ECW Hardcore TV January 4 1994 Review

Date: January 4, 1994 Taped show (on December 26, 1993) Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (ECW Arena)

Announced attendance: ca 800

Welcome everyone to my first ECW review here on the website. The first episode of ECW Hardcore TV of 1994 features a recap of recent events in Eastern Championship Wrestling, including the ECW World Heavyweight Championship match between Terry Funk and Sabu from Holiday Hell 1993.

Here is the list of ECW champions heading into this broadcast:

• NWA-ECW World Heavyweight Champion: Terry Funk [9th day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Sabu

• NWA-ECW Television Champion: Sabu [52nd day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Terry Funk

• NWA-ECW Maryland Heavyweight Champion: JT Smith [80th day of his 1st reign] - inaugural champion

• NWA-ECW Tag Team Champions: Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac [31st day of their 1st reign as a tag team; Sullivan's 1st individual reign & Tazmaniac's 1st individual reign]

Title reign lengths are calculated as of the episode's air date

Note: in title matches, the names of the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your host is Joey Styles

The episode starts with Joey Styles in the ECW News Center. He wishes everyone a Happy New Year and promotes ECW's first show of 1994. It will take place the next Friday (January 7) in the ECW Arena, and it will feature Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac defending the tag titles, a grudge match between The Sandman and The Pitbull, and Terry Funk putting his newly-won ECW Championship on the line against 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas.

Special look at Terry Funk in ECW: A lengthy video airs recapping Funk's best moments in ECW throughout 1993 leading up to his World Title win.

Recap - Sabu vs. Terry Funk: They actually show us the entire match from Holiday Hell, where Funk won his first ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Next up, we see the debuting The Pitbull shocking losing to Chad Austin at Holiday Hell. The Sandman came out to save Austin from a post-match beatdown, only to be attacked by Pitbull and Jason himself.

The Sandman promo: He injured his shoulder at Holiday Hell because of The Pitbull and Jason, but that's not gonna stop him from wrestling Pitbull this Friday. Sandman says he'll beat them up at the show, and Mr. Hughes will get his ass kicked back to the WWF if he decides to show up. Jason appears in his car before Sandman can finish the promo. Sandman jumps on the roof of the car and Jason drives off.

Jason shows up in the ECW News Center, messes around with Joey Styles a little bit just for fun and proceeds to say some... interesting things about Peaches. Like the match with Sandman didn't have enough heat already!

Special look at Shane Douglas in ECW: Basically the same as Funk's video from earlier to promote their title match the following Friday. We see Douglas' arrival in ECW and his World Title run, with Sherri Martel by his side.

Matty In The House promotes the Holiday Hell t-shirt and hypes next Friday's show, and Paul E. Dangerously jumps in to sell a few extra tickets like only he can as the episode goes off the air.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: This episode is really hard to rate, because it basically features nothing but recaps. However, for someone who's new to the product at the time, this 50-minute show is a pretty easy watch. By the end of this episode, you'll be familiar with all the top angles in the promotion. 7/10

Thanks for reading. Don't miss the upcoming January 1994 reviews here on the blog. That will include episode of WWF Monday Night Raw, the 1994 Royal Rumble PPV, WCW Clash of the Champions and more episodes of ECW Hardcore TV. See you next time!