One Night Stand was an annual pay-per-view (PPV), produced every June by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2005. The event was originally produced as a reunion show for wrestlers from the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion and featured hardcore-based matches, before WWE established a third brand dubbed ECW in 2006. While the first two years' events were promoted as a reunion show for Extreme Championship Wrestling and included the "ECW" initials affixed to the event's name, the 2007 event was promoted as a WWE event and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. The third event in the One Night Stand chronology, it was scheduled to be held on June 3, 2007, at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Although no longer promoted as a reunion show, it still continued the theme of featuring hardcore-based matches.[3]
Storylines
The main feud heading into the event on the Raw brand, was between WWE ChampionJohn Cena and The Great Khali. This was a rematch of their encounter at Judgment Day, the pay-per-view two weeks before One Night Stand. At the event, Cena defeated Khali by forcing him to submit to the STFU.[4] When Khali submitted to the STFU, however, his feet were underneath the bottom rope, meaning Cena should have broken the submission hold.[5] Referee Mike Chioda was focusing on Khali's arm and did not see Khali's feet underneath the bottom rope. The following night on Raw, believing he should not have lost the match, Khali challenged Cena to a Falls Count Anywhere match. After Cena's acceptance, Khali Chokeslammed Cena.[6] Heading into One Night Stand, Khali Chokebombed Cena again to win a non-title match against Cena on the June 2 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV.[7]
The predominant feud on the SmackDown! brand heading into the pay-per-view was between Edge and Batista, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. The two fought each other at Judgment Day for the title, and Edge won the bout with a school boy pin.[8] On the May 25 episode of SmackDown!, General managerTheodore Long announced that Edge would defend the World Heavyweight Championship in a Steel Cage match at One Night Stand. Batista won a Fatal Four-Way match against Finlay, Kane, and Mark Henry to face Edge at the pay-per-view.[9] Batista was a guest on Edge's talk showThe Cutting Edge on the June 1 episode of SmackDown!. Towards the end of the segment, Batista punched Edge and sent him to the floor.[10] The following night, on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV, Batista and Chris Benoit defeated Edge and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a tag team match. During the match, Edge walked out, leaving MVP on his own against Batista and Benoit. Benoit gained the pinfall after performing a flying headbutt on MVP.[7]
The other primary feud featured on the One Night Stand card consisted of both Raw and ECW superstars. ECW's Bobby Lashley battled Raw's Vince McMahon for the ECW World Championship. Lashley faced Team McMahon (ECW World Champion Vince McMahon, Shane, and Umaga) in a 3-on-1 tag teamHandicap match at Judgment Day, with the ECW World Championship on the line. Lashley won the match, pinning Shane after a Dominator powerslam. After the match, however, Vince declared that Lashley had not won the title and that he was still the ECW World Champion, as he had not been pinned.[11][12] In the match, Lashley could have won the title, but not a member of Team McMahon. The following night, on the May 21 edition of Raw, Lashley was put into a Gauntlet match by Vince McMahon, with the stipulation that if he won all four of the matches in the gauntlet, he would face Vince at One Night Stand. Lashley won all four matches, defeating Chris Masters, Viscera, Umaga and Shane McMahon in succession. As a result, Lashley gained a title shot at One Night Stand in a Street Fight.[13] On the May 28 edition of Raw, Lashley teamed with WWE Champion John Cena to take on Umaga, Shane McMahon and The Great Khali in a Handicap match. Shane won the match, pinning Lashley after an elbow drop.[14] Vince was scheduled to face Lashley in an arm wrestling contest on the June 2 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV. Moments before the contest began, however, Vince bookedMark Henry as Lashley's opponent instead. During the contest, Vince attacked Lashley, hitting him with a steel chair.[7]
The first match that aired was a Stretcher match between Randy Orton and Rob Van Dam. The match went back and forth before Van Dam attempted to perform a Somersault Plancha onto Orton, but Orton moved out of the way. Orton put Van Dam on the stretcher and tried to wheel him across the finishing line. Van Dam, however, managed to kick Orton in the head and put him onto the stretcher. Van Dam wheeled the stretcher over the line for the win. After the match, Orton attacked Van Dam, executing an Elevated DDT off the barricade onto the arena floor. Van Dam was then carried out of the arena on the stretcher.[3][16]
The next match was Vince McMahon (accompanied by Shane McMahon and Umaga) against Bobby Lashley in a Street Fight for the ECW World Championship. Shane and Umaga interfered in the match, helping Vince gain the advantage. Shane performed a flying elbow drop, sending Lashley through the announce table at ringside. Back inside the ring, as Umaga was holding a trash can in front of Lashley's face in the corner, Shane attempted to execute the Coast-to-Coast dropkick; however, Lashley moved away, and Shane dropkicked the trash can into Umaga's face. Team McMahon kept the upper hand, as Umaga performed a Samoan Drop onto Lashley, which was followed by a spear from Vince. Lashley, however, gained the upper hand by hitting Vince several times with a steel chair. Lashley performed a spear on Shane and followed with a spear to Vince before pinning Vince to gain the victory and become the new ECW World Champion.[3][20]
The next match was Edge against Batista in a Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship, which could be won by pinfall, submission, or escaping the cage. During the first few minutes of the contest, Edge attempted to escape the cage many times but Batista stopped him and gained the advantage after a suplex to Edge off the top rope. Edge gained the upper hand late in the contest, performing a spear to Batista, but didn't get the pinfall. Batista regained the advantage and attempted the Batista Bomb, but Edge reversed the move. Edge climbed over the top of the cage while Batista crawled towards the door. Edge's feet hit the arena floor first, and he was declared the winner and retained his title.[3][22]
The main event was a Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWE Championship, as John Cena defended against The Great Khali. Khali had control for most of the contest, performing a spin kick and a leg drop onto Cena. The contest went into the crowd, as Khali hit Cena with a television monitor. Cena gained the advantage, swinging the boom camera by the crew set into Khali. Cena attempted to perform the FU, but Khali blocked it with his elbow. Khali regained the upper hand, scoop slamming Cena onto a crane. Cena fought back while on the crane and performed an FU to Khali off the crane onto the arena floor. Cena got the pinfall and the victory.[3][23]
Aftermath
A storyline involving Vince McMahon's "death" began the following night on Raw. He appeared traumatized from losing the ECW World Championship, acting strangely as a result.[24] This behavior continued in McMahon's appearances on all brands and culminated in a segment on the June 11 edition of Raw with McMahon entering a limousine moments before it exploded.[25] On the June 25 edition of Raw, Vince McMahon revealed that his death was part of a storyline, and that Chris Benoit and his family were legitimately dead. The show, originally scheduled to be a three-hour special dedicated to McMahon's "death," was dedicated to Benoit and highlighted matches throughout his career.
The WWE Draft also took place on Raw and resulted in The Great Khali being drafted to SmackDown!, thus ending his feud with John Cena. Bobby Lashley was drafted to Raw and was forced to relinquish his ECW World Championship.[26] Lashley, along with King Booker, Randy Orton and Mick Foley entered a feud with John Cena. On the June 18 episode of Raw, all men began cutting promos on how they deserved to be the number one contender to the WWE Championship.[27]
As part of the WWE Draft, Chris Benoit was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW.[26] In his debut on the ECW brand, Benoit teamed up with CM Punk in a tag team match against Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von, in which Benoit and Punk won.[31] On the June 19 episode of ECW, an ECW qualifying match was held in which it would determine the opponents for Vengeance for the vacant ECW World Championship.[32] The first qualifying match saw Benoit defeat Elijah Burke by submission and thus for advancing to the Vengeance finals. That same night, CM Punk went on to defeat Marcus Cor Von to advanced to the finals.[32] At Vengeance, Benoit was replaced by Johnny Nitro, after he withdrew from the match for "personal reasons".[33] Nitro defeated Punk to win the ECW World Championship.[33]
This was the last One Night Stand ever to be in 4:3 format until January 2008 when it went to high definition.
