10 Best WWE ECW Matches

Today is December 3, 2021 which means it has been exactly fifteen years since WWE presented the disastrous ECW December to Dismember pay-per-view.

One of the worst pay-per-views in WWE history, December to Dismember was a critical and commercial flop (90,000 buys).

With only two matches advertised beforehand, it was no wonder that nobody was interested in purchasing it. But still, even with a threadbare lineup and rotten promotion on television, the event still managed to massively underdeliver.

So bad was the show that it sped up the exit of original ECW head honcho Paul Heyman and convinced Stevie Richards and Tommy Dreamer to request their releases (both denied).

Still, as bad as the show was overall, it wasn't completely worthless and, in fact, the two advertised matches - the MNM versus Hardys tag match and ECW Title Extreme Elimination Chamber match - were fairly decent.

Rather than lament what was the beginning of the end of the third brand, let's instead take this opportunity to celebrate some of the better in-ring offerings from WWECW.

For clarity's sake, the time period discussed is from when ECW relaunched via it's own show on Sci-Fi, so the first two One Night Stand pay-per-views (nor the WWE versus ECW head-to-head special) aren't considered.

10. Big Show Vs. Rob Van Dam - Ladder Match (October 24, 2006)

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The week before this match took place, Rob Van Dam beat Big Show in a non-title match to earn a shot at the ECW Title.

To stack the deck against RVD further, Paul Heyman declared that in order to get the match he'd have to beat Big Show again, this time in a Ladder Match.

This was the first one for the World's Largest Athlete, while The Whole F'N Show had made them one of his specialties, so he had the advantage. In theory, anyway. I mean, Big Show is seven feet tall, so he'd probably only have to get on the third rung to win.

Ladder matches were well played-out at this point (WWE presented numerous televised ones in the last few months of '06), but Show and Van Dam did their best with the stipulations.

It was more about the story being told, as opposed to just being a bunch of crazy spots and bumps. Big Show slowed RVD down to begin with and managed to avoid the ladders - and even tried to use one as a giant stick to known the contract down with - before Van Dam came back into it, which resulted in Show being busted open.

RVD took more of a beating while trying and failing to get back into things, but eventually managed to send Show sailing over the top rope with a hurricanrana, allowing him to climb up and retrieve the contract.

This is short at a shade under ten minutes, but it was an exciting and unpredictable TV main event.

9. The New Breed Vs. The ECW Originals - Extreme Rules Eight-Man Tag Match (April 3, 2007)

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With ECW Champion preoccupied with Vince McMahon, Umaga and the Battle of the Billionaires saga, the main feud on ECW television in the spring of 2007 was the ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Sabu, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) against The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Kevin Thorn and Matt Striker).

Though they clashed in a hurried bout at WrestleMania 23, the high point of the rivalry came two nights later in an Extreme Rules eight-man tag bout.

It didn't take long for everything to break down into chaos, with the ring and ringside area getting filled with plunder. After the chairs and trash cans and stop signs had been introduced, there was no slowing down and the match became a high-spot filled sprint of the best sort.

All eight men got a chance to shine and get their signature stuff in and the action flowed nicely as the crowd responded well to to the weapon shots and big bumps, such as Thorn getting put through a table by Van Dam and Sabu jumping off the top rope at the same time.

Burke got a win back for the New Breed after hitting Sabu with a brutal Elijah Express that sent the ECW legend's head through a table.

8. Rob Van Dam Vs. Test - Extreme Rules (October 3, 2006)

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Test returned to WWE after a two-year absence in the summer of 2006 and was quickly positioned as one of the top heels on the ECW brand.

One of his first big matches back was an Extreme Rules main event with Rob Van Dam on the October 3 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi. Next to the 'Love Her of Leave Her' SummerSlam 1999 street fight with Shane McMahon, this was the big Canadian's best match ever.

The fact that it was Extreme Rules certainly helped as it gave both men more tools and ways to be creative. RVD always takes advantage of these situations and busted out some great moves and spots here, such as a Rolling Thunder on the outside as Test was lying on the ring stairs.

Test got to impress with his power and vicious streak, kicking a chair into his opponent's face (now YOU know how it feels, Rob!), before Van Dam responded by chucking some steel back at him.

The only real negative was a bungled sunset flip powerbomb to the outside through a table, but even that looked like a brutal crash-and-burn.

They were out there a long time - around twenty minutes - and gave everything they had. In the end, RVD fought off Paul Heyman's masked security team (the Basham Brothers, in case you were wondering) and looked to Five-Star Test through a table, before Big Show waddled out and sent Van Dam crashing through the wood instead.

7. Ric Flair Vs. Big Show - Extreme Rules (July 11, 2006)

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After winning the ECW Title from Rob Van Dam in one of the early episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, Big Show spent much of the summer of 2006 defending the strap against some heavy-hitters from other brands, such as Batista and The Undertaker.

Those matches weren't so well received, but Show's Extreme Rules clash with Ric Flair certainly was.

The Nature Boy had rediscovered his hardcore side in '06, having had a great TLC match with Edge earlier in the year (he would have a brutal I Quit match with Mick Foley six weeks later at SummerSlam, too), and was game for anything here.

Given the limited ability of both, this was never destined to be a fast-moving classic. But they made up for a lack of finesse with their willingness to take punishment.

It was a hell of a spectacle, with both men getting colour. That was before the barbed wire and thumb tacks were added to the mix, after which both Flair and Show continued to suffer abuse.

The giant retained with his modified Cobra Clutch, but Slick Ric put in a hell of a showing in defeat and showed that he could continued to surprise even in his mid-fifties.

6. Chavo Guerrero Vs. CM Punk - Gulf Of Mexico Match (February 5, 2008)

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The feud between CM Punk and a resurgent Chavo Guerrero was one of the early highlights of 2008.

They had many tidy traditional in-ring matches during their programme, but the one that sticks out in the mind is the Gulf of Mexico match they had on February 5.

The only way to win was to throw your opponent in the Gulf of Mexico. Duh.

This was like some sort of Attitude Era throwback, as they said 'sod this' to doing any actual wrestling and instead brawled at ringside, through the crowd, backstage and, ultimately, outside of the arena.

Both men took bumps onto vehicles and Chavo hurled a fisherman's tackled box at his straight-edge opponent, before attempting a suplex into the Gulf.

That was countered and Punk hit a GTS to instead send Chavo into the drink.

This was non-title and was merely an entertaining bump in the road en route to their championship showdown at No Way Out, but it was a lot of fun and the different surroundings and way it was worked really made it stand out.

5. Rob Van Dam Vs. Sabu - Ladder Match (August 16, 2006)

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Rob Van Dam and Sabu were two icons of the original ECW and had many epic encounters during their time there.

They weren't always the cleanest matches, of course, as both men threw caution to the wind and attempted to innovate and push the envelope, rather than string together something that was water-tight.

Things hadn't changed by the time they met in the relaunched ECW in August 2006. The two were competing in a ladder match to determine the number one contender to ECW Champion Big Show at SummerSlam.

There were some really sick-looking bumps, like Van Dam's head getting jammed between the rungs of the ladder after taking an Arabian Facebuster to the back of the head. There was also some dodgy logic, like RVD trying to jump from the top rope and grab the contract (missing by about three feet) and Sabu trying to use an unstable ladder to execute a Triple Jump Moonsault.

As the bout wore on they continued to up the ante and wreck their bodies, before Big Show intervened. He put Van Dam through a table and tried to retrieve the contract himself, before Sabu used Show as a human ladder and snatched it to become the number one contender.

4. CM Punk Vs. John Morrison - September 4, 2007

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The main story on ECW television during the summer of 2007 was CM Punk's pursuit of the ECW Title.

John Morrison had beaten Punk for the vacant title at Night of Champions, before retaining at the Great American Bash and SummerSlam.

Their matches on those shows weren't great and a little clunky in places (Punk has since admitted that they both tried to do far too much in the time they were allotted), but they definitely had some chemistry. It was just a case of everything falling into place.

Which it did on the September 4 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, as the Straight-Edge Superstar had a 'last chance' to capture the gold in the show's main event.

On that night, everything clicked and they put on a back-and-forth banger that had the crowd biting on every near fall.

The result was never in doubt to those who followed the news - since The Shaman of Sexy was about to serve a thirty-day suspension after being implicated in the Signature Pharmacy scandal - but they had fans in the palm of their hands and, when Punk finally hit the GTS and scored the pin, it was a euphoric moment for an audience that had been supporting him and willing him to the top of the card for the previous year.

3. Hardcore Holly Vs. Rob Van Dam - Extreme Rules (September 26, 2006)

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Since ECW was a brand that really became a place to prepare the next generation of stars for Raw and SmackDown, it made sense to add some experienced veterans to the show.

They don't come much more experienced than Hardcore Holly, whose career benefitted greatly from his association with ECW, which he joined after overcoming a serious elbow injury and subsequent infection.

Finally given the time and the opportunity to show just what he could do, Holly surprised a few people by having several great, long matches, in particular his series with Rob Van Dam.

The two had several strong bouts together, but the one everyone remembers is their Extreme Rules match from September 26, 2006.

Not only was it a stiff and surly match littered with inventive spots and sequences, but Holly enhanced his reputation as a tough guy by gutting out half of it after getting his back sliced open by a table.

The gaping wound caused backstage personnel to order the match to be stopped, but Holly refused and continued on because he knew the match was going so well.

Besides, a sliced back for Holly is like a broken finger nail to you and I.

It turned out to be one of, if not the, strongest match of his career, as his and RVD's styles gelled surprisingly well. Van Dam won the match, but ol' Sparky Plugg won the audiences respect and got a deserved standing ovation for his efforts.

2. Kurt Angle Vs. Sabu - August 8, 2006

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There's an old saying that 'styles make matches', and the two wrestling styles of Sabu and Kurt Angle couldn't have been more different.

The Wrestling Machine against the Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying daredevil, it was an intriguing matchup on paper and turned out rather well in execution.

Angle started off by controlling things on the mat and dictating the pace, before Sabu took advantage of his opponent's aggression and sent him sailing over the top rope with a backdrop.

Sabu hit a beautiful springboard tornado DDT, which I'm sure did wonders for Kurt's papier-mâché neck, but then the Olympic Hero took over and started throwing the extremist around at will.

From there, the moves flew thick and fast as both men hit their signature stuff and registered some close two counts. Sabu was really on his game, making sure he hit everything crisply, while Angle was his dependable self and held things together nicely.

It felt like it was really building towards to a big finale, before RVD and his chair ran in to spoil the party. There was only a very short window for Sabu/Angle to happen and, given this was Angle's final match of his first run in WWE, I'm glad it was booked when it was.

1. Kurt Angle Vs. Rob Van Dam - June 27, 2006

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Before one got suspended and the other released, the rebooted ECW brand was going to be built around Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam.

We got a glimpse at what could have been on one of the first episodes of ECW on Sci-Fi, when the two collided in a (non-title) main event.

The two men had wrestled each other previously, so were familiar with one another, but the last time they had any sustained interaction was during the Invasion storyline five years ago, so the match was certainly fresh.

Like with the Sabu match, this was a case of styles contrasting and complimenting well. Van Dam did his stuff, Angle did his stuff and they built the match beautifully for the almost eighteen minutes they were out there.

There were plenty of suplexes, kicks, submission attempts and moves off the top, before RVD won cleanly with the Five-Star Frog Splash.

It was a bit of a shock to see the champ win so cleanly, but Angle gave a great showing and, thankfully, they didn't use the cop-out run-in or DQ ending as would be commonplace on ECW during those first few months.

Edge, politely, waited until after the match to attack Van Dam.

Talk about peaking early, eh? There were some decent WWECW matches after this one, but overall this was of a superior quality and well worth going out of your way to check out.