Hardcore Heaven (1997) was the fourth Hardcore Heaven professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), as well as ECW's second ever pay-per-view event. The event took place on August 17, 1997 at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Joey Styles provided commentary for the event. This was the first edition of Hardcore Heaven to be broadcast on pay-per-view and ECW's second ever pay-per-view following Barely Legal in April. Six professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a Three-Way Dance for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, in which Shane Douglas defeated defending champion Sabu and Terry Funk to win the title. In the penultimate match, Tommy Dreamer defeated Jerry Lawler in an interpromotional match between ECW and World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Also at the event, Taz and The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) retained the World Television Championship and the World Tag Team Championship respectively. Event Prelude Before the pay per view was underway, the hip-hop duo, Insane Clown Posse entered the ring to hype up the crowd and endorse Rob Van Dam who also entered the ring. However, Van Dam and Sabu proceeded to attack the rappers. The Sandman, who was a guest at ringside, entered the ring and defended Insane Clown Posse. Before Sandman could land a punch, Van Dam & Sabu assaulted him, causing him to be carried off into an ambulance by medics. Preliminary matches Rick Rude interrupted Joey Styles' opening introduction and brought out Chris Candido for his scheduled match against Taz for the World Television Championship. Tod Gordon banned Rude from ringside due to Rude not being a licensed manager. Taz then came to defend the title against Candido. Candido attempted a Blonde Bombshell on Taz but Taz countered with a Northern Lights Tazplex which knocked both men out until they got up at eight. They exchanged moves until Taz hit a T-Bone Tazplex. Candido countered by powerslamming Taz but turned his back and began posing, allowing Taz to apply a Tazmission on Candido from behind to retain the title. Next, Spike Dudley competed against Bam Bam Bigelow. Dudley managed to hit an Acid Drop early into the match but Bigelow soon gained momentum and dominated Dudley. He tossed him from the ring into the crowd. Bigelow pulled Dudley back into the ring and hit a piledriver and a Bam Bamsault for