Dark Pegasus Video Review: ECW Hardcore TV (01.14.96)

ECW Hardcore TV (01.14.95) by J.D. Dunn And now things get Awesome. January 14, 1995 From Philadelphia, Pa. Your host is Joey Styles. Recap of Shane Douglas interrupting a Stevie Richards promo. Bill Alphonso interrupts Joey’s intro to complain that Styles isn’t doing enough interviews with Taz. Styles tells him to take a hike, so Taz runs in and threatens to cuff him around. 911 runs in and takes a verbal lashing from Alphonso. Tod Gordon runs in and attacks Alphonso. The locker room eventually clears to keep Taz and 911 apart. They go at it again, but the Eliminators run in and give 911 total elimination. Taz escapes without incident. Rey Mysterio Jr. runs in and cleans house on the Eliminators. No. Really. Styles points out that Rey is the first person to ever come to 911’s rescue. Finally, the numbers catch up with Rey, and Taz returns to choke 911 out with his towel. The fans chant for Sabu. Impromptu Tag Match: The Eliminators (w/Jason) vs. 911 & Rey Mysterio Jr. For whatever reason, a ref hops in and turns the brawl into a match. Taz continues to choke out 911 with the towel. Rey hits the Eliminators with a double DDT. The faces challenge the Eliminators to a chickenfight, but when the Eliminators accept, Rey ranas Kronus for the win at 4:02. ** The Eliminators don’t care, though. They continue the beatdown until Francine and The Pitbulls attack. Francine kicks Jason’s ass until the Eliminators give her Total Elimination. Francine does the stretcher job. And that was all just in the first segment of the show! Joey Styles recaps Shane Douglas’ brief WWF career. Buh Buh Ray Dudley (w/the Dudley Family) vs. Jimmy Del Rey (w/Mr. Hughes). Long story behind this one, but you’ll recall from a few weeks ago that the Heavenly Bodies attacked Buh Buh (I guess I’ve been spelling it wrong) when they tried to get to the Public Enemy. Prichard “zipped” out of the promotion. Ha ha! So, we get this singles match. Hughes is playing the part of bodyguard for Del Rey. Apparently, he was a gift from Damian Kane. Long story. Styles says Prichard has a “sunny” future. Get it?! Del Rey attacks during Bubba’s pre-match attempt to say his own name (he stuttered, you might recall). Bubba fights him off but stops to argue with the ref about a two-count, and that takes so long that Del Rey is able to recover and kick him in the nuts. Cute spot. Bubba goes for a powerbomb but stops to go after Hughes. Del Rey tries to capitalize but eats a DDT and gets pinned at 2:58. Apparently, there was a lot of clipping. [1/2*] Shane Douglas makes his big return and offers to give Buh Buh an English lesson. Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie and Beulah come out. Richards announces that he is now known as Studly Stevie Richards. He says he’s going to take some of Raven’s “leftovers,” but Beulah doesn’t want to be touched. Stevie asks if it’s because she’s Raven’s girlfriend. “No!” she answers. “I’M PREGNANT!” And so begins the first (and best) ever pregnancy angle in wrestling. Raven storms the ring and calls Beulah an idiot for not following the instructions on the pill, but she tells him he shouldn’t care because it’s not his. Raven attacks Richards, thinking he’s been slipping her the Little Steven. She pulls him off and screams, “It’s Tommy’s!” Ooooooh. That’s gotta sting. Raven is about to smack her around a bit, but Tommy Dreamer runs out and saves her. Dreamer and Beulah embrace. Later, presumably, Dreamer shows up at Beulah’s hotel room and tells the cameraman to stay outside.

The 411: Now *this* is the ECW everybody fondly remembers. Unlike the current product, where every match seems to be autonomous, every angle here mixes with some other angle so that you never can tell what's going to happen next. The Beulah angle is one of the segments everyone points to when recounting ECW's great history of angles. It added even more fuel to the already blazing Dreamer-Raven feud. High recommendation.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]