On Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 11:34 PM EST ECW on Sci-Fi
February 6, 2007
Omaha, NE
Commentators: Joey Styles & Tazz
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
A video recap aired putting over Mr. McMahon’s appearance on ECW last week.
Apparently Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu, Rob Van Dam and Balls Mahoney have all been summoned to the ECW ring by Vince McMahon. Vince’s music hit and he came out to the ring.
Vince asked them if they want to play games, they need to tell him what a corn husker is. He said what he had here was a ring filled with ECW originals, the biggest bunch of has-beens and never was’ in the ring. He said whether we know it or not, most of these men had criminal records. He said they just couldn’t fit in with any other wrestling organization, so they just became ECW originals. The fans chanted “ECW” and Vince gave us a ‘SHUT UP!’. He said everything about ECW, including the men in the ring, sucked. He said it was like standing in the middle of Jurassic Park, he was around a bunch of Dinosaurs. He said Dinosaurs become extinct. Tonight he said a new breed would be unleashed.
He wanted to remind them of something. Everyone of them gets a pay check from him and he was the boss. Whatever he says, goes. He said these men would be in action tonight. He said he couldn’t stand all these guys in action, so it’d just be some of them. He said they better not lay their hands on the appointed officials and they couldn’t interfere in any of their friend’s matches. If they did, they’d be fired. The ECW Originals stewed watching him.
Later tonight, we’ll see Bobby Lashley face Hardcore Holly 1 on 1!
A No Way Out Promo aired.
****Commercial****
A pretty intense promo putting over Snitsky aired. He’s got a new totally shave look. Hopefully we’ll start kicking some babies soon.
Kevin Thorn w/ Ariel v. Tommy Dreamer
The two began circling it up before the school bell rang and out came our school teacher Matt Striker to be our special guest referee.
Dreamer and Thorn locked it up and Thorn was able to back Dreamer into the corner and land some punches and kicks to Dreamer’s gut and jaw. Thorn laid the boots to Tommy a bit before choking him on the bottom rope while Ariel screamed in his ear. Dreamer began to fight back a bit before getting nailed with an innovative looking jaw breaker.
Thorn ripped away at Dreamer’s face before hitting a nice back elbow. Thorn went back to the well, trying to tear Dreamer’s jaws apart. Dreamer began fighting out and hit a jaw breaker of his own to break the hold. Dreamer began landing lefts and rights and capped it off with a neck breaker.
Dreamer got caught on the way in on an Irish whip but caught Thorn charging him and hit a sit out slam. Dreamer went for a cover, but Striker wouldn’t make the count. Dreamer went to admonish Striker before getting his head taken off with a Thorn lariat. Striker can count this time.
Winner: Kevin Thorne via pin fall
Dreamer stared down Striker in the corner.
Rebecca was with Hardcore Holly in the back. Holly said Lashley had successfully defended his title against every credible opponent except him. Tonight, he’d prove to everyone why he’d be the next ECW World Champion.
****Commercial****
A promo aired putting over Bobby Lashley’s life story. It was actually pretty cool. Good job to give us a reason to care about the Champion.
Hardcore Holly v. ECW Champion Bobby Lashley
The two locked up and Lashley easily overpowered Holly and backed him into the corner. The two got a little hostile on the break but the referee was able to break them. The two began swinging for the fences and Holly won the exchange. He hit a whip to the corner but Lashley took him off his feet with a clothesline. Lashley followed up with a shoulder block and delayed vertical suplex .
Lashley gathered Holly and went for the power slam but Holly wiggled out and dropped the World Champion on the top rope. Holly didn’t waste any time being a jerk-face and dumped his opponent hard into the ring post. Lashley looked like he was a mess from the move and rolled out to the outside of the ring.
Holly followed Lashley and tossed him into the ring post before tossing him hard into the steps, trying to work over the shoulder of Lashley. Holly broke the count then came out to ram Holly into the ring apron back first. Back in the ring, Holly continued to work the shoulders and the back, slapping on a camel clutch. Sheik was somewhere smiling.
Lashley fought his way to his feet and hit some fore arms but took a seriously stiff right hook right in the face. Holly went for the cover but didn’t get much. Holly slapped a bear hug on the champion next before bashing away at the lower back some more. Holly slapped on a rear chin lock in hopes of slowing the tempo of the match a little bit more.
Lashley fought back again and whipped Holly to the corner, but missed the follow up and crashed into the buckles himself. Holly laid the boots to the champ, before going for a mild version of a leg lock. Holly oozed into a modified STF, keeping the pressure on the champ. Holly ended up in a choke cinched in before Lashley began throwing elbows again to break the hold.
Lashley tossed Holly off the ropes and hit an overhead belly to belly suplex, which bought him a little time to regain his bearings. Lashley came at Holly with some clotheslines and some right hands of his own. Lashley capped the comeback with a big back body drop.
Lashley sent Holly into the buckles and hit a lariat to follow it up. Lashley went for a second whip, but it was a bit much and Holly caught him coming in. Lashley quickly recouped and hit his power slam for the pin fall victory.
Winner: Bobby Lashley via pin fall
After the match, Snitsky popped up out of nowhere and took the champ’s head off with a lariat to the face. He picked up the champion and sent him at Hardcore Holly who finished the beat down with the Alabama Slam. Snitsky’s supporting an entirely hairless look.
****Commercial****
Matt Striker is our ‘special guest time keeper’ for the next match.
Balls Mahoney v. Marcus Cor Von
Mahoney came out in a neck brace. Cor Von’s entrance is rancid.
Cor Von came right at Mahoney’s neck, hitting some blows to the back and following it up with a lariat. Cor Von ripped off the neck brace and put the boots to balls before hitting an Irish whip. Balls ducked under the follow up and hit his left jabs but got wrecked with another lariat.
Cor Von lined Mahoney up and nailed him with the pounce. He slapped on a cobra clutch right after that before dropping him hard to the mat. That’s all she wrote, kids.
Winner: Marcus Cor Von via submission
The Extreme Expose is next!
****Commercial****
Extreme Expose
The girls came out and did another poorly choreographed dance thing that I have a feeling will be interrupted. Of course, it was, by our teacher, Matt Striker, who came out in a suit.
Striker showed up and let us know he was going to be our special guest ring announcer. Our special guest commentator is going to be Marcus Cor Von. This is pretty funny. Our special guest time keeper is Kevin Thorn who’s got a face full of Ariel’s boobs. By order of Mr. McMahon, anyone who interferes with the match or the appointed officials outside the ring, will be fired.
Elijah Burke v. Rob Van Dam is next!
****Commercial****
Rob Van Dam v. Elijah Burke
The match was in action when we came back. Van Dam hit a vertical suplex and went for a cover, but didn’t get anything. RVD hit his spinning leg drop and again went for the cover and yet again, got nothing. RVD sent Burke off the ropes but found himself flipped over the top rope to the apron.
RVD hit a thumb to the eye and went for a suplex but Burke saved himself, hanging RVD up on the top rope and sent him tumbling into the guardrail. Burke went to work on the chest of RVD, dropping him on the ring apron before going for a quick cover. Burke slapped on a bow and arrow but RVD began fighting back.
Burke cut him off with a kick to the gut and a whip into the corner followed up by double knees to the mid section. Burke went for the cover but RVD kicked out. Burke missed a punch and RVD hit a kick to the face. RVD hit a whip and the monkey flip before scaling the top rope and hitting the five star frog splash.
The bell went off out of nowhere.
The official tried to explain to Striker that he hadn’t called for the bell. Burke tripped RVD up and went for a cover attempt but only got two, but the bell rang again. Striker declared Burke the winner.
Winner: Elijah Burke because Matt Striker says so people!
After the match, the new breed jumped into the ring and put the boots to Van Dam. The originals came out and saved the day. Tazz and Styles wondered whether or not there’d be any repercussions despite the fact that they didn’t interfere in the match itself as we went off the air. ECW Weekly Round-UpQuick Results
Kevin Thorne def. Tommy Dreamer
Lashley def. Hardcore Holly
Marcus Cor Von def. Balls Mahoney
Elijah Burke def. Rob Van Dam
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Rob Van Dam
2. Lashley
3. Tommy Dreamer
Most Heat
1. Mr. McMahon
2. Matt Striker
3. Elijah Burke
Match of the Night: Hardcore Holly v. Lashley ** 1/4
Show Review— I can’t honestly say I hated tonight’s show. It was alright all things considered. ECW has a ton of work to do, but I think the last two weeks are baby steps in the right direction. We have more of an authority figure now in McMahon even though he’s more or less unofficial. We have a reason to cheer the Originals and boo the New Breed. We’re starting to learn all about our World Champion. These are all basic, essential things that weren’t done before and should have been done, that are only now being corrected.
As much as I like Paul Heyman’s creative craziness, he’s really off the cuff when it comes to how he books shows. He likes to book on the fly. That’s not a criticism really, as I think Heyman would tell you the same thing. He books shows around two or three matches and fills in the blanks at the show itself. While that worked in ECW circa 1996, it was bound to fail in the new ECW BRAND in WWE in 2006. The roster needed development on the whole, and with Heyman not willing to book the bottom of the card better, we were left with a tenth of the product. When he more or less left the WWE altogether, we were left with a green Bobby Lashley as the new champion, the former champion hanging them up because he was so badly beat up from months of falling from tables, a few original guys kicking around who either don’t want to be in WWE anymore or don’t have much of a future period, and finally, a bunch of new guys nobody cared about. We knew as much about them in December as we did in August.
Now for once, I think WWE’s got the right idea. Say what you want about WWE Creative, but this is the right direction for ECW right now while it seemed Heyman’s direction was really to provide jobs for his old buddies so they could keep collecting a pay check over younger lions who certainly were green, but have potential. Elijah Burke and Matt Striker are insanely good heels and have the look and the potential to go somewhere if given proper care and attention. Marcus Cor Von is green still, but slick on the mic at times. In all honesty, save for Van Dam, I’m not wild, nor have I ever been wild about the rest of the ECW originals, but guys like Sabu and Dreamer are good to keep around for developmental pieces. However, they’re not going to carry the product in the future, nor are they really the guys to establish it now. CM Punk, Elijah Burke, Matt Striker, Lashley, THOSE are the guys who’re going to really go somewhere and be the corner stones of the brand in the future and WWE should be betting the farm on the development of these guys, not over exposing guys whose drawing power is entirely over estimated.
The real issue facing ECW right now however, is the lack of top-flight guys who can really work with these youngsters to get them to where they need to be. Sure, it’s great that Rene Dupree, Shannon Moore and Snitsky are getting second chances on ECW, but what really needs to happen is that guys who are experienced, credible veterans and that don’t have anything going on right now, get moved over to the ECW brand to put these young guys over. I’m talking guys like Chris Benoit who’s been floating around aimlessly for about a year and a half now. I’m talking about guys like Umaga, who’s shown life and is considerably ahead of the rest of the young batch in terms of actual ring work and skill. I’m talking about guys like Jeff or Matt Hardy. Decent, competent, credible vets who can really help give these kids the direction they need to excel.
Despite what many people think, I think ECW’s future is bright so long as WWE keeps on laying the basic groundwork to make it a viable brand. No brand, despite how much talent it may have, can succeed if they’re tossed out in front of a live audience every week with absolutely zero direction. Heyman figured the ECW ‘brand’ of wrestling was far more over then it really was. This is a new wrestling audience. The kids that were watching wrestling 10 years ago didn’t watch ECW for a variety of reasons likely due to their parents not letting them watch it, limited TV exposure, etc. The kids that watch wrestling today were barely born when ECW was ‘big’. Heyman’s downfall, IMO was that he thought he had something that wasn’t nearly as big as he or the WWE figured it was. What needs to be done is the slow, gradual build up of a new product.
So I’m going to give ECW a ‘thumbs up’ this week for heading in the right direction and do the uncool thing to do by smark standards and support the WWE in it’s new direction with ECW.. It’s baby steps and to be honest, it’s going to be a long time before the show is ‘good’ and fans need to be willing to deal with that. Things that should have been done 8 months ago were not done and still NEED to be taken care of. WWE’s beginning to take care of that by introducing and re-introducing us to the characters on the show and give us a reason to care about them. It’ll take a while, but I’m optimistic that ECW can get somewhere some day.
Overall: C-
Just like Raw guys, feel free to send in your comments and feedback regarding the show!