ECW One Night Stand (2005)

ECW One Night Stand (2005) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held on June 12, 2005 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, New York.

The main event was a tag team match between The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) and the team of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman, which the Dudley Boyz won. Two of the matches on the undercard were Chris Benoit versus Eddie Guerrero, and Mike Awesome versus Masato Tanaka.

Background
Although the build-up for the pay-per-view began in the middle of May, plans were in the works behind the scenes for several months in advance. Tommy Dreamer was in charge of organizing the event and getting ECW Originals to participate. He contacted several people, including The Sandman, Sabu, Justin Credible, and ECW commentator Joey Styles. Reports later stated that Paul Heyman was working with Dreamer to help prepare the event. Other ECW related wrestlers were later added to the PPV. The event was publicly confirmed by WWE through a Dish Network magazine in March 2005. In an interview with SLAM! Sports days before One Night Stand, ECW Original Rob Van Dam announced he had asked Vince McMahon about the idea of holding an ECW reunion event.

Although many of the individual matches on the One Night Stand card were announced weeks before the pay-per-view occurred, none of the them got any build-up, with WWE choosing to focus on an "invasion" angle, with several Raw and SmackDown! superstars feuding against wrestlers from the original ECW.

The invasion angle began on the May 9, 2005 edition of Raw, when Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff made a statement regarding the pay-per-view, saying that he would "squash ECW like a bug." The following week, on the May 16 episode of Raw, Tajiri agreed to an Extreme Rules match with Chris Benoit. In the middle of the contest, however, Bischoff came out to stop it, and announced anything related to ECW was banned from Raw. He also vowed to "destroy" ECW with the help of the Raw superstars chosen to compete at the pay-per-view. Bischoff planned an ECW funeral for the May 23 episode of Raw but was interrupted by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. McMahon spoke of his support for the ECW reunion and his financial interest in bringing back the promotion. Paul Heyman then came out and reminded McMahon that, while he does not own ECW, he still has control of it. Heyman also said that he welcomed Bischoff's invasion, claiming, "You may light a fire that you can’t put out." Heyman then lit the funeral wreath ablaze. In a rematch from the previous week, Benoit defeated Tajiri in an Extreme Rules match after locking in the Crippler Crossface. The following week, Bischoff set up a Tables match between Edge and Benoit.

Benoit attempted a diving headbutt with Edge on the table, but Lita moved Edge off the table. At that point, Bischoff sent several Raw superstars to the ring to assault Benoit, with Gene Snitsky booting Benoit in the face. Edge then put Benoit through the table with a Powerbomb for the victory. The feud between WWE brands also spread over to SmackDown!. On the May 26, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Kurt Angle stated that ECW was a low-class promotion, that he would be part of the WWE invasion of One Night Stand, and that he would take SmackDown! volunteers with him. A week later, Angle asked Tazz to join him in the invasion. On the same episode of SmackDown!, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) announced he would be joining Angle in invading the PPV. When Tazz rejected the offer, Angle reacted by assaulting Tazz and leaving him bleeding in the ring.

On the June 6, 2005 edition of Raw, Benoit defeated Snitsky in an Extreme Rules match by hitting a diving headbutt. The ECW Originals made their debut on WWE television as Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, The Sandman, and other ECW Originals attacked Bischoff's Raw invaders, with ECW Originals the Dudley Boyz hitting a Dudley Death Drop on Raw invader Maven. Benoit was drafted to SmackDown! on the June 9, 2005 episode, and he faced JBL in the main event with the ECW Originals at ringside cheering on Benoit. JBL's Cabinet was also at ringside, as well as Carlito, Matt Morgan and Kurt Angle. Benoit locked in the Crossface on JBL, but Angle interfered and broke the submission hold, resulting in a disqualification. A brawl broke out between the ECW Originals and WWE Invaders, with ECW coming out on top before One Night Stand.

Event
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, an edition of Extreme Heat aired on Spike TV, showing footage from the build-up to the event. The event started with a speech from ECW commentator Joey Styles, who was greeted with an "ECW" chant. Styles welcomed the fans to One Night Stand before introducing the color commentator for the evening, Mick Foley.

The first match of the event was Lance Storm versus Chris Jericho. Storm was accompanied to the ring by Dawn Marie in what would be his last match before retirement. During the match, a "Chris Candido" chant broke out, a reference to the recently deceased superstar who was a tag team partner of Lance Storm in ECW. Jericho locked in the Walls of Jericho on Storm, but Marie jumped on the ring apron and distracted the referee. Jason and Justin Credible interfered, with Credible hitting Jericho with a kendo stick. Storm got the pinfall on Jericho for the victory.

A tribute video played next, highlighting the wrestlers from ECW that had died between the promotion's end in 2001 and One Night Stand. A three way dance was next, with Tajiri facing Little Guido Maritato and Super Crazy. Tajiri was accompanied to the ring by The Sinister Minister and Mikey Whipwreck, and Guido was accompanied by his fellow F.B.I. members. One of the highlights of the match occurred when Super Crazy hit a moonsault off the balcony onto all the members of the F.B.I. Guido was the first eliminated when Whipwreck hit a Whipper Snapper while the referee was distracted. Tajiri picked up the three count to eliminate Guido. Super Crazy won the match after hitting a moonsault off the top rope onto Tajiri, getting the three-count in the process.

Next came singles Luchador action, as Psychosis faced SmackDown! superstar and ECW Original Rey Misterio, Jr. Misterio won the match at the seven-minute mark after hitting his signature move, the 619, followed by the West Coast Pop. The two later revealed that they were disappointed with the way their match panned out. After the contest, the SmackDown! crusaders entered the Hammerstein Ballroom. They consisted of Kurt Angle, JBL and his Cabinet, Carlito and Matt Morgan. The crowd chanted, "You Suck Dick" and "Fuck You SmackDown!" as they entered the arena. Joel Gertner attempted to interview the invaders, but Angle took the microphone out of his hand and JBL pushed him to the ground. JBL and Angle cut a promo, with the crowd continuing to chant, "You Suck Dick", to which Angle replied with "Your MOTHER taught me how". Angle stated, "The last time I was at an ECW event I walked out halfway through because it sucked". The crowd continued to chant, "Shut the Fuck Up", while JBL spoke.

Rob Van Dam (RVD) and Bill Alfonso interrupted the promo, with RVD stating it had nothing to do with SmackDown!. RVD claimed that WWE deserved no credit, that the interview was a shoot with no scripts, and that missing One Night Stand was worse than missing WrestleMania. The promo was interrupted when Rhyno hit Van Dam with a Gore. Sabu then showed up and had a match with Rhyno. Sabu won the match with Van Dam's help as he hit a Van Daminator on Rhyno before Sabu hit the Arabian Skullcrusher on Rhyno through the table for the victory.

The Raw crusaders, which included Eric Bischoff, Jonathan Coachman, Edge, Christian, Tyson Tomko, Snitsky, La Résistance and William Regal, entered the building. Chris Benoit versus Eddie Guerrero followed, with Benoit making Guerrero tap out with the Crossface. During this match, several anti-Lita chants could be heard, including "Lita's Got Herpes" and "I Fucked Lita". After the Benoit versus Guerrero match was over, Gertner again tried to interview the crusaders and begged Bischoff for a job. He was not successful, and Bischoff poured his drink over Gertner, saying, "ECW Sucks".

Mike Awesome versus Masato Tanaka followed, and Joey Styles made comments during the match about Awesome that were later criticized. At one point, after Awesome hit a high-flying suicide dive, Styles said, "And it's a shame he didn't succeed in taking his own life." Nearly two years after the match, Awesome committed suicide. Awesome won the match after powerbombing Tanaka through a table on the outside of the ring and followed it with a Suicide Dive, getting the pinfall.

ECW owner Paul Heyman then cut a promo in the ring, with the crowd chanting, "Thank You Paul" and rising for a standing ovation. After thanking several people, including Tod Gordon, Heyman turned his attention to the Raw and SmackDown! invaders. He first spoke to Eric Bischoff, stating that Bischoff was in "our (ECW's) house". Heyman turned to Edge and said, "Hide your wives, its Edge". Heyman shouted at Edge, "Matt 'Freaking' Hardy", a person who was not contracted with WWE at the time. A huge "We Want Matt" broke out in the Hammerstein Ballroom. He then commented that the only reason JBL was WWE Champion for a year was because Triple H did not want to work Tuesdays (a reference to the day SmackDown! is taped).

The Dudley Boyz then faced Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman in the main event. As the match was about to begin, the bWo, a stable consisting of Hollywood Nova, Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie entered the ring. Kid Kash interfered, and Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten then came to the ring with steel chairs and took out the bWo. They attacked all three members of the bWo before hitting Nova with a steel chair twice. Styles made a reference to Simon Dean, the character Nova played with WWE, stating, "That's more painful than being Simon Dean on national TV." When the match eventually started, it involved trash cans, cheese graters and street signs. Justin Credible and Lance Storm interfered, attacking Dreamer and Sandman. Francine, Dreamer's former manager, entered the ring and delivered a low blow to Dreamer. Beulah McGillicutty attacked Francine, sparking a catfight. The Dudley Boyz eventually won with the help of Spike Dudley, as they sent Dreamer through a flaming table with a Powerbomb to get the victory. The Dudleyz attempted to attack McGillicutty before Sandman attacked them with a Singapore cane. Sandman shouted for a beer repeatedly. Stone Cold Steve Austin then made his way to the ring, with the ECW Originals coming out moments later. Austin asked the crusaders to come to the ring. A huge brawl occurred, with the Originals fighting the Crusaders. The crowd chanted "We Want Taz", which brought Taz to the ring and he then locked Kurt Angle in the Tazmission. During the brawl, JBL legitimately attacked Blue Meanie, causing him to bleed. The Originals came out on top, as The Dudley Boyz hit the Dudley Death Drop on the Crusders' leader, Benoit hit Bischoff with a diving headbutt and Mysterio hitting the 619 on the Raw General Manager. Austin asked for Bischoff's thoughts on the event while on the ground, and Bischoff replied, "Fuck ECW". Austin then hit the Stone Cold Stunner on Bischoff to end the show.

After the show went off the air, the ECW wrestlers left the ring one at a time, but Dreamer stayed in the ring. He bowed to the ECW logo as the crowd chanted, "Thank You Tommy". The Dudley Boyz came back to the ring and hugged Dreamer, with Buh Buh saying to Dreamer, "This is all for you".

Aftermath
According to reports, many people backstage were very happy with the way One Night Stand went and many former ECW wrestlers that had worked the pay-per-view described it as a "fun" event. 325,000 people bought the event on pay-per-view. Many tried to order it through WWE's official website, but the website was shut down because not enough bandwidth was available.

WWE adopted One Night Stand as an annual pay-per-view event. The event returned to the Hammerstein Ballroom for ECW One Night Stand 2006, and the event was used as a yearly pay-per-view until 2009 when its name was changed to WWE Extreme Rules.