Jump to content

ECW 2006: The Blunder That Changed Wrestling


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 165
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Unlike this place and the people who run it, I know what I'm doing.

 

The plan of the offical ECW coming onto Raw was actually pushed back a week due to Heyman's idea that by promoting it hard on the programing, they would get a solid rating. Once again, however, Heyman supplimented the big time lack of the WWE/ECW meeting, by sending out Tommy Dreamer to run in through the crowd and attack Edge and Mick Foley during a promo, where Foley redid his anti-hardcore promos and predominantly put over how bad ECW and some of it's top stars were (Dreamer, Sandman and even Terry Funk, who recently signed a WWE Legends contract). Once again, huge pull apart brawl, once again where announcers stayed silent and cut to break. However, when we came back and went to the announcers hyping ECW coming to Raw next week to discuss the controversies of recent weeks. Coach and Lawler put down ECW, but not surprisingly Joey Styles stays silent and looks rather pissed as this happens. The show continued as is, lowlighted by the cap off of the pushThe Spirit Squad, a group of 5 better WWE prospects (Johnny Jeter, Mike Mondo, Nick Mitchell, Nick Nesmeth and Kenny Doane) wrestling as male cheerleaders, who now became lackys of Vince McMahon. Wonderfull. Smackdown surprisingly went off without a hitch, but the ECW hype was there, along with it's PPV hype for Sunday's Event.

 

Raw opened up, with Vince McMahon speaking of his win against Shawn Michaels and God (seriously). As this took place, the promo was drowned out by "ECDub" chants from the Detroit crowd. McMahon attempt to go with the script before yelling to the crowd to shut up and ECW will be dealt with later on. The show continued on as normal until after a segment where GMs for the night The Spirit Squad called Joey Styles to their office, called out his different style of WRESTLING commentary and threatened to make him wear a dress, Styles was made fun of by Jerry Lawler when he came back ringside, causing Styles to shove Lawler, who then slapped Styles causing Styles to run backstage when Raw instantly cut to break. Back Lawler appologized and asked for Joey to return. Styles, in a now legendary promo, put down sports entertainment and the WWE's product and even WWE fans for supporting it. Styles then announced when Heyman sued Vince and got ECW back, he was never happier because now he could go to a place that illustrated wrestling and would give real fans what they have been looking for. Joey left to a mixed reaction. Casual fans saw him as a heel because he shot on them, hardcore fans saw him as a hero cause he said what they had been thinking.

 

The night's final segment would be the ECW/WWE "debate" or however you would call it. Paul Heyman came out to a huge reaction, accompanied by Rob Van Dam with the Money In The Bank suitcase, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and most surprisingly Terry Funk. Heyman took a mic and informed the fans the circumstances of the lawsuit and he indeed owned ECW once again. He then explained why he was going after the WWE. He despised Vince McMahon for causing him to go out of business for the first time and stealing his talent and basically killed everything he touched. He then talked about how badly he was treated as a writer and booker in the WWE and how he gave SD it's best ratings in years, only to be tossed for his talentless daughter Stephanie who then gave SD it's worse ratings in years. Heyman referenced WWE's mistakes and how the fans are leaving WWE in droves and leaving wrestling because Vince owns it all. But Heyman notes he now doesn't own it all because he's the first guy to sue Vince and win and get something valuable in return, ECW and it was infact coming back.

 

Heyman now explained the reasonings of somethings. Firstly he addressed Joey Styles, saying he always was proud of Joey and he was the best announcer one could ever ask for. He states Joey was going to be back in ECW. He then covered the controversial Ken Kennedy promo. He claims Kennedy is a man so talented the WWE simply couldn't use him. Despite the fact he's an arrogant douchebag, Kennedy is the future of the business and he's a man simply wanting to show the WWE what they missed out on, and yes he was the newest member of the ECW roster. He then goes into Tommy Dreamer/Mick Foley/Edge angle. Dreamer calls Foley a sellout and someone who forgot where he came from and extreme took him to the dance and made him a star and men like Funk made it possible for Foley to even make money in wrestling. Funk then cuts a nice promo questioning Foley, wondering what has happened to his friend.

 

Heyman now calls out Vince McMahon. McMahon comes out and goes into Heyman about how he can have all of his men arrested for what they have done, and how Heyman's a liar and a cheat and stole the property he bought from him. As Vince is hot at Heyman, Heyman interupts Vince. Heyman claims he has a business proposal for Vince. He tells Vince he knows in June there was schuelded to be an "ECW One Night Stand 2" and tickets for it sold out last year when you put it on sale, but clearly since Heyman owns ECW this apparently has changed. Heyman notes how Vince loves money and rather than giving out the mass refunds and loss from canceling a PPV. Heyman proposes going through with ONS2, and he's already got an idea for the main event. He calls RVD forward and references that he has the money in the bank title. The WWE claims Ric Flair has it, but infact legally he doesn't. Vince seems confused. Heyman announces that before he was fired from the WWE, Van Dam qualified for the Money In The Bank match by beating Lance Cade. And in the contract signed by Van Dam, the only legal way he could be forced from the match was through injury as RVD and everyone in the match weren't thought to be fired, which RVD never had been. RVD was legally in the match at WM and technically won the match. Vince is upset and claims its false. Heyman challenges Vince to prove it in court again, because it's his own contract and he won't win this case either. Vince is pissed hella now. Heyman announces Van Dam, as the Money In The Bank champion, has selected the place for his shot, if Vince is interested in making money. It would be Rob Van Dam against whoever the WWE Champion was at the ONS2 event, an event co-promoted by WWE and ECW, the first time it has ever happened and to do something the WWE hasn't done in ages, give the fans what they want. Vince, with a look of intrigue and anger in his face tells Heyman to show up next week, and he'll give his answer.

 

Was it possible that 2 waring promotions would have a showdown on PPV? Very much so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great build for ONS2. That promo Joey did on the build to ONS2 was amazing, and I can imagine this one being quite similar.

 

I imagine this is building to RVD/Cena title match, as this was one of the few good things WWE did with the relaunch, with the whole "If Cena wins, we riot" and the throwing the t-shirt.

 

Can't wait to see where this goes. I can only hope that there is room for a true ECW legend, The Zombie!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Foley. Your wife's a whore. Heeeeey Foleyyyyyyy. Your kids are bastards! Come on, Foley! Heeeeyyyy Foley! Heeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Foley! The WWE sucks

 

The potential of an ECW/WWE PPV was there to the public. Behind the scenes, Vince and Heyman confered about how things would go, mainly decided whether it would be a strickly WWE vs. ECW PPV or would be one like last year but spliced in with several WWE vs. ECW matches. Heyman seemed to favor the later idea.

 

The week's edition of SmackDown feature yet another Ken Kennedy run in, but this time doing actual damage and it being shown on TV as Kennedy ran in during a Rey Mysterio/Kurt Angle match and attacked both men, mainly going after Mysterio, but Angle took Kennedy down with a double leg takedown and locked him in a front facelock as referees and security guards broke the fight up and escorted Kennedy out of the arena.

 

Despite the run in, Smackdown saw more hype for Mr. McMahon's decision on whether or not to allow "One Night Stand 2". The WWE website showed the opinions and thoughts of various WWE superstars, which garnered mixed reactions.

 

Monday came aroundand in the show's opening segment, Mr. McMahon came out and called out Paul Heyman, who was accompanied by Rob Van Dam. McMahon, after putting the WWE over and putting down ECW, agreed with Heyman and offically announced One Night Stand 2 would take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, featuring for the WWE Title, Rob Van Dam facing John Cena. Cena was introduced and cut a face promo on Van Dam putting him over as a great competetor and would be honored to face him. Van Dam, however wasn't quite as thrilled, as he called Cena a fake champion and claimed he was the worst example of a champion ever and when he wins the WWE Title, he'll do wrestling fans the favor they've wanted for nearly a year. Big staredown between the 2.

 

Later on in the show, a new angle devolped as Mick Foley called out of all people Terry Funk, who was in the crowd. A war of words between the 2 insued, almost exactly like the 2's feud in ECW when Foley also went anti hardcore, with Foley refusing to fight an angered Funk until Funk told Foley the WWE sucked. Foley and Funk began to fight, until out ran Edge who speared Funk and attacked him with Foley. Until from the crowd ran down Tommy Dreamer who jumped the guard rail and attempted to help Funk. Security guards ran in to get Foley and Edge off of Funk and Dreamer. The new feud was put in motion, and now there were three ways ECW was prevalent on WWE TV. And clearly a buzz was there as ratings were higher then they have been in years and the PPV seemingly would already be a success.

 

But then the game changed completly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just hope the Big Black Guy who wipes his a** with the Cena shirt is at this ONS 2 as well

 

Great Diary cant wait for ECW to actually start wrestling tho,it will be like it never stopped

 

Guys who actually deserve spots(Elijah Burke,Ken Doane,Ken Kennedy) and can wrestle instead of guys who can lift 500lbs and carry a gimmick

 

The Zombie has to be in the New ECW-the guy is gold on the mic!!! Ahhhhh OOOO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've gotten to your roster Vince...

 

The ECW/WWE angle dominated the wrestling websites. However, a new story began to make noise and major noise at that. The WWE was having trouble with Kurt Angle. Despite being the WWE's work horse, Angle had devolped a major painkiller addicition and epndin on who you asked, Angle didn't want to take time off to go to rehab or the WWE wouldn't allow Angle to miss dates to attend rehab. Talk began to grow Angle could possibly retire to get his problems under control.

 

SmackDown surprisignly saw no run ins or anything, but fans with good eye sight could clearly see Ken Kennedy with a huge "ecw.com" sign, visible for most of the show, to the point it was indirectly mentioned by Michael Cole. It worked as the ECW site gained alot of hits.

 

Monday saw continued working on the main angles of RVD/Cena as WWE aired a ECW produced RVD Promo, shoiwning him training and put over the fact Cena would have 0 support in Hammerstein and finally a capable wrestler would liberate fans from Cena. At the same time, the Funk & Dreamer/Foley & Edge feud continued, where Funk and Dreamer challenged Foley and Edge to an "ECW Rules" match at One Night Stand 2 and thusly a brawl broke out, with Dreamer and Funk running off Foley and Edge.

 

However, the night took a turn when Paul Heyman appeared and addressed for the first time the WWE locker room. Heyman spoke directly to the wrestlers, he claimed that the WWE was not a wrestling promotion and proved it by the top champions being men who couldn't tie up the boots of half of the roster. Heyman puts over ECW as a place that brought you Mysterio, Malenko, Jericho, Benoit and Guerrero. Heyman then cuts to the chase and procedes to offer any WWE WRESTLER who feels like their talents have been underused and underappriciated an ECW contract. All they have to do is next week to publicly quit the WWE, the ultimate sign of disrespect. However almost immedietly after this announcement, security guards were sent out to remove Heyman from the building as we quickly cut to break.

 

The WWE cut the segment out of it's Canadian version of Raw and the West Coast and subsequent airings of Raw. The WWE refused to acknowdlege the Heyman angle and backstage many within the company weren't sure what was real or fake anymore. Because quite frankly, that part wasn't part of the script.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WWE had been scouting me for the past few months and I was told they were going to resign me and push me to an IC Title run and this all was a sure thing. So much for sure things I guess.

 

Heyman seemingly pulled a fast one on the WWE with his "firing" promo. And when Vince called him into his office, one would expect bad things to happen. But Heyman claimed the angle would be a way for Vince to legitmatly fire talent which Heyman was seeking to use which had been agreed upon. Heyman and Vince talked and only 3 roster members were chosen.

 

The SmackDown taping had an ECW promo "cut into it" a la classic nWo promos, where again Heyman put WWE stars feeling used and left out to join ECW. However, the show also saw another Ken Kennedy run in, this time attacking World Champion Rey Mysterio on his way to the ring, Kennedy was again escorted out as he shouted at Mysterio.

 

As Monday came, fans wondered who, if anyone would defect to ECW. However, we did see the continuation of the Edge & Foley/Funk & Dreamer feud as Edge and Foley destroyed the team Goldust and Snitsky in a hardcore match in a "preview" of what would happen to Funk and Dreamer at ONS2. The Cena/RVD feud in a series of promos between the 2, hyping each would be defending the honor of their respective companies.

 

Then Heyman came out and welcomed out any roster member who wanted to defect. Suddenly Mr. McMahon's music hits, and Vince procedes to rip Heyman a new one, calling Heyman a "hustler" and a man who could never run a business and if it wasn't for Vince, ECW would have been out of business in 97. And although the American Court System says Heyman owns ECW, within a year, Vince will own it once again because no one would ever want to go to ECW. Heyman begins to laugh, and wonders if that's true. Sudenly familar music hits and out walks of all people Val Venis. Venis stares down Vince before walking down to the ring. Val takes the mic and tells fans he had been in the WWE for nearly 9 years. And in those 9 years, the WWE has done nothing but use him. He was and is one of the most talented guys on the roster, but was simply used as a job man, and as a porno star. Val had to sit and watch men he knew he was more talented then get pushed to the moon, win titles, sell merchandise, etc and did nothing about it. Everyone said Val Venis was one of the most talented men on the roster but nobody ever believed it because the WWE doesn't rely on wrestlers, they rely on writers to create a "product" which isn't fair. And he never got support, not from writers, JR himself or even the fans. And when Paul Heyman put forth the challenge to publicly quit the WWE, it was something a long time coming. He declares he quit the WWE and that Val Venis was dead, and in his place the star, the superstar he always knew he could be would take it's place. Heyman shakes hands with the now "Superstar" Sean Morley. Vince, pissed, laughs it off claiming he's now scared that Val Venis has left the WWE and gone to ECW. Heyman and Morley begin to laugh. Vince loudly asks why they're laughing. Heyman then points behind McMahon. Suddenly Vince turns around and walks right into a familar manuever. The crowd loses it's mind when two familar stars raise their hands high, wearing ECW shirts as Heyman and Morley applaud. The duo then turn behind them and run ringside, as a healthy majority of the Raw roster run down to attack the ECW continguent, referees and security guards hold firm and attempt to stop the chaos from taking place. Heyman and his group head up the ramp as announcers are stunned and shocked with the events that took place. Cameras zoom in in what would be the final shot of the night, on the apparent newest members of the ECW roster.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Team3D.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When our contracts (with TNA) expired, everybody called us. TNA, WWE, All Japan, New Japan. Everyone. But then Paul called us and told us about it all and we said "why not".

 

Yet again the ECW angle left the wrestling world in shock, as formally TNA team The Dudley Boyz made a shocking return to WWE/ECW programming by 3Ding Vince McMahon. The move was one of the most secret moves seen in years. The Dudleys quietly let their 10 month contract with TNA expire, allowing them to sign anywhere. The WWE looked to resign them, but the duo wasn’t keen on returning following the status of the trademarking of the “Dudley Boyz” name. However, much like all ECW trademarks, the name reverted back to Heyman in the sale. Heyman contact his longtime friends and asked them to come and sign once again. Shockingly, The Boyz received guaranteed money, a first for ECW, and were signed, in Vince’s mind right underneath the WWE’s nose. Even the arrival of the Dudleys to the arena was a secret and happened 10 minutes before the segment actually started. This new ECW roster was coming together quicker and quicker.

 

SmackDown predominantly barley mentioned what had happened, but acknowledged it as a major issue for the WWE. Yet again, Ken Kennedy made his presence felt as he, while in the crowd interrupted a Rey Mysterio promo cause a confrontation between the 2, ending shockingly with Kennedy challenging Mysterio for the World Title at ONS2. Mysterio agreed, but had to see on Teddy Long and the WWE’s official decision on the matter.

 

However, the day following the SD taping, the WWE dropped a huge bombshell on the wrestling world.

 

Due to personal issues, Kurt Angle has been granted an early release from his contract. WWE looks forward to establishing a new relationship with Kurt in the near future

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://cdn3.ioffer.com/img/item/119/807/585/JxiL.jpg

Preliminary ECW One Night Stand 2 Card

 

Main Event for WWE Championship

© John Cena vs. Rob Van Dam

 

World Heavyweight Title Match

© Rey Mysterio vs. Mr. Ken Kennedy

 

Extreme Rules tag Team Match

Mick Foley and "The Rated R Superstar" Edge (with Lita) vs. "The Innovator Of Violence" Tommy Dreamer and "The Hardcore Legend" Terry Funk

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cluster****. Total Cluster****

 

The buzz on ECW offically had stalled after the news of Kurt Angle's sudden release from WWE. Many within the WWE saw it as a huge surprise and very disapointing. Angle immeditly checked into rehab, apparently the main reasoning for the release. At first. However it got out that Angle may or may not had many disagreements with how his character would move on within the WWE. Within days, the WWE reworded it's release statement, eliminating the part where they wanted to do business in the future.

 

Heyman was quite frankly stunned as the attention was now off of him. It was something he didn't count on, even though it had been one of the more successful invasion angles in wrestling history. But despite this, Heyman had a bigger situation to deal with. And that was the ECW product. More on that later.

 

Raw saw more furthering of the 2 big matches, highlighted by a Van Dam/Cena staredown and Terry Funk causing Edge and Mick Foley to bail by bringing out his flaming branding iron. Fans clearly were salivating for ONS2. Vince McMahon made a surprising apperance and proclaimed he would get his revenge against The Dudley Boyz at ONS2 when they would face his hand picked team, The Spirit Squad in a 5 on 2 Handicapped ECW Rules match. The interesting part of this Raw was it was it only featured Funk, Dreamer and RVD. No anyone else. But it was announced Heyman would return the next week to address the WWE audience. Heyman was legitmatly not at Raw, because he had prior commitments.

 

In Orlando.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Paul Heyman (on direction of ECW)" data-cite="Paul Heyman (on direction of ECW)" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24570" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Alot of people think that this is going to be some nostalga trip. It won't be. I promise you this.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Heyman's reasoning for venturing into Orlando was simple: talent acquisition. Heyman used his contacts within TNA to get into their TV Tapings and scout talent. After both day's taping, Heyman had a short list.</p><p> </p><p> Meanwhile, more hype for ECW was seen at the SD tapings, complete with a formal contract signing with Mr. Kennedy and Rey Mysterio, which degenerated into a huge brawl, ending with a first for the angle, the secondary ECW stars coming out and actually aiding Kennedy. These stars, Balls Mahoney, Stevie Richards, Al Snow, The FBI and most notably Sabu fended off a group of WWE stars helping Mysterio. But what was interesting was the ever arrogant Kennedy shouted at the men who saved him, saying he doesn't need losers to help him because he's the man making ECW relevant again and the next World Champion. Miiiissssttteeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....Kennedyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy</p><p> </p><p> Kennedy.</p><p> </p><p> "One Night Stand 2" and the relaunch was only weeks away, and Heyman realized that nearly every aspect of the promotion needed help. Heyman was able to book 6 months of house shows and arenas along with bring back many of his old staff, and use their contacts within the business to hire new staff members.</p><p> </p><p> But a roster and overall direction for the relaunch was the most pressing problem. Heyman had currently 15 men he had agreements with to be on his roster, with most of them being ex ECW guys. However this was something that Heyman didn't want. Heyman did not want people to think of the new ECW as a nostalga based promotion, where the same old guys do the same old stuff they did in 99. Nor did it want to be seen as WWE lite, or worse TNA lite. He wanted something the fans of ECW and wrestling in general could get behind, much like they did when ECW first took off. To do so, he would have to do what he was great at, making new stars.</p><p> </p><p> So he called an old friend in Philadelphia with a proposal.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div><p></p><p></p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jingo" data-cite="Jingo" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24570" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Can't wait to see who's raided from RoH. I'm also hoping Raven makes the final roster in some capacity.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Hmmm, just on those lines of thought it might be interesting to see if the infamous CM Punk/Raven feud is brought over into this new ECW.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Teh_Showtime" data-cite="Teh_Showtime" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24570" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>love it so far<p> </p><p> Kennedy is the main guy I see</p><p> </p><p> I imagine Punk and Colt 45 are on the roster as they were in OVW but time will tell...</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> They weren't in OVW at the same time...not even close.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Celt" data-cite="The Celt" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24570" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><em>holds up sign</em><p> </p><p> This diary ends we <strong>riot</strong></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> -steps up beside The Celt, reads the sign, and nods menacingly in agreement-</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...