WWE One Night Stand 2007

Date: June 3, 2007

Location: Jacksonville, FL

Announcers: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Taz, Joey Styles, & JBL

The Setup

Here we are, the night after Saturday Night’s Main Event (SNME), with an all-Extreme Rules show—a format that would later become a recurring pay-per-view name while maintaining a connection to the original ECW One Night Stand events. The main card features John Cena versus The Great Khali in their rubber match, following their bout the night before on SNME. We also appear to be finally concluding the prolonged and lackluster Batista versus Edge feud inside a steel cage.

The Business

The show generated 188,000 buys, marking the lowest total of the year for the company. That number was also down almost 22 percent from the previous Cena vs. Khali PPV match at Judgment Day. The decision to run the SNME match the night before and then charge $40 for this PPV looked questionable on paper and proved to be a bad idea in practice. ProWrestlingHistory reports that the show drew only 7,000 fans, although it managed a gate of $450,000.

Results

Stretcher match: Rob Van Dam defeated Randy Orton in 14:31. They wrestled this more as a race to push the stretcher across a cartoonish finish line than the wild brawl commonly associated with the stipulation. They attempted to utilize their signature kicks, but the finish—RVD, about to cross the line, lightly kicking Orton and then simply placing him on top of the stretcher—felt cheap and dragged the match quality down further. **1/2 Orton laid out RVD with a punt kick after the match to maintain his heat. How about just winning a memorable stretcher match instead?

Six-man tag team tables match: CM Punk and The ECW Originals (The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) defeated The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Matt Striker, and Marcus Cor Von) in 7:18. No one seemed invested in this meaningless match. Did this feud ever produce anything worthwhile on PPV? CM Punk is surprisingly effective channeling a 1998 ECW-era Balls Mahoney here. *1/2

Ladder match for the World Tag Team Championship: The Hardys (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) (c) defeated The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) in 17:25. This was arguably the worst ladder match the Hardys have ever been in. It was noticeably sloppy, with Haas looking particularly poor. It improved toward the conclusion, but the overall effort didn’t click, and the crowd was largely checked out. *1/4

Lumberjack Match: Mark Henry defeated Kane by technical submission in 9:07. Kane sold his back extensively, which seemed odd until it set up the flat bearhug pass-out finish that still felt out of place given the context. It can’t be a valiant “finally passing out” submission in less than ten minutes. *

Street Fight for the ECW World Championship: Bobby Lashley defeated Mr. McMahon (c) (with Shane McMahon and Umaga) by pinfall in 12:23. Consistent with the entire feud, Shane and Umaga acted as enforcers and absorbed most of the offense. While the intent was to push Lashley up the card by working with McMahon (especially with Vince’s hair on the line), the impact is debatable. It felt like Umaga was significantly diminished in the process, perhaps more so than Lashley benefited in the short term. **

Pudding Match: Candice Michelle defeated Melina by submission in 2:55. A complete waste of time. DUD

Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) defeated Batista by escaping the cage in 15:39. One could argue Edge shouldn’t have been using the spear yet, but his repeated attempts to use it on the gargantuan Batista made the spot look silly. The chemistry between these two was nonexistent in this match and throughout their entire feud. Batista worked excellently with The Undertaker earlier in the year because they were both athletic heavyweights who could credibly exchange power moves. Edge did not consistently portray a cowardly heel in the ring, and the back-and-forth action with the powerful Batista simply didn’t work. The finish was flat, with Edge using a couple of low blows before escaping over the top, while Batista could only manage to touch the floor with his hands. *3/4

Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWE Championship: John Cena (c) defeated The Great Khali by pinfall in 10:30. The stipulation allowed for more brawling and action on the outside, which aided Khali to some extent, though his experience working that type of match is questionable. Cena’s Attitude Adjustment (AA) off the top of the set provided a strong finish. **

The Verdict

Thumbs Down. This was not a good show. In fact, as an “Extreme Rules” event, it was a flop. Although the company was not using blood at this time, genuine violence can still be executed without it. This production failed to capture that feeling, instead coming across as a mandatory gimmick show filling a slot on the calendar.