Throwback Thursday: New Year's Revolution

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Okay, so this isn't the traditional "Throwback" post as most of them have dated back to the 1980's, but I wanted to talk about a pay per view concept the WWE held eight years ago. It was called New Year's Revolution.  The very first of these short lived pay per views was held a few days after the start of 2005.

Triple H wins
New Year's Revolution 2005
Photo courtesy: WWE

The main event on that show featured an Elimination Chamber match for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship.  Triple H regained the belt that night by defeating Edge, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Batista, and Randy Orton.  Raw GM had previously held the title up after a Triple Threat match between Benoit, Edge, and Trips ended in controversy.

The following year NYR featured another EC main event.  This time it was John Cena prevailing over Shawn Michaels, Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane, and Kurt Angle.  The cool thing about this event was it was the first time we'd ever seen a Money in the Bank briefcase cashed in.  After Cena had won the match, Edge "the Ultimate Opportunist", handed off the briefcase and hit the ring.  A spear and a three count later, and a new champion was crowned.

Edge cashes in
New Year's Revolution 2006
Photo courtesy: WWE

Edge had held on to that briefcase for nearly a year before cashing in that night.  It was brilliant planning and of course because it was the first, I think it's probably my favorite of all the cash ins.  A close second would be Daniel Bryan's moment from 2011.

The final NYR pitted Cena against Umaga in the main event.  Cena won that battle as well.  DX also went after tag team champions Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) that night, but failed to win the gold.

Cena defends against Umaga
New Year's Revolution 2007
Photo courtesy: WWE

The concept of this pay per view only last three years.  Obviously, I don't think it was much of a success or the WWE would continue having them.  I think the problem was pretty clear, the market was (is) saturated with too many wrestling events.  There was a ppv the preceding month, followed by the wildly popular Royal Rumble a couple of short weeks later.  Having that many paid events coupled with Raw and SmackDown was just too much for most wrestling fans.

Just looking back on the event, the highlight was for sure Edge's cashing in MITB and winning his first WWE championship.  That night pretty much clinched it for the Rated R Superstar and sealed his destiny as a WWE Hall of Famer.