The 2006 ECW One Night Stand was the second annual One Night Stand professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held on June 11, 2006, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York. Like the previous year's event, although wrestlers from WWE's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions had appeared on the show, it was primarily held as a reunion show for wrestlers from the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003. Just prior to the event, WWE also established a third brand dubbed ECW for wrestlers of the former promotion and newer talent. The event was in turn WWE's first PPV to feature the ECW brand.
The main event was John Cena versus Rob Van Dam for the WWE Championship, which Van Dam won by pinfall after performing a Five Star Frog Splash following interference from Edge. The predominant match on the undercard was Rey Mysterio versus Sabu for the World Championship, which ended in a no contest after Sabu executed a Triple Jump DDT on Mysterio through a table on to the floor rendering both men kayfabe unable to wrestle, as a result, Mysterio retained the title. Another match on the undercard was Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita versus Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah McGillicutty in a Hardcore Intergender match. The event is notable for the appearance of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla wrestler Kevin Steen, who was in the audience for the show and would later sign with the WWE as Kevin Owens in 2014.
Production
Background
After the success of 2005's ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view (PPV), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) decided to hold another Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show for June 11, 2006, establishing the hardcore-based PPV as an annual show for the promotion. Just like the previous year, the 2006 event was held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York. The build-up for the 2006 ECW One Night Stand occurred on both Raw and SmackDown! heading into the pay-per-view, but build-up behind the scenes began several months earlier, as WWE was bringing back ECW full-time. The news that WWE was planning to bring back ECW was leaked in the middle of April as Vince McMahon decided to revive the promotion as a third brand alongside Raw and SmackDown!, dubbed ECW. Reports beforehand stated that WWE was prepared to bring back ECW immediately after WrestleMania 22. WWE opted to cancel its webcast Velocity and replace it with the new ECW program. The new brand was officially confirmed by WWE on May 25, 2006, with its debut show airing on June 13 on the Sci Fi Channel. The 2006 ECW One Night Stand was in turn WWE's first PPV to feature the ECW brand.
Storylines
The main feud heading into One Night Stand was between John Cena and Rob Van Dam over the WWE Championship. At WrestleMania, Van Dam competed in a six-man Money in the Bank ladder match, in which Van Dam won and earned the right to face the champion of his choice anytime he wanted to in 12 months. On the May 22 episode of Raw, Van Dam announced that he would be cashing in his opportunity against Cena for the WWE Championship at One Night Stand. The two exchanged lefts and rights with Chris Masters (who Cena had just defeated in a match) also getting involved. The distraction allowed Van Dam to toss his briefcase into Cena's face and then hit him with the Van Daminator. The two had a contract signing for their match on the June 5, 2006 episode of Raw. Before signing the contract, Van Dam told Cena that he would win the WWE Championship at One Night Stand and rename it the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. ECW representative Paul Heyman told Cena that the ECW fans can't wait to boo him out of the Hammerstein Ballroom. Cena signed the contract and wished Van Dam luck. Heyman, however, told Cena that he had brought some people from ECW and at that point, Balls Mahoney, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman came to the ring. Cena attempted to fight them off, but Sandman hit Cena with his Singapore cane. ECW's Sabu then came out and sent Cena through the table with his Atomic Arabian Facebuster move. Several Raw superstars ran out to attempt to fight off the ECW Originals. Because of this, a match was booked for the WWE vs. ECW Head-to-Head special that aired on the USA Network on June 7, 2006 between Cena and Sabu. The match ended in a no contest after ECW's newest wrestler, The Big Show attacked Cena, sparking a brawl between WWE and ECW wrestlers.