ECW Hardcore TV

Did You Know?

• Hardcore TV was taped in Japan on three dates: August 11, 1996, December 22, 1997, and December 13, 1998, all at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
• The show was taped in Canada on September 9, 2000 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
• The closing segment, featuring promos over Dick Dale's cover of "Misirlou," was known as "Pulp Fiction promos."

Format

ECW Hardcore TV was pieced together from footage captured at the promotion’s live events, including both the ECW Arena and other house shows. It also featured backstage promos and short skits that the live audience never saw and that weren’t included on home video releases. A regular segment called Hype Central promoted upcoming shows and merchandise with a playful, tongue-in-cheek tone. Music videos from well-known bands occasionally appeared, mixed with clips that recapped ongoing feuds and highlighted dangerous stunts.

The show often closed with a series of promos edited together over Dick Dale’s cover of “Misirlou,” a sequence fans called “Pulp Fiction promos.” These were designed to pack a lot of storyline information into a short time, keeping viewers up to date. Unlike typical wrestling programs, episodes didn’t build toward a main event. Owner and producer Paul Heyman preferred to keep the lineup unpredictable, featuring any number or type of matches from week to week.

The show was known for graphic violence, sexual content, and strong language, all core parts of ECW’s identity. Because it aired late at night, early broadcasts didn’t censor swearing or bloodshed, which helped the promotion stand out. Once ECW launched its TNN program, the syndicated Hardcore TV remained noticeably edgier than that more mainstream show.

Broadcast history

Hardcore TV aired in permanent time slots in ECW's home territories of Philadelphia and New York City, and was syndicated. In Philadelphia, it aired on SportsChannel Philadelphia on Tuesday evenings at 6pm until January 9, 1997, when it moved to Thursdays at 11pm. In April 1996, the SportsChannel airings were upgraded to 6pm and 11pm on Tuesdays, with a late Friday replay at 2am. After SportsChannel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61 on Wednesdays at 9pm, then to WGTW 48 on late Friday or Saturday nights.

In the Chicago and Northwest Indiana market, it traded among WCIU 26 on Saturdays and WPWR 50 on Friday nights, a week behind, while KBS Chicago aired it on Friday nights. WRBW in Orlando aired it very late Saturday nights; WNFM in Fort Myers aired it in a primetime Saturday slot; the rest of Florida saw it on the Sunshine Network very late Friday nights, with WRBW invoking syndex to black out ECW in Orlando. From 1997 to 1998, it also aired on WPXN-TV channel 31 in various late night Saturday slots.

Empire Sports Network and WBGT-LP carried the show in western New York and Rochester. WPTT-TV in Pittsburgh aired it late Saturday nights; that station, now WPNT owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, currently airs Ring of Honor Wrestling.