ECW: One Year Later

[FuelFan0102]

October 2005: The face of the wrestling world was changed forever when The Alternative returned, when The Revolution rose once more, when ECW officially returned to business. After the extremely popular ECW One Night Stand Pay-Per-View, everyone knew that there was a market for everyone’s favorite promotion from Philadelphia. So, there was the demand, the next natural step in the process was to supply the fans with their beloved hardcore product. They got a backer and quickly contacted nearly every worker that had wrestled under the ECW banner during the past century. They started with an eight man tournament to crown the next ECW Champion, which included Nova, Guido, Spike and Buh Buh Ray Dudley, Raven, Steven Richards, Tajiri, and Rob Van Dam. The finals boiled down to Van Dam and Guido at the first major event, “ECW Price of Glory” With Van Dam coming out on top. Price of Glory also featured the crowning of the ECW Television Champion, as Super Crazy managed to survive a field of sixteen wrestlers, the last four being Super Crazy, Homicide, Christopher Michaels, and Kid Kash. Christopher Michaels was formerly known as CM Punk. He was a businessman who instantly gained heat by mentioning that he was there on behalf of the industry’s savior, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, to enforce the WWE’s Wellness Policy, as WWE was revealed as the mystery backer in one of the stranger twists in recent wrestling history. Michaels faced Crazy in the finals only to lose thanks to a violent cane shot from The Sandman, who had taken offence to the censorship he had imposed upon him due to the Wellness Policy. That tag titles also were decided by a tournament, with the victors being the last ECW Tag Champions, Danny Doring and Roadkill. A new tag that stood out in the tournament were the New Gangstas, the team of Homicide and B-Boy. New Jack was originally going to be involved in the new ECW and had contacted Homicide to be his partner, but Jack never showed, so Homicide brought in his old friend B-Boy and they made their way to the semi-finals, losing to Diamond and Swinger. In a strange move, ECW took the month of November off as they figured out their long term plans, their permanent roster, and secured a television contract for their new show “Blood, Guts, & Glory” which was picked up on E! The television debut saw the debut of a new dominating monster from the orient who went by the name of Hiroyoshi Tenzan, of NJPW fame. He went on a dominating streak of fifteen squash victories and was in line to face off against Van Dam and possibly lift the title off of him. However, New Japan renewed his contract with an exclusive clause. The fans were treated to Tenzan vs, Van Dam though, with the title on the line they drew when the match melted down to absolute chaos and following the match, Tenzan returned to Japan and has been on the hunt for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship ever since. The year ended on a high note as the “End of the Year Awards” were particularly fond of ECW, with the Match and Show of the Year going to them, for Raven vs. Al Snow (A*) and ECW Weekly Carnage Live (A), respectively. The first title change happened on the last episode of January when The Impact Players took the tag titles off of Doring and Roadkill after just two defenses. Following that, the next major event for ECW was the signing of a Pay-Per-View contract with UrbanXtra. The first ECW Pay-Per-View was titled “ECW The Birth of the Murder Scene” and featured five incredible matches, including the culmination of the York & Matthews vs. New Gangstas feud, all three titles being defended as the Impact Players beat Guido and Mamaluke, Super Crazy overcame Scorpio, and the main event was an instant classic with Raven and R VD tying it up, with the champion coming out victorious once more. The last match, which was the top match of the under card featured Simon Diamond winning a fifteen man battle royal to get a blank contract to be used to book himself in any match he wants in the future, title or not. The next month was definitely a turning point in the promotion, as it saw various changes, including champions as well as roster, with the most notable debuts coming from The Messiah, and former stars Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Rhino. Messiah and Rhino debuted together in a “Triangle Gold” match, where the winner got a World Title shot, and the other two workers got to tag for a Tag Title shot. Messiah won the match, but lost to Van Dam the week after the next Pay-Per-View, “ECW Homecoming”, named after all the returning stars. Rhino and the third man of the match, Mike Awesome, wound up winning the Tag Team Championships from the Impact Players on the same show that Homicide took the Television Championship off of Super Crazy. However, Homicide’s reign didn’t last long, with CM Punk returning to ECW after two months following a brutal loss to The Sandman to win a three man match including Homicide, Punk, and Jericho. April was another interesting time in ECW, with the debuts of Mark Copani, America’s Most Wanted, Ultimo Dragon, Jushin “Thunder” Lyger, and the returns of Yoshihiro Tajiri and Masato Tanaka, who left to focus on their Japanese commitments following the very first show. Unfortunately, people leaving for others promotions is a common theme in this story, as following “ECW The New Blood”, the third Pay-Per-View, CM Punk and Chris Jericho signed written deals with TNA, and in one of the most outrageous moments in wrestling, Punk took the title with him, but instead of trashing it upon his debut like workers in the past, he held it with him at all times, taunting ECW management and using it as a device to get him over the crowd. Around this time, Simon Diamond took control of his destiny and began to show everyone why they should be talking about him, if they weren’t already. He was the reigning, and three time TNA X Division Champion, and he started to make his ascent to the top of the ECW Roster, with his new “student”, Mark Copani by his side he beat worker after worker until finally, at “ECW Night of Gold” he used his contract from the first Pay-Per-View to face Rob Van Dam in what was the biggest title match thus-far in ECW. Copani was in Diamond’s corner and Van Dam was honored by having the legendary Lyger by his side. Unfortunately, As well as Lyger did in fending off Copani’s interference, no one predicted the ending, as Steve Corino made his debut, assaulting Van Dam while the ref was distracted by Diamond and Copani’s brutal assault on Lyger outside of the ring, costing Van Dam the title, and a chunk of his career, as RVD’s stipulation for losing the match was that he’d be suspended “indefinitely” if he lost the belt. The networks were once again scheduling by this point, so ECW took advantage of this situation, signing contracts to show Blood, Guts, and Glory on ITV, TV Azteca, and TV Asahi, along with E!, giving us a television contract on a good network in every country but Canada. They also signed a contract with, amusingly, Playboy to air their new show “ECW Rise of Hardcore”, shown live on Wednesday Nights, while Blood, Guts, and Glory was taped Wednesdays and shown Fridays. The following month two more workers from Japan made their mark, as Masahiro Chono and Yuji Nagata debuted scoring victories over top workers such as the fourth member of Simon Diamond’s stable Chris Benoit, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Joey Matthews, and Lance Storm. It was within this month that the biggest thing thus-far happened. ECW was unanimously named the number-one promotion in the world, managing to overcome rivals TNA and the former kings WWE, who were quickly faltering in the public’s eye and their bank account. Some of the things that helped push ECW to their spot on top were brutal wars between Homicide and Chono, Copani and Guido, and a three-way feud for the Heavyweight Championship between Diamond, Raven, and the returning Rob Van Dam. Those, along with the instant classics that tag team champions Rhino and Mike Awesome put on every night, no matter the challengers. Things were good for ECW, and only looked to get better. And they did. WWE’s slumping business had allowed ECW to finally do some talent raiding of their own, and at “ECW Top of the World” the biggest debut in ECW history happened when former WWE Superstar Glen “Kane” Jacobs showed up following the publicized “Last Match Ever” between Van Dam and Diamond, ending the match by decimating both stars and standing in the middle of the ring leaving the crowd shocked into silence. The following month brought ECW into the mainstream, with their debut of their new show “ECW on CBS” on, well, CBS. To quell any fears of being censored or toned down, their first show was one of their most brutal to date, with the Main Event being Simon Diamond taking on the Murder, Glen Jacobs, in a match signed by Diamond as a shot at his history as Kane, and Inferno match. The match was sickening and nearly had the show pulled off the air after the following, which involved the Crown Jewels (Copani, Corino, and Benoit) pulling a troth of gasoline down to the ring, which Diamond threw the already bloodied from head to toe Jacobs into, and set it on fire, and the show ending with the four Crown Jewels standing in the ring helping their brutalized leader as the fire department and medical crew ran out to quell the tub of inferno and tend to Jacobs who wasn’t heard from for the rest of the month. This absence allowed for other workers to step and take their shot at Diamond’s title. One man stepped up just one week after their debut and put on what almost instantly became the greatest match of the past decade. That man was Charlie Haas, recently released from his WWE contract for the second time. More former WWE workers debuted after they were cut due to the E’s cost cutting methods before they finally just went bankrupt. These workers included Brian Kendricks, Paul London, Johnny Nitro, and Randy Orton. Come September’s end, the face of the wrestling world has changed forever, as WWE has officially went under, and two promotions have arisen to try to challenge ECW’s crown in a complete change of pace form the 1990's. Those promotions previously mentioned are none other than the WWF and WCW. The WCW is being headed by owner Jeff Jarrett, who cut ties with his father’s TNA promotion, and he hired the legendary Kevin Nash as head booker. WCW has immediately tried to recreate their former roster by acquiring such workers as Arn Anderson, Bret Hart, Charles Robinson, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Nick Patrick, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Terry Funk. They have also taken advantage of WWE’s demise by securing contracts with Jon Heidenreich, Mark Calloway, Pat Patterson, and Mick Foley. WWF should automatically draw interest from the general public if only for one reason; their owner. Why? Because Brother, Hulkamania’s running WILD on the WWF! Yes, the Hulkster is the official owner of the new WWF, with Shane Douglas taking his revenge on Vince by taking the Head Booker job. So far WWF has brought back their announcers, Lawler and JR, the legendary Sgt. Slaughter, Roddy Piper, and wrestlers Kurt Angle, Travis Tomko, and Scott Steiner. ECW just held their latest pay-per-view “ECW Bulletproof” yesterday and the most notable moments were Glen Jacobs returning, in his vintage Kane get-up covering his burns, to make the main event a triple threat with Jacobs, Diamond, and Haas which Diamond managed to sneak out of by pinning Haas after Jacobs destroyed him when Benoit, Copani, and Corino distracted the big man on the outside. But the most shocking moment of the night was when Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and Melina reformed MNM and thanks to Melina’s interference, they ended Awesome and Rhino’s legendary title reign after seven months and twenty-six defenses. October 2006: It’s one year later and not only is ECW still around, but it has thrived and is now on the top of the wrestling world, with TNA, WCW, and WWF all nipping at their toes. Can they fend them off? Will they fall like the WWE and prove to critics once again that there’s no place for a mainstream hardcore promotion. Only time and this diary will tell, so keep an eye here to see how things turn out!

[The Ego]

Sounds interesting......

[jerlito]

cool like it.

[FuelFan0102]

[B]ECW on CBS[/B] [B]Monday, Week 1, October 2006[/B] The show starts off with Paul Heyman firstly thanking everyone for making ECW last the test of time for an entire year. He mentions how everyone claimed that ECW was dead, that it no longer had a spot in the wrestling world, and how by growing as strong as they are now they proved everyone wrong. He goes on to talk about tonight’s show, and how it will be a special look back at the past year, including matches between all the former champions, including Rob Van Dam versus Simon Diamond in the battle of World Champions, MNM versus Awesome & Rhino versus The Impact Players versus Doring and Roadkill in a clash of Tag Team Champions, and Super Crazy versus Homicide, in a match that will begin... now! [B]Super Crazy vs. Homicide[/B] These two put on a solid opening contest that really got the crowd going with a great display of back and forth action. Though neither of these workers have been seen on a regular basis, they haven’t appeared to miss a step, matching each other blow by blow, before Super Crazy missed with an asai moonsault that allowed Homicide to take the advantage, rolling him back into the ring and nearly killing him, no pun intended, with a Cop Killa. Homicide made the pin, but Crazy got out at two. Crazy started to mount a comeback with a series of twists, splashes and dives, before drilling he drilled Homicide with a twisting DDT after leaping off the top turnbuckle. Homicide kicked out after a two count though, and rolled outside and pulled a chain from underneath the ring and proceeded to wrap it around his arm. He got back into the ring and nearly decapitated Crazy with a stiff lariat with the chained arm, before getting the three count to a sea of boos. [B]Winner[/B]: Homicide Paul Heyman, who was announcing the match, entered the ring with a microphone and told everyone that for the past four and a half months, Paul Heyman has been in contact with every lawyer in the tri-state area trying to get someone who can legally retrieve a very important personal item, that used to be a key part of ECW. He then goes on to tell everyone one key piece of advice for the future; Never Trust a Punk The crowd pops for that obvious insult of CM Punk, who has since his departure become one of the most hated figures in ECW history. As the crowd settles, Heyman apologizes to Homicide, telling him he should have never lost this, as he announces the winner of the match and [B]NEW ECW Television Champion[/B], Homicide! Simon Diamond was shown backstage. He mentioned how he’s the cornerstone of ECW, and he also mentioned that Van Dam was already supposed to have his last shot at Diamond’s title, but no worries, it doesn’t matter how many times they’ll face, there’s no way Diamond could ever lose! [B]MNM[COLOR="DarkOrange"]©[/COLOR] vs. Awesome & Rhino vs. The Impact Players vs. Doring and Roadkill[/B] [I]ECW Tag Team Championship[/I] This match was announced as a scramble, and quickly escalated to complete and utter mayhem with all eight men going at it. Awesome & Rhino showed why they were so dominant during their reign by brutalizing everyone, and following their finisher (An Awesome bomb into the corner followed immediately with a Gore) on Johnny Nitro, they appeared to have the win. The Impact Players thought otherwise though, and the four started brawl and it spilled to the outside in a matter of seconds. While those four were outside, Nitro and Mercury showed their cunning wit that allowed them to win the titles in the first place. They hit a Snapshot on Roadkill, and Melina distracted Danny Doring, allowing MNM to pick up the victory. The four men outside finally stopped their scuffle and re-entered the ring, where Rhino got the single-handedly largest pop of the night when he gored the hell out of Melina! Nitro and Mercury tried to make the rescue, but Awesome, Storm, and Credible all stood in their way, so they had to count their losses and retreat. [B]Winners[/B]: MNM Prazak, Callis, and Heyman announce that the next match will be the next chapter of a war that has helped ECW rise to it’s spot on top of the wrestling world, Mark Copani versus Little Guido! They then played a short vignette outlining their past, and then the two came out as it was announced the Crown Jewels were banned from ringside. [B]Mark Copani vs. Little Guido[/B] Copani looked extremely upset that his teammates were banned and quickly took to offence, lashing out on Guido with all his frustration. The Sicilian shooter looked like he wasn’t going to last very long against Copani’s high impact style, but after a missed splash off the top rope, Guido started to slow the pace down with a series of arm submissions, as Copani landed awkwardly on his arm, jamming his shoulder while trying to brace his impact when Guido moved. Guido looked to have had it won after a series of back and forth high impact moves when he caught up Copani in a cross armbar in the middle of the ring when Benoit, who had been seated ringside the entire time entered the ring and went to break it up with an elbow drop, but Guido rolled over, avoiding the contact and cranking Copani’s shoulder a full one hundred and eighty degrees, and then he sat up and folded the arm, locking in a modified triangle lock on the arm, causing Copani to tap, and Tony Mamaluke ran out to fight off Benoit as the FBI stood victorious. [B]Winner[/B]: Little Guido The cameras then cut backstage where Rob Van Dam is shown, where he talks about being “Mister Monday Night”, and mentioning that he hasn’t beat Simon yet, but they’ve also never faced on Mondays, and that could be all the difference. [B]Simon Diamond[COLOR="DarkOrange"]©[/COLOR] vs. Rob Van Dam[/B] [I]ECW World Heavyweight Championship[/I] The main event had cometh and boy was it fight! Diamond and Van Dam both had their crews with them, Diamond with Copani, Benoit, and Corino, while Van Dam had his allies in Lyger, Ultimo, and Kendricks. The six men however realized the importance of this battle and were merely there to be up close on what would become another ECW Classic. Van Dam used his speed to his advantage, while Diamond went on the offensive with his classic ground and pound style that’s lead to countless number of victories for the world champion. The spot where Van Dam almost recaptured the title came following a Van Terminator which Simon was in no condition to avoid. Van Dam didn’t move Diamond so he got his foot on the ropes easily. Diamond then went outside to get a breather and some advice from his team, before Van Dam launched himself into all four of them with an incredible tope. RVD then took Diamond back into the ring and went for the Five Star Frog Splash, but Diamond rolled out of the way on pure instinct. Diamond slowly got up and started to make his way back onto the offensive with a series of strikes before finally taking down RVD with a discuss punch that nearly took his head off. Diamond continued on with this, clobbering Van Dam and wearing him down before finally, with his last burst of energy, he managed to hit a Simon Series for the win, and the applause of everyone in the arena for the hard fought, well earned, clean victory from the champion. [B] Winner[/B]: Simon Diamond Following the match a mysteriously shrouded brutish figure entered from the crowd and not only beat down Van Dam and Diamond, but the rest of the Crown Jewels, Lyger, Ultimo, and Kendricks. Following the mass destruction left on display in the ring, the beast removed his guise to reveal [COLOR="Red"][B]HIROYOSHI TENZAN[/B][/COLOR]!!! The beast from the orient has returned after six months with a vengeance!

[jerlito]

cool show like it.