Tonight's ECW emanates live from the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland as Joey Styles and Tazz welcome us to the show. Before they get the chance to recap last week events, William Regal rushes out onto the stage and he looks panicked.
Regal informs the Dublin crowd that ECW General Manager Paul Heyman has been abducted by an unknown assailant and fears for his safety. Regal says he has a number of search parties spanning the arena and the premises in search of their fearless leader and says he will be running tonight's show in his place. Regal announces that tonight's opening contest will be a one-on-one match between Kevin Thorn and the returning VAMPIRO and the match starts right now.
VAMPIRO (w/THE COLONY) def. KEVIN THORN (w/THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE) when FIRE ANT interfered.
Solid opening match with plenty of back and forth. Vampiro sets up for a Pump Handle Sitout Powerbomb, but Abyss climbs up on the apron to draw a distraction. As the ref turns his attention to The Monster, the Colony overtakes Tajiri and Whipwreck. Fire Ant sneaks in and hits Burning Down The House to stun Thorn and send him spiraling into the path of a Nail In The Coffin Piledriver by Vampiro for the win.
After the match, The Unholy Alliance rushes the ring, but The Colony quickly fights them to the back.
Regal is seen backstage with Masato Tanaka, Regal still seems uneasy, but manages to conduct a conversation. Tanaka tells Regal he’s spoiling for a fight tonight, but before Regal can respond, Muhammad Hassan interrupts and demands to be used and threatens a class-action lawsuit if he is denied. Regal says he can’t be troubled with that at the moment and tells both men that he had planned to book a tune-up match for the three participants in the ECW Title Match tonight, so it will now be a Triple Threat Match featuring Masato Tanaka, Muhammad Hassan and SABU. The two men look bewildered and Regal storms off in search of Heyman as we go to break.
Back from break as Hassan and Tanaka each make their way down to the ring. Regal decides to up the ante and make the match with Sabu a NO Disqualification Match. Sabu storms down to the ring and throws a steel chair at Hassan’s face. The bell rings and the match is under way.
SABU def. MASATO TANAKA and MUHAMMAD HASSAN in a NO DQ MATCH
All out war. All three men are pretty banged up by the end of the contest, and Sabu has a sizeable gash opened up on his back. Finish comes as Tanaka connects with Diamond Dust and Sabu follows up with Air Sabu in the corner to Hassan. Tanaka tries to put Sabu away with Complete Dust, but Sabu slides down the back and rebounds with a Triple Jump Lionsault to pick up the three count.
Backstage and Regal is on the phone with arena authorities and they tell him that the search is ongoing, with nothing to report as of yet. Regal starts kicking the wall and throwing stuff around the office.
Backstage as Colt Cabana heads to the ring for his match up next as we go to commercial.
Back from break and we get a promo for the Triple Threat Match for the ECW Title at Extreme Rules.
COLT CABANA def. 2 COLD SCORPIO in a classic
A fifteen minute match that had fans on the edge of their seats. More “THIS IS AWESOME” chants. Scorpio even got a “YOU STILL GOT IT” pop. Scorpio looks in fantastic shape, much like his initial run in ECW. 2 Cold Scorpio gave Colt everything he had, but it wasn’t enough.
Scorpio hit Drop The Bomb for a nearfall and Cabana answered back with Cabanarama and Lake Shore Drive, but still only scored a 2. Finish came as Colt dodged a Scorpio Splash and came back with a Colt 45 for the duke. After the match, Colt and Scorpio shake hands and receive a standing ovation from the Dublin crowd.
We get a promo package explaining to the WWE Universe just what a Stairway from Hell Match is, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman will destroy each other at Extreme Rules.
Abyss, Whipwreck and Tajiri come back to the ring, having escaped the brawl with The Colony and William Regal interrupts, saying he isn’t too appreciative of the melee they sparked backstage and as an act of contrition, he’s booking them against this man--The music hits and RYBACK marches to the ring.
RYBACK def. THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE when ABYSS and TAJIRI bailed.
After several moments of intense staredown, Tajiri makes the first move, throwing a roundhouse, only to get caught and gripped by the ankles. Ryback begins spinning at a high speed centrifuge and throws Tajiri like a hammer toss directly into Abyss’ rib cage, sending both men crashing to the arena floor.
The duo decide they’ve had enough and head for the back as Whipwreck stands alone in stunned silence, that is, until Ryback takes his head off with a massive clothesline. Ryback hits Shell Shocked and the finish is academic.
We get a promo for John Morrison and Kane, still scheduled to be in individual one-on-one action tonight. We go to commercial.
Back from break and SHEAMUS hits the ring to a MASSIVE Hometown pop. The Celtic Warrior tells the crowd that it feels great to be back home and addresses Alberto Del Rio’s interference in last week’s qualifying match. Sheamus promises that what he plans on doing to Del Rio at Extreme Rules will not be pretty and says he plans on reducing Del Rio from a “Horse’s Arse” to a hole in the ground.
Paul Burchill interrupts and tells Sheamus that Del Rio isn’t here, which is just as well, because he fully intends to demonstrate that he can inflict MUCH more on Sheamus that Del Rio already has. Sheamus tells Burchill if he has the balls for it to come down to the ring and give it a shot. Burchill makes his way down, when JACK SWAGGER jumps Sheamus from behind, resulting in a double-team. Sheamus struggles to fight them off until FINLAY comes tearing down the ramp swinging wildly with the Shillelagh, clearing the ring. Regal tries to restore order and tells them that the main event tonight will be the team of PAUL BURCHILL and JACK SWAGGER versus FINLAY and SHEAMUS. We go back to break.
Back from commercial and Kane makes his way to the ring for his tune-up match against TOMMY DREAMER.
KANE def. TOMMY DREAMER when THE SANDMAN interfered
Dreamer actually had a surprising amount of momentum heading into the conclusion, even dropping Kane with an Extreme Tree of Woe. Finish came as Dreamer went for a DDT, only to have Sandman jump through the crowd and thwack Dreamer in the back of the skull with a Singapore Cane, allowing Kane to escape and plant Tommy with a vile Chokeslam from Hell for the win.
After the match, Kane brought Dreamer back to his feet, but Dreamer came up fighting, dropping Kane with a well-placed low blow before storming to the outside of the ring. Dreamer drops Sandman with a nasty right hook and rummages under the ring, producing a barbed-wire wrapped steel chair, bending it over Sandman’s face and placing the chair in Kane’s gut before putting the Big Red Monster out of commission with an unsettling chair shot to the groin. Dreamer stands defiant in the ring as we head back to break.
Back from commercial as The Sandman rolls helplessly into the ring, bleeding massively. Regal enters and tells Sandman that unfortunately, there’s still one superstar who needs a warm-up match tonight. ECW Champion John Morrison heads down to the ring, ready for his, uh, “match”.
JOHN MORRISON def. THE SANDMAN
By rule, the referee could not start the match until Sandman returned to a vertical base. After several moments of struggling, Sandman used the ropes to pull himself back to his feet, only to have Morrison drop him with Moonlight Drive and finish him off with a beautiful Starship Pain for the win.
Backstage with William Regal and the authorities tell him that they have located Paul Heyman. They tell Regal to hurry and be ready to negotiate, because it’s a hostage situation and things don’t look good.
Back in the ring, The Mexicools are on their way down the ramp on their Juan Deere's. As they await their opponents, The Indy fans in attendance get a special treat as HALLOWICKED and FRIGHTMARE make their ECW debuts. The Dark Minion of the Underworld and the Frenetic Ball of Kinetic Energy look beyond ready to put on a clinic.
FRIGHTMARE AND HALLOWICKED def. THE MEXICOOLS
Another outstanding fifteen-minute match. Fans are on the edge of their collective seats as countless nearfalls are exchanged. Super Crazy hit a Corkscrew Plancha from the ring to the floor to start the match. Hallowicked and Frightmare would later connect with Step-Up Frankensteiners in stereo, sending the Mexicools to the floor. Finish comes as Psicosis and Crazy attempt their finishers but get cut off at the pass. Crazy misses a Diving Moonsault and gets planted by Go To Sleepy Hollow from Hallowicked and Frightmare counters Psicosis Diving Guillotine Leg Drop by draping him across the top rope. Frightmare scales to the top rope and drills Psicosis with a flawless Headless Horseman from the top to put away the Mexicools and earn their first victory in the Land of Extreme.
We go backstage and Regal is still following his search party frantically up and down the corridors of the arena in search of Heyman's location...
Back to the ring as Paul Burchill and Jack Swagger head to the ring. Finlay enters and finally Sheamus. The Great White and The Celtic Crusader discuss strategy as we head to commercial.
SHEAMUS and FINLAY def. PAUL BURCHILL and JACK SWAGGER
Great back and forth, 12-minute tag match. Finish comes as Sheamus rolls through Swagger’s Gutwrench Powerbomb, and shoves Swagger into the corner, where Finlay drubs him with the shillelagh. Swagger staggers back toward the center of the ring and into the path of a brutal Brogue Kick to send the hometown crowd home happy. The partnering Irishmen celebrate in the ring as Styles and Tazz inform us that we have to make an emergency look backstage.
Regal is seen heading toward the boiler room, when suddenly a scream for help comes from above. Up on one of the backstage catwalks, stands THE BIG SHOW. Being held in a Military Press position, is Paul Heyman. Show DEMANDS to be put into the Singapore Cane Match for the ECW Championship. Regal of course concedes, but Heyman overrules him, even in his vulnerable position.
Heyman says he can’t promise that, but that he can put BIG SHOW in a qualifying match on the Extreme Rules pre-show. If Big Show picks up the winning fall, he will assume the fourth spot in the Extreme Rules Singapore Cane Match. Show accepts the conditions, but tells Heyman that he could have avoided what’s about to happen by just putting him in the damn match, no strings attached. With very little warning, Big Show does the UNTHINKABLE and tosses Heyman from the balcony to the arena floor, sending him crashing through a pile of staging equipment. EMTs and backstage officials sift through the wreckage to recover an unconscious Heyman as The Big Show looks on stone-faced. Regal has gone as pale as a ghost, disbelief pasted on his face as ECW goes off the air.
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