Connor McGrath
It’s hard to believe after a decade of watered down, bastardized reunions, how huge ECW nostalgia was in the mid ’00s. For a promotion that died with little love, ECW got a ton of love postmortem. WWE’s retrospective DVD set, The Rise and Fall of ECW, released in November of 2004, ended up being one of the company’s best selling DVD sets of all time. It inspired a book of the same name and also this pay per view. With WWE being rather rudderless during this era, fans looked towards the past for entertainment. And with the DVD selling like hot cakes and the stars of ECW still in some semblance of their prime, the time was perfect for an ECW reunion. When the sequels suck, it can be kind of easy to forget how good the original was.
ECW One Night Stand
June 12th, 2005
Live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York
Announcers: Joey Styles & Mick Foley
Ring announcer Stephen DeAngelis intros the “Voice of ECW” Joey Styles. Joey gets a big pop from the crowd. He fights back tears. I guess he was overjoyed he didn’t have to do infomercials for the Franklin Mint anymore. Styles gives us his trademark “OH MY GOD!” and welcomes his broadcast partner for the night, Mick Foley.
We see ECW’s classic, low budget intro. I enjoyed that ECW pretty much the same intro for every show.
Then we get a WWE-ized version of the intro set to Drowning Pool’s “Bodies”. I would think using that song was a WWE decision but I think Heyman actually loved that song for some reason. It became the theme song for the revived ECW in the late ’00s.
Chris Jericho Vs Lance Storm (with Dawn Marie)
Intros are nice as we get some footage of the wrestlers entering during the ECW days. Lance Storm was comking out of a brief retirement for this match. Jericho being intro’d as “Lionheart” instead of Y2J and wearing his old tights is a nice touch. Styles & Foley do a good job of explaining both guys’ previous history with each other. This match isn’t very ECW like and is kind of basic but is very energetic and does its job. We get a “Fuck John Cena” chant, which might be one of the first displays of Cena backlash. Finish come when Dawn Marie distracts the referee while Jericho has Storm in the Liontamer. Justin Credible and Jason Knight run in. Credible whacks Jericho with the Singapore Cane and Storm gets the upset win. ***
Foley and Styles are surprised Storm & Jericho didn’t hug it out. Joey Styles is upset at Storm’s behavior. That’s not how Storm should end his career.
Styles & Foley talk about how the stars of RAW & Smackdown are planning on invading the pay per view and will be watching from a skybox.
“Pitbull” Gary Wolfe introduces a video package dedicated to the members of the ECW roster that are no longer with us. They’re watching from the best seat in the house! The great Elks Lodge in the Sky!
Fans chant for Chris Candido, who had passed away a little over a month earlier.
Triple Threat Match: Tajiri (with The Sinister Minister and Mikey Whipwreck) Vs Super Crazy Vs Little Guido (with the Full Blooded Italians)
Styles does a nice job of explaining the differences between an ECW triple threat match. I like how the announcers state outright that this match is going to descend into a clusterfuck with all of the guys on the outside. This is a stereotypical fun, little ECW triple threat, highlighted by Super Crazy doing a, um, crazy dive off the balcony onto the FBI. Guido is eliminated when Mikey Whipwreck runs in and hits the Whippersnapper on Guido while the ref is distracted. Super Crazy wins with a moonsault off the top. ***
Joey Styles intros a look back at ECW’s best moments of 1994.
Rey Mysterio vs Psicosis
Psicosis wears his mask to the ring but takes it off before the match starts. Joey Styles sort of implies Psicosis has more honor because he kept his mask off after losing a Mask Vs Mask match in WCW while Rey pretended that he never lost his mask in WCW after he joined WWE. Maybe I’m misinterpreting it? Anyway, this match is the letdown of the match. Especially since I’ve recently watched some of their classics from ’95/’96. This was around the time the Rey backlash started as well. Whereas guys like Jericho modified their performances to fit the ECW style, Rey just did the same thing he would have done on an average episode of Smackdown! Rey wins with the 619 and West Coast Pop (both WWE signatures) to win the match. **1/2
After the match, the Smackdown! invaders enter their box, led by Kurt Angle and JBL. JBL does a great job of trolling the crowd.
A video package airs highlighting ECW from 1995 to 1999. There’s a lot of emphasis on Sabu breaking his neck in the ring. Must have been fun for Sabu to relive that memory!
Joel Gertner enters the Smackdown! Skybox and gets smacked by Kurt Angle. Angle thinks ECW fans are a bunch of SCUM! He says the last time he went to an ECW event, he walked out halfway through cause it SUCKED! JBL trolls the IWC. What a great man.
RVD interrupts him and tells him to shaddup. RVD says he’s gonna shoot, brother. He’s gonna bring us back to the days before he said more than “Dude” and “Whatever”. RVD says he’s not cleared to wrestle (having torn his ACL & meniscus in January). Missing One Night Stand is worse than missing Booker T’s wedding or missing WrestleMania. Rhyno ruins the moment by goring RVD and ripping off his legbrace. Lights go out. DID SOMEBODY FORGET TO PAY THE BILLS AGAIN? No! WAIT! IT’S SABU!
Rhyno Vs Sabu (with Bill Alfonso)
Somehow, it took us until four matches in for our first impromptu match. Crowd chants “You Got Fired” at Rhyno since he had gotten released from his contract two months before this. This is a Sabu match so if you like that kind of stuff, you’ll like this. Rhyno’s a pretty good foil for him. Never understood why Rhyno didn’t get a better run in WWE. He, at least, should have been a long term guy in the Intercontinental Title scene. RVD limps in during a ref bump and gets revenge on Rhyno. Sabu gets the win with the Arabian Skullcrusher through a table. **
Al Snow talks to Head. Al Snow thinks it’s Head’s fault that the assholes from RAW & Smackdown are here ruining the show.
We get a highlight package highlighting the final years of ECW.
The RAW superstars arrive, led by Eric Bischoff. Joey Styles is glad that he didn’t bring his wife because Edge is here (the Lita thing had just happened, you see). Bischoff has wanted to kill ECW since its first pay per view but it’s back and better than ever!
Chris Benoit Vs Eddie Guerrero
Styles says this match will prove that ECW isn’t just about blood and guts! It’s about great technical wrestling too. I think they said pretty much the same thing during the first match. Foley brings up the end of these guys celebrating at the end of WrestleMania XX. Smackdown and RAW would love this match but you can only see it in ECW. Joey Styles reluctantly admits that the WWE World Title is the big belt and both these guys have had it. This match somehow had never happened in ECW. Joey Styles has one of the best calls I’ve ever heard. “How appropriate it is that this ring is covered in canvas because these two men are true artists”. Chris Benoit wins with the Crippler Crossface. Like Rey-Psicosis, this match is a letdown compared to these two’s previous work. It’s a decent match and there are moments where it seem like it’s gonna elevate to the next but it’s really disappointing since these are two of the all time great workers. **1/2
Smackdown! stars applaud Benoit. Angle’s taken his shirt off for some reason.
Joel Gertner tries to suck up to Eric Bischoff in the RAW luxury box so Bischoff will give him a job. Bischoff wants to think about it for a second. Maven thinks Gertner’s terrible. Didn’t know Maven was still on the roster. Bischoff says HELL NO and tells Gertner to scram.
Mike Awesome Vs Masato Tanaka
RAW guys turn their back on Mike Awesome. Styles is still pissed about Awesome leaving for WCW five years earlier and goes on a long rant about it. Foley calls this our second shoot promo of the night. Styles had one of the best lines in the previous match and has one of the worst in this one when Awesome hits a suicide dive and he says “It’s a shame he (Awesome) didn’t succeed and take his own life!” Styles’ reaction seems just a bit over the top. This match is the highlight of the night and really comes the closest to capturing the spirit of the original ECW. This match is absurd and ridiculous (you can see JBL laughing at it occasionally) and really not great work rate wise but these two are really putting everything on the line and going balls to the wall. Awesome wins with an Awesome Bomb through a table on the floor, followed by Awesome diving over the top onto Tanaka with a splash, leading to a pin on the floor. Damn. ***1/2
Joey Styles thanks the fans for making this PPV possible by buying The Rise & Fall of ECW. Mick Foley says new fans saw what the ECW lifestyle is really all about!
Paul Heyman enters. The mad scientist of ECW has arrived. Heyman says he’s not crying. His eyes are red because he was backstage smoking a J with RVD. Heyman gives a shoutout to Tod Gordon and the production staff. Heyman badmouths Eric Bischoff. Bischoff flips Heyman off. Heyman makes a joke about Edge stealing Lita from Matt Hardy. Edge does a spit take and then does Matt Hardy’s hand gesture. Heyman gets a good crack at JBL saying that he only got to be champion for a year because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesdays.
Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman Vs The Dudley Boyz
Dudleys are back in their classic tie dye. Foley says Bubba Ray & D’Von love WWE but their hearts will always be with ECW. The Dudleys had inexplicably been written off at this point and had spent most of the second half of ’04 and first half of ’05, in development and being retooled. It’s funny that they were written off as nearing the end in ’05. They’re still going fairly strong today and Bubba reinvented himself and became one of the great heels of wrestling. Go figure. Tommy Dreamer seems relatively well composed given his reputation for bursting into tears at the drop of a hat at these reunion shows.
Before the match starts, the bWo runs in. Joey Styles does some fake sounding, convulsive laughter at their antics. Bischoff wears a great blank expression, reacting to the Blue World Order. The bWo jumps Sandman & Dreamer. Kid Kash unsuccessfully tries to run in for a save to little reaction but gets tossed. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten waddle down and clear the bWo out of the ring with some stiff chairshots. Of course, this culminates with Kid Kash diving on everybody (using the ref as a springboard) so this match can formally start.
Dreamer gets busted open via cheese grater early on. Surprised there hasn’t been a whole hell of a lot of blood on this show. Bubba Ray smears Dreamer’s blood all over his face. Ah, the days before the Bob Orton Jr. hepatitis scandal. I guess we’ll get to that in a few months. Ladder tilt a whirl spot is always classic. Foley cracks a jokes about Bubba being a cheap, second rate Cactus Jack ripoff (which I really don’t see outside of the similar builds, their goatees, and a similarly crappy taste in fashion to this point) but admits that Cactus Jack is just a cheap, second rate Terry Funk.
Bubba Ray gets busted open too. The Impact Players run in to attack Dreamer and Sandman. Credible hits the That’s Incredible on Dreamer. Francine runs in and kicks Dreamer in the dick. Beulah runs in to attack Francine. Styles yells “Catfight”, Foley chants ECW. Faces clear house. Bloody Dreamer hugs it out with his wife Beulah. Styles and Foley claim that somebody just told Styles in their headset that they couldn’t use the word “balls” & in the process of apologizing for its use, say it several more times because fuck Kevin Dunn, probably. ECW! ECW! ECW! Spike runs in, rocking the tie dye & carrying lighter fluid and Tommy Dreamer gets powerbombed by Bubba Ray through a flaming table. The Dudleys win. Fun, overbooked mess. ***
*Glass Shatters* It’s “Stone Cold” Steve Austin… inexplicably wearing a faded XFL Las Vegas Outlaws jersey instead of one of his own shirts. Austin invites everybody into the ring for a beer bash. The locker room clears out. Joey Styles seems excited Johnny Swinger is there for some reason. Roadkill’s there too. CHICKENS! Austin invites the RAW & Smackdown stars down there. If they don’t come down there in ten seconds, he’s going to come up there and slap each and every one of them. ’90s wrestling superfans Vladimir and Faith No More Guy chant along with Stone Cold.
(A knockoff of) “War Machine” comes on and Taz (Styles emphasizes that it’s with one Z not two!) enters. Bischoff joins the broadcast booth and him and Styles bicker. A wild brawl ensures. Taz locks Angle in the Tazmission in the aisle. Austin laughs. Somewhere in the scrum, JBL legit potatoed Blue Meanie and broke his nose. ECW guys are understandably legit pissed at him. Bubba Ray pulls the Wrestling God out of the ring and JBL stumbles to the back. Austin tells Mick Foley to bring Bischoff to the ring. Everybody pummels Bischoff. Austin asks if Bischoff has any last words. Bischoff yells “FUCK ECW!” Austin Stunners Bischoff and says it’s time to drink some god damn beers. Styles wishes he could make time stand still so this moment could last forever.
Bubba Ray & D’Von literally toss Bischoff out of the building. Nice last appearance for them as a tag team (not counting their potential/probable Hall of Fame induction in the future) as they’d be released not too long after. Everyone pounds beers. Snow dumps a beer on Head. Show closes with Sandman and Austin raising their arms in victory.
This was certainly a very fun show and I think might have actually better than 95% of original ECW pay per views. Parts of it haven’t aged well (Styles commentary during the Awesome match obviously) and the matches themselves felt very rushed but it was a nice sort of sampler platter of what made ECW great. Now I think the show got overpraised at the time and still gets overpraised by ECW mutants. I remember a consensus that this was the best pay per view WWE had produced since WrestleMania X-7 four years earlier. I’m not even sure if it was the best pay per view of ’05. Certainly a very consistent show since I think there were no matches that were less than decent but there weren’t any blow away classics here.
A lot of this show’s luster has been ruined by the lame ensuing ECW reunions. I look at ECW reunions like a film franchise. Original was great and very fun. It had a sequel that seemed questionable in theory but managed to be just as good if not better. After that, it got increasingly watered down with increasingly less original cast members. Can’t say I’m looking forward to watching TNA Hardcore Justice 2010 in 2020.
ECW was a super influential, one of a kind promotion that we’ll never see the likes of again. And honestly, I kind of think that’s probably a good thing!
Next on Ten Years After… WWE goes from Extreme to Hell…in a Cell that is. Triple H & Batista settle their long running feud in the unrelenting Hell in a Cell structure in a match for the World Heavyweight Title. Plus John Cena defends the WWE Title in a Triple Threat Match against Chris Jericho and Christian and Kurt Angle takes on Shawn Michaels in a rematch of their show stealing bout at WrestleMania 21. Join me as I take a look back at Vengeance ’05!
