WRestling’s 3R’s Special Edition 06.09.06: ECW vs. WWE: Head to Head Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.09.2006
So important I give it it’s own edition, and an extra R!
As I have been doing with the PPV's I am giving this it's own special edition. As of Tuesday morning the 3R's were looking huge as always, so I made the call and went with the super special edition. This will be the first of 4-special editions this month, as One Night Stand II, Slammiversary and Vengeance will all get their own edition as well. I hope that you enjoy these special editions of the 3R's, so sit back and relax as we break down ECW vs. WWE: Head to Head!
To listen to the podcast recorded just hours after the show with myself and Geoff, GO HERE~!
An announcement:
The wrestlecrap family has set up a PayPal account for those wishing to donate to the late John Tenta's family. That account is johntentafund@wrestlecrap.com. You can send money through PayPal by going to http://www.paypal.com. All money going to this account will be given directly to John's family. John was a big part of the wrestlecrap family, and this is a legit fund that has been set up. If you have the means to drop a buck or two, do so to help out his family.
Foley Teaches Money Promos 101, and John Cena gets some love too - First of all the camera work was just tremendous for this. You saw the blood on Foley's face as well as the busted up eye, which through out the entire promo grew in size due to Funk's famous punches. That's friendship kids. This is one of those promos that NEEDED to be cut, and that only a guy like Foley could do. Foley has this ability to let his passion run over in these promos like no other, and that is where the beginning of greatness begins. Foley put over the fact that he didn't have the pride that Dreamer has because he did prostitute himself by pulling a sock from his pants. He put over Funk as the greatest wrestler he ever saw, brought up their history and made it all make sense. He called ECW his cruel mistress that he can't get rid of. It was raw, it was passionate and it seemed all so real; it was perfect to me.
But not only did Mick Foley look good cutting his promo, but John Cena gave a great promo I thought. He brought up that if he lost the WWE title, the title that Bruno, Hogan and Austin held, he'd be the biggest loser in the history of the WWE. And that if he defeated RVD that he would probably cause the biggest riot in wrestling history. He was on point and didn't go on forever and finished strong with, "I could complain, or I could lose some sleep and wonder about my ass whooping. But I will fight like a man and tonight I make a statement. Sabu, I fear no one. Understand, you have pissed off the wrong son of a bitch…BOOYA!" Cena takes a lot of shit these days, but that was good work and I enjoyed it.
Here's a little something to ponder, what if Cena wins at ONS…but he gets on the mic and puts over ECW and says that he gets all the heat because of the WWE machine trying to make him something he's not and he tosses down the spinner belt? Probably never happen, but fantasy booking rules.
A BIG Acquisition - This I liked, Big Show to ECW is an excellent idea. He is floundering on Raw, nothing to do and going nowhere fast with DX returning, Edge and Cena on top, Vince, Shane and the Spirit Jerkoffs around and Orton coming over. He is in the same lull he was back near 2002 when he got traded to Smackdown and had the most entertaining run of his career, with Heyman as his manager and while Heyman was booking. Heyman loves Show and knows how to book him, he's the new 911 only with Charisma and he can work matches. I loved how they had it set up with him giving the big pre-match speech to the WWE guys, only to turn and toss out Orton's punk ass after revealing his ECW "colors." He celebrated with Angle, and then after the commercial they threw WELLNESS to the wind and drank beers to celebrate with the whole ECW crew. Good deal here, and now I hope that Show gets that motivation he had under Heyman before.
Match Quality - If you read the regular edition of the 3R's I go off about raw and the shit-fest they passed off as matches this Monday. I know all to well that you can't have PPV quality matches each and every week, but you need to have some stuff that doesn't bore people to death and has some form of substance and or quality to it. Monday was horrible, it really put me off of this special and the PPV. Thankfully tonight we got some solid as well as different stuff that made me feel better. Nothing was really bad above, the women's match was way too shirt and there were other problems I had with it, which I will discuss below. RVD and Rey had the most fun match of the night, even though it was a bit sloppy I really enjoyed it. Should Rey have been jobbed out yet again? Well, we'll discuss that below as well. As I talked about above the Battle Royal had its moments, especially with the Show turn and was fun. Edge vs. Dreamer was fine for what it was, although everyone will remember the match for the fact that Edge almost died during it. Cena and Sabu was fun and what I thought it should be, it could have been a real disaster but they actually worked well together. It was a fun evening, which is more than I can say match wise for a lot of Raw's recently so YAY for that.
Announcer Warfare/And Separation - There are many times that this annoys me, but I found he battle between the announce teams to be not only great but to be one of the things that actually could sell people on this PPV and rebirth. Lawler all night was on his anti-ECW deal, but Tazz and Styles had him one better with things like, "Hey King, shouldn't you be at the prom looking for a date?" Or after Lawler made fun of Tazz's size, Styles calling him stretch and then asking what he maxed at, 5'10 or 5'11? Just a lot of great liners all evening, which ended up with a brawl between Tazz and Lawler, who face at the PPV. It went all evening and had a culmination and purpose, and I liked it.
Then there was the separation factor of the show. The show opened with the locker rooms separated, giving pep talks and getting ready for the night. They did the opening and we saw the GIANT Raw style stage and pyro, and then beside it, maybe 1/10th the size was the little "classic" ECW looking entrance with the brick wall and all. They also had their entrance going through the crowd, which was an excellent little touch. The one thing I also liked, yet didn't like was the way ECW came out united for the battle royal. It was great because it maintained the unity they have established, but was a bad plan because 90$ of the people don't know who half of those guys are. God bless him, but 98% of wrestling fans have no clue who the fuck Tony Mamaluke is. But as the overall presentation it was done very well and I enjoyed it.
The wRong:
Mickie vs. Jazz - I felt that this match was a waste of time because of how they booked it. First of all, they only gave them 2-minutes, which isn't enough time to do shit. They went out there and worked hard for the 2-minutes, but in the end it was anticlimactic and not even worth the time they invested into the match. The other thing it did was expose further how thin and bad off the Raw Women's division is. Lets look at that real quick.
Mickie James - Champion
Trish Stratus – Injured (Out 4-weeks more Max.)
Beth Phoenix – Injured (Out 8-weeks)
Victoria – Super Talented, but jobbed almost every week. She means nothing.
Candace Michelle – No Skills
Torrie Wilson – No Skills
Lita – Only Valet work now, should be used in the division as long as she alters her style.
Melina – Valet work, should be used in the women's division.
Maria – Occasionally wrestles
That's a great division there huh? Torrie, Maria and Candace should not be on Raw, they need to be on Smackdown where they won't have to wrestle much at all. Also, Jazz should have been hired for Raw and Jillian Hall should be on Raw as a wrestler, not just T & A on Smackdown. If you make those changes, you have this:
BOOYAH. Of course they would also have to effectively push the ladies and give them TV time. A man can dream though.
Lack of Continuity - If there is one thing I hate about this whole "let's unite and battle each other" is the giant lack of continuity that goes on. I don't care if you are defending your company, if you hate someone, you will now just let it go to battle the bad guys. Here is what I am talking about. All of the sudden, the following people were pals:
Carlito and Shelton Benjamin
Finlay and Lashley
Matt Hardy and Edge
See, I just don't jive with this. Last Friday Finlay was part of a group that beat down Lashley and made him kiss another man's foot. Add to that the fact that they battled for months against each other, and there is no logic. Carlito and Shelton have been feuding on and off since last year, the only difference is that they switched the face and heel roles. Yet they are all happy and wanting to battle together. And then there is Edge and Matt Hardy, in the same locker room, about to be on the same team. Bullshit, I don't buy it at all. What made it even worse was the fact that they went out in the battle royal and ALL worked perfectly fine together, like there were no issues. The only one that teased anything was Funk on Credible, and that was hilarious because Credible held up his shirt and was like, "ECW Terry, calm down…I'm with you." I can buy the ECW guys working perfectly well together because they are fighting for respect and have no current storylines happening. But for the WWE guys to be in there and act like one big happy family, I don't buy it one bit, not even with Canadian money. Also, how ridiculous was it that Rey was talking shit to start the show? Calling ECW punks and all. I suppose that we are supposed to forget he was in ECW and was part of ONS last year.
The Ridiculous:
Nothing Says ECW like a DQ in an "Extreme Rules" match! - Dear God was this ever stupid. John Cena and Sabu have their match, thankfully no one died during this match because there was potential for bad times here. Anyway, things go ok, they have the match, Cena hits the FU and then locks in the STFU. Just as Sabu is about to tap it seems, Big Show comes running, YES I said running to the ring like a 500lb Gazelle to break things up. But instead of just a big brawl, we got them ringing the bell and basically Dqing Sabu. There was a DQ in an "ECW Extreme Rules Match!" What the hell is that all about? That made absolutely no sense at all. I will discuss this more below in the very next segment, but it just was bad booking. Just go off the air with the hot brawl and let it be that. They tried to get too cute and paid for it with their arrogance and stupidity.
Jobbing Rey - As much as I enjoyed the RVD vs. Rey match, the one thing that I cannot justify is him doing a big old fat JOB yet again! Do they hate Rey Mysterio? Do they not understand that they are turning people off of the Smackdown Brand because their World Champion is being jobbed like he's a 15-year old backyarder with a replica title belt? Someone told me, "But he wins the title matches." Well WHOOPTY FUCKIN LA! Those wins don't mean jack shit when he is losing 3-4 times in between to everyone and their mom. I expect next week he'll battle Finlay's midget and put him over. The only difference is that they will have an evenly sized up match. Rey Mysterio is their marketing dream, and they should book him in a way to make money, not to make him look like a loser. Kids love Rey because he's small, does cool moves and they can identify with him. Women love Rey because he's cute, is a good family man and does cool things. Guys can dig Rey because he does cool things, there is the underdog vibe and he is just different. He does do something for everyone, but the fact remains that if he keeps jobbing to everyone and their mom, he, the title and the show will be damaged to a point that they may not be able to repair it. I think they could have avoided this by having Rey and Cena vs. RVD and Sabu. Give them 15-minutes and then do the big crazy brawl finish, minus the stupid DQ. Just go off the air with the hot brawl and let it be that. They tried to get too cute and paid for it with their arrogance and stupidity.
The Ri-GOD-DAMN-diculous:
So…Randy Orton is on Raw now? What the fuck? - Well if you didn't see this coming, you apparently haven't been reading me closely. There is nothing I hate more than lack of continuity, and while this may not see so bad to some, this all was bullshit. This was another one of those huge announcements that are totally lost in the shuffle. He's cutting this promo on Angle, discussing his revenge and he gets into this, "Last year I went to Smackdown, and then I got injured. Now one year later, one expired contract later, I am Raw's Randy Orton." So first of all you just pissed away a MAJOR announcement during a segment that didn't need it. Secondly you have just made Smackdown look stupid. They let his contract expire, which means Teddy Long is an idiot and doesn't know how to sign people to contracts. Yes, that screams B Show. And then, the fact of the matter is that they may as well be fucking Smackdown in the ass. Let's check this out:
Batista is still injured, but will return soon.
Benoit is out 2-months minimum.
JBL is out for 2-3 Months.
MNM (arguably the only stars they have made in the last year) are broken up.
Kurt Angle left for ECW.
Orton jumps to Raw.
Rey jobs to everyone.
Do you see the issues here that are killing this brand? I just hate to see this shit as it makes little sense. Why is Orton going to Raw? What is he going to do? Do they even know or did they just want some kind of blockbuster announcement? I don't know either, but it was stupid and I decided to bitch, and I did.
Closing Thoughts:
Thankfully after a shit-fest in the ring Monday Night, we got some good action tonight. This was needed, because Monday was bad. They tried to make the Big Show's jump a big deal so to speak and I think they did a good job. Foley's promo was great and was exactly what was needed, even if it may have been too late. I am not as pissed as some about the "WWE Guys" filling out the ECW roster, they have stated that this will be a new ECW and most of the guys from ECW won't mean jack or can't do jack to get a brand over right now. That being said, they need to stay away from the same mistakes the Invasion made and need to use younger and fresh athletes to create new stars to make this work.
I'll go thumbs up here, and a 7 out of 10.
Reader Feedback on ECW vs. WWE: Head to Head
From Brett -
I've never written in before, but after watching WWE vs. ECW Head to Head I felt compelled to. This show actually haunted my dreams for the most of evening.
I knew we were in trouble from the beginning when all four commentators starting jawing at each other, trading poorly conceived insults and threats, which became obvious that it would result in blows before the end of the show. I wasn't really interested in watching Lawler and Tazz fight for any reason.
The first match, surprisingly enough, was one that I didn't mind. I'm not a fan of Rey at all (I have a hard time buying him as a heavyweight champion), but I dislike RVD even more. Despite that, they were given a decent amount of time to work (compared to the rest of the matches) and put on a decent show. Too bad Creative feels that everyone and anyone should be able to beat Rey, which only further destroys his title reign. I guess they couldn't stymie the push RVD had been receiving this close to One Night Stand. One thing I don't get is why Rey moved the chair at the last minute but still took the frog splash. Regardless, this was my favorite match of the night, which is frightening considering I don't want to see RVD on my TV anymore.
The Angle-Orton promo was pretty entertaining for the most part, mainly because Orton sounded like he was dipping into the sauce backstage. With the big ECW-Angle push being evident, I was predicting at this point that Angle and Orton would be two of the last few participants in the battle royal.
The Mickie James vs. Jazz match was over while I was getting drink so all I saw was the finishing DDT and pin. This match just seemed like they wanted to stuff something quick in, but I don't mind Mickie getting airtime.
Cena's promo illustrated what is wrong with John's character. He is decent on the mic, but at the same time it just seems like he isn't saying the right things. His speech was a little long, and his lack of catch phrases seems to be hurting him. I wonder if the reference to him winning and the riot might be a bit of foreshadowing the actual event.
The Battle Royal was absolutely not what I expected. I was figuring they would alternate WWE and ECW wrestlers entering every minute and really drag out what could be an enjoyable match. Starting all twenty men in the ring seemed odd, and once Mark Henry was tossed I knew this one wouldn't even last fifteen minutes. Sure enough, Angle was the last ECW member and it played out by the numbers with Orton eliminating him. That was, until the Big Show defection gave ECW the win. I checked the match running time ant it was 14:20, so I was right on. The only good thing to come out of this mess was the Show turning on Orton. Other than that it was a wasted opportunity. This was my worst match of the night for its squandered potential.
The Edge vs. Dreamer match was a pure setup match and was over before I really could get into it at all. I'm barely counting this as a match as it really was just a transition into Foley's speech (which had more airtime than most of the matches). I think the one thing that WWE and Foley are forgetting is that to the average wrestling fan, Tommy Dreamer is a nobody. They see this guy come out, and there is nothing particularly remarkable or unique about him. It was during this promo that my girlfriend (not a wrestling fan) commented that Foley was ‘a really scary guy'.
It was just after this point that the stupid Lawler/Tazz brawl ensued. I have to say that during the show the commentary was driving me nuts. The constant bickering and one-upmanship was really annoying and I had to mute it several times to keep my sanity.
I checked the clock and realized that the Cena/Sabu match had less than ten minutes. That seemed par for the course of the evening. Really all it was seven minutes of Sabu showing off what he can do when a steel chair is legal; in short, not my kind of a match. The typical end-of-show brawl ensues as it goes off the air, leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.
Overall I give it two thumbs down. It was one of the worst shows I have seen in a long time. The promos were long-winded and the matches seemed sloppy. I expected a lot more from this show.
From Tommy B -
Ahoy, Larry...
First off, I give it a thumbs up...I watched the whole show without fast forwarding, something I haven't done for Raw, Smackdown OR TNA in a long time...so impressive stuff.
Now...best match is a toss-up...honestly, I'm inclined to go with Jazz-Mickie James...that just seemed like a crisp match, but way too short. But I'll actually vote Edge-Dreamer...not because the match was great, mind you, but because the commentary was nuts. I had to pause multiple times because I was dying laughing.
Worst match...hm...I'm actually going to go with RVD-Rey. While it was more of an "extreme" style than WWE usually showcases, it felt like a spotfest...no rhyme or reason to the moves.
Overall thoughts...again, the commentary was GREAT, especially during Edge-Dreamer. Least favorite segment was Angle and Orton, who I thought bumbled their speaking parts on Raw and did it again here tonight. Neither man sounded like they needed to be allowed extended mic time this week.
I rather liked the Foley promo...very intense. I've read a few people saying Foley seems like he's phoning it in on this angle, but on the contrary, I think he's sounded more "on" than he has in a long time.
Minor point...if you're selling your claim to fame as "I call moves!", you should probably call the moves correctly, Joey Styles. I'll give him "flip splash" in place of the more commonly accepted moonsault...but the cradle suplex generally involves, well, cradling something...Cena's suplex was a vertical one. Any other announcer I would have shrugged it off...but don't make a big deal about doing one thing right and then do it wrong.
Orton's back on Raw?! WHY? I thought the depletion of SD! was the reason they caved on his whole suspension.
Final thought, on The Big Show's defection...if anyone can jump at any time...why would Heyman waste draft picks on guys falling all over themselves to be part of ECW (RVD, especially)...seems rather like a waste. That said, I still expect to find out that Heyman never picked RVD (Foley said RVD was his pick, not Heyman...I've never actually heard Heyman say he picked RVD, just let everyone else follow Foley's comment as truth), and
that he'll in fact draft Edge or Foley.
From Nate -
I suppose I was expecting too much for a special event a few days from a PPV. I say thumbs down lackluster show. Big Show in ECW does nothing for me just makes me feel like the new ECW is the old Sunday night Heat. They gave very little to the ECW stars there, they were jobbed for the surprise finish of the battle royal. Back and Forth between King and Tazz, Mick and Cena promos were the show. Otherwise filler to hype something I feel they had more heat for on Monday Night Raw than this special.
From Tetsujin of the F4W Boards -
Well there were a handful of things that I didn't like but the number of things I enjoyed out weigh that enough to give the special a Thumbs Up
It's hard to say what the match of the night was. RVD was pretty sloppy and basically a spotfest. Divas match was good but short. Battle Royal was meh with the exception of the Big Show turn (which I loved) and The Ballz Lashley deal, which is beyond awesome. The Dreamer/Edge was just ok. So that leaves Match of the Night: John Cena VS Sabu. Mainly because nothing was fucked up, no moves were botched, Sabu did some cool moves, and it was just surprisingly ok
Overall Thoughts~!
The show was surprisingly enjoyable for me. The BAD: There was really no great matches, Rey getting pinned clean with a frog splash (RVD couldn't win with a wacky pin?), Battle Royal could put the ECW guys over more. THE GOOD: Awesome Paul Heyman promo that totally sold the pay per view, Terry Funk busted Foley open the hard way with some stiff punches, Kurt Angle being Kurt Angle, Big Show jumping ship, The sole fact that Steven Richards and Tony Mamaluke were there, and, my personal favorite part, The Lawler Tazz Fight. It so looked like a shoot from the legit sounding initial punches to the camera to the very nice touch of randomly cutting to a promo graphic. Five Star. Overall like with a lot of WWE shows, I came in with low expectations and got a pleasant surprise. It sold the pay per view and ECW on Sci Fi well. As I said before, thumbs up.
And finally, 411's own Andy Clark went on a bit of a tirade in the 411 forum, so I decided to share that here -
I had been formulating this opinion on Monday, but it has been confirmed after tonight's show. Let me say that I'm all for an ECW TV show because that means more wrestling to watch. I'm a fan of quite a few of the performers so this has nothing to do with them. I'm just sick of what ECW "stands for."
By that I mean that I'm sick and tired of these elitist assholes telling me that what I've been watching is total crap and that what they have is better. I realize a lot of this stuff is just kayfabe and I'm fine with that, but there is definitely an undertone to guys like Paul Heyman and Joey Styles (especially Styles) that just comes off as arrogant. Hell, that's the reason ECW has been coming off as heels on Raw, because they are so damn arrogant. Joey Styles, your little digs at sports-entertainment used to be cute, now you just look like a jackass, you hypocrite.
I'm sick of hearing about how "revolutionary" ECW was, I suppose it was revolutionary to employ a bunch of drunks and stay around as long as they did. I suppose it was revolutionary to be able to survive in the crapholes that ECW called venues. I suppose it was revolutionary to whine and bitch that TNN wouldn't give them better lighting and pyro and make their product look better and then years after you sunk your own company because you couldn't balance a damn checkbook talk about how you liked looking poor. Look at the Arena Warfare DVD review on this site, where the reviewers look back at the big defining Three Way Dance in ECW. It barely rated a single star. I had a friend that once made the point at how great Jesus was even if he wasn't the son of God because he would have still managed to convince so many people. Well, I guess if you tell the story long enough it comes true, right Paul E?
Joey Styles, you want to talk about how bad you've got it in WWE? How much it sucks that they want you to be a sports-entertainment storyteller? Wait, is this the same WWE that you swore you'd never work for, even until the night before you entered the company last year? You hated being a sports-entertainment storyteller and yet you volunteered to announced Heat to hone up on your skills? I sat at the WrestleMania brunch and listened to you moan about how you got pulled from the card and how WWE wouldn't let you call a single match, when you knew THREE DAYS PRIOR that you'd get to call the Edge-Foley match. Yeah, talk all the crap you want now Joey and try to mask it as being part of the storyline, what do you care, you're set for life now. Or do you miss that advertising job at all? After all, at least there you hadn't sold out to the man.
Going into this Sunday I think I'll be cheering on every WWE superstar in their match, just out of principle. I'm a bit conflicted on the main event, because I've been a huge RVD fan ever since I first saw him in 1999 (yes, in ECW even). I've been pulling for an RVD title reign for a long time and I was very excited about his title shot at One Night Stand. However, I can only imagine how pissed all the elitist ECW supporters, both in the crowd and backstage, would feel seeing RVD tap out to the STFU.
Elitism in wrestling is bad. I don't like it when it comes to be in the form of ROH and I damn sure don't like it when it comes from a facade of ECW. Fuck the elitists and long live sports-entertainment.
Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the 3R's, and don't forget to check out the regular edition complete with all of the other shows from the week!
