Now to the main event, with Punk, Show, Test, RVD, Lashley and Sabu. Well almost, as Sabu was knocked out backstage and Hardcore Holly was given his spot. Now you have an WWECW PPV without The Sandman and Sabu?!
Regardless, the match is in an extreme elimination chamber, where each entrant gets a weapon. Punk got a chair, Test got a crowbar, Show got a barbed wire bat and Lashley got a table. You’d assume that there’d be more weapons inside the chamber, but no one put that much thought into it.
RVD and Holly begin the match. Yes, Hardcore Holly is main eventing a PPV in an elimination chamber! Punk comes in and takes a chair shot from RVD. Then RVD connects with the 5-star frog splash to eliminate the Straight Edge Superstar. Test comes in next and eliminates Holly and RVD. Even before the last two competitors are out of their pods, three men are eliminated. Lashley, somehow, uses his table to break out of his pod, spears Test, thereby eliminating him. Lashley then quickly spears Big Show, pins him and is the new ECW champ, bringing the match and the PPV to a close at 10:18!
Now, the aftermath of this PPV was incredible. Heyman was gone not just from ECW but all of the WWE. Big Show lost his return title match that week on WWECW via bodyslam; then Show left for a few years. The roster settled into a New versus Original rivalry between RVD, Sandman, Sabu and Dreamer – the ECW Originals – vs. Burke, Thorn, Knox and the former Monty Brown, a.k.a. Marcus Cor Von – The New Blood. Lashley, meanwhile, feuded with Vince McMahon and Umaga for a while before being drafted to RAW, forced to drop the ECW belt in the process.
Looking at this PPV now, let’s look who is still on the active roster. Big Show. That’s it. Some people are still around though. Joey Mercury transitioned to a backstage role; he is a producer for WWE, and credited for helping out new Superstars like Dean Ambrose. He’s also had resuragence in a tag team of sorts: He’s the J in J&J Security, along with Jaime Noble. The Great Khali was recently wished well in his future endeavors by the WWE. CM Punk went from WWE to MIA to UFC, breaking the Internet in the process. And RVD still appears occasionally to compete in matches and Hand out Slammys. So, in conclusion, #BigShowRuinsThings.
The question to ask I guess is why have I spent nearly 1700 words so far on this PPV seen as one of the worst in WWE history? Mainly because I love what came from the product after the fact. WWE realized what they could do was use older ECW stars to help build the new ones, and they could revitalize wrestlers who had careers that stalled a bit. Look at the wonders WWECW did for Mark Henry, Kane, Matt Hardy, William Regal, Christian, Zack Ryder, the late Big Daddy V, etc.
Along with the revitalization of older characters, look at the new ones the company brought in. Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston and more debuted in the company and were given time to develop characters and well rounded matches. Also, the company gave us the legend that is Braden Walker, and how could that be a bad thing?
Right now the best product WWE has to offer is NXT. The fans are rabid, dare I say ECW-esque, and the similarities between what WWECW tried to do and what NXT is now are quite stark. So rather than see this PPV as how many others do, one of the roughest 2 hours and change of all time, it should be looked at as the start of WWE trying their hand at revitalizing some wrestlers and bringing a solid youth movement into the company. If ideas and companies like this didn’t exist, who could say how the future of the WWE would look?
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for a review of WCW New Blood Rising from 2000. [3ManBooth Note: Please No. We can’t let you do that to yourself!]
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