ECW Hardcore TV 8/28/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 8/28/1999
From: Toledo, OH

Matches:
1.) Tajiri defeated Super Crazy
2.) Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley defeated ECW Tag Team Champions Dudley Boys to win the titles

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) An urgent message is shown on the screen letting us know that Raven has left WCW and will return to the ECW Arena on Saturday Night. However, Raven has already invaded ECW. That’s because Raven returned at the Elks Lodge in Queens to save Tommy Dreamer from the Dudley Boys and won the ECW Tag Team Championships.

2.) ECW World Champion Taz enters the ring to continue from last weeks program. Taz puts Rhino through a table in the corner with a suplex. Taz grabs a microphone and promises to dump Tajiri on his head on the TNN show. Taz proclaims that he’s the guy your mother warned you about. Taz finishes off with his catchphrase.

3.) Backstage, Danny Doring, Roadkill and Miss Congeniality cut a promo. Doring puts her over leading to her suggesting that Roadkill smells bad. Doring explains that’s bound to happen when you’re working on a farm.

4.) Backstage, Steve Corino cuts a promo talking about Tommy Dreamer injuring Jack Victory and gets emotional about what Dreamer did to his friend. Corino thinks that Taz should be in prison for doing what he did to Rhino, as well. Corino says they are going to be on top in ECW sooner or later.

5.) Tajiri starts off with a kick to Crazy’s chest for the early advantage and hits a tilt a whirl head scissors to send Crazy to the floor. Tajiri takes Crazy out with a springboard moonsault to the floor. Tajiri sends Crazy into the railing and back into the ring. Tajiri kicks Crazy while on the apron and attempts a sunset flip, but switches to the tarantula. Crazy plants Tajiri with a powerbomb and a springboard moonsault. Crazy heads to the apron and waits for Tajiri to hit a springboard dropkick to send Tajiri to the floor. Crazy baseball slides Tajiri and hits a twisting dive to the floor! Crazy keeps control by kicking Tajiri on the floor a few times. Crazy rolls Tajiri back into the ring and delivers several punches in the corner. Tajiri hits a handspring elbow and a dropkick to the knee and nearly wins with a German suplex. Tajiri delivers a kick, but Crazy avoids a brainbuster and hits three moonsaults for a two count. Steve Corino has come out and distracts Crazy along with Victory. Corino accidentally decks Victory. Tajiri spits mist into Crazy’s face and hits the brainbuster to win the match. (*1/2. Obviously this encounter was more development for Tajiri’s showdown with Taz.)

6.) All four men are in the ring brawling to start the tag title main event. Spike takes Bubba out of the corner with a hurricanrana and Mahoney superkicks Bubba to the floor. Mahoney press slams Spike to the floor onto the Dudley’s. Mahoney leaps off the top to take the Dudley’s out with a crossbody. Spike climbs a ladder in the ring and leaps off to take everyone out with a dive on the floor as the show goes to a commercial.

Mahoney works over D-Von in the corner but misses a splash and D-Von hits a sit out powerbomb. Bubba is rubbing Spike’s blood on his face outside the ring. Bubba continues to beat on Spike outside the ring with right hands and taunts the fans. Spike nails Bubba over the back with a chair and tries for the Acid Drop, but Bubba drops Spike into front row. Spike and Bubba continue to brawl in the crowd. Spike pummels Bubba with right hands in the crowd. Mahoney and D-Von are in the crowd, as well. Bubba dropped Spike over the hand railing. Bubba boot scrapes Spike a few times and delivers a headbutt. Bubba hits Spike over the head with a trash can as the fans are going nuts. D-Von has a cover on Mahoney, but the referee isn’t in the ring. Bubba and Spike are brawling by the concession area. Spike whacks Bubba with a tray followed by more right hands. Bubba smashes Spike with nachos to the face. Spike hits Bubba with a bucket of ice water.

Back in the ring, Mahoney has laid out D-Von and goes to the top rope, but D-Von stops Mahoney with a superplex. D-Von climbs to the middle rope and hits a diving headbutt on Mahoney, but the referee is still not in the ring. Mahoney powerslams D-Von and heads to the top rope while Spike sends Bubba into the wall. Mahoney hits a top rope frog splash on D-Von, but the referee isn’t there to make a count. Why is the referee dealing with the brawling in the crowd and not in the ring?! Mahoney has a steel chair and is low blowed by D-Von and hits a reverse DDT for a two count. D-Von continues to work over Mahoney with strikes. Mahoney slams D-Von and heads to the top rope. Mahoney misses a leg drop. Bubba enters to hit a back suplex on Mahoney along with a neckbreaker by D-Von leading to a near fall. Dudley’s shove the referee and the referee tries for a double clothesline that isn’t successful. Spike and Balls get two counts. They hit a slam and bulldog for another two count on the champs. Acid Drop and the Nutcracker Suite for another two count as Sign Guy got involved to break the count. Mahoney has Sign Guy on the floor and sends him into to the railing.

Spike and Mahoney set a table up on the floor and stack another one on top. Sign Guy is on the apron and almost falls off following right hands. Bubba jabs Mahoney to gain control of the match. Bubba is stopped on the middle rope by Mahoney. Mahoney tries for a hurricanrana, but Bubba counters with a powerbomb off the middle rope! Spike is on the top rope trading right hands with Bubba on the apron. Spike hits Bubba with a sign and is met with a boot on the apron from Bubba. Bubba proceeds to light the tables on fire. Bubba powerbombs Spike through the flaming tables on the floor. Mahoney no sells chair shots from D-Von. Mahoney is staggered and held by Bubba. D-Von hits Bubba on accident and Mahoney manages to hit the Nutcracker Suite for the clean win to win the titles. (***. An entertaining brawl, but not as good as their previous match. It bugged me a little bit that they’d show footage from Queens where Raven and Dreamer won the tag titles. I understand why they did that, but it ruined the order of events and hurt the main event. The match probably went on a little long as there was a noticeable dip in crowd reaction until the tables were lit on fire. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed these matches.)

Final Thoughts:
They’ve really put a lot of focus on the Taz/Tajiri match that’s taking place on TNN, and I think they’ve done a good job with it to add interest to the contest. The show this week was fine as we got a good main event and some angle progression.

Thanks for reading.