A Suicidal Statement
By Brett Hoffman, ecw.com
June 19, 2006


Last night on RAW, Extreme Championship Wrestling delivered on a promise from their spokesman, Paul Heyman. That promise, was that RAW would be under siege at the hands of the hardcore ECW wrestlers. Heyman manipulated Jonathon Coachman into giving him a dream tag-team match for ECW on Sci Fi, Sabu once again delivered a crushing blow to John Cena and Rob Van Dam made a 5-star statement to the Rated-R Superstar.

With RAW in complete disarray, mostly a result of the absence of Mr. McMahon, and the presence of D-Generation X, Heyman seized the opportunity to take advantage of a vulnerable Jonathon Coachman. The ECW representative backed Coachman into a corner, making a proposal that RAW’s Executive Assistant had no choice but to accept. “Jonathon, I realize you’re having a really rough evening, surely you realize I’m not here alone. In your parking lot I have a bus load of my ECW rebels, ready to tear Monday Night RAW apart if I give the word. Tonight, we could have a full scale invasion of RAW. I want to negotiate... Tomorrow night on Sci Fi, I’m envisioning an inter-promotional dream tag team match. Edge, with Lita, will team up with the Legend Killer Randy Orton, and on the other side, I see ECW’s Olympic Champion Kurt Angle, teaming up with ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Rob Van Dam. (watch the video)

Fearing the ramifications of playing hardball with the ECW spokesman, Coachman relented. But Heyman wasn’t done. Before letting Jonathon off the hook, Heyman demanded a match for RAW. “Last week on RAW, your John Cena took a steel chair and wrapped it around the head of ECW’s Balls Mahoney. Balls didn’t deserve it. It was an unprovoked attack typical of a thug like John Cena. So tonight, I propose Balls Mahoney vs. John Cena.” Again fearing retribution, Coachman gave in. Heyman, always the master manipulator, had done it again.

The match between Balls and Cena was exactly what the fans expected, a short and brutal slugfest. The two exchanged a series of violent right hands before things finally broke down. Balls, perhaps feeling out of his element reached for his trademark steel chair. When he turned around, Cena was waiting for him and brought him down with a drop toe hold. Moments later, Balls was tapping out to the STFU. Despite a letdown in the match itself, ECW would get its revenge in the form of a post-match attack.

ECW’s Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying Sabu made his way to the ring and unleashed another brutal attack on his Vengeance opponent. First, a chair shot incapacitated the former WWE Champ. Then, with Cena laid out on the announce table, Sabu executed his patented Triple Jump Legdrop off the top rope, crashing through Cena to the arena floor. Six days away from Vengeance, Cena was once again introduced to the world of hardcore, and in the process, left a softened, bloody mess. Moments after the match, it was announced that their meeting at Vengeance would be fought under Extreme Rules. (watch the video)


Later on RAW, Extreme Championship Wrestling struck again. WWE and ECW World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam delivered a post match assault on his Vengeance opponent and challenger to his gold, Edge. After his victory over the legendary Ric Flair, Edge took the opportunity to celebrate with Lita, and his One Night Stand partner Mick Foley. With his back turned, RVD came through the crowd and stormed the ring. Van Dam took out both Edge and Foley, and delivered a soaring 5-Star Frog Splash on the Rated-R Superstar. Less than a week from Vengeance, the first shot was fired, and it was landed by ECW’s Rob Van Dam. (watch the video)

Tonight, ECW will again broadcast live on Sci-Fi. Last Tuesday, ECW was both Sci Fi, and the entire cable world’s No. 1 rated show. After what happened on RAW with ECW dominating the action, things are only going to heat up as the road to Vengeance continues. See the extreme action for yourself when the new breed is unleashed at 10/9 CT, live and only on Sci Fi.
Steve Gerweck