Fro

Just with how the numbers of face/heel are with Jericho turning heel, you'd have to turn someone else face if you want to turn Michaels heel again.

800,000 buys would be more than any WCW PPV ever (beating out Sting/Hogan by bit) , which is pretty damn funny.

If that 800,000 figure is true, one of the brands just got cancelled.... that's just an insane buyrate. Anything over 300,000 was considered a big success.

Meltzer said Mike Awesome blew out his knee during the Tanaka match, so he was probably getting medical treatment. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Someone from DVDVR who was there said Awesome's knee wasn't blown out, but that table cut open his leg pretty badly and there was a good hunk of flesh/muscle hanging out.

Allegedly if you watch the replay, if it wasn't for the Dudleys, Bradshaw would have been killed by the ECW guys after he shoots on Meanie. I guess he got roughed up pretty well after that even with the Dudleys trying to protect him.

Archived version of the show is up, for people who bought the webcast. I think you can rewatch it for 7 days.

I think it had more to do with everyone that hated Bischoff going over him. And Austin had the best story of getting fucked over by Eric, so hey, why not? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> They blew that angle off years ago. It should have Paul slapping the piss out of Eric, not Austin stunning Eric which we've seen 100 times. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It should have been, WWE/ECW guys brawl out of the arena. Bischoff is left in the ring with JBL or someone and Heyman. 911 comes out and chokeslams JBL, then gives Bischoff an even bigger chokeslam than Fonzie got back in the day, maybe through a table or something. That's just nitpicking though.

It wasn't bad... but it was just a Raw TV match when they could and should have had a classic.

WWE owns all the themes except "Enter Sandman". They bought the ECW song library which includes everything they played tonight except that.

Nothing was bad. Rey/Psi was really disappointing but still good. Guido/Crazy/Tajiri needed about 7 more minutes. Awesome/Tanaka was easily the best match of the night, even better than their old ECW matches... absolutely insane.

Awesome v.s. Tanaka was even better than their old ECW matches... just insane... easy MOTYC.

I think any worries that this won't be an old-style ECW crowd can be put aside now.

Here's how the inside of the building looks.

Heyman said in the Miami Herald interview and Meltzer hinted in his update today that none of these matches will be screwed up by WWE interference. Benoit v.s. Guerrero - This can't possibly suck. These guys haven't wrestled each other for a while, and not all-out in a long time. Two of the best workers in the world. Rey v.s. Psicosis - They haven't wrestled against each other in the states in a looong time and Rey has talked a ton about wanting to top their first ECW matches. Rey worked OVW a week ago and looked fine, so no worries about his injury. Both these guys can still go. Storm v.s. Jericho - This is Storm's retirement match, great chemisty between these two guys who used to team for years. Storm has been working guys out in OVW and can definitely still go. This match hasn't happened in the states to my knowledge. Masato Tanaka v.s. Mike Awesome. These two have amazing chemistry, and even if Awesome has lost a step or two he really just needs to pummel Tanaka here. Reports are their last match in Japan was real good about a year ago. Tajiri v.s. Super Crazy v.s. Little Guido. Done a lot in ECW, but this should be great and a lot of fun. It's also been a long time since we saw this, so they should have plenty of new ideas and spots. Really, this card could rival WM X-7 or Great American Bash 89 if everything goes according to plan. I don't see how there's not going to be a couple **** matches and some *** matches here at worst. Sandman/Dreamer v.s. the Dudleys is where all the overbooked stuff is going.

There's a "free for all" show up on wwe.com... no hype for any matches at all, just recaps of the Raw/Smackdown angles and a segment off the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD talking about the ECW fans. Hopefully Heat is a lot better than that turd.

It's probably a sure thing that some of the music on the DVD will be edited, at least.

My hunch is it's a returning Jerry Lynn.

Meltzer talks to a ton of wrestlers, creative team members, and even some people in WWE's upper management. These days, he's very well-sourced. Just off the top of my head, he talks to Jim Ross, Benoit, Foley, Cornette, and Heyman on a regular basis.

Foley is pretty much confirmed to do commentary with Joey Styles.

Apparently the Philly State Commission made them take the ropes down. They have some gimmicked barbed wire they're using though.

Jericho v.s. Storm RVD in-ring promo (per ECW Byte This) Joey Styles will announce Announced as appearing but unused so far: Tazz, Spike Dudley, Al Snow, Sabu, Balls Mahoney, Danny Doring and Roadkill CW Anderson, Rhyno, Joel Gertner, Axl Rotten. Justin Credible, Kid Kash, Mikey Whipwreck, The BWO - Big Stevie Cool, Hollywood Nova, and The Blue Guy

Considering he's not announced as being on the show, it's a surprise. I guess it makes sense considering how Awesome came in unannounced in the first place.

In his letters section today, Meltzer says Masato Tanaka is scheduled to wrestle Mike Awesome at the PPV

Yeah, I don't see how Sharkboy couldn't win something for the action figure part of this.

Long term, I think Vince sees potential for ECW to take the "hardcore fan" money away from ROH and TNA, and he sees that can sell a good number of DVDs and PPVs since the audience is very loyal. He knows if he keeps the costs low he can make some good money from ECW. It's not going to be as valuable to him as his WWE brands but he's trying to find a way to make money off of it without gutting or overworking the current roster. It'd also be a nice place for certain guys from the developmental territories to go through before they hit WWE and get a bit more seasoning.