Event
Joey Styles and Tazz served as commentators, while Stephen DeAngelis served as ring announcer for the event.
Paul Heyman began the event as it aired on pay-per-view, coming to the ring to "ECW" chants.[22] Heyman stated that "this [ECW's resurrection] didn't happen because of me and it didn't happen because of Vince McMahon. This happened because of you [the fans]. And on behalf of every single one of us, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you!"[23]
The first match on the card was a match between ECW Original Tazz and WWE Raw commentator Jerry Lawler.[23] On the way to the ring, Lawler slapped ECW commentator Joey Styles in the face. Tazz won after 35 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission.[22] After the match, Tazz joined Joey Styles on commentary for the rest of the show.[24]
In the second match ECW's Kurt Angle faced Raw's Randy Orton. Despite Angle's participation as an anti-ECW crusader from last year's One Night Stand he was met with raucous cheers from the ECW faithful. Randy Orton, by contrast, received an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the fans in attendance, and was subjected throughout the match to several derogatory chants including "Go fuck Cena" and "Orton's a homo." Orton gained the main advantage in the match after Angle missed a running shoulder tackle, which sent him into the ringpost. The crowd inside the Hammerstein Ballroom chanted "Boring!" as Orton applied a rear choke on Angle. Angle executed a series of German suplexes, before executing an Angle Slam for a near-fall.[23] Orton attempted an RKO, but Angle countered, locking on the ankle lock. Orton submitted, giving Angle the victory.[22][25]
The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke) versus Super Crazy and Tajiri was next. After Guido propelled Crazy into the crowd,[23] Guido and Mamaluke executed the muscle buster on Tajiri for the victory. After the contest, Big Show entered the ring and executed the cobra clutch backbreaker on Mamaluke and kicked F.B.I.'s enforcer Big Guido in the head.[22][23][26]
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) made a surprise appearance, cutting a promo. Just over a week earlier, he announced on his radio show that he was not going to return to professional wrestling. JBL recalled his (legitimate) assault on The Blue Meanie from ECW One Night Stand 2005 and referred to himself as "The King of Hardcore".[22] He announced that he was replacing Tazz as the color commentator of SmackDown!.[23]
Rey Mysterio versus Sabu was next in an Extreme Rules match with the World Championship on the line. The match started with several chair shots from both competitors. Sabu had the upper hand for most of the match, executing an Arabian facebuster and a triple jump moonsault, but Mysterio kicked out of both moves. Mysterio regained the upper hand, as he executed a seated senton that sent both men through a table at ringside. Sabu countered a second seated senton attempt, and put Mysterio on a second table at ringside. Sabu proceeded to execute a triple-jump somersault splash, but Mysterio made it to his feet while on the table.[23] This turned the move into a DDT, sending both men through the table at ringside. Although neither men were legitimately hurt, Dr. Ferdinand Rios came out and kayfabe declared that the match could not continue. This meant that Mysterio retained the World Championship.[22][27]
Edge and Mick Foley versus Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk was next in what was a violent and bloody Hardcore Tag Team match. Before the match began, Edge and Foley entered the ring accompanied by Lita, while Dreamer and Funk entered the ring accompanied by Beulah McGillicutty, turning the match into a Hardcore six-person tag-team match. Lita's appearance at the event was received very negatively, with the crowd chanting, "You're a crack whore" and, "She's got herpes" at her.[28] During the course of the match, Foley applied the mandible claw to both Beulah and Dreamer. Halfway through the match, Funk was taken backstage as Foley wrapped barbed wire around his fist and raked it across the forehead and eyes of Funk. A bandaged Funk returned to the match a few minutes later, hitting Edge and Foley with a barbed wire bat. Funk then set the bat on fire and left it at ringside. Funk hit Foley, and Foley fell onto a barbed wire board. Foley's shirt was on fire, but was put out by a ringside attendant.[23] Dreamer and Funk got the upper-hand after Dreamer DDT'd Edge. Dreamer then locked a modified crossface onto Edge, using barbed wire against Edge's face. Lita broke the hold up only to have Dreamer give her the Dreamer Driver. Edge blindsided Dreamer wrapping barbed wire around his head, before dropping him with the inverted DDT. McGillicutty entered the ring to check on Dreamer, but Edge speared McGillicutty and pinned her with a cover that resembled the "legs up" version of the missionary position
Balls Mahoney faced Masato Tanaka in the second Extreme Rules match of the night. Mahoney got the early advantage after throwing a beer can in the face of Tanaka. Tanaka gained the advantage after executing a superplex off the top rope. Mahoney won the match after hitting Tanaka with a steel chair.[22][23] Before the WWE Championship match, Eugene came to the ring to cut a promo.[22] He reminded the fans that he was Eric Bischoff's nephew, before being interrupted by The Sandman. Sandman hit Eugene repeatedly with his Singapore cane, leaving Eugene to run to the back, with The Sandman chasing after him.[23]
In the main event John Cena faced Rob Van Dam for the WWE Championship. It was evident that the crowd was decidedly anti-Cena even before the match began; in keeping with his traditional entrance, Cena threw the T-shirt he wore to the ring out into the crowd, only to have it thrown back at him a number of times. Loud, insulting chants were directed at Cena throughout the match, such as "Fuck you Cena," "Same old shit," "Overrated," and "You can't wrestle." The action quickly went to ringside, and Van Dam got the advantage on Cena, with a moonsault press off the steel steps. Van Dam continued his offense when the action went back inside the ring as he placed a chair on Cena's stomach before executing Rolling Thunder. Cena later managed to get the advantage, executing a DDT on a steel chair. Cena went for his finishing move, the FU, but Van Dam blocked the attempt. Van Dam would then set up a table in the corner, but Cena got Van Dam in the STFU. When John Cena refused to break the hold after Van Dam got to the ropes, Cena clotheslined the referee, after they had a push and shove. Cena proceeded to deliver Van Dam a superplex off the top rope and then hit Van Dam with steel steps. Replacement referee Nick Patrick officiated the remainder of the match, with Van Dam kicking out at two. As Cena got up he went to deliver Van Dam an FU, Van Dam grabbed onto the rope, which leads Cena to deliver Van Dam an FU out of the ring. As Cena turned around, someone in a motorcycle helmet interfered and speared Cena through a table. The person was revealed as Edge, who won a number one contender's match to challenge for the WWE Championship at Vengeance on June 25, 2006.[30]
