The 2006 ECW One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) via. its Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) brand. It was the second annual One Night Stand and took place on June 11, 2006, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York for a second consecutive year. The event was primarily held as a reunion show for wrestlers from the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003, and featured hardcore-based matches.
Like the previous year's event, wrestlers from WWE's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions also appeared. Just prior to the event, WWE established a third brand dubbed ECW for wrestlers of the former promotion and newer talent. It was in turn WWE's first PPV event to feature the ECW brand.
The main event was Raw's John Cena defending the WWE Championship against ECW's Rob Van Dam in the latter's Money in the Bank cash-in match, which Van Dam won by pinfall after performing a Five-Star Frog Splash following interference from Edge. The predominant match on the undercard was SmackDown's Rey Mysterio defending the World Championship against ECW's Sabu, which ended in a no contest after Sabu executed a Triple Jump DDT on Mysterio through a table on to the floor rendering both men, in kayfabe, unable to continue, with Mysterio retaining the title. Another match on the undercard was the WWE team of Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita versus the ECW team of Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah McGillicutty in a Hardcore mixed tag team match.
Production Background In June 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that was a reunion show for wrestlers of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003. After the success of the event, which was titled ECW One Night Stand, WWE scheduled a second ECW One Night Stand for June 11, 2006, establishing the hardcore-based PPV as an annual show for the promotion. Just like the previous year, the 2006 event was held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.
The build-up for the 2006 ECW One Night Stand occurred on both Raw and SmackDown! heading into the pay-per-view, but build-up behind the scenes began several months earlier, as WWE was bringing back ECW full-time. The news that WWE was planning to bring back ECW was leaked in the middle of April as Vince McMahon decided to revive the promotion as a third brand alongside Raw and SmackDown!, dubbed ECW. Reports beforehand stated that WWE was prepared to bring back ECW immediately after WrestleMania 22. WWE opted to cancel its webcast Velocity and replace it with the new ECW program. The new brand was officially confirmed by WWE on May 25, 2006, with its debut show airing on June 13 on the Sci Fi Channel. The 2006 ECW One Night Stand was in turn WWE's first PPV to feature the ECW brand.
Storylines
The main feud heading into One Night Stand was between John Cena and Rob Van Dam over the WWE Championship. At WrestleMania 22, Van Dam competed in a six-man Money in the Bank ladder match, in which Van Dam won and earned the right to face the champion of his choice anytime he wanted to in 12 months. On the May 22 episode of Raw, Van Dam announced that he would be cashing in his opportunity against Cena for the WWE Championship at One Night Stand. The two exchanged lefts and rights with Chris Masters (who Cena had just defeated in a match) also getting involved. The distraction allowed Van Dam to toss his briefcase into Cena's face and then hit him with the Van Daminator. The two had a contract signing for their match on the June 5, 2006 episode of Raw. Before signing the contract, Van Dam told Cena that he would win the WWE Championship at One Night Stand and rename it the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. ECW representative Paul Heyman told Cena that the ECW fans could not wait to boo him out of the Hammerstein Ballroom. Cena signed the contract and wished Van Dam luck. Heyman, however, told Cena that he had brought some people from ECW and at that point, Balls Mahoney, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman came to the ring. Cena attempted to fight them off, but Sandman hit Cena with his Singapore cane. ECW's Sabu then came out and sent Cena through the table with his Atomic Arabian Facebuster move. Several Raw superstars ran out to attempt to fight off the ECW Originals. Because of this, a match was booked for the WWE vs. ECW Head-to-Head special that aired on the USA Network on June 7, 2006 between Cena and Sabu. The match ended in a no contest after ECW's newest wrestler, Big Show attacked Cena, sparking a brawl between WWE and ECW wrestlers.
The other main match on the card was a Hardcore Intergender match, as Edge and Mick Foley faced Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. The rivalry started between Edge and Foley, when the two faced in a Hardcore match at WrestleMania 22. Edge won the match after a spear off the apron and through a flaming table on the outside. Foley was a guest on the Cutting Edge on the May 1, 2006 episode of Raw, and the two agreed to a WrestleMania Hardcore rematch the following week. Before the match began on the May 8, 2006 edition of Raw, Foley announced that the match was now a triple threat match, with Tommy Dreamer added as the third person. During the match, however, Foley turned heel for the first time in over eight years and attacked Dreamer with a barbed wire baseball bat. Foley handed Edge the bat and Edge hit Dreamer with it, busting him open. Foley hit the Mandible claw on Dreamer and Edge simultaneously speared Dreamer, with Foley getting the pinfall. The two, along with Lita celebrated up the entrance ramp. On the May 15, 2006 episode of Raw, Foley wanted to apologize to Dreamer for what happened the previous week; however, Dreamer was not in the arena, so Foley brought out Terry Funk. Funk asked Foley to apologize for what happened to Dreamer. Instead, Foley started bashing ECW. In an attempt to get into a fight with Foley, Funk made comments about Foley's family, calling his wife a whore and his kids bastards. When the two exchanged punches, Edge and Lita came out, with Lita low-blowing Funk. Edge and Foley double-teamed Funk, with Edge hitting Funk with a barbed wire baseball bat. A week later, on the May 22, 2006 edition of Raw, Edge and Foley announced themselves as co-holders of the WWE Hardcore Championship. Paul Heyman came out and made a challenge to Edge and Foley to face Funk and Dreamer at One Night Stand, which Edge accepted. The two, along with Lita, went after Heyman up the ramp, before Dreamer and Funk attacked them with several weapons, sending the trio out of the arena. On the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head special that aired on June 7, 2006, Edge faced Dreamer in an Extreme Rules match. Dreamer hit Edge with a Dreamer Driver through the table. Lita interfered, and hit Dreamer repeatedly with a cane. Dreamer was not hurt by the shots, and he got Lita up for a powerbomb, before Edge speared Dreamer. Edge got the pinfall and won the match. During the match, Foley and Funk were fighting outside the ring, with Funk busting Foley open. After the match, Foley sat in the middle of the ring and stated his kayfabe thoughts on ECW.
One of the main undercard matches on the card was between Rey Mysterio and Sabu for SmackDown's World Championship. ECW representative Paul Heyman announced that Mysterio had accepted the challenge for One Night Stand on the June 2, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. Before the June 9, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Heyman kayfabe revealed to WWE's official website that he was trying to get Mysterio to join the new ECW brand. Mysterio turned down Heyman's offer on the June 9, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. In the main event on that edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio faced Finlay. Mysterio was about to 619 Finlay, when Sabu, who was holding a steel chair, climbed onto the ring apron. Mysterio dropkicked the chair into Sabu, which distracted the referee. This allowed Finlay to hit Mysterio with his shillelagh, and the Celtic Cross for the victory. After the contest, Sabu set up a table on the outside of the ring, and hit Mysterio with a springboard legdrop that sent Mysterio through the table.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsJoey StylesTazzSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichRing announcerStephen DeAngelisRefereesJohn FinneganJim MolineauxMike PoseyMike KehnerNick Patrick
Joey Styles and Tazz served as commentators, while Stephen DeAngelis served as ring announcer for the event.
Paul Heyman began the event as it aired on pay-per-view, coming to the ring to "ECW" chants. Heyman stated that "this [ECW's resurrection] didn't happen because of me and it didn't happen because of Vince McMahon. This happened because of you [the fans]. And on behalf of every single one of us, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
The first match on the card was a match between ECW Original Tazz and WWE Raw commentator Jerry Lawler. This would be Tazz's final match in his career. On the way to the ring, Lawler slapped ECW commentator Joey Styles in the face. Tazz won after 35 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission. After the match, Tazz joined Joey Styles on commentary for the rest of the show.
In the second match ECW's Kurt Angle faced Raw's Randy Orton. Despite Angle's participation as an anti-ECW crusader from last year's One Night Stand, he was met with raucous cheers from the ECW faithful. Randy Orton, by contrast, received an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the fans in attendance, and was subjected throughout the match to several derogatory chants including "Go fuck Cena" and "Orton's a homo." Orton gained the main advantage in the match after Angle missed a running shoulder tackle, which sent him into the ringpost. The crowd inside the Hammerstein Ballroom chanted "Boring!" as Orton applied a rear choke on Angle. Angle executed a series of German suplexes, before executing an Angle Slam for a near-fall. Orton attempted an RKO, but Angle countered, locking on the ankle lock. Orton submitted, giving Angle the victory.
The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke) versus Super Crazy and Tajiri was next. After Guido propelled Crazy into the crowd, Guido and Mamaluke executed the muscle buster on Tajiri for the victory. After the contest, Big Show entered the ring and executed the cobra clutch backbreaker on Mamaluke and kicked F.B.I.'s enforcer Big Guido in the head.
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) made a surprise appearance, cutting a promo. Just over a week earlier, he announced on his radio show that he was not going to return to professional wrestling. JBL recalled his (legitimate) assault on The Blue Meanie from ECW One Night Stand 2005 and referred to himself as "The King of Hardcore". He announced that he was replacing Tazz as the color commentator of SmackDown!.