| December to Dismember (2006) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tagline(s) | You Better Watch Out... | |||
| Theme song(s) | "Bodies" by Drowning Pool[1] | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | |||
| Brand (s) | ECW | |||
| Date | December 3, 2006 | |||
| Attendance | 4,800 | |||
| Venue | James Brown Arena | |||
| City | Augusta, Georgia | |||
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||||
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| December to Dismember chronology | ||||
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December to Dismember (2006) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view show made by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held on December 3, 2006 at James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. It was the first December to Dismember event held by the WWE and the second overall. The name came from the December to Dismember event which was held by the original Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995. Even though it was an ECW brand pay-per-view, wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown! brands also worked on the pay-per-view.
The main event was an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. The six wrestlers in the match were Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test and defending champion Big Show. Lashley won the match and the championship after he hit Big Show with a spear and pinned him.[2]
The pay-per-view had an attendance of 4,800 and 90,000 people payed to see the event, with 55,000 of the buys being domestic. This was the lowest buyrate in WWE history.[3]
December to Dismember received very negative reviews. Matt MacKinder of SLAM! Wrestling rated the event 4 out of 10 stars and said "the two matches that were promoted saved this thing from being a debacle".[4] December to Dismember was voted as the "worst major wrestling show of the year" in the 2006 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.[5]
Not even 24 hours after the pay-per-view, WWE announced that Vince McMahon had sent Paul Heyman home, and cited "slumping television ratings and a disgruntled talent roster as causes for Mr. Heyman's dismissal".[6] McMahon was trying to put the blame on Heyman for the poorly received pay-per-view, and after he had a meeting with both Vince and Stephanie McMahon, Heyman legitimately left the company but still remained under contract.[7] Heyman did not want to see Lashley booked to win the ECW Championship but McMahon said that the fans would be happy to see a new champion and a 10-minute celebration.[8] During an early 2008 interview with The Sun, Heyman said how he would have booked the Elimination Chamber main event. He said that he would have had Punk enter first and quickly eliminate Big Show by submission. He said that McMahon did not like the idea, but Big Show did and that he was eager for the opportunity to help "make" a rising star like Punk. Heyman also said that he continued to go to McMahon on the night of the pay-per-view to tell him that "The people are going to throw this back in our face".[9]
Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards both did not like how the event turned out and they both asked for their contract releases after the pay-per-view. Both McMahon and Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis refused to release them.[10]
| # | Results[11] | Stipulations | Times[12] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | Stevie Richards defeated René Duprée | Singles match | n/a |
| 1 | The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) defeated MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) (with Melina)[13] | Tag team match | 22:33 |
| 2 | Balls Mahoney defeated Matt Striker | Striker's Rules match | 07:12 |
| 3 | Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay defeated The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke) (with Trinity)[14] | Tag team match | 06:41 |
| 4 | Daivari (with The Great Khali) defeated Tommy Dreamer[15] | Singles match | 07:22 |
| 5 | Kevin Thorn and Ariel defeated Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly[16] | Intergender tag team match | 07:43 |
| 6 | Bobby Lashley defeated The Big Show (c), Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test[2] | Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship | 24:42 |
(c) - refers to the champion heading into the match
| |||
| Eliminated | Wrestler | Entered | Weapon | Method of elimination | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | CM Punk | Third | Steel chair | Pinned after a Five-Star Frog Splash from the top turnbuckle by Van Dam | 12:35 |
| Second | Hardcore Holly | First | n/a | Pinned by Test after a big boot | 12:45 |
| Third | Rob Van Dam | Second | n/a | Pinned by Test after a diving elbow drop onto a steel chair from the top of The Big Show's pod | 14:00 |
| Fourth | Test | Fourth | Crowbar | Pinned by Lashley after a spear | 19:42 |
| Fifth | The Big Show | Sixth | Barbed wire baseball bat |
Pinned by Lashley after a spear | 24:42 |
| Winner | Bobby Lashley | Fifth | Table | ||