Retro Wednesday: Arguably The Worst December PPV In WWE History
After the ECW-themed One Night Stand pay per views, WWE sought to capitalize on its success by allowing Paul Heyman and his boys have a separate television show on the SyFy network, aptly named "ECW on SyFy." Classic ECW stars, such as Stevie Richards, Sabu and the Sandman resurfaced, while RVD and Tommy Dreamer called their old stomping grounds home again.
Due to its success on the network, WWE took a risk by having a stand-alone ECW PPV, featuring the stars from the new brand of Extreme Championship Wrestling. This PPV was named December to Dismember, a play off of the old ECW's November to Remember, and occurred on December 3, 2006. This risk proved to be a severely miscalculated one, as the PPV was a catastrophe and the brand had to push hard to rebound from it.
The first match provided a promising tone to the show, as it featured the Hardys competing against and defeating the team of MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro and Melina). Both teams contributed to an exciting match, and it was a good way to garner anticipation for the remainder of the event.
Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
The next match was a Striker's Rules match, pitting Matt Striker losing against Balls Mahoney, followed by Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay defeating the F.B.I (Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido), Daivari defeating Tommy Dreamer and Kevin Thorn and Ariel defeating Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly in an intergender tag match (both competitors were heels at the time, and there were no proper build for that match to be thrown together).
At least the last match provided a very small glimpse of relief, as Bobby Lashley defeated then-champion Big Show, RVD, Test, Hardcore Holly and CM Punk in an Extreme Elimination Chamber match to become the new ECW Champion.
In a day and age where the WWE Universe aren't just fans, but harsh critics, presenting a pay per view like this was absolutely reprehensible. The matches sandwiched between the opener and the main event would not even be acceptable on an episode of WWE Superstars, and the quality of the event was "extreme"ly poor. So poor and embarrassing, that Paul Heyman quit WWE the next day.
Concerning what happened to lead to Heyman's departure, PWInsider reported the following:
The backstage story was that Vince McMahon was irate about how awful the PPV was and wanted to pin the blame on Heyman for it, despite many feeling that the poor PPV (which ended a half hour early) was the result of what the McMahons (Vince and Stephanie) booked for the show. Heyman was said to be unhappy with the way that the PPV was booked and backstage sources claim he voiced that concern both before the show began and after it.
Thankfully, Heyman returned five and a half years later, and has once again became a commodity in the WWE.
As far as the December to Dismember PPV goes?well, unfortunately, you can't unring a bell.
Sound off with your thoughts on this PPV below.
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