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15 years ago…


HarmonicGenerator

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Not quite today but yesterday… it was ECW’s December To Dismember.

Probably still remembered as one of the worst PPVs ever, but I probably remember more about it than most PPVs from the past several years.

Who watched it live at the time? Does anyone secretly think it’s actually not that bad? Has time been kind to it if I were to watch it now?

image.thumb.png.d12877279c901515714fb9d900b25998.png

If nothing else, it has a great poster.

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Watched it live. Two matches announced ahead of time. A SHOCKING undercard. There is surely nobody that secretly thinks it's good. It was a horrible show where the sins of the TV show came home to roost all at once, combined with booking that pissed in people's face with glee, then ended fifty minutes early. Considering it only had the two ONS shows as a point of comparison, it fell so horrendously short of the mark that there was almost a sense of disbelief in real time. 

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I wasn't really watching wrestling at the time but watched the main event on a bored whim. I knew nothing about the booking or build up at all. I thought the Chamber match was entertaining enough and didn't really understand why the fans were booing the shit out of it. Looking at the whole show now it's clearly one of the most lazy PPVs they ever put out.

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Watched it live too. As a teen I felt it tanking as it went along and kind of felt sorry for the people on the undercard to the point where I convinced myself they were all putting in a decent shift and that it was enjoyable enough. 

It's probably got some sort of perverse replay value, though I've only ever seen it again through OSW. The short runtime, sheer anonymity of the undercard, keeping the empty upper tiers in darkness. It was a proper modern equivalent to some of the early In Your House events. Which I'd also still rather watch back over a few beers than most of the WrestleManias in the last ten years. 

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2 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Shocking show. 

If I remember correctly the only good match on the show was The Hardy Boyz Vs. MNM in the opener. 

Neither team was part of the ECW brand. 

I really liked the opener. It's a very competitive back and forth match that goes around 20 minutes if memory serves.

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It’s the show and my mate put on whenever we need a good laugh.

The fact that they had to put on The Hardys v MNM in a 20minute opener and the show still went under 2hrs shows just how much of a catastrophic failure WWECW was from the get go.

Tommy Dreamer taking a ridiculous flat back bump on the metal entrance way from Khali’s  chokeslam and then acting as if he’s paralysed. His match wasn’t advertised in advance, literally no-one tuned in to watch him, so who gave a shit.

Kevin Thorn and Ariel (and her huge comedy tits) v Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly - even just typing that just made me want to tap out, a horrendous match on every conceivable level.

Only one ECW original in the main event because “fuck you! You don’t like what you like!”  after the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal death defying Sabu was, yep, beaten up beforehand. He can wrap his arm up with sellotape in a barbed wire match and continue, but a sneak attack (which happened off screen too) puts him down
Of course fan/smark favourite CM Punk is out of the Chamber Match first because “fuck you! You don’t like what you like!”. 
A final three of Test, his heart ready to burst at any moment due to being gassed to the gills, Big Show who’d given up caring about his physique long before that night and a still green as grass Bobby Lashley, I’m amazed the fans didn’t torch the building

Edited by WyattSheepMask
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39 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Tommy Dreamer taking a ridiculous flat back bump on the metal entrance way from Khali’s  chokeslam and then acting as if he’s paralysed. His match wasn’t advertised in advance, literally no-one tuned in to watch him, so who gave a shit.

 

I was going to mention this but I couldn't remember if it happened on the PPV or the weekly episode. Looked really brutal. I thought at the time, Khali was going to move the metal grid and have Dreamer take it onto a crash mat at the bottom of the stage but no. Dreamer just takes it from what must be a good 8 feet and there's zero give in it.

Was there a reason why they chose not to announce a full card? I assume the expectations for it, in terms of PPV buys, weren't high to begin with? 

I mainly remember how absolutley knackered Big Show looked/was throughout this run. 

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A horrendous show, easily the worst (non UK) PPV WWE has ever done. Tommy Dreamer vs The Great Khali and Balls Mahoney vs Matt Striker live on PPV like. Plus Taking Sabu out of the chamber and replacing him with Bob poxy Holly was the final kick in the teeth. That and woefully green Bobby Lashley winning the title. Don't see how anybody could secretly like it!

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1 hour ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Tommy Dreamer t̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶i̶d̶i̶c̶u̶l̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶b̶u̶m̶p̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶r̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶K̶h̶a̶l̶i̶’̶s̶ ̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶k̶e̶s̶l̶a̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶a̶l̶y̶s̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶H̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶a̶d̶v̶e̶r̶t̶i̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶v̶a̶n̶c̶e̶,̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶e̶r̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶-̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶u̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ , so who gave a shit.

 

Edited by Tommy!
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I'd love to know how it happened in the first place. When did they first decide they were going to do it? Did they believe that ECW would be in a better place by that point? Did they have something else planned for it? 

It's also interesting how that Elimination Chamber lineup probably doesn't feel like such an outlier now. Once upon a time you could describe it as "that time they put a bunch of midcarders in the chamber" but now I'm not sure people would know the one you mean. 

In a perverse way you've got to admire their commitment to the brand. I know they parachute in MNM and the Hardys but they could have brought in more stars so that the show didn't have to rely on Balls Mahoney, Matt Striker, Kevin Thorn and Mike Knox. 

Really they should have at least Russo'd it. You know the card's going to be shit, hence why you don't announce any of it, so at least chuck gimmicks on everything. 

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At the time I was a massive WWE fan. I grew up with the big stars and bright colours of the early 90s and then the attitude era when I was getting to my teen years. It all fitted perfectly and wresling was a big part of my life. Even in the 2000s the WWE could do no wrong in my eyes and it was the best company in the world. But then I sat up watching this PPV and at the end I felt cheated to the point I felt like I deserved a refund. 

I haven't watched weekly wrestling in over 10 years and pretty much just watch WrestleMania if I can be bothered. I have zero interest in watching modern day wrestling and I'm not saying it's all down to this PPV, but I think it was a turning point.

Still it had a pretty cool poster

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I wasn’t watching any wrestling at the time but ECW putting Hardcore Holly into their main event scene told me all I needed to know. Take ECW out of the frame and I’d struggle to tell you if Holly was still in the company in late 2006, so long after his ludicrous title shot at Lesnar and outliving his usefulness of “random tag team” or doing a JTTS on piss weak SmackDown PPVs in 2004. Don’t tell me what a good hand he was and I know he’s a lovely bloke but in 2006 he’s been a loser forever and shouldn’t be beating RVD who’s just been WWE Champion or ending the unbeaten run of a hope for the future like CM Punk.

As for the PPV I didn’t see it, I’ll never watch it, but it strikes me from reading the results of the episodes of the TV that they might have been able to assemble a watchable (if novelty) 2hr 15 PPV show if they hadn’t been short-sighted enough to put all their key players in one match.

16 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Didn't renowned liar Paul Heyman say that the show was purposely sabotaged by Vince?

At the very least it was Vince who insisted they go with Lashley when Heyman wanted Punk to win. Which was the cause of Heyman flouncing.

15 hours ago, rollthedice said:

Was there a reason why they chose not to announce a full card?

They didn’t have one! It was thrown together on the day, mostly.

15 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I was always surprised by how bad it was. What was the general reason for it being SO shit?

A thin roster stretched too far by seven talents (including Sabu) being taken up by the main event angle and match, thrown together matches with no build that people had no reason to care about, too many wrestlers being thrown out onto PPV that just weren’t good enough or over enough to work lengthy or engaging matches. Just read the card between the first and last matches and think “Why should I care enough to watch this?” and you’ll come to the same conclusion that caused people like me not to bother tracking it down and people who watched it at the time to wish they hadn’t.

Edited by air_raid
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