Hello, everybody! My name is Mr. Diamond of the 6-10 website and welcome back to “Digging for Gems,” where I look at older PPVs to see how well they hold up in the modern day. You know, before I knew what I was covering, I got a little nervous. A poll ran on Twitter to see what I was gonna cover, and both December to Dismember and Starrcade 1999 were on there. Knowing the audience, I thought I was gonna subject myself to more awful television. Then three days later, I found out that I’m reviewing one of the best PPVs of the 2000s. ECW One Night Stand 2005 is seen as one of those special shows. After the success of the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, it was decided to capitalize on the nostalgia people carried for the Philly promotion. The foul-mouthed, red-headed stepchild of the 90s wrestling world was beloved by people, but financial issues and bigger companies borrowing heavily from its style led to the company going out of business in 2001. Thankfully, the ECW crowd got a proper sendoff that wasn’t just a house show. How well does the PPV hold up, past the rose-tinted barbed wire glasses? Well, time to find out.
The show starts off by showing who will be commentating tonight, Joey Styles and Mick Foley. The crowd is hot from the word go, and that makes the show even better. Our first match is Lance Storm (accompanied by Dawn Marie) versus “Lionheart” Chris Jericho. This is the first time we’ve seen “Lionheart” Jericho since WCW and the last time until AEW when he fought Jon Moxley. It’s very interesting that Lance Storm has been in all 4 DFG’s. I wonder how long his streak continues. As for the match, it’s as technical as you’d expect from both men. Both men put their working boots on to give a good opening for the match. Storm especially delivers, because as is evident, he is a good wrestler and Jericho is Jericho. We get the classic “tap while the referee is distracted” spot that I’m probably going to get sick of sooner or later. One thing that surprised me is that there were no evident chants towards Dawn during the match. Progress? The match ends when Storm pins Jericho after Storm’s Impact Player partner Justin Credible cracks him with a cane. Good match, but I wish the ending was clean, and the match was longer. 3.75 stars.
We get a nice tribute package from the ECW wrestlers we lost, including Chris Candido, Rocco Rock of Public Enemy and Pitbull #2. That transitions to our next match, with Tajiri (accompanied by Mikey Whipwreck and TNA’s Father James Mitchell), Little Guido (with the F.B.I.) and Super Crazy (with no lawnmower, thank God) in a classic 3-way dance. Tajiri is always an underrated hand, and the Unholy Alliance with the former Sinister Minister was entertaining television. Super Crazy is an insane man, doing his classic balcony dive. Little Guido… is there too. Most of the matches on this show are pretty short, so everyone has to get their stuff in as fast as possible. The main thing is that the rest of the F.B.I. was doing more than the future Nunzio. Super Crazy does his balcony moonsault, which was so good that a GIF was needed instead of a picture. Guido gets taken out with a top rope Whippersnapper from Whipwreck. Afterward, Super Crazy hits a moonsault on Tajiri to pin him for the win. It’s a fun match with Tajiri and Crazy doing most of the heavy lifting, and Little Guido and all the F.B.I. probably got a nice paycheck too. 4 Stars.
There’s a highlight package of the classic ECW wrestlers you’d think of: Mike Awesome, Sabu, The Sandman, Terry Funk. The classic moments like the branding iron, the breaking ring, the Tommy Dreamer kendo shots. It’s a pretty good highlight package, but it made me wonder how many there are. Next, we get some lucha libre with Psicosis (now unmasked because Eric Bischoff is an idiot) vs Rey Mysterio (who had to be re-masked because Eric Bischoff is an idiot). Look, I’m an honest man. I can tell you when I feel a match and when I don’t. I cannot lie, this match was missing something. I get it, we aren’t gonna get something on the level of Bash at the Beach 1996, but it’s still not a bad showing. Rey and Psicosis do good outside spots, and I can tilt my hat to them. But if you want a match between them, I’d stick with their ECW series. The fact that the matches go as short as they do hinder this match. Maybe with more time, this match would’ve turned out better, or they just went for a sprint like Kurt vs Rey or Kurt vs Rey vs Randy. This isn’t bad though, just disappointing. 3.25 Stars.
Ok, now one of the best crowd moments of the 2000s. The SmackDown wrestlers (JBL, Kurt Angle, Carlito, etc.) enter the arena to NUCLEAR heat. Then we get ANOTHER video package of ECW highlights, that had me wonder a question that at most five people have asked. “Wonder what happened to 911.” When we get to actual ECW PPVs, we’ll get to some of the moments that ECW have. The Smackdown wrestlers proceed to do some devastating activity: they attack Joel Gertner. We get an all-timer Kurt Angle moment where the crowd chanted at him “You suck d-ck,” to where Kurt responds “Your mother taught me how!” This is probably one of JBL’s best promos where despite the “Shut the f-ck up” chants, he rips into ECW and its fans. This leads to Rob Van Dam (who couldn’t wrestle tonight due to an injury) to come out. It’s hilarious that RVD is so gung-ho about this kayfabe-wise, since he was with Jerry Lawler in an anti-ECW team.
But, we get Rhino to appear and attack RVD… but the lights go out. Who else would appear but Sabu?
Obviously, this isn’t gonna be a technical masterpiece. However, this is a fun brawl. Since it is a Sabu match, there is some heavy chair usage. I will never complain about a Gore, and I have got to respect RVD hobbling his way through spots. This is a fast-paced crowd match, a plunder brawl to get the fans excited. There’s nothing too special about this match, but it’s still a lot of fun to watch, especially with the crowd. Sabu wins with the Arabian Skullcrusher through a table. This may be getting 3 stars, but it’s still worth a watch.
We get an Al Snow promo (is this the first time we see Head in a while?), and then ANOTHER video package, Here is where I start to get sick of them. Like, there are a lot… A LOT of moments to remember, but there has to be a limit somewhere. One thing I will say though is the Taz stance is really cool. Now, here comes the Raw brigade. Possibly the next biggest ECW hater they can bring in to get heat is Mr. “Sign Away the Best ECW Talent of the Mid-90s” Eric Bischoff. We also get Edge, Jonathan Coachman and a few others.
Up next, we get… uh oh. It’s a… Chris Benoit match.
Ok, so the whole thing about the series is that we’re looking back at old wrestling and seeing how they hold up. Benoit is the perfect example of one of those wrestlers whose work holds up well over time. But his actions outside the ring are not condoned here, just to let everyone know. Every joke made involving Benoit is only based in-ring. The best part about this is that I don’t have to worry about seeming like something I’m not (a defender) because this match is pretty mid.
Like, it’s not bad. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit are some of the best of their time. However, the crowd isn’t caring that much, and there’s something off about both men, especially Eddie. Maybe he was tired of his kinda poor booking, maybe it was just an off day. I’m not sure, but it hinders the match. Both men sleepwalk through this, doing the usual things you’d expect from Benoit, and less than the usual you’d get from Eddie. The Frog Splash isn’t even hit in this match. The crowd is, for some reason, not paying attention like every other match and decides to chant obscenities at Eric Bischoff. Benoit wins after a Crippler Crossface. It’s the longest match on the night, and unfortunately, it’s also the worst. 2.75 stars.
We get an Eric Bischoff promo and honestly, it’s hampered by the fact that JBL and Kurt just had better ones. But who cares, it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. I will never pass up an opportunity to watch Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka again. (Sidenote: Joey Styles is lying like crazy about Mike Awesome. Styles said that Awesome was making good money in ECW, which… Joey, you know Paul wasn’t paying him.) Just like most of their ECW (and presumably FMW) matches, they powerbomb each other, hit each other with steel chairs and put each other through tables to show that they are tough as balls. Knowing what I was going in to watch, oh boy, is it glorious. Obviously, I don’t want every wrestling match to be like this. I like it when wrestlers have CTE-free brains. But, these matches are just excellent to watch. A big man moving around like a cruiserweight isn’t new anymore (Keith Lee, Dijak, Wardlow to an extent), but Mike Awesome was a special case of the perfect big man. Also, credit to Tanaka. He’s a madman, he’s taking some gnarly chair shots, and has a sweet tornado DDT. What’s not to love? Awesome wins with an Awesome Bomb to the outside through a table, followed by a dive outside for a 3. Easily the match of the night. 4.75 stars.
Now out next is the man who made ECW, Paul Heyman. He cuts one of the best promos of the entire 2000s. That includes some of The Rock’s stuff. That includes CM Punk’s “Devil” promo. That includes Jericho’s 2008 stuff. He thanks the people who helped with the company, and the fans for supporting the whole way through. He directs his attention towards the spectating WWE rep. He directs at Eric Bischoff, talking about how there wasn’t (and isn’t) a WCW tribute show. He directs at Edge, at the height of the whole Lita thing, the two words, “Matt Freakin’ Hardy,” where Edge comically does the V1 hand symbol. But he saves his best line for JBL, where he says that the only reason he was WWE champion for almost a year was “because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesdays.” Also, I’d like to shout out a pretty good piece of comedic work from Bradshaw, where he pretends to write checks before literally seeing them bounce. Alcohol must’ve been in abundance backstage at this event. This is one of my personal favorite segments in wrestling history, and it’s proof of how impressive how charismatic Paul E. is.
But, it’s main event time. ECW’s biggest success story in The Dudley Boyz face off against ECW’s heart in Tommy Dreamer and ECW’s soul in The Sandman. Pointer: do not watch The Sandman’s Peacock/WWE Network entrance. It isn’t the same without the Metallica blasting throughout Hammerstein. I’m not even a big rock guy, but even a clueless idiot like me knows the importance of the crowd singing Enter Sandman while he heads through the crowd. One thing I should tell the readers before we start: please don’t pour beer on a woman without first getting the OK from them. Just checking, because I’ve seen some freaky wrestling fans.
Before the match starts, we get an appearance from the Blue World Order, which I will never complain about. We also get Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney and Kid Kash to add to the fun blunder of the show. Of course, the match is a giant plunder brawl, something that you’d probably see from a Jon Moxley today. You get road signs, a cheese grater, a ladder, a trash can, and of course, tables. We get an Impact Players appearance, making them the most prominent on the show. We get a cat fight between Beulah McGillicutty and Francine (different time, people) before Beulah and Tommy double DDT the Dudleys. Little Spike Dudley comes out with lighter fluid and a match, and you know what this means. The Dudleys win after a powerbomb through a flaming table. It was an entertaining bum fight, and it encapsulates the energy of ECW perfectly: chaos to the nth degree, but entertaining at the same time. 4 Stars.
Of course, the Sandman asks for a beer, and what ECW alumni do we know who loves beer? Yep, Stone Cold (despite the fact that he didn’t wrestle that much in ECW) comes out to throw a beer bash. Everyone from the ECW locker room comes out, and I audibly said “Hey, it’s Roadkill” when I saw him. As someone who is also a Test fan and who wondered how 911 was doing, maybe I just have too much wrestling knowledge. Austin challenges the WWE rep to a fight. They come down, Taz makes an appearance and a giant fight begins (also something with JBL and the Blue Meanie, but we are not WhatCulture). Kurt Angle gets put in the Tazmission, and ECW runs WWE off. Mick Foley brings Eric Bischoff from commentary to the ring, and bad things happen to him. A 3D from the Dudleys, a diving headbutt from Benoit, a 619 from Mysterio (which the crowd isn’t too thrilled of; probably too WWE). Austin asks for any last words, where Eric says “F-ck ECW.” We get a Stone Cold Stunner, and a beer bash finally closes the show.
Final Thoughts: This is such a fun show to watch. I didn’t grow up with the original ECW, but the energy that everyone from the wrestlers to the commentators to especially the crowd makes the show a perfect tribute to Extreme Championship Wrestling. Obviously, there are people missing from this card that makes it feel incomplete. Shane Douglas and Raven were some of ECW’s biggest stars, and there wasn’t any Terry Funk until the sequel show next year. Omissions aside, this is still a great example of what ECW was as a brand, and a definite watch for every fan of the promotion, or wrestling as a whole. Final Grade: A. Definitely a Gem.
And that was “Digging for Gems!” Any PPV recommendations? Make sure to send them to the 6-10 Twitter account. My name is Mr. Diamond… and I will see you next time.
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