Tuesday, June 21, 2016

ECW One Night Stand 2006 Review

Match 1: Tazz vs. Jerry Lawler
The atmosphere for this was absolutely electric. Before the match, Paul Heyman cut a promo on the rebirth of ECW where he hilariously put over the Tuesday night show. Anyway, Tazz comes out to a huge pop as Jerry Lawler came out afterwards to a boos across the board. You could just feel the hate! Lawler disgustingly walks out where he slapped Joey Styles on his way to the ring. As the bell rang, Styles attacked Lawler where Tazz then jumped in and locked the Tazmission for the quick win. Some sort of odd finish was expected when taking into account the injury background of Tazz. Regardless, the energy to start the show was incredible and it was a nice way to open up the card.
Winner: Tazz
Rating: n/a

Match 2: Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle
From feuding on SmackDown earlier in the year to finally meeting each other here at ECW's big show. It almost felt like I was watching a WWE match in an ECW setting, a contrast of different worlds on full display. Kurt Angle is able to dominate the match with his superior wrestling skills in the opening minutes as the raucous crowd lets Randy Orton know what they think of him. However, Orton beings to slowly figure Angle out a little bit and the match picks up another notch. Numerous reversals and false finishes that finally led to Angle Ankle Locking Orton for the finish. Fantastic story told from the opening bell to the last one. No weapons, no interference, just wrestling and these guys turned it up a notch at the right times. Angle celebrates as Orton calls for two referees to take him to the back as he waves the crowd goodbye. Great stuff here to follow up the opening match.
Winner: Kurt Angle
Rating: ****

Match 3: The F.B.I. vs. Super Crazy & Tajiri
The odd pairing of Super Crazy & Tajiri go up against The Full Blooded Italians in the third bout of the evening. Lots of cool spots and nostalgic kicks from Tajiri as they battled interference from Big Guido who was ringside for the match. Fun stuff here, a break from some of the more serious action for the night. The F.B.I. are able to score the win until The Big Show makes his ECW debut and absolutely destroys everybody in plain sight. This is where he debuted the nasty Cobra Clutch Backbreaker where he tossed his opponent after into a huge whirl. Fine match here with the emphasis being placed on the debut of Big Show who got a decent pop.
Winners: The F.B.I.
Rating: **3/4

Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship - Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Sabu
This match tends to get forgotten on this pretty stacked card. Nobody really believed that Sabu would beat Rey Mysterio here, the biggest question was how exactly would Mysterio not lose the gold. What a roller coaster of a match this was. They started off with a bang and ended it with a bang. It went less than ten minutes but they more than gave us everything they got. From the loud chair swings to the three incredible table spots, this match was a sight to see in itself. They needed a finish that allowed Mysterio to not lose the title but also have Sabu not lose any of his credibility. Sabu hit Mysterio with a jumping DDT out of the ring and through a table. The doctor ran out and called off the match. The crowd didn't like it but the two guys sold the spot like it was legitimate. Fun stuff from the start that had the already lively ECW crowd go nuts.
Winner: n/a
Rating: ***1/2

Match 5: Mick Foley, Edge & Lita vs. Tommy Dream, Terry Funk & Beulah McGillicutty
You want to talk about violence, you need to stop to take a look at this match right here. I loved the story behind this with Mick Foley selling out and becoming the WWE's Hardcore Champion with Edge. Who better to take these guys on then Foley's idol in Terry Funk and the face of ECW in Tommy Dreamer. After the opening promo where everybody talks mad shit on each other, Lita and Buelah McGillicutty are both added to the mix. As crazy as the crowd was for the last match, the crowd was even crazier for this one. And for damn good reason. Tazz said it best when there were weapons and bodies everywhere. The camera would show Dreamer smacking Edge over the head with a cookie sheet and immediately follow that with a shot of Foley punching the living hell out of Funk. Things really picked up when they brought out the wooden board of barbed wire. Yes, you read that right. Hearing Foley's head smack off the wood was quite disturbing. Funk was eventually taken to the back after injuring his eye but returned with a blaze of glory as he walked his bloody body through the crowd with a 2x4 wrapped in you guessed it, more barbed wire. But that wasn't enough for him, he lit the damn thing on fire! The blaze of glory continued when he smacked Foley around with it and drove him through the board outside. However, Edge would eventually come up big for his time when he drove Funk into the board with Foley and hit a Spear on Beulah for the win. That was insane and that is how you do hardcore wrestling. They topped themselves every other minute, had the crowd on their toes the entire time and finally finished it off with a nasty Spear by Edge. The pin he did on Beulah was just the cherry on top. Just as good as when I saw it a decade ago. Wild, fun, passionate and had my eyes glued to the screen the entire time.
Winners: Mick Foley, Edge & Lita
Rating: ****1/2

Match 6: Balls Mahoney vs. Masato Tanaka
This match was basically a bunch of basic wrestling moves before leading up to a devastating chair shot by Balls Mahoney for the win. They had a little bit of fun with the fans but this was nothing more than a bridge between the two main events. Credit for Masato Tanaka, always willing to take big bumps and always willing to put other guys over. Good for what it was, nothing out of the ordinary. Nice break in time for the main event of the night.
Winner: Balls Mahoney
Rating: *

Match 7: WWE Championship - John Cena (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
The atmosphere for this was insane. I always loved the atmosphere for the main event of WrestleMania 22 but this may blow it out of the water. The hate for John Cena in 2006 was at a peak as the ECW crowd wanted no part of the Cena-led era. The match started off with the crowd throwing back his shirt into the ring. It was hilarious to watch and just a sight to behold in itself. The crowd was giving Rob Van Dam all the love they could give. RVD had the advantage early on as the crowd was seemingly too much for Cena. However, we got a side of Cena we haven't really seen. He fed off the crowd and fought himself back into the match. A breath of fresh air to see Cena fight like a heel. Cena threw RVD through a steel chair placed in the corner, rammed him with the steel steps and finally locked in the STFU before the ECW referee had to break it up. The two argued before Cena finally decked him. Out of nowhere, a man in a motorcycle helmet comes out and Spears Cena through the table in the corner. The cameraman fell backwards after the Spear, not sure if that was intentional or not but it made for a nice touch. The man in the helmet then knocks out the referee and takes off the helmet to reveal himself. It's Edge! RVD hits the Frog Splash as Paul Heyman comes out to make the count. RVD is the champion of the world! He then celebrates with the fans, his wife and then entire locker room afterwards to close out the show. The match itself was incredible, maybe something that really had no right to be that good. It was raw and full of pure emotion. The ending just felt all over the place. How cool would it have been to see RVD get the clean win over Cena? And why did Heyman come out to make the count? Couldn't he have just been the referee in the first place then? Despite all that, this match is one of my personal favorites of all time. Seeing Cena fight as a heel really brought out the broad range of characters he has in his arsenal. A shame we never got to see the rematch.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Rating: ****1/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Although I wasn't a fan of the way Rob Van Dam beat John Cena, the card itself was booked masterfully. An absolute spectacle of a show. There wasn't an extravagant titantron, there wasn't a crazy fireworks display and there wasn't a stadium filled with thousands of fans. There was passion, emotion and an incredible showing of professional wrestling from the opening contest to the closing match. Will we ever see something like this again? Probably not. But at least we have the WWE Network to go back and watch incredible events like this one.
Rating: 9.25/10

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