Hardcore Heaven (1995) was the second Hardcore Heaven professional wrestling event that took place on July 1, 1995, in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. In the main event, The Gangstas made their in-ring ECW debut against The Public Enemy. The event marked the final appearance of Shane Douglas in ECW as he departed the promotion to join World Wrestling Federation and also marked the debut of The Dudley Brothers, a stable that would ultimately evolve into the tag team The Dudley Boyz.
Excerpts from Hardcore Heaven aired on episodes #115 and #116 of the syndicated television show ECW Hardcore TV on July 4 and 11, 1995, while the full event was released on VHS. The bout between Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas was featured on the 2001 Pioneer Entertainment compilation DVD Hardcore History.
Storylines
The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches played out on ECW's television program Hardcore TV.
At Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams, The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) were scheduled to defend the World Tag Team Championship against The Bad Breed (Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten) but Bill Alfonso prevented the match from taking place due to Bad Breed being forced to disband several months ago. The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) then debuted in ECW and attacked Public Enemy. This led to a match between the two teams at Hardcore Heaven.
Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten had been feuding with each other since the two had lost a match to The Pitbulls (#1 and #2) on the January 17 episode of Hardcore TV, which stipulated that the losing team would be forced to break up. Since Axl had been pinned, Ian attacked him with a chair, resulting in a rivalry between the two former tag team partners. They competed in several matches against each other in which they traded wins, leading to a Taipei Deathmatch between Axl and Ian at Hardcore Heaven.
At Hostile City Showdown, The Sandman defeated Shane Douglas to win the World Heavyweight Championship, thus ending Douglas' year-long reign. Cactus Jack was named the number one contender to the title on the April 25 episode of Hardcore TV and Douglas grew jealous of Jack getting the title shot instead of him. Jack received the title shot on the May 9 Hardcore TV, where Douglas' Triple Threat teammates Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko cost him the title shot. Jack and Douglas would then cost each other title shots against Sandman. At Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams, Sandman defended the title against Jack in a Barbed Wire match. Jack initially won the title by getting up as Sandman was unable to answer the referee's ten count until Bill Alfonso restarted the match on the ground that a title did not change hands on countouts. Alfonso then screwed Jack by deeming him unable to continue despite Jack not getting unconscious as Sandman was choking him down with barbed wire. This led to Jack getting another title shot against Sandman at Hardcore Heaven.
Tommy Dreamer and Raven had been feuding with each other since Raven's ECW debut in early 1995. At Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams, Dreamer defeated Luna Vachon's husband and Raven's Nest member Vampire Warrior, who was obsessed with Luna siding with Dreamer. Later the event, Luna lost to Dreamer's estranged girlfriend Beulah McGillicutty after a chair shot by Stevie Richards. After the match, Luna was attacked by Raven's Nest until Dreamer attempted to make the save but he was beaten as well. The day before Hardcore Heaven, at Mountain Top Madness, Raven and Stevie Richards defeated Public Enemy to win the World Tag Team Championship, leading to them defending the title against Dreamer and Luna at Hardcore Heaven.
Event
Preliminary matches
As the event kicked off, The Dudley Brothers made their ECW debut as the Dudley members Snot Dudley and Dudley Dudley took on The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2), who were seconded by their Raven's Nest teammates Raven, Stevie Richards and Beulah McGillicutty. During the match, Francine - who had debuted the prior month at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams - kissed Richards until Beulah broke it up and began a catfight with Francine. Raven dragged Richards and Francine to the backstage. Pitbulls nailed a superbomb to Snot but were distracted as Raven had been gone. The distraction allowed Dudley Dudley to dive and hit Pitbull #2 in the back of the head and put Snot on top of him for the pinfall victory.