ECW Hardcore Heaven 1997 (Version II)

Original Airdate: August 17, 1997

 

From Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Your Host is Joey Styles

 

Opening ECW Television Title Match: Taz v Chris Candido: Rick Rude comes out to personally introduce Candido, but gets bounced by Tod Gordon. Candido is all fired up at the bell, but Taz just glares at him, not engaging. Candido responds by slapping him and spitting at him, and now Taz starts to advance. Chris shakes him off with a pair of clotheslines, but a leapfrog lands on a boot to the balls, and suplex sends Candido to the outside. That was a nice little sequence. Back in, Candido charges his way into a series of takedowns, and they trade hammerlocks, dominated by the champion. He goes for the submission with a cross-armbreaker, but Candido has the ropes, and comes back with a powerbomb. Candido puts the boots to him, but Taz comes back with a bridging northern lights suplex for two, so Chris throws a leg-feed enzuigiri to keep control. Legdrop gets him one, and a hanging vertical suplex leads to a pair of lightning legdrops. The lighting is really terrible here, like a bad 80s house show. Still better than that Skydome RAW from early 1997, though. Corner charge ends badly when Taz backdrops him over the top, and the champ follows for a whip into the guardrail, but Chris reverses. Back in, Candido uses a rana off the top to set up a flying headbutt drop, but he only gets two. That triggers a comeback from the champion, so Candido tries another leg-feed enzuigiri, but Taz sees it coming this time, and wrestles him into the Tazmission. Candido gets into the ropes, and goes back to the powerbomb for two. Corner whip leads to a powerbomb off the middle attempt, but Taz counters with a superplex, and both men are left looking up at the lights. They stagger up for a reversal sequence, won by Taz with a German suplex. T-bone suplex follows, but Chris reverses a cross corner whip, rebounding Taz into a powerslam. He takes Taz up for a superplex, but he wastes time, and Taz counters with the Tazmission at 11:52. This was pretty lacking in both energy and enthusiasm. Surprisingly so. * ¼ (Original rating: ½*)

 

Bam Bam Bigelow v Spike Dudley: Spike tries charging him at the bell, but quickly gets pounded down, and launched with a biel. Cross corner whip sets up an avalanche, but Spike comes back with a sloppy facebuster. The swinging bulldog sets up a seated dropkick, and Spike tries a flying rana, but gets caught in a brutal powerbomb. He then ups the ante with a press-drop across the post, which ends with Spike down on the outside. He beats the count, so Bigelow presses him over his head again, and chucks him into the third row! Holy shit! Spike is a bloody mess now, but Bigelow drags him back in anyway, delivering a sitout shoulderbreaker. That sets up a flying moonsault at 5:05. This was less a proper match than a few big bumps, but it wasn't boring. * (Original rating: ½*)

 

Rob Van Dam v Al Snow: Snow chases Bill Alfonso around to start, allowing Van Dam to strike first, and both guys back off. Reversal sequence is won by Van Dam with a kick, but a criss cross ends in Snow blocking a monkeyflip, and delivering an ocean cyclone suplex. Corner whip works, but the charge in doesn't, and Rob hits the monkeyflip. He wastes time gloating, however, and Al dropkicks him over the top, then dives with a plancha. Snow adds a bodyslam on the floor, so Rob tries a baseball slide, but misses. That allows Al a clothesline on the floor, and he whips Van Dam into the rail, but a charge after hits boot. Rob capitalizes with a moonsault press off of the rail, and a somersault suicida follows. Back in, Rob heads to the top, but Al vertical superplexes him off for two. Al takes him back upstairs for another one, but Van Dam blocks this time, and RVD dives with a flying sidekick. Standing moonsault gets him two, and the flying frogsplash is worth two. Rana, but Al counters with a flapjack, and he starts making a comeback. Why is Joey calling moonsaults 'back flip splashes?' Snow Plow gets two, and a reversal sequence ends in Van Dam taking a dropkick over the top. Snow dives after him with a somersault plancha, and he absolutely unloads on poor Rob with a chair out there. Those were some serious shots. Snow tries to cap it off with a big charge, but Rob blasts him with the chair to block, and then crotches him on the rail for good measure. That sets up a springboard sidekick on the floor, and Rob rolls him in with a spinning legdrop for two. Slugfest ends in Snow hitting a DDT for two, so Alfonso passes RVD a chair, and Rob kicks it into Al's face at 13:43. This was another one that felt surprisingly slow, like they were sleepwalking through all their big spots. * ¼ (Original rating: *)

 

ECW World Tag Team Title Match: The Dudley Boyz v PG-13: This is replacing the advertised Gangstas/Dudley's match, as Gangsta Mustafa Saed bailed on the promotion, in turn vacating the tag titles - which the Dudley's are awarded here. D-Von Dudley starts with Wolfie D, and they trade hammerlocks. Over to JC Ice for a combo (which they botch), and Ice shoulderblocks him down. That looked almost comical, given the size difference. Ice then uses a criss cross to distract D-Von so he can hop to the outside and sexually assault Jenna Jameson (in the Boyz's corner), and the dust settles on Bubba Ray Dudley and Wolfie. Criss cross allows Wolfie a rana, and he unloads a series of jabs, only to miss a 2^nd rope bodypress. Bubba goes to work on the arm, and they do a comedy spot where D-Von accidentally wrenches his own partner's arm. The Boyz work Ice over, cutting the ring in half, but he fights off a double team long enough for the hot tag to Wolfie - Roseanne Barr the door! Wolfie hits D-Von with a sitout powerbomb for two, and he bulldogs Bubba off the middle rope. The Boyz bail, so the challengers dive at them - only to lose control on the way back in, and get killed with the Dudley Death Drop at 10:58. I wasn't expecting a comedy match here, and as far as those go, this wasn't the best. It also wasn't really committed to the style, as it veered between a goofy comedy match and a standard match too often to find a groove either way. But, hey, at least it wasn't the Bushwhackers. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

 

Tommy Dreamer v Jerry Lawler: Dreamer chases him around the ring to start, and whacks him with a weapon once they get inside, sending the King over the top. Dreamer follows to hit him with another weapon on the outside, and Jerry is already bleeding. One thing about the King, he was never shy about getting his ass kicked to get the angle over. They brawl into the crowd, where Dreamer rubs a bag of fast food in his face, and now he's bloody AND ketchupy. That's quite the combination. They fight into the stands, where Dreamer steals a belt from a fan, and chokes Jerry with it. Tommy heads to the top rope with a chair on the way back in, but the King crotches him up there, and slams him off, onto the chair. Jerry uses the chair on him, and a series of right hands send Dreamer back to the outside. The King whips him into the rail out there, and drops him crotch-first across it for good measure. He finds the belt from earlier to wrap around his fist and punch Dreamer with, then lays in a few shots with it before feeding him some of that burger from earlier. Jerry chokes him with the belt, and between some poor sound mixing and poor camera choices, it looks like Dreamer is trying to take a shit more than getting choked out. Inside, Lawler delivers the piledriver, but it only gets two. Lawler responds by ripping Dreamer's 'ECW' t-shirt off and wiping his ass with it, and the crowd is feeling hostile after that. Dreamer gets fired up and starts no-selling the King's jabs, so the King pulls the strap down following a series of punches... only to flop. Dreamer stands triumphantly over him, but the King goes low to get back in the game, and he works the part with repeated knees to the groin. Piledriver, but Dreamer railroads him into the corner to block, bumping the referee in the process. Jerry goes to crotch Tommy on the post, but it ends up backfiring on him, and the lights die. When they come back up, Rick Rude is out there with a trash can, and he cracks it over Dreamer's head to draw blood. The King capitalizes with a cover, but Dreamer gets a shoulder up at two. Jerry responds by beating up the official, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Dreamer starts countering to his own piledriver when the lights die again. This time, Jake Roberts is in the ring, clotheslining Tommy down, and drilling him with a DDT. But, of course, Jake is no fan of Jerry's either, and he beats him up a little bit too before leaving. The King manages to fall on top of Tommy, but Dreamer gets a shoulder up at two. Jerry stays on him with jabs, but Dreamer counters to a DDT, and the lights die once more. This time, Sunny appears, and she blinds Dreamer with hairspray. Beulah saves, so Lawler threatens a piledriver, but she manages a mulekick to escape. Dreamer adds his own ball shot from there, and the DDT finishes at 18:59. This wasn't 'good,' in a traditional sense, but it was entertaining, and paid off the angle. And there's nothing wrong with that. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)

 

Main Event: ECW World Title Three-Way Dance Match: Sabu v Terry Funk v Shane Douglas: This is elimination rules, with no tags. All three guys square off for a bit to start, and Funk decides to take a walk and let them do their thing. Sabu and Douglas feel each other out a bit, but they get annoyed at Terry's hanging around on the outside, and decide to engage him. That triggers a brawl at ringside, and Funk takes a whip into the rail out there - one from each man. Sabu chucks a trash can at his head for two, and Shane uses a bodyslam to set up suplex-slamming Sabu onto Terry for two. Douglas with a legdrop for two, and Sabu with a slingshot version for two. I like that they're actually using the match rules in a logical way here, something that's missing from a lot of modern multi-man matches. Sabu and Douglas continue working together to try and put Funk away, until Shane breaks their groove by deciding to hit Sabu with a chair. That results in them spilling to the outside, and Sabu tries a springboard into the crowd. Sabu comes back with a springboard flying bodypress on Funk for two, so Terry bails, but Sabu is on him with a springboard moonsault press on the floor. Back in, Douglas hits Sabu with a hanging vertical suplex for two, and Terry comes back in to help Shane gives him a neckbreaker onto a chair. Funk adds a piledriver for two, and Shane brings a piece of the rail in, but Funk headbutts him before he can use it on the champion. Sabu and Funk end up working together to send Douglas into it a few times, and Terry covers for two. Sabu covers them both over with the rail and drops a leg for two, but Shane recovers, and starts throwing clotheslines at both guys like they're going out of style. He suplexes both men, and puts Sabu in a sleeper, but Terry slaps one on the Franchise at the same time. That causes Douglas to release his, but Sabu comes up from behind with one on Funk, and then covers Shane for two when a woozy Terry breaks the hold. Springboard moonsault on Douglas gets two, and one on both guys gets another two. Sabu brings a table in, and a chair shot on Funk allows him to put Terry on the table to set up the Arabian Facebuster, but Tod Gordon runs in to pull Terry off the table. That ends in both Gordon and Bill Alfonso getting put on the table, and Sabu puts them through it with a flying legdrop. With that out of the way, the three combatants trade chops, and Sabu brings a ladder in to start bashing his challengers with. Sabu climbs the ladder, but Sandman shows up, knocking him off. That allows both challengers to cover, and Sabu is eliminated at 19:30. That was weird, because Douglas covered first, and only got two, and then both guys covered and it was all over. Sabu springboards into the aisle onto Sandman in response, and both guys get taken out by the cops, as Funk starts bashing Douglas with a trash can. Both guys stagger their way into a slugfest, won by Douglas with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Piledriver buys Shane enough time to set a table up on the outside, and Francine comes in to slap Terry around a bit, but Dory Funk Jr chases her off! That allows Funk a schoolboy for two, but Douglas blocks the spinning toehold. Shane buys time with a side suplex, and he takes Terry to the apron for a belly-to-belly through the table, but Funk reverses him through it. That spot should have gotten a bigger reaction, but fell kind of flat for whatever reason. Both guys make it back in, and Douglas covers for two. Belly-to-belly suplex gets two, so Shane gives him another one, still only getting two. A third one, but Funk counters with a cradle for two. But that's all he's got left in the tank, and Douglas delivers another belly-to-belly to win the title at 26:36. This was a bit too long, but still the best match of the show, and it felt like a suitable main event. The final section with Funk and Douglas was also damn good, with lots of dramatic near falls. ** ½ (Original rating: DUD)

BUExperience: This wasn't a good show in terms of workrate, angles, or even presentation, but I dunno, it was kind of entertaining for what it was. Sometimes it's nice to get a little palate cleanser after a steady diet of WWF and WCW, and this was definitely not the WWF or WCW. In both a good and bad way.

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