Forgotten Favorites 04.27.10: ECW 2006 – Rob Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle

Welcome back, wrestling fans. We’re fresh off of Extreme Rules and the annual change-up known as the Draft is upon us. I’m finishing this bad boy up before Raw’s conclusion, so I can’t comment on any of the (if any) major changes, but rest assured that I’ll be ready to go with the praise/complaints next week.

In the mean time, let’s turn our attention towards some great moments from wrestling past. And if at all possible, let’s see if I can pick something slightly relevant.

We’re just coming off of TNA crowning themselves a brand new World Heavyweight Champion, and the recent title victory got me thinking about the last time this particular dude had a World Title around his waist. And so I invite you to journey with me back to a magical time known as 2006.

Who wants great wrestling?

ECW on Sci-Fi – June 27, 2006
Rob Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle

HOW IT WENT DOWN

In a lot of cases, a DVD release is the product of a television show. I know this because I saw It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia on my magic living room machine well before I was able to purchase the DVD in stores.

But then there is the rare case where a television show is actually the product of a DVD release.

When The Rise and Fall of ECW was released in late 2004, no one had any idea of the movement it would begin. The DVD sold record numbers, and with the money rolling in, the wheels began turning in the brain of one Vince McMahon. Apparently following the suggestion of ECW Original Rob Van Dam, plans were made to hold an ECW reunion, which came to pass as the One Night Stand pay-per-view in June of 2005. The event was such an astounding success, given that it was billed strictly as an ECW show and not WWE, that a sequel was scheduled for 2006. It was on that night that WrestleMania 22’s Money in the Bank winner, Rob Van Dam, cashed in his guaranteed title opportunity against John Cena, claiming his first and last WWE Championship.

Now, in the midst of all this, it had been announced that ECW’s revival was not limited to the One Night Stand event. ECW was finally going to live once again, this time as an alternative brand to Raw and SmackDown, and it was going to be led (both on screen and off) by the original mad scientist, Paul Heyman.

Prior to RVD’s title victory at One Night Stand, Heyman was already getting his roster in order for the new ECW. RVD seemed a given, and his future on ECW was confirmed during a segment on the May 29th edition of Monday Night Raw.

Check it out for yourself, as Paul Heyman and Hardcore Legend Mick Foley have a war of words that results in Heyman’s ECW draft picks …

On June 11th, RVD did exactly what he said he was going to do, beating Cena for the WWE Title and referring to himself as the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. He began carrying around the spinner WWE Championship belt as well as the original ECW World Championship that was last worn by a certain Man-Beast.

He may have carried two titles, but the one that most people were gunning for was the treasured WWE Title. RVD’s first major title defense was on June 25th at the Vengeance pay-per-view, where Van Dam soundly defeated number one contender Edge to retain his championship. Later in the night, former champion John Cena came out on top in an Extreme Lumberjack Match with another ECW Original, Sabu. Even later than that (since the Spirit Squad were the main event that night), Cena and RVD crossed paths backstage. Pointing out that Cena never received his fair title rematch, RVD proposed a match between the two of them for the following night’s Raw, a match that Cena gladly accepted. But unfortunately for both guys, Edge felt a little left out of the whole thing, and he caused a disqualification on Raw by running interference.

And so with a Saturday Night’s Main Event special upcoming, yet another title match was scheduled. Rob Van Dam was set to put the WWE Championship on the line in a Triple Threat Match, taking on Raw’s two top challengers in Edge and John Cena.

But wait! Things got a little more intense for the champion when it was announced that the Triple Threat had the possibility of becoming a Fatal Fourway. If he was able to defeat Rob Van Dam on the June 27th edition of ECW on Sci-Fi, then Kurt Angle would be entered into the title match at Saturday Night’s Main Event as the fourth challenger.

As for Angle, well … he was taking this seriously …

And so it was on. Although there wasn’t any personal animosity between the two guys, RVD and Kurt Angle had a hell of a lot to fight for inside the ECW ring. For Angle, it was a chance to earn himself a shot at becoming the WWE Champion once again. For RVD, it was a matter of protecting his odds at his Saturday Night’s Main Event title defense.

So did Angle earn his way into the title match? Or was Mr. Monday Night able to limit his number of future challengers?

WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

Prior to last week’s Impact, the last time that a company had World Title-level faith in Rob Van Dam was a period of a few short weeks in 2006. While Van Dam’s own reckless behavior was entirely the reason for his reign’s abrupt ending, the most important point to remember is that, at one time, the most historically significant championship in wrestling was around the waist of Mr. Monday Night. Now it’s four years later and, even though he’s a big fish in a much smaller pond, Rob Van Dam is once again a World Heavyweight Champion.

So, in the face of such extreme differences in reigns, why bother comparing RVD’s short time as WWE Champion to his recently begun reign with North American wrestling’s next best thing?

Two words: Paul Heyman.

I have never been employed by World Wrestling Entertainment, and I was certainly not present for whatever happened behind creative’s closed doors in 2006, but it was said that at the time of ECW’s “rebirth” there was a respectable amount of stroke belonging to the former Paul E. Dangerously. While the extent of his power remains unknown to those of us on the outside, it is generally accepted that Heyman was largely in control of the booking of WWE’s ECW for its first few weeks. The “new vision” that Heyman often spoke of was very likely Paul’s own personal ideas for the direction to take the reborn ECW. And when announcing ECW’s SmackDown draft pick, Heyman declared Kurt Angle the personification of this new vision, embodying the spirit of ECW’s new direction.

Due to a number of simultaneously occurring unfortunate circumstances, the book did not stay with Heyman for long, and this new “spirit” was never fully realized, but based on Heyman’s hype and the awesome action we got for a few weeks, it seems reasonable to assume that Heyman was planning on focusing ECW’s attention on the “sports” aspect of sports-entertainment. I base this on Heyman’s uber-sell of Angle as the new face of ECW, along with the fact that Paul was largely responsible for the tremendously well received days of the SmackDown Six. Heyman was and I’m sure still is well aware of the adoration that exists for the SmackDown Six, and I’d bet he was willing to give it another go with ECW.

Now, looking at this week’s featured match, we can guess all we want at what might have happened in the past with the reborn ECW. But no matter how awesome a purely wrestling-focused ECW might have been with guys like RVD and Angle leading the way, the fact is we can’t go back and change what did (or didn’t) happen. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate about what lesson might still be learned from this week’s RVD/Angle confrontation. And yeah, I’m looking at you TNA.

Unlikely as it is or not, let’s imagine what could happen if Paul Heyman was actually able to realize the “new vision” he had back in 2006. Many of the original pieces of his puzzle still exist, and some might say that it’s in an even more favorable environment than the McMahon-controlled domain of WWE. Anyone watching TNA over the last couple of years can easily see that it’s got a certain Vince Russo’s fingerprints all over the booking, suggesting that TNA, when they’ve got their hands on somebody with a history of success in writing, will allow said writer a good amount of freedom in his decisions. Russo’s influence (however disputed) during the E’s Attitude Era is indeed worthy of respect, but Heyman is a guy who built a promotion that once existed only in high school gyms into a company with a national presence. The original ECW didn’t stick around too long after it first started to break through, but Heyman’s accomplishments are insanely impressive given what he actually did pull off.

And now we’ve got another rival to WWE which is hoping to push its product to a higher level of mainstream attention. TNA has already surpassed the original ECW’s successes, but they’ve still not made the leaps and bounds they seemed gunning for once Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came on board. I’m not saying that Paul Heyman is the answer to bringing TNA up to WWE’s level of success and media attention, but I think he damn sure has a lot to offer.

Here he comes to save the day?

When the “new” ECW came into existence, I was genuinely excited about Heyman’s alleged booking of the program. With Angle leading the charge and the ever-unpredictable RVD carrying the belt, it seemed that we were guaranteed to have one hour of awesome in-ring competition every Tuesday night. Yet it was not meant to be. And even now, we’ve got RVD and Angle competing in the same promotion once more, and still … it seems the wrestling revolution is not meant to be.

But could it still happen? RVD and Angle were Heyman’s two ECW draft picks, making them (kayfabe and likely real-life) his two most important stars. Now both of these guys are Impact Zone regulars who wrestle under the TNA banner. On top of that, the TNA roster is loaded with some of the best pure in-ring performers out there today. If Heyman were to sign on with TNA, he has all the pieces he needs to put together that puzzle he seemed to get started with back in 2006. And as for the limited roster that Heyman was allowed back at the time of 06’s ECW relaunch? You can forget about all that in TNA. Imagine what Heyman could put together with a roster featuring guys like Angle, RVD, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Desmond Wolfe, and The Pope. It’s almost IWC blasphemy to suggest that any set of stars could ever outshine the awesomeosity of the SmackDown Six, but if there was ever a time that it was a legitimate possibility, it’s now in TNA with Paul Heyman at the helm.

Now as for Heyman going to TNA being a “legitimate possibility,” well, that’s another story. But never say never in the world of professional wrestling.

WHY IT ISN’T REMEMBERED

There are two key moments in RVD’s WWE Title reign that are mostly remembered by fans. One is the reign’s first night, when RVD triumphed over John Cena inside the Hammerstein Ballroom to claim the belt. The other is the days the news broke that Van Dam and Sabu got caught on the wrong side of the law. It’s a shame really, considering RVD was involved in some quality wrestling action during his short time as WWE Champion. This week’s featured match is truly a highlight and likely the best one on one match that RVD and Angle ever had with one another. Let’s also not forget RVD’s solid title defense against Edge at Vengeance, as well as other battles with the Rated RKO duo.

But still, no matter how great some of the action was, the only thing that really gets remembered is One Night Stand and the unfortunate arrest. I’m not saying RVD’s title reign was anything tremendously historical, but still, it featured some good to great matches that are well worth revisiting.

“And look … it spins!”

Another reason why this match may have slipped under some fans’ radar is because, not too long after it went down, Angle had some personal shit of his own going down. Angle took a mini-hiatus for the month of July, only to come back and wrestle for a few short weeks in August before leaving WWE for good. He may have been having awesome matches up until the time he left the E, but Angle was still kept out of the main spotlight in the post-WrestleMania 2006, not doing much of note historically. On August 25th, less than two months after his ECW showdown with Van Dam, Kurt Angle was granted a release from his WWE contract.

And then in the midst of all that, with RVD getting popped and Angle on the shelf and then out the door, Heyman lost ECW’s booking responsibilities. The story goes that just a few weeks into the existence of the new ECW, the book was taken away from Heyman due to the (apparently) disappointing ratings the show was earning. WWE had hoped for more with the new ECW, and Heyman wasn’t delivering the numbers they had planned on. From here on out, ECW slowly became what it had undeniably transformed into by the time of its recent cancellation: a farming system. Awesome five-star matches were traded in for the hopes of establishing the younger guys. Not that the ’07-’10 ECW didn’t have some great matches from time to time, but it was nowhere near what Paul Heyman promised us back in Spring of 2006.

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Feedback! (or, Proof That The World Knows I Exist!)

why dont you want to cover benoit matches

Posted By: laparkinator

Really?

Wow, great column Grimm. Thanks for bringing back some great recent memories. You wrote the hell out of it.

Posted By: DeeHaytch

I aim to please. But really, I’m just trying to get on all of your good sides so that, when my inevitable Snitsky bombshell drops one week, the backlash will be that much more interesting.

First time reading the column (I think), and I was pleasantly surprised. You have a new reader. Good job!

Posted By: Guest#4699

I’m not sure if you’re suggesting Tommy Lee Jones flashy-thinged you and erased a past Forgotten Favorites experience, resulting in a Forgotten Forgotten Favorites Experience. Regardless, much thanks.

why dont you want to cover benoit matches

Posted By: laparkinator (Guest) on April 19, 2010 at 11:18 PM

Are you that big of a jackass?

Posted By: Question

Question’s got a good one.

I enjoy reading the column, but can you pick actual ‘favorites’?

Your last two choices featured matches that were forgotten for a reason; they weren’t that great…..

Posted By: WaterBoy

Well, the thing of it is, 411 was like, “Hey, man. Write us a series of opinion columns about good old matches” and I was like, “Word.” In my opinion, the last couple of featured matches have been fine choices, and I stand by them, both for match quality and potential to stir current-events discussion. And if you think my opinion sucks, help me out with some suggestions.

why dont you want to cover benoit matches

Posted By: laparkinator (Guest) on April 19, 2010 at 11:18 PM

Read his replies to the comments, he quite clearly states why. Also, Jim, props to you for actually and calmly stating why you don’t want to watch Benoit instead of going on a mad rant about how either he is the Satan himself and should be erased from all of history or how the person was/is not the character, therefore whatever he had done outside the ring does not matter, like most of the people here (both columns and comments) do.

In the short time since your return in 2010 (I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’ve seen “The Forgotten Favorites” for much of 2009?) your column has become my favorite on this entire site. Thank you for always having something interesting for me to read.

Posted By: JK

When the Benoit thing happened, I at first felt a little betrayed or wronged. But giving it some thought, I realized the absurdity of me feeling betrayed in any way. Benoit didn’t owe me anything. He was just a guy I liked to watch wrestle. He just turned out to be a really fucked up dude who happened to be very good at his job. To erase him is unfair but to promote him is, well… we all have our opinions.

And yeah, I was away from 411 for most of 2009, spending most of my time dusting off old VHS tapes and pouring over SmackDown results from ten years ago, plotting my eventual return for vengeance. And I’m honored to be your favorite, but it seems unfair to Chambers. He’s been pumping out amazing stuff lately.

Not sure if it’d count as forgotten (heh, I mean, anything I can remember isn’t ‘forgotten’, is it? :P) but Y2J vs. The Rock, No Mercy 2001?

Posted By: mr_wishart

My fear is that one week someone will expose the lie that is Forgotten Favorites, pointing out that a match can’t very well be among those most favored if it’s been forgotten. My fear has been halfway realized.

Jericho-Rock has been suggested a lot, stretching back to my first run last year. I fully intend to cover this match, but that which cannot be known is when. When I’m not covering Rikishi and Val Venis, I try to keep the column somewhat connected to current events, so I’m not sure how I can fit No Mercy into that equation. But somehow or another, it’s going to happen at some point.

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My apologies for not getting to all the comments this week, but we’ll get back on the normal track of responsiveness next week. I’m still checking out everything you guys are saying, and I’m still filing away those suggestions. As always, keep throwing them at me. Your pick may very well end up being a featured match in the upcoming weeks.

Until next time, you guys stay safe and the hell out of Dundalk.