Wrestling Review -- ECW One Night Stand
So for the people who will still admit they were ECW fans and still are, the WWE was generous enough to give us (okay, there you have it, I still love ECW) a pay per view for nostalgia’s sake. Although the promotion of the PPV probably hurt its initial success, it’s not illogical to admit that ECW didn’t draw big numbers by any means in the first place. In addition, nobody knew what the card was for the event, making it difficult to desire to see the show except for the fact that ECW is being revived for one more night.
The show itself was, however, played almost perfectly from many different sides. The integrating WWE/ECW storyline drew tremendous heat with JBL and Bischoff badmouthing everyone and bringing real life animosity to the show. The matches were kept short and served the purpose of putting the fans back in the day when ECW was still “strong,” which I think makes the show overall so fun to watch. Match wise there is not a whole lot to brag about, not many matches on the card, and most of them are 6-8 minutes long, but they are all fast paced and get straight to what the fans wanted to see: action. The one exception to this might be the Rey/Psicosis match, which couldn’t deliver due to Psicosis bulking up and altering his wrestling style, and Rey incorporating much of his newly acquired WWE high flying style.
The middle segment where Paul Heyman comes out to address the anti-ECW crusaders is probably the highlight, including the ultimate burn on JBL “The only reason you were WWE champion for a year is because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesdays.” Speaking of JBL, he gets alternate “commentary” on the matches after his arrival, although it’s mainly the same jokes repeated 400 times, and not really that funny in the first place (although the doorman jokes referring to Tanaka made me chuckle when they weren’t in excess). This, if anything, just proved how much spontaneous wit JBL really has. He can memorize promos commendably and maybe he should stick to that when dealing with his public image.
I loved this show, and say what you want about ECW but at least it was an alternative to the monotony of the big two. This show did a good job of picking a few matches to portray the different styles of matches they would have for the fans, and in a good summary form to make it short and sweet. The exception, again, with Rey/Psicosis which was supposed to be a lucha libre tribute but changed into a speed vs. power match, which was still okay. And onto the mini-recaps for the matches.
Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho. Jericho is one of the rare wrestlers of the night to go back to their ECW personalities, but I wonder why WWE still used everyone’s WWE theme music. Anyways, match starts off with the trademark mat wrestling stalemate, which of course everyone loves. Jericho gets to shine a little bit with his high flying skills, and I come to realize that Jericho can pull a dropkick out of any situation. The best spots were reserved for all the counters, especially Jericho pulling out the Walls out of the spot where he normally misses the Lionsault. Ending was a disappointment as Justin Credible comes out and creams Jericho with the singapore cane. Well, it was kind of cool to reuine the Impact Players for the night, although I never liked Justin Credible. He’s a dick at live shows, too. **3/4
Tajiri vs. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido. I’ve always loved the elimination style triple threat, and I’ve always LOVED anything Tajiri vs. Super Crazy. As crazy of a spot fest as the three guys could manage in a 6 minute match. Crazy gets the obligatory balcony moonsault, which is still one of the several definitions of “awesome.” Massive interference comes about and Super Crazy is left alone alone in that regard, but Mikey Whipwreck, god bless him, gives Guido the top rope Whippersnapper and Tajiri eliminates him. Tajiri and Crazy are left and we all know how fun their rivalry was, so it makes sense Guido was out first. They go through their trademark counters and reversals, and it ends with Crazy getting the triple moonsault after fighting off Whipwreck. Really short, but fun like a 6 minute roller coaster ride. **
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis. Psicosis takes off the mask for respect of the fans, but the fans don’t like it too much, perhaps because he does too good of a pouting Sean Penn impression. Start of the match is a decent display of lucha libre, but it comes to a grinding halt when Psicosis gets the advantage and does … a sleeper hold. Yeah, the crowd rips him apart. He learns his lesson and does the Psycho Guillotine practically killing Rey and being rewarded with the beloved “holy shit” chant. 619 gets booed, and why not? It’s a WWE creation. This is an ECW PPV. West Coast Pop finished seconds later, and the crowd is split on whether they like the match or not. I thought it was cool, perhaps if Psicosis could still perform as the daredevil he used to be the live crowd would have loved this match, but hey, I’ll take what I can get at this show. **
Impromtu match: Rhino vs. Sabu. Oh yeah, the impromptu match, now that’s ECW gold. Rhino has the balls to be “Rhyno” but I’ll correct him. Match starts with Rhyno overpowering Sabu, and that lasts a whole 3.8 seconds before getting cracked with a chair and then Sabu follows up with Air Sabu. Love that move, when he does it right. The match is pretty much both guys getting in a couple moves, then the tables turn, repeat, repeat, repeat. At least the pace is fast enough to negate match structure. Ref eats the Goar for some reason, and RVD runs in to assist his former partner and worst enemy. That’s nice. WWE won’t be letting him work for a while, so might as well work while injured. Arabian Guillotine gets the closest of near decapitations of the night and Rhino is smart enough to not push the ridiculousness by not kicking out. Oddly, after the match Sabu is pissed and walks off throwing a fit, probably because RVD was stealing some of the spotlight. *3/4
Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero. Eddie brings his sulking heel gimmick to an ECW PPV, another small annoyance but it’s Eddie so I’m not too troubled with it. As for the match, if you’ve seen these two wrestle before, you’ve seen this match. Not to take away it’s thunder, because it’s one of the more entertaining matches of the show. Eddie gets legitimately busted across his nose adding some good ole brutality to the matches. But pretty routine match, ending with Benoit winning with the Crossface. ***
Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka. It goes without saying that every match between these two creates another meaning of “brutality,” and this does the same. Really sick spots here, starting with an Awesome Bomb from the apron and Tanaka lands kind of funny, not to mention they only hit the end of the table so he took more impact than he should have. Awesome brings in a crapload of chairs (JBL: “What’s he getting, another table? No, it’s a chair! Yay he’s getting another chair!”) and we get the trademark series of chairshots which Tanaka can randomly survive. I’ve never figured that theory out. The man can take 5 shots in a row and keep going, but if he takes one 3 minutes later it kills him. Perhaps he forgets when to put up his shield. Tornado DDT to 2 chairs should kill Awesome, but it only gets two. Tanaka takes out some frustration by laying a chair on Awesome’s face, hitting it once and then again from the top for good measure. JBL: “My doorman is a badass. Come live at my place any time, you’re safe.” Okay, crude, but still funny thanks to the brutality of the match. More chair shots, and Tanaka pulls off another Tornado DDT, this time through a table because Awesome takes about a whole minute to set up the damn thing. Perhaps the most jarring spot comes when Awesome pulls off a sitting powerbomb from the top onto said broken table, and Tanaka is almost spiked onto the erect remnants of the table, or maybe it’s just a bad camera angle, but it looks like the guy was about to get thoroughly impaled. Odd ending when Awesome powerbombs Tanaka across the ring and dives out and pins him … outside the ring? Oh who cares, the chaos of the match eludes rules, as is if ECW really had any. I’m crazy for thinking this is a classic because it serves to be a summary of their feud, but I like this match that much. ****
Tommy Dreamer & Sandman vs. Dudley Boys. I don’t like the Dudley Boys. Say what you will about their contribution to ECW and tag team wrestling, but for only a total of a few months out of all their years in wrestling did I ever actually cheer them on. Fortunately unlike all their messy and spiritless brawls that they had in ECW, they put on an actual emotional and crazy fight for this PPV, with the help of Dreamer & Sandman, of course. Sandman is drunk before the match even starts, adding a little bit of surrealism to the match in hoping he doesn’t actually split someone’s head open with that cane. The infamous cheese grater makes it’s appearance, and for once in an ECW mayhem match the guys are actually doing an above average job selling the brutality. And there’s MOVES in the match, although not very often, but they exist. Francine and Beulah come out and add another storyline dimension to the match, and of course no appearance of these two is complete without a CATFIGHT. Man, Joey is so annoying when he says that, but it’s better than hearing Lawler cream himself over women. And Francine’s got a hot ass, so I’m satisfied. And we get the flaming table appearance, which Tommy is lucky enough to go through, and that’s the match. Not much to say in terms of play by play, but surprisingly enough this stands out more than thousands of their junk matches they used to have. ***
Okay, so looking at the match content, this would look like a not so good show. It’s an incredible show though, the matches are short and retain all the impact they were meant to have, and above all make the fans relive the golden days of ECW, not to mention that the whole program keeps the pace up from start to finish. This was the freshest of breaths from all the monotony WWE pumps out week after week, and a strong recommendation for an ECW fan. A.