December to Dismember (2006)

In 2001, the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion was closed down due to financial issues and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) acquired the assets in 2003.[3] In May 2006, WWE launched a third brand dubbed ECW in which former talent from the defunct promotion, as well as newer talent, would compete.[4] In 1995, ECW held an event titled December to Dismember.[5] WWE revived this event as a pay-per-view (PPV) for their ECW brand, and it was scheduled to be held on December 3, 2006, at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia.[6]

Outside of the weekly ECW on Sci Fi broadcast, the ECW brand's television program, the pay-per-view received little buildup on either Raw or SmackDown!, as WWE concentrated more on advertising the Survivor Series pay-per-view that aired one week prior to December to Dismember.[7] At this time, the main storyline on the Raw brand featured tag teams, D-Generation X and Rated-RKO,[8] and the SmackDown! brand's main storyline featured Batista and World Heavyweight Champion King Booker.[9] The buildup for December to Dismember began in the middle of October, six weeks before the event.[10]

Big Show as ECW World Champion

The main event at December to Dismember featured an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. On the October 24, 2006 episode of ECW, Rob Van Dam defeated the ECW World Champion Big Show for the second consecutive time. Per the stipulation, if Van Dam were to defeat Big Show again, in a ladder match, he could then choose a time to face the Big Show for the ECW World Championship.[11] Van Dam chose to have his title shot at the December to Dismember pay-per-view.[12] Authority figure, Paul Heyman, authorized Van Dam's decision and added him to the Extreme Elimination Chamber contest for the ECW World Championship along with Big Show and four other ECW superstars.[13] The remaining four participants for the Extreme Elimination Chamber match were decided through standard singles matches. The first person to qualify for the match was Sabu, who defeated Kevin Thorn on the October 31, 2006 episode of ECW.[13] The following week, CM Punk and Test qualified by defeating Mike Knox and Tommy Dreamer, respectively.[14] The final place was to be given to Hardcore Holly in a contract signing segment on the November 14, 2006 episode of ECW. As Holly was making his way to the ring, Bobby Lashley, a wrestler from the SmackDown! brand, attacked Holly and signed the contract himself to gain the sixth and final place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber.[15] Although the six spots in the bout were filled, Heyman announced an Extreme Rules match, between Van Dam and Holly, on the November 21, 2006 episode of ECW. If Holly were to defeat Van Dam he would take his place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber; Van Dam however, won the match and cemented his place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber.[16] Van Dam continued gaining momentum going into the December to Dismember pay-per-view, as he, along with team members Sabu, Lashley, John Cena and Kane defeated the team of Big Show, Test, Umaga, Finlay and Montel Vontavious Porter in a 5-on-5, elimination tag team match, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.[17] On the final episode of ECW before December to Dismember, Van Dam defeated Sabu. Later in the show, CM Punk faced Test, but both men were counted out in their bout. In the main event, Big Show was disqualified in his match against Lashley as Test and Heyman's Security Force (Doug and Danny Basham) assaulted Lashley.[18]

Johnny Nitro looking out to the crowd

The other main rivalry heading into December to Dismember was between the Hardy Boyz and MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro and Melina). Unlike the Extreme Elimination Chamber rivalry, this one did not include ECW superstars and only featured members of the Raw and SmackDown! brands, making the pay-per-view non-exclusive to ECW, spanning all three WWE brands.[18][19][20] The buildup to the match between them began when Nitro and Jeff Hardy started to feud over the Intercontinental Championship on Raw.[21][22] The two competed in several different types of matches, including a ladder match.[8] The Hardy Boyz had just teamed up for the first time since 2002, when they defeated Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido Maritato on an episode of ECW.[16] At Survivor Series, The Hardy Boyz, along with D-Generation X and CM Punk defeated the team of Nitro, Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), Mike Knox and Gregory Helms in a traditional Survivor Series team elimination match.[23] The next day at the December to Dismember press conference, The Hardy Boyz announced an open challenge for the pay-per-view. Later that night on Raw, Nitro accepted the challenge, announcing the return of Mercury and the "one night only" reformation of MNM.[19] On the following episode of ECW, MNM attacked The Hardy Boyz after they defeated Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay.[18] Meanwhile, Voodoo Kin Mafia, a tag team from the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, issued a statement via the TNA website stating that they had accepted The Hardy Boyz' open challenge for December to Dismember.[24] However, Voodoo Kin Mafia did not appear at the event, and WWE never acknowledged their challenge. Only two matches were officially announced for the pay-per-view before it aired.[6][25]

The first match that aired was the tag team encounter between MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) and The Hardys (Jeff and Matt). After a back and forth match, which lasted over 20 minutes, MNM performed a flapjack DDT on Jeff. During a pinfall attempt, Matt Hardy made the save and performed a double neckbreaker on both members of MNM. Jeff then Swanton bombed Nitro and made the winning pin.[6][28][29]

Next was Matt Striker versus Balls Mahoney in a "Striker's Rules" match, a match with "no gouging of the eyes, no pulling of the hair, no maneuvers off the top rope and, most importantly, no foul language".[6][30] Mahoney won the match after he performed a spinebuster and pinned Striker for the victory.[6][29]

Bobby Lashley upon winning the ECW World Championship.

After the match between Mahoney and Striker, Sabu was depicted as being injured backstage and unable to compete in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match.[6][31][32] In reality, however, it was rumored that Sabu had animosity surrounding him backstage and was said to be uninterested at television tapings. Rumors evolved stating that WWE viewed Sabu as being "useless" in normal matches and that he could only perform in matches that included "stunts and tables and they don't respect him because of that". This was reportedly part of the reason he had been scripted to be easily defeated by Umaga on an episode of Raw a few weeks earlier.[8][33] WWE chairman Vince McMahon wanted to put Hardcore Holly in Sabu's place, so Bobby Lashley would have more villains to overcome. Paul Heyman was legitimately unhappy with the decision, saying that Sabu's high-flying wrestling would be "the ideal showcase" inside the Extreme Elimination Chamber.[25] The fans inside the James Brown Arena chanted "bullshit" during the segment.[6]

In the second tag-team match of the night, Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay defeated F.B.I. members Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke. Burke pinned Mamaluke after performing a Forward Russian legsweep on him and gaining the pinfall.[34] After the match, Terkay performed a Muscle Buster on Maritato.[29] During this match, the fans inside the James Brown Arena chanted "TNA, TNA" (a reference to WWE's rival professional wrestling promotion, as well as two of their performers utilizing moves used by TNA wrestlers, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe, respectively).[6]

A standard match between Daivari and Tommy Dreamer followed with The Great Khali accompanying Daivari to the ring but was ejected from ringside early on for interfering. After Daivari won the match using a roll-up, Khali came back out to the ring and gave Dreamer a chokebomb. EMTs came out to help Dreamer get up, but he ended up getting up on his own and headed backstage.[6][29][35]

The next match of the night was an intergender tag team match, with Kevin Thorn and Ariel against Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly. Before the match began, Kelly Kelly was shown wishing CM Punk, her on-screen crush, luck for the main event. The end of the match came when Knox abandoned Kelly Kelly in the ring and Ariel performed a legsweep, a variation of a takedown, on Kelly Kelly before covering her for the win.[29] Following the match, Ariel and Thorn attempted to attack Kelly Kelly, before The Sandman interrupted and hit Thorn repeatedly with a kendo stick.[6][36]

The Elimination Chamber structure

The main event was the Extreme Elimination Chamber for the ECW World Championship. After a segment earlier in the event showed an injured Sabu was unable to compete in the match, it was decided that Hardcore Holly would take his spot in the match. Before the match began, Paul Heyman announced the rules of the match and explained that each superstar had a weapon with them in each of their pods.[29] Before entering the ring, Heyman had a conversation backstage with Big Show, that was unseen by television viewers, with him revealing that for the first time in his professional career he was not motivated to give the promo.[25] Rob Van Dam and Holly were the first superstars to begin the match and one of the other four competitors were then released from their pod every five minutes afterward. The first person to be released from his pod was CM Punk, who entered the match with a steel chair in hand. Test then followed, five minutes after him, with a crowbar. Punk was the first eliminated from the match, after Van Dam performed a Five Star Frog Splash from the top turnbuckle and covered him for the 3-count. Moments later, Test charged and delivered a big boot to Holly, eliminating him. Van Dam was the third person eliminated, after Test delivered a diving elbow drop from the top of a pod and pinned him. When it was Bobby Lashley's turn, his pod would not open and he could not exit it because Heyman's Security Force had bolted the door shut. Lashley then used the table that was with him to smash through the pod, allowing him to escape. He then delivered a spear to Test to eliminate him. Big Show, was the final man to exit his pod and had a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire in tow. Lashley was able to block Big Show's swing of the barbed wire bat with a folding chair and then threw him into the pod, causing him to bleed. Lashley managed to reverse a chokeslam into a DDT and then delivered a spear to win the match and become the new ECW World Champion.[37][29]