ECW: One Night Stand II
June 11, 2006
New York City, NY
Hammerstein Ballroom

Paul Heyman comes out to the ring to a warm welcome by the ECW fans. He pours another cup of the ECW kool-aid for anyone who will listen. ECW IS BACK! THE SHOW IS GOING TO BE JUST LIKE IT USED TO BE! He thanks the fans for all their support. Without them, none of this would be possible.

Now cue the old ECW intro video circa 2000!

Your host is Joey Styles.

• Tazz [ECW] vs. Jerry Lawler [RAW]
  

Tazz and Lawler have been having a “war of words” over ECW as of late. To get some extra heat, Lawler walks over and open hand slaps Joey Styles across the face. Immediately after the bell, DOWN COMES THE STRAP! Joey Styles jumps on Lawler’s back, but gets shrugged off. As Lawler picks him up for a PILEDRIVER, Tazz comes up behind him to apply the TAZMISSION for the win at 0:37. No rating.

They show us what happened on the ECW vs WWE special from Wednesday night. The Big Show turned on the RAW brand to join up with ECW. I’m sure lots of hardcore ECW fans were super thrilled about *that* decision.

Tazz joins Styles at the commentary table for the rest of the show since he made such quick work of Jerry Lawler.

• Kurt Angle [ECW] vs. Randy Orton [RAW]
  

Orton has words for some smart-mouthed arab kid in the front row after the kid punches him in the arm. Styles can’t believe Orton would have the gold stream of fireworks going off during his entrance in ECW, which you may remember was not part of their production. Along with Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle was one of two names announced that would be joining the ECW brand prior to the ECW vs. WWE special. These two revamped their feud a week or so back after Angle issued an open challenge to anybody. Orton answered the challenge and drilled Angle with an RKO as retribution for beating him in the KOTR tournament and breaking his ankle, which was just kayfabe for a wellness policy violation. Angle shows he has fully embraced the ECW brand with an ECW mouthpiece. To say the least, this crowd is anti-Orton. Various homophobic slurs and F-bombs are chanted throughout this match. I’m not going to mention each and every one of them, but that’s what the crowd is doing during this match. Just so *you* know. Orton realizes he has so much heat here that he doesn’t really have to lock up with Angle until he decides to. When they do touch, Angle keeps him grounded and slaps him around. Essentially he is abusing Orton for the entertainment of the crowd. Angle is so confident here that he gives Orton his head to grab. After he suplexes Orton over, Angle charges Orton in the corner and misses. Orton pounds on Angle against the ropes and starts working the back. He whips him hard from corner to corner. When they go to the mat though, Angle easily takes control. Orton elbows him away and grabs his signature chinlock that was SOOO 2006. Angle fights back and hits a German suplex. He wins a Dory Funk Jr. slugfest and delivers some Rolling Germans. Orton armdrags away the Angle Slam and dropkicks Angle in the face. He counters the headlock backbreaker from Orton and hits a back suplex. DOWN COME THE STRAPS! ANGLE SLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Time for the ANKLELOCK, but Orton sends him flying into the corner and gives Angle that headlock backbreaker. RKO gets shoved off into the corner. Orton heads up top and avoids a Pop-Up Superplex. Flying body press to Angle, but Angle rolls through (sort of) and gets two. Orton tries the RKO once more, but Angle counters to the ANKLELOCK and ultimately gets the tapout. (15:09) The crowd calls Orton a “pussy” as he’s helped to the locker room by some medics. Tons of heat here and man did they make Kurt Angle look like a monster. ***

• The F.B.I. (w/Big Guido) [ECW] vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri & Super Crazy [ECW]
  

In case you don’t know, the FBI consists of Tony Mamaluke & Little Guido. Super Crazy leaves the lawnmower behind and rejoins ECW. This is a one night only appearance for Tajiri as he left WWE to go back to Japan at the end of 2005. Hence, the “welcome back” chants from the crowd. You can see HUSTLE on his tights. Styles points out how Tajiri and Super Crazy were rivals in ECW over the TV title back in 2000 so it’s strange seeing them here as a tag team. Crazy and Mamaluke start us off here exchanging various holds on the mat for the first few minutes. Crazy slams Mamaluke out of a short-arm scissors and then launches Mamaluke into an X-Factor. Standing moonsault by Crazy gets two. Time for Tajiri and Guido which is VINTAGE ECW. Guido fires first on Tajiri with a tilt-a-whirl into a Fujiwara armbar until Tajiri reaches the ropes. Tajiri locks in a Tequila Sunrise. The FBI get put in the tree of woe in opposite corners for STEREO SLIDING DROPKICKS. Afterwards, they bail out and Super Crazy hits them with an Asai Moonsault. Back inside, Big Guido makes use of himself and yanks Crazy out to the floor for some guardrail action. Back in the ring, Crazy gets worked over for a bit. While Mamaluke has Crazy in a camel clutch, Little Guido comes off the second rope for a dropkick to the face. Tajiri saves the day by kicking the FBI around. He puts Mamaluke in an octopus hold. Guido breaks it up, but Tajiri comes right back with a double handspring back elbow. The match breaks down again and the FBI are put in STEREO TARANTULAS! Big Guido attacks, but he’s virtually useless and gets sent out of the ring. Little Guido kicks Crazy to the floor and the momentum takes him over the guardrail. That leaves Tajiri all alone to take a DOUBLE FISHERMAN’S BUSTER. Guido covers Tajiri for the win. (12:25) This was alright, but felt a little long to me. Afterwards, the Big Show comes out and destroys all of them to show he’s a monster to be reckoned with as well on ECW. **½

Before the next match, Joey and Tazz mention that Sabu might be bringing the Smackdown title to ECW if he is successful here tonight against Rey Mysterio when JBL pops up and starts defending his brand and runs down ECW. He recalls beating up the Blue Meanie at last year’s One Night Stand show and says Rob Van Dam is a WWE star because of Vince McMahon – not because of anything he did in ECW. He then insults Tazz for leaving network TV to go to the nerdy Sci-Fi channel and announces he is the new color commentator for Smackdown. He finishes saying “Now kiss my ass. This show sucks.” HA!

• Extreme Rules Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) [Smackdown] vs. Sabu [ECW]
  

Sabu was last seen in TNA in a losing effort against Samoa Joe in a cage match at – of course – the LOCKDOWN PPV. Even though he’s an ECW original, the crowd boos Mysterio for being an ECW suck up with “ECW” on the back of his mask. He’s also wearing his old style tights, which I think is pretty cool. Both are armed with chairs here, but ref Nick Patrick makes them both put the chairs down before he can ring the bell. They do a little bit of wrestling until they decide to start clanging those chairs. Rey charges into a backdrop and retreats to the corner for some Air Sabu. To make him pay, Mysterio drop toeholds Sabu to the chair. Rey gets EXTREME as well by jumping off the chair and delivering a headscissors. 619 fails and Sabu throws a chair in his face. Sabu then scaffolds a table between the apron and the guardrail. He lays Rey on the table and wants to somersault plancha Mysterio through the table, but Rey escapes. Sabu catches himself in mid-springboard and falls on the guardrail. After Mysterio bounces Sabu’s face off the steps, he comes back inside and hits a moonsault press for two. Sabu comes back and legdrops Mysterio while he’s in between the ropes. Camel clutch is applied, but he gets up and points to the sky when the crowd chants for the Sheik. Arabian Facebuster gets two. He sets up a table in the aisle and Rey puts him through with a springboard seated senton. Crazy! Sabu fires back with a springboard leg lariat and hits the Triple Jump Moonsault for 1-2-NO! Rey sits Sabu down in a chair and tries another springboard seated senton, but Sabu moves and Mysterio suffers the consequences. Onto the finish, Sabu puts Rey on that table made into a scaffold and flies into Rey to put him through the table with a Triple Jump DDT! HOLY CRAP. Ref Nick Patrick throws up the X and the ECW doctor comes down to check on both guys. He decides they can no longer continue and calls for the bell. (9:09) That was an insane spot and while I know the ending was a work, that still could have gone horribly wrong for one of your world champs. The crowd doesn’t like the decision, but that was one of the craziest spots of the year in WWE. Fun spot fest with a killer ending in my opinion. It puts over the extreme nature of ECW matches and introduces a guy like Sabu to the younger (or newer) viewer. Not as good as I remembered though. ***

Video package airs to show us how the recent Mick Foley and Edge alliance came about. Am I the only one who can see Lita’s nipple for like that whole segment?

• Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer (w/Beulah McGullicutty) [ECW] vs. Mick Foley & Edge (w/Lita) [RAW]
  

Mick Foley comes out first and cuts a promo similar to the style he would have done back in early 1996 during his anti-hardcore phase before he left to go to the WWF. It’s a very pro-WWE promo, but it’s all for laughs. The clincher is when he said he used to love ECW when it was run by a true visionary named Stephanie McMahon. Long live the Alliance! Foley introduces Edge as the co-holder of the WWE Hardcore title, which was a thing they brought back recently. Edge makes fun of New York City, the nerdy ECW fans, and how they will all be pleasuring themselves tonight to his actual girlfriend. More talking from Lita downing Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. Apparently, these people think Lita is a crack whore. When their opponents come to the ring, Beulah suggests they make this 3-on-3 since apparently Lita likes threesomes so much. So yeah, this is happening now. Beulah is wearing heels, by the way.

• Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah McGillicutty [ECW] vs. Mick Foley, Edge & Lita [RAW]
  

Joey recalls a very bloody match Beulah once won in ECW against Bill Alfonso. Dreamer shines over Edge for the first minute or so. Edge tags out and lets Foley deal with him, but Foley wants Funk. Foley takes some punches from Funk and decides he doesn’t want to be here, but it’s all to sucker Funk into their corner. Dreamer comes over and throws Edge to the floor as these four pair off. Oddly enough, Beulah and Lita stay in their corners. Out comes the weapons as Funk and Dreamer rule the ring for a bit. Edge whacks Dreamer with a cookie sheet while Foley takes Funk up the aisle and into the crowd. Meanwhile, Edge takes a hiptoss bump into a ladder in the corner. Funk comes back to the ring to do the ladder spot knocking down Foley and Edge. He climbs the ladder to probably do a moonsault on Foley, but Edge turns it over when Funk gets all the way up. That’s a nasty spot for an old man. Edge and Foley pull out a huge sheet of plywood with barbed wire stapled to it. They suplex the barbed wire plywood onto Dreamer. They try to do it again, but Funk trips them up causing the sheet to fall on top of them. The sheet gets leaned in the corner as Funk and Dreamer jab Foley until he’s dazed enough to go crashing down into it. Edge runs interference as Foley turns the sheet back into Funk. When Funk comes out from under the barbed wire, Foley wraps some barbed wire around his arm and punches Funk in the face. To make it worse, Foley rakes the barbed wire across Funk’s eyes. Funk then does the “MY EYE” sell from 1981 until some medics rush him backstage. After Foley and Edge abuse Dreamer with a barbed wire bat, Foley pulls out Mr. Socko. Needless to say, the ECW fans here do not approve.

Anyways, he applies the MANDIBLE CLAW on Beulah to draw the ire of Tommy. Edge and Lita beat up Dreamer until Foley can give him the MANDIBLE CLAW. While he and Lita hold Dreamer up, Edge SPEARS him down. They grab Beulah as Edge puts her in a pumphandle situation. He’s obviously not thinking about professional wrestling in that moment. And what do you know if Terry Funk with his face all wrapped up to stop the bleeding isn’t returning to the ring carrying a barbed wire 2×4. He abuses Foley and Edge with the 2×4 and then SETS IT ON FIRE. Foley gets whacked with the flaming barbed wire 2×4 and takes a bump falling through the barbed wire sheet of plywood. Edge knocks Funk off the apron onto Foley. As Edge turns around, Dreamer is there to DDT Edge. He then gets real EXTREME by applying a BARBED WIRE CRIPPLER CROSSFACE. That’s just craziness. Lita kicks Dreamer in the face to get him to stop, but then Beulah gets in the ring to finally have her catfight moment. Dreamer pulls Lita off his wife and gives her a DEATH VALLEY DRIVER. He and Beulah pose for the fans, but then Edge comes up from behind and uses a barbed wire across Dreamer’s eyes to deliver an Edge-O-Matic. While Beulah checks on her hubby, Edge runs her down with a SPEAR. He then proceeds to go real deep with the missionary style pin and dry humps her for the three-count. (18:47) Let me just say that this is the SECOND match in two months that involved Mick Foley being set on fire, ladies and gents. While Foley, Edge, and Lita leave on a high note, Terry Funk gets a standing ovation as he has to be cut out of the barbed wire mess. One of the wildest matches you’ll ever see in WWE. ***½

Backstage, we see John Cena holding his WWE title and contemplating thiiiiiiings. Let’s see what Rob Van Dam is doing. He’s shadow boxing and getting all warmed up.

• Masato Tanaka [ECW] vs. Balls Mahoney [ECW]
  

RIP BALLS. As for Tanaka, this is another one night only appearance for the guy here in WWE. He’s got his right shoulder heavily taped, so I’m not expecting much of a match here. Lots of brawling and beers thrown in Tanaka’s face. Tazz and Joey discuss whether getting hit with a light beer or a dark beer hurts worse. Balls blasts Tanaka over the head with a black ECW chair and wins the match. (5:04) Back to Japan with you, Tanaka. This crowd sure loves Balls and he earned himself a spot on the new ECW roster for the next year or so. GO BALLS. ¾*

Video package airs highlighting the build to John Cena and Rob Van Dam.

Before the main event starts, Eugene wanders out to the ring. This crowd would boo a retarded person. He reads a corny poem he wrote and annoys the crowd until the Sandman (without Metallica) saves the day with his kendo stick.

• Extreme Rules Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena (c) [RAW] vs. Rob Van Dam [ECW]
  

Talking about being in the belly of the beast, Cena is put in a true test of just how much a man can take from an audience. He handles himself brilliantly: ducking his head and raising up the gold as he walks out the gate, throwing the t-shirt into the crowd after getting it thrown back at him several times, and ignoring the general abuse from the hardcore ECW fans. If Cena wins, they riot. It’s all you need to know. Tight tie-up and Cena comes out punching. Cradle suplex gets two and Cena starts to bask in the negative responses. Cena ducks an enziguri kick, but eats the mule kick to send him frustrated out to the floor. Back in, they try and stare each other down. Van Dam wins a slugfest, but then takes a clothesline out to the floor where Cena flies off the top onto him. They brawl around ringside. Cena gets distracted by the crowd and takes a moonsault press off the steps from RVD. Van Dam gets launched into the crowd and Cena goes out after him! There’s security all around, mind you. Back to ringside, RVD hits the Spinning Legdrop from the apron onto Cena who is hanging on the barricade. In the ring, RVD brings with him a chair and dropkicks Cena down in the corner. Cover, 1-2-NO! Rolling Thunder onto the chair! He tries the same thing with the split-legged moonsault, but Cena brings the knees up to block. Nasty DDT on the chair scores a nearfall for Cena. Next up, he wedges the chair in the corner and sends RVD face-first into the chair with a catapult! That only gets two. Just to be a dick, Cena hits the Protobomb and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. FU fails and RVD hits a spinning heel kick. Van Dam tries to go up top, but Cena brings him down with a powerbomb.

RVD wants to do the springboard kick while Cena sits on the top rope, but can’t quite work it out. He settles for a dropkick off the apron onto the barricade in a sick bump. With Cena down, RVD takes a moment to pull out a table and prop it up in a corner. Unfortunately, he turns back around into the STFU. RVD makes the ropes and John Finnegan has to forcibly pull Cena off him. Somebody needs to tell him that Cena can’t get disqualified. Anyways, Cena doesn’t care for this type of treatment and decks Finnegan. Cena brings in the steel steps and decks RVD real good. Smackdown ref Nick Patrick appears and counts 1-2-NO! Cena tries once more for the FU, but winds up just having to dump RVD out to the floor. Meanwhile, a man wearing a riot squad helmet comes into the ring and SPEARS Cena through the table! He then nails Nick Patrick and takes off his helmet to reveal that he is in fact EDGE! He drags Cena to the middle of the ring and walks out. Crowd chants, “Thank you Edge!” As RVD crawls back into the ring, he sees an opportunity and delivers the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH. There are no refs, so ECW evil genius Paul Heyman runs into the ring and counts the 1-2-3 to crown RVD as the NEW WWE Champion. (20:40) I’m not a huge ECW fan, but I can certainly appreciate the atmosphere and the desire of the crowd to see their guy overcome the establishment. Cena never went too far to go full-blown heel on RVD, but he certainly had an air about him where you knew he was trying to be a dick. And why shouldn’t he? This crowd was treating him like less than human. Afterwards, Rob Van Dam celebrates with the fans and then comes back to the ring to celebrate his title win with various members of the new ECW roster including the Big Show and Kurt Angle. ***¼

Final Thoughts: This is one of those shows where the crowd atmosphere made the show. I think it gets a lot of praise for the energy the crowd provided and since it’s an exciting show from that perspective, people aren’t thinking clearly about how good the show actually was. They did book a few things right (specifically Angle, Big Show, and Edge) and a few things very wrong here (specifically Van Dam). As per usual with WWE, they do a really good job booking their established tried and true guys making them look like serious threats for the new ECW brand while leaving others with something left to be desired. Other than just becoming the WWE champion, he and ECW really have nothing to be proud of with such a weak victory there. Let’s not forget that Rob Van Dam has been with WWE for five years at this point! He’s not exactly a newcomer and has been one of the hottest acts for the promotion in 2006. Why not make him look more on Cena’s level so you can make some money?

While there are some fun matches here, there’s nothing that touches MOTYC quality. This is the rebirth of ECW and unfortunately the high point as it slowly devolves into the C-brand until there is nothing left that sets it apart. I’ll still give ECW One Night Stand II a thumbs up regardless especially since there’s nothing downright bad on the show, but I don’t believe it’s the best show of 2006.