ECW Hardcore TV 4/16/2000

Written by: Bob Colling

Extreme Championship Wrestling presents Hardcore TV
Date: 4/16/2000
From: Buffalo, NY

Matches:
1.) Danny Doring & Roadkill defeated Jack Victory & Steve Corino
2.) New Jack & Tommy Dreamer defeated Angel & DeVito in a street fight

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) They cut into the opening video package with an urgent news bulletin. WWF Superstar, TAZZ, has shocked the wrestling world.

2.) Victory is working over Doring in the corner with jabs. Corino tags in and elbows Doring coming off the ropes. Doring jabs Corino in the midsection, but Corino keeps control on Doring. Corino and Victory double team Doring while the referee is distracted by Roadkill. Victory slams Doring and Corino enters to deliver an elbow drop for a two count. Corino elbows Doring a few times, but Doring hits the Bareback causing both men to be down. Roadkill gets the hot tag and cleans house with a slam and a swinging side slam on Corino. Roadkill hits a springboard clothesline to both men and plays to the crowd. Victory puts Roadkill through a table at ringside and attacks Doring with right hands. Corino has a cowbell, but accidentally hits Victory. Doring plants Corino with a double arm DDT onto the bell. Roadkill leaps off the top to splash Victory for the win. (NR. I’m not sure how much was cut out of this, but I like the booking. Doring and Roadkill are getting really over as a babyface tag team and I love that Victory took the fall to protect Corino, but still giving Doring and Roadkill a huge tag win.)

3.) Dreamer goes after Da Baldies all by himself and is splashed by Grimes in the corner. Grimes misses a big boot and is met with a low blow by Dreamer. Dreamer uses the cheese grater on Grimes. Angel misses a dropkick and Dreamer uses the staple gun on Angel’s groin. Dreamer plants DeVito with a spinebuster. Grimes beats on Dreamer from behind in the corner. Grimes headbutts Dreamer on the groin in the corner. After a commercial, Da Baldies have control on Dreamer until New Jack’s music hits.

Jack enters the ring and cleans house with various weapon shots to Da Baldies. Dreamer and DeVito brawl outside the venue in the middle of a snowstorm. DeVito delivers an elbow drop on the road for a two count on Dreamer. Dreamer sets a table up back inside the building. DeVito suplexs Dreamer onto the table, but it doesn’t break. Dreamer climbs the wall and they trade strikes by the stairs. DeVito knocks Dreamer off the wall and through tables. Dreamer and DeVito continue to brawl throughout the arena with Dreamer hitting DeVito with a trash can. Jack hits Angel with a weapon shot to the groin. Dreamer snapmares DeVito on the floor and grabs a ring bell hitting DeVito on the groin with it at ringside. Dreamer puts DeVito through a table with a Death Valley Driver on the floor. Jack smashes Angel with a chair shot and wins the match. (*1/2. It’s just your typical brawl, but I liked that they went outside and did something different than their usual brawling.)

4.) The huge news regarding Tazz is that he defeated ECW World Champion Mike Awesome on April 13th in Indiana to win the title. In case you don’t know, Awesome bailed on ECW and showed on WCW Nitro on April 10th. There was a lawsuit and Awesome was forced to drop the title in ECW. WWF sent Tazz back to the company to get the title off of Awesome. The match was less than ten minutes and the crowd went nuts for it. Dreamer celebrated the victory with Tazz.

Final Thoughts:
The main point of this is that Tazz returned for at least one night to defeat the evil turncoat Mike Awesome to win the title. It’s a memorable moment no doubt about it. However, Tazz better lose the title to someone in ECW on the rise and sticking around for the long haul.

Thanks for reading.