January 15, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2000 Year End Awards, final ECW PPV reviewed, plus tons of news
In what may have been the swan song of the promotion, ECW promised a “holy shit” surprise, which prompted debates over methods of promotion today as well as if there is any future left with the company in the wake of losing its New York television, cancelling next month’s PPV and not even producing a new TV show in the go-home week before a PPV show.
Guilty as Charged on 1/7 before a sellout crowd of 2,500 fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York was the usual ECW show. It came across, with the exception of the return of Rob Van Dam, as more of a regular house show than anything special on PPV. Everyone worked hard. There were some booking holes that were gigantic (if Francine won’t sleep with Corino or Credible unless they are wearing the belt, why is, at the end of the show, she sleeping with both of them when they both failed to win the belt?) but good or bad, and it was more good than bad, that news paled in comparison to the big news.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.