Review of ECW One Night Stand

In early 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment acquired the rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling's trademarks and video library after the promotion folded in 2001, after it was unable to secure a new national television contract. In its wake, WWE release the 2004 direct to video film 'The Rise and Fall of ECW' for its remaining loyal fans. The documentary got great acclaim for in depth informative value & honest interviews with various performers who worked in the promotion. It was one of the highest selling wrestling DVDs of all time. In order to capitalize more on its fame. Wrestlers Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and promoter Paul Heyman help Vince McMahon organize an ECW reunion at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City called 'One Night Stand'. It too was a massive success. Why? For one, the extreme promotion still had a diehard niche fan base begging for more, despite the company going under. Second, it had the majority of the respectable veterans' alumni wrestlers still able to show up in the show despite Shane Douglas's extreme crappy wrestling like reunion 'Hardcore Homecoming' airing two days earlier. Third, the mixer of promotion talents allow dream matches scenarios. The storyline conflict between them invading Smackdown and Raw in the buildup for this show really help the hype that something cool was about to go down. It certainly did as several of McMahon's superstars enter the building that night to make their presence. While, the taunting between them and the brawl was indeed pretty awesome despite Blue Meanie getting serious bloody by JBL in a shoot fight. It was pretty sad that many of the individual matches announced on the card got no build up on any of McMahon's weekly programs. Although, original ECW also did the same thing as it never really bother letting its own fans know the undercard of its pay per view, in order to leave a surprised experience. The night start out with match between Lance Storm & Chris Jericho with a semi pregnant, but limited action Dawn Marie at ringside. It was decent even with Storm's lack of charisma and Jericho's depressing uninterested look. Both wrestle very well regardless with the screwy ending being anticlimax for Storm's last match. Next on the card was the three way dance between Super Crazy & Little Guido and Tajiri. Like the first match, it was alright. Dislike the large amount of has been hanging out at ringside. Although it was kinda cool seeing James Mitchell there. The only memory I got of this match was the insane jumping off the balcony spot by Super Crazy. No wonder why Vince quickly signed him after the event and quickly forgot about it. Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis follow up this contest and I believe it was the wrong idea. Having two Lucha libre style matches in a role really did kill the crowd. It also didn't really help that Psychosis didn't bother wearing his old mask and Rey kept using his standard WWE move sets including his 619 finisher. Added the rest holds and odd awkward dancing gymnastics; the contest felt disappointing compare to their previous works in the past. At least, the next bout on the card between Sabu and Rhyno felt a little different than the norm so far with chairs and table spots. However Mike Awesome and Tanaka would blow this semi safe non botchy match out of the water with their outrageous unprotected demolition derby later that night. It was brutal to watch then and now knowing full well the dangers of concussions. After all, hits to the head and the lack of health care paid probably help led to Mike Alfonso's suicide in 2007. It's very eerily to watch, knowing Joey Styles foreshadow his demise. Even the contest between Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit before that, was equally as hard to watch, knowing full well that both would be dead in a few years due to similar problems. It sad that the blood hungry fans of ECW didn't really give these two wrestlers the respect they deserved for their match as they were more interested in chanting curse words and insults at the WWE superstars on the balcony. No wonder why these two vets looked so annoyed. I get that it was slow driven mat based contest, but it did look like for a while that these wrestlers were trying to get the crowd involve. However both of them pretty much gave up in the end as they were tired, angry with each other and didn't really wanted to be there. It was certainly a bad idea to have the superstars on the balcony during this contest. It was distracting for sure. Anyways that brings us to the main event. I didn't like that the Sandman & Tommy Dreamer versus the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von) was interrupt by a bunch of barely talent dirty carnies. Regardless, I don't get why there is so much interference in these matches if it's just a reunion show. The event isn't there to build feuds. Nevertheless the bout was a standard good bloodbath extreme match with a wonderful fire table spot. The brawl and beer bash afterward was fine way to end the card. Overall: The show was a huge success. In 2006 the event return for one more time as ECW Brand before being adopted by McMahon as an annual PPV. It last until 2009 where its name changed to "Extreme Rules'. As for ECW, it became revised by WWE where it tanked big time until NXT was created. Regardless of future events, this show felt authentic hardcore. However several changes have been made to the show on the DVD with replacing license music and deleting awful camera shots. While some people might hate it for the high use of foul language, gore and extreme violence. It's still certainly a must watch for any adult wrestling fan.