6/16/06---The return of.....ECW

So last weekend, in the words of my man RPM, I decided to..."spend a little time with the fellas", and I headed over to Professor Pete's house for a little PPV wrestling.
Now, mind you....this used to be an almost monthly at the worst occurence within my wrestling circle of friends--and now, as someone pointed out, it was the first time that we had gotten together in almost a year for a wrestling PPV.  I don't know if that says more about how crappy wrestling has been lately or whether we've all evolved into mature, thoughtful adults who have no need for pro wrestling--but I doubt the latter.

The return of ECW brought hope for the longterm wrestling fan....the hope that Vince McMahon would get away from some of the garbage that he's tried to pass off as wrestling over the past year or so.....don't get me started.  So we thought we'd give it a shot.  Your main event?  John Cena--who for reasons unknown to me (since I don't watch the shows anymore) is absolutely hated with a passion by the average wrestling fan--vs. Rob Van Dam--carrying the banner for ECW.  I loved the sign hanging from the rafters:  "Cena loses the belt or we riot".  Next on the main event course was a weird matchup between Sabu and Rey Misterio Jr.  I thought it might be a clash of styles...and it was, except for a fantastic spot at the end.  The final matchup of the trio of main events was the tag match between Cactus Jack & Edge vs. Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer.  Cactus did some great and creative interviews leading up to the card.

Prior to the main events was the usual assortment of freakshow items.  There was a battle royal featuring Big Show & Kurt Angle--who are all of a sudden catergorized as "ECW" guys, which really ticks off the hardcore fans....well, at least, having Big Show ticks off the ECW fans.  They seem to love Angle being part of ECW, which is ironic on a lot of levels, chief among them the fact that Angle HATED the original product and specifically turned down an opportunity to join the promotion before ever joining the WWE.  Sandman made his traditional intro--but without the Metallica song.  And let me tell you....wow, is the difference noticeable.  All of a sudden....no one seemed to care.

The three main events offered a little something for everyone.  The Sabu-Misterio match was, oh, I dunno....."okay"....but the finishing sequence was really fantastic.  Sabu puts a table up between the retaining gate and the ring apron, and lays Misterio on top of it.
Sabu go to do the springboard from the chair--to the ropes--to the table......except, Misterio stands up at the last minute.  Sabu grabs Rey in a front face lock on the flight down and scores with an awesome looking DDT through the table and onto the floor.
Wow!  Spectacular stuff reminding everyone of Sabu's glory days in the mid 90's.
The heat on Cena was truly something to behold.  He'd take his shirt off at the beginning of the match and do the spot where he throws it to the crowd.  Except, ala Wrigley Field where the fans of the Cubs throw the opponents home run balls back, the crowd kept throwing Cena's t-shirt back at him.  It went on for almost 5 minutes and was really funny.  In an expected move, RVD took the pin on Cena when ECW "official" Paul Heyman came in the ring after a ref bump and counted the fall.  I really do wonder what would've happened if they screwed RVD and kept the belt on Cena.  I think the building would've been burned to the ground to be honest with you.  Finally, there was the tag match, which was wrestled under anything goes rules.  Jack had gotten a black eye hardway from Funk...and truthfully Edge and Dreamer could've just stood back and let the other two do the work....since that's what everyone wanted to see.  Another amazing finish....as Funk is bloodied up, goes to the back for a bit o' the medical attention and returns with a bat wrapped in barbed wire.  As he's getting into the ring, he has someone at ringside set the bat on fire!  (Can't you just imagine trying to local fire inspector to sign off on that one?)  Funk hits Jack on the back with the bat, which causes Jack's shirt to catch fire (I'm not sure if that was a planned spot or not)....Jack falls onto the floor on top of a piece of plywood with barbed wire laid across it.  Funk is then knocked off the ring apron....and he and Jack lay there bleeding their asses off, skin being torn by the barbed wire.  The funny thing (not ha-ha funny, but you know what I mean) is that a few days before the match, in a column in the Wrestling Observer, Funk was quoted regarding the death of longtime Hawaii fan favorite Sam Steamboat.  Funk commented on how all the matches over the years and the shots to the head must've lead to the dimentia and on set of Alzheimer's that Steamboat had in his last year or so.  Mind you.....that's Terry Funk making that comment.  The same Terry Funk who was 61 years old....setting a baseball bat on fire and then taking a fall onto a piece of plywood that had barbed wire on top of it.
To quote Jim Morrison:  "....strange days indeed."

Later,
Jeff