The War Room: ECW Report 11/17/09

Well ladies and gentlemen, I’ve finally been promoted to a show that makes a difference on the landscape of the WWE.  This time I get to get to talk about ECW.

    I know a few of you might say that ECW’s barely better than Superstars, but this past few months has seen some of the recent ECW graduates start on the road to superstardom.  Kofi Kingston’s Boom Dropping Randy Orton through tables, The Miz really is awesome (and US Champion), John Morrison’s better in the ring, not as good on the mic, but definitely a champion of the future.  Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne are finally getting some pushes into the limelight, and I can see Swagger v Miz being a great match, even if it’s going to be heel on heel, it’ll certainly be one worth watching.  I can only assume it’s going to come from something that’ll happen at Survivor Series.

    However, ECW’s only contribution to Survivor Series itself is Christian and Regal being on opposite sides of the Team Kofi vs. Team Orton traditional elimination match.  Personally I don’t think this is a bad thing, when you look at all of the talent on that show that’s come up from ECW in the past couple of years.  Yes, ECW’s no longer a great show, but it’s a vital one to the WWE machine, which I believe has started running again.  RAW at Madison Square Garden was probably the best overall show I’ve seen this year, every match (bar the lumberjill match) did exactly what it needed to, and was entertaining throughout.  Anyway, on with this week’s ECW, where we’ll see whether the Burchills are heading elsewhere or The Hurricane loses his mask.

    For some reason CM Punk’s here in a segment, and he’s even competing later.  Notice, I left him off the list earlier, as he’s been a half-decent heel but nowhere near ready for a top belt.  His character’s just not that interesting.

    Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes are out in the ring to a mixed reception, and Ryder introduces us to ECW’s newest Diva, with his big puppy-dog eyes going.  I like the way this has been going so far, the WWE’s been taking itself too seriously lately, and his daydreams where he and Rosa are skipping down corridors just lighten the mood.  Unfortunately, Rosa goes off on a tangent about shoes while Zack’s telling her how great she is, and then another one about margaritas when Zack tells us he’s after a 2^nd rematch with Shelton Benjamin.

    Thank you, o ECW gods, for Shelton’s out to interrupt something that was getting a bit tedious, and immediately gets to work hitting on Rosa, and calls Ryder a ‘power-tool’, a nickname that even briefly gets its own chant.  Ryder decides to stall on the rematch, and gives Benjamin a cheap shot before escaping. 

    Hurricane – Burchill promo, going over the ins and outs of the rivalry, followed by a blonde girl telling us the stipulations.  It’s billed as ‘Mask vs. Career’.

Paul Burchill (w/ Katie Lea) vs. The Hurricane

    Byron Saxton and Josh Matthews haven’t really hit up much of a rapport yet, there are a couple of awkward silences already.  I forgot to mention Striker in my list of guys from ECW who have moved on to bigger and better things, with him filling in on both Smackdown and RAW recently.  A very slow start to the match, but Hurricane livens things up with a headscissors that sends Burchill to the outside, followed by a vaulting somersault.  Hurricane maintains control until Katie Lea causes a distraction, allowing Burchill to hit his tight back suplex, which sets us up for the ads.

    Burchill’s got a submission locked in as we return, before flattening Hurricane with a clothesline as he tried to shift the momentum.  Rinse, and repeat, as the same thing happens again, with an even more vicious clothesline.  Finally Burchill misses a turnbuckle splash, and they trade blows with crowd playing their part, and Hurricane hits the Lou Thesz press, followed by a huge European uppercut from the corner.  The Eye of the Hurricane is reversed, and Burchill hits a moonsault kick to the face.  Burchill reverses a second Eye attempt into a Northern Lights suplex for a second 2-count.  Hurricane pulls out a top rope hurricanrana and signals for the Shining Wizard, but Katie Lea causes the distraction and Burchill hits the Dangerous Buster, but Hurricane kicks out at the last second!  A second Dangerous Buster is countered, and the Eye of the Hurricane lands, but Hurricane’s slow to cover... and it’s another 2.  Burchill catches Hurricane on the top rope, but Hurricane gets the better of him and hits a top rope swinging neckbreaker, and picks up the 3 count, meaning the Burchills have to leave ECW.  They both end up crying their little eyes out in the middle of the ring.  I’ll be interested to see what happens to them though, I’ve enjoyed Burchill’s performances recently.

Rating:  7/10 – Very good performance from both, plenty of excitement and the crowd got into it.  Probably the best that could have been asked of these 2.

    CM Punk talks to Tiffany about her love for a drink.  She likes to party, and tells Punk to loosen up for once and try being a human being.  Apparently ECW was watched by more men than Larry King Live, whoever that is.

    Here comes another Vance Archer squash match.  Hope this one lasts longer than 4 moves.  Might as well do it as a checklist:

<!--1. Big slap

<!--2. Hard irish whip into the corner

<!--3. Stomps

<!--4. Kick to the chest from the outside

<!--5. Mounted punches to the back

<!--6. Swinging faceplant-type thing, don’t know what it’s called yet

<!--7.Scoop slam into Reverse DDT

No point rating a squash really, but he looks decent enough.  Only a matter of time until they misuse Goldust against him, I guess.

    Christian and CM Punk talk ECW title and straight edge.  He asks if Punk’s allowed to hold hands with a girl and if he gets grounded if he misses curfew, and calls him a nerd.  Fun little exchange.

CM Punk and William Regal vs. Christian and R-Truth

    I do love a bit of Killswitch Engage...  and Christian’s music’s pretty fun as well.  I guess this is their match to promote Survivor Series, but there are only 2 ECW stars on that card so they have to draft some Smackdown stars in.  Christian and Punk start off, but as soon as Christian gets Punk down he drags Regal into the ring, tags in R-Truth and they hit stereo missile dropkicks, setting us up for an early ad break.

    R-Truth hits a running headscissors on Regal who tags in Punk, who gets the splits-spinning calf kick treatment, and is knocked out of the ring.  Christian baseball slides Regal and Truth hits a vaulting body press on Punk.  Lots of high flying early in this one.  Regal pulls Truth off the apron as the ref’s distracted with Christian, and Truth picks up a knee injury.  Punk and Regal go with the quick tags working on the leg for a while.  Truth hits an enziguiri after about 3 minutes’ worth of that, getting the hot tag to Christian.  Tornado DDT to Punk for 2, second rope uppercut and goes for the Killswitch, reversed into the GTS, and back into the Killswitch, but Christian’s pushed into the corner and Punk hits the running knee, but the bulldog’s reversed into the Reverse DDT.  Regal breaks up the count and Truth hits a spinning kick but lands badly.  Christian locks in the Killswitch again but Regal hits the Knee Trembler and Punk hits the GTS and picks up the win.  Both men stand victorious as the show ends.

    Match rating – 5/10 – A lot of submissions really slowed everything down after a fast-paced start.  I know they can’t go at that pace all match, but this one seemed to stop the flow of the match entirely.  All well executed enough, but wasn’t exactly edge of your seat stuff, even with all the finisher reversals.

    Show rating – 5/10 – A good match between Burchill and Hurricane, an Archer squash and a mediocre match with borrowed talent. 

    At the moment I’m struggling to see who Archer’s supposed to be aiming for.  The face guys he’d have to beat – Hurricane, Benjamin, Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu – all merit a push in my opinion.  Goldust’s been simply excellent since his return, but I get the feeling he’ll be the first one sacrificed.  I suppose they could feed him Tyler Reks, also known as ECW’s Superstars-fodder, but beyond that I can’t see any major feud that he should be winning.

    I’ve been The General, and I’m picking Kofi, Morrison, McCool, Undertaker, HBK and Batista for Survivor Series.  Consider yourself debriefed.

Comments

1. Comment #1

   Double post much? (Does anyone really care about font?)

   Posted by EddieRox on Sunday, November 22, 2009

2. Comment #2

   second.....wow i have no life

   Posted by second on Sunday, November 22, 2009

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