On paper, looking at this card, Hardcore Heaven 97' should've been a slam dunk for ECW. It featured many of the company's biggest stars and was wrestled in front of a hot Florida crowd of wrestling enthusiasts. The company had a working agreement with the WWE which meant there was even more "star power" on hand than usual. However, things didn't quite work out that way...
After an intro spiel from Joey Styles, Rick Rude shows up to introduce "the next ECW Television Champion" Chris Candido, who is challenging Taz. Rude gets sent to the back by ECW President Tod Gordon, who threatens to disqualify Candido if Rude stays at ringside. This was done to prevent Rude from having to get involved (he wasn't physically cleared to do much of anything at this point, though there was rumors that he was working to get cleared a few years later), but really seems antithetical to the "anything goes" non-rulebook of ECW. Anyway, Taz looks like a badass and allows Candido to slap him in the face and clothesline him just to show how tough he is. The problem with that is - while Taz does eventually go on offense, minutes later, he's right back into selling mode. Its just weird to start a match working like a no-selling Road Warrior circa 1987 and then, within a few minutes, actually selling the damage and working a somewhat lengthy back-and-forth technical wrestling match. Candido having his initial offense treated no sold didn't do him any favors, nor did it make Taz look like a badass because, ultimately, it did take Taz real effort and time to retain the title. There are audible "Boring" chants sprinkled between the pops for Taz's offense, but this was just not the right match to start the show. I think these two could have had a much better match if Taz had just worked this as if Candido was a real challenge from the very beginning and Joey Styles, on commentary, leaned into the idea that, when he was with "that other company," Candido was distracted by backstage politics and having to use a corny gimmick but that here in ECW, he was free to show that he was a world class wrestler. Underwhelming. (2/5)
Before the next match, a clip is shown of the Insane Clown Posse getting attacked by Sabu and Rob Van Dam from earlier in the show. I'm curious as to why they didn't just include this whole segment as part of the show itself because it definitely would've added some variety to the evening.
Next up - Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley. Dudley had upset Bigelow a few weeks prior on ECW TV so you knew that Bigelow was looking to murder him here. This is essentially a squash match, but because Bigelow is so awesome at working the crowd and Spike Dudley takes amazing bumps, its also one of the more entertaining stretches of wrestling on the show. This isn't "must watch," but its a fun 5-minutes and the crowd is wild for it. Above-average segment, though I'm not sure this is "The Best Squash Match Ever" as I saw one reviewer refer to it. (3/5)
Another clip is shown from earlier in the night, when The Sandman tried to save ICP and ended up getting taken out by RVD and Sabu. We're told that the Sandman was then taken to the hospital.
Rob Van Dam was working his "Mr. Monday Night" gimmick at this point, boasting about how he was the most in-demand wrestler in ECW and that it was only a matter of time before the WWE or WCW would sign him. RVD's opponent on this night is Al Snow, who is decked out in his Leif Cassidy/New Rockers gear. Styles puts Snow over big on commentary and the crowd is relatively respectful, though they're definitely more in the corner of Van Dam (and because Snow was representing the WWE, it makes for a bit of a heel/heel dynamic). The action is good, but isn't connected by a good enough narrative thread and the big spots don't feel connected to one another. There are some sloppy bits and miscommunications that, while not egregious, definitely make it seem like these two weren't on the same page about how this match should've gone. Snow seems to want to work a more standard, typical, back-and-forth match, but RVD was still a guy who seemed to want to go out and do nothing but crazy dives, spin kicks, and chair shots to keep the crowd engaged. By the time we get to the Van Terminator, it seems like the audience is exhausted and just wants things to end (basically booing that a very close nearfall wasn't actually a three count at one point). Another underwhelming match. (2/5)
After more talk about The Sandman (we now learn that he has commandeered the ambulance and is trying to drive it back to the arena to exact revenge on Sabu and RVD), we go to the ring for The Dudley Boys vs. PG-13. Before the match, Joel Gertner, accompanied to porn star Jenna Jameson, does one of his usual X-rated promos and explains that, with The Gangstas unable to make it to tonight's show (I believe the issue was that Mustafa had left ECW by this point and I'm not sure what the deal with New Jack was), PG-13 will be filling in. From a wrestling standpoint, they were much better hands than The Gangstas ever were and Jamie "JC Ice" Dundee get a nice pop for their pre-match promo to pull the crowd in. Unfortunately, The Dudleys just weren't a great team yet and PG-13 were also best in small doses as this match, after a good start and a crowd-pleasing moment that saw J.C Ice plant a kiss onto Jameson - this one gets dull and overly silly (at one point, PG-13 trick D-Von into applying an armbar onto his partner that is just too silly for me). There's also some bad camerawork as we miss Big Dick Dudley's double chokeslam (though I doubt it was executed very well anyway). The crowd is so much more focused on Jameson than anything that happens in the ring and, dare I say, this match could've benefitted from a table spot or two. The Dudleys eventually win with the 3-D. Not terrible, but not good. (2/5)
Jerry Lawler makes his way down the aisle and cuts a promo before his match with Tommy Dreamer. I'm sure the longtime super fans of Lawler enjoyed this as a "throwback" to his old Memphis brawls, but this was not entertaining to me as it was just a long, sloppy brawl that, while bloody, didn't actually feel "dangeous" or "wild." It was also overbooked beyond belief with multiple "lights go out and then turn back on to reveal _____" (in this case, there were three separate incidents featuring Rick Rude, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and finally, Sunny). The Roberts interference made the least amount of sense because he attacked both guys - which could've been a cool way to debut him had his interference led to the finish, but it didn't (which made him look like a joke despite getting a massive pop from the crowd). This went 20 minutes, which was longer than it had any right to be. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, though, so I'm not going to say it was a total misfire, it just wasn't the type of match I enjoy. (1.5/5)
Main event time - a three-way dance between ECW Champion Sabu, former ECW Champion Terry Funk, and former ECW Champion Shane Douglas. I'm not sure if the fans in attendance were made are of the on-going Sandman saga (the future Hak was shown arriving at the arena before the match began), but it was easy to predict that he would end up attacking Sabu and costing him the match. As was often the case in these sorts of matches, the fact that it is fought under elimination rules is completely ignored despite the logic being that the two heels should've been eager to cooperate to eliminate the babyface and then compete among themselves. The threeway part of this match was not as engaging to me as the final minutes - when the match became a one-on-one battle between Funk and Douglas. Without Sabu around, Funk and Douglas get to do some actual wrestling and, though Funk is clearly not as quick as he was 10 years prior, Douglas wasn't necessarily a lightning quick worker himself. There's some nice twists with Dory Funk showing up to neutralize Francine and then some very well-executed nearfalls off a Funk roll-up and a bunch of Belly-to-Belly suplexes. The actual finish, coming off yet another Belly-to-Belly, falls a little flat because I believe the audience expected something a bit "bigger," but I can understand wanting this to end with some realism. After the match, Douglas whips Funk with the gold belt to get extra heat, which comes in the form of "bullshit" chants. Joel Gertner comes into the ring with the Dudleys, who proceed to boot the boots to Funk. Gertner asks Douglas to drop the Triple Threat and form a "Triple Crown" with the Dudleys, which brings out Bigelow and Candido and then the whole lockerroom shows up to break the sides up and join the brawl themselves! The Rottens end up battling with the Dudleys in the ring, chairs in hand, which leads to the arrival/return of The Eliminators and New Jack! The phony crowd noise and the overdubbing of New Jack's WWE-produced entrance theme ruin the post-match angle, but credit where its due, all the craziness does allow the show to end on a much happier note than it would've had it ended with Funk's loss. (3/5)
With an overall Kwang Score of 2.25-out-of-5, Hardcore Heaven 97' is one of the better ECW pay-per-views thanks to an above-average main event and a really fun Bigelow/Dudley match and everything else - except Dreamer/Lawler - being at least in the realm of average. Plus, at this point, ECW's roster was about as "star-studded" as it would ever be, with Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Tazz, Sabu, Terry Funk, the Dudleys, Al Snow, and Shane Douglas all around. As I noted in the opening paragraph, it's a shame that all these elements don't really gel the way they should due to a handful of bad ideas - whether its starting the match with an awkward and poorly layed-out Tazz/Candido match, giving PG-13 and The Dudleys 10 minutes of time when 6-7 would've been more than enough, or the overbooking of the extra lengthy Dreamer/Lawler match. On paper, this show sounds much better than it turned out being.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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