25 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Ruthless Aggression PPV
15. December To Dismember Was Set Up To Fail
As aforementioned, WWE had already run one ECW pay-per-view in 2006 with One Night Stand. It closed with a fiery WWE Title bout that saw RVD beat John Cena to bag the belt. By comparison, December To Dismember had no chance. The “Extreme” Elimination Chamber lineup was rubbish, and the undercard was one of the worst to ever grace company PPV.
Balls Mahoney vs. Matt Striker? Daivari vs. Tommy Dreamer? Kevin Thorn and Ariel vs. Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly?! No wonder Paul Heyman had his head in his hands during the main event. He could see firsthand that the McMahon family just didn't get what it meant to satiate the rabid hardcore fanbase he'd steadily built then fed during the latter half of the 1990s.
This wasn't ECW, not as people who loved those 3 letters knew it.
WWE gave the pay-per-view zero chance of succeeding going in. It was sandwiched between 2 main roster shows - Survivor Series on 26 November and Armageddon on 17 December. That left the 3 December ECW offering stuck like some piggy in the middle no-one was paying much attention to.
The live crowd (4,800) was small, the building looked low rent compared to Raw and SmackDown shows, the lineup didn't really appeal. What did December To Dismember have to shout about as a USP? Weapons in the "Extreme" Elimination Chamber? Big whoop.
It's no shocker that WWE changed tact on ECW after this. They'd picked up a shovel and heaped too much dirt on their own 'C' tier property since ONS '06. Thus, trying to run a standalone PPV with this roster was akin to running one with 205 Live a generation later.