Hardcore Justice 2010: ECW Nostalgia Works Best When the Matches Get Room

The Full Blooded Italians reunion trio of Little Guido (Guido Maritato), Tony Mamaluke (Tony Luke) and Tracy Smothers opened Hardcore Justice against Kid Kash, Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond. The ring action began with Guido and Kash trading holds and applause from an audience revisiting the original ECW roster. Tony Luke followed with a small-package near fall against Swinger, while Smothers and Diamond interrupted the wrestling for a mock dance competition. Sal E. Graziano joined the act at ringside before clearing opponents with a clothesline, and Kash answered with a dive onto the group outside.

Back in the ring, all six wrestlers combined for a tower suplex. Kash hit Mamaluke with a double-underhook piledriver, but Guido removed Kash from the contest and caught Diamond with an impaler DDT for the decisive pin. That last sequence clarifies the actual fall: Guido pinned Diamond, not Kid Kash or Swinger. The C+ (6.8) recognizes an entertaining mix of nostalgic comedy and real six-man offense, though the interruption and ensemble structure keep it from being a tightly sustained match.

Too Cold Scorpio and C.W. Anderson opened their singles meeting with a handshake invitation that Anderson answered by spitting on Scorpio hand. Scorpio knocked Anderson to the floor and launched a corkscrew dive, establishing the aerial advantage that would define the match. Anderson countered with a superkick and a hard whip into the corner, focusing on keeping Scorpio grounded. Scorpio returned with a second-rope 450 splash for a near fall, but an attempted moonsault met Anderson raised knees followed by a spinebuster. That counter nearly gave Anderson the win and turned his apparent weakness against the aerial specialist into a source of offense.

Scorpio escaped at two, survived another series of punches and landed a superkick of his own. He then executed a modified moonsault that ended in a leg drop across Anderson for the pin after 6:46. The two men shook hands afterward, ending their bout with mutual recognition despite the opening insult. C+ (6.5) rewards a compact match with a distinct technical counter and earned aerial finish, not simply an exhibition of old moves.

Stevie Richards met P.J. Polaco, the wrestler once known as Justin Credible, with Hollywood Nova and the Blue Meanie in his corner. Polaco controlled the middle stretch by suplexing Richards on the arena floor, hitting a diving attack from the ring and following with a DDT inside for two. Richards answered with punches, kicks, a backbreaker and a powerbomb, but Polaco interrupted a second-rope flourish with a superkick. The crowd chanted Polaco old wrestling name, reinforcing that this was a reunion built around older rivalries and personalities rather than a new championship.

Polaco caught Richards in a spinning tombstone but broke his own cover when the Meanie climbed onto the apron. Richards seized the hesitation and connected with the Stevie Kick for the winning pin. The post-match events are distinct: Polaco struck Richards with a Singapore cane, the lights went out and Sandman appeared to hit Polaco with another cane. Richards won before Sandman came out, so the cane attack should not be misrepresented as a run-in that determined the pin. The C (6.2) fits a middling singles bout with a recognizable finishing mistake and a stronger nostalgic aftermath.

Rhino, Al Snow and Brother Runt competed under Three Way Dance rules with eliminations, not a one-fall triple threat. Rhino tried to establish his Gore early but Snow pulled his leg to prevent it, then targeted Brother Runt with a backbreaker. Runt launched himself from the top rope toward both bigger opponents, who caught and threw him onto the entrance stage. Snow followed with headbutts and a moonsault but could not keep Rhino down, and Runt returned to hit Snow with a top-rope double stomp. All three competitors were still legal until one man was pinned.

The referee was knocked down, Snow used the mannequin Head to strike Rhino and Runt threw a chair toward Snow before pretending to be unconscious. As the referee recovered and removed the chair, Snow attempted to hit Runt with Head; Runt countered with an RKO-style move and pinned Snow for the FIRST elimination at 5:48. Rhino immediately hit Runt with the Gore for the SECOND fall at 6:01, winning the match. The C (6.0) reflects quick, comic hardcore storytelling, and the precise elimination order is indispensable for accurate match-finder participant relationships.

Team 3D accepted an open challenge from Axl Rotten and Kahoneys (formerly Balls Mahoney) for a South Philadelphia Street Fight at Hardcore Justice. Brother Devon and Axl started inside the ring while Brother Ray and Kahoneys fought around the Impact Zone, then all four wrestlers brawled into the crowd. Once they returned to the ring the weapons became increasingly ridiculous: cooking sheets, trash-can lids, frying pans and even light-up toy lightsabers. The playful spots kept the ECW reunion tone from turning into a straightforward fight, but Ray and Devon still made a recognizable tag-team comeback after the opponents used chairs.

The closing stretch is historically important because two contemporary reports conflict. Multiple independent recaps, including WrestleView on August 8, 2010, Pro Wrestling History, Wrestling Recaps and Online World of Wrestling, describe Team 3D using lighter fluid supplied by Joel Gertner to ignite a table, then powerbombing KAHONEYS through it, with Brother Devon pinning Kahoneys at approximately 11:55. A separate 2010 Wrestling Inc. account identifies Axl as the flaming-table victim and does not independently identify the pinned teammate. The majority of explicit fall-by-fall accounts support Devon pinning Kahoneys, although the different Axl account makes the flaming-table landing uncertain. That disagreement should not be mistaken for another official fall. New Jack and Mustafa of the Gangstas then ran in to attack Team 3D, a post-match sequence rather than part of the deciding fall. The B- (7.2) credits the hardcore nostalgia, crowd interaction and climactic fiery finish despite the comedy and uneven competitive exchanges.

Raven and Tommy Dreamer returned to the feud that helped define original ECW, with Mick Foley serving as special referee and Dreamer family sitting near ringside. The opening assault was intensely personal: Raven struck Dreamer below the belt, knocked him onto the arena floor and then attacked him in front of Beulah and their daughters. Dreamer replied with soda thrown into Raven face, ladder attacks and a reversed chair drop-toe-hold, eventually drawing blood from his longtime rival. The violence built from familiar hardcore instruments but remained connected to a rivalry whose historical grievances the broadcast recapped before the match.

Raven reversed a ladder suplex and drove Dreamer through the ladder. Dreamer countered a DDT into Dreamer Driver, then tried a barbed-wire crossface before Nova and Blue Meanie interfered with Foley officiating. Dreamer later fought through handcuffs while Beulah confronted Raven over repeated chair attacks. Raven eventually placed a chair on the canvas and dropped Dreamer with a DDT onto it for the three count at 16:59. The B (7.8) reflects the sustained feud payoff, risky weapon spots and character stakes, even though interference and an uneven pace prevented a conventional technical contest.

Rob Van Dam and Sabu closed TNA’s Hardcore Justice tribute in a seventeen-minute fight that deliberately recreated the chair-and-table inventions of their ECW past. Longtime associate Bill Alfonso stood at ringside supporting both men. They traded springboard strikes, flying kicks and chair-assisted offense, with Van Dam kicking a chair into Sabu before Sabu caught Van Dam jumping from the top rope with a thrown chair. Sabu answered with a super hurricanrana that sent his opponent down onto a steel chair and later a camel clutch. Their familiarity made many counters immediate rather than ceremonial: when Sabu arranged his Triple Jump Moonsault, Van Dam tripped his legs and sent him face-first into the chair instead.

Van Dam connected with the Van Assassin, a split-legged moonsault and a chair-assisted Rolling Thunder for near falls. Sabu recovered with a jumping DDT that drove Van Dam onto a chair, then used a chair-assisted legdrop and placed him across a table. The deciding mistake belonged to Sabu: he attempted an Arabian Facebuster off the ropes to crash onto Van Dam through the table, but Van Dam moved and Sabu crashed through the table himself. Van Dam climbed to the top and landed a Five-Star Frog Splash for the winning pin at roughly 17:12. After the bell the men did not separate as enemies; when Van Dam offered a handshake, Sabu opted for a hug, and the ECW reunion roster joined the closing celebration. The B+ (8.0) rewards committed physical work and recognizable rival chemistry, tempered by the long weapon setup and occasional slow resets. The final fall is Van Dam pinning Sabu, not a table crash finish by itself.