Up until last night, I probably would have told you to save your money and just watch the network shows, but watching Head to Head really got me amped up for the show.
If you were an ECW fan back in the day or are just curious as to what all the fuss is about, I'd say buy the show. "Hardcore" fans hate WWE and its fan and the McMahons and all the rest of it, but so much more than they did during the Invasion period, WWE "gets it" a little more now. Whether people like it or not, WWE has as much respect as anyone for what ECW meant to the wrestling world, and as proven by their network TV deal, they've invested a lot into making the new ECW a success. The PPV will be very WWE-y, yes, and in essence, the entire show is just WWE vs. ECW, but this show will truly be the beginning of ECW's resurrection.
The undercard for the show might actually be worth the ordering price alone. Tanaka and Balls will do their damndest to best the insane match Tanaka and Mike Awesome had last year, and if given time, the FBI vs. Tajiri and Super Crazy could be fantastic. In the latter match, keep your eye on Tony Mamaluke. The guy is well-known for taking some of the sickest bumps you'll ever see, and on a PPV of this magnitude, I expect him to do something mortifying.
Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton is a match that irks me a bit, and I never thought I'd say that about a Kurt Angle match, but I just find it to be out of place. It belongs on a Smackdown PPV undercard. I know Kurt's the new face of ECW and all that, but I just don't see him that way yet. It still feels like he's going to turn on ECW any day now, and his whole "Yeeahhhh!!1 ECW! Violence!! Yeahhh!!" shtick seems very forced. I'll be interested to see if the ECW faithful embrace him, but all that said, the match should be solid. Kurt gets everything he can out of his battered body, and Orton has something to prove after sitting in time out for the past 60 days, so I expect these guys to work extremely (eh? eh?) hard to impress the Hammerstein fans.
Personally, the "match" I'm looking most forward to is Tazz vs. Jerry Lawler. There's legit heat between these two guys, and I find Tazz's return to the ring to be the most underrated story of the year. This guy was a machine in ECW and came across as one of the most legit bad-asses in wrestling, so for him to step back in the ring after the precedent he set for himself for years is very significant. Lawler's history with ECW is well-known, so there'll be a lot of genuine emotion surrounding this match. I expect it to be brief, physical and bloody, and if the result is anything other than Lawler getting choked out, I'll be shocked.
Foley and Edge vs. Funk and Dreamer is a match that went from being a cute attraction match to a big f'n deal in one night, and it was all thanks to Mick Foley. His promo at Head to Head set the bar about as high as it can be raised for all four guys involved. Foley promised to put to shame everything he's ever done in his insane career, and for a guy with as much pride as he has to say something like that, I can't possibly fathom what he has in mind for Sunday. It's hard to watch Terry Funk nowadays, and Tommy Dreamer, though my guy, has never really been good for much besides bloodying himself up and performing a few entertaining hardcore spots. Add that Edge really screwed himself up during that backdrop spot last night, and you've gotta believe that it's going to be an uphill battle for these guys to put on a great match. But Foley's words are still resonating in my head, so I truly believe they're going to do something sadistically special in this match. Just goes to show you how invaluable good promo ability still is.
The two main events are very intriguing because of the ramifications of every possible result. In Mysterio vs. Sabu, you have the makings of a match that is a classic on paper but probably won't be everything people want it to be. Both guys are close to being shells of their former selves, and even their best effort will probably induce a few sighs from the ECW faithful. However, the result of the match is what to watch for. I fully expect one title to fall into ECW's possession by the end of the night, and WWE has shown that they're basically ashamed of having Rey Mysterio as their World Champion. They've squashed the guy at every turn and seem to have no intention of getting him over as a legitimate champion. Having him drop the title on this stage seems completely possible, but by the same token, I'm not sure that WWE believes enough in Sabu to have him be "the" guy in the new ECW. He's a guy that will always have his aura and has never needed a title to get over. I can see him being treated as tough, respectable roadblock for Mysterio to hurdle. They'll have the match, there'll be violence, there'll be nearfalls, the crowd will do everything they can to will Sabu to a win, but Mysterio will get the W in a fashion that forces the fans to begrudgingly give Rey his props.
Finally, Cena vs. RVD. For many people involved, it gets no bigger than this. RVD has been about nothing but ECW for the past year, and some could argue that he has never been about anything but ECW. He's never been shy about expressing his desire to return to the unleashed style he used to exhibit in ECW, and now is his opportunity to put up or shut up. He missed One Night Stand last year, and that ate him up. He's also lost a lot of the superstar credibility he had as a top ECW star by having mediocre matches with just about everyone in WWE. If Van Dam is worth anything anymore, he'll come through on Sunday in a big way. But that'll definitely be easier said than done because of who he'll be in there with. The most controversial champion in years, John Cena, is the man who'll make this match. Hardcore fans love RVD, but their love for him can not hold a candle to the clusterf*ck of emotions than Cena elicits from every crowd he performs in front of. The New York City fans will very likely put the Chicago WrestleMania crowd to shame, and that's saying something. I don't expect the match to be anything special from a technical standpoint, but because of the reactions that every sequence in the match will get from those insane Hammerstein fans, it should be a classic.
In the end, I think there's a lot more to be lost by an RVD loss than there is to be gained by a Cena win, so I'm going with RVD. He has to win to maintain any credibility with any fans, and as a promotion, ECW needs RVD to represent them extremely well against WWE's cash cow. If they want RVD to drop the title back to Cena down the road, that's fine, but at One Night Stand, Van Dam has to win. ECW needs to be taken seriously, and I believe the WWE understands that. Paul Heyman sure as hell understands that, and because he's gone as far as he has to resurrect the company, I believe Vince McMahon understands that, as well. RVD over Cena in one of the all-time moments for ECW fans.
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