Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

So this week an era comes to an end, and that is most likely a good thing. While ECW always provided decent wrestling at times when Raw was being overly stupid, the renovated version just never really gained momentum. I, like Richard, am really looking forward to NXT, since it is an innovative concept that will hopefully show much more than just what goes on in the ring. ECW should be remembered for the times when it actually was Extreme Championship Wrestling and not for the WWE product that became of it. This change is something that should have been done earlier.

TNA is going up head-to-head against Raw every Monday, with live shows every other week. When these two went against each other on January 4th, the quality of both shows was increased. WWE can say they do not care all they want, but when it comes down to it, I expect Raw to be elevated.

Oh and by the way WWE, way to drop the ball on The Pope, or formerly known as Elijah Burke. This guy showed on Sunday why he could be an exciting champion for TNA.

Show time.

Josh and Byron talk about the show and let us know that we will learn the cast of NXT later on in the night. But for now, it’s tag team title time.

Unified Tag Team Title Match: ShowMiz vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust
ShowMiz is out to their nicely mashed-up entrance theme. The face team is out to Yoshi’s music, looking to pull off the huge upset. Goldust and the MIz to start things off. Goldust hits a couple of swift shoulder blocks for a one count. He hits an inverted atomic drop and tags in Yoshi, who gets in some double team offense reminiscent of Miz and Morrison back in the day. Yoshi is moving very quickly as he hits a couple of running crossbodies and a rollup for a near fall. Goldust is in and gets a one count before Miz rolls out of the ring. Miz runs around the ring and tags in Show. Goldust never realized it and he gets grounded with a headbutt. Show stares at a prone Goldust as we head to commercial.

Miz has a neck submission hold applied on Goldust. He powers away from Miz and both men make tags. Yoshi desperately tries to use his kicks to hurt the big man but he gets hit with a huge slap to the chest. He gets one more slap for his troubles. Show destroys Yoshi and tags in Miz. Another submission applied. Show gets tagged in and he basically throws Miz into Yoshi. Submission locked in. Show breaks the hold and hits another headbutt before making a tag. Miz hits his patented clothesline in the corner with a little help from Show for a near fall. Yoshi flails away and is able to connect with a spinning elbow. Yoshi gets the tag and Goldust is a house of fire. He hits a boatload of offense ending with a snap powerslam. Goldust breaks the pin after seeing Show start to get in the ring. Yoshi tries to take on the big man but he gets thrown to the outside. Show then hits a big punch to the gut of Goldust while the ref is looking at Yoshi. Skull-crushing finale connects. It’s over.
Winners: ShowMiz

That was an obvious ending, but Yoshi and Goldust put up a pretty decent fight. Things started pretty quickly as both faces were really stepping it up for this final episode. The ending was a little flat, however, and I kind of wished they gave Yoshi and Goldust a little more offense at the end of the match. Nonetheless, ShowMiz retains in a solid title bout.
**1/2

Josh and Byron talk about NXT some more and we get a couple of graphics showing teams of pros and rookies. The two teams shown are Chris Jericho & Wade Barrett and Matt Hardy & Justin Gabriel.

Tiffany is backstage addressing ECW for the final time. She plugs NXT some more until she is interrupted by Zack Ryder. Zack wants to know why he’s not involved in the ECW title match. Tiffany brings up the fact that Zack already lost to Christian, and Rosa starts spewing Spanish at the GM. Tiffany says she doesn’t care what language the question is in because the answer is still no. Zack says it’s Extreme Rules and he can interrupt the match if he wants. Woo. Woo. Woo.

Nice little segment there to get Zack some TV time and also foreshadow a possible interference on his part in the title match. Could Ryder cause Christian to lose his title? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Another graphic shows us that MVP will be mentoring rookie Skip Sheffield.

The Abraham Washington Show
Wonderful. Last episode of ECW and we still get this. Abe and Tony are in the ring for this edition of the most boring talk show I have seen in….well, ever. The crowd boos the hell out of him, and rightfully so. Abe screws up the city they are in and Tony is just having a ball over there in the corner of the ring. Abe says that once the show is over, he will become a free agent (and hopefully stay that way for years to come). Apparently Lebron and Kobe aren’t even as big free agents as Abe is. He plus NXT, just like everyone else has been doing tonight, and now he is ready to introduce his final special guest. He introduces himself as the biggest star in the company. Awesome. He starts to interview himself until Shelton’s music interrupts. Abe rips on Shelton a little bit, but then he realizes he can’t wrestle. Shelton tells him that the show sucks and the crowd applauds. He starts talking about free agent status until Archer enters the scene. Abe tries to keep things apart but Archer just wants to say that if Shelton is on the same show as himself, there are going to be serious problems. Enter Croft and Barreta. Apparently we are all wondering where Barreta and Croft are going to end up, but they are interrupted by Mr. Vladimir Kozlov. Surprisingly, he gets a semi-decent pop. He talks Russian in everyone’s face, and once Archer brings up the fact that we’re in America, they start going at it. Kozlov and Shelton take care of everyone else. They shake hands and pose in the ring.

Well this was done to get just about everyone screen time on the last episode. Thank god Abe didn’t get to interview himself for that long or else I would have just stopped watching. Having Shelton and Kozlov shake hands is a good way to get the Russian over, but what’s the point?

Another two pairings are announced: Carlito & Michael Tarver and The Miz & Daniel Bryan (what a lame name). Christian will also be in on the action, mentoring rookie Heath Slater.

ECW Championship Extreme Rules Match: Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson
These two should definitely give us a good bout for this last match ever on ECW. Christian grabs a mic after entering the ring. He talks about returning to the WWE and saying that some people saw that as a demotion. Instead, ECW feels like home to him. He gives props to Tommy Dreamer in a very nice gesture. He enjoyed mentoring young stars and liked it even more as the longest running current champion in the company. He says he will always be proud of what he was a part of. Even more, he will be proud to have been the last ECW champ. Commercial time.

Another graphic show us that CM Punk will be mentoring rookie Darren Young.

Big Zeke is out looking dominant with William Regal by his side. Savannah does the formal introductions and we are ready to go. Zeke showcases his power early but he gets hit with a right and ends up outside the ring. He beats up on Christian a little, throws him back in the ring, and grabs some weapons. Zeke gets to the apron but Christian uses a few rights and a kendo stick to get him back to the outside. Ryder gets involved and attacks Christian from behind. It fails, as he ends up walking into a flapjack right onto the trash can. Christian disposes of Zack, but Rosa gets into the ring and bitchslaps the champ. At that point Tiffany comes running down the ramp and spears Rosa. She gets her outside the ring and yells at Rosa and Zack to get out of here. They back up the ramp in pain as we head to a break.

Christian heads to the top rope but Zeke shoves him off and down to the floor. Zeke follows and throws him into the security barrier. He rams Christian into the steel steps and tries to hit him with the trash can, but it is avoided. Christian dropkicks the trash can right into Zeke’s face. Zeke regains control and throws Christian shoulder first into the steps. After a little exchange, Zeke sends Christian right through a shopping cart. Pin attempt back in the ring gets a near fall. Christian avoids a charge and hits a kick from the apron into Zeke’s face, with a trash can lid sandwiched in-between. He follows up with a crossbody from the top rope for a near fall. Zeke fights back with a big takedown of Christian + garbage can and that gets another two count. Zeke heads under the ring and grabs a table. Regal helps him, but once they put the table on the apron, Christian dropkicks the table into both of them. He gets Zeke back in the ring for a two count. Zeke throws Christian down into the table on the canvas and gets a long two count for his efforts. Now he sets up the table and looks to put Christian through it with a superplex. Christian almost counters with a tornado DDT through the table but Zeke pushes him away. The champ grabs a kendo stick and starts swinging away. He chases Regal to the back with an obvious limp and continues the assault. Flying elbow connects. He looks for the Killswitch, but Regal runs back and gets involved. Christian avoids a running knee and hits the Killswitch on him. He turns around and Zeke grabs him and hits his finisher through the table. And we have a new ECW champ!
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

I definitely enjoyed that match, and although there was plenty of outside influence, I thought it was done well. Surprise of the match was Tiffany hitting the vicious spear on Rosa. Both men worked exceptionally well to deliver nice spots and give us a good ending match. Zeke will go down as the last ECW champ, but hopefully this just means Christian is ready to be seriously elevated on another brand, preferably Smackdown.
***

Josh and Byron talk a little bit more about NXT and show us one more graphic, which tells us that R-Truth will team up with rookie David Otunga. The last moment of ECW shows Regal and Jackson posing on the ramp, ECW title in hand.

Show Rating: B+

The Good: Both of the matches were enjoyable, and it was good to see the ECW roster get face time on the last episode in one way or another. And Tiffany is finally getting fiesty!

The Bad: The Abe Washington show is a given here, but hopefully that was the last of him and his stupid talk show. I sort of feel bad for Tony Atlas. Nothing else was bad on the show, even with me being picky.

The Ugly: ECW in the WWE era is the winner here. Like I said before, there is no way this compares to the ECW of old in terms of extreme. The PG era really doesn’t help much here. But ECW was the place for good wrestling matches and decent feuds with up and coming stars. And while it will be missed, we look forward to NXT.

Later.

Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

First off, I COMPLETELY disagree with the decision to give Miz and Big Show the tag titles. Punk and Gallows should have easily been given the nod with the amount of heat the Straight Edge Society gets on Smackdown. Having them as heels on both shows is much more effective in my mind than Miz and Big Show. I’m not knocking the talent of MIz and Big Show, but the situation definitely called for a straight-edge victory. Either way, we got what most people wanted, which is DX finally looking like it has reached the end of the road.

Can Bret Hart compete in a singles match at Wrestlemania? God no. Hart vs. McMahon might have been acceptable five years ago, but for 2010, I’d rather see Batista vs. Cena in a street fight with each guy in his superstars’ respective corner. It will be easy enough to get both McMahon and Hart involved while also giving the fans a decent match from two of the big superstars in the company today. Besides that, I have actually semi-enjoyed Cena so far in this role, and I hope that the booking continues on the right path with this feud.

As reported on WNW over the past week, NXT is looking to be more like a reality show than anything else. Obviously that will make major changes to this blog, but those details will be ironed out in the next couple of weeks.

But for now, it’s show time.

Most of the ECW Superstars are sitting backstage waiting for Tiffany to address them. She says ECW is going off the air in two weeks, but it is a great thing because they will be free agents and will be able to go to another brand. She says she is honored to have been their GM (aka do nothing) and the superstars should take the next two weeks to impress everyone. Tiffany pulls out a drink and tells Zack to lighten up. After all, the Saints won the Super Bowl. Ryder is a bit pissed off at this but Tiffany disses him and walks away. Then the opening video hits.

The main event will be Shelton Benjamin vs. Vance Archer in a no count-out, no DQ match.

Match #1: Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust vs. Trent Barreta & Caylen Croft
The winners of this match will receive a tag title shot on the final episode of ECW. The chances of that team winning are not good at all, but the card is going to be beefed up a little next week since it is the last ECW ever. Goldust and Barreta kick things off. Hip toss and Yoshi is tagged in for a little double-team offense and a one count. After a little exchange and a couple of rollups, Yoshi hits the arm drag. Barreta back Yoshi up into his corner and gets Croft into the action. Two one counts from the stubborn Croft. Barreta is back in and he hits a swift elbow for yet another one count. Neck submission applied. Yoshi gets to his feet, is able to send Barreta face first into the top turnbuckle, and gets over to tag in Goldust. He hits plenty of hot offense before Barreta slides to the outside. They run around a little bit, and as Barreta slides back into the ring, he tags in Croft. Goldust does not see that and Croft hits a chop block from behind. Goldust is down as we head to a break.

Croft and Barreta are targeting the injured left leg of Goldust. Croft tries an Irish whip but Goldust falls down before making it to the other corner. The targeted offense continues. Two count. Barreta tries his own pin attempt and still gets a near fall. Leg submission applied. Goldust strikes out and tries getting to Yoshi but Barreta sends him back down to the canvas. Croft is back and he keeps things centered on the left leg. Goldust is desperately flailing away, trying to fight back, but the heels control him. Barreta applies another submission in the center of the ring. He breaks the hold and sends Croft in, who gets a near fall. Barreta is back in and he hits that stupid move I hated on in previous blogs. One more submission for the hat trick. Goldust fights out and almost gets to his corner, but Barreta stops him and takes out Yoshi in the process. Goldust connects with a dropkick, but cannot tag in Yoshi, who is hurt on the outside. He rolls through a pin attempt and gets off a quick powerslam. Both men are down. Yoshi and Croft both get the tags. Yoshi hits a ton of quick offense with his legs and gets a near fall for his efforts. He heads to the top and connects with a big spinning heel kick. The pin attempt is broken up by Barreta. Goldust is able to limp in and hit a bulldog, which takes both himself and Barreta out of the ring. Yoshi hits the big kick and gets the three count as Croft shows the wounds of war with a bloody mouth.
Winners: Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust

This was an enjoyable tag match that really centered around the beatdown of Goldust. He sold the injured leg very well, and by the time he finally got over to Yoshi for the tag, the crowd was loving it. I do believe Goldust and Yoshi will have a good match against the Miz and Show next week, but their chances of winning have to be pretty close to zero. Nice match.
**1/2

Video for the first inductee into the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame: Ted DiBiase.

Match #2: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Perry Wallace
Perry who? Well he’s from the hometown, so maybe he can win!! Zeke shoves him and screams at Perry to get up. Perry tries fighting back but gets rammed into the corner. Zeke stomps away and throws him across the ring. He hits a huge clothesline and his finisher. It’s over.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

Competitive.
n/a

Perry gets thrown out of the ring and Regal gets in with a mic. Regal says the events that occurred in the ECW title match were a travesty. Obviously there is a bias against them since Regal was thrown out of ringside by the ref. Regal rips on Tiffany and women in the workplace. He implores Tiffany to make her last decision on ECW her finest. He wants Tiffany to grant Zeke a rematch for the ECW title on the last episode of the show. Zeke grabs the mic and tells Christian he’s gonna get his ass kicked next week if the match goes down and be the final ECW champ.

It is hard to get too excited about a title match for a show that is about to reach its end. But if Christian accepts the challenge, which I’m sure he will, the two of them will give us all they got in what is most likely to be the last match of ECW.

Speak of the devil, here’s Christian backstage. He rips on Regal a little bit and then accepts the challenge. But for the last episode of ECW, the match is going to be contested under Extreme Rules.

Match #3: Shelton Benjamin vs. Vance Archer (no count-out, no DQ)
Shelton is out first and he’s got a little something to say. He starts with Who Dat and the crowd loves it. He said when he came to ECW, he was angry because he was too talented for the show. But his first week on ECW, he was beaten by Yoshi in about ten seconds. That was his wake-up call and the stars of ECW earned his respect week after week. He made friends and did things he never thought he would do. He says he will miss all of them except one: Vance. He is a backstabber. Tonight, Shelton’s last ECW moment will be beating Vance like never before.

Shelton wins the shoulder block battle for the very early advantage. Another shoulder block encounter won by Shelton, and Vance rolls out of the ring. Vance gets back in and pounds away at Shelton in the corner. Shelton fights back with some strikes and an elbow. He turns a rollup attempt into a half Boston crab. Vance gets to the ropes but it doesn’t matter in this match. Vance heads to the top but gets hit with a nice enseguri, sending him crashing down to the outside. Commercial time.

Vance whips out a kendo stick but Shelton blocks it with a chair. He winds up and takes a swing but Vance avoids it. Archer sends Shelton hard onto the security railing. He gets Shelton back into the ring for a near fall. Shelton is bleeding a little from his forehead and of course THEY STOP THE MATCH. How depressing. Talk about a momentum killer. Finally the guy is done and Shelton hits furious offense. He gets Vance up to the top for a superplex but it is countered with a massive spinebuster. Long two count. Vance rips the padding off the top turnbuckle. He sends Shelton’s left arm into the exposed steel. He now has a body part to target. Submission applied. He tries fighting out but gets sent chest first into the corner. Two count. Bear hug applied. Shelton fights out and is able to hit his springboard forearm. He hits a couple of strikes and connects with a Dragon whip for a near fall. German suplex connects. Shelton lands on the second rope after Vance avoids a charge in the corner. He continues on to the top rope and hits a nice neckbreaker. Paydirt connects and this one is finished.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin

I definitely liked the match, but it might have gotten a little higher rating had the match not been stopped for the blood. People have to realize that while superstars may not cut themselves open anymore, bleeding will happen, and killing the momentum of matches like that is not good for anyone. Anyway, there were a couple of nice spots in this contest, including the spinebuster from the top rope, and it was good to see Shelton get a golden sendoff from ECW.
**1/2

Show Rating: C+.

The Good: Both the opening and ending matches of the show were good, while Christian’s promo helped to build a match that is hard to get excited for. If anything, the last episode of ECW should deliver, and I fully expect the champs to stay the same in both title matches.

The Bad: The squash match for Ezekiel Jackson now is just pointless. I can see squash matches for new superstars, but Zeke has established himself as a contender already. If you want to build him up some more, have him face someone else, maybe even Regal in an interesting announcement from Tiffany or something like that. Do not put Zeke up against a nobody, since it does nothing for him now.

The Ugly: While a crimson mask is not exactly a pretty sight, seeing one every now and again would not be the worst thing in the world. At the very least, let matches continue when a wrestler gets legitimately busted open. While the product is trying to cater to the younger audience, the reality is that if you’re going to get in a fight, you will most likely bleed. These guys can handle the blood, so do not stop it and make the match afterwards insignificant.

Later.

Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

Plenty of mixed reactions from the Royal Rumble PPV. At times I felt like I was watching Judgement Day or Cyber Sunday instead of one of the biggest PPVs of the year. I am going to concise my analysis of PPVs somewhat from here on out, considering that there is plenty of opinions coming in from all parts of this site.

Royal Rumble 2010 Ratings:
Christian def. Ezekiel Jackson: ***
The Miz def. MVP: **
Sheamus def. Randy Orton (via DQ): **3/4
Mickie James def. Michelle McCool: N/A
The Undertaker def. Rey Mysterio: ***1/4
Edge wins Royal Rumble: ***1/2

While none of the matches (with the exception of the Women’s title segment) were complete duds, nothing was overly spectacular either. The highest ratings from the Royal Rumble should not be equal to the highest ratings I give for some matches on ECW and Superstars.

The Royal Rumble match is always something I enjoy, and I particularly liked CM Punk in the ring. Unfortunately, Trips got involved and took him out much earlier than what should have happened. Edge is back with a vengeance, and props to Chris for making the out there prediction and hitting the nail on the head.

Undertaker and Mysterio had the best match on the undercard, but since when do people lose to Last Rides these days?

I found the ECW match to be enjoyable, although Zeke still has a ways to go in the ring. With ECW going through renovations, maybe Christian should move to Raw or Smackdown and at the very least be the favorite in the MITB match at WM.

Sheamus vs. Orton was interesting to watch but the ending was just retarded. I listened to Richard’s take on the RR and I completely agree with everything he said regarding this match. The Legacy angle may be a big deal, but nothing should be a bigger deal than the major title.

MVP and Miz was thrown together, and maybe if it was announced beforehand, I would have enjoyed it more. And thank goodness Mickie got that title. I do not want to see Michelle anywhere near it after this.

Elimination Chamber is coming up quickly already, and while I like where story lines are going, the PPV matches need to deliver. The company better realize that the RR looked like Cyber Sunday and things need to be kicked into a higher gear on the Road to Wrestlemania.

Show time.

The Abraham Washington Show
Oh no. Whatever Vince says about ECW later on in the show better involve the removal of these stupid time consuming segments. But let’s see if I can be proved wrong this time. He makes a lame joke talking about NBC trying to steal him away and give him a job. He asks Tony why he turned down the job, and Tony tells him the truth and says he sucks. Actually, the real reason he stayed is for the WWE Universe. Well lucky us! He makes a couple more bad jokes and rips on Tony before finally introducing Christian as his guest. Abe congratulates him and brings up the fact that Christian has the longest title reign in the company. He talks about accepting more challenges and is interrupted by Zack Ryder. Zack wants to talk about the Hurricane and brings up the drunk fight Helms got into recently. Now Zack definitely wants everyone to refer to himself as the heart and soul superhero of ECW. Christian thinks Ryder is just jealous that Helms made it on TMZ, or that Helms gets recognized. Christian says everyone makes mistakes, using Tiffany as an example by saying she made a mistake giving Abe a talk show. Couldn’t agree more. The obvious mistake Ryder made is hooking up with Tila Tequila. They shove each other but Abe and Tony break it up and end the show.

That could have been much worse. Once Abe was basically taken out of the equation and Christian ran with it, things got pretty interesting and watchable. Obvious hit on Helms there for what happened this past week, and I would not be surprised if we never see him wrestle another match. A Christian and Ryder feud could be intriguing, just as long as Zack learns all he can from one of the best.

Match #1: Shelton Benjamin vs. Vance Archer
We get a recap of Archer’s sneak attack from last week in what might be the end of this mini feud. Shelton beats the crap out of Vance in the corner, causing the ref to basically drag him away. He knocks Vance out of the ring, who then takes a little time to regroup. He does not get enough though, because Shelton connects with a suicide dive. Archer takes control with a kick to the chest back in the ring and goes to the sleeper. Shelton counters out with a back suplex. Vance goes back outside the ring. Shelton tries another high risk move, but it is avoided and he goes head first into the security rail. Both men are trying to get their wits about them as we head to a break.

Benjamin is stuck in an arm submission hold. The hold is broken and a hard Irish whip ensues. Suplex is followed up with a near fall. Archer goes right back to the arm submission. Shelton fights out only to run into a sidewalk slam for another near fall. Third submission applied. A couple of kicks to the head of Vance breaks the hold. Now he builds momentum with a chop block and a couple of takedowns. He wrenches at the left knee, tries for a splash, but gets an elbow in the face. Shelton counters another suplex attempt with a neckbreaker. Two count. Archer counters a rollup attempt with his own pin, but they are too close to the ropes to count. Archer rolls him up again and uses the ropes for leverage to get the three count.
Winner: Vance Archer

The finish was most likely botched with the awkward pin attempt and the blatant hold of the ropes. Besides that, the match was just okay and saw both men target certain body parts. With that finish, it looks like the feud will continue for at least another week. Although the matches have been fine, nothing has impressed me yet about this. Hopefully if they have another match, things will step up a bit.
**

It is announced that Christian will take on Zack Ryder later on in the show.

Match #2: Yoshi Tatsu (w/Goldust) vs. Trent Barreta (w/Caylen Croft)
I wonder if Yoshi and Goldust play Guitar Hero too. Anyway, the end of Barreta’s music and the stare-down in the ring really made me feel like I was playing Mortal Kombat or something cool on the Sega Genesis. Now those were the days. Yoshi hits a dropkick and an armdrag after a nice quick exchange. Barreta tries throwing Yoshi out but it fails. Yoshi almost connects with his big kick but Barreta ducks and gets to the ropes. Barreta hits a cheap shot and starts the beatdown. Standing dropkick hits for a near fall. Neck submission applied. Yoshi runs into a boot but fights back with a back drop. Yoshi hits his kicks and knees and picks up a near fall. He goes to the top rope and Barreta meets him there. Superplex attempt fails, but Barreta jumps right back up and hits a head scissors. Yoshi rolls through but Barreta counters that with a pin attempt and a long two count. Barreta argues with the ref. Bad idea. He turns, gets kicked into the next state, and that’s the end of this match.
Winner: Yoshi Tatsu

Too short of a match to really break down, but Yoshi and Trent showed some nice chemistry with a couple of succinct exchanges. Can Yoshi keep things going and get to the next level? It’s tough to tell, but if he wants to get there, he has his work cut out for him.
**

Mr. McMahon Addresses Future of ECW
The Chairman of the Board enters to a mixed reaction from the crowd. He proudly says to us that ECW will be going off the air in three weeks time. He gets the crowd hyped for a new innovative show that will be broadcast at the same time as ECW currently airs. He talks about it being the next generation and evolution of TV and then takes his leave.

Well, the end of ECW is officially arriving after all the talk and rumors about what just might happen. I am definitely intrigued to see what new direction this show takes, and what will happen to stars like Christian, Regal, and so on. Without a doubt, developmental stars will be called up, but just how many and what the changes will be like is something we will have to wait for.

In-Ring Segment: Gregory Helms, Ezekiel Jackson, William Regal
Well would you look at that, Gregory Helms has been demoted to interviewing. He introduces Ezekiel Jackson, who is accompanied, as always, by William Regal. Helms wants to know how Zeke will get past the disappointment of losing at the RR. Regal says Helms has been through a trying week, and Helms agrees and says he is just going to do his job. Unfortunately, the week is about to get worse for Helms. Zeke and Regal attack Helms. He tries to fight back, but the numbers are just too much. They have a party of the finishers in the ring before Christian runs in with a kendo stick and cleans house.

Well I guess it is a big random for Regal and Zeke to be beating the crap out of Helms, but Vince has probably decided this is the way to go to punish Helms for his actions. This actually could be the start of a feud and a return to the ring for Helms, although that still may be unlikely.

Match #3: Christian vs. Zack Ryder (w/Rosa Mendes)
Zack wins the shoulder block battle and is feeling pretty good about himself. He loses the second one and is already reeling. He gains the advantage with a few strikes and stomps to the champ. Christian fights back with a spinning heel kick but gets caught with a shoulder to the gut. He slides under Ryder and pulls his legs out, sending Zack face first into the apron. He then connects with a dropkick through the ropes and Zack goes crashing to the floor. Back in the ring, Christian tries a dropkick from the second rope, but he gets caught and sent neck first into the bottom rope. Ryder stomps away and hits a swift leg drop for a two count. Neck submission applied. Christian fights out but gets caught with the leg lariat. Two count. Christian again fights away and heads to the top rope, but Ryder meets him there. Instead of a superplex, Ryder gets shoved off and hit with a crossbody. Another two count. Ryder hits an elbow and goes to the second rope for an axe handle, but Christian counters with a flapjack. Dropkick from the top rope connects. Two count. Christian tries a sunset flip, but Ryder sits down on him and gets a LONG two count. Ryder gets hit with a kick to the face and a flying elbow from the second rope. He sets up for the Killswitch and it connects. But before he can go for the pin, enter Zeke and Regal.
Winner: Christian (via DQ)

Zeke catches Christian with a big takedown and the action spills to the outside. Regal hits his running knee and Zeke throws him back first into the steel ring steps. Zeke is feeling pretty good as the show ends.

The actual match was good, but it felt more so because of the work of Christian. Ryder still has not done anything that could be considered different or innovative. I am afraid that if he does not start implementing new moves, he will get lost in the scuffle. It looks like Zeke is going to get another title shot in the near future, although who knows if there will even be a title in three weeks time.
**1/2

Show Rating: B

The Good: Christian continues to impress each and every week with his excellent in-ring work. I really don’t think it is possible for him to have a match that isn’t enjoyable. The other matches on the show were okay, although Yoshi and Barreta was a little too short to give an accurate view on. Also, the renovation of Tuesday nights goes in this section. Mr. McMahon’s announcement is something I see as a positive thing, since hopefully the show will continue to give quality matches from the stars of tomorrow.

The Bad: While Shelton and Vance had a decent match, the finish was an obvious botch. I commend them for trying to be a bit creative, but there was just too much going on at once for that idea to work. The Abraham Washington show was somewhat saved by Christian, but it still needs to go. Nothing he says is funny. How is that entertaining?

The Ugly: The situation with Gregory Helms is just not pretty at all. I hope we will see the Hurricane in action again soon, but who knows if the company will even decide to keep him around. Even worse, the company, like every other bad situation a wrestler encounters, makes it into a storyline. Sometimes pride is a good thing to have.

The top ECW matches list will be on hiatus until after the Elimination Chamber, since having a top ten list with only thirteen matches to choose from is not much of an interest.

Later.

Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

I am definitely looking forward to the Royal Rumble this weekend. The Rumble match is guaranteed to be entertaining and we can look for a couple of surprise entrances thrown in. Undertaker and Rey had a really good but short match on Smackdown a few weeks back and they should deliver again. Sheamus and Orton will be okay and the end of Legacy is most likely here. As for the ECW title, that match could be hit or miss, but I am looking forward to it anyway. But I will stop talking about the RR for now, since there will be a MEGA PREDICTION party happening on the blog spot this weekend.

Mickie James is hot. End of story.

Oh and by the way, totally did not plan for my title to look almost exactly like Paul’s this week. Just a funny coincidence. But anywho…

Show time.

Opening Segment: William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, Christian
The pyros explode and we open the show with William Regal already in the ring and ready to talk. He introduces the #1 contender, Ezekiel Jackson. We get footage from last week of the beatdown on Christian. Zeke talks about last week and says the same will happen on Sunday. The end has come for Christian. That is about the time Christian’s music hits. He says he likes biblical quotes as well, which is fitting since he is christian. He goes into a quote from the book of Ezekiel about striking down those who attempt to hurt their brothers. A little improvisation on the quote with the use of the word peeps, but I like the change. Zeke finds none of it funny and says Christian has never faced anyone like him. Christian runs down the guys he has defended the title against, including the creepy pale British dude in the ring, and says he will find a way. He mentions that last week was two-on-one, but this week, he has evened the score. And here comes Kane.

Zeke sounded a little weird on the mic, but he was not terrible. He has a good look and while it was not fabulous, the mic work should only improve as time goes on. Christian did his thing as usual, and bringing Kane back actually makes sense, something that happens sporadically in the world of the WWE.

Match #1: Christian & Kane vs. William Regal & Ezekiel Jackson
Christian and Regal start off with some real wrestling until Regal says that is enough and tags in Zeke. Christian does the right thing and tags in Kane, almost like Pokemon back in the day if you knew your strengths and weaknesses. Good times. A shoulder block ends in a draw and Zeke yells at and mocks Kane. A side headlock turns into another shoulder block draw, and now Zeke is starting to sound like Clubber Lang. Kane shuts him up with a couple of big uppercuts and a clothesline. Two count. The tag is made to Christian, who is able to hit some quick strikes on the big man. Zeke uses his strength for a scoop slam but Christian avoids an elbow and makes the tag. Kane works over the left arm. Zeke pushes Kane over to his corner and now Regal is in. He stomps away at Kane’s left leg. He continues to target that body part. Submission applied. Kane powers out but cannot get anywhere, and the tag is made to Zeke. The offense keeps coming with a shoulder block and a splash in the corner. One count. Another submission applied. Kane powers out, avoids a charge from Zeke, and tags in Christian. He hits a couple of strikes and a missile dropkick for a near fall. Killswitch attempts fails, but the inverted DDT finds the mark. He takes out Regal and throws Zeke to the outside. Christian then connects with a springboard splash on both men. He has the momentum big time as we head to commercial.

Dropkick from Kane on the seated Zeke connects. Two count. Christian is in, but Zeke uses his power to whip the ECW champ over the top rope. Regal gets in Christian’s face, but the champ attacks him. He turns around and walks into a big clothesline from Zeke. Regal is now the legal man and he hits an elbow for a near fall. Submission applied. He fights out and tries a springboard sunset flip, but it only gets two. Regal is right back up and connects with a big left hand. Zeke is in and he hits a scoop slam. Painful backbreaker connects for a two count. Zeke sends Christian back first into the turnbuckle and tags in Regal. After plenty of stomps in the corner, a butterfly suplex finds another two count. Zeke is back and he continues to hit clubbing blows. Submission applied. Christian almost gets to Kane but Zeke takes him out. Kane tries to get revenge, but that just allows for some double team offense by the heels. Long two count. Regal is in and he hits uppercuts and knees to the face. He puts Christian on the top rope for a big move, but instead gets caught with a flying elbow. Christian gets to Kane for the hot tag, who hits Regal with huge strikes and a backdrop. He hits a couple more clotheslines in the corner and a sidewalk slam. Kane ventures to the top and hits the flying clothesline. He tries for the chokeslam but Zeke gets involved. Christian hits a right and Kane follows up with a big boot to knock the big guy down. Kane tags in Christian and throws him halfway across the ring for a crossbody on Zeke. Kane and Zeke get into it on the outside as Christian looks to connect with the Killswitch on Regal. He counters with a nice T-bone suplex. Zeke wins the battle on the outside by throwing Kane into the steel ring post. Christian counters the running knee with a Killswitch, but Zeke was able to make a blind tag during the process. Zeke gets in and connects with his finisher for the win and the big momentum builder.
Winners: William Regal & Ezekiel Jackson

Maybe I am just in a good mood or something, but I thought that was one of the best TV tag matches in a good while in the WWE. The only weakness of the match was the encounters of Kane and Zeke, but those were kept to a minimum. This bout had me intrigued from start to finish, and innovative spots such as Christian’s springboard or the double team from the faces kept people guessing. There were plenty of counters and I definitely did not know when this match would end. I highly recommend checking this out if you want to see a very well done high TV quality tag team match.
***1/2

Backstage Segment: Shelton Benjamin, Vance Archer
Shelton is backstage, and he starts to talk about the Royal Rumble and being the last man standing. As he starts to talk about headlining Wrestlemania, Vance comes in with a sneak attack. He says the attack is reality, and all Shelton has are hopes and dreams.

The only purpose this served was to continue this mini feud. As much as I would love to see Shelton get the nod and win the Rumble, the chances of that happening hover around zero percent.

Match #2: Zack Ryder, Caylen Croft, & Trent Barreta vs. The Hurricane, Goldust, & Yoshi Tatsu
Hurricane, Goldust, and Yoshi all on one tag team? Now that is as crazy as it gets! This match will have to be quite a sensation to be the best of the night, but let’s see what these six can do. Croft and Goldust to kick things off. Goldust propels Croft face first into the ring post and follows up with a clothesline. He takes out the rest of the heels before hitting an inverted atomic drop and a kick to the face. One count. Leg drop connects, which is followed with a nice arm drag. Hurricane is in, and he hits a nice heel kick. Croft kicks out at two, not because he wanted to, but because Rosa was shrieking at him to kick out. Ryder is in, but Hurricane goes right to work on his left arm. Hurricane tells Ryder what’s up and sends up flying to the outside. Chaos almost breaks out in the ring, but Croft and Barreta quickly scram as we head to commercial.

Yoshi hits a nice arm drag on Croft and gets him right into the armbar. Goldust is in and he continues the work on the arm. Croft fights out and tags in Barreta, but he runs into about the fifth arm drag of the match. Don’t you think they would see it coming by now? In comes the Hurricane, who hits a couple of super strikes and a hurricarana. He calls for the Shining Wizard but Barreta rolls to the apron. Hurricane dropkicks him to the outside. The suicide dive connects. Ryder distracts Hurricane, and Barreta is able to use a chop block to gain the advantage. Ryder is tagged in and he rams Hurricane’s head against the apron. Croft is in and he gets a near fall. Submission applied. Hurricane counters with a rollup for a two count. Croft pops right back up with a clothesline for a near fall. Barreta is in and uses one of the most retarded moves in tag team history by faking a splash and instead just brushing the side of Hurricane’s head. Hurricane tries fighting out but gets caught with a dropkick. Two count. Crossface applied. He throws Hurricane to the ground and tags in Ryder. Neckbreaker connects for another near fall. He goes right to the neck submission hold. Sunset flip by the Hurricane gets a two count. Ryder gets right back up and makes sure Hurricane cannot make a tag. Croft is in for some more delivery of punishment. Hurricane can barely move as a submission is locked in. Hurricane gets out of things with a backdrop after Croft gets caught up with Goldust. Shining Wizard find the mark and Croft is out cold. Barreta and Yoshi get the tags. Yoshi hits some nice kicks and a backdrop while taking out the rest of the team in the process. Spinning heel kick from the top rope hits but the pin attempt is broken up by Ryder. Goldust takes care of Croft while Yoshi connects with his big kick to the head of Barreta for the three count.
Winners: The Hurricane, Goldust, & Yoshi Tatsu

Although the beatdown of the Hurricane seemed to drag on at times, this was a good six man tag with the most diverse team ever getting the victory. Ryder still did not do much out of the ordinary tonight. Yoshi is fun to watch with his quick offense and kicks while Hurricane and Goldust performed well. Good match, although it might have been better suited opening up the show
**1/2

Show Rating: A-

The Good: Once again, there were only two matches on the card, but both of them delivered. The first tag match is something you should definitely catch, as it was extremely entertaining and provided nice build towards the Royal Rumble. The six man tag was done well, and the Shelton Archer stuff was just a way to keep the feud going.

The Bad: It is pretty hard to find bad stuff in this episode, but I’ll be picky. A couple of minutes during the Hurricane beatdown were a bit boring, and the stuff between Zeke and Kane was somewhat entertaining but not nearly as good wrestling wise.

The Ugly: If I ever see Barreta use that retarded move again, I will have to complain big time. And although this has been mentioned before as ugly, it must be brought up again. Hey Rosa, you’re cute and all that, but no screaming and shrieking. Got it? Thanks.

Later.

Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

Val Venis going over Daniels is just wrong. Basically TNA is saying, “Chris, we love your in-ring abilities, but you will be stuck jobbing to faded mid-carders from now on. Have a good day.”

The main event was another fabulous match between Angle and AJ, and I am intrigued to see where the Styles heel angle goes with Flair in his corner. After reading the Impact spoilers, however, that might change quickly.

Raw finally showed build toward the Royal Rumble match, but there needs to be some more wrestling on the show. The HBK Taker interaction and the continuation of the likely Legacy breakup angle was done well.

I am back at school now, so it will be much tougher for me to get the blogs up almost immediately after the show like I have done the past couple of weeks. If you read my Superstars blog regularly you know I do like to make sure I am prompt, so always expect the report to be up no later than 6PM Eastern time the next day.

Show time.

A recap video of the battle royal precedes the opening segment, and that is followed by an announcement of the main event of the evening, pitting Christian against William Regal in a rematch from Superstars. I could watch those two wrestle any day of the week.

The Abe Washington Santino Marella Show w/ Vladimir Kozlov
Dismay quickly turned to jubilation upon finding out that Santino would be hosting the show instead of Abe, although I am disappointed that I will not be able to rip Abe apart tonight. He introduces himself as the guest host and gets a nice pop. He talks about Abe getting an intestinal illness and Tony gives his wonderful laugh. Santino then proceeds to teach Tony some Italian. He introduces Kozlov, who still succeeds at getting no crowd reaction. Let the battle of the accents begin. Vladimir gets comfortable as Santino makes another bad joke so that we don’t miss Abe too much. They talk about the people not liking Vladimir all too much. He admits it (thank god) and traces it back to a Ukrainian biker gang. He says the U.S. is good but people still do not like him because he was a bad Russian guy. The crowd agrees and boos him. Vladimir is apparently mistaken for Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. Good movie by the way. “If he dies, he dies.” Anywho, Santino is on the ball with his Drago impersonation. The torture continues as Kozlov tells his love for Wal-Mart, cheese fries and Hannah Montana (pedophile?). Santino wants the two of them to become a tag team since they have tons in common. The crowd definitely does not want this to happen. Kozlov screams no and Tony and Santino take us out.

Stupid, absolutely stupid. There are some good wrestlers on the ECW roster that have to be in the back pissed off at this show for taking up TV time they could have. Santino is usually funny, but this was just plain dumb. Probably the worst way to start off the show

Match #1: Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu vs. Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta
So apparently Barreta and Croft play Guitar Hero while preparing for matches. I wonder if they wear messed up matching pants when they do that too. Goldust and Croft to start things off. Goldust gets on top early with a clothesline, scoop slam, and an arm drag before Croft fights out and tags in Barreta. He does not fare much better and gets caught with another deep arm drag. Inverted atomic drop connects and Yoshi is officially in after a little double team work. Yoshi hits two more arm drags and a dropkick to send Barreta to the outside. He gets distracted on the apron by Croft and Barreta sweeps the legs and takes control. They get back in the ring and Croft is tagged in to keep up the heavy assault. He hits a leg drop and moves straight to the neck submission hold. Yoshi fights out with a kick to the chest but cannot make the tag. Barreta is in and he connects with a dropkick to the face. Two count. Back to the neck submission. A strike to the forehead and Yoshi stays isolated from his corner. Barreta hits an innovative springboard elbow and tags in Croft. Another dropkick and another two count. Barreta is back and he just walks on Yoshi. A spinning heel kick from Yoshi is enough to get him the hot tag to Goldust, who pummels Croft with a combo of clotheslines and kicks. Quick powerslam and the pin attempt is broken up by Barreta. Yoshi runs in but Barreta throws him over the top. He then hits a clothesline on Goldust while the ref is distracted. Croft is able to make the cover and pick up the victory.
Winners: Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta

Straight-to-formula tag match here with nothing spectacular or terrible. Yoshi showed plenty of his quickness in the early stages but was held down by the heel assault. Croft and Barreta are showing nice chemistry as a team, although I think they need to tweak their gimmicks to be taken seriously. It is just hard to see them as a dominant tag team in the future with that look.
**1/4

In-Ring Segment: Zack Ryder, Rosa Mendes, Savannah (in some capacity), The Hurricane
Mr. WooWooWoo makes his way to the ring with the lovely Rosa and he apparently has a major announcement for us. He once again claims to be the heart and soul of ECW and brings up the Hurricane. He beat him last week and he just can’t keep up. From now on, everyone should refer to him as the new heart and soul superhero of ECW. He calls in Savannah and tells her to introduce him. She does but he wants her to do it again, this time with a little more excitement. She says it again, with a slight bit more enthusiasm. And that PISSES OFF ROSA. Savannah is stupida! She keeps yelling at Savannah until Hurricane enters and clears out the ring. Hurricane endears himself to Savannah with a kiss on the hand.

Ryder was fine on the mic, but I wonder if he is man enough to handle Rosa when she gets all pissed off like she did at Savannah. The crowd was not really into it, but then again they have been dead all night, most likely due to the horrible opening segment. I expect Ryder vs. Hurricane part two on next week’s episode.

Josh and Saxton run down some of the Royal Rumble matches, which is followed by a little video of the mini-feud between Shelton Benjamin and Vance Archer and an announcement that they will have a match on Superstars.

Match #2: Christian vs. William Regal w/Ezekiel Jackson
No, that is not a typo. The main event is only the second match of the night. After the lack of wrestling on Raw lat night, I would expect a little more wrestling-wise from ECW this week. Zeke stares Christian down in the ring after entering with Regal. Chain wrestling to start things off. Regal wrenches at the left hand and wrist of Christian. He counters and targets Regal’s left arm. Regal tries a couple of pin attempts but to no avail. Both men continue to display their mat wrestling skills. Regal keeps the offense up on the left arm but Christian gets to the ropes but break it up. He connects with a couple of rights and a backdrop. Regal rolls out of the ring. Christian finds the mark with a dropkick through the ropes. Zeke surrounds the ring and we get another stare down before heading to commercial.

Christian is in control, connecting with a couple of shoulder blocks in the corner. Regal gains momentum with an elbow and a few hard strikes and kicks. Two count. Submission applied targeting the neck, which turns into a full nelson. Christian tries to fight out with a backslide but is brought down with a punch to the back of the neck. A couple of strikes to the chest and an elbow get a near fall. Submission locked in. Another comeback is snuffed with a big punch to the face. Two count. And again. One more submission of the crossface version applied. Christian tries for the Killswitch, but Regal counters with a T-bone suplex. He brings Christian over to the ring post, puts his head next to it, and kicks. That had to hurt. Running elbow connects and another near fall ensues. This time Christian is able to fight out of a submission and build momentum. Tornado DDT connects. Two count. He goes to the second rope and hits a missile dropkick. He goes back to try a second, but Regal avoids this one. Christian counters a running knee attempt with a jack-knife cover but it’s only good for two. Regal rolls through a sunset flip attempt and kicks Christian in the face. Yet another two count. Christian fights back with a flying elbow from the second rope. He tries for a Killswitch, but after Regal fights out, he ends up throwing Regal to the outside. He sets up for a suicide dive, but Zeke comes in from behind and attacks Christian.
Winner: Christian (via DQ)

The assault continues after the match. After a little beatdown, both men hit their finishers. They pose for a bit and just as the show is about to go off the air, Zeke hits Christian with his finisher again. Overkill? Without a doubt.

I enjoyed this match just as much as I enjoyed the main event of Superstars. Both men were able to change up their moves and show some intuition in counters, as well as some nice mat wrestling at the beginning of the match, which is something that is hard to come by today in the WWE. The finish made sense, but I did not see the point of the overkill. Ending the show posing over Christian’s prone body would have been just fine. As for the match, it was just as good as their last encounter.
***1/4

Show Rating: B-

The Good: The main event is the only reason that this show was able to pull off a B- rating. Regal and Christian just work very well together and deliver a guaranteed good match. Ryder’s segment was okay, while the tag match was just fine as well.

The Bad: Whether it is Abraham Washington, Santino Marella, or any other Superstar that decides to guest host the show, this segment needs to be cut immediately. There were only two matches on the card tonight, and that was due to a waste of the first ten minutes of the episode. I thought at first that maybe Santino could make it interesting, but that definitely did not occur.

The Ugly: The image of Vladimir Kozlov enjoying a big bucket of cheese fries is not exactly a pretty sight. Then again, watching Hannah Montana just comes off as creepy.

Later.

Welcome to the ECW Rundown!!

The best thing about Raw last night was the MVP/Miz promo. Both men showcased their mic abilities and proved why they are more prepared to be WWE Champ than Sheamus is.

Speaking of the WWE Title, I was really surprised and disappointed at Orton getting another shot at RR. I was hoping Kofi would overcome the odds or Ted would cost Orton the win and we would have a Kofi-Sheamus title match. The only good thing about the match is that it gives the DiBiase face turn a golden chance to start at the Rumble.

Michael Cole has to go. This week’s show was the last straw for me. Whenever he talked about Mike Tyson and the match later on in the night, he sounded like he was having multiple orgasms at once. Plus, during the Legacy vs. Henry/Bourne match, he mentioned that all four would be in the Rumble match. But wait, isn’t Bourne in the Homecoming Finale tonight? Yea, way to screw that up Cole. I guess we know who will not be winning tonight.

Show time.

We get immediate hype for the over-the-top rope challenge followed by the regular video with Zeke looking like a T-Rex.

Promo: Rosa Mendes, Zack Ryder, The Hurricane
Some very happy music starts off the show with Rosa Mendes making her way down the ramp. She gets her freak on in the ring before grabbing a mic. She introduces her bf Zack with a combo of English and Spanish. He gets basically no reaction, since all the guys are probably still checking out Rosa. Zack talks about the big show, saying everyone is here to celebrate the new heart and soul of ECW, himself. He says the battle royal is cool, but he is above the ECW title. He gives us a couple of woos but is interrupted by the Hurricane. He gets a nice pop and tells Citizen Woo Woo to shut up. Hurricane points out that it takes more than one match to be the heart and soul; he is more like ECW’s ass and tells him to shut up again. Ryder is in shock and Rosa starts spewing Spanish at Hurricane to a chorus of whats. Hurricane wants Rosa to press 1 for English and he gets bitchslapped. Hurricane attacks Ryder and sends him out of the ring.

Hurricane made a few funny comments, and it made me think of his interactions with the Rock a few years back (a bit more harsh of course). Zack was okay, but he still isn’t good enough to get a girl like Rosa. The what treatment from the crowd when she started yelling Spanish was pretty funny too.

Match #1: Zack Ryder vs. The Hurricane
We join action in progress with Hurricane in control with an arm drag. He hits a stomp to Ryder’s lower abdomen but ends up getting thrown shoulder first into the steel ring post. Ryder hits a big boot in the corner for a near fall. Neckbreaker finds the mark and it is followed up with elbows to the face. Hurricane tries to fight back but drops down too early for a back drop. Ryder continues the somewhat boring assault by using the ropes to choke out Hurricane. Ryder connects with a leg lariat but it is only good for a near fall. Hurricane tries to fight back again but gets thrown into the top turnbuckle. Another submission applied. Yawn. Hurricane gets out of this one with a jawbreaker and a neckbreaker. He keeps it up with a missile dropkick and some strikes. He hits a superhero like elbow in the corner and a takedown and heads to the top rope. Ryder knocks Hurricane off the top and hits the Zack Attack.
Winner: Zack Ryder

The beatdown of the Hurricane was not exactly exciting. Ryder never did anything innovative to keep me interested in the contest. Hurricane did what he could to keep interest with a couple of failed comebacks, but this whole match seemed a bit off. Zack can be a big deal in the company, but like I have said before, he needs to expand his move set.
**

CM Punk and Luke Gallows are backstage. Punk talks about converting everyone to straightedge from the ground up, starting with the ECW superstars. Once he wins the title, he will get rid of ECW and implement the Straightedge Society.

Compelling. I would love a Christian Punk match and will secretly be pulling for him in the finale. If ECW does get changed to the Straightedge Society, I am going to have to create a new title and logo. Not looking forward to that.

Match #2: Goldust vs. Trent Barreta (w/Caylen Croft)
WWE shows some common sense by continuing this mini feud from Superstars last week. Goldust starts with a couple of quick shoulder blocks and an arm drag. He hits an inverted atomic drop and propels Barreta off the top rope. Goldust makes Barreta kiss his ass and throws him out of the ring. Barreta hits a nice leg drop from the apron and now Goldust is on the outside. Trent SHRIEKS and connects with a clothesline. He SHRIEKS again and connects with a knee back in the ring. A couple of shrieks later and Goldust is down for a one count. Submission applied. Goldust fights out and turns the tables with a backdrop. Quick powerslam and both men are down. Goldust is moving quickly with a couple of clotheslines and a bulldog (with stuff in between) for a near fall. He tries an inverted suplex but Barreta scrambles to the ropes. Goldust tries to drag him out, and as the ref tries to break things up, Barreta hits an elbow to the face. A HUGE SHRIEK and a running knee to the face is enough for the win.
Winner: Trent Barreta

The shrieking thing is reminiscent of stuff you hear in divas matches when their hair gets pulled. The match was pretty nice while it lasted. Goldust continues to build up young superstars and put them over in quality matches. Can’t say the same thing about some of the other veterans in the locker room.
**1/4

Big Zeke and William Regal backstage. Regal talks about Zeke being biblical in his name and his ability. Zeke tells his opponents that the end has come. Watch the hell out.

BIG MAN HUNGRY.

Raw Rebound with the huge Tyson shocker.

8 Man Over The Top Rope Challenge: CM Punk, Ezekiel Jackson, Kane, Matt Hardy, Vance Archer, Evan Bourne, Yoshi Tatsu, & Shelton Benjamin
Tiffany is introduced and she gets the crowd hyped for the match. She introduces Christian as the special guest announcer, and he brings out a couple of quality questions for Saxton and Mathews to ask him. The participants start making their way to the ring. As Vance gets in the ring, Shelton attacks him. The refs tried to break it up, but they stop and crap their pants when Kane’s music hits. The match officially begins and Kane starts cleaning house. He catches Bourne by the neck and throws him out of the ring. They gave it away (thank you Michael Cole), so at least they did that fast. What a waste. Everyone retreats to their special corners and start pounding away. Kane almost gets Punk out but he scrambles back in. Hardy and Yoshi try getting Vance over, but he is able to stick around. Kane is knocking everyone’s teeth out right now. Punk is almost eliminated again by Shelton but slithers back in under the bottom rope. Hardy tries to use momentum to get Big Zeke out, but he does not succeed. Sidewalk slam from Kane onto Yoshi. Christian is giving the announcers plenty of crap about his questions. Fighting continues in all corners as Punk tries suplexing Yoshi out. Yoshi counters out and again Punk is almost eliminated as we head to commercial.

Seven participants still remain as we return from the break. Shelton goes after Vance and after an exchange, Shelton eliminates himself and takes Vance with him. The battle continues between the five remaining competitors. Hardy hits Yoshi with the Side Effect. He goes for a crossbody on Zeke but is caught. Zeke tries to throw Hardy out but he hangs on. Before Hardy can get back in, Zeke kicks him and knocks him out, leaving us with four. They stare down a bit and go at it, with Kane and Punk going at it. Punk runs into a big clothesline from Zeke, who knocks down Kane as well. Zeke grabs Punk and throws him out (damnit). Yoshi hits a couple of knees in the corner on Kane, but he is caught and thrown out. Now we are down to the two big men, Kane and Zeke. They lock up and shove each other around for a bit. Zeke gets Kane up in a powerslam position and tries to get him out, but Kane counters and hits a couple of mean uppercuts. He tries his own powerslam attempt, but Zeke gets out of that predicament. Kane connects with a big boot and heads towards the top rope. He tries the flying clothesline but Zeke avoids it. Zeke takes advantage and clotheslines Kane out of the ring to get a shot at the title.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

Honestly, I would have picked most of the other competitors to win over Zeke. It is a real shame that Bourne was eliminated so quickly, since he could have added some more fast paced action to the match. The actual battle royal was good, with Kane showing off plenty of demolition power. Now Zeke will get his title shot against Christian at the RR. While I do not think he should be in this match, I will give him a chance and not jump to any conclusions. Zeke has a great look and maybe a match with a guaranteed excellent worker like Christian (instead of Kozlov) will enable him to impress.
**1/2

Show Rating: B+

The Good: The battle royal was done just fine, with Kane and Zeke being the main points by showing off their power. Goldust continues to do the veteran thing and put over young stars. This time it was Trent Barreta, and they had a nice little match. The promo from Punk was excellently done, but unfortunately, tonight was not his night. In other news, Rosa was looking fine tonight.

The Bad: Ryder and Hurricane had an okay match, but it was interrupted by the snooze-fest which was Ryder’s beatdown of Hurricane. It involved his usual leg lariat, which was sandwiched in by a few submissions and a couple of stomps and strikes. Not interesting at all.

The Ugly:Trent Barreta shrieking sounds like he should be fighting in a cafeteria back in the fourth grade or something. It seems like puberty is a foreign concept to Barreta, and until he experiences that, I’ll just keep laughing at his girly shrills.

Later.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the new ECW Rundown!!

With Paul moving up to the Raw blog, I will be taking care of the WWE’s Tuesday and Thursday broadcasts. This blog will be mostly similar my Superstars report. I will still keep track of the match ratings and after enough matches are recorded, keep an eye out for a top ten list. Also, since the brand match challenge will not be applicable in this blog, I will be replacing it with a new feature, which will be dubbed “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” Ratings for the show as a whole will still be given certain grades, taking all the promos, matches, and even the Abe Washington show (hopefully not) into account.

WWE vs. TNA. Who won last night? Both shows had their highs and lows. TNA really could have done without the first hour, since it basically consisted of two crappy matches and a whole lot of commercials. Hardy’s return could have been easily accomplished within the regular two hour time frame, but I understand why they went to three hours, considering this was most likely the biggest night in the history of TNA. The main event was absolutely fantastic and had me on the edge of my seat. Raw was the best it has been in a long time, and the opening segment with HBK and Bret was surreal. The tag team match was excellent, and so was Orton-Kingston, although I do not agree with Orton winning clean again. Competition makes everything better, and that was evident in both shows last night.

In terms of the ratings, the live edition of TNA Impact got a 1.5. Obviously this number was never going to be near Raw, but this shows improvement over the usual Thursday time slot. The company has to be pleased, considering they were going up against Bret.

Now it’s time for this week’s episode of ECW!!

First Jeff Hardy replaced Mick Foley, and now Kofi Kingston has replaced Jeff in the opening video. Now that was fast!

Promo: Christian, CM Punk
We open the show tonight with Captain Charisma making his way to the ring with a little something to say. Christian mentions the ECW Homecoming Tournament and the subsequent championship match at the Royal Rumble, but he is interrupted by CM Punk, with Luke Gallows in tow. Punk ironically sounds a bit intoxicated as he yells at Christian for smiling. Christian mentions the HBK-Hart segment as something he always wanted to see and Punk back on ECW as something he never wanted to see. Punk brings up his obvious plans to win the tournament and go to the Royal Rumble against Christian so he can win and prove that straightedge is better. Punk will give the young stars on ECW someone to look up to. Christian makes a crack about Punk’s hygiene and says he will be squashed by Henry. They stare each other down as we get set for Shelton vs. Chavo up next.

There is no doubting the mic ability in both Christian and Punk and they delivered again to start off the show. Punk seemed to forget what he was saying a couple of times early but picked it up after that. Instead of the ECW title, how about these two for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble? Now there’s an idea for WWE to mull over.

ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match: Shelton Benjamin vs. Chavo Guerrero
Chavo starts off aggressively pounding away at Shelton in the corner. Shelton returns the favor with an elbow and a quick one count. Chavo goes for the Three Amigos and connects with the first two, but Shelton counters the third with a German suplex and bridges out for a near fall. A dropkick to the knee injures Shelton’s left knee, and Chavo starts an extended targeted assault. Shelton fights out of a submission hold and is able to get off a dragon whip. He keeps the offense going with a suplex and a flapjack for a near fall. Chavo locks in a half Boston crab on the injured leg, but Shelton is able to fight out. Chavo hits a nice spinning hurricarana and goes up top for the frog splash, but Shelton throws him off. Shelton follows up with Paydirt and moves on to next week’s finale.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin

This match was very well done in the time given and may have been better suited as the main event, depending on how Punk vs. Henry shapes up. Chavo is very under appreciated in the company and deserves more matches with guys such as Shelton. The right move here was made, with Shelton going to the Homecoming finale for another chance at the ECW title.
**1/2

Video time recapping Tommy’s match last week and his subsequent emotional farewell speech. It was really nice to see a guy that has meant so much for ECW to get the time to say that.

Promo: Zack Ryder
WOOWOOWOO. Ryder does not want to talk about Dreamer or the past, he wants to talk about himself and the future. He says he destroyed the heart and soul of ECW, which means this is now the Zack Ryder show.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Not much to say about that 45 second promo, but Ryder could have a very good year if he continues to improve his in-ring work.

Another video looks at last night’s Raw and the encounters between HBK, Bret, and Vince.

Ezekiel Jackson (w/William Regal) vs. Vladimir Kozlov
I hope they are not still trying to get Kozlov a face reaction, because you could hear a pin drop upon his entrance. Kozlov starts out with a bit of chain wrestling and disposes of Zeke on the outside. Back in the ring, Kozlov tries using his kicks, but Zeke wrenches at the left knee, and again we have a targeted body part! If Henry hurts his left knee in their match that would be just bad! Zeke uses the ring post and a couple of chop blocks to continue the offense. Submission hold applied, and Kozlov is screaming for his mommy all the way back in Russia. Kozlov finally gets out and hits a couple of kicks and a scoop slam. Zeke fights back after a couple of shoulder blocks and connects with a massive clothesline, followed up by a nicely executed suplex. He connects with his Rock Bottom-esque finisher, and that is all folks.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

After the match, Regal yells at Vlad a bit more and throws him back to the ground.

Technical masterpiece? I think not. The attack on the left knee, unlike the first match, seemed much more boring and drawn-out. While Masters was able to get over as a face, Kozlov is just not cutting it. Honestly, most people just do not care about that little feud enough to want to cheer for him. Time to give up.
*1/2

Henry and Tony Atlas are together backstage. Tony wants to walk down to the ring with Henry like old times. Tony laughs, Henry hears how stupid it is, and leaves. Tony says he will be there waiting just in case as the scary laugh continues.

ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match: CM Punk (w/Luke Gallows) vs. Mark Henry
Punk mocks Henry and then immediately scrambles once the big man gets a bit pissed. Punk tries his kicks out for size, but Henry throws him over the top rope like a rag doll as we head to commercial.

Marky Mark continues to dominate as Luke tends to Punk on the outside. Henry follows and goes face-first into the steel steps after a drop toe hold. Punk keeps Henry on the ground in the ring with stomps and elbows. Punk brings Mark to his feet and right back down with a neckbreaker for a near fall. Henry withstands a submission and three hard kicks to the chest. Punk continually knees Henry in the face, but now he is pissed the hell off. He hits repeated headbutts and a big clothesline. Punk avoids a charge and his running knee, but Henry shoves Punk before he is able to go for the bulldog. Punk almost runs into the ref, and while they are distracted, Gallows comes to the apron and hits a big kick to Henry’s head. Punk follows up with another big kick of his own and gets the three count.
Winner: CM Punk

Punk did what he could to make this match as enjoyable as possible with Henry in it, and it could have been much worse. Mark did well selling some of the ferocious kicks from Punk, and the distraction made sense to get Punk a win while keeping plenty of heat on himself and Gallows.
**1/4

The eight members of next week’s Homecoming Finale are set, and they are: CM Punk, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, Vance Archer, Ezekiel Jackson, Yoshi Tatsu, Shelton Benjamin, and Kane.

Show Rating: B

The Good: Chavo and Shelton put on a nice match that, if given more time, could have been a top notch TV match. Punk and Christian gave us a nice promo to help hype the battle royal next week and the ECW match at the Royal Rumble. Right now, ECW’s match for the Royal Rumble is delivering the best build in the company. The main event between Punk and Henry had a sensible ending and delivered given the limitations of a man of Mark’s stature.

The Bad: Vladimir Kozlov will most likely never be an effective face. On top of that, his match with Zeke would not exactly be called a classic. That whole angle just seems to be totally out of steam.

The Ugly: The nod tonight goes to Tony Atlas’ laugh. If I was just strolling down the street and I heard that laugh from behind me, I might be just a bit freaked out and would possibly consider sprinting at that point. At least there was no Abe Washington show for me to rip apart.

The top ten list will most likely be on hiatus until February or so, because if it was done any earlier, we would have to include Jackson vs. Kozlov on the list!

Later.

The ECW Report

By Paul Smith

paulsmith3010@gmail.com

Welcome to The ECW Report and I am your host Paul Smith.

The Pre Game: Just wanted to quickly say Rest in Peace, Dr Death Steve Williams, from what I hear a true pro, and a great worker.

This is a little late because I’ve had some personal trouble this week and quite frankly I wasn’t in the mood to write this yesterday. Sorry about that, but shit happens sometimes.

-

ECW is taped and rolling from East Rutherford, New Jersey, the home of Devon Storm or if you like punishing yourself Crowbar.

On with the show.

Hype package for the returns of Evan Bourne and Matt Hardy (but not against each other as advertised last week) begins the show. Then we have title screen, now with even more goofy nerdery from CROFT AND BARETTA.

Josh and ByRock welcome us to the show and SAVANNAH welcomes Christian to the commentary booth. I would like to note that while the idea of a contender being built up by actually beating fellow contenders is a good one, having the champion not wrestle is not so awesome.

Matt Hardy vs Finlay, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
Well these guys had a great ECW title match in the UK in November 2008 if memory serves. Still I thought the concept of this was that it would be matching up current ECW wrestlers with old ones. Neither of which our Homecoming qualifying matches are tonight. I note that Finlay is a lot less over without the midget, which is largely very depressing. They grapple to start until they start stiffing each other (well not really but its hard) with strikes. Finlay is working semi-heel for this one. On commentary Vance Archer’s haircut is compared to that of everyone’s favourite lesbian Ellen DeGeneres. Interesting. Back in the ring Finlay has taken a shine to Hardy’s knee. Finlay puts in a leglock but it’s too close to the ropes. Finlay bodyslams the knee against the ropes. Christian reminds us of more amusing times when the very first time out on commentary back in 2000 he and Edge discussed why the Hardyz spelled their name with a ‘z’ and other such hard hitting topics. Sloppy headlock slam by Hardy gets a two. Spin punch by Hardy but he gets chopped down again at the knee. Drop toe hold by Matt and then a side effect for two. Another one gets another two. Hardy brings Finlay down off the second rope and climbs as well as a one legged man can to the  top but he gets splatted Kurt Angle style off a moonsault. Well not quite Angle but you see my point. Hardy hits what looked like a stunner but I guess it was a Twist of Fate without the setup out of nowhere for the three.
Winner: Matt Hardy

Opinion: Some decent working of the knee by Finlay, but this match was too short and start-stop for me to really get into. Still better than a Vance Archer match. *1/2

Later on, Evan Bourne. Mike Knox. Wrestling. You know it.

Speaking of that catchphrase Zack Ryder and Rosa bitch about Tommy Dreamer still being here. Dreamer says he’s sick of losing to guys like him, and that he has no clue what he has been through. Dreamer says that if Ryder beats him tonight he’s gone for good. I wonder what will happen there.

There will be no stopping. Ezekiel Jackson is in clothes which means we get ‘treated’ to some mic work from the man. Still better than an Abraham Washington show. Jackson with a weird British tint to his accent says that Kozlov was the weak link of their chain and says that Kozlov became a liability and he notes something from the book of Ezekiel before FIERY BABYFACE Vladimir Kozlov (~!) makes his way out to something resembling a minor pop. What are these audiences coming to. Kozlov Soviets up and tosses Zeke out of the ring. Lots of manly growling and Zeke says he’s going to get it. I guess he does look like Isaac Hayes. Kozlov’s music plays. Well that was…something.

Dreamer is backstage and Christian asks him whether this is really what he wants. Dreamer says Christian came back to prove something and Dreamer says so does he. Christian says he loves him and says that no matter what Dreamer is the heart and soul of ECW. Dreamer is tearing up. WHATEVER COULD THE OUTCOME OF THIS MATCH BE!?

Evan Bourne vs Mike Knox, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
I infinitely prefered Bourne’s old music. But the style of music and his style of wrestling are reminiscent of the Motor City Machine Guns to me for some reason. Mike Knox on the other hand still has cool music. His beard is getting absurdly long at this point. This match begins, as many Evan Bourne matches do, by getting the crap beaten out of him, interspersed with some kicks. Bourne uses his legs to take Knox over the top rope. Knox responds by throwing Bourne into the guard rail and they tease a count out, but Bourne make it out to a sizeable pop. Knox clotheslines him down for two before the WWE staple, the chinlock. Knox counters what looked like a brainbuster with kicks including a spin kick but Knoz hits his standing crossbody for two, but Bourne was too close to the ropes.  Knox misses a knee and Bourne goes up but Knox blocks whatever was going to happen. Bourne hits a big high kick on the apron, leading to the shooting star press for the three count.
Winner: Evan Bourne

Opinion: Once again, decent enough but not really enough for me to really get into. The additions of Tatsu, Hardy and Bourne make the Homecoming finale much more appealing to me. However, I wont be writing about that so what do you guys care about what i thionk about that. *1/2

Next week CM Punk vs Chavo Guerrero vs Mark Henry will be the final qualifying match. Wow. I’d want to cover that out of sheer curiosity.

Tommy Dreamer is backstage with Tiffany. They said nothing of note. Dreamer makes his way to the curtain.

RAW Rebound, this show seemed better than the last couple of weeks, although the amount of wrestling was not. Enjoyed the stuff with Shawn and Vince though with regards to invisible Bret. They hype that Bret Hart is back next week. I’m not ashamed to say that I marked out just seeing them preview it.

Yoshi Tatsu is trying (and failing HAW HAW HAW) to teach Goldust Japanese. Our friends Caylen and Trent drop by and ask what’s Japanese for future WWE tag team champion’s. It’s apparently Caylen Croft and Trent Baretta. And there was silly old me thinking that was their names. They say they hope Dreamer loses and that Yoshi and ‘Dust leave because there’s too much dead weight. You’re telling me. Goldust goes off on them in Japanese. Good one. Well I’m upset that that ever existed.

Tommy Dreamer vs Zack Ryder w/ Rosa Mendes, Dreamer Must Win Or He Leaves WWE
Hot start with Dreamer hitting a hip toss, and an arm drag and a bulldog for two. A powerslam gets anothet two. Pumphandle suplex (sick), before Dreamer hits his off-the-apron- cannonball. Ryder briefly uses Rosa as a shield before cheapshotting Dreamer. After a break Ryder is working the arm. Short arm DDT by Ryder gets a two count. Dreamer posts the arm on the steel post when going for a charge. Ryder dropkicks Dreamer while in the posted position. Ryder ends up crotching himself on the bottom rope and Dreamer hits a neckbreaker, a flapjack and a sky high for two. Dreamer misses the flying something but counters the Zack Attack into a jacknife. They exchange pins and Ryder hits the Ruff Ryder for another nearfall. Ryder goes up top but ends up in the tree of woe and Dreamer emotionally shouts E-C-W one last time and hits the dropkick. He hits the DDT but Ryder has the ropes which the ref realises after the three count. Wow the crowd really do care about this, cheering when they bought the finish and booing at the reverse. Dreamer hits an elbow drop but Ryder Crucifixes him for two. I bought that one. Dreamer gets crossbodied off the top rope while going for a back suplex and one last time takes in the lights, going out as so many of the industry’s best do, on his back, as Zack Ryder gets the three count.
Winner: Zack Ryder, Tommy Dreamer must leave WWE

Opinion: Really enjoyable match, with good but sloppy work, but it was very cool to let Dreamer get 10 minutes or so in the main event one last time, despite going to TNA. **1/2

Post-match, Dreamer takes the mic with almost tears in his eyes. Dreamer points out the seats he sat in when he watched Roddy Piper doing Piper’s Pit. Dreamer thanks the original ECW and the new ECW. He says that if you have passion that you can make it anywhere. He says there are a lot of people he’s gonna miss as he begins to cry. He says you’re supposed to call everyone the WWE universe, but he considers them his family. He says at Kindergarten when his daughters were asked what their Dad does for a living, one said he falls down a lot and the other said he gets up again. The kids are shown in the front row with Beulah. He says that the fans are the ones that made him get up. He says life is hard but you gotta keep fighting and he thanks everyone and tells them he loves them. He gets a loud ovation, takes off his shirt to look at the ECW logo one last time and leaves it in the centre of the ring. He takes his kids, kisses Beulah and walks to the back with his music playing one last time, as he is shown waving goodbye and thanking the camera before walking away.

Well there’s not a lot I can say about that. It was just awesome to see such a good guy get such a classy and emotional send off with none of the usual bullshit shenanigans.

And as Dreamer has his last episode of ECW, I have my last covering it for the time being. I would give a similar emotional speech but my career covers a year and not eight years or seventeen including the old ECW. Also I will actually be back next Monday night starting up The RAW Report. So yeah, look forward to that, I’ll have some big shoes to fill, but what better show to start with, Bret Hart, the potential start of a new war. January 4th baby, I’ll be up late to try and get it done straight away for you guys, I’ll see you then. For emotion alone…

This episode of ECW earns a thumbs up.

Until next time, I have been Paul Smith. Thanks for reading.

The ECW Report

By Paul Smith

paulsmith3010@gmail.com

Welcome to The ECW Report and I am your host Paul Smith.

The Pre Game: So TNA had Final Resolution over the weekend and maybe if you’d taken the opener and the last two matches, this would have been an awesome show. However, what we actually got was Tara looking lost against ODB, Bobby Lashley getting the crap kicked out of him by  a guy on one leg, the most disgusting chairshot for a long time on Jesse Neal, a briefcase on a pole match where the story was World Elite were not to get any briefcases, but three of the cases went to them with no explanation as to why and a tonne of other crap that I can’t remember. And this company is going to be challenging WWE in two weeks. With their 1.0 UNOPPOSED rating? Christ. The thing is when the last war started, WCW and WWF had dedicated followings. Additionally, WCW’s TV shows were something more resembling passable than TNA’s are, and the ratings were a lot closer. The biggest spike (no pun intended) in TNA’s rating come January will be people tuning in out of sheer curiosity to see what is going to happen. This isn’t going to work. Rant over.

And because WWE haven’t decided to do it, I want to thank Tommy Dreamer for what he did for the company and for trying to establish some credibility to the revamped ECW. Thanks Tommy and good luck in whatever you do.

-

ECW is taped and rolling from Orlando, Florida the hometown of Kenny King.

On with the show.

We open with a package informing us of the return of Jack Thwagger. Epic. Next up is our opening screen now with even more William Regal looking miffed.

We open the show with the aformentioned Swagger at the top of the ramp devouring heat. He has that grin on his face. He says the show is finally worth watching again. Swagger reminds us of the ECW Homecoming concept. He says a lot of things have changed, but some things have stayed the same like Christian still being a chump, Tommy Dreamer still being fat. Swagger has prepared a video package of his brighter moments on RAW. So appropriately it didn’t last very long. I swear these video pacakages could get anyone over, coz this made Swagger look like a star. Swagger says he is the future ECW champion.

Zack Ryder w/Rosa Mendes and his mangerie vs Tommy Dreamer
Epic final match for Dreamer. I suppose at least he’s going out with some continuity. Ryder said he wanted to get rid of him, and we are in fact reminded of this with videoz. Dreamer opens with a hip toss and an armdrag. He hits a knee and takes Ryder to the outside. Ryder pulls him off the apron after Mendes distracted Dreamer. Dreamer screams woo woo woo as he applies a chinlock. I don’t know whether this guys sucks or if he’s awesome. Dreamer gets two off a sunset flip but Ryder hits the Ruff Ryder and a facewash in the corner. Rosa is now shouting woo woo woo. Ryder takes his time going up top and Dreamer capitalises by hitting a superplex. Big back body drop by Dreamer followed by a powerslam pair for two. Ryder knees Dreamer but gets caught going for the flying something and catapulted into the corner. Dreamer puts him in the tree of woe one last time and hits the dropkick before removing his shirt~!? Ryder hits a reverse hotshot though and the Zack Attack for three. Nice knowin’ ya Tommy.
Winner: Zack Ryder

Opinion: Sad that Dreamer couldn’t go out with a main event but thems the breaks. Decent little match there and as another review of this show has mentioned (F4W/WO) this kind of match would be getting ten minutes a few months ago but now we have stuff like Abe Washington instead. **

Later we will have Goldust vs Vance Archer. Maybe Archer will win the WWE title at Elimination Chamber. Also we learn that Jack Swagger’s opponent will be Yoshi Tatsu.

Speaking of the devil, here’s Tony with Abe. Abe says he is better than to rip Tiger Woods a new one and that he supports Woods, as pimps have to look after each other. And Woods is a big fan of the show. That’s more grounds for divorce than adultery. Washington riffs on Woods for a while to bring out his really really really over guests Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft. This show really is just FCW with a TV deal. One of them says that this team is taking stuff to the next level and starts talking about video games. Abe buries ECW by saying they can’t afford drinks on this show. Christ. Their Moms are their biggest fans. Wow they have a great gimmicks. They promise to become tag champs and Tony points out he was a tag champ and they bury him. Abe defends him but says he was only doing so because they have no time. Another stellar edition of this shitfest. Croft and Barreta are huge geeks.

Swagger and Tiffany argue backstage with Tiff saying its better without Swagger around. Hurricane flies in and and says he has many powers but can’t fix Swagger’s lisp. Whatever says Swagger. Indeed.

They replay the Cena package from the Tribute to the Troops show. The show was cool, probably would have liked it more if I was American and had that kind of patriotism, but seeing the wrestlers hanging out and brightening the soldiers’ day was pretty good.

Vance Archer vs Goldust, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
Goldust hits a butt bump and pounds away in the corner. Pretty homoerotic sentence right there. Archer hits a flying leg drop to a kneeling Goldust. Rear chinlock held by Archer. Goldust comes back with clotheslines and his falling to knees uppercut before hitting a bulldog for two. Archer sets up for his lifting reverse DDT. This gets the win. That was sudden. Christian is watching on a monitor backstage
Winner: Vance Archer

Opinion: Archer has the look but his in-ring is very dull. Anyway this was a nothing match if I have ever seen one. 1/2*

Woahh. Smackdown Rebound. A rare beast. I guess RAW was so bad they didn’t even want to rebound it. Either that or they’re trying to hard sell the World Tag and World title matches on CHRISTMAS DAY SMACKDOWN.

We recap the ongoing problems with the Ruthless Roundtable and the apparent FACE TURN of Vladimir Kozlov. They will wrestle on Superstars on Thursday.

Christian in his only significant appearance on the show (!) is coaching Yoshi. Christian says Swagger who has just come in is a dork. Swagger says Christian is his at the rumble. Yoshi says jackass.

Jack Swagger vs Yoshi Tatsu, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
Next week we will have Evan Bourne vs Matt Hardy’s expanding waistline. Sounds good to me. Swagger takes it straight to the ground with a waistlock takeover. Yoshi gets two from a schoolboy and follows up with a dropkick and another two. Body splash in the corner by Swagger. He gets a an arm wrench take down and an armlock. Swagger tries for the doctor bomb but Yoshi gets out as we go to break. We’re back and over the break Swagger hit a wheelbarrow suplex to take over. He works over Yoshi’s back with strikes before pulling him down. Swagger takes a two count for his work. He hits a nice back suplex for another two. Belly to belly suplex and some press ups~! He gets two off a leg drop. Swagger clubs the back but Yoshi flips out of a back suplex. Yoshi hits his usual flurry of kicks ending with two dropkicks and turns another wheelbarrow suplex into a bulldog for two. Doubles knees in the corner and a snapmare before Yoshi misses a knee but sits on Swagger for a two count. Yoshi hits his spinning wheel off the top for a two. Love that move. Swagger rolls him up for two. Nasty rabbit punch by Swagger gets two. Swagger hits a slam and actully hits the Vader bomb for once but Yoshi gets a rope break. Yoshi hits the buzzsaw kick anticlimatically for the victory to qualify for the finale.
Winner: Yoshi Tatsu

Opinion: Good match that got really fun to watch as they built to the finish. It was also as well a laid out match as you’re going to get in these ten minute TV things. What’s interesting is that due to the taping schedule we get weird continuity of Swagger taking Cena to the limit on Monday but then getting KO’d by Yoshi the night after. ***

Well tonight’s show was a big improvement and I enjoyed the bookending matches. Not the most noteworthy show for the Dream to go out on, but I still enjoyed it, even if the Homecoming Finale lineup is looking pretty sucky.

This episode of ECW earns a thumbs up.

Until next time, I have been Paul Smith. Thanks for reading.

The ECW Report

By Paul Smith

paulsmith3010@gmail.com

Welcome to The ECW Report and I am your host Paul Smith.

The Pre Game: Okay so TLC is no longer with us and it was an eventful show to say the least, I really enjoyed a lot of the matches though. Big point of contention was Sheamus winning the WWE Championship. At the time I was all for it, after demanding something fresh, we got it, and this was really fresh. However, I took on board some of the other guys in the live chat’s opinions and realised the validity of one their main gripes. He just isn’t over. It’s all well and good giving the new guy a title but he really should be able to draw money, somewhere near the same amount as the babyface chasing him. Sheamus doesn’t fulfil the criteria yet, but I’m willing to give him some time to show whether he can do it or not.

RAW was absolutely horrible last night. I stayed up til 4am to watch it and really wish I hadn’t awful, awful show.

And as was quasi-announced by Luke in his Excess blog over the weekend, it shall be me taking over the RAW blog. Yes me. Look how far I’ve come. Am I over enough to take on this role? Who knows, but we’ll see what happens. I have to warn you guys now, due to the epic time difference, I’m generally not going to be able to get this blog up on the same night as the show, however, I’ll be able to do it Tuesday morning/early afternoon, which is a time when many of our American readers will be asleep anyway. So good times. I will however, make an exception (or try to) for the January 4th deal, which will be my first one, just so that both Kendra and I can get our head-to-head blogs up for this pretty big deal in the current wrestling climate. It just wont be the same deal I will normally do for my blogs, as I can’t really do play-by-play all that well live. So that’s the plan.

Also, I won the Blog Brand Writers Challenge. I finished 53-43 in my predictions for the year, the only person to get an above .500 average. I’m pleased, and ENGERLAND you should be proud, as I finally get revenge for all those nasty American dudes taking their own country off of us. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

-

ECW is taped and rolling from Laredo, Texas the home of Blackjack Lanza one half of the legendary WWF tag team The Blackjacks.

On with the show.

Tonight we start with a package about Tiffany inviting Kane as her special guest. Tells you the quality of this program when Kane is a big draw. Kane appears on screen with a big smile and says “I’m back”. Creepy.

Next is our title screen, now with more Rosa Mendes writhing around. Here we go with some pyro as we are welcomed by Josh Matthews and Byron Saxton to this week’s ECW~!

Tonight Abe Washizzle has MARIA as a guest. Why!?

A new voice lady has Tiffany in the ring. Not sure whether it’s New Voice Lady or a New New Voice Lady. Tiffany was proud of Shelton Benjamin and Christian and their, honestly quite underwhelming ladder match. Shelton is selling on his way to the ring. Take note Jericho and Big Show. Shelton has a terrible shirt with what looks like a bolognese stain on the front but it is actually part of the pattern. Tiffany says they stole the show a couple of nights ago and thanks them for the match. Shelton in return thanks Tiffany and the audience for inspiring them. Shelton thanks Christian too because TLC was one of the proudest moments of his career. Shelton wants a rematch, William Regal and the roundtable interrupts things, however. William demands no more poppycock and asks Tiffany whats wrong with her voice as she sounds like a goose blowing a kazoo. Not what I’d have gone for, but okay. He tells Shelton to stop thinking of himself and says there is a larger issue at hand, Kane. Regal says Kane is a monstrous menacing fiend, and says Tiffany has gone BLOODY MENTAL for letting him back on the show. Tiffany notes that he is a former ECW Champion, and she introduces a new concept, where a new former ECW wrestler will each week come and face a current ECW wrestler, for the right to fight for an ECW title shot at the Royal Rumble, where the winner of each match will go into a battle royal on January the 12th, to determine the new #1 contender to the title. Cool concept, think of the possibilities, with Kofi, Punk, Miz, Morrison all among the ECW alum. This will start tonight with ZACK RYDER vs Kane and Vladimir Kozlov, who has a smirk on his face, one that immediately vanishes at the mention of his opponent, versus EZEKIEL JACKSON. Oh God.

The Ripper and his mysterious female assistant are walking backstage, to fight for a contract.

The Hurricane vs The Ripper w/ The Beautiful Nightmare
New New Voice Lady is in fact Savannah. Wow The Ripper has a different piece of generic music. Interesting. We recap how all of this came about with Superstars a couple of weeks ago. Apparently it’s clear that this is Paul Burchill but it’s disputed that Hurricane is Gregory Helms, despire when he changed character to Greg Helms it was openly referenced that he was The Hurricane. Anyway, usual Burchill mauling and an over the top rope suplex (from apron to mat) gets a two count for The Ripper. Crossbody by Hurricane but Ripper takes back over. Scoop slam by Ripper who goes up top! He goes for the famous flying something but gets hit by Hurricane who follows up with a neckbreaker. Hurricane hits a rana from the top for a two count. ‘Cane misses the Shining Wizard and gets drilled with a backbreaker for a nearfall. Hurricane hits a top rope tornado DDT before going for the mask. NO FUCKING WAY, it’s Paul Burchill! Who knew!? Anyway, Paul’s momentary disbelief leads to the shining wizard for the victory.
Winner: The Hurricane

Opinion: Well that killed what looked like a promising angle. So I guess the Burchills will really have to leave ECW now. The match itself was good while it lasted. **

RAW Rebound for what was a truly atrocious episode of RAW. Way to feature the new WWE Champion. Oh wait no, you just fellated John Cena again. Michael Cole’s delight at his victory was hilariously awful though. And, as Bryan Alvarez noted Chris Jericho looked so sad when he realised he was done, that it almosty turned DX heel. Anyway, I think this rebound went longer than that last match.

Burchills are walking backstage and they are met for post match thoughts by Gregory Helms. Burchill screams and runs away. Amazing. what’s up with that indeed. As Helms leaves we see Hurricane’s cape poking out of his suit, to no heat. COLOUR ME ASTONISHED.

Anyway, now here is the SLAMMY NOMINATED Abraham Washington and his self-titled program. Abe wants to tell the police that he was ROBBED as breakout superstar of the year. Some little bit of me disagrees here. Abe says he could have won many of the awards and Tony says he could have won Diva of the year. This could have been a nice segue to his guest, but it just wasn’t. Abe reminds us of KANTISTA WEST’s interrupting her victory speech Abe says how embarrassing. Maria points out that she actually won her slammy. Touche. Maria says she’s seen his show and Tony says the show stinks. She asks Tony if he wants to hold the slammy, and hell yeah he does. Abe wants to hold it but Maria says maybe when he wins one. Abe says he voted for Michelle McCool and that he’s glad Batista interrupted her. He wishes Batista would interrupt this and Tony takes us out. Okay, so not only was this absurd, not only was this awful, BUT WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT OF THIS!? What did this add to ECW? I mean really.

Kolov is warming up for his match which is NEXT.

Vladimir Kozlov w/ William Regal vs Ezekiel Jackson, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
Zeke’s smile is awesome as he’s on the way to ring. Oh God this should be…something. Strikes and a slam and another by Zeke, and another. Varied moveset. Kozlov takes over when Zeke gets distracted by Regal. The armlock headbutts, but Regal trips Kozlov..wait. what? Zeke uses this opportunity to hit the Guayanage for the win.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

Kozlov tries to exert wrath on Regal, but Zeke comes from behind and he and Regal throw him into the announce table. Regal jaws with the fans on his way out.

Opinion: So does this make Kozlov a babyface!? What the hell is going on. Anyway that was absolutely awful in every way. 1/4*

Backstage Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft, which is which?, defeat DX. On Smackdown vs RAW 2010. You got excited for a minute there didn’t you?

The Jobulous Jobbirds vs Trent Baretta & Caylen Croft
The jobbers are Julio Cruz and Jorge Arias. Three words for ya, Trent, Caylen. What’s your gimmick? They thankfully have new music. Never thought I’d be faithful for generic rock music but there you go. Anyway, return of my gimmick of saying random words to amuse myself during squash matches. Lampshade. Walk in wardrobe. Steel bridge. Tangerine peel. Pirate video. Lightning bolts. Alarm clock. Linguistic case studies. Compost bin. Calculator. Anyway, exciting double team for the week to finish is a suplex into a powerbomb combo.
Winners: Trent Baretta & Caylen Croft

They announce themselves as winners and say they will be next years Slammy Tag Team winners. Caylen does a strange dance at this point.

Opinion: Just a thought, who are these guys gonna face on ECW once they graduate from jobbers? Regal and Zeke? Who are also heels? What’s the point of a new team coming to ECW. Anyway, as usual this sucked major, major dick. SQUASH

Backstage Goldust is going over the heartbreak of his amazing PMS joke bombing at last night’s RAW, with Yoshi Tatsu. He also congratulates Yoshi on his RAW victory. Yoshi shouts Japanese at Kane, who demands a translation. Goldust stutters. Kane says that he’s a freak. Kane’s music randomly plays.

Kane vs Zack Ryder w/ Rosa Mendes, ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match
Again, this should be really something. Ryder has his lingerie on again. Big uppercut from Kane and a basement dropkick. Ryder goes for a crossbody but gets caught and slammed. Kane misses an elbow and gets hit with a dropkick and mounted punches, before the dreaded chinlock. Kane side slams his way out of that one though and nails him with the BIG BOOT. Corner splash, but Ryder holds onto the rope to avoid the chokeslam. He avoids a big boot and brings Kane down before working a leg lock. Ryder continues working the leg with strikes and trapping it in the ropes. Big uppercut again from Kane and he floors Ryder with rights. Ryder dropkicks the leg and hits his leapfrog fameasser for a two count. He goes for the Ruff Ryder but gets caught, and runs right into a chokeslam for the win.
Winner: Kane

Opinion: Well that again was quite good while it lasted. Rosa looks horrified. Young love. **1/4

So, Kane and Zeke will be two of the eight men in that battle royal, and Kane walks away as we go off the air.

Well this one had a good amount of variety in the matches but the good ones were a little short, and the other two were massively overwhelmingly shit. So while this was an improvement over last week…

This episode of ECW earns a thumbs in the middle.

Until next time, I have been Paul Smith. Thanks for reading.