Thanks to John Permaul for the following:
I just got back from ECW One Night Stand. Here’s a recap of all of today’s events. The fans that bought the $400 tickets were treated to an exclusive autograph session. Right before the autograph session a few WWE guys were seen. These included Jericho, Maven, and JBL. JBL was booed, and then he went across the street into a taxi, which drove him away from the fans. A total of 10 wrestlers were initially at the autograph session. All of the stars who were at this session included The Blue Meanie, Balls Mahoney, Axel Rotten, Mikey Whipwreck, The Sinister Minister, Dawn Marie, J.T. Smith, Joel Gertner, Rob Van Dam, and Kid Kash. After my brother, Moses, (who was celebrating his birthday) and myself were done meeting them I found out that Little Guido was added to the stars who were signing autographs. Tazz was originally announced, but wasn’t there. The stars were all very thrilled for the fans coming out to see them. I was able to take pictures of everyone. Each fan was also given an ECW autograph mat.
The fans were not allowed to enter the Hammerstein Ballroom until right before Extreme Sunday Night Heat started. Michael Cole and The Coach were seated right near the entrance. As my brother, another companion, Mike from Miami, and myself entered, the entire crowd did a “Shut the f*ck up” chant. This is the chant that was picked up when Heat started.
Overall the show was simply amazing. Being there live and experiencing it was much more intense than any WWE show I’ve ever been to. The fans were so hyped up and into it. The fans didn’t hold anything back. I’m not sure which chants were picked up on air, but a lot of the chants included everything from “F*ck Smackdown”, “F*ck John Cena”, all the way to “Thank You Paul E.”. Almost everyone sang along to “Enter Sandman”, which was an awesome feeling. The Sandman was actually in the balcony right behind us at one point. And speaking of awesome, the Awesome-Tanaka match was one of the best of the night. After his last dive outside the ring Mike Awesome was bleeding from his leg near his knee, and had to be escorted away.
Every bit of that show was well worth it. The only bad segments were anything WWE related. When Angle, JBL, and Bischoff had their segments the fans absolutely hated it. At one point I thought JBL’s comments was going to ruin the show. The only thing that saved the WWE segments were the Rob Van Dam and Paul Heyman appearances. Every fan there paid to see ECW. Nobody paid to see Angle, Bischoff, and the rest of the WWE guys. In fact, the fans probably would have probably paid extra for JBL not to even be there in attendance.
The beer bash was quite the sight to see. After Austin left the ECW stars continued to party. One by one stars left the ring. A bloody Blue Meanie took off his shirt and threw it into the crowd. He and Nova celebrated together before leaving. In the end it was just Tommy Dreamer. The fans then started a huge “Thank You Tommy” chant. The Dudley Boyz came into the ring and then raised up Dreamer’s hands. Bubba also brought Beulah into the ring, and she and Dreamer left together. During the beer bash a lot of beer cans were thrown into the crowd, and I was able to get one. After the ring cleared out one of the announcers came into the ring and thanked the fans. The fans then all left. I was able to take my ringside chair with me. As we left WWE was filming fan comments. Throughout the night a lot of the backstage promos and highlight videos could be seen on a projection screen that was above the entrance way.
Overall the entire show delivered in a huge way. This was one of the, if not, the best live show I’ve ever attended. ECW is alive and well, and all the surprises were such a great treat for all the fans. With everything from the Awesome-Tanaka match to Heyman’s promo to Beulah, Francine, and Austin’s appearances, the whole show kept to the old ECW tradition and hopefully there will be much more to come.
Images From Last Night's ECW One Night Stand - Tommy Dreamer Goes Through Flaming Tables
