ECW's return to the ECW Arena - Live Results

[Downhome 0]

I'll post the results as they come in from PWInsider:

 

FULL RESULTS FROM ECW'S RETURN TO THE FORMER ECW ARENA - HEYMAN ADDRESSES THE ECW FANS AND THE REACTION IS MIXED, THE FANS HEEL THE BIG SHOW AND MORE

by Mike Johnson @ 10:00:00 PM on 6/24/2006

 

There are no hard cameras but they do have a handheld camera. There are a lot of fans at the show.

 

They played a pre-paid message regarding WWE's proprietary rights. The fans chanted, "F*** you Vince." Ring announcer Justin Roberts was booed out of the venue when he came out. There are mats around ringside.

 

The FBI vs. Danny Doring & Roadkill - FBI played babyface. Mamaluke did a flip senton to the floor on Doring. Roadkill dove off the top and hit his partner. Mamaluke scored the pin on Roadkill with a DDT.

 

CM Punk vs. Stevie Richards - Punk got a huge reaction and came out to his ROH music by AFI. Punk forced Richards to tap out in a really good competitive match. They shook hands after. Punk appeared to be bleeding from the ear.

 

Francine won an extreme bikini contest over Kelly and Trinity. Kelly got in Francine's face and was shoved down. Francine and Trinity had a catfight. Trinity tried to moonsault off the top to the floor on Francine but missed. Francine went back after Kelly, and tried to take her top off. Mike Knox covered Kelly and laid out Francine. Balls Mahoney hit the ring for the save and a new match started.....

 

Mike Knox rolled up Balls Mahoney and scored the pin while holding Mahoney's pants after Mahoney missed a chairshot. Crowd didn't give Knox a chance and booed the hell out of the finish.

 

Sabu defeated CW Anderson by submission with the Camel Clutch. Sabu put Anderson through a table with an Arabian Facebuster before the finish.

 

We are now at intermission.

 

Sandman pinned Justin Credible with the White Russian Legsweep in a Dueling Canes match. No Metallica for the entrance. Short.

 

Paul Heyman came out. Some of the fan chanted "This show sucks." Heyman said that they had to make some compromises but the bottom line was ECW was back and they would beat the compromises in end. He said that he's waited 5 years to be back in the ECW Arena and that no matter what porno rejects and wannabes and losers ran here, ECW is back. He admitted Sandman's music sucked. There were two reactions from the crowd. Those who loved it and those who were trying to shout Heyman down. A fan tried to start a John Cena chant and was ripped by Heyman. Heyman pushed the July 4th taping and then introduced Tommy Dreamer.

 

Tommy Dreamer gave a speech talking about how his daughter was hurt today after falling but once the got the +" sign, his wife and family told him to go to the Arena because they knew how much the fans meant to him. Dreamer said that everyone who was here today, couldn't make it or was no longer able to be here were part of a family. He said they raised the bar for wrestling and everyone would have to work harder to do it again and show that ECW guys are the best in the world.

 

Dreamer said the fans in the Arena decide if you will make it in ECW and called out Big Show. They brawled around ringside and even into the bleachers. Show pressed and dropped Dreamer through a table to the floor for a two count. Dreamer came back and tried to hit the Spicoli Driver through a table but couldn't lift Show. Show chokeslammed him for the pin. Crowd hated Big Show including "Don't Come Back" chant. Dreamer got a nice ovation as he left.

 

The main event is Rob Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle with Dean Malenko as the special referee. Angle didn't get a big pop. Van Dam was greeted like the great Homecoming had taken place. They had a good match, with Van Dam getting the pin with the Five Star Frog Splash. Both worked really hard.

 

I'll write much more about the show tomorrow. It wasn't terrible by any stretch but there was a vocal segment of fans who didn't want a WWE show, they wanted the old version of ECW and they vocalized that all night, even when Paul Heyman was addressing them.

[Downhome 0]

Updated.

[Fro 0]

That'll be sweet if Punk gets to keep his ROH/OVW music in ECW.

[Downhome 0]

I just updated it again with the full results.

[Hawk 34 0]

Idiots. What did they expect? They vocally complain about it being a WWE show while in the back, they are counting the money you paid to go to the arena and complain.

[UZI Suicide 0]

On paper, the show looks fine to me, of course I wasn't there so I can't fully comment, but it sounds like most of them already went in with the idea that they were going to hate it, which is completely retarded because they knew what it was when they bought the ticket, as Hawk 34 said.

[benn 0]

The mutants are brilliant, aren't they? They pay to see a show that they knew they wouldn't like, just to chant stupid shit. Heyman probably went backstage and laughed all the way to the bank.

[Ravenbomb 0]

that show doesn't sound bad at all. Screw the fans, they should've stayed home so maybe some people who would've ENJOYED the show could've gone

[Mole 0]

How long till some of this gets on YouTube?

[Scroby 0]

Sounds like the show was good. Maybe the philly fans have just gotten dumb after seeing so much hardcore stuff now.

[EMAXSAUN 0]

I have heard that it was amazing from someone who was there live. It sounded like a real blast in front of an awesome crowd with intense heat.

[spman 0]

I've got tickets for Massachusetts at the end of July, so here's hoping that things only get better as they progress.

[Eclipse 0]

This show looked better than the crap that was being shown on TV so far.

 

Hmm....they can't get Metallica for Sandman, but they let Punk use his AFI theme...weird...

[Downhome 0]

Hmm....they can't get Metallica for Sandman, but they let Punk use his AFI theme...weird...

 

I doubt that it's going to cost 10 million+ to use that theme every year.

[Guest Overworked]

All ECW got for itself is time to approve. If they cannot then they will go the way of XFL and WBF, and the NWA invasion, SMW invasion, Alliance Invasion blah blah blah.. just another bad idea, but the heartbreaker is that it will taint what came before it.

[Hawk 34 0]

The good news is that the crowd is responsive to the newer stars like Punk and still see the original cast of ECW in a good light.

 

CM Punk will probably keep Misera Cantare as his theme song which will go a long way for his character (AFI is under Interscope records, which is owned by Universial who of course own USA and Sci-Fi).

[Eclipse 0]

The ROH marks will love his entrance everytime he enters during the ECW shows...

 

 

BUT I had no clue that's how much Metallica charges for their songs to be used on TV....

[Guest nokia]

Now, why can't they pute SOME of those matches on theire tv show?

[Bruce Blank 0]

This show looked better than the crap that was being shown on TV so far.

 

Hmm....they can't get Metallica for Sandman, but they let Punk use his AFI theme...weird...

Well to be fair it IS Metallica, the same people who got all PMSy at Napster because they supposedly cut so much into their profits that they had to cut down on the amount of coccaine they sprinkled on their cereal. You know they charge an arm and a leg (or is that a "nose full"?)

[benn 0]

they had to cut down on the amount of coccaine they sprinkled on their cereal

I LOLed at that for real.

[hyperchord24 0]

The good news is that the crowd is responsive to the newer stars like Punk and still see the original cast of ECW in a good light.

Really?

 

Mike Knox rolled up Balls Mahoney and scored the pin while holding Mahoney's pants after Mahoney missed a chairshot. Crowd didn't give Knox a chance and booed the hell out of the finish.

 

Did I miss something?

[Fro 0]

The crowd accepts Punk because he's an ECW-type guy who would have surely been in the old ECW had they stuck around. And the fact that he worked ROH, IWA-MS, etc.

[Toxxic 0]

Even on the ROH DVDs they often had Punk using the full Miseria Cantara entrance, even when they cut other people's music (such as Shelley coming out to BRMC or Daniels to Marilyn Manson) down to ten seconds or less. I'm assuming that was due to copyright issues, but they didn't seem to have any worry about AFI. Odd, that.

[Angle-plex 0]

They have a bikini contest, Big Show, and Sandman come out to shitty music (which even Heyman admits) and then Heyman tries to rationalize to the hardcore ECW fans. He's just wasting his time trying to win them back, at least this soon after the abomination of the debut show.

[humongous2002 0]

WWE should've taped this show and at least try to sell it as a dvd.

[cabbageboy 0]

CM Punk also uses the AFI song down in OVW. I thought that theme was really cool and eerie sounding so I hope he gets to keep using it.

[Hawk 34 0]

Punk is friends with the guys from AFI which is why he even used it to begin with and the fact AFI is under Universial's empire, makes it easier for them to use Misera Cantare.

 

Personally, I loved Cult of Personality.

[Downhome 0]

First, here is a bit from the second report below:

 

Roughly 2 minutes into filing out the building, all hell breaks loose near the entrance way as a group of about 10 people get into a wild fistfight. And do you know why they got into a fistfight ? Because a few of them had started a small John Cena cheer during Heyman's speech. And to top it off, someone recklessly throws a chair into the scuffle and ends up hitting someone that was just trying to get away from the whole situation. Security eventually breaks it all up and scatters the instigators outside. And what do you know? One of the geniuses picks ANOTHER fight right outside the building with a completely different person because of the same pro-Cena sentiment. As I said before, ECW fans are great because they're passionate about the product, but at the same time - they can also be some of the outright dumbest pieces of garbage around.

 

Say this aloud to yourself, "There was fistfight because one guy said he liked John Cena."

 

Sounds even dumber than when I type it.

 

From PWInsider:

 

DETAILED ECW IN PHILADELPHIA LIVE REPORT: RVD VS. ANGLE, TOMMY DREAMER VS. BIG SHOW, SOME FANS REJECT HEYMAN SPEECH, MIKE KNOX, CM PUNK, KELLY & MORE

by Mike Johnson @ 11:21:00 AM on 6/25/2006

 

World Wrestling Entertainment's version of Extreme Championship Wrestling ran their first house show last night in the very venue that gave birth to the initial ECW revolution, the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, PA. By WWE standards, it wasn't a bad show, but if fans compared it to the old ECW (or even recent events in the venue, such as TNA's Hardcore War) they were likely left feeling unsatisfied. The thing to remember though, is that WWE isn't playing to the hardcore fans. They want ECW to be something for the masses. Last night's audience didn't seem to want that, they wanted the closure and celebration that the Hammerstein Ballroom got in 2005.

 

If WWE was looking to send a message to those fans wanting nostalgia that they weren't going to get it from the new ECW, it was loud and clear. Last night's show was a pure WWE production, with a WWE ring, mats around ringside (and lots of room around ringside, taking away from some of the old intimacy of the venue), and even the pre-announced message regarding WWE's proprietary rights. Fans drowned out the announcement with a "F*** you Vince" chant. None of the old ECW ring announcers were used. Justin Roberts, who will be doing all ECW events from this point on, was booed out of the building by an audience that saw him as a symbol of WWE. The Harry Slash ECW theme was only used for Paul Heyman, while the "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" song was used to open the show.

 

The show started at 7:30 PM on the dot and the final match ended at exactly 9:57 PM, including an intermission and a 15 minute speech by Paul Heyman. It was structured like a WWE house show, because, no matter what the initials are and the best hopes of the fans going in, that's what it was and was always going to be. In a baffling move, WWE didn't bring a full camera set up to record the show, but did have one staffer shooting ringside footage that will likely be edited into a package for the next ECW on Sci Fi episode.

 

The FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) defeated Danny Doring and Roadkill in 7:17. A good opener with the FBI playing babyface. Mamaluke hugged famous ECW fan "Hat Guy" John Bailey when he came out. Fans didn't know who were the babyfaces when the match started, but finally figured it out when Guido got a hot tag a few minutes into the match. Mamaluke did a flip senton to the floor on Doring. After Doring recovered, he held Mamaluke for Roadkill, who was on the top rope preparing to splash Guido. Roadkill then dove off the top to the floor, but Mamaluke moved and Roadkill splattered Doring. Mamaluke scored the pin on Roadkill with a DDT.

 

CM Punk forced Stevie Richards to tap out to The Anaconda Vice in 9:31. From the look on his face and how hard he worked, Richards was really excited to be in the Arena and even did the old Big Stevie Cool pose before the match. Punk came out to his old ROH theme song and the fans were chanting his name. They had a really good competitive match which included Punk applying a unique submission while Richards was in the ropes. They even teased the Pepsi Plunge but Richards backdropped him off the top into the ring. Richards drilled Punk with one hell of a Steviekick. Punk finally forced Richards to tap out. After the match, Richards and Punk shook hands and Richards told him to stay in the ring, because he had earned it, then left. Punk stood over the ECW letters on the mat and read them out loud before smirking and acknowledging the fans. If you were a fan of Punk, it was a cool moment. One of the better matches on the show. Punk appeared to be bleeding from his ear after the match, but not sure what caused the cut.

 

They then held an Extreme Bikini contest. The crowd didn't know what to make of this one at all. The contestants were Francine, Trinity, and Kelly. Francine won simply because the crowd loved her as she was ECW to them and the others were outsiders. Kelly looked as if she was having problems walking in the ring wearing heels. After Francine won, Kelly got in her face and was shoved down. I think Kelly was legitimately shaken by the bump given the way she was out. Francine and Trinity then got in each other's face, teased a catfight and gave the fans what they wanted. The crowd liked that. Francine ended up on the floor. Trinity went to the top and hit a big moonsault to the floor, but Francine had already rolled in the ring, "outsmarting her." Francine then grabbed Kelly and began choking her. Kelly wasn't selling at all and was completely exposed as being what she is, a really young kid who's probably not ready for this. Francine asked the crowd if they wanted her to take off Kelly's top, but Mike Knox hit the ring and covered her up. He knocked Francine to the mat.

 

Balls Mahoney's music hit and he made the save. This started an immediate match. Mahoney and Knox were both trying but the crowd had no interest in watching Knox wrestle and crapped all over him since they didn't know who he was. They finally got into yelling "Balls" for Mahoney's punches. Mahoney went to grab his chair but the referee Mike Posey took it away. The entire crowd deflated when that happened. Mahoney finally got it and swung, but missed and Knox rolled him up and hooked the tights for the pin at 8:39. The crowd hated the finish and didn't buy it at all.

 

Sabu defeated CW Anderson by submission with the Camel Clutch at 9:17. No music for Sabu's entrance. Sabu was busted open hardway at some point. They worked a lot on the mat early and brawled around ringside. Sabu tied Anderson's arm up around a ringpost and threw a chair at it. Sabu went to get a table but one of the legs were busted, so it ended up set up at a 45 degree angle. He put Anderson on it and hit an Arabian Facebuster through it while Anderson was facedown. He then locked Anderson in the clutch for the finish. The match was OK but a lot shorter than anyone would have expected with these two. Fans applauded both after the match out of respect.

 

WWE announced it was time for intermission. The crowd seemed pretty taken aback by that. During intermission, several WWE staffers were working hard to clean up any trace of blood in the ring.

 

When we returned from intermission, The Sandman pinned Justin Credible in a Dueling Canes match with the White Russian Legsweep in just 2:39. Credible came out to his old ECW music while Sandman came out to his WWE theme. The crowd popped for him, but it was in a subdued way as it was obvious they wanted the "Enter Sandman" entrance they've been accustomed to all these years. Sandman did his entrance around the building, but it was like watching a live version of a Sandman entrance on DVD with the music edited out. The flavor is totally lost. Some fans chanted, "F*** that song" during the ring introductions. The match being so short turned a portion of the crowd on the show, as they began chanting, "This show sucks."

 

Paul Heyman came out. He got a big pop. He was going to speak, then dropped the mic and ran out of the ring to hug "Hat Guy." When he returned, Heyman said, "On a shoot, I don't care what losers and wannabes and porno rejects have run here. I have been dying for five years to say we are home in the ECW Arena!" The crowd popped and chanted, "Welcome back." Heyman welcomed them back as well. Heyman put over the ECW fans and pointed out the Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty banner hanging in the venue, saying that he misses Petty and thanks him. He said that he thanks everyone who was part of ECW and can't be here, whether it's The Public Enemy, Shane Douglas, or the Dudley Boyz. He said that they had to make some compromises, but the bottom line is ECW is back. Some of the fans chanted "This show sucks." Heyman kept trying to win them back over, first by insulting Justin Roberts and then by insulting a John Cena fan who was being vocal. He said that they had to make compromises like the "dancer on Sci Fi" and Sandman's music, but in the end they will overcome them anyway. Fans rejected it somewhat and Heyman asked them, "If you had to give your left nut to bring back ECW, wouldn't you do it?" Heyman pushed the July 4th event at the Wachovia Center. The crowd turned on that in a big way, rejecting it. Heyman tried to get across that they needed all the ECW fans to come and show the ECW atmosphere like the Hammerstein fans did, or else ECW would never get it's own taping. He pushed that he didn't care about Raw or Smackdown and buried them to try and get the fans behind him. There were two reactions from the crowd. Those who loved it and those who were trying to shout Heyman down. To me, this was the most interesting part of the show in many ways as you had the old ECW fans continuing to rebel against the machine, only now Paul Heyman was part of the machine. Watching Heyman trying to maneuver to win over the fans was really something. It was surreal to watch fans yelling, "Sellout" at Heyman.

 

Heyman then gave a big introduction to someone he described as breaking his neck and back for ECW and who never sold out for anyone, Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer received the biggest pop of the night at this point and looked like he had never been happier in his life when he came out. He gave a speech saying that earlier today, he thought he was going to miss the show as one of his daughters had fallen and gotten hurt, describing her head as "blowing up like JT Smith's." Once they took her to the the hospital and were given the all clear sign, Beulah had told him to go to the show. When he said he would stay, she told him it was the Arena and he had to go. Dreamer broke down saying how much it meant to him and his family to be back in that building when his wife is pushing him to go to the Arena after a family emergency. He said that the building, the wrestlers, and the fans were a true family and together they had raised the bar for the entire wrestling industry. Dreamer said that they would continue to do so for the new ECW because now they had to work even harder because WWE didn't believe the ECW guys were true top names. He even said that he got Balls Mahoney a job and asked the crowd, "Would you be willing to hire Balls Mahoney where you work?" He said that he may have never wrestled a match at Wrestlemania, but he main evented the ECW Arena and that was as important. The crowd loved that line. Dreamer said that the building was the litmus test and that if you could get over here, you could get over anywhere. He then called out The Big Show.

 

Big Show pinned Tommy Dreamer with a chokeslam through a table at 10:20 . They brawled around ringside. Big Show gave Dreamer an atomic drop onto the guard rail and they fought into the crowd. Show slammed Dreamer's head into the wall and they brawled into the bleachers. Show choked Dreamer by lifting him into the air against a wall. Dreamer kicked him low to break it and they brawled back into the ringside area. Dreamer set up a table on the floor but Show pressed and dropped him through it from the ring. He covered Dreamer on the floor but Dreamer kicked out. Dreamer got the big babyface comeback and they did some plunder, including a Stop Sign. Dreamer went to hit the Spicoli Driver through a table but couldn't lift Show. Show chokeslammed him for the pin. The crowd was behind everything that Dreamer did. They absolutely rejected and hated Big Show including "Don't Come Back" and "You can't wrestle" chant. Dreamer got a nice ovation as he left, doing a lap around ringside. He took off his shirt and gave it to "Hat Guy."

 

The main event was WWE/ECW champion Rob Van Dam pinning Kurt Angle with a five star frog splash. Former ECW World Television and World Tag Team champion Dean Malenko, who was working backstage as an agent, was the special referee. He got a big pop when he was announced. Surprisingly, Angle didn't get a big pop. Van Dam was greeted like the great Homecoming had taken place, blowing every other response out of the water. They had a good match, especially considering it was the night before the Vengeance PPV. The crowd was split in a big way with 50% chanting "Let's go Angle" and the other half chanting "F*** You Angle." RVD did the skateboard on the chair into the corner on Angle and also did the monkey flip onto the chair, although Angle overshot the chair and missed it. The final sequence saw Angle go to hit RVD with a chair but instead hit the ropes and clobber himself. As he turned, Van Dam hit the Van Daminator and then the frog splash in 16:40. Van Dam did a speech after the match saying how much ECW being brought back meant to him and that it has rejuvenated his spirit and career.

 

If you were an old school ECW fan that lived and died for the company and felt like you rode that roller coaster of triumph and setback, you probably walked out feeling let down. There were quite enough fans who rejected the show vocally, although it wasn't all of them. There were some just happy to be there at a show with the ECW letters. If you went into the show knowing it was a WWE house show, you got what you were expecting.

 

The interesting thing to follow will be whether ECW's other markets follow suit in the makeup of the audience. Will it be fans who want their old ECW and don't find it, and if they don't, do they stick around? Will it be WWE fans that will follow ECW because it's something new and different to follow? Can WWE find the perfect mesh of a product that will serve both demographics? To me, those are the questions raised by the house show. It will be interesting to continue to follow the evolution of this new version of a company that everyone wanted to see succeed and deep down, still does.

 

JOHN CENA FANS FIGHT WITH THEIR ECW COUNTERPARTS IN PHILLY - CHECKING IN WITH AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE NEW ECW'S DEBUT AT THE OLD ECW ARENA

by Slade Bracey @ 10:08:00 AM on 6/25/2006

 

ECW fans are nothing, if not passionate. They love the company, the personalities who built it, and the legacy it carries in the world of professional wrestling. And because of this passion, they want only what is best for the promotion and desperately seek to protect their fond, maybe overly grand, memories what ECW once was. Saturday night was supposed to be the another in a long line of those fond ECW memories, when ECW, after 5 and half years, through a total collapse, a complete takeover and 2 revivals, finally made it back home to the corner of Swanson and Ritner in the depths of South Philly. It was supposed to be the victory party, when everything was finally set right with the world, but what ended up happening was something far different.

 

Walking back into Viking Hall/ECW Arena/New Alhambra Arena, I was shocked to see how understated the setup was for the show. A WWE-produced version of ECW was actually less heavy on production than your average CZW show. They made no use of the Arena's video-screens, and used the automated moving lights on sparingly during the course of the show. I took that as a positive sign of things to come, as it seemed to emphasize a return to classic ECW form - stripped down and straight forward. The only noticeable addition that WWE made to the standard setup was floor matting. But even that small addition, which is put there for the safety of the performers, caused early grumblings in the crowd that would manifest themselves further as the show went on.

 

The show opened not with something fitting, like say, the AWOL duo of Joey Styles and Tazz welcoming everyone to the show and taking in their praise for finally making it back home, but rather with an ominous pre-recorded message from the WWE regarding photo and recording policy, as well as the standard legalese that waived us of our image rights in case the SINGLE HANDHELD CAMERA might have panned by us. I found it mind-boggling that they wouldn't at least want to film the show for posterity's sake, as we all expected it to be a truly special evening for everyone involved. Again....more foreshadowing of the night to come.

 

Following the announcements from the great lawyer in the sky, and the subsequent, semi-hypocritical "F*** You Vince" chants, we heard the opening chords of the classic ECW theme song...."Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and were greeted with the sight of legendary ECW announcer Justin Roberts making his way to ringside. And if you can't feel the sarcasm oozing of the back half of that sentence, I feel for you. Roberts got tormented throughout the night, mainly with a near constant "You Suck D***" chant anytime he got near a microphone. If anyone could tell half the roster's generic entrance music apart from one another, they probably would have continued straight through the introductions as well.

 

The opening match featured a classic ECW tag rivalry renewed as the Full Blooded Italians of Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido (minus Trinity and Big Guido) taking on the last ECW Tag Team Champions, Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill. The crowd and the wrestlers seemed to have fun dusting off the old "Where's My Pizza ?" and "You F*** Sheep" chants. The match was an entertaining way to start the show, albeit a bit shorter than anyone would have hoped for. There was a strong "Tracy Smothers" chant going for a minute in the match, but any similar chants for JT Smith were poorly-received. The highlight of the match was Roadkill, who was in position for a top rope splash on Tony Mamaluke, opting to walk about 1/4th of the way out along the rope and dive onto Little Guido, who dodged and left Danny Doring to take the full-force of the dive. Everyone involved put in a solid effort for the short time frame they had to work with, but they set the overall tone of the show as well - it was fun to see the old faces, but the storylines and characters are so underdeveloped at this point that it felt like a throwaway match.

 

Next up was the unassuming ECW debut of the next great wrestling superstar - CM Punk, taking on Stevie Richards. Crowd put Punk over huge during his entrance, breaking into big "CM Punk" chants as soon as they recognized the familiar strains of "Miseria Cantrae" by AFI. The crowd definitely made Punk feel like an established upper-level talent right out the bat. The match itself was a slow burner, with Punk breaking out a lot of headlocks early on. For as much as Punk had the crowd in his pocket for the entrance, a good bit of them were vocally unimpressed with most of this match. Not a bad contest by any means, but definitely tight on time and worked very safely by both men. You can't blame them either - there's no storyline reason (outside of a one-off angle in ROH) for these two to tear into each other, and there's no cameras rolling to make a big risk worth taking. Punk teased the crowd with an attempt at the Pepsi Plunge, his old top-rope Pedigree finish, which Stevie wiggled free from. Punk got out on 2 after the Stevie kick, and eventually cinched in the Anaconda Vice submission, for the quick tap out. Afterwards, both men shake hands and Stevie leaves the ring for Punk to soak in the cheers. Anyone with half a brain can see that Punk is going to be one of, if not THE top guy in ECW within a year or so. His connection with audiences is effortless, and his work in-ring is first-rate, especially when you give him a good storyline to work with.. Expect big things.

 

Following up the future of the business was a steep regression in the form of an "Extreme Bikini Contest" between Francine, Trinity and Kelly. The crowd gave Franny the requisite love that every ECW alumnus received, but wasn't wildly into her. Trinity got the middle of the road reaction one would expect for an unestablished character. But the joy in this match came in listening to the crowd boo Kelly out of the building. If we can't convince WWE to drop her from the ECW roster, at least we can finally vocalize our displeasure with it. The rest of the segment was pretty well formulaic, with Francine winning the contest and catfights breaking out. The crowd was pretty well over the segment until Trinity threw Francine to the outside and went for a moonsault press from the top, at which point Francine side-stepped the move entirely and Trinity took an absolutely hellacious bump to the floor. Franny turns her attention to Kelly again, which leads to Mike Knox charging the ring and pie-facing Francine. Out come Balls Mahoney to defend her honor and an impromptu match is on...

 

The crowd was all over Knox during the match, chanting "No one knows you" and "You can't wrestle" for most of his offense. The bulk of this match was nothing to write home about. The only notable point of this match was the continuation of what seems like a burgeoning storyline for referee Mike Posey, reworking Bill Alfonso's old role as the straight-laced official stuck in an lawless environment who is still making straight-laced calls during the matches. The finish saw Posey try to stop Balls from using the chair, which led to Balls trying to explain that anything goes in ECW, and the crowd chanting "Hit the ref", Balls looks like he's about to deliver on the request and gets rolled up by Knox for the 3. Post-match, Balls tries again to crack Posey with chair, but Posey scrambles to safety.

 

In the last match before the break, CW Anderson made his return to ECW, looking much healthier than he did at the last Hardcore Homecoming, to take on Sabu. Nothing really surprising in crowd reactions here - plenty of respect for CW, massive amounts of adoration for Sabu, and plenty of anti-Cena chants that would come into play later in the evening.. It was standard fare for both guys, with Sabu getting the win with a gorgeous Arabian facebuster on a slanted table. Like everything else on the card, it was a solid effort, but it just felt like a throwaway match. It lacked the time to really draw the crowd in, and didn't have anything resembling storyline development. This show is prime evidence as to why ECW needs to get away from RAW post- Vengeance. Heyman has to reestablish all of these characters with the audience and reset the battle lines in short order, essentially cramming years of work into 11 more weeks of TV. Even a few short promos during the show would have made a world of difference - why does CW want a match with Sabu? What does he have to gain? Everything felt thrown together so randomly that it was hard to get into the matches much more than cheering the highspots and booing the restholds. And with the seemingly clipped matches, it was even hard to do that.

 

Post-intermission, we get more harassment of Justin Roberts, followed by "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" and the arrival of Justin Credible. I found it kind of strange that both Credible and CM Punk can use unlicensed copy-written music for entrances, but the Sandman is still relegated to the generic metal entrance. Despite the lack of "Enter Sandman", the crowd still pops huge for Sandman. The match is a "Dueling Singapore Cane" bout, which is a bit misleading as there was only one cane in the ring for much of the match. It was short and forgettable, with Sandman getting the win via White Russian Legsweep.

 

At this point, it seemed the crowd had finally had enough of the lack of wild action that defined the original ECW. Loud chants of "This Show Sucks" broke out as Justin Roberts re-entered the ring. And as if on cue, "This Is Extreme" comes blaring over the house system and out comes Paul Heyman to rally his wandering flock. Heyman talks about how this moment is one he's been dreaming of since December of 2000 when ECW last ran the Arena. It's largely a mutual admiration society, with Paul even jumping out the ring to lay a large man-hug on Hat Guy and Hawaiian Shirt Guy in the front row. He says that despite the fact that the Sandman's music sucks (prompting a loud "Yes it does" chant in return) and the fact that there's a stupid stripper on TV every week, the fact remains that ECW is actually alive once again, and that alone should supersede all the negatives. This began to feel like one of the legendary Heyman morale speeches at this point, with Heyman stressing the importance of ECW fans attending the July 4th TV taping at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. He urged fans to skip the July 3rd combined RAW/Smackdown taping at the same building, and make sure that the July 4th show isn't populated by the kind of audiences they've been working with at the Smackdown tapings for the past two weeks.

 

There was definitely a vocal minority that wasn't buying into Paul's speech - crying sellout and telling Heyman that he sucked. Heyman tried to address them by making jokes out them, but at times it did seem genuinely hostile. It was almost surreal to see an ECW Arena crowd turning on Heyman, even in minor fashion, and then resuming singing his praises. Heyman then introduces Tommy Dreamer, putting over Tommy's loyalty to the ECW until the very end and telling the audience that Dreamer deserved "the biggest pop this building has ever heard." Dreamer comes out to his generic WWE reworking of "Man In The Box." Like Heyman before him, Dreamer and the crowd engage in a mutual admiration society, with plenty of "Thank You Tommy" and "Welcome Home" chants. Dreamer tells a story of how early in the day, his daughter, Brianna, took a nasty spill that caused JT Smith-esque swelling on her head. Even though the doctors had Ok'd her to leave hospital, Dreamer wanted to say with his daughter through the night, even if meant skipping the Arena show. He then told the crowd, with tears welling in his eyes, how his wife Beulah looked him dead in the eyes and said "Tommy...it's the ARENA." Dreamer went on to stress how amazing it was to be back in the building and that everyone from fans to wrestlers - in the building or elsewhere - were a family. Dreamer says that if you can make it in the Arena, you can make it anywhere and calls out Big Show to see if he can pass the litmus test of the Arena.

 

This match was probably the most engaging match of the entire show, if only because it was the only one with any actual back story behind it. The Arena crowd HATED the Big Show and let him know it from the time he walked out until the time he went through the curtain. Tons of "F*** You Big Show", "You Can't Wrestle", "You Still Suck" and "Don't Come Back" chants for Show. The match itself saw Tommy take his classic amount of punishment, and brawling through the crowd, where Dreamer repeatedly slammed Show's head off the brick wall of the Arena at the top of the South bleachers. Eventually, the two worked their way back into the ring (but not before Show could smack the hat off of Hat Guy on the way back), and brought out some plunder like stop signs and trash cans. At one point, Show tried to throw the trashcan out of the ring and ended up bouncing it off the top rope, prompting a loud "You f***** up" chant that enraged Show, causing him to throw the trashcan down the aisle, almost to the entrance. Dreamer hit the DDT for a 2, followed by Show press slamming him to the outside through a table for a 2 count. The finish came when Dreamer attempted a Spicolli Driver, but couldn't lift Show, leading to a chokeslam through a table and the aforementioned "Don't Come Back" chants leading Show to the back. The crowd exchanged more love with Dreamer and we were, roughly 2 hours into the show, on our way to the main event.

 

Unannounced, we were greeted with the pleasant surprise of Dean Malenko refereeing the semi-mystery main event, which turned out to be Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam. While I was certainly excited to see it, I hope they realize this is the big money match for ECW, and needs a good slow build if they're going to do it on TV or PPV in the future. Angle got a mixed reaction for sure, while Van Dam was almost unanimously greeted like a conquering hero back from war. This was the type of match that seems intentionally booked to steal the show and hopefully make the audience forget how lackluster the rest of the show really was. Much of the early part of the match was dominated by dueling "F*** You Angle"/ "Let's Go Angle" that seemed to go on for 5 minutes straight. Lots of great mat work by both men at the start, and slowly working it's way into more of what the crowd expected, spot-wise. Plenty of action without going all out the night before a major PPV. RVD broke out a lot of the old chair spots including the skateboard, the Van Daminator, and even countering the Ankle lock with a chair shot. RVD takes the match clean with the 5 Star Frog Splash. Van Dam soaks it all in and the show comes to a close...or so it would seem.

 

After Van Dam heads to the back, the crowd begins to file out of the building, with quite a few people knocking over chairs and grumbling about the show. Roughly 2 minutes into filing out the building, all hell breaks loose near the entrance way as a group of about 10 people get into a wild fistfight. And do you know why they got into a fistfight ? Because a few of them had started a small John Cena cheer during Heyman's speech. And to top it off, someone recklessly throws a chair into the scuffle and ends up hitting someone that was just trying to get away from the whole situation. Security eventually breaks it all up and scatters the instigators outside. And what do you know? One of the geniuses picks ANOTHER fight right outside the building with a completely different person because of the same pro-Cena sentiment. As I said before, ECW fans are great because they're passionate about the product, but at the same time - they can also be some of the outright dumbest pieces of garbage around.

 

Say this aloud to yourself, "There was fistfight because one guy said he liked John Cena."

 

Sounds even dumber than when I type it.

 

Tonight felt like a first time-last time situation for ECW at the ECW Arena. The crowd, by and large, was not thrilled with the show, and showed it on the way out of the building. The July 4th taping at the Wachovia Center is an almost guaranteed bomb of a show, which could seriously affect WWE's willingness to run ECW in the Philadelphia market in the future. If tonight didn't confirm that the old ECW is dead and buried, I don't know what will. Tonight's event was a very good Smackdown house show. The rebel spirit isn't coming back any time soon. But that's not to say the show wasn't enjoyable, you just have to have the realistic expectations of what it will be before you go to see ECW live. You'll get a few tables, a couple chairs, and not much blood, if any. The wrestling will be good, but not long enough to be great. The little things that made ECW great will be done all wrong, and that may affect your enjoyment off the show. It may seem as though wrestlers are put together at random, and only vaguely defined as characters. The show may just plain underwhelm you.

 

But if you believe Paul Heyman, and in my heart, I'd really like to....the important part is ECW is alive and running, even if it is with some compromises. And maybe, if you still want to buy into Paul's word, those compromises really will lose out in the end.

 

So if you're a real ECW fan, and you're saying to yourself that you're passionate about the product - have the passion to let this project grow again. It's 3 weeks old for Christ's sake. If there is no improvement in 3 months time, then I'll gladly admit that the naysayers were right. But the vibe I got coming out the Arena tonight was that ECW was dead in the water with a dud of a house show. It seems like the fans that built the company have turned and walked away at the first sign of faltering.

 

And you know what that reminds me of? WWE Fans. So why not stand with the product through rough times and remind the world why ECW has the best fans around. None of this fighting over John Cena crap. Much like ECW itself, the fans tonight at the Arena could stand a retooling.

[Downhome 0]

From PWInsider:

 

BACKSTAGE REACTION FROM ECW'S RETURN TO THE BUILDING THAT PUT THE LETTERS ON THE MAP

by Mike Johnson @ 1:00:00 PM on 6/25/2006

 

While some of the fans may not have left last night's Extreme Championship Wrestling house show in Philadelphia with their hopes fulfilled, nearly every member of the old ECW roster that worked the show were all said to have been touched by the reactions they received from the old faithful. Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, and Francine were said to have been especially moved backstage by the reactions they got from the fans. Stevie Richards was telling a number of people backstage after his match that he felt reborn from the crowd reaction.

 

As for the ECW newcomers, Big Show loved the response he got and was said to have enjoyed himself. Kurt Angle, making his in-ring debut in the venue, was said to have a blast working in the environment. A second source, however, noted that Angle pretty much kept to himself after the match and didn't really interact with the locker room.

 

In regard to WWE developmental talents being brought into ECW, CM Punk kept to himself in the locker room and spent most of his time watching the rest of the show, although the feeling was he fit into the locker room. Mike Knox spent the majority of his time backstage watching the matches, but didn't really interact with anyone. The feeling among some I spoke to was that Kelly was in way over her head in front of that audience as she had no frame of reference and no background in wrestling.

 

Paul Heyman was said to have been happy with the reaction from the fans, and predicted to several backstage there would be dissenters in the crowd, according to two sources.

 

There was no "rah rah" speeches from Paul Heyman before the show addressing the locker room. Dean Malenko spoke to the wrestlers before the show, instructing them not to do anything over the rails or involving blood without getting clearance from the agents and to not take any undue risks.

 

WWE agent Steve Keirn sat at ringside taking notes on the show.

 

LOTS OF ECW NEWS COMING OUT OF ECW ARENA RETURN, PLAN FOR JULY 4TH TAPING IN PHILLY & MORE

by Mike Johnson @ 1:30:00 PM on 6/25/2006

 

According to several sources, WWE actually wanted the 7/4 Philadelphia Sci Fi taping pushed harder at the house show last night, but Paul Heyman felt it would cause resentment by the crowd. He certainly predicted that one correctly. One source claimed there was originally to be several plugs for it and another noted Tommy Dreamer was to have announced the date. As it turned out, the lone mention of the taping was by Heyman, who attempted to rally the troops by treating the taping as a chance for ECW to be taped before true ECW fans and give the brand a chance to earn their own TV tapings.

 

The plan for the 7/4 taping at the Wachovia Center is to set the building up in an intimate way for 3,000 fans. They've moved a little over 1,000 tickets according to a Ticketmaster source. The internal feeling backstage is that 7/4 will be the most important ECW taping, to date, for the relaunched company.

 

Trinity hurt her knee, likely doing the moonsault, although no word on how bad yet. It may just be that she tweaked it. That was the only injury of note I've heard of coming out of the show, although Sabu's fingertip was bleeding bad during the match. I believe he's still suffering from when he nearly had it torn off during a match in Mexico last April.

 

Test was originally scheduled for the show, but there was a creative change in plans as to how he will debut.

 

Sandman and Justin Credible went home way before scheduled, possibly because of the negative reaction they were getting from the Philadelphia crowd in the wake of Sandman's old Metallica music not being used.

 

Former WWE and ECW star The Blue Meanie was backstage visiting. Combat Zone Wrestling owner John Zandig and promoter Maven Bentley were also at the show, as was Rob Feinstein.

 

A lot of the staff used by the venue last night were also CZW staffers.

[2GOLD 0]

The problem with ECW fans is as following.

You told them you were bringing back ECW. You gave them WWE wrestlers, with the only build up being they are WWE wrestlers, and you took away some of the hardcore and others elements that made them love ECW and you want them to just blindly accept everything.

 

You're right, it's three weeks in. You don't get respect, you earn it and right now the new ECW hasn't earned an ounce of respect. You can't skin the corpse and wear it as a suit and expect some fans to not see what you are doing. They might accept the new ECW over time, they might not, but right now they are not going to.

 

The biggest mistake they made, to a crowd at the ECW arena, starting an ECW show off with "Let the Bodies hit the floor" and not the ECW theme. That theme is huge to anyone who has been at an ECW event, it's almost like the first jolt to wake Frankenstein's monster. You NEED it.

 

And then sending Heyman out to try and justify? No, you don't send Heyman out to justify what he is doing, that's the biggest mistake you can make. They should have sent Heyman out there to completely BLAST things, not walk out and say, "Well yeah, I compromised"...no, you NEVER say that word to them. They are not normal people, they are the ECW mutants.

 

Did they react stupid? Yes. Did the WWE and "ECW" give them a reason to do it? YES!

They took away all things ECW at the very START of the show. No theme music and no Steven announcing. I mean it's a house show in the ECW arena!

 

ECW isn't ECW, it's the big budget Hollywood remake with the old stars tossed in for cameos. And that is how the fans are going to see it until they are proved wrong. A two minute cane match? A ref taking away a chair? No theme to start the show?

 

Exactly what from that show comes off as them trying to win the fans over?