1. December To Dismember
As the first pay-per-view of WWE's version of ECW, the December to Dismember event was proclaimed as a disaster before it event started. Drawing only 4,800 fans and receiving the lowest buyrate in the history of the company, December to Dismember was the perfect example of how Vince McMahon didn't understand ECW or what the fans wanted to see. Balls Mahoney took on Matt Striker in a Striker's Rules match, meaning it had to be a "traditional wrestling match". If you know anything about Balls Mahoney, you know he's completely useless in a "traditional wrestling match" and the crowd was losing patience rapidly. After three other undercard matches which seemed to go remarkably short, the main event took place and buried the relaunched ECW for good. Billed as an "Extreme Elimination Chamber Match", the match featured CM Punk vs. Big Show vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Rob Van Dam. Punk was already clearly the crowd favorite and they desperately wanted him to unseat ECW champion the Big Show at the event. Prior to the show, Paul Heyman fought desperate for Punk to be featured first and quickly submit the Big Show, earning the crowd's approval and making a new star. Big Show himself loved this idea and asked Vince to put it into the match so he could make a new main event star out of CM Punk. McMahon told Heyman that the crowd would rather see Bobby Lashley as champion and have a ten minute celebration with the new face of ECW. CM Punk was eliminated first and Lashley went on to win the title as the live crowd completely turned on the finish and booed it out of the building. The show went off the air 15 minutes early with no explanation, a total and complete failure. After an argument on an airplane, Vince McMahon blamed Paul Heyman for the event's failure, saying the talent roster was disgruntled and Heyman was difficult to work with. Heyman walked on on WWE and wrestlers Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards demanded their release. Through nothing but his own ignorance, Vince McMahon had finally killed ECW once and for all.