DAIVARI VS. TOMMY DREAMER

 Before the match, Sabu is shown on a stretcher, being put into an ambulance. CM Punk and Rob Van Dam are staring on looking concerned. Daivari makes his way out with The Great Khali and cuts a promo in Farsi, to remind everyone that he and Khali have the basic foreign heel gimmick.  Tommy Dreamer enters to a spattering of support The referee ejects Khali to ringside before calling for the bell. 

Tazz and Joey Styles are on commentary for this match. 

 

DAIVARI VS. TOMMY DREAMER 

WWECW December to Dismember (3rd December 2006) 

 They lock up, Daivari connects with a knee to the midsection and right hands, Dreamer reverses an irish whip and Daivari regroups on the floor. 

 Tommy Dreamer gets in Khali’s face through the ropes, Daivari sneaks back in the ring behind Dreamer and attacks him. Tommy Dreamer eats some right hands but reverses an irish whip and hip tosses Daivari, who goes back to the floor Tazz is worried about Sabu as Daivari gets back in the ring, Dreamer catches him with a drop toehold Daivari connects with a dropkick, sending Dreamer out to the floor and a baseball slide knocks the ECW original down. Tommy Dreamer reverses an irish whip sending Daivari into the security wall and gets back in the ring. Daivari tries another sneak attack but Dreamer catches the kick and suplexes Daivari. Tommy Dreamer runs to the ropes and The Great Khali low bridges him in front of the referee.

The Great Khali gets sent to the back. Daivari brings the match back in the ring. Daivari snapmares Dreamer over and connects with knees to the back as we see a replay. Daivari mixes it up with some elbows to the top of Dreamer’s head and slows the match down with a chinlock. The fans chant that they want hardcore and they will regret it soon, but not soon enough. Tommy Dreamer makes it to his feet, but Daivari slams him down before he can build momentum. Daivari connects with quick elbow drops and covers for 2 in the first pin attempt of the match. Daivari connects with another knee to Dreamer’s spine and an elbow to his neck. Dreamer works to his feet in a neck crank, he elbows free but Daivari ducks a clothesline and puts Tommy in a sleeper hold.

Tommy Dreamer won’t let his arm drop and he works back to his feet, Daivari jumps on Dreamer’s back but Dreamer falls back to break the hold. The referee counts them both down and Daivari is on his feet at 7. Tommy Dreamer has made it to one knee and they exchange right hands, giving Dreamer the advantage, he gets a combination of lefts and rights going. Tommy Dreamer knocks Daivari down with big right hands, then Daivari is sent off the ropes into a backdrop. Tommy Dreamer hits an inverted DDT for 2. Daivari rakes Dreamer’s eyes to avoid the Death Valley Driver and gets sent into the corner. Tommy Dreamer runs into a back elbow, they meet on the top turnbuckle, Daivari knocks Dreamer off balance and sends him to the mat but eats shit on the crossbody. 

 Tommy Dreamer hangs Daivari in the Tree of Woe and gets the fans to chant E-C-W before hitting the sliding dropkick. Daivari escapes the DDT and rolls up Tommy Dreamer for the win. 

WINNER: DAIVARI 

 This was a basic match it was a good chance to add some hardcore to the show without taking too much from the main event and for some reason WWE chose not to so the crowd was pretty much dead by this point too. At least the spot after the match got Dreamer some sympathy. [DUD] 1/10 

After the match Tommy Dreamer chases Daivari up the ramp, but The Great Khali makes his way back out, meeting Dreamer with a choke slam at the top of the ramp. 

We see replays as the doctors make their way to Tommy Dreamer, Tommy starts moving and gets to his feet before crawling to the back. Paul Heyman is in the back, he meets Hardcore Holly and tells Holly that he needs Sabu’s replacement. People have to respect Paul’s decision and Bob Holly is the only guy Paul can find. He didn’t actually say the last bit, but as the crowd audibly groaned, it is plausible. 

MATT STRIKER VS. BALLS MAHONEY

I could use the last 2 days of December to round my Starrcade matches up to 10 reviews, but instead I'm going to hit two WWE events that only happened once. Firstly, I'll bite the bullet and look at a match from the December to Dismember event, the only ever ECW brand PPV in their short run on television. It was bookmarked by two decent matches (the main event booking, not so much, but as a match it wasn't terrible) but I'm just going to get one of the other matches out of the way, because they're shorter and I'm really late with this. Tazz and Joey Styles are on commentary for this match. Strikers Rules is essentially a reverse Extreme Rules match. Striker comes out first, he was recently forced to resign as a school teacher as he used his sick days to wrestle instead.

  Matt Striker has a microphone and calls the crowd his students as Joey Styles mocks his sweater vest. He wants to restore order to the violent ECW. He teases an Extreme Rules match, which gets a mixed reaction then clarifies it's a strict enforcement of rules including hair pulling, eye gouging and Bill Watts' favourite, no moves from the top rope. Then adds foul language. To be fair if there's one group of people that need restraint on foul language it's teachers. That must be the hardest part of their job. He reminds the fans of the last rule as they chant for his opponent. Balls Mahoney comes out and Striker bails to the floor, where Tazz notices Striker's own face plastered on his arsecheeks and sets Styles up for the line of the night “You gotta wonder about a man that wants to sit on his own face”

Matt Striker VS. Balls Mahoney (Striker's Rules)

ECW December to Dismember (3^rd December 2006)

© WWE

The bell rings and they circle. Balls Mahoney trips Striker with a single-leg but Striker crawls to the rope, grapevining it as Mahoney releases. The cameraman is determined that we see what it was that made Tazz laugh a minute ago and Striker gets to his feet. They lock up and Striker backs Mahoney into the ropes. He gets a couple of shots in but Balls reverses an irish whip and barely leapfrogs Striker, who runs into a hip toss when the surprise wears off. Balls Mahoney gets an armbar, but Striker quickly gets to the ropes and slides out to the apron. The referee strictly enforces the count-out rule until Striker is back through the ropes, the fans chant for Balls, but he looks away for a second and gets slapped right in the mush. Striker sends Balls Mahoney into the corner. Mahoney sends him across the ring to the opposite corner but runs his shoulder into the post, giving Matt Striker a target. Striker brings Mahoney down with a falling armbreaker, then just falls backwards onto the arm. It's not stupid if it works, I guess.

Matt Striker brings Balls Mahoney up to his feet, still controlling the arm, Balls Mahoney looks to be getting out of the hold so Striker brings him down by the hair. He's a heel because he makes these rules, then shows it in the match by breaking them, OK then. He drops the elbow on Mahoney's arm, then stomps it before rolling over Mahoney to slam his arm into the mat as the fans tell him he sucks. I hope they're not expecting the rest of the night to get better. Mahoney can't get to his feet in the armbar, so rolls Striker up for 2. Striker is quick with a neckbreaker and gets a 2 count himself, then goes back to the arm with falling elbow drops and, well just falling. He puts on a top wristlock, keeping his weight over Balls Mahoney, the crowd tries to get Balls to his feet but Striker drives his arm into the mat. Striker drives his own shoulder into the softened arm of Mahoney, then sends him into the corner with his shoulder hitting the turnbuckle. Balls Mahoney gets the boot up as Striker charges and gets some jabs in, but is cut off with a kick to the gut.

Matt Striker brings Mahoney down to the mat with another armbar but Balls rolls through and gets to his feet, going back to the jabs. I'm surprised closed fists aren't on Striker's list. Balls' shoulder gives in before he can get too much momentum and Striker hits the shoulder but runs into a sidewalk slam. Balls Mahoney climbs to the top rope as the referee reminds him it's against the rules because teachers hate fun. Striker shakes the rope behind the referee's back, crotching Balls on the top rope momentarily before he falls to the canvas. Striker rolls into another armbar on the mat, bridging back to add more pressure, but Mahoney eventually makes it to the ropes. Matt Striker uses as much of the 5 count as he can before releasing. Balls Mahoney brings Striker into a back suplex and begins using his right hand (the non-targeted side) to jab at Striker this time. He sends Striker into the ropes and barely gets him over with a one-armed backdrop. He completes the combination of jabs on this attempt and sends Striker into the ropes, but ducks too early and gets kicked in the face by Striker. Matt Striker runs into a sitout spinebuster and Mahoney wins the match.

WINNER: BALLS MAHONEY

I see where they were going with Striker's character and it could have had some potential if it wasn't “change the channel” heat. It also wasn't particularly necessary with WWE's sanitised version of ECW, but a series of matches against hardcore wrestlers would have worked well for him in a parallel universe. As for the match itself, Striker got 90% of the offense and lost to a move from a one-armed man (figuratively). Not only did Striker lose this match, but anyone that ordered the pay-per-view must also be considered honorary losers alongside him.– * ½ match but personally 0.5/10