Intro/Opening Segment:

The show starts with a hot crowd chanting E..C..Dub and huge pop for Paul Heyman.  The crowd is electric at this point and go crazy for Heyman. One of the themes of the whole night is the crowd, as this is probably one of the hottest crowds I ever seen at a wrestling show.  In true Paul Heyman fashion, he talks about the differences in ECW and WWE. I forgot that this show was the vehicle for the new ECW/WWE show that would begin to air two days later. Oh to be naive and think that the new ECW would be good, little did we know that we would see the Sandman beating up a Zombie on SyFy pretty much killing ECW before it started.  Really good opening promo here by Heyman as he has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

Match #1: Jerry Lawler vs. Tazz

The only purpose this match served was to further the divide between ECW and WWE.  The only real action in the match was a Lawler slap of Joey Styles before the match and Styles distracting Lawler long enough for Tazz to put Jerry in the Tazzmission.  From an in ring aspect this match has nothing, but it did further the storyline and it got the crowd hot. A 5-10 slow plotting match between these two would have taken the crowd out of the match and out of the show.  (**)

Match #2: Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton

Kurt Angle has just defected from WWE to ECW and was being shown as the corner piece of the new ECW brand.  The crowd is FIRMLY behind Angle and get down right nasty with some of the chants directed at Orton. These are chants that they would not even allow on PPV during the current product.  The match overall was a lot better than I remember and was very back and forth. I love how Angle played into the crowd and even toyed with Orton by daring him to grab his head and put him in a headlock.  Angle is super aggressive in this match and Orton plays the chicken-shit heel role to perfection. Angle would eventually win over the “Archangel of the Resthold.” Very solid match and the crowd along with Angle played their roles brilliantly (****).

Match #3: F.B.I vs Super Crazy and Tajiri

This match is exactly what you think of with a match featuring these 4 guys.  It starts off slow, but the pace picks up quickly. NIce tag action and double team moves by both teams.  You can see that the F.B.I are a much more seasoned team as their teamwork was great throughout. WWE missed the mark with these guys as I think they could have put on some good matches with a team like London and Kendrick.  Tajiri and Super Crazy do their greatest hits including a stereo Tarantula that popped the crowd nicely. The F.B.I win after a nice double team move (**½)  The Big Show comes down to make sure people haven’t forgotten he was in ECW and I think he turned Face and then back to Heel on his way down the Ramp.  The crowd is not into Show until he busts out a pretty cool camel clutch backbreaker that he never uses again. Show cleans house and leave, story of his career.

Match #4 World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio © vs. Sabu

I never thought I would see Sabu challenge for a top championship in the WWE, I think the fact that this even happened is a landmark occasion.  I thought this was the perfect opponent for Sabu as well here as Mysterio has a very similar style. This was a pretty botch free match considering it has Sabu in it.  The action started out slow and stayed fairly slow (which was surprising) for a majority of the match. Sabu gets a sick chair shot on Mysterio. Sabu appears to hurt his arm as the Ref throws up the “X,” but Sabu being the insane man he is keeps fighting.  Awesome spot at the end with the springboard DDT threw the table on the outside…it looked pretty sick. The doctor calls of the way in a hilarious fashion and it is a No Contest and Mysterio is still Champ (***1/2).

Match #5:  Intergender Extreme Rules Match Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah vs. Edge, Mick Foley & Lita

This match was originally only supposed to be a tag match, but Beulah gets on the mic before the match starts and challenges Lita to join the match.  I will say this is one of the bloodiest and violent WWE matches in history. There are ladders, barb wire bats, wooden tac boards covered in barb wire, and pretty much any weapon you could pull from the crowd in a WWE video game was used here.  Everyone, but the ladies are bleeding especially Foley and Funk who are in a barb wire forest at one point. A play by play does not do this justice go and watch this match. Funk screaming to be let out of the barb wire is hilarious and heartbreaking.  Edge wins the match when he spears Beulah and pins her in the most Rated-R way possible. This was not a technical masterpiece, but it was a great car crash (****½).

Match #6: Balls Mahoney vs. Masato Tanaka

If you have ever seen a Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome match, you would expect a decent match here.  Tanaka and Awesome put on an amazing match at One Night Stand 2005. This match was just short and not great.  Its only purpose was to put over Balls who was a WWE contracted talent (*).

Match #7 WWE Championship: John Cena © vs. Rob Van Dam

I talked about this match in my Top Ten Favorite Match list, but the big thin with this match is the crowd.  I have never heard a crowd so one sided. Everyone has seen the infamous “If Cena Wins We Riot” sign from this show and I actually think they would have riotted.  Cena tries to throw has shirt into the crowd, but they keep throwing it back and it was amazing. This match has a lot of nostalgia for me as I remember being so excited to watch it because RVD was my favorite wrestler at the time. The match itself is a good match.  You get the solid in ring work of John Cena and the high flying moves of RVD. Nice to see Cena use weapons, WWE always makes him holier than thou and not able to use weapons. Edge spears Cena through a table and gets a loud “Thank you Edge” chant and RVD hits one of his best Five Star Frog Splashes ever.  A wild Paul Heymen appears to make the count and RVD is the new WWE Champion (***¾) This was a great moment for a guy many consider one of the best to never be World Champion (too bad it would go up in smoke in about a month)

Final Thought:

This was a really good show from top to bottom.  Only one match really did not deliver, if you take the opening match as a way to pop the crowd.  The show is worth watching just for the Intergender Tag match. The two championship matches and the Orton and Angle match are very good as well.  The scene at the end with RVD as WWE champion is a great sight to see. Overall Show Rating: (****)