ECW Hardcore TV #8 25/05/1993

HD Ryder vs Super Destroyer #3

 SD3 is a barely disguised Sal Bellomo, who even takes his mask off for breath throughout the bout. This is played for comedy, which is about the best use of Sal. Bellomo’s offence is super soft, the only highpoints being a decent standing dropkick and Ryder selling an eyerake by wildly swinging at the air. A splash gives Bellomo the win, at which point the real Super Destroyers come in and obliterate him.

Suicide Blondes vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

Good to see the Blondes rewarded for their clean loss in a non-title match with a title shot. This isn’t great, though I really liked Stetson’s full-force flying clothesline. Winters is briefly worked over as face-in-peril, but when he hits a DDT, he opts not to tag out. This sets alarm bells ringing, and Hotbody causing a ref bump moments later do nothing to silence them (though Hotbody is dumb enough to try a small package on Winters, despite knowing he caused the ref to be down). More shenanigans lead to Hotbody nailing Winters with a chain to pick up the titles. Winters & Stetson being used as transitional champs to transfer the belts to the Blondes makes sense, as Hotbody and Candido are the best team in the company at this juncture.

Ernesto Benefico vs Don Muraco

Benefico is someone I’ve never seen look competitive and has zero chance. Muraco knows it too, as he plays this for laughs, barely putting any effort in. Muraco kind of awkwardly drops Ernesto over his head, then catches him coming off the top rope with a piledriver for the win.

JT Smith & Tommy Cairo vs Max Thrasher & the Canadian Wolfman

This was set up by Thrasher abandoning Smith the previous week, though given that he’s now paired with the obese, slovenly Wolfman, it looks a short-sighted decision. Enjoyed Cairo and Smith here, as they work as a knock-off Steiner Brothers, even down to the colourful singlets and Stevie Wonderful comparing Cairo to Rick Steiner on commentary. They both hits some nice suplex variations on the shambolic Wolfman, with Thrasher deciding to stay out of the match, before finishing with a nice Cairo powerslam and a Rocket Launcher sending Smith on top for 3. This was pretty fun.

Jimmy Snuka vs Glen Osbourne

TV title defence, though given that Osbourne’s offence is almost entirely monkey flips and snapmares, you don’t see the title changing hands. Snuka sells a clothesline in an embarrassing manner, taking a soft limb to the chest and turning to slowly leap over the top rope. An Osbourne roll up after Snuka misses a corner charge is SO close and actually had me going for a second. After Osbourne controls the bout, a soft Snuka backbreaker seems to put him out of action, giving Snuka time to slowly climb the ropes and hit a Superfly Splash for 3.

ECW Hardcore TV #5 04/05/193

Eddie Gilbert & Don Muraco vs JT Smith & Glen Osbourne

Gilbert really feels like a breath of fresh air in these shows, as his execution is far crisper and his movement far better than anyone else in the promotion. Liked a few bits from Muraco here, his slingshot of Smith that sends Smith throat-first into the bottom rope is pretty good. Hotstuff International target Smith’s head and throat, with a neckbreaker and a loaded thumb to the throat from Muraco. Osbourne is tagged in to no reaction, and hits an admittedly sweet tombstone to Gilbert, but a debuting Paul E Dangerously clubs him with his phone and Gilbert picks up the pin. This wasn’t too bad.

Super Destroyers vs Tony Stetson & Larry Winters

The more I watch of Stetson and Winters, the more pronounced the gulf in ability becomes. Winters looks pretty poor here, stumbling over when trying to hiptoss a Destroyer, whereas Stetson has some nice touches. Dug the thrust headbutt to the Destroyer’s arm to continue his team’s basic armwork, and he gets nice height on a flying forearm. The Destroyers work a dull heat segment on Winters, including some truly terrible chokes, where the Destroyer waggles his elbow about in an unconvincing attempt to make it look like he’s adding more pressure. Stetson is tagged in, but gets caught with a loaded punch when trying a back suplex, giving the Destroyers the pin.

The Sandman vs Sal Bellomo

This was terrible. Bellomo is a terrible offensive wrestler, all chokes and wimpy looking stomps. Sandman here has an odd habit of trying roll ups that only manage to send Bellomo into the ropes. Bellomo locks in a terrible submission, where I honestly thought he was trying a sloppy pinfall. Sandman only looks mildly inconvenienced. The end is a special type of dreadful, as Sandman clotheslines Bellomo from the ring, and Sal decides to wander about talking to the crowd and gets counted out. An absolutely abysmal match.

Rockin’ Rebel vs Ernesto Benefico

Very quick squash. Liked the cockiness of Rebel taking Benefico’s legs out and casually slapping his face. Big elbow drop, powerslam and a spinebuster wins it for the Rebel

Johnny Hotbody vs Tommy Cairo

This is billed as a grudge match, so of course they give it less than 5 minutes. Hotbody looks really good in places here, and then absolutely shocking. Loved how he stumbled into Cairo armdrags, made it look really natural as if he was being caught unawares. He also hits a lovely diving elbow from the ring apron to the floor. But then, there’s his superplex. Honestly, it takes so long to get into place that it feels almost inevitable that Cairo will reverse it. They go for the move and it looks like Cairo has reversed to a top rope spinebuster, but no! The commentary, and Cairo’s selling, tells us that Hotbody did indeed hit his superplex. Absolutely dreadful. Cairo rolls up Hotbody, ramming his head into an interfering Chris Candido, and gets the win.

ECW Hardcore TV #1 06/04/1993

Given that I love undertaking watching projects that I don't keep up with very quickly, I thought I'd start watching the ECW footage on the WWE Network. Never been a big ECW fan, so didn't know where a good starting point would be - why not the beginning? Why not start with a show where commentator Terry Funk essentially says "We know this isn't very good, but we'll try and get better" to close the show out?

The Super Destroyers vs The Hell Raisers

The Destroyers are the ECW tag champs, two big guys in masks. The Hell Raisers aren’t as fearsome as their name might suggest, as they get squashed here, despite jumping the Destroyers to start. This is some slow, low-impact brawling which the Destroyers win with a flip senton on EZ Ryder.

Tommy Cairo vs Salvatore Bellomo

This is part of the TV title tournament. Two matches in, and the early ECW isn’t feeling like an exciting hot product. Giving a featured role to long-time WWF jobber Bellomo isn’t necessarily a bad thing if he was able to bring something to the table to mark him as underrated, but he’s very uninteresting here. Sal isn’t afraid of a rest hold, put it that way. Cairo makes a comeback out of the blue with no build, before Johnny Hotbody tries to interfere. This backfires and Sal is counted out. Very not good.

Tony Stetson vs the Rockin’ Rebel

This is better match, and it’s amusing to see my favourite guilty pleasure CZW wrestler the Rebel here with long mullet and actual wrestling tights. He’s the #1 contender to the ECW title, which feels so wrong. Stetson is nicknamed “Hitman”, which feels pretty misplaced given the best wrestler on US soil at the time also used that nickname. Probably best not to share a nickname with one of the biggest stars in the business, you’ll only suffer in comparison. Rebel’s control is very basic, albeit with nothing wrong with it per se. Just not very exciting. I actually dug Stetson’s comeback, enjoyed his top rope legdrop. Rebel takes Stetson down in the corner and pins him with his feet on the ropes.

Jimmy Snuka vs Larry Winters

Snuka is working heel here, with Eddie Gilbert his cheapshotting manager. Snuka looks muscular, but isn’t in great shape ringwise, as proven by his falling over whilst giving a back bodydrop. Winters seems pretty dreadful, taking an over-the-top leap in the air from a Snuka chop and hitting a crossbody where his feet barely leave the floor. Another quick bout, with Gilbert tripping Winters from the floor, and Snuka nailing the Superfly splash. Real nice impact too, best thing about the match.

Salvatore Bellomo vs Ernesto Benefico

Oh great, another Bellomo match. Benefico isn’t announced, as Bellomo just barges in and slams him for the three count. Just a simple powerslam. Poor Ernesto.