On the next Rewind-A-Wai, we are reviewing ECW’s One Night Stand card from June 2005.
This event was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Dustin Koga.
Leave your questions and feedback in this thread and tune in Sunday as the show will be out for Café members.
Brandon from Oshawa
This was a really fun show. It’s interesting that even back in 2005 for a one off show, Chris Jericho was doing something to stand out like going back to his old look and Lion Heart name. When I was scrolling through the matches on the Network, it said “Eddie Guerrero in singles action” I was expecting it to be against one of the lower card ECW guys, not Chris Benoit. I’m not usually one of shies away from Benoit matches, but this combination, not too long before Eddies death and knowing how that affected Benoit, really turned me off of this match. I did end up skipping through it.
It was nice to see some of the mid 2000’s WWE geeks like the Bashams, Orlando Jordan, La Resistance, Tomko, Maven etc. I couldnt help but think that Coach would have been a good manager for Maven when I noticed them walking together. Any idea on what the plan for RVD would have been, had he been able to compete here?
Mj from Nj
As somebody who never followed ECW and only sparingly goes back to look at anything from the original promotion, this version of One Night Stand was a home run for a fan like me. It imediately feels different and the crowd is electric. Wow, that crowd is incredible.
The changes in gimmicks, the matchups, and the emotion of the night are all there. I love hearing the history of ECW in the commentary - it’s unfathomable to picture this being presented the same way today. I’d argue this is maybe one of the best shows the WWE has ever put on. There is a feel of adrenaline that doesn’t leave when watching this that you only feel at major shows of the past.
It hit me during the RVD promo - it’s incredible his promo holds as much truth today as it did 13 years ago. Give any NXT alum or current talent the Mic and let them go rift on getting a chance and it’s exactly what Vince failed at doing two Mondays ago. Nuts.
This was a show all about the crowd, I feel they could have given them anything and they would have been chanting away. Paul didn’t know that going in and gave them a hell of a show. Outside the let down that was Benoit/Guerrero and the backlash Rey/Psicosis got, this show was pretty stellar. A fantastic opener, a solid main event, a fun three way dance and the incredible spot fest that was Awesome/Tanaka. As a fan I didn’t like how Vince couldn’t let ECW just have their own night and had to have the invaders there but they got great heat and it lead to the fantastic promo from Paul. Unfortunately, the success of this show would lead to a flood of other ECW reunion shows that out stayed their welcome, each one getting sadder than the last.
What was the backlash from Rey/Psicosis?
The Benoit/Guerrero match seemed most impacted by the crowd and it appeared to me they both were very annoyed the crowd was chanting at the Raw talent that just arrived oppose to engaging with their match.
The fans turned on the Rey/Psicosis early because it wasn’t a proper lucha libre style match and the fact Rey used his WWE style. Fans were expecting something very different and they shit on it because of it.
From what I’ve heard about Benoit/Guerrero, it was a combination of the crowd and Eddie being in a bad mood going in. The fact that the crowd were more focused on the invaders pissed off Eddie more. He was also hurting badly and didn’t like the idea of having to go full throttle against Benoit.
Charly from Maryland
I totally forgot I had this on dvd and it works perfectly fine also hearing that “bodies have been broken” promo package was a bit weird to me anyways
You really got to see that this was an authentic ECW crowd they ate up everything the characters the wrestlers and chanted anything they wanted but some of these chants would not be said today
The commentary was good I liked that it was mick Foley and Joey styles giving you the background and the feel of the match
That open match between Lance storm and Chris Jericho was great it got you hyped it was great seeing lance being happy in a match knowing it was his last match Chris really was lost in 2005 which is weird to say now knowing he’s facing Naito in 5 days at wrestle kingdom
The three way dance was really good super crazy with the moonsault off the bench was so crazy at the time seeing fbi was great and the sinister minister and Mickey whipwreck was great too
Rey and Psichosis has a pretty disappointing match compared to their matches in 1995 not much to say only that crazy leg drop to the raling and the senton the the outside
Then the smack down and raw mid to lowcarders come in and JBL was really the biggest heel in this show talking about the crowd and saying how he’s a god made it good kurt angle’s promo wasn’t good but it was a bit funny cause I feel like he said it wrong seeing RVD injured really made me forget that he could have been on the show since he somehow made it happen RVD promo really was in a view of a hardcore fan at the time
Rhyno vs sabu was a decent match not much to talk about just a regular hardcore match but a good feeling seeing RVD and sabu reunited
Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero was like AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura match at wrestlemania it was very disappointing but because the crowd ruined it they didn’t pay attention to it and Eddie looked very pissed off at the crowd
Mike awesome was really hated by Joey styles but had a great match with Masato tatanka woth all the tables involved it took me back to the matches they had for the ecw heavyweight championship
Paul Heyman was a genus on the mic this man went from the start of ecw to smoking the crusaders the main event match was unforgettable cause that’s typical ecw back in the day violence high flying action and sandman every one who made ecw what it was there in the main event
One of the best PPV in 2005 glad I had it on dvd