This Day in Rasslin' History: Barely Legal

April 13, 1997 is a date that will live forever in hardcore infamy.  It was on that date that ECW would introduce itself to pay-per-view, and the wrestling landscape would never be quite the same again.  ECW’s road to a national broadcast was a long an arduous one, as pay-per-view services were reluctant to sell time to Extreme Championship Wrestling due to the violent nature of the product.  When they finally did land a spot on PPV, though, ECW certainly made the best of it, producing Barely Legal, one of the best wrestling shows ever put together.  One of the show’s marquee matches pitted two of wrestling’s biggest badasses against one another, as Taz took on Sabu back before WWE and TNA had softened both characters.

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The main event of the evening was a three way dance between Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, and Stevie Richards, with the winner immediately challenging Raven for the ECW World Championship.  Not only was Funk victorious in the 3-way, but he also made good on his title shot, defeating Raven and becoming the ECW Champion.  A World Television Championship bout was also featured on the card as Pitbull #2 sought revenge on champion Shane Douglas after the Franchise had broken the neck of Pitbull #1.  New Tag Team Champions were crowned when the Eliminators defeated the Dudley Boys, and a team of Japanese legends (Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, and Masato Yakushiji) wrestled the team of bWo Japan.  Rounding out the card was a clinic put on by Lance Storm and Rob Van Dam, who produced an instant classic every time they stepped in the ring with each other.