Snow delivers an elbow drop to Diamond’s upper back followed by a clothesline. This match has been clipped. Snow sends Diamond into Chastity on the floor before sending Diamond into the guard railing. Snow chokes Diamond on the floor to maintain control of the bout. Diamond stops Snow with a chair shot. Diamond stomps on Snow and delivers a chair shot to Snow’s wrapped shoulder for a two count. Diamond drives Snow down with a backbreaker. Diamond tries for a float over DDT, but Snow counters it. Chastity enters the ring and gets tossed down by Snow. She slaps Snow a few times and Snow plants her with the Snow Plow! Snow does the same to Diamond to win the match. (NR. Since it is a clipped match, I can’t get it a rating. However, it’s amazing how quickly Snow is generating a reaction. Just a few weeks ago Snow was doing nothing and the crowd seemingly didn’t care. Now, he’s getting some positive crowd reaction. What a turn of events.)
5.) Pitbulls are in the ring and says they are here to kick the best wrestlers ass, not some rookie like Chris Chetti. Pitbull #1 says that if Pitbull #2 can’t beat Chris Chetti then they will leave ECW.
6.) #2 keeps a headlock on Chetti for the early advantage. #2 shoulder blocks Chetti followed by a spinning heel kick. #2 drops Chetti with a right hand strike. #2 press slams Chetti to the mat. #2 heads to the top rope managing to hit a shoulder block and taunts the crowd. #2 continues to deliver strikes on Chetti. #2 puts Chetti on the top turnbuckle and hits a middle rope fallaway slam. #2 drops Chetti with another right hand. #2 gets crotched on the top rope. Chetti counters a Super Bomb with a hurricanrana and hits a double springboard moonsault to pin #2! (*1/2. Chetti looked good and didn’t mess up the finish, so that was good. It appears the Pitbulls are gone from ECW.)
7.) Lance Wright bribes a producer with some cash. Wright is doing an impersonation to be the host of Monday Night RAW. Wright says the ECW women like it RAW. Beulah enters the scene and tries to leave, but Wright grabs her hair and Beulah slaps him. Wright says he wants his mommy. That was weird.
8.) Al Snow is sitting backstage and says this has been the happiest year of his career. Snow thanks the fans for accepting him to be part of the company. It means the world to him and his family. Snow wishes everyone a happy holiday. Snow also says that Head would like to wish them all a happy holiday. Snow gets upset saying that he wanted to do a serious one. Snow says “we also hope you get a little Head” and gets mad at Head.
9.) Francine says that nobody can have her but Shane Douglas.
10.) FBI wish everyone a happy holiday and Tommy Rich gets corrected by his friends.
11.) Lance Wright is rubbing his face and waiting for his mother to pick him up.
12.) Bill Alfonso blows his whistle.
13.) Tommy Rich continues to get it wrong and the FBI is getting frustrated.
14.) We see footage from 1994 where Public Enemy were at the park cutting a promo.
15.) Chris Candido and Lance Storm are happy to be tag team champions. Storm wonders why he doesn’t have a locker and Candido says to not worry about that.
16.) Jenna Jameson is there to just jump and screen.
17.) Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney cut a promo saying they will get past this and win the tag titles. Mahoney is smashing a chair against lockers.
18.) Francine calls Beulah a hoe.
Final Thoughts:
There wasn’t much going on this week for the angles or anything. It’s great to see how quickly Snow was gotten a following amongst the fans. I’d probably consider this a skippable week of television.
Thanks for reading.