ECW: Hardcore Heaven
July 1, 1995
Philadelphia, PA
ECW Arena

The current ECW Champs were as follows:
ECW World Champion: The Sandman (4/15/1995)
ECW World Tag Team Champions: Raven & Stevie Richards (6/30/1995)
ECW World TV Champion: Eddie Guerrero (4/8/1995)

With an internet wrestling convention in town, it’s safe to say this is a sell-out show. In fact, wrestling fans may even be hanging from the rafters.

Your host is Joey Styles.

• The Pitbulls (w/Raven, Stevie Richards & Beulah) vs. Dudley Dudley & Snot Dudley (w/Big Dick Dudley)
  

This is the debut of the Dudley family. There is no Bubba Ray and no D-Von at this point, but they are wearing tie-dye and overalls. They are introduced as being from the hills of Charleston, Pennsylvania instead of Dudleyville. Not sure what the significance is of this town, but it’s clearly some sort of dig since this whole family look like a product of in-breeding. On the other hand, Raven and Stevie Richards are now the NEW ECW tag champs after beating Public Enemy the day before at a TV taping. Joey thinks this is going to be an easy win for the Pitbulls, but we’ll see. Snot Dudley doesn’t seem too impressive as they throw him around, so Pitbull #1 tosses Snot over to Dudley Dudley for a tag. He stands toe to toe with Pitbull #2 and clotheslines him from corner to corner. Since things are under control, he tags Snot back into the match. The Pitbulls make him pay by beating him up on the floor and hits him with a chair. Back inside, Pitbull #1 gives Snot a slingshot shoulderblock. Meanwhile, Stevie Richards chats with his front row admirer we’ve seen before. She’s the future Francine, in case you didn’t know. When she puts Stevie in a lip lock, Beulah breaks it up and starts a cat fight. Once Raven has seen enough, he grabs Stevie and Beulah by the hair and drags them both backstage. In the ring, SUPERBOMB to Snot! The Pitbulls are calling out for Raven, but he’s nowhere to be found. Dudley Dudley lowers the boom on Pitbull #2 and puts Snot on top for the upset win. (5:52) Afterwards, the Pitbulls call Stevie a queer and says it’s time for a change. *½

• Broad Street Bully & Chad Austin vs. Dino Sendoff & Don E. Allen
  

This match sucks on purpose (or maybe not) and ends after about 90 seconds as 911 comes out and CHOKESLAMS everybody with Paul E. Dangerously calling the shots. Right at the end of the segment, we catch Bill Alfonso sneaking from behind the curtain.

• Hack Meyers vs. Big Malley
  

Big Malley looks Fat Bastard if he came from the Bronx. I think this is Val Pucchio, too. He’s so fat, he’s two different people, I suppose. He makes this crowd VERY angry right off the bat. Hack Meyers can’t slam the big guy and gets avalanched a bunch. I mean, what else is a guy this size going to do? He delivers a slam and one big splash, but Hack avoids an elbow drop and lays his arm on Malley for the three-count. (6:18) Yes, over SIX MINUTES for this. Afterwards, Malley splashes him a few more times. If nothing else, I always dig the crowd in Hack Meyers matches. ¼*

• 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Taz (w/Paul E. Dangerously)
  

Scorpio wears the orange and black to screw with Taz. He goes for the Taz Plex early, but Scorpio counters to an armdrag. They work off a headlock for a bit. At one point, Taz catches Scorpio trying one too many leapfrogs and drills him with a belly to belly suplex. Nice test of strength and monkey flip routine. Scorpio catches Taz with a superkick and then stuns him with a powerbomb! After knocking Taz around, Scorpio flies off the top rope down onto knees. Scorpio goes to the eyes and delivers a Uranage. He tries another, but Taz blocks and drops Scorpio with a T-Bone Suplex. Scorpio kicks Taz back and delivers a tombstone piledriver to set up the TUMBLEWEED, but Taz basically NO-SELLS. TAZ PLEX! Cover, 1-2-3. Oh, but Scorpio had his foot on the bottom rope. (8:08) Afterwards, Bill Alfonso comes out and orders this match to continue. Paul E gets up in Fonzie’s face and threatens to fight him when Scorpio reappears and nails Taz in the back with a chair. When Paul E turns his back to Fonzie, he gets nailed from behind. Scorpio flying legdrops a chair onto Taz’s face and Alfonso counts the pinfall. (10:13) I actually dig heel 2 Cold Scorpio. I’d like to see more from these two. **½

Joey Styles is in the ring begging you to call the ECW wrestling hotline for details on Shane Douglas and his negotiations with the WWF. Well, Shane comes out and interrupts the plug to tell us all why he is leaving ECW for the WWF. Crowd sings the goodbye song. He’s too good for ECW, he’s sick of showing everyone in the locker room why he is the best wrestler in the world, and he’s sick of all the ECW fans who don’t show him the respect he deserves. Just to piss off Douglas, the crowd tries a “We Want Flair” chant every so often. Eventually, Woman comes out and confronts Douglas. She calls Shane the smartest man she knows. She doesn’t think Shane is going anywhere and makes him a proposition to join her and the Sandman so they can rule the world. Douglas puts her over as being the most well-endowed female he’s ever seen, but think she’s a huge douchebag. Woman slaps him across the face and if it’s violence that gets her all hot and bothered, Douglas drops to his knees and asks for another slap to the face. Douglas catches her arm and starts to threaten her until the Sandman makes the save. In order to not turn him babyface, Cactus Jack runs out and chases Sandman and Woman away. As he heads back to the dressing room, Shane tells Joey Styles that he will give Sandman a wrestling lesson tonight.

• ECW World Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards (w/Beulah) vs. Tommy Dreamer & Luna Vachon
  

Dreamer goes right after Raven. No surprises there. Once he has Raven down, Dreamer helps out Luna with Stevie as the tide turns with a testicular claw. Now that Stevie is hurting, Dreamer can go back after Raven. He beats Raven with a TV antenna and a newspaper receptacle. As if the weapons can’t get much more random, Dreamer walks over and blasts Stevie with an ironing board. Now Raven knocks down Dreamer and holds Luna while Stevie hits her with a chair. Back to Dreamer vs. Raven. Tommy takes a DDT onto the newspaper receptacle. With Dreamer down, now Stevie and Raven can double-team Luna and end this. I’m not sure how it happens, but Raven gets his arms tied up in the ropes and Stevie gets crotched on the top rope. Vachon brings Stevie down with a superplex, but then Beulah hops into the ring and throws powder in her face. Stevie missionary covers Luna for the three-count. (7:25) Pretty crazy all over the place brawl here. You would never know it was an “intergender” contest either. **

We cut to a point later in the show another brawl ensues between these four. The Pitbulls come out and they’re told to Superbomb Luna, but they refuse. Stevie pie faces Pitbull #1 and Raven blasts Pitbull #2 with the chair! The Pitbulls REFUSE to listen to these two goons anymore. Raven receives a double suplex. When they try to SUPERBOMB Stevie, the Dudley brothers run out for the save. As the Pitbulls split off with the Dudleys, the original four people start brawling again as they fight all over the ECW arena. When the angle is complete, the Pitbulls and Tommy Dreamer hold up Luna Vachon on their shoulders as the crowd chants “ECW”.

Commissioner Gordon calls out ref Bill Alfonso. Since he’s been enforcing the rules so much lately, he’ll be the referee for the Taipei death match which has NO rules.

• Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten – Taipei Death Match
  

Here is the match to FINALLY end this S&M feud. In this match, the Rotten brothers tape up their fists and glue shards of glass to the tape. As soon as Axl throws the first punch to make Ian bleed, Alfonso wants to end the match saying that Ian’s vision is impaired. Hey wait a minute, now the Gangstas and Public Enemy are fighting in the aisle. Cops and security jump on those four men. Fonzie wants those four arrested and sent out of the building. As Fonzie goes after them, the match is restarted by Todd Gordon. These two make each other bleed for next 6-8 minutes. Ian pulls out of a bag of thumbtacks and spreads the tacks in the middle of the ring, but then takes a backdrop onto the tacks as Axl splashes him for the win. (9:13) Just an absolute terrible way for any rational human being to spend ten minutes. CRAP

• ECW World Champion The Sandman (w/Woman) vs. Cactus Jack
  

This is the third ECW arena show in a row with these two fighting over the world title. To mix it up though, Sandman is armed with the Singapore cane while Cactus purposely has his arm wrapped in barbed wire. Woman has a Singapore cane as well. It was rumored that Terry Funk would wrestle Cactus here, but he was resting his back for the big IWA death match tour in August where he would face of all people: Cactus Jack. Woman throws a drink in Jack’s face so that Sandman can whack him from behind. To the floor we go, Sandman LEAPS over the top rope and hits Cactus in the head. More whacking with the cane, but Cactus fights back with a DDT and gets in his own cane shots. As he teases the barbed wire, Sandman hits Cactus with a chair and uses the cane some more. DDT on the chair! Slingshot legdrop gets two. Now Sandman delivers a piledriver on the chair. Woman brings out a strand of barbed wire for Sandman to wrap around himself. He splashes Cactus a few times. To the floor again, the Cactus Elbow is made that much worse with a steel chair. Back inside, Cactus legdrops a chair on Sandman’s head. He follows up with some barbed wire punches, but can’t get the three-count. Woman has seen enough and cane Cactus, but then gets shoved down. Cactus breaks her cane in half, but then gets knocked down by Sandman, who then knocks the ref down as well. Here comes Shane Douglas. Why we needed a ref bump for interference in a match with Singapore canes and barbed wire, I’ll never know. Anyways, he drops Sandman with a Piledriver. Douglas then grabs the mic and tells Sandman to keep your friends close and your enemies by your side. The next thing we see is Shane jabbing Cactus in the face with half of that cane. Douglas puts Sandman on top of Cactus for the 1-2-3. (13:11) After the bell, Shane Douglas decides to stay in ECW if Todd Gordon will get down on his knees and ask him to stay. Instead, Todd Gordon FIRES Shane Douglas. Shane then beats the crap out of Todd Gordon – rips his clothes off and everything. Nothing and no one can stop Shane Douglas until 911 appears and CHOKESLAMS Shane Douglas out of ECW. *½

• The Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas
  

These four are bleeding in the first couple minutes. Mustafa splits off with Rocco Rock brawling through the crowd and over to the Crow’s Nest, while New Jack and Grunge stay close to the ring. Mustafa delivers a suplex to Rock on a table. Mailboxes, tables, skillets, umbrellas, and a croquet mallet are all used as weapons. New Jack goes through at least two tables by each one of Public Enemy. Eventually, Rocco Rock whacks Mustafa in the back of the head with the croquet mallet and covers him for the three-count. (11:31) Just an insane brawl from start to finish. As typical for these matches in ECW, I would imagine it would be a better live experience than watching it on TV. *½

Final Thoughts: So this is 1995 ECW without Benoit, Malenko, or Guerrero. By Heatwave on July 15, thankfully those three guys will be returning from their recent tour with New Japan in time for the show. You may want to check out Scorpio vs. Taz, but it’s not a must-see match. Thumbs down for Hardcore Heaven 1995.