Saturday, November 29, 2014

Let's Watch ECW #52

I'm taking a trip back in time to the early days of ECW. I'm starting with the first episode of Hardcore TV after "The Night The Line Was Crossed", which occurred on February 5, 1994. This is before "Extreme", back when ECW was still Eastern Championship Wrestling. Consider this your viewing guide to the ECW archives on the WWE Network.



ECW #52

The hype machine is fully activated for an upcoming event at the ECW Arena.


We begin with a recap from last week's antics involving Shane Douglas, when a chair shot from Sherri to the back of Paul Diamond, and later Pat Tanaka, left them both helpless. Moments later, Hawk gets hit in the head by Douglas and no-sells it. Makes sense to me.

Jay Sulli is in the locker room (which looks more like an abandoned construction site) to get to the bottom of the alliance between Douglas & Sherri and Jason & Mr. Hughes. Things get awkward when Hughes just snatches the microphone away from Sulli, who realizes he is no longer needed and slinks away into the shadows. Jay Sulli's journalistic credentials are beyond question.

Hawk admits the chair shot from Douglas hurt, but "some pain feels good". He may be kayfabe explaining the logic behind no-selling. I'm not sure. He explains that the spikes on the shoulder pads are there to remind everyone that he's steel. He's gonna take it slow and make Douglas suffer. Why not? Hawk promos are great.

Matty In The House!!! He reveals that Public Enemy will defend the tag team championships against the Bruise Brothers in a Human Cage Match. Actually, a lumberjack match. It's the only way to contain these men. I have a feeling ECW can't afford a cage. You use what you have available to you. Resourcefulness! By the way, the P.E. beat Mikey Whipreck and "Stormin'" Mike Norman. Also, Styles refers to the ECW wrestlers as "superstars". Why Joey, why?

Jay Sulli catches up with ECW Television Champion J.T. Smith. I want to like Smith, especially when they mention that his injured knee is barely staying together. The Pit Bull shows up, reveals he will challenge Smith at the ECW Arena, suckers him in and then takes the cheap shot. Smith screams in pain and holds his knee. Everyone get where this is going? Pit Bull promos are a forgotten treasure. "Pit Bull does his homework!"

We get the debut of Surfer Ray Odyssey, complete with surfboard, wet suit (which he wrestles in) and sunscreen on his nose. His opponent is Jimmy Snuka. Odyssey fares better than you might expect. I wonder how an ECW crowd allowed this man to spend more than a minute in the ring without throwing garbage at him. It was a different time. Don't let anyone tell you ECW never did stupid gimmicks.

The Sandman vs Tommy Dreamer. Sandman is all heel at this stage. Styles says Dreamer just celebrated his 23rd birthday. Dreamer locks on the Dream Weaver (it's the Million Dollar Dream). Sandman inadvertently knocks out the ref. Some guy named Sal who looks like a Roman soldier comes out, puts on the referee's shirt and counts the pin. You see, he's the special ref for The Sandman's match at the ECW Arena. It's complicated.

Douglas & Hughes enjoy a main event squash. One thing leads to another until Hawk shows up. He is eventually beaten down by Hughes & Douglas. ECW Arena! Big show!! Don't miss it!!!

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