The ECW X-Press! 7/22/08

7/22/2008

Pre-show run-through:

At the Great American Bash, Tommy Dreamer came up short in his bid to unseat Mark Henry for the ECW championship thanks to EVIL Colin Delaney.  But ECW belt holders were still unseated, as the booking team used a cluster match as an excuse to rob Miz and Morrison of their tag titles without having them pinned.  Matt Hardy, meantime, lost his belt to ECW alum Shelton Benjamin.

I’ve noticed recently that in CM Punk’s and Kofi Kingston’s respective brand new title runs, they have been having much better overall matches than they usually did on ECW.  I’m curious to see if this trend will continue for the third ECW draft pick with a new title this month, US Champion Shelton Benjamin.  Come to think of it, whether this is true or not, it definitely speaks to the success of ECW as a developmental ground – Punk and Kingston were unknowns to most WWE fans before their ECW stints.  Benjamin was hopeless.  Now they’re all big-time champs.  Let’s hope we see that success continue.

(opening video)

Mike Adamle announces that we will see tonight a #1 contenders Fatal Fourway between Finlay and all three of ECW’s newly gold-less studs, Miz, Morrison, and Hardy.  Teddy Long, meanwhile, is here to present Mark Henry with a brand new ECW title belt.  Big Drippy is out, all smiles.  The belt is oversized and silver.  Unique, but…kind of ugly.  A bit like Henry’s wrestling?  Tony Atlas says tonight, a new ECW begins.  Does this make Henry gold-less too?  Atlas says that those who recognize the greatness of Henry will be rewarded, and the rest will be like Tommy Dreamer.  EVIL Colin Delaney (which I’m going to struggle with for a long time) is out.  Colin says that Dreamer being his mentor obtained Colin nothing but beatdowns and mockery.  So he found a new mentor, Tony Atlas.  Dreamer is the past.  Henry is the future, and Colin is on board.  Teddy Long says that Dreamer isn’t quite in Colin’s past yet, because they’re squaring off tonight.

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Dreamer slaps Delaney and throws him in a high hip toss.  Colin bails to the outside but can’t escape for long.  Colin gets some kicks as Tommy reenters the ring.  Dreamer lands some heavy punches.  E-C-W!  Running Dropkick connects and Dreamer fires up.  Gorgeous pump handle suplex.  Colin begs off, but that’s no dice and Tommy hits a messed up DDT for the win.

It was good for what it was, an angle-based segment with little real wrestling implications.  I’m not sure where we go with it now that we’ve pretty decisively established Henry > Dreamer > Colin.  Great suplex by Dreamer, though.

Miz and Morrison say that Sunday was a black day for the WWE, since they lost their titles without being pinned.  But tonight, they each have a chance to become number one contenders.  Morrison says that Miz has a great chance to win.  Miz reciprocates (as Morrison reveals his coat is made of “farm-raised jackal”), and they shake, wishing each other luck.  “May the Buddha of Luck sit in your corner too.” – Morrison.  Morrison is too much.  Is he or is he not forty times as deserving of a long title run than Mark Henry?

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Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely hit ringside so Chavo can commentate.  James Curtis looks a fair bit more redneck than the last time he jobbed on ECW (to Kofi Kingston, if memory serves me right).

Bourne and Curtis trade a hammerlock, waistlock, and armbar.  Curtis hits back elbows in the corner, and a snapmare.  Bourne gets a dropkick and running rana.  More armbar.  Kicks.  YAY FOR KICKS!  Curtis stomps away and hits a back suplex and a neck wrench.  Taz about the Shooting Star press:  “It’s a high risk maneuver, that’s why they call it high risk.”  Bourne lands more round kicks, a spinning thrust kick, and the flapjack boost JUMP RANA!  That’s enough for Bourne to get the Bourne Ultimatum (Shooting Star Press) for the win!

After the match, Chavo and Neely try to surround Bourne, but he dodges them and flees.  Brave Sir Evan ran away…bravely ran away, away!

Bourne is full of awesome.  Curtis did his job.  Overall, this was a middle-of-the-pack match.  Could have used more time, but on the other hand could have been given less.  It was fine, and great filler.

Backstage, Finlay tells his leprechaun that you don’t need luck when you’ve got a shillelagh.  Hornswoggle still has his stupid blow-up mallets.

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Ricky Ortiz chats up Tiffany in the back before Teddy Long interrupts.  Ortiz says he’s been working on his catchphrases, and his nickname, The Latin Assassin.  Long says that Ortiz will be defending his undefeated streak next week on ECW.

For some reason, the production department wasted half a dozen man-hours making a Mike Knox video package.  Beats me.

Matt Hardy says that he relishes his huge opportunity to wrestle for the ECW title.  When one door closes, another door opens.  Matt has his foot in the door, and says tonight he’ll kick it open and go through it to Summerslam.  That was very close to the border between coherency and utter pointlessness.

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Miz plays nice with Morrison, than schoolboys him for two.  Generic clobbering by Finlay on Miz and Hardy on Morrison.  The heels are thrown out and we’re one-on-one.  Finlay with a short-arm clothesline, and tosses Hardy to the apron.  Hardy punches Finlay, but Morrison grabs his legs and faceplants him on the steps, leading to the heel counterpart of the generic beatdown at the beginning.  Hardy and Finlay both fight back.  Finlay drops the knee on Miz’s head.  Stereo scoop slams, and Finlay gets a standing elbow drop while Matt goes to the second rope for an elbow smash.  Finlay clotheslines Miz’s back.  Finlay and Matt both get rollups for two on the heels.

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Through the magic of the break, Miz and Morrison have regained control.  Finlay and Morrison trade a roll-up sequence.  Finlay with some shoulder blocks until he is the only man standing.  Morrison knocks down Finlay, but is clotheslined by Hardy.  Finlay rolls up Miz, Hardy rolls up Finlay.  Finlay locks in a big armbar on Morrison as Miz chokes Matt in the ropes.  Hardy back suplexes Miz.  Finlay throws Morrison into the post.  Miz and Hardy double clothesline each other. Morrison knocks Finlay to the outside.  Finlay tries to catch him in the apron but Morrison scouted it and catches him with a dropkick.  Morrison tries to beat up Horny, and Finlay capitalizes, whipping Morrison into the barrier and taking him over.  Miz saves Morrison and shoves Finlay into the barrier.  They hit the catapult/elbow smash/backbreaker double team, and Morrison drops an elbow from the top of the barrier.  They leave Finlay for dead and double team Hardy, hitting a double gutbuster.  Miz hits a snap suplex and they clap for each other.  Morrison tricks Miz into checking on Finlay as he rolls up Hardy for two and a half.  Miz is not pleased.  They argue and Hardy rolls up Morrison for two.  Miz clotheslines Hardy.  They get back on the same page, but Hardy dodges both their corner charge attempts.  Twist of Fate is countered!  Matt dodges the springboard enziguiri and John nails Miz instead!  Side effect on Morrison!  Finlay Roll to Hardy!  Corner spear to Morrison and Finlay gets a series of knockdowns on Miz and Morrison.  Finlay nails a second-rope missile dropkick to Morrison.  Hardy corner clotheslines Miz, and takes him down with a bulldog while clotheslining Morrison.  Miz hotshots Finlay on the top rope, and gets a corner clothesline on Hardy.  Finlay nails Miz with the shillelagh, Morrison enziguiri’s Finlay from the apron, and goes for a springboard attack, but Hardy nails him with a boot and hits a Twist of Fate for the big win!

Winner:  Matt Hardy by Twist of Fate @ 12:51

This match was very, very heavily bogged down by how much time they spent with two separate points of focus in the ring.  In other words, way too much time with two separate offensive sets going on at the same time.  The finisher fest was very nice, but other than that this match was not NEARLY as exciting as it should have been considering the guys involved, and I’ll chalk it up to a bad match layout.

Match Rating:  5.3/10

Overall Analysis:  

This show was not at all offensive, but I wouldn’t call it great or anywhere near there.  We only had three matches, and while they were all fine it made it feel a bit like a wrestling show with an eight-man roster.  The main event was very disappointing considering the competitors involved, and the highlight of the show was a jobber match.  Not exactly the finest outing they’ve put together recently.

Overall Show Grade: C+

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