ECW '01 - Extreme Takeover | BetheBooker (2024)

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 DUDLEY
What 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

To be honest, I was expecting Awesome to cut a longer promo and explain his motivations in a deeper way. Is that coming later on or not at all? I know that his promo skills are nothing special, but that needs to be addressed. He obviously retained the title, but Candido looked good and it was a competitive main event

The more I read Kidman and RVD's name on the same show and the more I want to see it lol

Nice to know that Funk will come back a few times, of course he will be handy as a road agent too if needed

Hum, are you going to form a Cruiserweight division? I wasn't going to predict it, but Lynn's promo seemed to go in that direction. That's interesting...

Speaking of titles, it's good to see the TV Title return. And the MTV special is also a smart way to keep things going without doing a PPV every month, so kudos!

ECW on MTV #6
Friday, June 12th, 2001
Attendance: 895 – Delaware Military Academy – Newport, Delaware, USA
TV Rating: 0.79 on MTV

DARK MATCH:
ELIX SKIPPER DEF. SONJAY DUTT – PIN – 5:42
RATING: 31

FULL-SHOW RECAP
»» SANDMAN & DREAMER GET A REMATCH
»» Two fan-favorites opened the show. The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer got to the ring and went straight to their point: they’re not happy with Diamond Bodies’ rise at their expense, claiming their win at Hardcore Heaven was a fluke. So, at Hard Hits Vol. 1, they want their rematch.
»» Paul Heyman interrupted and told Sandman and Dreamer that it sounded fair. Chris Candido and Simon Diamond came into scene and tried to argue, but the rematch was set. Plus, tonight’s main event would be Simon Diamond vs. The Sandman.

MATCH #1
CHRIS HAMRICK & EZ MONEY [HOT COMMODITY] (w/ELEKTRA) vs. LITTLE GUIDO & TONY MAMALUKE [F.B.I.] (w/BIG VITO)
Nice tag team match on the opener, with wrestling and funny interactions between the Italian-Americans and redneck Chris Hamrick being its two central points. EZ Money was more focused while Elektra also tried to distract F.B.I., but they won after Guido’s Sicilian Slice on Hamrick onto an upside down trashcan.
RESULT: LITTLE GUIDO DEF. CHRIS HAMRICK – PIN – 7:01
RATING: 29

»» SPIKE: MORE GUTS THAN BRAINS?
»» Backstage, ‘Little’ Spike Dudley perhaps showed more guts than brains. After being dominated by the Insurance of Quality last week, Spike raged against them, claiming they were not welcome in ECW and that ECW is fine without any “insurance of quality” and their rules. So, Spike laid out a challenge for a one-on-one match with Chris Kanyon at Hard Hits Vol. 1.

MATCH #2
AIR PARIS vs. CHRIS KANYON (w/C.W. ANDERSON & SEAN O’HAIRE)
Kanyon was in the next match, though, and it was the quickest of the night, against Aerial Assault’s Air Paris who showed some unpredictability. Anderson and O’Haire stood at ringside but without interfering. Kanyon’s Flatliner gave him the pinfall victory.
RESULT: CHRIS KANYON DEF. AIR PARIS – 4:19
RATING: 47

»» SPIKE: MORE GUTS THAN BRAINS! (IT’S AN EXCLAMATION)
»» It’s confirmed now: Spike Dudley really has more guts than brains. After Kanyon’s match he rushed to the ring and attacked the leader of the I.Q. with the crowd’s blind support. However, he ended up getting instantly mauled by C.W. Anderson and Sean O’Haire.
»» Some instants of affliction followed until Balls Mahoney cleared the ring with his signature chair, running I.Q. off and saving Spike.

MATCH #3
KID KASH & MIKE AWESOME & ROB VAN DAM vs. MIKEY WHIPWRECK & SUPER CRAZY & YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI (w/SINISTER MINISTER)
The five ECW World Television Championship contenders participated in what was probably the best match of the night, and they had the World Heavyweight Champion to play along with. Rivals turned teammates and the pace was fast in a friendly but competitive trios bout.
Weapons were used in the second half and we got treated to some near-falls and a lot of high-flying moves until Awesome countered Crazy’s Avalanche Frankensteiner with a huge Avalanche Awesome Bomb to get the win for his trio.
RESULT: MIKE AWESOME DEF. SUPER CRAZY – PIN – 12:34
RATING: 65

»» CORINO: PUNISHED FOR BEING ‘HIS OWN MAN’
»» The recurring theme of tonight’s midcard was ‘poor choices’. Steve Corino, moved by his ‘His Own Man’ attitude, had a poor choice too coming to the ring to his match before the participants of the previous had left. Furthermore, Corino interrupted the handshakes between all six men and teased them, questioning if the TV title match on Hard Hits will also be an ECW vs. WWF affair instead of a proper “everyone for himself” match.
»» They didn’t like it and Mike Awesome proved to be the less tempered of all, knocking Corino off his boots and the mic off his hand with a violent Lariat.

MATCH #4
BIG VITO (w/LITTLE GUIDO & TONY MAMALUKE) vs. STEVE CORINO
Vito saw a break and the match started with Corino only half-ready, meaning that Vito dominated the first few moments. However, Corino eventually regained some composure and fought his way back into it. In the end, he caught the Italian-American off guard with a Superkick and pinned him, using the ropes for leverage, which led Guido and Mamaluke to funnily complain to the referee after the match.
RESULT: STEVE CORINO DEF. BIG VITO – PIN – 5:11
RATING: 33

»» RHYNO: MISSING HARD HITS?
»» On video, the ever-intense Rhyno had a few words for Paul Heyman. The ECW World Television Champion talked directly to the ECW matchmaker, regarding the 6-way dance scheduled for Hard Hits Vol. 1. Rhyno left in the air the possibility of missing the title defense, essentially spoiling the main event. That’s because ‘The Man Beast’ has a contract with WWF, not ECW’s branch. Plus, the World Television Championship belt means nothing in the WWF. Would Rhyno really want to keep it? So… will Rhyno show up at Hard Hits?

MATCH #5
SIMON DIAMOND (w/DAWN MARIE & TAMMY LYNN SYTCH) vs. THE SANDMAN
The main event pit Diamond and Sandman in a heated singles clash. The Sandman was pissed and spent the first minutes of the match essentially beating Diamond up, causing him to bleed. Dawn and Tammy were a bit scared with what they were witnessing, as Sandman even broke his signature Singapore cane (can I start calling it “kendo stick” or do we need to maintain the ECW gimmick alive?) on Diamond’s head.
In the ring, Diamond survived a DDT onto a trashcan and eventually gained some control after getting out of the way of the Rolling Rock, leaving Sandman to hit only a ladder [thanks, johnnyboombatz]. From then on, Diamond got his payback, swinging chairs at Sandman like he was swinging a baseball bat.
The match could’ve gone either way, but Sandman got a break until he was distracted by Dawn and Tammy, when the former literally took a chair off his hand. Sandman lived, but when he got Diamond in position for a perhaps definitive DDT, Tammy entered the ring and kicked him below the belt from behind. Diamond then hit a Northern Lights Suplex against a table in the corner and pinned Sandman to get another stolen win.
RESULT: SIMON DIAMOND DEF. THE SANDMAN – PIN – 8:37
RATING: 52

»» SUNNY DAWN: SOMETIMES, ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
»» The Sandman was pissed but, on the floor, the only thing he could do was watch when Simon Diamond and Sunny Dawn provoked him. But there was another guy who was pissed… Tommy Dreamer made his way to the ring calling The Diamond Bodies out for how indispensable Sunny Dawn’s interferences are for them. He didn’t make it to the ring before being attacked from behind by Chris Candido, though.
»» So, obviously, a brawl broke out between the two teams and the valets didn’t really know what to do as their partners began getting beat up. Candido and Diamond actually told them to go to the back before getting hit themselves.
»» But as they were leaving, Paul Heyman stood in their way. The ECW matchmaker ordered both teams to stop the brawl as he had yet another announcement to make. Agreeing with Dreamer, Heyman announced that in eight days, at Hard Hits, Dawn Marie and Tammy Lynn Sytch are banned from ringside, meaning that The Diamond Bodies will have to fight like men. They contested, obviously, contrasting with Dreamer and Sandman’s joy.

FINAL RATING: 56

BOOKER'S TAKEAWAY:
I knew this was going to be a lesser show and I'm not worried about some bad ratings. However, it's pretty clear that some wrestlers have poor stats in the DB and will always give me some questionable ratings (Big Vito, Chris Hamrick, Tony Mamaluke stand out). Mamaluke was a nice wrestler, so I'm a bit surprised with that, but that's life I guess. I'm happy with the uppercard, though.

Quick question around your game... how is it possible that nobody has no-showed an event, been arrested for drugs or wrestled while drunk yet? It's ECW damnit!

The show had a slower start compared to the usual format, but it's important to build the lowcard feuds as well

That six men would have been really nice!

I didn't expect Rhyno to play that card... will it be a recurring thing? Heyman better have a plan

Diamond beating Sandman has a bit of shock value as it's an upset, but this will lead to the babyfaces rightfully triumphing, so no issues

Tony Mamaluke was terrible!

Always a fan of the F.B.I. winning!!! (well the tag team match at least!)

Spike's already being used the way I pictured and that's good because when it came to "spirit" he was pound-for-pound the toughest!

And I thought the ladder spot was great. I was clearly calling back to this legendary spot which happened 6 years earlier in my universe 😂

And yes. When it's The Sandman you must refer to it as a Singapore Cane. That's the rule! I didn't make it up!

Anyway, the two announced matches for the special will be bangers so can't wait!

You're not the only one who's surprised. So far Terry Funk took two guys under his wing: Johnny Swinger and Joey Matthews and Jerry Lynn has been organizing video game and karaoke nights, so things have been cool. But I'm sure a bomb will drop soon.

I really want to see Mike Awesome playing Mario now.

Wait until we get to 2003 so I can mention The Sandman playing Postal 2.