ECW Hardcore TV #37 21/12/1993

Tommy Dreamer vs Shane Douglas

This is set up by Dreamer calling Douglas out for costing him the tag titles, but by the time we join the match Douglas is already in control following a neckbreaker. This is still a good match though, logically worked and with a neat ending. Dreamer has a taped up torso, and Douglas targets it nicely. He rams Dreamer into the apron back first, hits a nice stomach buster and locks in a bodyscissors on the mat. All targeted on Dreamer’s injury. Dreamer makes a comeback by throwing Douglas to the floor and hits a few big shots to turn the tide – Douglas gets thrown over a table and takes a big chairshot. Dreamer manages to knock the ref down with a slam, leading to a gloriously shitbird bit of cheating from Douglas. He levels Dreamer with a loaded punch, a chain wrapped round his fist, then wraps the chain around the unconscious Dreamer’s fist, before falling to the mat. This leads to the ref coming round and DQing Dreamer, Douglas walking to the back cackling.

Tazmaniac & Kevin Sullivan vs Mike V & Mike Norman

Just a demolition of a squash. V is sent to the floor right away, and Sullivan liquidates Norman’s insides with a big stomp. Sullivan’s running knee with Norman in a tree of woe looks nasty. Norman is just getting ruined in the corner, and V throws in the towel from ringside to save his partner. Rarely seen, but a nice touch.

ECW Hardcore TV #36 14/12/1993

Sal Bellomo vs Don E Allen

Thankfully brief Bellomo squash. Even as a heel, he still resorts to cheap tactics, filling the match with chokes and slams. He hits an admittedly decent dropkick before finishing Allen with a splash. I hope Sal is gone soon.

Tommy Dreamer & Shane Douglas vs Kevin Sullivan & the Tazmaniac

Dreamer’s partner Johnny Gunn isn’t here, so Douglas comes in to replace him in this tag title defence. It’s easy to see why Dreamer didn’t endear himself to the ECW faithful in the early days, his suspenders-on-long-tights look making him look like the third, wimpiest American Male. He looks decent here though, hitting a really nice diving clotheslines and nicely stumbling from the corner into a Taz overhead suplex. Dreamer lands on his shoulder on a Sullivan belly-to-back suplex in an awkward landing, as he plays face-in-peril. Douglas hasn’t tagged in at this point, which gets your spider-senses tingling, as the seemingly reformed heel not tagging into the bout feels like a tried and true set up. Indeed, this is the case, as Dreamer makes the hot tag, only for Douglas to level him with a chained fist to allow Sullivan and Tazmaniac to win the titles. Decent enough.

Tony Stetson vs The Sandman

I wonder how far Stetson could have got in wrestling if he didn’t have such a terrible look, as he manages to work a decent bout against a perpetually terrible Sandman. Stetson’s offence always looks good, here sinking in his corner shoulderblocks and hitting a nice running clothesline in the corner. Sandman hits a nice top rope back elbow, and I loved Steton sliding backwards out of the ring, keeping his eye on Sandman and luring him to the floor for a cheapshot. Nice powerbomb only gets a two, before Sandman rolls through a top rope crossbody for the win. 

ECW Hardcore TV #35 07/12/1993

Mr Hughes vs Mike Norman

Bland squash, with Hughes alternating between nice big boots and impressive dropkicks, and unconvincingly missing a clothesline by aiming well over Norman’s head. Big sidewalk slam gives Hughes the win.

JT Smith vs Johnny Hotbody

These two are among the MVPs of 1993 ECW, so it’s a shame to report this match isn’t too great. Smith opens with some awkward looking chain wrestling that doesn’t feel particularly smooth, before taking over with a nice fallaway slam and a high angle back suplex. There’s a lot of offence her that just feels sloppy, Hotbody hits some awful chairshots, Smith hits some weak looking clotheslines, and there’s a really poor botch on a top rope sunset flip that basically sees Hotbody falling onto Smith as he goes over. On the Brightside, Hotbody does hit some nice meaty elbows, including one to the arena floor, but this was a letdown. Smith gets the win after Hotbody’s manager Hunter Q Robbins hits him with a caneshot, seemingly on purpose.

The Tazmaniac & Kevin Sullivan vs The Bad Breed

Barely anything to speak of, as Sullivan decides he want to beat up JT Smith in the aisle, leaving Tazz to face both Rotten brothers. He dispatches them with no fuss in mere seconds hitting a second rope belly to back suplex for the win.

The Lumberjack vs Mr X

Mr X is apparently a masked Larry Winters. This goes about 30 seconds, as we’re joined in progress with the Lumberjack hitting a press slam and a heart punch for the win.

ECW Hardcore TV #34 30/11/1993

Sabu vs Tazmaniac

This was a lot better than their last encounter that was broadcast on Hardcore TV, though still not exactly a great match. There’s still some Sabu sloppiness, with a slip on an attempted springboard clothesline looking poor, and the end was pretty weak. However, there were bits to enjoy here as well. Loved Taz two big overhead suplexes, as well as a fun overhead into a faceplant. Enjoyed Joey Styles talking about Taz being in total control as Sabu dominates the match. Great timing. Sabu misses a pescado with a big thump and Taz looks great catching a Stinger splash into an overhead suplex. Then, the crappy end. Taz has Sabu down for a pin after a missed moonsault, but decides to pick him up, which is daft in a world title match. Instead, he decides he wants to hit a Swanton, than he unsurprisingly misses, and Sabu picks up the win. This was perfectly fine.

Johnny Hotbody, Tony Stetson & Hunter Q Robbins III vs The Sandman, JT Smith & Miss Peaches

Perfectly passable six-man, with the non-wrestlers wisely kept out for the most part. The two heel wrestlers are the two best workers in the match, which thankfully means they control the bulk of it. Loved Stetson winding up for a big punch, only to hit a poke to the eye on Sandman, who becomes face-in-peril. Hotbody hits a lovely looking dropkick on Sandman, and downs him with a stiff looking clothesline. Sandman fires back and cleans house, and Hotbody/Stetson turn on Robbins by throwing him into the ring. A low blow from Peaches, and Robbins is done. Dug the explanation of the betrayal, as Mr Hughes destroys the faces afterwards, and Styles mentions that his manager Jason must have paid Hotbody & Stetson off to allow the post-match sneak attack.

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 #26 05/10/1993

The Public Enemy vs Silver Jet & Gino Caruso

JIP match, and we’re definitely in proper ECW territory now. The arena is better lit now, with the crowd in the dark and the ring illuminated. Looks a lot better than the crappy “ECW” banner from the first few episodes. This is a largely sluggish beatdown by the Enemy, bar a few nice little spots. Silver Jet looks terrible in his camo trousers and black t-shirt. He’d be the most bush-league looking guy in a 2003 CZW student battle royal. Rock hits a nice quebrada, Grunge hits a reverse DDT and Rock finishes the Jet with a Swanton, admittedly getting good distance on it.

Sabu vs Tazmaniac

I am sure this was revolutionary in 1993, and the fans eat it up, but viewed through 2017 eyes…this is shit. There’s very little structure, just a bunch of spots which are hit with varying levels of success. I did think Taz showed some smarts when, after the table Sabu placed him on falls apart, Taz just gets up and suplexes Sabu through the remains. I was less impressed when Sabu elbowed him in the face and Tazmaniac sold it by climbing to the second rope to eat a top rope Frankensteiner. Taz hits a huge suplex that almost drops Sabu on his head. The transitions here are woeful, momentum just switching arbitrarily. Sabu picks up the win with a sloppy moonsault. Really disliked this.

The Sandman vs The Metal Maniac

This wasn’t any better. Sandman hits a nice high waistlock takedown early, and that’s probably the best part of the match. Maniac barely gets Sandman off the ground with an unbelievably shit side suplex. Sandman hits a top rope clothesline to win. Awful.

Terry Funk vs Jimmy Snuka

This is a cage match for the TV title, billed as “Funk’s Last Stand”. There’s bits of this that are good, and bits that are very poor. Funk sells like a champion early, as Snuka whips him into the corners, making a simple move looks vicious. He’s also the first to eat a faceful of cage. For two veterans, they both manage to make piledrivers look utterly ineffectual. Funk sells one by getting up 10 seconds later to prevent Snuka escaping a cage, and Styles helpfully points out that Funk is hitting headbutts just moments after taking a piledriver. Funk soon hits his own ineffectual piledriver. They base a lot of this match around headbutts, which isn’t particularly interesting, though Snuka is at least sensible enough to base a lot of his offence around trying to hurt Funk’s neck. The end feels pretty anticlimactic, as Funk just gets to the top of the cage, manages to knock down Snuka then hangs from the top of the cage before dropping to the floor to win. Even with the advanced age of Snuka, you’d expect better from these two. My opening claim of “Some of this is very good” doesn’t seem accurate now.