– According to WrestlingObserver.com, here are off-air notes from last night’s WWE vs. ECW special:
In the first dark match, the Intercontinental Championship was on the line with Shelton Benjamin facing Carlito. Benjamin got on the mic and said that if he can’t beat Carlito in 15 minutes, Carlito can have the IC strap. Of course, it came down to the wire, and Benjamin won with a roll up, holding onto the ropes (over the referee).
Next, Matt Hardy beat John Bolden with the Twist of Fate.
Dusty Rhodes came out to talk about his new DVD, cutting an entertaining promo.
The last dark match was Jimmy Yang, who is sporting some weird leather cowboy outfit, vs. Tatanka. Yang defeated Tatanka with a pin, putting his legs on the ropes.
During the show, when Todd Grisham came out to do trivia, Tazz yelled at him.
Post-show, a big brawl broke out, with Cena going crazy with the singapore cane (WWE.com has posted footage of this).
– According to PWTorch.com’s Wade Keller, Vince was reportedly “thrilled” with the special last night, and was even on headsets in the back encouraging the verbal sparring between announcers, feeding them lines, etc. Jerry Lawler threw some stiff punches at Tazz during their brawl, with Tazz being stiff back at him, but neither man was upset afterwards, understanding that with cameras so close to them, it was necessary to get the angle over. The Lawler/Tazz story was confirmed by PWInsider.com’s Dave Scherer.
– PWInsider.com reports that the UK feed of the show got cut off for about 40 minutes of last night’s broadcast.
– Also from PWInsider.com, Jimmy Yang’s outfit consisted of leather chaps and a confederate flag. (They couldn’t be bringing back the Jung Dragons, but with Noble and Yang’s roles reversed, right?) The building, which seats 8000, was supposedly not close to sold out, with a lot of tarped off areas. Reports to PWInsider.com from backstage were that everyone was very happy with the show, as well as Vince allowing the style to open up to a more ECW-friendly atmosphere. WWE workers had fun doing the show, and some who were down on the ECW idea after Monday’s RAW are now cautiously optimistic.
– WWE.com has posted a story speculating that Paul Heyman is trying to get Rey Mysterio to jump to ECW, a sub-site for last night’s special, as well as video of what happened during last night’s commercial breaks, of Big Show explaining his jump to ECW, of Terry Funk explaining his sick plans for Mick Foley, and of Dusty Rhodes’ DVD promo that happened before the show tapings began. The site has reflected many of yesterday’s roster moves, (now calling ECW’s talent “wrestlers” instead of “superstars”) but also pulled pictures of a t-shirt that gave two One Night Stand matches away, as reported yesterday. Also on WWE.com, three free bonus matches are being offered to those who purchase the Webcast of Sunday’s PPV: ECW One Night Stand, 6/12/05: Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka, ECW Barely Legal, 4/13/97: Tazz vs. Sabu and ECW, 4/4/98: RVD vs. Bam Bam Bigelow.
