Despite the event being called One Night Stand, the WWE produced four different One Night Stands before becoming Extreme Rules. The first one paid homage to ECW. The second one paid homage to the past of the promotion, but also set the stage for its hopeful future as the brand was being relaunched on Sci-Fi.
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Unfortunately, it took less than a year to completely ruin, in ECW fans’ eyes, what the promotion meant to them and the alumni. For a few hours on June 11, 2006, The Tribe Of Extreme had returned and fans were so hopeful that their beloved “bingo hall promotion” was back to wreak havoc.
7 Tazz Vs. Jerry Lawler
The opening salvo of the PPV wasn’t much of a match at all. With Tazz waiting in the ring, Lawler came out to a chorus of boos and smushed Joey Styles’ face on his way to the ring. Styles blindsided Lawler in the ring. Lawler easily dismissed of the announcer before Tazz nailed The King with the Tazzmission for the quick win in less than a minute. The match was more of a set up to get the crowd going and get Tazz at the commentary table with Joey Styles.
6 Balls Mahoney Vs. Masato Tanaka
Take a guy known as The Hardcore Chair Swinging Freak and pair him up with a guy known for taking unprotected chair shots and you get exactly what you’d think you’d get - Balls Mahoney smashing a chair in Masato Tanaka’s face, after heaving a beer can at him for the victory.
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But before that was a pretty decent hard hitting match up between the two competitors, who even traded superplexes at one point.
5 The FBI Vs. Tajiri And Super Crazy
Little Guido, Tajiri, and Super Crazy had an excellent match at the inaugural One Night Stand. One year later, Tony Mamaluke joined the fray with alongside his fellow FBI partner against Crazy and Tajiri. The FBI scored a quick win with a muscle buster on Tajiri. The real carnage began when ECW’s surprise draft pick, The Big Show, stomped out and obliterated Guido, Mamaluke, and the FBI enforcer, Big Guido.
4 Sabu Vs. Rey Mysterio
While Rey Mysterio did have his roots in ECW, the legendary Luchador had turned down an offer from Paul Heyman to jump ship from SmackDown with the World title in tow back to ECW. That led to a long awaited dream match between Mysterio defending the World Title against ECW icon Sabu.
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The two aerial artists assaulted and accosted each other with steel chairs and all sorts of other plunder the Hammerstein Ballroom had to offer. Much like the year prior, the 619 got booed out of the 212. But both men still wound up having the kind of hardcore match Sabu was known for and Mysterio was fully capable of having. Both men pounded away at one another so badly that they both got carted off to a medical facility.
3 Kurt Angle Vs. Randy Orton
While the crowd was waiting with baited breath to explode for RVD defeating John Cena for the WWE title, the ECW faithful at The Hammerstein also welcomed new ECW draftee Kurt Angle as a conquering hero. Meanwhile some of the epithets hurled Randy Orton’s way should never be repeated. The crowd was ready for the Wrestling Machine to stretch Orton like a rubber band and make him cry. They got their wish - Angle was victorious and Orton was carted off, while waiving to the crowd mocking the ECW faithful booing him out of the building.
2 Tommy Dreamer, Beulah, And Terry Funk Vs. Mick Foley, Lita, And Edge
Paul Heyman was able to drag Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk out of the Bingo Hall to win back the name of hardcore wrestling from Edge and Mick Foley, who Heyman said he had prostituted his name and legacy. It was enough to get the hardcore Hall Of Famer booed in his own hometown and in his own hardcore element. His promo before the match praising former owner Stephanie McMahon only helped fuel the fire.
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The match was everything you’d expect out of these four madmen and then some when Beulah and Lita were added to mix. The bout was a classic, violent tag team match for the ages with tables, ladders, garbage cans, chairs, and of course barbed wire and fire.
1 Rob Van Dam Vs. John Cena
It was a moment Rob Van Dam, ECW fans, and RVD fans had been waiting for for nearly 15 years for. There weren’t many better arenas and moments for it to happen in either. Rob Van Dam chose the time and place to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase against John Cena in front of the bloodthirsty ECW fans, who were indeed ready to riot it John Cena somehow survived. After nearly getting booed out of New York, Cena was able to settle and hold his own with Van Dam. But there was never any doubt and there was never going to be any stopping RVD on this night - the ECW relaunch counted on Mr. PPV finally winning the gold!
