ECW on MTV #5
Friday, June 5th, 2001
Attendance: 786 – Shrine Auditorium – San Antonio, Texas, USA
TV Rating: 0.83 on MTV
AIR PARIS & AJ STYLES [AERIAL ASSAULT] DEF. ERIC PRIEST & PAUL LONDON – PARIS > PRIEST – PIN – 5:41
RATING: 37
FULL-SHOW RECAP»» AWESOME: TWICE A TRAITOR = A HERO?»» The show started without a sign of Shane McMahon. Instead, Paul Heyman was the one in the ring and, while we were not in ECW territory, the crowd was as faithful as a Tri-State one. Heyman opened the show welcoming Mike Awesome who, last Saturday, made up for his past conduct with the organization.
»» The new ECW World Heavyweight Champion came to the ring and, in a short speech, thanked the fans, as well as Paul Heyman, for welcoming him back, and promised to be an honorable champion, because ECW deserves to have one. As soon as he mentioned McMahon, he was interrupted by his ass-kissers.
»» Chris Candido and Simon Diamond, the Diamond Bodies came to the ring along with Dawn Marie and Tammy Lynn Sytch, accusing Awesome of being a traitor and stating that one who betrays their allies twice is nothing but a turncoat, then asking the fans if Awesome can really be trusted.
»» Awesome replied and, to prove he indeed can, challenged Chris Candido, putting his title on the line tonight! Candido probably didn’t need to be convinced, but Awesome talked about his past in WWF, claiming Candido was not allowed to shine properly there while here, tonight, he has a chance. With one condition, though, Sunny Dawn stay in the back. Candido agreed!
MATCH #1
BILLY KIDMAN vs. JULIO DINERO (w/ELEKTRA)Nobody saw Kidman’s debut coming, but there’s no doubt that the former Flock member is an asset to ECW. Here he got back to his grungy look and made his first appearance on ECW TV in a cool match with Dinero where, despite Elektra’s distraction attempts, he picked up a win with his signature Shooting Star Press.
RESULT: BILLY KIDMAN DEF. JULIO DINERO – PIN – 7:04
RATING: 54»» RVD: «IN THE END, AWESOME WAS… AWESOME»»» On video, Rob Van Dam took time to congratulate Mike Awesome for winning the ECW World Title, despite being the finalist. Specially, RVD said «Awesome was… awesome…» by choosing the right side, that being ECW’s side.
»» I.Q.: DOMINATION PLANS GET SPIKED»» Back in the ring, the Insurance of Quality was on scene. Their leader, Chris Kanyon, began to try to convince the ECW fans that their win over the F.B.I. at Hardcore Heaven is a sign that the group is dominating the company in a near future. Inclusively, Kanyon hinted at challenging for the World Title when time’s due.
»» Before anything else could be said, though, ‘Little’ Spike Dudley interrupted the trio, as he had a match and needed the ring cleared. The fans laughed at Spike’s gutsy attitude and were fully behind him. The I.Q. laughed at him too, but Kanyon actually left the ring with his buddies.
MATCH #2
CROWBAR vs. SPIKE DUDLEYWhat could be a nice flashy match between two unorthodox guys ended up being spoiled and cut short. After four minutes, the I.Q. got back to the ring, attacking both men in the ring, beating them down to a point where C.W. Anderson and Sean O’Haire were mauling the two while Kanyon cut a promo, threatening Spike and demanding he should never interrupt them again.
RESULT: NO-CONTEST THROUGH INTERFERENCE – 4:05
RATING: 44»» BALLS TO THE… I.Q. + IMPROMPTU CHALLENGE»» …and that’s when they were interrupted again, but by Balls Mahoney, Spike’s on-and-off tag team partner. Armed with a chair, Balls stopped the attack, but soon became himself overwhelmed by the I.Q.
»» Enter Rob Van Dam, who, with another chair cleared the ring before challenging any member of the Insurance of Quality to a match right now. C.W. Anderson was the one to step up.
MATCH #3
C.W. ANDERSON (w/CHRIS KANYON & SEAN O’HAIRE) vs. ROB VAN DAM (w/BALLS MAHONEY & SPIKE DUDLEY)A nice match with some external involvement, as the I.Q. were always very provocative in their corner. The men in ringside acted somewhat as lumberjacks, but C.W. and RVD stayed mostly inside the ring. RVD asked for some chairs, but when possible, Anderson took the chairs out of the match to keep it clean, until nearing the end of the match where he also used a chair before flipping the crowd off.
In the end, however, things got uncontrollable in the outside between the four “seconds” and RVD took advantage, hitting a Van Daminator before the Five! Star! Frog! Splash! For the win. After the match, the I.Q. picked C.W. and left, maintaining their threat to Spike.
RESULT: ROB VAN DAM DEF. C.W. ANDERSON – PIN – 6:26
RATING: 61»» FUNK: ALWAYS READY FOR ECW»» On video, this time, Terry Funk was the one to congratulate Mike Awesome for his accomplishment and his attitude in Hardcore Heaven. Furthermore, Funk stated that his condition with ECW was that of a “semi-active” «grizzly old man». However, he made the fans and Heyman sure that whenever he feels like ECW could have something to gain by having him around… he’ll be there! And that’s always and… FOREVER!
MATCH #4
DANNY DORING & NOVA & ROADKILL vs. JUSTIN CREDIBLE & LANCE STORM & STEVE CORINO (w/FRANCINE)The Impact Players got to the ring earlier and bragged for a bit about being the best team in ECW and in its history and they have the belts to prove it. Then, we saw a nice 6-man tag team match also involving the former champions. Usually, Corino would love to play it up to the crowd and to taunt his opponents like Storm and, specially, Credible, but not anymore.
Their trio was slightly better and, in the end, Storm was about to finish Doring but, while taunting him waiting for him to get up, Corino tagged in. Him and Storm argued in the ring, giving time for Doring to get up, but, ultimately, Corino caught him with a Superkick (which was STILL a finisher in 2001) to win the match.
After the match, being “his own man” once again, Corino left to the back, leaving the Impact Players and Francine alone to celebrate their win.
RESULT: STEVE CORINO DEF. DANNY DORING – PIN – 7:32
RATING: 55»» LYNN: NO CRUISERWEIGHTS LIKE HIM»» Also on video, Jerry Lynn justified his tainted win over the debuting Billy Kidman at Hardcore Heaven by speaking facts: it is legal in ECW. There may be a code that makes it a less-desirable move, but still, it’s not illegal, and those who resort to such moves have a motivation to do so: ambition.
»» Lynn ended his promo time by saying that the new ECW has a lot of “cruiserweights”, but still, none like him, who’s proven himself alongside the heavyweights by being a former ECW World Champion.
MATCH #5 – ECW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
MIKE AWESOME © vs. CHRIS CANDIDO (w/SIMON DIAMOND)The fighting champion made a big mistake asking for Sunny Dawn to be barred from ringside but forgetting about… Simon Diamond. The match was well-fought with two great wrestlers showcasing their abilities and Diamond’s present at ringside helped keeping the match pace, as he served as Candido’s weapon provider. Said weapons were used to level up the bout and to make the smaller challenger a threat.
However, when Awesome regained some dominance, Diamond did more than just get into his head, hitting the champion with a chair. That’s when someone had to stop Diamond… The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer got to the ring with the former caning him to the back.
Awesome and Candido restarted their wrestling match and the challenger had a slight edge at first, even managing to take the champion to a two-count with a Diving Crossbody. However, Awesome fought his way back and, in the end, after a fierce chair battle, like the ones he used to have with Masato Tanaka, Awesome hit the Awesome Bomb to retain his championship!
RESULT: MIKE AWESOME DEF. CHRIS CANDIDO – PIN – STILL CHAMPION! – 11:53
RATING: 64»» JUNE 20TH: HARD HITS VOL. 1: TELEVISION’S FAME»» After the match, Paul Heyman closed the show with a big announcement: the first edition of ECW Hard Hits, a series of special thematic events held on MTV, will take place on June 20th. Also, Heyman guaranteed that title matches will be common on the channel, because Hard Hits Vol. 1: Television’s Fame will mark the return of the ECW World Television Championship. The main event will be a 6-Way Dance, involving the champion: Rhyno, as well as all the former champions under contract: Kid Kash, Mikey Whipwreck, Rob Van Dam, Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri!
»» Finally, Heyman announced that all the matches in the special will be limited to 10 minutes, with one exception: the main event. The show ended and there was no sign of Shane McMahon!
FINAL RATING: 64
ECW Hard Hits Vol. 1: Television's Fame - Saturday, June 20th 2001 - Chicago, IL, USA
The card so farECW World Television Championship - 6-Way DanceRhyno (c) vs. Kid Kash vs. Mikey Whipwreck vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Super Crazy vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri
