What the World Was Watching: ECW Hardcore TV – January 31, 1995

Footage shows fans in Fort Lauderdale tossing chairs into the ring at the end of the ECW show there.

Joey Styles says that tonight’s show is coming from Orlando, Florida. He hypes the “new” Tully Blanchard that is coming for Shane Douglas’ ECW title.

ECW Champion Shane Douglas cuts a promo by a hotel pool. Douglas meanders before saying Blanchard was a hypocrite telling people not to do drugs and yet he did cocaine behind the scenes. He says he is addicted to the ECW title and he is not going to give it up. Douglas also puts over how he, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit are now the Triple Threat and will be a challenge to anyone in the promotion.

ECW Tag Team Championship Match: The Public Enemy (Champions) beat Sabu & the Tazmaniac (w/Paul E. Dangerously & 911) when Rocco Rock pins the Tazmaniac after knocking him off the top rope and through a table at 8:52:

Sabu and the Tazmaniac put the Enemy on their heels, but just like Holiday Hell the referee has a hard time getting into position to count falls when Sabu hits a moonsault and the Tazmaniac covers Rocco Rock after a Tazplex. Lots of weapons are used and the combatants brawl into the crowd. What this match proves is that doing a tag match without tags is hard because there is no sustained heat segment to engage the crowd. A table is set up in the ring by Sabu and the Tazmanic and Johnny Grunge is laid on top of it, but Rock saves his partner. As Sabu uses 911’s help to put Grunge on a table on the floor, Rock knocks the Tazmaniac off the top rope and through a table to help the Enemy retain the titles. This was a mess. Rating: *

After the bell, Sabu puts Grunge through the outside table with a somersault leg drop. Rock hits 911 in the back with a chair, so 911 does not sell it and chokeslams him. Referee Pee Wee Moore gets chokeslammed as well.

Styles interviews Paul E. Dangerously, who says that the Enemy are going to go through tables at the next ECW Arena show. He vows to send the Enemy back to the hood.

In an empty classroom, Raven says that childhood is not kind to misfits and leaves them with a scar that refuses to fade. Raven warns Tommy Dreamer that he will return to the classroom of his youth and this time he will not graduate. After the promo, the camera turns to the classroom’s chalkboard where “I hate Dreamer” has been written more than ten times.

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Cactus Jack beats the Sandman (w/Woman) (0-1) after a Cactus elbow drop at 9:10:

One of the world’s most noted hardcore wrestlers, Jack came to ECW after finishing a three-year run with WCW in 1994. He won the promotion’s tag team titles with Mikey Whipwreck twice before settling into a feud with the Sandman over who the company’s best brawler was. The match is a fun mix of wrestling and brawling, with the Sandman nearly finishing Jack after a Bitchin’ Leg Drop off the top rope as a trash can lay over Jack’s face. And then Jack’s hand is hurt when he goes to punch the Sandman but hits the trash can instead. The trash can gets used so much that it is flat as a pancake by the end of the bout. Just when it looks like things are dire for Jack, the Sandman misses a dive and flies over the top rope, allowing the Cactus Elbow Drop to finish on the arena floor. Rating: ***

After the match, Woman hits Jack with a Singapore cane. Jack no sells it but the Sandman comes in and beats Jack with a cane several times to get his heat back. Cactus bleeds as the Sandman continues to land blows and then the Sandman lights a cigarette and tries to use it to put out Jack’s eye. With only one good hand, Jack looks like a goner until Mikey Whipwreck makes the save by caning the Sandman.

Following a commercial break, the Sandman and Woman are in the backstage area. The Sandman beats himself with a cane as Woman tells Jack that she is going to turn Jack into the Sandman.

A bloodied Jack tells the Sandman that he used to have pride seeing him wrestle because he reminded him of himself. In an awesome promo, Jack tells the Sandman that he has lost his edge and that he needs to stop caring about others. He challenges the Sandman to a Texas death match, where if Jack loses, he will walk away from wrestling forever.

The Last Word: The last half of this broadcast was awesome, with Cactus Jack and the Sandman having a fun brawl and Jack cutting an intense promo to crystalize why and the Sandman are so hell bent on destroying each other. ECW could not have asked for a better show to hook new fans or get them invested in the Jack-Sandman angle.

Before the Double Tables show at ECW Arena on February 4, which will be recapped next, the company did a house show in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Here were the results of that show (courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com):

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania – The Flagstaff – February 3, 1995 (400): 911 defeated the Young Dragons in a handicap match…Stevie Richards beat Dino Sendoff…ECW Champion Shane Douglas beat Mikey Whipwreck…Chris Benoit wrestles the Tazmaniac to a no contest…Tommy Dreamer beat the Sandman…ECW Tag Team Champions the Public Enemy defeated JT Smith & Hack Myers…Sabu beat Al Snow.

Backstage News*: WCW took a shot at ECW on its Worldwide program this week when it said that SuperBrawl V was going to be at the Baltimore Arena and not a bingo hall.

*After closing a deal to get the promotion on television in Birmingham, Alabama, ECW is hoping to get access to the New Orleans market, possibly running television tapings and house shows at a casino there.

*In talent relations news, Terry Funk and D.C. Drake have been contacted to come into the promotion to feud with Cactus Jack.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 13.

Up Next: ECW: Double Tables!

source https://insidepulse.com/2020/05/31/what-the-world-was-watching-ecw-hardcore-tv-january-31-1995/