ECW Hardcore TV #40 18/01/1994

Tommy Dreamer & Badd Company vs The Tasmaniac, Kevin Sullivan & Johnny Hotbody

Pretty decent six-man, albeit with an ending that makes everyone look like an idiot. Thought this match had a really good Paul Diamond performance, he looks terrific and has some real dynamism to his moves. His running leg lariat in the corner was really nice in the opening minutes, and I liked the touches like fighting desperately to escape when Hotbody had him pinned in the opposing corner. The heels work him over nicely, good tag continuity. Tanaka gets the hot tag, but his flurry of offence is short lived, as he gets stopped in his tracks by Taz. Hotbody nails him with a sloppy superplex, and from this point on Tanaka is basically just beaten down. The heel team even take it in turns to pick him up on two counts, and Sullivan just repeatedly rams his head into the mat. However, Sullivan and Taz both roll to the floor and basically have a fit outside the ring. Hotbody goes for the tag, finds no-one there and gets rolled up by Tanaka for three. So the heels look dumb for throwing the win away, Tanaka looks bad for basically being dead for the final few minutes of the match, just a baffling ending.

911 vs Chad Austin

Austin wants a match, so Heyman gives him 911. Chokeslam, pin. There’s going to be a lot of these coming up, I guess?

Terry Funk vs Shane Douglas

I have to accept I was pretty naïve with this match. The show is a “special” 90 minute long episode, and the match starts half an hour into the show, yet at no point did alarm bells ring. I just assumed we’d get some more matches after this obvious main event. It’s only when we were 10-15 minutes into the match, and all we’d seen is Funk work a headlock (admittedly in an amusing manner) and Douglas apply various holds to Funk’s left arm (in a less interesting fashion) that I realised this thing was going long. And it felt loooooooong. Douglas especially doesn’t have enough stuff to fill this time effectively, and Joey Styles’s commentary highlighting that “Douglas is saving energy, just sitting back and working the arm” didn’t make the abundance of arm work interesting. I’m a guy who loves guys working a hold, but that’s different from lying down and holding the arm for a few minutes, then trying another hold. We also get two different crowd brawling spots, with the second one towards the end especially feeling like filler. Funk does a fun job of selling here, even seemingly blading the arm during the first crowd brawl. As a left-hander, he keeps trying to use his injured limb, the selljob of which keeps giving Douglas openings. However, we also get Funk crawling out of the ring after two piledrivers, Funk briefly working Douglas’s legs for the spinning toehold which he never tries for, a false finish with the ref restarting because Douglas used the ropes for leverage on a pin and then a schmozz of an ending with the Bad Breed and Sherri Martell all involved. By the time we got to the inevitable time limit draw, I just wanted this over.

AWA Team Challenge Series

Lovely to see this appear on the Network's Hidden Gems section, a crudely filmed pilot for the AWA Team Challenge Series, filmed in a studio with no crowd. Guys come to the ring, with a green-screened audience badly inserted either side of them. Crowdshots get added in during the matches, crowds who 100% aren't watching these matches, and this is a fascinating mess.

Tommy Jammer vs Tom Burton

Bless Tom Burton for playing to the crowd here, what a pro. You know this is going to be ridiculous when the non-Greg Gagne commentator demands a replay after a Jammer bodyslam. This match is all armdrags and hiptosses from both before Jammer gets a powerslam and a splash to pick up the quick win.

The Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos) vs Ricky Rice & Jerry Lynn

Oh man, the camera work here is awful, zooming in on Bloom’s face while the faces work over Enos. For the monster heel team, the faces get in a lot of early offence on Enos. Lynn already looks decent, including holding onto an armbar even when Enos slams him to the mat, but Rice only seems to throw awful armdrags. Finally, Lynn becomes face-in-peril after eating a knee to the back. Enos slams him to the buckle, hits a shoulderbreaker and a powerslam, before a Doomsday Device finishes off Lynn.

Paul Diamond vs Colonel DeBeers

This is basically a two man battle royal. Liked Diamond hitting a flying bodyscissors and actually maintaining the hold on the mat. Diamond misses a corner splash in a nice manner, taking a big bump. The slo mo does the opposite of it’s intended job, making a decent-looking dropkick appear worse by showing DeBeers basically brushing it aside when it hits him. DeBeers hits a really nice looking top rope headbutt, but though he misses a second, he maintains his assault, albeit not very interestingly with some methodical clubbing. However, like an idiot, he goes for a piledriver next to the ropes and Diamond backdrops him to the floor. This was fine.

Sgt Slaughter vs The Terminator

This is a very slow paced match, with both trying to show their dominance during a run of shoulderblocks. Slaughter hitting a running crossbody was unexpected, but looked good. Both guys play to the crowd, so again kudos for that. Terminator wears down Slaughter with some unexciting clubbing, but Sarge hits a second rope clothesline and the Cobra Clutch gets the victory. Inoffensive stuff, Slaughter at least looked decent.

ECW Hardcore TV #28 19/10/1993

Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond vs the Public Enemy

Good solid tag team wrestling here. Nothing outstanding, but this is well worked, decent stuff. Tanaka looks great here, loved his kicks and sudden legsweep, and catching a Rock rana into a ditout powerbomb looked really good. A lot of the early stages feel like a Tanaka & Diamond showcase, but Public Enemy are solid when they get control, working over the knee of Diamond. Tanaka makes for a fine hot tag, loved the double superkick they hit before Grunge accidentally hits Rock during an O’Connor roll and Tanaka gets the pin. Fun stuff.

Jimmy Snuka vs Chad Austin

Austin is an average looking man in a pink singlet, and he gets treated accordingly. He bumps well for the slow paced beating Snuka inflicts on him. Genuinely can’t tell if the release powerbomb Snuka hits was intentional or just laziness. Slingshot suplex gets the win for Snuka.

Johnny Hotbody & Tony Stetson vs The Sandman & JT Smith

Given that three of these guys are the best wrestlers in ECW, it’s quite galling that this is the match that gets clipped. Plus, since we last saw them, Hotbody and Stetson are mysteriously tag champions. They look good as a unit, double-teaming nicely, and Stetson goes right after the injured leg of Smith. Dug his little tricks like grinding his knuckles into the knees of Smith. At this point, it clips and we come back to Stetson dropping  big leg onto Smith’s knee. Bizarrely, the heels just let Sandman tag in after all that work on Smith. The end is hokey, as Sandman gets backdropped onto Terry Funk at ringside and, as Sandman puts Hotbody in a sleeper, Funk comes in to hit Sandman with a chair, seemingly in affront at Sandman having the audacity to get thrown onto him. Really odd ending.

Tommy Dreamer vs Tazmaniac

Here’s a young, suspenders-wearing Tommy Dreamer making his ECW debut, as a Marcus Bagwell-esque pretty boy face. It’s Taz who brings the fun stuff to the match, hitting a big t-bone suplex, a nice powerslam and then reversing a suplex attempt into a big Northern Lights. Tommy takes a beating here for a crowd who don’t seem certain what to make of him, getting a chair broken over him and eating a big DDT on the floor. Tommy fires back, and Joey Styles massively telegraphs that he won’t win by guaranteeing he will, only for Taz to catch him on the top ropes with a big Northern Lights suplex from the top to win. Actually fun stuff here.

ECW Hardcore TV #27 12/10/1993

Abdullah The Butcher, Terry Funk & JT Smith vs Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Snuka & Don Muraco

Joined-in-progress brawl, which at least manages to feel hatefilled during it’s brief running time. No hint of structure, just 6 guys mainly fighting outside the ring, which helps cover up for the advanced age of it’s participants. I like that they made it feel like JT was on the same level as the veterans, previously he’s felt like someone who could easily be beaten by any half-competent pro. Smith even gets the win after Snuka throws powder in Muraco’s face by accident, allowing JT to get a sloppy small package for the win. Not blaming JT for that, by the way, feels like it would be quite tricky to tuck the large belly of Muraco into a small ball.

Malia Hosaka vs Molly McShane

Hosaka has a sheen of professionalism here that keeps this match on the right tracks. McShane is willing, but definitely green and looks slightly lost in places. She barely gets enough height on a leapfrog and struggles to lift Malia on a gutwrench suplex. Love Hosaka hitting a spinning kick on a charging McShane and she hits a great top rope cannonball for the win.

Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond vs The Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten)

The Bad Breed feel very much like a cut-price Nasty Boys in this bout, maybe lacking the sloppy violence that the Nasties would bring to the match. Tanaka and Diamond both look great here. Tanaka hits a really quick flurry of violent kicks that looks terrific, and he gets really velocity on a flying chop from a standing position. Meanwhile, Diamond hits a great springboard bulldog on Ian from the corner. The Bad Breed briefly control Tanaka, and look fine in doing so. Ian’s top rope Bansai Drop was a nice move that I thought he was certain to miss. Diamond gets the hot tag and quickly dispatches Ian with a series of moves, culminating in a double superkick with Tanaka and a big back suplex. This was real good.

Rockin’ Rebel vs Don E Allen

Quick squash, with Allen getting a short flurry, but falling prey to a nice backbreaker and a leaping spinebuster by the Rebel.

Rockin’ Rebel vs Chris Michaels

Very odd, we get Michaels and Rebel randomly falling out after a post-match promo in the ring together, which feels like it should lead to a future match…then we get it this episode just after some backstage footage focused on Sabu. Disappointingly short, as I thought Michaels looks good here. He showed real fire as he unloads on Rebel in the corner, but a loaded punch by the Rebel gives him a quick win.