Even though the first three episodes of ECW Hardcore TV were mixed—only two was solid for wrestling and angles so far—I’ve been enjoying these early storylines.
Storylines From This Episode
The fourth episode features Hot Stuff International adding Don Muraco to its ranks. Muraco was a long-time rival of Snuka, a member of Hot Stuff International.
Both were also among ECW’s earliest Heavyweight champions. This is a dangerous trio and the company’s first major faction.
We also have Hunter Q. Robbins III issuing a $500 challenge: any team who can beat his Super Destroyers gets five Benjamins. Big money, folks.
Finally, there’s the conflict between The Sandman and Rockin’ Rebel who tried to get a smooch from Peaches. Let’s tie up ECW Hardcore TV with the fourth episode from April 26, 1993!
Low-Tier
The team that answered Robbins’ challenge was the above-scrub duo of Tony Stetson and Larry Winters. If they win, they will get the ECW Tag Team titles and $500.
Surprise! They manage to win the match…by DQ. That means they won bupkis. This was a bad and boring match but a typical Hardcore TV bout in 1993.
Winters and Stetson would get a rematch next week. Really…anticipating that.
JT Smith and Tommy Cairo taking on the new team of The Suicide Blondes—Chris Candido and Johnny Hotbody—was better. It was an even match but man was this basic.
That said, it was a clean match. No botches or awkwardness. The two fatal flaws are that it was very short and it was safe to the point of being boring.
Future NWA World Champion, Chris Candido looked good in this match. A one-on-one against Smith could’ve been pretty damn good.
In the third match of the evening, the Hot Stuff International team of Snuka and Muraco ran through the scrub team of the Hell Riders.
Another squash, nothing to write home about. If you do, you’re wasting paper and everyone’s time back home.
The main event saw The Sandman put his ECW Heavyweight title up against Rockin’ Rebel. Or maybe he was scheduled to defend it against him.
In the last episode, Rebel tried to force a kiss from Peaches and that escalated into a thing where Sandman ended up with his own surfboard across his head.
Putting your title up is a good way to get a loathsome opponent to accept your match when they know there’s a beating in store for them.
Another bad match that featured The Sandman delivering the most hideous dropkick I’ve ever seen from the top.
You know…it’s weird. The Sandman had the athleticism to attempt a lot of the higher risk moves in his arsenal but he did them halfway and they usually looked sloppy as hell as a result.
Sometimes, the move will be executed well but his opponent rarely looks ready for it and it just looks very crash and burn. Sabu’s botches often looked cleaner than this.
Like that missile dropkick looked busted. Maybe he had just enough athleticism but willingness as filler to do the moves.
Anyways, this match was short and mildly eventful. Sandman retains after Tigra interferes, giving the champ a DQ victory.
The Sandman then went to the turnbuckles and held the ECW title up to celebrate. You know up as if this was a hard-fought marathon of a match and not a DQ victory.
ECW Hardcore TV #4 Verdict: Low-Tier (4/10)
Bad matches ruined this because all of the promos and angles we’re good. These storylines are really interesting early on but the TV matches…rough.
They weren’t hard to watch, it’s just that the matches were dry and didn’t care about your entertainment.
I will say that if you blink, this episode will breeze by. You’re going to miss something if you’re not paying attention. Luckily, you won’t miss anything from the match end of things.
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