David Hunter
Welcome to another month of Hardcore TV!
July 5th, 1994 Hardcore TV
Tommy Cairo cuts a promo with Peaches showing off the scars on his back to put over the upcoming Dueling Canes match with The Sandman on July 16th at Heatwave 1994. In a nice touch, Peaches wields the cane and even smokes a cigarette while insinuating that she had an affair with Cairo behind Sandman’s back(!) We then are shown highlights of Sandman just caning the hell out of Cairo (and Peaches) starting at When Worlds Collide. Really intense and insane stuff for the time and it still holds up as rather chilling.
TV Title: Mikey Whipwreck(C) vs. Pitbull #2 Taped June 26th, 1994 at the ECW Arena
Overall Thoughts: Pitbull 2 debuted at Hostile City Showdown attacking Taz after his match with Pitbull 1. Pitbull kicks his ass including a double underhook powerbomb. I find it entertaining that Mikey’s opponents thoroughly kick his ass and show zero respect, rarely even trying for pinfalls and instead preferring to just inflict a crazy amount of punishment. Mikey takes a nasty looking turnbuckle bump off an irish whip. Poor Mikey! To a big pop, Mikey takes out Jason with a right hand! DQ at 4:18 after Pitbull 2 slides in and the trio proceed to beat Mikey up allowing for Mikey to somehow retain the title. *1/4 for the usual fare in a Mikey match. It’s TAZ to run in and make the save but he ends up getting beaten down too. Solid post match segment even if it ran a little long.
Tommy Dreamer vs Shane Douglas never takes off as Mr. Hughes immediately takes down Dreamer. Douglas goes so far as to knock out the referee(!) with a punch. Dreamer kicks out of Hughes’ Sidewalk Slam with Douglas counting the pinfall at 2 and 1/2! Great job showing Tommy’s toughness since his debut including first kicking out of the Superfly Splash and now this moment. Dreamer takes the Belly to Belly Suplex as Douglas calls out Sabu and 911. Crowd starts chanting “Sabu” as Douglas dares Tod Gordon to fire him or ban him. During this great promo, Douglas remarks that he’s been getting calls from Sensational Sherri that Ric Flair isn’t man enough for her needs(!) Show ends with Sabu not answering Douglas’ challenge to come to the ring.
July 12th, 1994 Hardcore TV
Jimmy Snuka vs. Taz Taped June 26th, 1994 at the ECW Arena
Overall Thoughts: Should be an interesting bout with Snuka’s veteran ability and Taz’s suplex machine persona. Both guys are stuck in that crazy man wrestler persona which kind of hurts the match as both trade ‘shoves’ of the chest to intimidate the other to start off. It takes almost 3 minutes before the first side headlock of the match and we immediately get another stare down after a failed shoulder block from Taz and it gets repeated with the roles reversed. Hunter Q. Robbins III pulls down the rope on Snuka leading to a bridged Northern Lights Suplex by Taz for the win at 5:19. DUD and very disappointing too considering what both wrestlers could bring in the ring. After the match, Hunter calls Snuka, “Monkey Boy”… wow. Taz stops Snuka from punching Hunter but in come the PITBULLS to beat Taz down. Taz grabs a chair and manages to chase the Pitbulls out of the ring as well as walloping an ensuing cavalcade of wrestlers hitting the ring one at a time.
TV Title: Mikey Whipwreck(C) vs. The Sandman Taped June 26th, 1994 at the ECW Arena
Overall Thoughts: Crowd is hot from the get go with “Sandman Sucks” and “Mikey!” chants. Woman gets a few kicks in on Mikey on the outside after Sandman opened the match with an impression of Davey Boy Smith’s delayed standing vertical suplex. Sandman delivers two flying elbow drops and proceeds to start smoking a cigarette before attempting to deliver a third but it’s TOMMY CAIRO CANING SANDMAN IN THE BACK giving Sandman the DQ win at 5:25. *1/4 for Sandman’s moves but this is all about the post match with Cairo caning the hell out of Mikey and then Sandman multiple times. So Awesome. Been a long time coming to see Cairo get the upper hand and this is great stuff for anybody who’s followed the storyline since the start.
Shane Douglas cuts a promo calling himself the epitome of wrestling and remarking that he’s called out Bret Hart and Ric Flair to come to Philadelphia but neither has accepted. Shane is absolutely fantastic as The Franchise, the literal (in many ways) face of ECW and deserves more accolades for what he did in the company. It’s insane seeing him here basically being ECW’s Ric Flair and know what was to come when he went to the WWF as “Dean” Douglas. If you haven’t seen Shane Douglas in ECW, you really owe it to yourself to watch him especially on the mic in the early to mid 1990s.
Sandman cuts a good little promo calling out Cairo and that if he wants to “bang” Sandman can bang all night long (all while caning himself on the forehead and busting himself open hard way too in an intense visual).
Post match brawl backs out from the Dreamer/Funks vs. Public Enemy/Hack Myers match and it is nuts as Douglas runs in and brawls with Dreamer. The locker room empties to try and break this up in a crazy spectacle. In the middle, Mr. Hughes is calling out 911! After a couple punches, Hughes and 911 start brawling! Dreamer goes right back after Douglas. It’s SABU! He takes out Shane Douglas with a flying wheel kick off the top rope(!) and they start going at it. Crazy, crazy stuff. Out comes Terry Funk with a chair wrapped around his head. Sabu takes Douglas out with a slingshot somersault Senton in a bonkers spot. Show ends with Terry Funk taking out poor Stevie Richards and chaotic brawling literally all over the arena. Great finish.
July 19th, 1994 Hardcore TV
TV Title: Mikey Whipwreck(C) vs. The Sandman Taped July 15th, 1994 at the ECW Arena
Overall Thoughts: This is a re-match from last week’s episode and I’m looking forward to this one as the other was decent enough and furthered the great Sandman/Cairo stuff. Sandman opens this match immediately attacking Mikey with a pair of loud open handed slaps to Mikey’s chest. Ow. Mikey gets up on the outside and stumbles into Woman forcing Woman to drop the Singapore cane and Woman is pissed. She shoves him three times until Sandman takes him out. Woman climbs into the ring and canes Mikey at 4:25 resulting in the DQ win for Mikey. 3/4* for this but again, the post match is the highlight as Woman just canes the holy hell out of poor Mikey. Sandman grabs the cane and decides to get in on the fun too. Jeez. Out comes Don E. Allen to try and help but he gets caned immediately. Stevie Richards also gets a cane shot. Sandman’s just caning a litany of wrestlers here and finally it’s TOMMY DREAMER to a big pop. He hammers away at Sandman but Woman canes him in the back(!) and then canes Sandman in the skull by accident! Tommy forces a kiss on Woman in the sexist era of wrestling and Sandman unloads with the Singapore cane again on Dreamer in a nasty, near uncomfortable assault. Awesome stuff.
It’s CACTUS JACK, hell yeah. He references Mirror, Mirror On the Wall and puts Sabu over remarking that it calls Sabu the sickest wrestler today. Cactus cuts some great lines including, “I’m high on the world of pain and I need another fix! But Atlanta said no and ECW said no, you pain junkie.” He finishes it off with, “… But then I’m gonna destroy him the Cactus Jack way because He may not be right but God help me it’s the only way I know. BANG BANG!” Fantastic stuff as usual.
ECW Title: Shane Douglas(C) vs. Tommy Dreamer Taped July 15th, 1994 at the ECW Arena
Overall Thoughts: Dreamer comes out with his head taped up. Douglas targets the forehead immediately and Dreamer’s already busted and bleeding behind the tape. Dreamer starts storming back including a power slam and back suplex but can’t cover due to the earlier beating he suffered at Sandman’s hands. Douglas pulls out the Sgt. Slaughter bump after a whip to the corner and Dreamer grabs a steel chair, hammering Shane across the back multiple times but Mr. Hughes gets involved, taking Dreamer out on the outside. Shane hits a piledriver and follows it up with a flying forearm Tito Santana style. Crowd starts chanting “We Want Steamboat” to get under the skin of Douglas. Referee John Finnegan finally stops the match telling Douglas that he’s won via knockout at 7:00. ** for a solid enough match and further highlighting Dreamer’s toughness. Dreamer refuses to submit, crawling towards Douglas and getting stomped for his troubles.
July 26th, 1994 Hardcore TV
We get highlights to open this episode from Heat Wave 1994 including 911 delivering a Chokeslam to Mr. Hughes then hitting a Chokeslam on Angel!
After the Funks/Dreamer vs. Pitbulls/Snuka match, Snuka finally rails against Hunter Q. Robbins III after getting nailed with his cane and delivering a Superfly Splash before the Pitbulls ambush him. Out comes TAZ to make the save and help clear the ring. Snuka ends up putting Taz over by raising his arms to the crowd in a sign of passing the torch.
We close out the episode with Douglas and Hughes cutting a promo with Hughes calling out 911 referencing going up against Lawrence Taylor and The Undertaker. It’s no longer business and it’s now personal as the shades come off!
