ECW: Hardcore TV
January 24, 1995

Current Champs:
ECW Champ: Shane Douglas (3/26/94)
TV Champ: Dean Malenko (11/4/94)
Tag Champs: Public Enemy (11/5/94)

The show kicks off with Public Enemy in various parts of town doing an atrocious job pretending to be black for WAY too long. Finally, they leave a fancy night club with three strippers and pay their bill using Paul E’s credit card.

Joey Styles appears not a moment too soon to restore order and recap last week’s Pitbulls vs. Bad Breed match that resulted in Ian and Axl having to break up forever. He lets us know the action tonight will NOT be coming from the ECW Arena, but rather from a too-big-for-ECW building in Florida.

• 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Chris Benoit

After the opening fast tumbling workrate fest, Benoit slows it down with forearm shots. Scorpio flips and flops around and levels him with a fancy foot in the face. Benoit slugs away again and hits a nifty flying crossbody off the top. Neckbreaker, chops, headbutts, back suplex, and a chinlock. Scorpio gets out and scores a powerbomb and a frog splash for two. Somersault leg drop for two. Benoit grapples to a German suplex for two. Snap suplex gets two. Powerbomb gets two. Scorpio avoids a backdrop and works the pelvis region a bit. He hits a superkick but misses a corner splash. Tombstone reversal spot goes Benoit’s way and he gets 1-2-NO! Flying headbutt for two. Second-rope legdrop for two. As the crowd perks up for Scorpio, Benoit tries the back superplex and Scorpio lands on top for 1-2-NO! 2 Cold moonsault, 1-2-NO! A sudden sequence of reversals ends with Benoit on top for 1-2-3! (13:31) I’m certainly no ring psychology expert, but for all the effort and ability and cool moves in this match, they didn’t engage the crowd well. Still a very good performance, but nowhere near their fantastic Superbrawl 3 match. **3/4

Paul E and his chest hair give us all a sociology lesson. It’s tied to buying tickets to a wrestling event, you can be sure of that.

Ads.

Extreme Encyclopedia! Sandman: Smokus Brawlerous; Woman: Foxus Greedius; Cactus Jack: Bangus Bangus.

More ads, including the same jewelry commercial from the last commercial break.

Speaking of things we’ve already seen, we watch Raven walk around the snowy suburbs in the same music video we saw last week. Okay, here’s something new: It’s Raven on a swing talking about his broken home. Tommy Dreamer will pay for Raven’s crappy childhood, understand? The empty swing next to him symbolizes … something … dot dot dot …

More ads, including the same nutritional supplement commercial from earlier. Am I repeating myself repeating myself?

• ECW Champion Shane Douglas vs. Ron Simmons

Ron gets on the mic as hometown hero since he played football at Florida State University, but BAM! Shane cheap shots him to start. Despite that, Ron runs ropes and catches Shane for a powerslam. Shane rakes the eyes, but Ron hits a press slam for two. Powerbomb gets two. He chopblocks the knee and sends Shane outside, but misses a clothesline and wraps his arm on the ringpost! That’s trouble. If you remember, Ron’s arm was broken recently. Psychology yeah! Shane cracks him with a chair and takes over back inside. Ron scores a face slam, but Shane attacks that arm and shoulder in all kinds of creatively vicious ways. Ron tries another press slam, but the bad arm won’t let him. Shane stays on the arm. Ron whiffs on a charge, further hurting the arm. In a cool spot, Shane almost gets slammed off the top, but he holds Ron’s wrist and drops to the floor, yanking Ron’s arm over the top rope. Ron’s buddy 2 Cold Scorpio arrives and tells him to call it quits. The ref agrees and stops the match. (6:57) Good match, complete with heat, a good pace, a fun story, and some unique moves by Douglas. ***1/4

… But there’s more! Shane gets on the mic and talks crap about Florida. The crowd throws trash at him. He makes an OPEN CHALLENGE! And here comes Tully Blanchard!

Tully slugs away and tosses Shane around the ring. Snap mare, elbow drops, SLINGSHOT SUPLEX. This isn’t a match, the ref insists. Doesn’t matter, because Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit show up to ruin Tully’s fun. They beat him down and Shane puts him in a figure four as the show goes off the air.

Good episode. Scorpio and Benoit supply the workrate, and Douglas and Simmons supply the heat and a decent story to look forward to. Plus, you’ve got one of Tully Blanchard’s few appearances in ECW.