Heat Wave: Rage in the Cage! was the second Heat Wave professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The event took place on July 15, 1995 in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Excerpts from then event aired on episode #117 of the syndicated television show '' ECW Hardcore TV'' on July 18, 1995. Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a steel cage match, in which The Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) squared off against The Gangstas ( New Jack and Mustafa). A notable event took place after the steel cage match between

Stevie Richards Michael Stephen Manna (born October 9, 1971), better known by his ring name Stevie Richards, is an American professional wrestler. Over the course of his career, Richards has performed for major professional wrestling promotions including Easte ...

and Luna Vachon, which saw Tommy Dreamer handcuff

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

to the cage and break a folding chair over his head in what was described as "the chair shot heard around the world".

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''. The Gangstas ( New Jack and Mustafa Saed) debuted in ECW at ''

Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams was a professional wrestling live event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on June 17, 1995. The event was held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Excerpts from Ba ...

'', where they attacked The Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) after their scheduled World Tag Team Championship defense against The Bad Breed ( Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten) was cancelled by Bill Alfonso. At Hardcore Heaven, Public Enemy defeated Gangstas in a tag team match. This led to a rematch between the two teams at Heat Wave. At Hardcore Heaven, Axl Rotten defeated Ian Rotten in a Taipei Deathmatch to end the feud between the two. Later that night,

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against

Cactus Jack Cactus Jack may refer to: People with the nickname * Mick Foley (born 1965), American actor, writer, professional wrestler, and color commentator * John Nance Garner (1868–1967), American politician * Jack Wells (sportscaster) (1911–1999), Ca ...

. On the July 4 episode of ''Hardcore TV'', it was announced that Sandman would defend the title against Rotten at Heat Wave. At

Barbed Wire, Hoodies and Chokeslams Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams was a professional wrestling live event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on June 17, 1995. The event was held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Excerpts from Ba ...

abandoned

The Pitbulls The Pitbulls (sometimes written as The Pit Bulls) were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe and "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. They were best known for their tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where ...

( Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2) to confront

and Beulah McGillicutty due to McGillicutty's fight against Richards' admirer

Francine :''This is a disambiguation page for the common name Francine.'' Francine is a female given name. The name is of French origin. The name Francine was most popular in France itself during the 1940s (Besnard & Desplanques 2003), and was well used i ...

during a handicap match against

Taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

and

2 Cold Scorpio Charles Bernard Scaggs (born October 25, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name 2 Cold Scorpio (sometimes spelled Too Cold Scorpio). He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Extrem ...

, which cost Pitbulls, the match. At Hardcore Heaven, Pitbulls lost again, this time to the debuting Dudley Brothers ( Dudley Dudley and Snot Dudley) due to Raven once again abandoning them at ringside due to the issue between Richards, Francine and Beulah. Later that night, Pitbulls showed up after Raven and Richards retained the World Tag Team Championship against Tommy Dreamer and Luna Vachon. Raven ordered Pitbulls to superbomb Luna to which Pitbulls refused and then Raven and Richards humiliated them by shoving apple pie in their faces and hitting them with chair and then Pitbulls retaliated by attacking Raven and Richards, thus quitting Raven's Nest and

turn Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...

ing faces and siding with Dreamer against his feud with Raven and Dudley Brothers, leading to Raven and Dudleys taking on Dreamer and Pitbulls at Heat Wave. At Hardcore Heaven, Taz defeated 2 Cold Scorpio but Bill Alfonso overturned the decision due to Scorpio's foot on the bottom rope and then Scorpio turned

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

by hitting Taz in the back with a

steel chair A folding chair is a type of folding furniture, a light, portable chair that folds flat or to a smaller size, and can be stored in a stack, in a row, or on a cart. It can be combined with a folding table. Uses Folding chairs are generally used f ...

and pinning him to win the match with Alfonso counting the pinfall. On the July 11 episode of ''Hardcore TV'', it was announced that Taz would team with Eddie Guerrero to take on Scorpio and Dean Malenko in a tag team match at Heat Wave.

Event

The opening bout was a singles match between Mike Norman and Mikey Whipwreck. Whipwreck won the match by pinfall following a '' FrankenMikey''. The second bout was a tag team match in which

and

defended the ECW World Tag Team Championship against

Don E. Allen Don Adelberg is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Don E. Allen (sometimes spelled Donn E. Allen). He is best known for his appearances with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Eastern Championship Wrestlin ...

and Tony Stetson. The match ended when Beulah McGillicutty began fighting with Richards' admirer

, which distracted Raven and Richards enough for the two to leave the ring to break it up and getting counted out, thus retaining the title. The third bout was a singles match between Hack Meyers and Val Puccio. The match ended when Puccio attempted to execute an elbow drop on Meyers, who avoided it and pinned Puccio for the win. The fourth bout was a six-man tag team match pitting Tommy Dreamer and

the Pitbulls The Pitbulls (sometimes written as The Pit Bulls) were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe and "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. They were best known for their tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where ...

against Raven, Dudley Dudley, and Snot Dudley. The match ended when the Pitbulls delivered superbombs to Richards and Snot to get the win. The fifth bout was a tag team match pitting Eddie Guerrero and

against

and Dean Malenko. The match ended when

Paul E. Dangerously Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, former promoter, photographer, and executive. He is currently signed to WWE, appearing on the SmackDown brand as manager for Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight ...

hit a cell phone on Scorpio's head while Scorpio had climbed up the top rope, leaving him vulnerable for Taz, who hit a ''

Tazplex A suplex is an offensive move used in sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs. Professional wrestling featur ...

'' on Scorpio for the victory. However, Bill Alfonso overturned the decision and let the match continue due to Dangerously's interference. This distracted Taz enough for Scorpio to superkick him while Malenko gave a

sitout powerbomb A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted (usually so that they are sitting on the wrestler's shoulders) and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a sta ...

to Guerrero, then Scorpio and Malenko pinned Taz and Guerrero simultaneously to win the match. After the match, Alfonso and Dangerously confronted each other and Rob Feinstein intervened until 911 came and chokeslammed Feinstein. The sixth bout saw

the Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

defend the

ECW World Heavyweight Championship The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW ...

against Axl Rotten. After a back and forth action, Sandman hit a '' Bitchin' Leg Drop'' on Rotten and pinned him to retain the title. The penultimate match of the event was an

intergender Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

steel cage match between Luna Vachon and Stevie Richards. Vachon applied a testicular claw on Richards to make him submit. After the match, Tommy Dreamer handcuffed Raven to the cage and smashed a

on his head, thus breaking it. It had such an impact that it was considered "the chair shot heard around the world." The main event was a steel cage match in which the Public Enemy ( Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) took on the Gangstas ( Mustafa and New Jack). Rock executed a

moonsault A moonsault, moonsault press, or back flip splash is a professional wrestling aerial technique. It was innovated by Mando Guerrero. Much of its popularity in both Japanese and American wrestling is attributed to The Great Muta, despite it being u ...

from the cage onto Jack onto a stack of tables and then Mustafa sprayed something in Grunge's eyes and pinned him for the win.

Reception

''Heat Wave'' received negative reviews from critics, although many appreciated Tommy Dreamer's chair shot on Raven as the true incident of the show that was worth watching. Matt Peddycord of ''Wrestling Recaps'' stated "Clearly the only match worth seeing is the Guerrero/Malenko tag match. If you dig the Dreamer/Raven stuff, the cage match is MUST-SEE VIEWING. The addition of the Pitbulls/Dudleys brawling is really fun too. Slight thumbs in the middle for Heat Wave 1995." Scott Keith of ''411Mania'' wrote "this was the Raven v. Tommy show, which provided for some entertaining segments, although the wrestling sucked", with "Mild recommendation to avoid unless you’ve never seen the Chairshot Heard Round the World."

Aftermath

The alliance of Tommy Dreamer and The Pitbulls continued their feud with Raven's Nest and Dudley Brothers after Heat Wave as Raven threatened to destroy the Pitbulls due to Pitbulls betraying him. On the July 25 episode of ''Hardcore TV'', Raven's Nest attacked Pitbulls after their match until Luna Vachon and Dreamer made the save. Dreamer and Pitbulls teamed with

to take on Raven, Richards and the Dudley Brothers at Wrestlepalooza. The Gangstas and Public Enemy continued their feud as the two teams competed in a

stretcher match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

at Wrestlepalooza. Eddie Guerrero and Taz competed against 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko in a Heat Wave rematch on the July 25 episode of ''Hardcore TV'', which Guerrero and Taz won. During the match, Taz injured his neck which put him out of action for several months. A week later on ''Hardcore TV'', Guerrero lost the World Television Championship to Malenko. On the August 1 ''Hardcore TV'', Mikey Whipwreck became the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship by winning a battle royal and received a title shot against The Sandman later in the night but failed to win the title. The two began a feud over the title and faced each other in a non-title match at Wrestlepalooza.

Results

References