TNA HardCORE Justice Results
August 8, 2010
Results by Matt Boone for WrestleZone.com
TNA HardCORE Justice PPV Opener:
A pretty cool video package airs to open the show. There are clips of ECW/EV2.0 guys talking about how revolutionized wrestling. They talk about tonight being about paying tribute to ECW.
We shoot to the ring for some show introductions. Then, Taz is introduced and he comes out with a microphone. Taz says he’s been in the back all day and he says the guys who are working tonight have a special look in their eyes. He says things are going to get extreme tonight. Taz talks about the doubters of ECW. He says they were looked at as bush league. Taz says they weren’t only about violence. He says they were the true renegades of the business. Taz says he has a message to the doubters: "you guys don’t get it, you never will, so you might as well just kiss my ass."
The FBI (Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido and Tracy Smothers) vs. Kid Kash, Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger
Kash and Guido will be starting things off for their respective teams. Guido and Kash do a lot of mat wrestling transitions and stop, waiting for the applause, ala the original ECW. Kash and Guido do some stuff with handshakes and staredowns before Gudio tags in Mamaluke and Kash tags in Swinger. Mamaluke hits a drop toehold and moves in for an immediate pin, but only gets two.Mamaluke has an armbar on Swinger now. Swinger, while still in the armbar hold, hoists Mamaluke up and slams him down to break the hold. Smothers and Diamond both just tagged in now. Smothers and Diamond fight to the floor. While on the floor, Diamond grabs a microphone and heads back into the ring. He says he has a problem. He says his team is not a well-oiled machine because of Kid Kash. He says FBI might be able to out-wrestle them, but they can out-dance FBI. Diamond asks for some music. He’s initiating a dance contest. Swinger and Diamond are dancing first, both dancing awfully. Kash is shown looking on with a look of disgust on his face. Smothers gets on the mic and says Michael Jackson just rolled over in his grave because of this. Smothers asks for some music now. The FBI are all dancing now. Guido with a little can-opener move. Smothers tries to do the worm, ala Scotty 2 Hotty. Sal E. (their enormous ringside support) is dancing now too. While they get more and more into the spirit of things, Swinger and Diamond use the opportunity to attack them from behind. Everyone from both teams, except Kid Kash, are brawling now. The ref gets into place on all fours for Kash to do his jump-off-the-back dive to the floor, knocking everyone down. Things finally settle down and Kash and Mamaluke are the two legal men in the ring. Everyone brawls again and this time they set up a big tower of doom spot. Everyone was in the spot except Diamond. One-by-one, each guy is taken out, leaving Guido to hit the unprettier on Diamond for the pinfall. He gets it. Match over.
Winners: The FBI (Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido and Tracy Smothers)
Continued on page two …
–We go to the announce table where Taz and Mike Tenay talk about how this is Tenay’s first time calling an ECW match or event. They move on to discuss the Jerry Lynn situation, and confirm him pulling out of the main event on tonight’s show. They also confirm Sabu as the replacement for Rob Van Dam in tonight’s main event.
–We get updates now from Todd Gordon, Pitbull #1 and The Blue Meanie. They basically talk about being thankful for the opportunity to be on the same PPV with the guys again and they thank the fans for their support during their respective careers.
Backstage: Al Snow (w/ Head), Stevie Richards, Nova, "The Blue Meanie"
Backstage we see Al Snow talking to Head. He yells at him for chanting "those three little letters." Stevie Richards asks if Al is okay. Al says he isn’t. Al talks about a bunch of his problems and then asks if Stevie knows a good therapist. In comes Nova. After him, someone comes in dressed up like The Blue Meanie. Nova says this guy is just as good as the real thing. Meanwhile, Al Snow stormed off with Head. Stevie speaks up and says tonight he’s going to prove to everyone what the real Stevie is all about. Someone I don’t recognize is shown picking his nose. The fake Blue Meanie starts picking his nose. We end on that.
CW Anderson vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
This seems to not be leading into a dance contest based on how things are going so far. I don’t forsee any unexplained nose-picking either. We’ll see though! Anderson controls things early, dominating the offense. Later on, Scorpio starts to make a comeback, but Anderson cuts that off. They’re punching back and forth now. Scorpio sends Anderson into the corner and follows in with a cannon-ball splash on him. He follows that up by going to the top rope and coming off with a front-flip into a legdrop. He tries a pin but can only get two. Scorpio goes to the well too many times, trying to come off the top with a moonsault, but Anderson got his knees up. Anderson hits a big spinebuster for a nearfall. Anderson hits a few forearms on Scorpio. He hits the ropes for one more big forearm with added leverage, but ends up going into the boot of Scorpio. Scorpio hits a moonsault into a legdrop off the top. He gets a pin off that and takes the match.
Winner: 2 Cold Scorpio
Continued on page three …
-We get another "I Remember" segment, this time with TNA Knockout Madison Rayne. She basically talked about the similarties between the real ECW and the spirit of the current TNA product.
–Matt Morgan checks in with an "I Remember" segment. Morgan talks about how when he went on vacation back in the day, he was happy because he could see ECW on local TV. He also talks about working as a bouncer at an original ECW event as well.
–Mr. Anderson is in now with his "I Remember." He talks about how the original ECW brought something different to the scene back in the 1990s. He said a lot of what happens today stems from their contributions to the sport.
Backstage: Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso
Backstage we see the old duo back together, as we see Rob Van Dam with his former original ECW manager Bill "Fonzie" Alfonso. They talk about RVD’s classic rivalry with Jerry Lynn back in ECW and how they can’t wait for it to pick up where they left off sometime in 2010. They talk about how Lynn pulled out of tonight’s match and how Sabu is replacing him. RVD also brought up his infamous original ECW television title run. Fonzie puts over Sabu, saying you couldn’t of picked a more hardcore wrestler than Sabu. RVD says he knows Fonzie managed both he and Sabu back in the day, and wants to make sure he can count on Fonzie tonight. Fonzie does his old tag-line, saying he’s going to call things right down the middle. He blows his whistle obnoxiously and we fade off.
P.J. Polaco (Justin Credible) vs. Stevie Richards
Credible comes to the ring with a kendo stick in hand. Richards comes out accompanied by Nova and the fake Blue Meanie. This started off as a traditional match, but ultimately ended up being another clusterfuck type situation. The bWo guys got involved a lot, mostly when the action would spill out to the floor. The finishing sequence saw Credible having everything going his way, as he hit his That’s Incredible piledriver. Richards would kick out at two, but Credible felt firmly in control and began to taunt Richards. He started his old ECW catchphrase but in the middle of that, Richards hit him with the Stevie Kick for the pinfall and the victory.
Winner: Stevie Richards
Continued on page four …
After The Match: Credible Attacks, Sandman Attacks Better
Richards celebrates his victory, but Credible ends up beating him down from behind with the kendo stick he brought to the ring. The lights go out. When the lights finally come back on, The Sandman is standing in the ring with his singapore cane behind Credible. Credible tries to hit Sandman but his kendo stick but Sandman blocks it and canes the shit out of Credible. He hits some other stuff using the cane too, like a cane-assisted Russian leg sweep.
–Now we have our second "where are they now/thank you message," this time from "The Queen of Mean" Francine. Francine’s daughter appears during her spot. Francine basically thanks the fans and the guys from the original ECW. She talks about how she loved her time working there and even though she’s done with wrestling now, the fans have never left her heart.
Brother Runt (Spike Dudley) vs. Al Snow vs. Rhino
Our next match of the evening will be a 3-Way Dance, featuring ECW originals Spike Dudley (aka Brother Runt), Al Snow (with Head) and Rhino. This match is now officially underway. Snow tries using Head, but Rhino puts a stop to that. Runt comes off the top with a double stomp onto Snow. He goes for the Dudley Dog, but no dice. Runt hits a hurricanrana on Rhino instead. Everyone is down now. The guys slowly get things going again, and now we have a ref bump. Runt tries a double-Dudley Dog on Rhino and Snow, but they toss him to the outside of the ring instead. With the ref down, Snow hits Rhino with Head. Runt adds a chair to the mix, and the end result is all three men, and the ref, are laid out in the ring. Everyone gets back to their feet, and Runt hits a Dudley Dog on Al Snow. Runt pins Snow and gets the three count. Al Snow is now eliminated from the 3-Way Dance. It’s down to Runt and Rhino. That didn’t take long. Runt turns around and Rhino blasts him with a gore (….gore, gore) for the pinfall and the victory.
Winner: Rhino
Mick Foley Promo
Mick Foley cuts a good promo, talking about his involvement in the Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven match tonight. He discusses the history of Raven-Dreamer a bit, and says they’re billing tonight’s match as the final showdown, and the potential for things to get out of hand is high. He says it’s important if this is truly the final showdown for someone to be there when the smoke clears, to make the clean three count. Foley says he is that guy.
Continued on page five …
–Time for another "I Remember" segment. Brutus Magnus discusses how impressive he felt it was that ECW has been able to sustain itself for long, based strictly on the passion the guys and the fans had for it.
–Chris Sabin is up next with an "I Remember." Sabin says his first taste of hardcore wrestling was Terry Funk vs. Sabu, and he felt it was simply captivating. Sabin says people like those two guys, and RVD, inspired him to do what he did and be who he is today.
Axl Rotten & Kahoneys (aka Balls Mahoney) vs. Team 3D
Axl Rotten and his partner, who is Balls Mahoney, but I guess for legal reasons they’re calling him Kahoneys, are out next. Balls gets on the mic before the match and says his team is the most extreme tag-team in the history of wrestling. They offer an open challenge to anyone in the back to prove them wrong. Out comes Team 3D, aka The Dudley Boyz, and they have opponents now like they asked for. Joel Gertner comes out, sporting his old school tye-dye, to a huge response from the fans in the Impact Zone. Gertner does his infamous raunchy intro for Team 3D. He’s still got it. Brother Ray gets on the mic and tells the crowd they’re witness to the four most hardcore men ever to step foot in a wrestling ring. He says with that being said, no one wants to see a "wrestling match." Their match will be an old school South Philly Street Fight. All four guys go at it, and I think we’re finally underway. The four split off now, with D-Von and Axl fighting things out on one side of the building, with Brother Ray and Balls on the opposing side. Both pairs of guys are fighting up and down the arena steps. Ray and Balls fight their way back to the ring. Brother Ray adds a ton of weapons into the ring, to the crowd’s delight. Trash cans, lids, pans, etc. are being beaten over everyones head now, as D-Von and Axl have since fought their way to ringside again as well. After a series of weapons spots, Ray tells D-Von to "get the tables." D-Von sets the table up in the ring. Joel Gertner hands Brother Ray lighter fluid. He lights the table on fire and they powerbomb Balls through the flaming table. D-Von pins Balls and this one is over.
Winners: Team 3D
After The Match: The Gangstas Are In The Building!
After the victory, Brother Ray gets on the mic and says Team 3D are the greatest tag-team ever. Some rap music hits and out comes The Gangstas. Crowd seems way into New Jack and Mustapha. The Gangstas beat down 3D. New Jack staples D-Von’s nuts with his staple gun. He lays a trash can over him and beats the piss out of it with a hockey stick. He breaks a crutch over Brother Ray’s back next. This definitely feels like the original ECW, with New Jack’s weird choice of weapons, and senseless violence, all the while their rap music is playing in the background non-stop. Next up on the violence stop is Joel Gertner. Weapon of choice? Guitar. New Jack blasts the guitar over Gertner’s head. 3D get back to their feet. Ray walks over and hugs Mustapha. New Jack hugs D-Von. Balls and Axl get back in the ring and all six men celebrate together.
Continued on page six …
Backstage: Raven Promo
Raven is shown backstage. He talks about his history with Tommy Dreamer, especially as it pertains to their childhood. He talks about how different they were as kids. He says as they grew up and their careers took off, Raven became tougher and tougher while Dreamer wallowed in obscurity. He says that’s when the friendship changed. Raven says Dreamer couldn’t handle not being the top guy. He says Dreamer stole Raven’s girl as his attempt at a measure of revenge. Raven says that he’s been waiting for his moment, and he is going to hurt Dreamer. He says he’s going to cripple him and shatter his soul.
–"I Remember" time with Jesse Neal. He talks about being able to see ECW more than most due to living in Florida. He talks about how different they were, especially compared to what was out there at that time.
–"I Remember" with Kaz. Kaz talks about he considers himself lucky that he got to be in the ring with some of the old school ECW originals before it was all said and done. He talks about training in ECW and how it was like living a dream.
Joey Styles Tribute
Some of the ECW originals spend a little time paying homage to the voice of ECW, Joey Styles. They all talk about how great and passionate he was. They say he’s the best at what he does. Jerry Lynn was even in on this segment.
The Final Showdown:
(Special Ref: Mick Foley)
-Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven
Mick Foley, the special referee for this match, is out first. Out next is Raven. He stops early on his walk to the ring, staring at Dreamer’s wife, who is seated next to TNA president Dixie Carter in the front row. Tommy Dreamer comes out next to a big ovation from the fans in the Impact Zone. Foley tells each guy that this is the final showdown and anything goes, but we just need a winner by the end of this thing. Raven hits Dreamer with a low blow to start things off. Raven takes Dreamer out to the floor and hits a Russian leg-sweep into the steel guard rail. A few stomps for good measure later, and Raven sends Dreamer back in the ring. Raven goes to the well one too many times, as Dreamer just countered and is firing up on offense. They fight to the floor again, and Dreamer unleashes a barrage of punches to Raven’s face. Raven flashes a demonic smile at Dreamer, who responds by taking a fans beer, spitting it in Raven’s eyes and smashing the can into his head over and over again. Some barbed wire is working its’ way into the mix now, as Dreamer grabs a bit of it and scrapes it across Raven’s head in violent fashion. The barbed wire goes in Raven’s mouth, and Dreamer just yanks even harder after seeing that. Brutal. Nova and Fake Meanie hit the ring. They take out Foley just as Raven was tapping out. The two attack Dreamer next. Raven hits his DDT on Dreamer. He tries a pin after a lot of delays, and Dreamer kicks out at two. Raven isn’t happy with the count. He gets in Foley’s face and shoves him. Foley just unloads on Raven, punching him in the face repeatedly. He reaches in, grabs Mr. Socko and applies it on Raven. A Raven flunky comes in to assist him, and he ends up eating Mr. Socko’s barbed-wire covered cousin for his efforts. Foley takes that poor bastard, who was a bloody mess, to the back. Meanwhile in the ring, Raven gets out a pair of handcuffs and locks Dreamer to the ring ropes, with his hands behind his back. Raven hits Dreamer with unprotected chair shots across the back. Foley is yelling at Raven for doing this, telling him Dreamer is helpless. Dreamer’s wife hits the ring and begs Raven to stop. Raven ponders that for a second. He looks confused. Dreamer’s wife walks up to him and hugs him. Raven shoves her off of himself and nails Dreamer with a chair shot to the head. He starts to go after Dreamer’s wife now, but Foley intervenes. Raven gets Foley out of his way with several chair shots. Dreamer’s wife hits Raven with a low-blow. Dreamer manages to kind of hit a DDT while locked to the ropes. He pins him but only gets two. Raven is back up now and he smashes a chair over Dreamer’s unprotected head. He follows that up by DDT’ing Dreamer onto the chair. He pins him and gets the three count. Raven wins The Final Showdown.
Winner: Raven
Continued on page seven …
After The Match:
Dreamer looks disappointed. He makes his way up the ramp and to the back, while the fans applaud his efforts and break into a "E-C-Dub!" chant.
Backstage: The Gangstas, Jeremy Borash & So Cal Val
Backstage we see Jeremy Borash with So Cal Val. In walks New Jack and Mustapha, The Gangstas. New Jack asks Val if she’s heard this about black guys: once you go black, you get bad credit. Mustapha scares Val off. New Jack says Borash is his bitch now. Borash hits a plug for the TNA website as New Jack pulls him away to end the segment.
Paul Heyman Tribute
The same deal here as with Joey Styles earlier. A lot of ECW originals conjure up and discuss Heyman, and kiss his ass in a big tribute kinda deal. Nothing really much else to say about it.
MAIN-EVENT:
-Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu
Rob Van Dam is out first, with Bill Alfonso by his side. Alfonso is blowing his whistle all the way to the ring. Once they hit the ring, Fonzie turns around and heads back up the ramp. He takes off his RVD jacket and accompanies Sabu to the ring now, still blowing the shit out of his whistle. The introductions are made and our HardCORE Justice main-event is now officially underway. Sabu dives at RVD’s legs right at the sound of the bell. RVD defends. Sabu tries again, RVD defends again. RVD and Sabu do their trademark poses back and forth. Sabu gets behind RVD and has him locked up, until RVD gets to the ropes. He heads out to the floor to recompose himself. While out there, RVD hits the double-thumbs a few times for the fans at ringside. Fonzie tells Sabu to pose for the fans in the ring. Sabu hits another leg dive at RVD. He gets it this time, and dumps RVD on the mat. RVD kicks his way free though, almost immediately. We get a classic ECW chain-wrestling series, with both guys ending up kicking back to their feet and standing in a fight pose, letting the crowd applaud what they just saw. From the floor, Fonzie throws a chair to the middle of the ring. Sabu ends up getting it first. Sabu does his trademark chair shot, simply throwing it into RVD’s face hard, instead of swinging it. Sabu follows that up by splashing RVD with it in the corner. He tries a pin attempt off of that, but RVD kicks out at two and rolls to the floor. Sabu follows him this time, hitting a baseball slide that sends RVD launching into the crowd. Sabu gets back in the ring and unfolds a chair. He sets it up, runs and leaps off it onto the top rope, and off of that to RVD on the floor. Vintage Sabu. Back in the ring, RVD begins to get the upper hand a bit more. He has a chair now and uses it in a variety of spots on Sabu. Sabu botches a chair spot in there towards the end. RVD throws the chair into Sabu’s face, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Sabu and RVD both go for the same move, which causes them to crash into each other in mid-air. Both guys are down now. Fonzie comes in the ring after this and backs the ref out of the way. He tries reviving both Sabu and RVD, assisting them with water and pep talks to try and get them back into action. RVD and Sabu go to the floor on opposite sides, and again they have the same idea as each man grabs a table. RVD catches up with Sabu and hits some of his trademark spots — legdrop off the apron onto Sabu draped across the guard-rail on the floor, etc. RVD places Sabu on top of a table that isn’t set up to be standing. He places a chair on top of his body and hits a big leg drop off the apron onto the chair/Sabu. RVD goes to the top. Sabu gets up and catches a chair that Fonzie threw him from the floor. He throws it hard into RVD’s face. Sabu unfolds the chair in the middle of the ring. He hits a hurricanrana on RVD, with RVD landing on the unfolded chair. Ouch. Sabu follows that up with an Arabian Facebuster, with a chair under him during the move. Vintage Sabu. RVD starts to fight back, as he hits a drop toe-hold on Sabu, sending him down face-first onto the same chair. RVD crotches Sabu on the top rope. RVD calls for Fonzie to hold a chair in front of Sabu’s face for an RVD spot. Vintage RVD/Fonzie. Fonzie holds the chair for RVD and RVD hits the Van Daminator with the chair into Sabu’s face. RVD puts a chair across Sabu’s body and hits him with Rolling Thunder. Sabu fights back now. Sabu puts RVD onto a table he set up in the ring. He grabs a chair and comes off the top. RVD is able to get out of the way in time and Sabu crashes through the table by himself. RVD immediately hits the top rope and comes off with the 5-Star Frogsplash. That is good for a pinfall and a victory.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Continued on page eight …
After The Match:
RVD celebrates his victory while Fonzie tends to Sabu. He helps Sabu back to his feet, but Sabu just collapses back down to the mat. The ref checks on Sabu, who points to his ribs and tells the ref something. RVD hands Fonzie the belt and backs him away. He goes to help Sabu now. Sabu shoves RVD away. He pauses for a moment and then hugs RVD and raises his hand in victory.
Show-End Celebration:
All of the ECW originals from the back come out to the ring with loads of beer. Fans in the Impact Zone break into a "thank you" chant. Everyone in the ring is toasting one-another and drinking in celebration of the night’s big event. Even TNA president Dixie Carter has a beer and is drinking with everyone. Fans break into "fuck you Vince" chants. Tommy Dreamer gets on the microphone and thanks Taz and Mike Tenay. He says he’s got beers for them too. Dreamer thanks everyone at home for watching and says it’s all thanks to Dixie Carter. Brother Ray grabs Dixie off the floor and brings her into the ring. Dreamer tells everyone in TNA that they set a new standard and he hopes they can meet it and surpass it. Dreamer says this was one hell of a PPV and thanks everyone one more time. That’ll do it.
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