Results of the second wwECW house show

[Downhome 0]

From PWInsider:

 

ECW RESULTS FROM BELLE VERNON, PA: PAUL HEYMAN DOESN'T MAKE ADVERTISED APPEARANCE

by Josh Dermont @ 12:52:00 AM on 7/2/2006

 

The second house show of the WWECW era took place at the Rostraver Ice Gardens tonight. The house was not full, but still a fairly decent showing. I think they would have drawn a better house with more advertising and if the tickets had gone on sale earlier.

 

Just a note, Atlas Security was NOT present tonight. WWE used The Garden's in-house security and local police.

 

And away we go....

 

The FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) def. Danny Doring and Roadkill via pinfall:

 

Everyone involved got a nice little pop. Roadkill and Doring played heel right off the bat, which earned Roadkill the customary "You F*** Sheep" chant. Everyone worked pretty hard, and Guido seemed to be having a ball. Mamaluke got the pin over Roadkill--I can't remember what he used as a finisher, sorry. Roadkill got a pretty big chant on the way to the back.

 

CM Punk def. Fertig via submission:

 

Some people recognized Fertig as Mordecai, others just knew him as the vampire that we've seen on TV, but we all hated him. He was wearing fangs, but not his red contacts. CM Punk came out to his AFI music, which got a big pop from those who knew him, but most of the crowd didn't seem familiar with him, but let's face it--there were a lot of mainstream, WWE fans there tonight.

 

This match was disappointing, and I really blame Fertig or Mordecai or Count Mordecai or whatever the hell you want to call him. He sucked as Mordecai, and he still sucks now. He got both a "We Want Blade" and "We Want Buffy" chant.

 

Anyway, the advantage went back and forth during the match, but Fertig got the majority of the offense with power moves. Punk took over at one point and locked a really cool submission hold--almost a variant of the Taurantula. After the hold was released, Punk took some hard bumps, but hit a Shining Wizard and then locked in the Anaconda Vice for the tapout. Punk was way over by the end the match Again, a disappointing match, but hey, I got to see CM Punk live for the first time, so that's a plus.

 

As Justin Roberts announced the next match as a one-fall contest, Kelly's music hit and she strutted her way down to the ring.

 

She got on the house mic, and honestly, her delivery didn't come across as wooden as it usually does on television. Granted, it was still bad, but she seemed to be having a little fun with her mic work. Anyway, she stripped down to her bra and panties, and as she struggled with the bra clasp (it's always that damn bra, isn't it?), Jazz ran in and started to beat down Kelly. As Jazz set her up for a powerbomb, Mike Knox chased off Jazz, which brought out Balls Mahoney...

 

Mike Knox def Balls Mahoney:

 

We went straight into the match at this point. The crowd was pretty brutal to Knox, giving him a brief "You Can't Wrestle" chant, but I honestly thought he wasn't that bad. Knox actually dominated a good portion of the match. Knox ended up getting the pin however by rolling up Balls and holding the tights. The crowd was NOT happy about Knox going over. Short match, too.

 

Sabu def. CW Anderson via submission:

 

This match was announced as being under "ECW Rules", which is bizarre as this was an ECW show, and all matches are ostensibly under ECW Rules, but I guess all the other matches were then under WWE Rules, but...you know what, never mind. I'm not going to delve into bizarre wrestling paradoxes.

 

Anderson got scattered "C F'n Dub" chants, but Sabu got a monster pop in his entrance, and the crowd was into him the whole time. There was a fair amount of mat wrestling in the beginning, but eventually spilled to the floor after Sabu missed an Air Sabu attempt. Sabu hit a few high spots, which culminated in an Atomic Arabian Facebuster through the table, which Sabu followed with a Camel Clutch for the submission.

 

We then went into intermission.

 

Dueling Canes Match: The Sandman def Justin Credible via pinfall:

 

Justin Credible came out to "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck"; The Sandman made his way through the crowd for his customary entrance. It was cool seeing the fans going nuts for The Sandman and his entrance, but it's just not the same without "Enter Sandman".

 

This match was a lot of fun. While Credible didn't come off as Sandman's equal, he sure as hell wasn't the jobber that he was presented as. This match was actually pretty long--if I remember what I read, the same match in Philly didn't even last three minutes. Sandman hit a bunch of his trademark spots, including a Heinekenrana. The finish saw Credible give Sandman two wicked cane shots to the head. Credible went for a third, but Sandman ducked it and hit the White Russian legsweep.

 

Falls Count Anywhere: Test Def. Tommy Dreamer via pinfall

 

Test came out to the music that is being used for his promos on SciFi. He also got freaking HUGE. There were "steroid" chants all around. Tommy came out to a great reaction. They actually started out with a lot of stalling--Test kept on showing off his new physique and tried to goad Tommy into a pose down. Tommy eventually obliged and showed us his biceps--which got a huge roar from the crowd. Tommy grinned and said "Hey, they like me!" It then became a total brawl, but the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation barely came into play. Tommy did some classic ECW spots, like accepting beer from audience members and spitting it at Test, but that's about it. He teased taking Test into my section of the crowd, but Test grabbed him and crotched him on the railing.

 

After a whole lot of brawling (in the ring), Tommy took a chair from an audience member, but Test nailed a really bad looking big boot and sent the chair into Tommy's face (I can't remember if he used another finisher after the boot--perhaps someone else sending a report will) and got the pin. Test was practically booed out of the building. Dreamer got a "Thank You, Tommy" chant.

 

We then had our main event for the evening:

 

ECW World Championship Match: Rob Van Dam def. The Big Show via pinfall

 

The WWE title was NOT on the line. This was the worst match of the night, and probably the closest thing to a WWE-style match up--all the others seemed to be a hybrid of ECW and WWE styles.

 

We started out with some stalling, and then typical stuff--Big Show does power moves, RVD shows off his flexibilty and quickness--same old s*** that we would see on TV. The crowd chanted "We Want Angle" at a few points, but everyone seemed to know that he wasn't there tonight.

 

The match wasn't the worst thing ever, but combining someone as ponderous as The Big Show with a talent like RVD just isn't going to work.

 

The match ended with RVD hitting the Van Daminator, and then the Five-Star Frog Splash. RVD celebrated with the crowd, and then went backstage. Big Show actually got a nice little ovation on his way to the back.

 

After that, the show just ended--we heard not one word from Justin Roberts thanking us for attending--he headed right backstage of after the pin count. The house lights came up, and the ring crew began taking down the ring--which pissed off a lot of people, as Paul Heyman was advertised to appear and we all expected to hear from him after the final match.

 

My Thoughts About the Show:

 

I know that this will never be the ECW of yesterday. It's dead. We all mourned it at different times--some right after the company's closing, others mourned and got closure at ECW: ONS 2005 or at the Hardcore Homecoming events.

 

What I saw tonight--it's not my ECW. It never will be.

 

That being said, I had a blast. A fist pumping, scream-at-the-top-of-my-lungs good time.

 

What I saw tonight could be the proper formula for making this new ECW incarnation work. While the WWE influences were all there--the impressive lighting rig, the WWE ring, the count outs (yes, there were f***ing countouts), the work ethic was there. The fan enthusiasm was there. By sheer virtue of the small arena, the rabid fan base, and most importantly, the MATCHES--I could let myself go and have fun.

 

What I saw tonight looked, and more importantly, FELT different than the ECW product on SciFi. And it certainly felt different from WWE Raw and Smackdown. By God--it felt like an alternative!

 

WWECW can work. It can draw the crowd that Vince wants: there were old, familiar ECW Pittsburgh-area regulars, plus fans with John Cena spinner belts, old Steve Austin shirts, and DX regalia--all of them were sucked into the show tonight.

 

Yes, WWECW can work. Will Vince let it?

 

After Heyman essentially being tossed out as booker, I doubt it. Ignore the TV show, and enjoy the house shows while you can.

[Enigma 0]

I have noticed that on all the ECW line-ups that have been posted on WWE.Com, all of Sabu's matches are listed as "Extreme Rules" matches. So, it seems as if unless it has special notation, all ECW matches are going to fall under countout/disqualification jurisdiction.

 

Strike another point against WWECW.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Yeah, I noticed Styles mention how the Sabu/Roadkill match last week was "Extreme Rules". I mean, I'm not expecting tables and chairs for every match but don't rub it in that a match or two per night is held under "Extreme Rules" and the rest are not.

[cabbageboy 0]

Why do I have a feeling that the RVD/Show match wasn't THAT bad, but that this guy was expecting something else? Probably more like the hardcore title match they had some years ago on Raw.

 

While I don't think it is a great idea to announce a certain match is ECW rules, it's not a bad idea to keep the violent mayhem contained to 1-2 matches a night. In later era ECW like 1999-2000 the violent stuff was contained to garbage brawls with New Jack, Sandman, and Co. and the rest of the card was more straightforward wrestling.

[Downhome 0]

Here's another report from PWInsider:

 

SECOND REPORT ON ECW HOUSE SHOW FEATURING TEST, CM PUNK, AND AN 'EXTREME RULES' MATCH

by Al Sciarretti @ 1:05:00 PM on 7/2/2006

 

ECW Results: July 1, 2006

Belle Vernon, PA "The Ice Garden"

 

The WWE influence was in full effect.

 

*The FBI (Mamaluke/Guido) defeated Roadkill & Danny Doring. Guido pinned Roadkill. Classic stuff, including "You F**k Sheep", "Where's My Pizza", and "Muffin Ass" chants.

 

*CM Punk defeated Fertig by submission. Punk got a good pop. Fertig was pretty much hated from the get-go. He was met with "You Can't Wrestle" and "You suck ****" chants.

 

*Kelly comes out. Exhibitionist, and such. Blah, Blah. She IS hot, though. She strips, until Jazz comes out and attacks her. She sets her up for a piledriver till Mike Knox makes the save, leading to...

 

*Mike Knox defeated Balls Mahoney. Balls comes out with NO chair. And uses no chair in the match. Yeah, this is...extreme.

 

*Sabu defeated C.W. Anderson with an "Atomic Arabian Facebuster" through a table. Sabu gets the first major pop of the night. The match was billed as being contested under ECW "Extreme Rules". Isn't this whole show ECW?

 

Intermission

 

*The Sandman defeated Justin Credible in a "Dueling Canes Match". Sandman get a big pop. Basic stuff. I wish that Sandman's music was the biggest concern WWECW had right now.

 

*Test defeated Tommy Dreamer in a "Falls Count Anywhere" match. Test is HUGE. I guess tagging with Scott Steiner took him to a new level. "Steroid" chants for him. He is NOT ECW. But then again, this is WWECW. Even Dreamer mimicked a steroid shot in the ass. Dreamer gets no respect from the WWE, but crowd was really into him. Post-match "Thank you, Tommy" chants.

 

*Main Event: Rob Van Dam defeated The Big Show to retain the ECW Title. Biggest pop of the night for RVD, crowd loved him. Show got a mixed, mostly-negative reaction, but not the overly negative one he got at the ECW Arena. RVD wins with the 5-Star.

 

The was a decent crowd there, the floor area was mostly filled, and the bleachers were pretty filled as well. But, this was NOT the usually ECW crowd. There were kids everywhere with their parents. I'd say it was about a 60-40 split of old-ECW fans to current-WWE fans. Very little backlash at the WWE guys there.

 

Being an old school ECW fan, I wanted the old days, but I came in with an open mind. But by the end of the show, I was very disappointed. Many fans were hoping for refunds. Others, including myself, wished Paul Heyman would have been there, but no doubt "The Man Who Knows ECW Fans" Vince McMahon has his leash firmly on Paul E.'s neck.

 

Taking creative control is clearly Vince's revenge on Paul and ECW for taking any credit for changing wrestling in the 90s. He's going to slowly alienate the old ECW fans, and cause this WWECW to become an utter and total failure. As always, Vince is going to "prove" that he, and the WWE, are the be-all, end-all in professional wrestling.

[luke-o 0]

Ive just got to ask, now that Vince has all the control over "ecw" and has decided its going to be just another brand, then why use the ECW name? Why rape and bastardize a legacy?

 

It annoys me that only Sabu's matches are "Extreme Rules", thats dumb. And it annoys me when wrestlers or announcers over use the phrase, "extreme", for example, "were EXTREMELY happy to be here" etc. Ok, your extreme, we get it.

 

Also did anyone else read that Sabu said at an ROH show recently, "i dont think ill be at WWE much longer"