ECW Hardcore TV (October 4, 1994)

 

Original Airdate: October 4, 1994

Your Host is Joey Styles

Joey opens the show in front of an emergency room, teasing that the action went too far on this week’s episode, though not naming any names

Tod Gordon catches up with ECW Television Champion Jason, warning him that, if Dean Malenko interferes in his matches again, then Dean will be banned from accompanying him to the ring anymore

ECW Television Title Match: Jason v Hack Meyers: From Philadelphia Pennsylvania on October 1. They appear to be wearing the same gear here, which is visually confusing. I mean, how am I supposed to tell them apart now? Jason cheats early on, so Hack gets good and made, and hammers him down. Hack with a bodyslam, and he goes back to hacking at Jason in the corner. Hack tries an avalanche, but Jason throws a superkick to block, then tags him with a backelbow. Jason uses a kneedrop and an elbowdrop, but a second elbowdrop misses, and Hack unloads with rights. That cues Dean Malenko with a cheap shot from the apron, and Jason hooks the leg at 3:41. ¼*

Handicap Match: Dean Malenko v Dino Sendoff and Don E. Allen: From Philly on October 1. Malenko casually dominates them, and hits Allen with a butterfly powerbomb, before suplexing him at 0:32. Dean keeps beating them both up after the bell, as Jason challenges Tazmaniac to come out. He gets his wish, and Dean trades off with Tazmaniac, with both guys throwing a bunch of suplexes, until the locker room empties out to break it up. DUD

Backstage, Tommy Dreamer tapes himself up, and notes that he’s not afraid of Sandman, and he’s not afraid to lose, because the only way he’s losing tonight, is if he dies. That sounds pretty terrifying. Dreamer looked like he was trying to channel Bret Hart, during the Hart Brothers breakup angle in late 1993/early 1994

Woman warns Sandman what will happen to him if he quits against Dreamer tonight

I Quit Match: Sandman v Tommy Dreamer: From Philly on October 1. Sandman is wearing another variation of what Jason and Meyers were wearing earlier. Sandman attacks on the outside before the bell, but Tommy fights him off, and starts beating him with a bumper off of a car. Tommy uses a sharp edge of the bumper to grind into Sandman’s face, and he goes low with it for good measure. They spill to the outside, where Tommy borrows a crutch from a fan to beat Sandman with, but Sandman manages to get a crossface chickenwing on once they go back inside. Gee, I wonder where he got the idea to use that particular hold. Sandman grabs a chair to do some damage with, but a flying axehandle drop misses, and Tommy DDTs him. Dreamer with a piledriver on a chair, and he tries fishhooking Sandman until he quits, but to no avail. Dreamer misses a kneedrop, allowing Sandman a piledriver. Sandman grabs a smoke before delivering a second piledriver, but Tommy won’t quit. Sandman gets in his face, so Tommy knocks the lit cigarette into his eyes, and tees off on him with the kendo stick for the win at 13:08. This was pretty slow and not especially intense. Definitely a case where the build exceeded the match. Afterwards, Sandman is blinded and bleeding from the eye, and EMTs rush out to take him to the hospital, with Joey selling it as a tragedy. ¼*

Backstage, it’s a chaotic scene as Sandman is being taken away, while a remorseful Dreamer shouts about how he ‘didn’t mean it’

BUExperience: Though the I Quit match was a disappointment, the angle leading in and out of it was great, and the rest of the show was a breeze.