December to Dismember (2006)
The 2006 December to Dismember was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's ECW brand division and was WWE's only non-One Night Stand PPV to be ECW-exclusive. The event took place on December 3, 2006, at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. Despite it being an ECW-branded pay-per-view, some wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands also worked the show. It was the second and final event in the December to Dismember chronology, after the original 1995 event that was held by the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion; WWE acquired the assets of ECW in 2003 and launched their own ECW brand in May 2006.
The main attraction on the event card was an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. It featured wrestlers fighting in a ring surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders. The six participants were defending champion Big Show, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk, and Test. Lashley won the match and the ECW World Championship after pinning Big Show following a spear. With his win, Lashley became the first African-American to hold the ECW World Championship. The featured bout on the undercard was a tag team bout between The Hardys and MNM, in which The Hardys were victorious.
The event had an attendance of 4,800 and received about 90,000 pay-per-view buys, with 55,000 of them domestic buys—the lowest buyrate in WWE history until the introduction of the WWE Network in 2014. Critical reception was also very poor, with many regarding it as one of the worst PPVs in WWE history. Although it was scheduled to be held again in 2007, the show was canceled after WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 23 in April 2007.
Production
Background
In 2001, the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion was closed down due to financial issues and World Wrestling Entertainment acquired the assets in 2003. 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. In 1995, ECW held an event titled December to Dismember. WWE revived this event as a pay-per-view for their ECW brand, and it was scheduled to be held on December 3, 2006, at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia.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. At this time, the main storyline on the Raw brand featured tag teams, D-Generation X and Rated-RKO, and the SmackDown! brand's main storyline featured Batista and World Heavyweight Champion King Booker. The buildup for December to Dismember began in the middle of October, six weeks before the event.
Storylines
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. Van Dam chose to have his title shot at the December to Dismember pay-per-view. 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. 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. The following week, CM Punk and Test qualified by defeating Mike Knox and Tommy Dreamer, respectively. 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. 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. 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. 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 assaulted Lashley.Image:Nitrorawmarch2007.jpg|thumb|right|Johnny Nitro looking out to the crowd
The other main rivalry heading into December to Dismember was between the Hardy Boyz and MNM. 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. The buildup to the match between them began when Nitro and Jeff Hardy started to feud over the Intercontinental Championship on Raw. The two competed in several different types of matches, including a ladder match. 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. At Survivor Series, The Hardy Boyz, along with D-Generation X and CM Punk defeated the team of Nitro, Rated-RKO, Mike Knox and Gregory Helms in a traditional Survivor Series team elimination match. 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. On the following episode of ECW, MNM attacked The Hardy Boyz after they defeated Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay. Meanwhile, Voodoo Kin Mafia, a tag team from the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion, issued a statement via the TNA website stating that they had accepted The Hardy Boyz' open challenge for December to Dismember. 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.
Event
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Stevie Richards defeated René Duprée in a dark match, a non-televised match used to generate excitement in the crowd.Preliminary matches
The first match that aired was the tag team encounter between MNM and The Hardys. 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.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". Mahoney won the match after he performed a spinebuster and pinned Striker for the victory.
Image:Bobby Lashley wins ECW title, D2D 2006.jpg|thumb|right|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. 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. 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. The fans inside the James Brown Arena chanted "bullshit" during the segment.
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. After the match, Terkay performed a Muscle Buster on Maritato. During this match, the fans inside the James Brown Arena chanted "TNA, TNA".
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.
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. Following the match, Ariel and Thorn attempted to attack Kelly Kelly, before The Sandman interrupted and hit Thorn repeatedly with a kendo stick.