The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ECW brand is at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey on June 13, 2006 for the debut episode of the revamped Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on the Sci Fi Channel.
ECW General Manager Paul Heyman opens the show by welcoming us to the debut of the new ECW. He introduces new WWE Champion Rob Van Dam and awards him the new ECW World Championship belt. Edge and Lita come out to congratulate Van Dam only to attack him and leave threw the crowd only to be suprise attacked themselves by John Cena. Cena chases Edge back into the ring area where he and Van Dam beat him up Edge low blows Van Dam and escapes while Cena hits Heyman and does the same. This is all done to set up a Edge vs. Rob Van Dam match at Vengeance 2006, he would win that match, but would go on to drop the title to Edge in a triple threat of the July 3rd episode of Raw in a triple threat match that also featured John Cena. The next night on the July 4 episode of ECW, he lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show. This was all punishment for being busted with weed days earlier.
Match 1: The Sandman defeated The Zombie - Singles match (0:17) - It's pretty crappy when your first match on your new revamped show is a dumb squash match. Sandman canes the crap out of "The Zombie" who just looks like a dusty lumberjack, gives him a white russian legsweep, and wins then canes the crap out of him some more. A waste. 1/2* out of 5
Match 2: Kurt Angle defeated Justin Credible - Singles match (1:46) - Another squash match where Angle pretty much embarrasses Credible, who was on his third stint with the company and was mostly brought in to be a jobber, which was a total waste considering the talent he had and that he was only 32 years old here. They try to build Angle up as a unstoppable machine for his upcoming match with Randy Orton at Vengeance. * out of 5
A young Kelly Kelly then comes out to the crowd, we've been told earlier in the show that she's going to strip naked for us. She gets down to her lingerie before having issues taking her bra off, she just pushes it up covers her boobs and leaves. Obviously, she wasn't getting completely naked, but teasing the audience and having to hear Tazz and Joey Styles go on that this is the greatest thing ever and better then the old ECW is cringe AF.
Match 3: Sabu defeated Al Snow, Danny Doring, Stevie Richards, Roadkill, Balls Mahoney, Tommy Dreamer, Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido, Big Guido, and The Big Show - Extreme Battle Royal (9:19) - Mostly just a typical showcase for Big Show to eliminate the entire roster. He last eliminates Big Guido who holds on to his arm allowing Sabu to push him over the top rope with a chair shot to the back for the win. It's nothing special there is a lot of people beating the crap out of each out with trash can lids though. *1/2 out of 5
WWE reviving the ECW brand was an exciting moment after the first two One Night Stand events. Then we got to see the show and the impending dumpster fire over the horizon that would soon come. The mix of Rob Van Dam's weed bust, a disastrous pay per view in December which saw the exit of Paul Heyman and the incoming releases of all the ECW Originals spelled the impending doom to follow.
ECW General Manager Paul Heyman opens the show by welcoming us to the debut of the new ECW. He introduces new WWE Champion Rob Van Dam and awards him the new ECW World Championship belt. Edge and Lita come out to congratulate Van Dam only to attack him and leave threw the crowd only to be suprise attacked themselves by John Cena. Cena chases Edge back into the ring area where he and Van Dam beat him up Edge low blows Van Dam and escapes while Cena hits Heyman and does the same. This is all done to set up a Edge vs. Rob Van Dam match at Vengeance 2006, he would win that match, but would go on to drop the title to Edge in a triple threat of the July 3rd episode of Raw in a triple threat match that also featured John Cena. The next night on the July 4 episode of ECW, he lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show. This was all punishment for being busted with weed days earlier.
Match 1: The Sandman defeated The Zombie - Singles match (0:17) - It's pretty crappy when your first match on your new revamped show is a dumb squash match. Sandman canes the crap out of "The Zombie" who just looks like a dusty lumberjack, gives him a white russian legsweep, and wins then canes the crap out of him some more. A waste. 1/2* out of 5
Match 2: Kurt Angle defeated Justin Credible - Singles match (1:46) - Another squash match where Angle pretty much embarrasses Credible, who was on his third stint with the company and was mostly brought in to be a jobber, which was a total waste considering the talent he had and that he was only 32 years old here. They try to build Angle up as a unstoppable machine for his upcoming match with Randy Orton at Vengeance. * out of 5
A young Kelly Kelly then comes out to the crowd, we've been told earlier in the show that she's going to strip naked for us. She gets down to her lingerie before having issues taking her bra off, she just pushes it up covers her boobs and leaves. Obviously, she wasn't getting completely naked, but teasing the audience and having to hear Tazz and Joey Styles go on that this is the greatest thing ever and better then the old ECW is cringe AF.
Match 3: Sabu defeated Al Snow, Danny Doring, Stevie Richards, Roadkill, Balls Mahoney, Tommy Dreamer, Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido, Big Guido, and The Big Show - Extreme Battle Royal (9:19) - Mostly just a typical showcase for Big Show to eliminate the entire roster. He last eliminates Big Guido who holds on to his arm allowing Sabu to push him over the top rope with a chair shot to the back for the win. It's nothing special there is a lot of people beating the crap out of each out with trash can lids though. *1/2 out of 5
WWE reviving the ECW brand was an exciting moment after the first two One Night Stand events. Then we got to see the show and the impending dumpster fire over the horizon that would soon come. The mix of Rob Van Dam's weed bust, a disastrous pay per view in December which saw the exit of Paul Heyman and the incoming releases of all the ECW Originals spelled the impending doom to follow.
