ECW Hardcore TV
10/03/1995
Philadelphia, PA
ECW Arena
Beulah McGillicutty is the first thing we see on the program this week, as she invites fans to write letters to her new PO Box for a new segment called “Beulah’s Box.” She promises to answer all fan mail.
Now we get the ridiculously long intro, which only sucks because it’s on Peacock. If anyone knows a source for original broadcasts of ECW, please hit me up. I HATE the overdubbed music on Peacock. Give me White Zombie, dammit.
Joey Styles welcomes us to Hardcore TV. He says he’s sure the viewers will send their most tasteful comments to Beulah. Cactus Jack says he’s found new purpose as of late, thanks to Raven, and we’ll hear from him tonight. Also on the show, Mikey Whipwreck takes on the Sandman for the World Title, and footage from Gangstas Paradise and the Six Man Tag Team Steel Cage match. This Saturday night at the South Philly Jam, The Gangstas and the Public Enemy will square off in an “old school throwdown.” Apparently, the ring will be set up in the street, because the steel cage couldn’t contain the war.
Unfortunately, I can’t find the South Philly Jam anywhere online, so I won’t be able to cover the event. Gangstas Paradise in September basically acted as TV tapings for the last three weeks, as they’ve just continued to show matches from the event. So, maybe these monthly Saturday night events are actually just TV tapings? If that’s the case, I’ll just stick with reviewing the specials on Peacock. The next and last one available on Peacock in 1995 is November to Remember. To quote Taz, I digress.
MATCH 1: SIX MAN TAG TEAM STEEL CAGE MATCH
MIKEY WHIPWRECK AND PUBLIC ENEMY DEF THE SANDMAN, 2 COLD SCORPIO, AND NEW JACK
After the match, we’re given a hype video building to The Gangstas vs Public Enemy. New Jack says they’re going to treat Public Enemy like a pimp treats a ho – they’re going to slap them around. The Public Enemy are in the streets, getting their minds right for the brawl this Saturday. They’re naughty by nature and violent by design.
New Jack says it’s not about titles anymore, it’s about survival. Rocco Rock says it’s just another wrestling match for him. New Jacks the Gangstas AIN’T THE ONES TO BE _____ WITH, BITCH.
Jason, the “sexiest man on earth,” is bragging about his pinfall victory over Taz at Gangstas Paradise. He’s with The Eliminators, so I’d be confident if I were him too.
Tommy Dreamer is standing by with Lance Wright. Dreamer says he’s just a regular guy, but everyone keeps pushing him. 2 Cold Scorpio broke his friend’s neck, and Dreamer had his revenge and was about to become Television Champion, when it was taken away by Raven and Cactus Jack. Dreamer says he has to listen to everyone talk about Cactus Jack doing the best interviews of his life, but Dreamer says he knows Cactus just wants sympathy, and he’s not getting any. Dreamer says if Cactus wants to be hardcore, he’s got it. Bang bang.
At the Sport Land Café in Middletown, NY, we get footage of Mikey Whipwreck vs The Sandman for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, and a special in-person appearance from a true “Superstar,” Steve Austin. The match took place on September 23. Austin gets more garbage canned theme music on Peacock, but he actually used “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Tim Rice. Close your eyes and picture the Rattlesnake coming out to that, and let me know what you think.
Steve Austin wastes no time being a jerk in his first in-ring promo for ECW. He says WCW wouldn’t take a dump in a building like the Sport Land Café, much less have a wrestling match in it. Austin says he appreciates that The Sandman had to kick someone’s ass, not kiss it, to get his title. He says Sandman isn’t a Hogan, so he can whoop him anytime he wants.
Sandman says Austin can have a title shot anytime he wants it. They shake hands and I think they could be best friends. Mikey Whipwreck, on the other hand, is told he deserve to be in the same building as Steve Austin. Austin leaves the ring and we get our title match highlights. Mikey takes a couple very loud slaps from Sandman, and Sandman pulls out a 10-foot ladder, which the New York crowd loves.
Mikey hits a “frankenmikey” off the lader. Then we see Sandman come teetering over on top of Mikey with the ladder. It looks and sounds nasty. Sandman then climbs the ladder so high, that he grabs ahold of the rafters of the building. Sandman hangs from the rafters and drops a giant leg drop on Mikey. We’re getting some good stuff.
More highlights continue, another frankenmikey, and Mikey is on pace to win the ECW World Heavyweight Title. Woman canes Mikey in the back, causing him to take a bump from the top rope, and Sandman picks up the win. After the match, Mikey attacks Sandman with the ladder, and then the Singapore cane.
Without missing a beat, we go straight to Cactus Jack for another infamous promo.
Cactus Jack says he’s been getting ahead of himself on the microphone lately and he’s sorry. He’s passionate about wrestling, and it gets the best of him sometimes. Cactus says in 1985, he saw an expose on wrestling that offended him. He says that night, he went to bed with thoughts of broken bones and bloody faces. If it’s the last thing he does, he’ll make sure people respect pro wrestling. The concrete floors and wars that have scarred his body are basically “for the love of the game.” He says he watched his ear be thrown in the trash in Germany, unable to bring it back home with him, because he doesn’t know the German word for formaldehyde.
That’s it, end the show, you’re not topping that line.
But he keeps going. He says his German nurse walked in, saw him missing an ear, laughed, and said it was just all a big joke. He asks, what makes him any different from smokers who have lung damage or drinkers whose livers fail, and why does everyone disrespect him? Because he’s a wrestler. Wrestling will never be respected, no matter how many teeth or ears he loses. It’s not worth it anymore to Cactus Jack. He tells Tommy Dreamer he needs to start looking at wrestling as a way to make a living. ECW fans will be the death of Tommy Dreamer. The fans know they rule ECW, not the wrestlers. Cactus Jack says he has a moral obligation to tell Dreamer that he’s a disgrace to pro wrestling.
“I watched JT Smith splat on the concrete floor and listened to the fans chant ‘You ______ up, you ______ up.’ Well, ____ you!”
He urges Tommy Dreamer to think about leaving ECW.
“Don’t make me hurt you, because I can.”
Jesus. Cactus Jack was at his peak in 1995.
End of show.
About half of the show was taken by the steel cage match from Gangstas Paradise. They did a really good job hyping The Gangstas and Public Enemy at the South Philly Jam. Right off the bat, I can say unequivocally, ECW’s dedication to storylines and delivery in terms of not insulting the audience’s intelligence is far, far ahead of WWF and WCW. Say what you want about the matches, but the storytelling in ECW was pro wrestling 101.
Everyone in ECW delivered in their promos. Beulah, New Jack, Rocco Rock, Steve Austin, Tommy Dreamer, and Cactus Jack all had microphone time this week and they all nailed it. When you watch a Lex Luger promo, he holds a microphone like he’s holding a dirty diaper – he doesn’t know what he’s doing with it and he’s uncomfortable. The top stars in WWF and WCW struggle with their promos. But in ECW, so much time and effort is put into making every single interview as good as it could possibly be. This was where ECW really shined.
I can’t stress enough how much the music on Peacock really takes me out of all of this, but the show was still good, thankfully. I scratch my head at the constant showing of highlights on their weekly program, but this week was alright. The cage match was a match I’d want my bigger audience to see, and the Sandman/Whipwreck match was very fun. Plus, they had to show Steve Austin’s spot from before the match, so all of it worked. I’ll also point out that the venue of this match looked awesome on TV, and I hope we get more of it in the future.
Fun show, and I’m more excited to keep following ECW than anything else in 1995.
