ECW One Night Stand PPV

[Loss]

The "Stone Cold" character really wasn't an ECW thing, though. Austin was still the same Austin he was in WCW, just with the gloves off and the opportunity to show that he was an awesome promo guy.

 

Crazy looked the best of the three in the match, and the other two have been with the company for some time now. I'd suggest putting Crazy on RAW to feud with Taijiri, since that makes the most sense and could revitalize both guys, but really, what's the point without them having a juniors title to fight for on that show?

 

I did mention steroids and painkillers when we talked about it a little bit more after the show, but at first, the guy was trying to chat about life when Rob Van Dam was shooting on the creative team. He needed to keep quiet. I've noticed that almost all casual fans never shut up during pay-per-views, and I'm the type that hates people talking during wrestling.

 

Styles could have handled the final bit of commentary. Foley left the booth anyway to throw Bischoff to the wolves, and he still would have been doing a promo at ringside. I just really hate that Austin is still so protected and buries everyone every time he's around, despite his days in the ring being long over.

[Strummer]

about the RVD push, I'm all for it and it might work, but Id be concerned if the casual fans would buy it. After the PPV last night, all the mark boards I visit were saying stuff like "RVD is complaining too much" "he's clearly not as good as HHH, he should just shut up" and "RVD has proven that he isn't main event talent" The time to push him might be over, but hopefully these responses are just exceptions, and not the rule.

[Loss]

I do think those are exceptions. The crowd has been ready to accept Rob as a top guy for some time. Considering the Goldbergian heat he was getting in 2001, it still blows my mind that they missed the boat on making him the new top star.

[Strummer]

yeah hopefully. Here are some of the responses from last night from some boards I visit.

 

 

It seems that RVD and Heyman had a free ticket to just say whatever the hell they wanted. I read some of the things they said and RVD just sounds like a whiny bitch. IMO. I just don't like the guy and never will. If he hated his character so much then why didn't he come up with a better character for himself

 

*rolls eyes* Don't forget RVD is a wrestling god.

 

I like what the guy does in the ring - he's incredibly gifted athletically. I think his attitude sucks, though, so I can't say that I've missed him while he's been recovering. I also think his interview skills are terrible, so "best promo of his career" doesn't really mean much to me!

 

I didn't see it but I heard about what RVD said and how he complained about how he is used in the WWE. All he does is bash the company. If he hates it so much, than he should just quit. He should be lucky they haven't fired him yet after the injuries he has caused.

[Loss]

Where was that said? This kid said what he "heard", which is different from seeing the PPV. Watching the PPV, RVD didn't come across as "whiny" at all. Do you post there? If so, you might tell him that RVD was supposed to take the title from HHH at Unforgiven '02 in an effort to build the show around him, but HHH didn't want to do the job.

[Strummer]

Where was that said? This kid said what he "heard", which is different from seeing the PPV. Watching the PPV, RVD didn't come across as "whiny" at all. Do you post there? If so, you might tell him that RVD was supposed to take the title from HHH at Unforgiven '02 in an effort to build the show around him, but HHH didn't want to do the job.

yeah I post there, they are very pro HHH/ Taker, Batista, basically all the top guys, I try to explain to them the deal but they don't want to hear it, they pass it off as "typical smark crap" I swear it's a different world at these boards. I get a kick out of visiting them, it's just surreal sometimes

[Loss]

Blue Meanie comments on JBL stiffing him:

 

What turned out to be a beautiful weekend came to end on a sour note. I guess by now you all know what happened last night between Bradshaw and myself. It's no secret that Bradshaw never liked me from my first day in the WWE to my last. What I did to the guy to piss him off I don't know but then maybe I never needed to know. Bradshaw has always had the rep of being a bully and a liberty taker in the ring and he also has a rep of getting away with it.

 

Once the ECW/WWE brawl started I paired of with Coach and I felt a punch come from out of nowhere. My first instinct was to hit back BUT I also had the issue of trying to protect the 14 staples I have in my head. I got some rib shots in the best I could but he got the upper hand with going to my face, opening a fresh wound on my forehead and swelling my eye.

 

All I saw was red as the blood fill me eyes and I believe it was Maven I pulled on top of me to get him to "choke" me. After he got cleared out guys came up to check on me and we went on the other deal with Austin and Bischoff and the big post brawl party in the ring. As F***ed up as what Bradshaw did, the crowd reaction had me so buzzed that I didn?t feel anything.

 

I got to the back and Bradshaw was in a part of the gorilla position. He came over like he was going to do something else but people got in between. He was yelling about me talking about him on the Internet. The rest of what he said I didn?t hear cause I was too busy saying, ?Yo, it?s a work!? and ?Dude, the business is a F***in work!!? So I did the best thing anyone could ever do in the situation and just walked away.

 

I got stitched up and said my good byes. A lot of the guys were pissed and asked what happened. When I told them they were pissed even more. We got home and all I have been doing is popping Aleve and icing my face and reflecting. All this happened over was me calling him a bully. Well John??? you just proved me right.

 

In closing I want to say thank you to everyone who ran Hardcore Homecoming Friday night. I wanna say thank you to the WWE for giving EC Dub an opportunity to shine last night. I wanna say to the rest of the WWE workers and staff a big thank you for the hospitality. It was great catching up with all of you. To my EC Dub brothers and sisters I wanna say I love you. I was in heaven seeing all of you this weekend and doing it one more time. To the fans I wanna say I love you because with out the fans we wouldn?t have been anywhere without you this past weekend. I will be going back to icing my face and ponder if I will be wrestling on this weekends 3PW show. I will probably pull off of it so I can properly heal these stitches and staples. Plus we all know chicks dig scars.

[sek69]

It would appear that JBL has the Douchebag of the Year Award on lockdown already....

[Guest Cam Chaos]

Wow, JBL's an unprofessional shit, what a shocker.

 

RVD got put in the doghouse for accidental potatoes, and JBL rapes people in and out of the ring and gets a main event push.

HHH caused JR to go partially blind in one eye but he's MEing the next PPV. I think it's clear to all it doesn't matter what you do but who you are when you do it.

[Loss]

Meanwhile, RVD gives Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle black eyes and has his push taken away from him in late 2001. In 2002, he lands wrong on HHH, which HHH recovered from inside a week, and loses his push yet again.

[Guest Cam Chaos]

If RVD had been on top injuring people, it wouldn't have mattered. Case in point, Michaels almost knocked Angle's teeth out with a botched highspot at Mania but you didn't hear of Angle's wife complaining about HBK.

 

It's funny in a way, everytime it gets ugly in the ring JR says "this ain't ballet folks" but then when someone actually suffers a minor injury it can see the perpetrator blacklisted.

[Loss]

This is all from PWInsider audio, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm especially skeptical of the Eddy Guerrero story, because that's completely uncharacteristic of him.

 

-- Here's the lowdown on the JBL/Blue Meanie situation. JBL was still bitter about a 2001 interview Meanie did in which he accused JBL to be the ringleader of the backstage hazing and called JBL "the biggest asshole in the WWF." JBL apparently remembered this and had his eye on Meanie during the brawl. As Meanie was brawling with Coach, JBL hit Meanie in the back of the head. JBL proceeded to wallop Meanie, ripping out the staples that had to be put in his head from Hardcore Homecoming, giving him a new gash, and a black eye. Meanie had to pull Maven on top of him to shield himself from JBL, and this is where the ECW guys noticed what was going on. Axl Rotten started throwing punches at JBL, and soon Tracey Smothers (notorious for taking care of business where its needed) joined in. The Sandman started choking JBL with his cane, pulling him back leaving him open for wide open shots that started to be taken by Mikey Whipwreck and Balls Mahoney. Al Snow was about to jump in on the JBL beating when Bubba Ray Dudley noticed what was happening and pulled JBL out of the ring. Bubba threw a legit punch at JBL's face and threw him back into the WWE contingent. After the show, JBL was waiting for Meanie at the gorilla position and had to be held back while screaming about what Meanie said about him. Meanie basically ignored him and walked off in another direction. Odds are, no action will be taken against JBL because he is an office favorite, but a lot of the wrestlers are very unhappy with him.

 

-- If you suspected by Eddie Guerrero's demeanor that he did not want to be at the show and phoned in his performance, you'd be exactly right. When Guerrero saw the setlist backstage, he was not happy to find out he was tapping out clean. He had an attitude about himself the whole night so it looks as if he intentionally sandbagged the match on purpose, making Chris Benoit very frustrated, who really wanted to put on a memorable match for the ECW crowd. Benoit and Guerrero traded words with each other after the match, as Guerrero was also very upset at the injury to his face he suffered. He also immediately left the show after his match was over, which is why he was absent at the closing WWE vs. ECW battle.

 

-- Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon were both backstage at the PPV, although they didn't play any part in the booking of the actual show. They were merely just backstage spectators and making sure everything was going smooth for Paul Heyman & Tommy Dreamer, who were running the show. Stephanie McMahon nor Triple H were at the show.

 

-- The only person that RVD's interview had to be cleared with was Paul Heyman, Vince had nothing to do or nothing to say about RVD's promo.

 

-- Paul Heyman's "shoot" was different. His shoot on Edge was planned. Edge was told about it earlier in the day and was said to be completely fine with it. With Heyman's shoot on JBL, it was not planned and Vince was watching it on a monitor backstage. Vince was initially surprised about what Heyman said, but eventually laughed about it, saying, "I don't care, he put Triple H over."

 

-- After their match, both Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Psicosis were visibly upset that their match was a disappointment (both men immediately knew it), however Rey was working on a legit injured ankle, so credit must be given where credit is due for Rey even working.

 

-- Stone Cold Steve Austin was very, very impressed with One Night Stand and was incredibly enthusiastic to be a part of it.

 

-- Joey Styles has signed a contract with WWE that allows WWE to use legally use his voice in voice-over work and could possibly utilize him in the ECW part of WWE 24/7.

[Guest teke184]

-- Here's the lowdown on the JBL/Blue Meanie situation. JBL was still bitter about a 2001 interview Meanie did in which he accused JBL to be the ringleader of the backstage hazing and called JBL "the biggest asshole in the WWF." JBL apparently remembered this and had his eye on Meanie during the brawl. As Meanie was brawling with Coach, JBL hit Meanie in the back of the head. JBL proceeded to wallop Meanie, ripping out the staples that had to be put in his head from Hardcore Homecoming, giving him a new gash, and a black eye. Meanie had to pull Maven on top of him to shield himself from JBL, and this is where the ECW guys noticed what was going on. Axl Rotten started throwing punches at JBL, and soon Tracey Smothers (notorious for taking care of business where its needed) joined in. The Sandman started choking JBL with his cane, pulling him back leaving him open for wide open shots that started to be taken by Mikey Whipwreck and Balls Mahoney. Al Snow was about to jump in on the JBL beating when Bubba Ray Dudley noticed what was happening and pulled JBL out of the ring. Bubba threw a legit punch at JBL's face and threw him back into the WWE contingent. After the show, JBL was waiting for Meanie at the gorilla position and had to be held back while screaming about what Meanie said about him. Meanie basically ignored him and walked off in another direction. Odds are, no action will be taken against JBL because he is an office favorite, but a lot of the wrestlers are very unhappy with him.

 

What a cockbite...

 

 

You'd think someone who'd just been given a year-long title reign would be over some name-calling that went on 4 years ago.

[Guest Piss]

Loss, since you seem to have access to pwinsider's elite section, is it true that they say early estimates for buyrate are already at 800k?

[Guest Dazed]

Vince was initially surprised about what Heyman said, but eventually laughed about it, saying, "I don't care, he put Triple H over."

I doubt this is exactly true, but... Vince does know wrestling's a work, right?! Heyman put over that HHH *would be* champ on SmackDown, not that he deserved to be or anything. Dang.

[Resident Evil]

Wow, JBL's an unprofessional shit, what a shocker.

 

RVD got put in the doghouse for accidental potatoes, and JBL rapes people in and out of the ring and gets a main event push.

HHH caused JR to go partially blind in one eye but he's MEing the next PPV. I think it's clear to all it doesn't matter what you do but who you are when you do it.

HHH caused JR to go partially blind in one eye? What was that from? Their match on Raw?

 

HHH has been on a roll lately. Remember how he knocked out Beniot with the chair and than screwed up the reff afterwards.

 

 

 

I'm also worried about Eddie. That story from the PPV is disheartening. I just hope everything will be okay.

[Guest Cam Chaos]

Wow, JBL's an unprofessional shit, what a shocker.

 

RVD got put in the doghouse for accidental potatoes, and JBL rapes people in and out of the ring and gets a main event push.

HHH caused JR to go partially blind in one eye but he's MEing the next PPV. I think it's clear to all it doesn't matter what you do but who you are when you do it.

HHH caused JR to go partially blind in one eye? What was that from? Their match on Raw?

Yes. He potatoed him with a punch and JR went temporarily blind in that eye although regained partial (blurry colours and shapes) vision a couple of days afterwards. I don't know if he has full vision yet, it has not been reported.

[sek69]

I think the Eddie story is probably true. By all accounts the match was disappointing and you have to think Benoit wanted to go all out for the ECW crowd, if nothing else for the storyline. Eddy sure seemed to be sandbagging, and I'm sure Benoit was all "WTF, negro?" afterward.

[Coffey]

I knew that Eddie broke his nose. I could tell that something was wrong when he rolled out of the ring and stalled.

 

You could tell that there was more to the story by the way that he sold the Crossface though.

[Loss]

Preliminary reports here are saying 800,000 buys, but I've never heard of results coming out this early for any PPV, and until Meltzer substantiates that, I'm not believing it. That's not to say it doesn't stand an excellent chance of being true, but I'd rather see it confirmed. And I don't actually have PWI Elite access - someone posted that on another board and I dragged it here.

[Strummer]

PWI:

 

John Laurinaitis, Arn Anderson, Tony Garea, Ricky Steamboat, Gerald Brisco and Dave Finley were all at the ECW PPV working in their regular role as road agents. Laurintaitis gave a short speech to the wrestlers before the show thanking them and telling them they didn't have to take any undue risks they weren't willing to take and to feel free to use the road agents for help mapping out their plans. The feeling among the locker room was that the WWE regulars used the agents while the "outside" wrestlers called their own matches, and that may have been why some of the undercard bouts featured a more WWE-esque style. Chris Jericho and Lance Storm put their match together themselves.

 

In a break from ECW tradition, there was no pre-show speech by Paul Heyman to the crew.

 

There were quite a few wrestlers who had hoped for more time for their matches or to have a larger role on the show due to their love for the ECW product, but were overall happy with the show and especially happy to be reunited with their friends for one night. Most of the out of town wrestlers all stayed in the same hotel in New Jersey and were chartered into New York City via bus. There was a huge contingent of fans waiting for the wrestlers to arrive as early as 9 AM this past Sunday morning.

 

We've gotten a few questions asking about the choice of wrestlers that were shown in the tribute video on ECW One Night Stand. As it was explained to me, they specifically went with those who had passed away after Extreme Championship Wrestling had closed, as opposed to those who had already been honored during the time of their deaths, such as Rick Rude, Eddie Gilbert, and Brian Pillman.

 

Former ECW stars The Musketeer and Tony DeVito were backstage at One Night Stand.

 

Super Crazy, Kid Kash, and Psicosis all worked yesterday's Raw taping in Binghamton, New York for dark matches or Sunday Night Heat. We don't have much else in the way of details yet. Crazy and Psicosis are signed to WWE deals.

 

 

[Guest Sass]

Kid Kash will probably pick up a job. He's a good worker with a chip on his shoulder but his devotion to wrestling is unquestionable. When Kash was the ECW TV champ in the summer of '00, his mother, grandmother or mother-in-law passed away but he kept working instead of taking time off to mourn since he felt he had an obligation to the fans and the ECW guys to be there and defend his title.

 

I thought that was admirable at the time.

[Mad Dog]

Preliminary reports here are saying 800,000 buys, but I've never heard of results coming out this early for any PPV, and until Meltzer substantiates that, I'm not believing it. That's not to say it doesn't stand an excellent chance of being true, but I'd rather see it confirmed. And I don't actually have PWI Elite access - someone posted that on another board and I dragged it here.

I agree. I've always heard it takes 2-3 weeks for buyrates to get compiled.

[Loss]

You know, every once in a while, Keller can rock it.

 

Sources with questionable motives have been making the claim that because JBL "kisses Vince McMahon's ass," he will be immune from any punishment from WWE officials for his actions at the ECW PPV. While it's very likely JBL won't be hit with a stiff punishment, the JBL situation has been the victim of very biased reporting that doesn't even reflect true journalism.

 

For starters, WWE management does take what Bradshaw did very seriously; if for nothing else than the fact that he shot on an outside talent who, if interested, could potentially bring some sort of case against WWE. The odds of that happening are not likely, but WWE assumes far more liability when an outside talent gets hurt working a one-night gig than it does with a roster member (see the Holly-Dupree situation). Before the PPV, wrestlers were also instructed to keep everything professional, which further makes JBL's actions seem deplorable.

 

Again, the odds of JBL receiving a major punishment are unlikely - he may not receive anything more than a slap on the wrist. But, the claims that WWE is "laughing off" the situation due to JBL's relationship with Vince are wholly without merit. This is a serious issue behind closed doors.

 

As for JBL's side of the story, there are conflicting reports going around. Virtually everyone has sought a motive in the fact that JBL and Meanie have past heat; JBL, however, reportedly made the claim that he didn't throw the first punch. It's not known if there's anything to his story, but JBL has apparently responded to the allegations with a provocation defense.

[sek69]

What exactly is Keller "rocking"? Defending poor widdle JBL from the mean internet people?

 

He goes from saying "WWE takes this very seriously" to "He won't even get a slap on the wrist". The only reason anyone in WWE would be concerned is that Meanie could potentially sue them since he's not a full time employee.