STW - ECW One Night Stand 2005 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

One Night Stand 2005

One Night Stand took place on June 12th, from the Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York, New York. It did a sellout of 2,500 for $484,000, and it had 330,000 pay per view buys for a 0.81 buy rate.

In something that we never thought we'd see again, ECW came back 4 years after closing with the One Night Stand pay per view. It wasn't the original ECW, and eventually it'd turn into WWECW, but the original spirit of ECW was strong at the One Night Stand pay per view.

The ECW fans were always very loyal to the product during ECW's 8 year run, but even after they closed and several ECW wrestlers came to the WWE and would wrestle, you'd often hear chants of ECW during the matches. So even though at this point it had been gone for 4 years, it certainly hadn't been forgotten.

In November of 2004, WWE released the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, and it quickly sold out pretty much everywhere and became a massive success for WWE.

Were you surprised about how successful the DVD was and did the company anticipate that at all?

When you guys saw how successful that it was, did talks about doing something ECW-related start? Do you recall ever talks about bringing the actual promotion back in the few months after the DVD was released?

Why do you think wrestling fans even to this day seem to remember ECW so much more fondly than WCW? For example, as we said earlier, during wrestlers from ECW matches, the crowd would often chant ECW, ECW. However, when Ric Flair for example would wrestle, the fans wouldn't chant WCW, WCW...

Let's talk about how One Night Stand came to be.

Rob Van Dam, who very possibly is the biggest, most successful and most popular wrestler in ECW history has said that it was his idea to bring back ECW on a pay per view.

There was a lot of ECW wrestlers on the WWE roster at this time, and Rob said that ECW was his and their favorite place to work. Rob got the idea that an ECW pay per view would be an awesome idea. So during his time off, he went to Vince and asked him why has he never done an ECW pay per view?

Vince said to him, “I think that's a good idea, Rob. I think I could make a lot of money.” Rob was surprised by Vince's answer, and very excited about it. He said that he started to feed Vince different ideas every week. He made a list of former ECW wrestlers that were employed at that time by WWE. Vince said he didn't realize he had so many.

Paul who was in the office, started to push for it and Vince decided to do it.

What do you remember about the discussion involving it, the decision to have it, and Rob's involvement with it?

Who was for the idea and who was against it?

Out of curiosity, what was Triple H's opinion of it?

Shane McMahon was a big ECW fan during the promotion's original run, what did he think about it?

Rob did have a problem with WWE guys being on One Night Stand, and he didn't hide those feelings.

Rob has said about a conversation at the time that he had with Vince, Vince said to him, Rob, for all I know, those 2500 fans at the Manhattan Center were the last of the old ECW fans'...I said 'Vince, why do you think they still chant ECW?'  'Because I've trained them to do that over the last five years'. Seriously, how do you argue with that? You don't, eventually you throw in the towel, which is what I did. 

Did Vince really believe that? That he trained the fans to chant ECW?

In an interview with the UK Sun, RVD said “Those guys are definitely not going to be drawing the ratings for this PPV,” he said. “They are definitely not selling any seats. Nobody’s coming to see them and they have no business being there. The original plan was to have only ECW alumni on this show. There is no place for somebody pretending they’re hardcore when they were never there, whether they’ve got a sledgehammer in their hand or not

The WWE writers are taking part in the show, but us true hardcore ECW guys will vote out anything ridiculous they try to add to it.” He said some powers in WWE are more concerned with holding onto their power than doing what is best for the overall revenue of the company. “It will always be a problem because there are certain voices higher-up that like to flatten out anything that could jeopardize their stronghold, rather than seeing the overall benefit to the industry of something like this,” he said. 

“So, for sure, there is going to be some turbulence and some swimming up stream. But this show has a strong possibility of finishing as the third biggest PPV of the year. And if that happens, there’s one guy in the office who is really good at making decisions and has the best interests of this business in his heart. His name is Vince McMahon. He’s the guy that I want to talk to not all the minions around him, who have their own agendas for their own reasons.” 

RVD also wrote on his website - “Fans tell me they are afraid of what WWE is going to do with ECW. They tell me they don’t want to see the Raw and Smackdown guys at the pay–per–view. I know, everybody, I know. They don’t deserve the credit for drawing this pay–per–view’s success and it sucks that they are even going to be part of a show that they had nothing to do with. Had I not taken a minute off for my knee, I would’ve fought like hell to prevent this. Nonetheless, we all know what the excitement is about. Truth be told, those wrestlers are thankful that we brought forth the hardcore matches and the tables, ladders, and chairs kind of matches. They will be, even if they keep it quiet in their minds, along with all of us, cheering ECW! ECW! ECW!” 

Was there any heat at all on RVD for making his feelings about this so publicly known?

Let's talk about Paul Heyman's involvement with this. Paul of course was the owner of ECW. Did he want to basically have that same title as far as calling the shots for the pay per view?

When did he and Vince start butting heads about the direction of the pay per view?

Do you remember some of the things that Paul wanted to do that Vince didn't let happen?

Since we're talking about this, jumping ahead a bit, Keller reported - Although the WWE creative team is taking a ton of internet heat for the perception that they were heavily involved in the ECW pay–per–view, Paul Heyman butted heads with Vince McMahon more than anyone. It was Vince who decided to place the WWE crew on the show, which is an idea that Heyman originally rejected. Heyman told friends over the weekend that he was not happy with the first week of pay–per–view hype, which led to meetings with McMahon. After working out the details of the ECW crew showing up and running off both the Raw and Smackdown wrestlers, Heyman was okay with WWE’s presence at the show. And despite the backstage incident with Blue Meanie, Heyman made it known that he was very impressed with JBL’s performance on the pay–per–view. 

Let's talk about who was in charge of contacting former ECW wrestlers who weren't currently in WWE for One Night Stand?

Did Vince know who everyone was, or did he just trust in Paul's word about who to bring in for the show?

Why was Hammerstein Ballroom selected as the spot for the show? 

Keller reported - The $200 tickets for ECW’s PPV in New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom were dropped to $100, which could mean that many fans who paid $150 initially will end up sitting behind fans who paid just $100. The ringside $400 seats did sell out right away, but overall, the experiment of charging much higher prices than usual was considered in retrospect to be overly aggressive. The 2,500 seat venue will be full and the total ticket revenue will be among the highest of the month for WWE due to ticket prices, even taking into the account the slashing of the $200 tickets in half.

We talked earlier about the names that were contacted for the show. One of the most notable names that wasn't there was maybe the best ECW World Champion ever, Shane Douglas. We also talked about the ppv being held in the Hammerstein Ballroom; 2 days before One Night Stand, Shane hosted his own ECW reunion show at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia called Hardcore Homecoming.

Is that why Hammerstein Ballroom was picked for One Night Stand and not the ECW Arena?

Is that why Shane wasn't at One Night Stand? Was there ever talks at all about him possibly appearing?

On Shane's show was Douglas vs. Sabu vs. Terry Funk. The undercard has taken shape as follows: Raven vs. Sandman, Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn, and Kid Kash vs. Too Cold Scorpio. They are also advertising The FBI, Danny Doring, Roadkill, J.T. Smith, Axl Rotten, Francine, Blue Meanie, Mikey Whipwreck, Chris Chetti, Tod Gordon, Joey Styles, Don Callis, and Joel Gertner 

What was the reaction when you guys heard that Shane was doing this show two days before One Night Stand?

Shane did an interview during this time on the Wrestling News Live radio show. Douglas said there wouldn’t have been a need for him to create the independent “Hardcore Homecoming” reunion show if Vince would have planned the ECW PPV properly and allowed talent exchange between various promotions. On the topic of TNA, Douglas said he is proud to be associated with TNA and feels like TNA needs to step up and secure a TV deal. Douglas does not believe TNA would have allowed the Fox Sports Net deal to expire if they didn’t have a TV deal lined up. 

In storylines on TV, we started seeing the seeds be really planted on the May 19th Raw, when Tajiri and Chris Benoit were talking about ECW and they decided to have an ECW rules match against each other. A few minutes into the match, Bischoff and Coach come out and Eric says they'll be no mention of ECW on Raw

On the May 23rd Raw, Eric has a funeral for ECW segment. He has a black wreath in the ring. Eric runs down ECW, and then Vince comes out. He says he has an interest in ECW staying alive, and finally admits (outside of the ECW DVD) that he was bankrolling ECW all along in hopes of their stars becoming his stars. He accuses Eric of “raping and pillaging” the ECW locker room and driving them into bankruptcy. Vince says the only brand that is dead is WCW

Vince then brings Paul Heyman out, so for the first time we see the 3 men who ruled wrestling in the 90s in the ring at the same time; Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon.

What was your thoughts on that famous segment? 

Paul and Eric's dislike for each other over the years has been well documented. Do you think Paul was shooting with the things he said during this, and what was their relationship like at this time?

On the June 6th Raw, which was the go home Raw before One Night Stand, at the end of the show, Eric, Christian, Tyson Tomko & Edge come to the ring. And Eric says “Paul Heyman. For once, in you miserable life, you’ve decided to keep your word. You said you weren’t coming alone, so you show up with the Dudley Boyz?

Quite frankly, I always thought the Dudley Boyz were a little overrated. Nevertheless, all you’re doing, Heyman, is making our jobs easier. Tonight, we’re gonna take you three out. That way, I don’t even have to show up at One Night Stand. And then, that way, this Sunday, at the Hammerstein Ballroom, whatever crumbs of ECW are left over, we’re gonna feed to Smackdown’s Kurt Angle, JBL and his Cabinet, and kill ECW once and for all. “You know, Heyman, I know you’re back there, alright? So I’m gonna do something you never thought I would do, Heyman. I’m calling you out.” 

Paul Heyman & the Dudley Boyz are shown backstage. They walk through the crowd and towards the ring. They go over the security wall and stand outside the ring. Paul says “Eric, you keep making the same mistkae over and over and over and over and over again. You keep thinking it’s about me. It’s not about Paul Heyman. It’s about E-C-W. I’ll give you credit, Mr Bischoff. You had an unlimited checkbook, you had a multi million dollar expense account, you had the Nitro franchise, but WCW never had what ECW had. 

ECW had the guts. ECW had the soul. ECW had the passion, and ECW had a bond with the audience that you could never duplicate! And so help me God, so help me God, by my children’s soul, I’ll tell you this man to man. ECW never backed down from anyone.” The Dudleys then go into the ring and Bischoff leaves. 

Paul says “Oh really? Well maybe, just maybe, you’ll back down from this” He motions for more support. Some ECW guys come down to the ring. Heyman gets on the apron. “Eric, I guess you didn’t hear me. In ECW, we never backed down from anybody!” Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Rhyno, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, and the ECW Brigade walks down to the ring. 

Paul says, in case you didn’t understand me the first two times, in ECW, we never, ever, ever back down from a fight.” Team ECW clears the ring. Edge gets Gored by Rhyno. Maven gets hung in the tree of woe and gets a baseball slide with a chair. They hang an ECW banner over the top rope to close the show

Let's talk about some company news heading into the pay per view

Speaking of Terry Funk, it's been said that Paul wanted him on the ppv, but he decided to work Shane's show instead, because he said he didn't want Vince making money off of the ECW name. However, Terry worked the One Night Stand 2006 pay per view.

No Observers posted from this time

Keller reported - UPN has made it clear that despite being its highest rated show the vast majority of weeks since Smackdown debuted on the network more than five years ago, it doesn’t consider the program its centerpiece. However, it is portraying the move from Thursday to Friday as an indication they’re confident the WWE audience is loyal enough to follow it anywhere. 

UPN has decided to go with a two hour block of comedies on Thursdays instead, feeling it has better upside ratings potential and will be more attractive to advertisers.

A recent research study reported that among 180 primetime programs, pro wrestling drew the smallest percentage of middle class and upper–middle class viewers. That’s why advertisers, despite high ratings, won’t shell out big bucks to have their ads appear on WWE programming. Also, UPN doesn’t like being known as the “wrestling network,” either. The shift to comedies on Thursdays, at a time when NBC has cut their comedy line–up from two hours down to one, makes business sense. The reaction among industry trade journals is that this is not a sign that Smackdown’s days on UPN are limited. Zap2It.com predicted that “Smackdown will now dominate Fridays, where its testosterone–driven antics will draw familiar ratings without tainting the rest of UPN’s schedule.” 

Keller reported - Former MLW promoter Court Bower, 27, was hired to be part of the creative team this month. Bower booked and operated Major League Wrestling in 2003, gaining regional clearance through the Sunshine Network in Florida where his upstart promotion was based. His program had a look and feel similar to ECW right down to the announcer, Joey Styles. Baurer ran into financial difficulties and shut down early in 2004. 

During a promo on Smackdown, JBL really went hard into ECW and Paul Heyman. He said -

Heyman taking credit for Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, The Dudleys, Rey Mysterio, Steve Austin, and Mick Foley is like Gore taking credit for inventing the internet. “News flash. Paul Heyman is a liar!” he said. “At least Al Gore didn’t live in the basement with his mommy, at least Al Gore didn’t bounce checks to his buddies, at least Al Gore wasn’t such a bad businessman that Vince McMahon had to give him half a million dollars to bail him out and he blew that, too. 

At least Al Gore didn’t run for president in a bingo hall.” He called ECW’s style “trash” and blamed ECW for the hardcore beatings he has taken over the past year. He questioned why fans would chant ECW when they can chant JBL. 

He claimed New York City was his hometown. He said he is proud to join Kurt Angle and Eric Bischoff in putting ECW out of business “yet again.” 

Were the things that JBL said here his true feelings and did a lot of the guys at the time feel the same way about Paul and ECW, but maybe just didn't say it?

Keller reported - WWE management is high on C.M. Punk, and key figures in pro wrestling predict he’ll end up being a WWE main eventer within a few years. Punk has been working WWE dark matches and Heat matches recently. One friend predicts he’ll end up tight with Triple H “ecause “the two are so similar in their passion for pro wrestling” and similar as people overall. Punk is considered a fervent “student of the game,” and since he’s in his mid–20s, he can be a “protege” rather than a “threat” to Triple H, who is more than ten years his senior. Punk also is smooth at presenting himself professionally behind the scenes.

Former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly made several negative remarks about Vince McMahon, Triple H, and the WWE during an interview with the “Voice of Wrestling” radio. Kelly mentioned that, “Triple H is going to make sure no one gets over more than him,” and “If you don’t have the right political clout in that company, it’s going to come back to haunt you.”

Would you agree with those statements by Kevin?

The draft was set for June 30th, however on June 5th, the start of it happened. John Cena, was the first wrestler to be moved and Chris Benoit was the second wrestler moved, returning to his previous home. Cena’s move brings both world championships to Raw, but on the June 9 Smackdown, Teddy Long said the decision regarding the title situation won’t be formally addressed until the month–long draft concludes. 

Why was it decided to make the draft last for the entire month of June? First time that had been done since the draft started in 2002.

Keller reported of it - John Cena’s jump to Raw was a top secret within WWE, known by very few, including other wrestlers who didn’t know Cena was there until a minute before he went on the air. Vince McMahon has made it clear that the element of surprise is important in the draft, so he’s taking unprecedented steps to keep the jumps secret, even from the wrestlers affected, until the last possible moment 

The June 8th edition of “Byte This” was hosted by Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer

After playing a soundbyte of Eric Bischoff running down ECW and Paul Heyman, Heyman indicated ECW died because the wrestling bubble burst and TV executives were looking for alternative programming in place of wrestling. Heyman said WCW lost $80 million per year while ECW lost $7 million over seven years.

Dreamer said, “If we had 80 million dollars, ECW would still be in business, and Byte This would either be called either Blow Me or Eat Me.” Heyman said he wanted to “shoot” some more and cleared up the misconception that he claimed to make wrestlers. Heyman said he didn’t make anyone, but merely gave wrestlers like Steve Austin, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, and Tommy Dreamer a platform to perform their craft. Heyman said JBL’s promo on the June 2 edition of Smackdown was merely Brian Gewirtz trying to “shoot” on television. Heyman also wondered why Triple H hasn’t taken Eric Bischoff out since he passed on him in WCW. 

On the topic of Shane Douglas’s Hardcore Homecoming show, Heyman said he hopes the show does well because we wants any product trying to capitalize on the ECW experience to be successful. Heyman said, “I never want someone who is searching for the ECW experience be frustrated or let down because that hurts ECW’s legacy.” Heyman sees a market for future ECW–related opportunities and wants Douglas to succeed so the market is ripe and not killed off by a bad show.

Dreamer said he’s glad for the wrestlers in making another payday working the show, but said the Homecoming show would not be authentic because it does not have Paul Heyman’s vision. Heyman said he wanted Douglas to be a part of the show, but it couldn’t happen. Dreamer pointed out that Douglas doesn’t like Heyman and Heyman responded, “I don’t give a fuck if he likes me or not, I’m not here for him to like.” 

Heyman closed the show by saying his contract is up at the end of the year and doesn’t know if Vince McMahon is going to want him back. Heyman said that if the PPV does well, maybe Vince will want him back to do a return ECW show or possibly explore other WWE projects. Heyman indicated he has projects he wants to pursue on his own outside of WWE and possibly wrestling. However, Heyman said he cares about the ECW legacy very much and doesn’t want to see ECW turn into Terry Funk with several retirement shows 

That takes us to One Night Stand.

Hammerstein Ballroom is a much smaller and different type of venue than WWE typically ran. Was it tough to get the ring and everything set up that was needed to do the show?

What was Vince's thoughts on the building?

Keller reported - The first altercation of the day came early at Sunday’s ECW One Night Stand PPV. When a pregnant Dawn Marie arrived, she began greeting a number of people backstage. When she offered a handshake to Francine, Francine pulled her hand away and made a face. Dawn called Francine on the snub, and the two exchanged words briefly, with Dawn saying, “It’s good to see you’re still as pleasant as ever, bitch!” 

The two had major heat with each other during their last run together in ECW. Dawn expressed that she felt Francine was out of line in disrespecting her on her turf and was just showing off in front of her friends. Dawn was so worked up, the belief backstage was that if she wasn’t pregnant, she would have jumped Francine right there. Joey Styles could have warmed up his vocal chords by chanting “cat fight” early. They eyed each other a couple other times when in each others’ sightlines, but otherwise there were no other incidents 

As a result of the Dawn Marie–Francine incident, during the preshow talent meeting held by Vince McMahon and John Laurenaitis later in the afternoon, wrestlers were told to put any grudges aside for the night. Everyone was asked to be professional and settle any disputes they had another time and another place. That made JBL’s actions later all the more upsetting to other wrestlers, who felt he defied the request by management to set aside issues from the past. 

When confronted about it, JBL said he wasn’t acting out based on a past grudge, he was reacting to what Meanie said and did to him in the ring that night. “What a bullsh–– excuse that is,” says one ECW wrestler who heard that story. “He claimed Meanie was shooting on him. Big deal. Meanie was doing what he was told to do.” 

We'll talk more about that incident later

Vince McMahon worked the gorilla position throughout the show, while Heyman sat next to him and produced the announcers. “Of course Paul was there; Vince had to eat crow” one wrestler cracked 

Stephanie McMahon and Triple H did not attend the show, but Shane McMahon was spotted at the building early in the day 

John Laurenaitis, Gerald Brisco, Arn Anderson, Tony Garea, Rick Steamboat, and Fit Finlay were the WWE agents who were working backstage. They were not intrusive, though, in how they went about organizing the show. Rather than dictating to wrestlers what to do, they merely asked them what they had in mind and asked if they needed any help with anything 

Joey Styles and Mick Foley did commentary for the show. Mick was in ECW, in 1995. Why was the decision made to have them do commentary together?

Mick was also at Shane Douglas' show 2 nights earlier

Was it hard to get Joey to do this since he had been so outspoken against WWE over the years?

The show began with Joey Styles coming to the ring to introduce the show. Joey was near tears as the raucous crowd chanted, “Joey, Joey, Joey!” Joey introduced his broadcast colleague, Mick Foley, who came to the ring to his Cactus Jack theme music. As Joey and Foley hugged in the ring, the classic ECW intro video played 

Lance Storm (w/Dawn Marie) beat “Lionheart” Chris Jericho at 7:23 when Justin Credible hit Jericho with a kendo stick while the referee’s back was turned. Joey indicated this match quite possibly could have been Storm’s final wrestling match and wondered why Storm would want to end a match against his best friend with a cheap victory. Credible, Storm, Dawn Marie, and Jason Knight posed in the ring after the match. (**3/4) 

Storm and Jericho started working in America for Smokey Mountain as a tag team, known as The Thrillseekers.

Chris also wrestled in ECW as Lionheart Chris Jericho, as well as WCW and he wore tights that he wore back in those days for this match.

Joey Styles introduced a special “ECW Remembers” video package highlighting the deaths of former ECW alumni. The list included Rocco Rock, Terry Gordy, Crash Holly, The Original Sheik, Mike Lazansky, Pitbull Anthony Durante, Big Dick Dudley, and Chris Candido. Dates indicating the years of death accompanied each wrestler’s names, which indicated some very early death.

Other wrestlers who were in ECW that had passed away and weren't on the tribute video are Louie Spicolli, Brian Pillman, Road Warrior Hawk, and Eddie Gilbert.

Super Crazy beat Yoshihiro Tajiri (w/Mikey Whipwreck and Jim Mitchell) and Little Guido (w/Tracy Smothers, Big Guido, and Tony Mamaluke) at 6:11 in a triple threat elimination match. Guido (Nunzio in WWE) was eliminated first by Tajiri following a Whippersnapper by Whipwreck. Prior to the elimination, Super Crazy connected with a “high spot of the night” moonsault off the balcony onto FBI down below. Super Crazy eventually scored the final elimination on Tajiri with a powerbomb/moonsault combination. The action felt rushed at points. (**¼)

Rey Mysterio beat Psicosis at 6:20 with a springboard huricanrana. Before the match, Psicosis took off his mask, which the ECW audience disapproved of. They also disapproved of Rey using the 619 as the set up to the springboard huricanrana, because it felt more “WWE” than authentic “ECW.” The match felt rushed. (**) 

These 2 had classic matches against each other in ECW in 1995 when they both started wrestling in America. They then went to WCW.

The contingent of Smackdown invaders, led by Kurt Angle, arrived at the Hammerstein Ballroom to sit in a private section of balcony seats they purchased. Before finding their seats, the Smackdown crew was cursed at by the ECW fans while a loud, “F––– you, Smackdown” chant was started up. Joel Gertner made his first appearance of the night and he was quickly kicked out of the private seats by JBL. Angle took the mic and ran down the ECW product and its fans before turning the mic over to JBL, who ran down the “Internet fans” for talking to their friends about the product in between visiting porn sites. 

The fans chanted, “Shut the f––– up.” JBL said, “I am a wrestling god. You can do your little chants and root for your people, but nobody in that ring will ever make it to my level. Nobody. So get your little chants and your little loser buddies, get on the internet, and tell them that the guy who sold out arenas all over the world told you that. We will sell pay–per–views because I am here, not because of that crap in the ring.” 

How did these guys and the ECW originals get along backstage?

Rob Van Dam interrupted with Bill Alfonso by his side and told the WWE contingent that people came to the show and were tuning in at home to see ECW and not the WWE wrestlers who they’re tired of having shoved down their throats. RVD indicated he was working without any “creative geniuses” and was shooting straight from the heart. RVD said the greatest moments in his professional career came in ECW when he was TV Champion and he had the opportunity to give the fans a great show.

RVD took credit for coming up with the ECW PPV concept and indicated he pitched the idea to Vince McMahon, who agreed it was a good idea. RVD, who has hobbling on one good knee, said he was so emotionally hurt by not being able to wrestle because of knee surgery. One of RVD’s best promos in his career came to an end when Rhino interfered and gored RVD. The lights went out and when the lights came back on, Sabu was standing in the ring 

RVD came out to a thunderous pop. The environment and atmosphere that night was amazing, you even feel it through the TV. He went on to cut very possibly the best, and most emotional promo of his entire career.

It even looked like he had tears in his eyes when he was talking about what ECW meant to him.

(I re-watched the promo, and wrote down what he said word for word)

RVD said, I love you Fonzie, if they listened to me, you would've had a job a long time ago. Let me say, it sucks bad enough that you're in this building (talking to JBL, Angle and other Smackdown guys that were in the balcony) sucking up some credit that you've got absolutely nothing to do with. Shut your mouth, this has nothing to do with you

Tonight , is gonna be one of the biggest pay per views all year and it's exactly because these people, just like me, just like Fonzie are sick and tired of having you and your likeness shoved down their throats everytime they wanna watch wrestling.

Tonight, we give them what they wanna see, ECW. You deserve 0 credit for tonight's success. The office might be blind to it, but these people are gonna let you know. That's right, I don't have any creative geniuses writing my script tonight, folks. So, I'm gonna be shooting from the heart. I'm gonna take you back to a time before RVD's vocabulary was limited to whatever and cool.

Remember that Fonzie? Remember when RVD had a vocabulary? When I had a voice? Do you remember when these people would chant my initials from the opening of the show, through intermission all the way to the main event, remember that?

Talk about the pressure? No sweat. I didn't sweat it. You know why? Because I was going to have the opportunity to come out and actually use my abilities and my skills to make sure everyone watching went home happy. As long as I got the chance to do my part that's all that mattered. You know why? I'm the whole fucking show.

Mr. Pay Per View. Mr. Monday Night. You remember what RVD 4:20 means? I just smoked your ass. Fonzie, how long did I defend that World Television Title?

Fonzie said, 1 year, 11 months, 18 days, 2 hours and 42 seconds, daddy!

Are you kidding me? That was the best time of my career. Yeah,I said that. That is how you showcase RVD. The fans start chanting RVD I know, I know, I understand. I feel the love. I understand the respect and that is why we're here tonight. Thats why I went to the boss man and said Vince, have you ever of doing an ECW pay per view? He said, well Rob, actually, I hadn't thought of that.

I said, it would be huge. You gotta do it. All of us ECW guys that were there back in the day, that share that energy with the ECW fans. 

Let us go out there the way that we wanna be seen, balls out, we're your toughest guys, don't worry about any of us getting hurt, we don't even need a storyline Rob looked up to the smackdown guys when he said that

Just one night only. You don't even have to turn the lights on for the whole building because we weren't about that. Let us show you what we were all about. Yeah! And then, he liked it. He liked my idea and the dream became a reality. And the date was set, June 12th, One Night Stand, ECW! I can't freaking wait!

And then I had to get this knee surgery. Dr. Andrews had to fix my torn ACL and my torn meniscus and I'm not going to be cleared to wrestle on this pay per view. You can see Rob starting to cry and holding back tears as he said that

And that sucks worse than anything for me. Way worse than anything. Worse than missing the overseas tour to Japan and to Europe. This sucks worse than Booker T's wedding that I missed. This sucks worse than missing Wrestle freaking Mania!

I would gladly pass all that up to be here right now because this is what I'm about. RVD is ECW. Rhyno then hit the ring and speared RVD.

Rob said that no one knew what he was going to say that night. He said that he ran it by Edge before he went out there, Edge was the only one that knew.

Rob said that he heard someone was standing by Steve Austin during RVD's promo, and Austin said Damn, why don't he cut promos like that for us?

What was the reaction to what Rob said during that promo?

Do you think any opinions about Rob were changed that night? What was Vince's reaction to it?

Rob cut very good promos in ECW. They were funny, unique, charismatic, why was he reduced to “whatever”, “dude” and “cool” in WWE?

Sabu (w/Bill Alfonso & RVD) beat Rhyno at 6:27 with an Arabian Skullcrusher through a table. RVD managed to drop kick a chair into Rhyno while hobbling on one good knee. After the match, Sabu and RVD hugged. Another crazy, high–octane highspot fest 

Rhyno was fired after WrestleMania. Was it tough to get him on this show? He also was on Shane's show 2 days earlier, as was Sabu, who beat Shane Douglas and Terry Funk in a triple threat match, in a rematch of their triple threat match in 1994, which went to a 60 minute draw. 

They also had a rematch of that 1994 match at the Hardcore Heaven 1997 pay per view, for the World Title, when Sabu was the champion, after just beating Funk in a barbed wire match for the title. Douglas won that match to win the World Title 

Eric Bischoff led a contingent of Raw Crusaders to the private “WWE section” of seats to join the Smackdown crew. The fans hurled obscenities towards Bischoff as he walked to his seat. 

Chris Benoit beat Eddie Guerrero at 9:00 when Eddie submitted to the Crippler’s Crossface. Another match that felt too short to reach anything close to its potential. (**3/4) 

Keller said - Eddie Guerrero was not happy with the finish for his match against Benoit, and never seemed to get into the event on a whole. He also seemed upset with the crowd chanting at Edge in the opening minutes of his match against Benoit. There were some heated words exchanged afterward between Guerrero and Benoit as a result of how the match went. 

Eddie and Benoit both wrestled in ECW in 1995. Eddie was the ECW TV champion 2 times, and Benoit was the ECW tag team champion, with Dean Malenko

Joel Gertner made his second appearance of the night and asked Eric Bischoff for a job. Bischoff shoved Gertner away and said he didn’t want any of the ECW fans to show up at his show because they’re not of the same class as the Raw fans. Bischoff said, “ECW sucks.” 

Mike Awesome beat Masato Tanaka at 11:00 with an Awesome Bomb through a table. During the match, the camera cut to various shots of JBL and the WWE wrestlers laughing their way through the endless table spots in the match. Plenty of chairshots, with a string of chair shots no–sold by Tanaka. The match was a major clusterf–––, but it was the highpoint of the night because of endless nearfalls and a hot crowd response. (***1/4) 

During the match, Mike Awesome suffered a deep gash on one of his knees when he dove over the top rope and onto Masato Tanaka at ringside. The cut required several stitches, but he did not do any serious damage to his knee. His kneepad caught the top rope as he sling–shot himself over the top rope and that’s why he landed awkwardly 

These guys had several matches in ECW. Mike Awesome won the ECW World Title on September 19th, 1999 at the Anarchy Rulz pay per view and lost it to Masato Tanaka on December 17th on ECW on TNN. Awesome won it back on December 23rd on ECW on TNN, before Mike lost it to Taz

Unfortunately, Mike Alfonso (Awesome) passed away on February 17th, 2007.

Paul Heyman came out to the ring sporting a headset and a long leather jacket. Heyman had tears in his eyes as he stepped into the ring to a chant of “Thank you, Paul.” Heyman soaked in the moment before indicating it only appeared he was crying because, “I was in the back smoking a joint with Rob Van Dam.” 

Heyman acknowledged several people who helped along the way including Tod Gordon, the producers, and the fans. 

Heyman pointed to Bischoff and told him, “You’re in our house, bitch.” Bischoff shot his middle finger back at Heyman. Bischoff made fun of Edge’s relationship issues before saying the two (really three) words no one has the balls to say, “Matt frickin’ Hardy.” Heyman continued down the line by indicating the only way JBL became WWE Champion was because “Triple H didn’t wanna work Tuesdays.” JBL mocked being hurt by the comment and fell down on his knees holding his chest in “pain.” Heyman closed, “This isn’t Raw, this isn’t Smackdown, this is ’E–C–F–––in’–W!’” 

How emotional was Paul during this whole day, and what do you think this show really meant to him?

Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D–Von Dudley beat The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer at 10:15 with a double team powerbomb on Dreamer through a flaming table. The Sandman’s entrance had the WWE contingent in awe as he soaked up the moment by sharing beers with fans and going through a few rounds of “Enter the Sandman” before standing next to Dreamer. Sandman and Dreamer proceeded to pour beer on the chest of Elektra and another woman before licking the beer off. The match was a spot–fest spectacle that captured the passion and energy of ECW. Even Beulah McGilicutty and Francine became involved and got mixed up in a Catfight. Beulah and Dreamer shared a hug while Dreamer’s face was covered in blood. Spike Dudley made an appearance to light a table on fire before the Dudleys slammed Dreamer through the table. It was the spectacle it needed to be to live up to expectations. (***3/4) 

How hard did Paul have to convince Vince to get the rights to Enter Sandman and not use a knock off version?

What would that of cost, ballpark figure?

This would be the Dudley's last match in WWE for over 10 years, until they returned in 2015.

The Sandman was a stumbling, drunk mess after the match and requested a beer. The glass broke and the man with the answer, Steve Austin, came to the ring to a loud pop. Austin said, “I’ve seen you drink, but you don’t need a can of beer, you need a case of beer.” 

Austin called out the entire ECW locker room for a beer bash, but before sharing beers with everyone, Austin said he wanted to see a fight. Austin called out the WWE crew to partake in a fight. The WWE guys slowly made their way to the ring as Eric Bischoff sat in on commentary. Before the two sides mixed it up, Taz(with one z) made his first appearance of the night to choke out Kurt Angle. A brawl ensued with the ECW guys eventually clearing the ring of the WWE contingent. 

Austin called for Eric Bischoff to take his obligatory ECW beat down. Mick Foley dragged Bischoff to the ring where he took a 3–D, Flying Headbutt, 619, and Stunner for good measure. The Dudleys hauled Bischoff out of the arena and to a flatbed truck outside as Joey Styles said, “This is the greatest night of my professional career.” A beer bash was had in the ring with Austin and Sandman shared a beer as Austin recognized the man who inspired his WWE gimmick. The show closed with Austin and Sandman standing atop the ECW entrance ramp with their arms raised in unison 

Austin had worked briefly in ECW in 1995 before coming to the WWF. He started a brief feud with Sandman before leaving ECW.

Keller reported - Austin got caught up in the atmosphere in the building and had a great time. He was described as cordial, gracious, and even humble by backstage observers. He was hanging out with wrestlers all afternoon. Austin even confessed that he believed drinking a beer with Sandman did as much for him as it did for Sandman. Mikey Whipwreck asked Austin before the show if he minded if he did the Whipper Snapper, which is basically a Stone Cold Stunner off the second rope. Austin said he was cool with that, and admitting he copied the move from Mikey in the first place, so of course he could do it. “Steve was cool about everything,” says one ECW wrestler 

In Steve's only singles match in ECW, he lost the Mikey Whipwreck by pin when Mikey was the ECW World Champion, at November to Remember 1995. Then a few weeks later, Mikey defended the title against Austin & Sandman in a triple threat match. Austin pinned Mikey; and Sandman pinned Austin to win the ECW World Title, and that was Steve's last match in ECW.

During the brawl, an incident happened between JBL and Blue Meanie, where JBL started punching Meanie in a shoot, causing Meanie to bleed. Then several ECW wrestlers started going after JBL until Bubba Ray Dudley pulled him out of the ring

Keller wrote - The locker room sentiment seemed decidedly anti–JBL. “JBL’s a dick and has a huge ego,” says one wrestler. “A lot of people backstage enjoyed Paul (Heyman) putting him in his place during (his promo).” Says another ECW wrestler: “What the f––– do you prove by beating up Meanie?” JBL, accompanied by Orlando Jordan, did step onto the bus after the event and told a large group of ECW wrestlers that he loved the show and really appreciated what they did. Some thought it was a magnanimous gesture, but others saw it as JBL trying to save face. In any case, JBL was consistent in saying he absolutely loved the event. It was his first ECW show ever. 

A few days after the show, Blue Meanie wrote on his website - 

What turned out to be a beautiful weekend came to end on a sour note. I guess by now you all know what happened last night between Bradshaw and myself. It’s no secret that Bradshaw never liked me from my first day in WWE to my last. What I did to the guy to piss him off I don’t know, but then maybe I never needed to know. Bradshaw has always had the rep of being a bully and a liberty taker in the ring and he also has a rep of getting away with it. Once the ECW–WWE brawl started, I paired off with Coach and I felt a punch come from out of nowhere. 

My first instinct was to hit back, but I also had the issue of trying to protect the 14 staples I have in my head. I got some rib shots in the best I could, but he got the upper hand with going to my face, opening a fresh wound on my forehead and swelling my eye. All I saw was red as the blood fill my eyes and I believe it was Maven I pulled on top of me to get him to ‘choke” me. 

After he got cleared out, guys came up to check on me and we went on the other deal with Austin and Bischoff and the big post brawl party in the ring. As f–––ed up as what Bradshaw did, the crowd reaction had me so buzzed that I didn’t feel anything. I got to the back and Bradshaw was in a part of the gorilla position. He came over like he was going to do something else, but people got in between. He was yelling about me talking about him on the Internet. 

The rest of what he said I didn’t hear cause I was too busy saying, ‘Yo, it’s a work!’ and ‘‘Dude, the business is a f–––in work!!’ So I did the best thing anyone could ever do in the situation and just walked away. I got stitched up and said my good byes. A lot of the guys were pissed and asked what happened. When I told them they were pissed even more. We got home and all I have been doing is popping Aleve and icing my face and reflecting 

Talk about the reaction to this

Meanie was on Chris Jericho's podcast talking about this incident.

Blue Meanie did an interview not long after he originally left WWF. He said ‘I had a great time in WWE. I saw the world. I got paid to see the world on Vince McMahon’s dime.’ I thanked WWE. I was like, ‘The only thing is, JBL was kind of an asshole.’

During my whole tenure there [in WWE] from ’98 to 2000, it was like, I don’t want to say, like, hazing, but bullying. Whether it would be shots in a match or we’d be on a plane and he’s telling a story about some fat fuck, you know he’s referencing you.”

Meanie said, “I felt this punch right on my scar [a recent injury from wrestling] and I went, ‘What the hell?’ I turned around and there was JBL. He started throwing shots. He did the hockey thing, pulling my shirt over my face [and] began throwing live rounds. He [had] a fistful of rings, so I was like, ‘I ain’t going to take this!’, so I snatched a headlock as much as I could on a 6’6” man and I started throwing punches back. We kind of got pulled apart.

[When I went] to the back and Johnny Ace met me at the curtain, he went, ‘What the hell was that?’ I was like, ‘What? JBL shot on me!’ He was like, ‘No, no- Who told you [that] you could blade?’ I was like, ‘I didn’t!’ He was like, ‘What?’

At this point, I gave him the elevator pitch of the heat that [JBL and I] had. He was like, ‘That’s unacceptable. We don’t do that here. Blah, blah, blah.’ And I walked further into the ‘Gorilla’ position, and there was JBL…

He said, ‘You were talking about me on the Internet.’

I was like, ‘Crap, dude, was I wrong? You’re having a hard time proving me wrong!’

So, long story short, WWE did the right thing. They stitched me up and doubled my pay for that night!”

JBL told his side of the story on an interview on WWE.com

“Before the brawl at the end of the pay-per-view, [Blue Meanie] started cutting a shoot promo on me, saying I’m the reason he got fired and the only reason I got to where I am was because I suck Vince McMahon’s dick. I was incredulous. I thought there’s no way he could really mean this.

So I got to work with him at the end, and here we are trying to give the fans a great finish [to the pay-per-view] when we begin to lock horns in the melee. But he’s basically not even acknowledging my presence. Now I might have caught him snug with a shot, but then he started throwing back heavy punches, including a body shot. So make no mistake, I club him back to make sure he knows I’m not playing, and I think I got him with a shot over the eye and one near the forehead and apparently opened him up a little.

Backstage I asked him if he wanted to finish it right then and there. He told me it’s all a show and that he didn’t want to fight. And he pretty much ran off.”

Whose side of the story do you side on?

On the July 7th, 2005 Smackdown, JBL and Blue Meanie wrestled in a match against each other and Stevie Richards, who was good friends with Meanie going back to their ECW days when they were in the bWo together; The Blue World Order came in and hit JBL with an absolutely vicious chair shot to the head, allowing Meanine to get the win

What's your memories of that match and that chairshot?

Did JBL have any problem with Stevie doing that so hard?

During an interview with the Wrestling Inc Daily Podcast, Meanie said of this match - 

After everything happened, I kinda went off on my own website and the news sites. WWE brought me in and when we got to the building, they go, 'Well, you're wrestling JBL tonight.' I go, 'Does John know this?' They go, 'You're gonna hit a moonsault and you're gonna win' and I go, 'Does John know this?'

"It was in Sacramento at a SuperShow and JBL comes up, 'Hey man, you wanna talk?' We go find a room that is way in the bowels of the building and I'm thinking this is kinda weird. I go, if I walk into the room and there's plastic on the floor then I'm gonna run!

"We go in the room and he says, 'Hey man, we can talk or we can fight' and I didn't wanna fight. So, we just talked. I gave him my perspective and he said there was a lot of stuff he didn't remember."

In terms of their match, JBL said, "We can fight or we can make money" and Meanie said he is all about making money. Meanie also laughed at a fan on Twitter realizing JBL followed him long ago, so the cat's out of the bag that they are friends.

"When you go around and hold a grudge, it does nothing to the person you have a grudge against. It eats away at you more than that person. At 46 years old, I've learned to let things slide off my back. At the end of the day I keep my circle of friends small," stated Meanie.

Meanie has also said “From that ugly incident to now, [JBL and I are] Twitter buddies. Yeah, you can make friends with somebody once you make money with them. The coup de grâce was this last year, he tried to get me in the Royal Rumble since it was in Philadelphia. He lobbied because I had just done ECW Unreleased Volume 3 for WWE [and] what better way to announce the DVD than getting an ECW Original in Philadelphia coming to the ring. It came down to that Friday before, but in the end, they picked Bubba [Dudley] instead of me. I love Bubba and I marked out seeing Bubba come out, too!” 

Keller wrote - It was obvious to everyone that Vince McMahon and the agents were blown away by the pay–per–view, but few people, particularly McMahon, would sell it. The general consensus is that McMahon doesn’t know what to do next with the brand. Perhaps the first hurdle will be re–signing Heyman, whose contract expires in approximately six months. McMahon was stoic much of the night. When Heyman made his comment about Triple H not wanting to work Tuesdays, McMahon didn’t react at first. When he realized everyone else around him was laughing, and people were looking at him to see his reaction, he began laughing—but it seemed forced coming three seconds after the joke 

The WWE production team wasn’t as pleased, and the thinking was they are used to “control” at WWE events, and they had little chance at controlling much of anything in terms of crowd behavior and lewd chants. They also are used to “state of the art” arenas, not smaller, more intimate settings, and that caused them to be out of their comfort zone 

In a PWTorch.com Poll, Paul Heyman received 58 percent of votes for having given the best promo of the night, with Rob Van Dam in second place with 37 percent, followed by JBL at 3 percent and Steve Austin at 2 percent. 

In another PWTorch.com Poll, 40 percent said they’d have preferred the WWE wrestlers weren’t involved at all, but that the WWE stuff turned out okay. 24 percent said they liked everything about the WWE and wouldn’t have changed a thing. 17 percent said the show would have been better without the WWE wrestlers. 16 percent said everything was fine except for Steve Austin being in the spotlight at the end. Only 2 percent said they wish there was more involvement on the part of WWE wrestlers 

In 2006, we saw another One Night Stand pay per view, with the highlight being Rob Van Dam finally winning his first World title, by defeating John Cena. Right after that, ECW was brought back as a separate brand, with their own show and on the first show, Heyman gave RVD the ECW World Title, so RVD started off the new ECW brand as the ECW World Champion and the WWE World Champion at the same time