10 Things You Need To Know About The Original ECW Invasion

7. Challenge Accepted

ECW signs and chants were becoming more prominent with the live audience on WWE television. This was a clear indicator that Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon€™s business relationship had moved past the flirting stage. It was time get extreme in a recognized manner, but a story line was required in order to make a memorable introduction. Jerry €œThe King€ Lawler became the anti-extreme mouth piece, fed up with all the buzz €œExtremely Crappy Wrestling€ was garnering. Lawler went on a vicious rant about his hatred towards the group, challenged the ECW wrestlers to appear on Raw the following week, assuming they would they slip on a banana peel and prove his point that there is nothing behind the hype. Heyman called in on Raw the week before and accepted the challenge. February 24, 1997, ECW invaded the Manhattan Center. The birth place of Monday Night Raw. The Eliminators, Perry Saturn and John fired the opening shots as they cornered a member of the ring crew and hit him with their finishing maneuver, Total Elimination. Stevie Richards with the Blue World Order (BWO) in toe defeated Little Guido with the Stevie Kick. Sabu jumped off the RAW sign onto the Team Taz entourage, but that did little to deter Taz who choked out Mikey Whipwreck with the Tazmission. Tommy Dreamer beat D-Von Dudley, Bubba Ray jumped in after the match and The Sandman made the save. Paul Heyman, who had been doing commentary during the ECW matches, had enough of Jerry Lawler€™s negative remarks, and charged at him but was restrained by his compatriots.