Sunday, June 12th, 2005
Hammerstein Ballroom
New York City, New York
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Joey Styles is introduced and gets a huge reaction. He introduces his broadcast partner Mick Foley, who comes out wearing a Cactus Jack shirt and sweatpants. They the cut to a throwback highlight introduction that still looks like it was made in Paul Heyman's parents basement.
Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho
Dawn Marie is out with Lance. Foley says that this may be Lance's last match. Jericho comes out with his retro gear. We start off with some back and forth wrestling and Lance still looks good. Jericho hits a really nice dropkick off the first turnbuckle and then a baseball slide to kick Lance to the floor. Jericho goes for an ax handle off the apron, but Lance moves and Jericho hits the guardrail. Storm then shows off his beautiful dropkick followed by a vertical suplex. Lance does a backwards leap from the top rope, but gets hit to the back of the head with a dropkick from Jericho. It should be noted that the crowd is insanely into every move here. Wrestling is so much more fun when you have an invested crowd. I know that's an obvious statement, but it still needs to be said. Lance rolls him into a half crab, but Jericho tries to reverse it into a Walls Of Jericho, but hits a slingshot instead. Jericho gets him in the Walls of Jericho, but Dawn Marie distracts the ref. Out comes Justin Credible and Jason Knight and Credible hits Jericho with a kendo stick and Storm gets the victory. That was a lot of fun and a perfect way to book an opening match for a reunion show.
Match Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Styles mentions the "elephant in the room", which is Bischoff's group and they show an empty suite in the arena. Pitbull then introduces a list of performers who passed away including Rocco Rock, Terry Gordy, Mike Lockwood, The Original Sheik, Mike Lozansky, Pitbull Anthony Durante, Big Dick Dudley and Chris Candido. Candido gets his second chant of the night.
Three Way Dance
Tajiri vs. Little Guido vs. Super Crazy
Tajiri is accompanied by Mikey Whipwreck and Sinister Minister, while Guido is with his entire gang. I've always enjoyed Super Crazy and Tajiri. These guys are working a frantic pace here and Super Crazy is leading the charge until the FBI gets involved. They go to the outside and Super Crazy climbs up to the balcony and hits a moonsault on the FBI. Back in the ring, Tajiri gets Super Crazy in the Tarantula. The FBI again gets involved and takes out Super Crazy. Big Guido has Tajiri up, but he sprays Guido with green mist and Sinister Minister hits Big Guido. Mikey Whipwreck takes out Guido and Tajiri pins him and now it is down to Tajiri and Super Crazy. Tajiri counters a powerbomb into a DDT. Super Crazy hits a moonsault off of the first two turnbuckles, but Whipwreck pushes him off when he goes for #3. Super Crazy fights off Tajiri and hits the moonsault off the top rope for the pinfall victory. That was another great sprint and it's easy to see why they gave Super Crazy a main roster shot.
Match Rating: ***1/2
They show a highlight package of memorable ECW moments. ECW was about 10 years too early, as they would have been perfect for the YouTube era.
Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Psicosis takes off his mask in the ring, which they say is the first time that he has willingly taken the mask off. Styles does a nice job of giving us the history of this memorable feud. I like Psicosis more with the mask. The crowd is not as into this match, as a sleeper from Psicosis gets some boos. Psicosis sets Mysterio up on the guardrail and hits a Psycho Guillotine leg drop from the top rope. Mysterio moves out of the way of a dropkick to the corner. Mysterio then dodges a shoulder to the corner and he lands in the laps of two of the only females in the crowd. Mysterio then hits a seated senton from the top rope in the crowd. He sets up Psicosis for the 619, which isn't super popular. He hits a West Coast Pop and gets the victory. This was definitely far from their best effort, but they hit the next gear the last couple of minutes.
Match Rating: ***
Out come the anti-ECW crusaders including Kurt Angle and JBL. I would think JBL considers this one of his favorite moments. Joey begs to show something else and we get more highlight clips.
Out comes Joel Gertner and he's in the WWE suite and JBL quickly kicks him out. Angle gets on the mic and insults the fans. JBL then goes to the mommy's basement jokes. After a long rant, Rob Van Dam's music hits and he's on his way to the ring with Bill Alfonso. It kind of sucks that the most talented mainstay of ECW wasn't able to compete on the show. RVD gives just about the most passionate promo you will ever see from him here. He says that he doesn't have any creative geniuses writing this for him, he's shooting from the hip tonight. He talks about how misused he is and that he was the one who suggested a ECW show to Vince. He says that missing this show hurts worse than missing WrestleMania. Out comes Rhyno and he attacks him until the lights go out and now Sabu is in the ring.
Rhyno vs. Sabu
So this is an impromptu match. Since they didn't announce any matches, they basically all are impromptu matches. Sabu hits Rhyno with a sick chair shot to the head that knocks him to the floor from the top turnbuckle. Sabu then hits an Air Sabu and doesn't screw up, which is a minor miracle. For my money, Rhyno is probably the most underrated ECW star. Sabu hits some more of his signature moves until Rhyno trips Sabu into the chair. Rhyno hits a piledriver, which is something you don't see much anymore. RVD comes in and chucks a chair at his head. RVD then hits a dropkick with a chair to Rhyno's face. Alfonso gets RVD a table and he sets up Rhyno and Sabu hits a leg drop with a chair from the top rope and that's all. It wasn't necessarily a good match, but it was entertaining. Considering the fact that Rob Van Dam didn't return until Royal Rumble 2006, this seemed a little risky having him out there.
Match Rating: **1/2
Al Snow and Head are backstage and he blames Head for inviting the SmackDown wrestlers. We get more highlight clips.
Now the Raw crew is here with Bischoff. Styles makes a comment about him being glad that he didn't bring his wife since Edge is here.
Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero
These guys deliver some solid wrestling, but the crowd is too concerned about chanting things about Edge and Lita to care. Eddie is busted open on his upper nose. Eddie gets a chair shot in and follows it up with a nice superplex. He goes up top, but Benoit avoids the Frog Splash. Benoit hits some German suplexes and then hits the diving headbutt. Benoit puts in the Crippler Crossface and he taps? I would consider that one a disappointment, as we know both of these guys are capable of a lot better. That ending was really weak as well.
Match Rating: **3/4
Joel Gertner is back out and is with Bischoff's crew. Gertner starts begging Bischoff for a job. Bischoff grabs the mic and turns him down and insults him.
Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka
The Raw crew turns their back on the match. Joey Styles goes off on Mike Awesome leaving while he was ECW Champion. Awesome hits a dive over the top and nails Tanaka. Tanaka then hits a running chair shot to his head. Awesome recovers and sets up a table. Awesome hits the Awesome Bomb and just chucks Tanaka through the table. Awesome goes up top and hits a big splash, but Tanaka kicks out. Awesome's athleticism and strength are just off the charts. Awesome crushes Tanaka with 3 chair shots to the head, but Tanaka is back up. Sickening. Tanaka hits a tornado DDT on the chairs for a 2 count. Tanaka then jumps off the top rope with a chair and smashes it to another chair on Awesome's face. Awesome then spears Tanaka and then hits him with a chair from off the top rope. Awesome pulls out another table and is having difficulties. He grabs another table and brings it in the ring. Tanaka counters the superplex and hits a DDT through the table. They are both up top and Awesome hits a reverse Awesome Bomb off the top rope and he's lucky the one part of the table didn't seriously hurt Tanaka there. That only gets a 2 count and Awesome is looking for another table. Tanaka counters an Awesome Bomb, but Awesome sets him up for another one and throws him through the table on the ground. He then hits a dive over the top rope and gets the pinfall. Awesome is 40 years old here and what he did was just insane. This match had some flaws to it and the chair shots are uncomfortable to watch nearly 15 years later, but man, did these guys put on a show.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Paul Heyman is out and all teary-eyed. After thanking some folks, he turns his attention to Eric Bischoff, Edge and JBL. His burns aren't particularly good by Heyman's standards. This whole thing came off as pretty lame.
Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman
Sandman's entrance is as long as Undertaker's at a WrestleMania. Just as the match is about to start, the bWo comes out and Joey Styles does the worst fake laugh you'll ever hear. The last 20 minutes or so here have really hurt this show. Stevie hits the Stevie Kick on Sandman and then they start attacking Dreamer. Kid Kash comes out and is immediately disposed. Next comes Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten with chairs and they take out the bWo. Kid Kash then does a springboard somersault off the top rope to the floor. Bubba and Dreamer are in the ring and the bell rings. There already using trash cans and cheese graters to kick things off. We've already got lots of blood and lots of stupid shots to the head. D-Von accidentally hits Bubba with the Singapore Cain and Dreamer and Sandman go with duel Figure Fours. Out comes the Triple Threat, which then brings out Francine and then Beulah, who immediately start to fight. Beulah hits Lance Storm with a low blow and then her and Dreamer hit double DDTs on the Dudleyz. They powerbomb Sandman through a table, but only get a 2 count. They then hit the 3D on Dreamer, but instead of going for a pin, they grab another table. Out comes Spike Dudley and he has lighter fluid. They light the table on fire and powerbomb Dreamer through it, which I completely forgot about. That's enough for the victory and this is one of the harder matches to rate. It was the very definition of overbooked, but it also was non-stop action.
Match Rating: ***
After the match, the Dudleyz go after Beulah, but Sandman makes the save. Sandman asks for a beer and out comes Steve Austin. Austin then invites the ECW roster out to have a beer bash. Austin then invites the WWE gang down to the ring. They come to the ring and the crowd chants for Taz and out he comes. And now the infamous brawl starts and of course my eyes are locked in on JBL and Blue Meanie. Taz puts Angle in the Tazmission on the floor. Blue Meanie is busted open. JBL is the last WWE member out of the ring. Austin then asks Foley to grab Bischoff and bring him to the ring. The Dudleyz give him a 3D and then Benoit hits a flying headbutt. Up next is a 619 from Mysterio. Bischoff still has some choice words for ECW, so Austin hits a Stunner and they toss him out of the ring. Styles says that he wishes that time could stand still so that this moment could last forever. I'll tell you that the last 45 minutes have felt like 3 hours, so maybe he got his wish.
This show is overall a really great show. It's unfortunate that they stalled so much at the end, as it most likely played much better for the live crowd than it did for those of us at home. However, the rest of the show is pedal to the metal, with very few low spots. If you are someone like me that no longer really cares for old ECW, this one still holds up and represents the things the promotion did well with very little of the stuff that would never be allowed here in 2020. No matter how you look at it, this is a definite thumbs up.
Overall Rating: 82%
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