On Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 11:21 PM EST ECW on Sci Fi
February 27, 2007
San Jose, CA
Commentators: Joey Styles & Tazz
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
A video recap aired of the Lashley-Umaga showdown last night on Raw.
The ECW music hit and Joey Styles and Tazz welcomed us to the show. They showed off the steel cage hanging above the ring that will house the ECW World Championship match later tonight between Lashley and Hardcore Holly.
Money in the Bank Qualifying Match—Extreme Rules
Mr. Kennedy (Smackdown) v. Sabu (ECW)
Kennedy grabbed a neck vice initially before body slamming Sabu to the mat. Kennedy went for an elbow drop, but missed and Sabu came flying back with some punches. Sabu ducked under a clothesline and went for his springboard back elbow but was caught in mid air and backdrop suplexed on his head for a two count. Kennedy whipped Sabu into both corner but missed the follow up after the second attempt.
Sabu hit a back elbow and Kennedy took off to the outside for a breather. Sabu hit a baseball slide drop kick and then launched himself over the top rope and into Kennedy. Sabu recovered first and after setting up a table on the outside, slammed Kennedy’s head into the ring steps and then went for his plancha over the top rope through the table, but Kennedy avoided it. Sabu luckily adjusted and came crashing down with a double axe handle. Sabu went for a cover attempt but when Kennedy kicked out, Sabu attempted to hit a running elbow drop but was tripped up and fell face first into the chair.
Kennedy put the boots to Sabu in the corner and went for a cover before walking to the outside of the ring and grabbed the table and tossed it into the ring. Sabu caught him on his way into the ring and hit a leg drop with Kennedy’s head sticking through the middle rope. Sabu began setting up the table before taking Kennedy’s head off with a clothesline. He draped Kennedy across the table and went for his Arabian face buster and missed completely. Kennedy picked up Sabu and DDT’d him into the remains of the table for the win.
Winner: Mr. Kennedy via pin fall
A limo pulled up outside the arena and out stepped Vince McMahon who berated his driver for not getting him to the show fast enough.
****Commercial****
Balls Mahoney v. Matt Striker
Striker avoided the initial Balls rush and hit some clubbing blows. Balls ducked under a clothesline and hit the balls punches before flooring Striker and hitting a top rope leg drop. As Balls soaked in the admiration from the crowd, Snitsky showed up out of nowhere and leveled the big man with a big boot to the face. Be put a mini-beat down on Mahoney causing the disqualification.
Winner:Balls Mahoney via DQ
After the match, Snitsky leveled Matt Striker as well.
Vince McMahon showed up and said Lashley would be defending his title tonight against Hardcore Holly in the cage tonight. McMahon said since Trump came up with surprises last night, he’d come up with one of his own tonight. He said if Lashley didn’t defeat Hardcore Holly in five minutes or less tonight, he’d lose the ECW World Championship.
****Commercial****
Marcus Cor Von & Kevin Thorn w/ Ariel & Elijah Burke v. Rob Van Dam & Tommy Dreamer
Thorn hit a kick to the mid section on RVD before whipping him into the corner. RVD leapt up on the ropes and came off with a body splash and got a two count. Dreamer tagged in and hit a wheel kick and went for a cover of his own. Thorn quickly overpowered him and bullied him to the corner and hit some shoulder thrusts.
Dreamer reversed the momentum and went for ten punches to the head in the corner but was tossed off by Thorn. Cor Von tagged in and he laid the boots to Dreamer before going for the cover. Cor Von hit a snap mare and slapped on a rear chin lock in hopes of wearing down the ECW original. Dreamer fought to his feet, but Cor Von cut him off with some clubbing blows. He went for a body slam, but Dreamer wiggled out and hit a reverse DDT.
Dreamer and Cor Von both made tags and Van Dam cleaned house on both Cor Von and Thorn. RVD hit a body slam and then the split legged moonsault for a two count. Van Dam punted Thorn’s head into the lights before connecting with rolling thunder. RVD went for the cover but Cor Von broke it up. Dreamer came into the ring and low blowed Cor Von and took him to the outside.
Van Dam hit a spinning wheel kick and then went for the five star frog splash. Ariel climbed in the ring attempting to hand a cane to Thorn, but the Sandman showed up out of nowhere and hit her with his Singapore cane in the back side. Van Dam stayed perched on the ropes long enough for Burke to crotch him on the top buckle. Thorn hit his suspended jawbreaker and got the cover for the win.
Winners: Marcus Cor Von & Kevin Thorn via pin fall
Hardcore Holly was in the back and talked about how tonight would be his night and that there was nothing anyone, not even Bobby Lashley, could do about it.
****Commercial****
CM Punk v. Stevie Richards
Richards locked right up with Punk and then tossed him hard to the outside of the ring. Richards immediately chased him and tossed him right back into the ring. Punk hit some arm drags before the two rolled around a bit and exchanged chops and then some kicks.
Richards got a rake to the eyes and then hit a stiff kick to Punk’s back. Richards slapped on a rear chin lock and used some intense elbow drops to keep the pressure up. Richards moved to a neck vice before getting tagged in the head with a Punk kick. Punk tried to pounce and capitalize, but Richards tagged him right back, this time landing a kick to the face.
Richards grabbed a side headlock, which Punk fought out of, but still couldn’t manage to shake the persistent Richards. Richards went for a top rope DDT, but Punk flew off the top rope with a clothesline and then a nasty looking wheel kick. He hit his running knee in the corner but Richards escaped the bulldog attempt. Richards came flying back at Punker but got caught with the Go 2 Sleep. One cover later and this one is history.
Winner: CM Punk via pin fall
Another video putting over the Lashley-Umaga confrontation last night aired.
The ECW World Championship Match is next!
****Commercial****
The Divas did their Extreme Expose thing and a little pyro went off at the end.
A video aired putting over Jerry “The King” Lawler’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The Steel Cage is being lowered!
****Commercial****
ECW World Championship—Steel Cage Match
Lashley © v. Hardcore Holly
(If Lashley cannot win in 5 min., he loses the title)
Holly came right at Lashley but found himself leveled with a shoulder block. Lashley went for a cover but didn’t get anything. Lashley hit some punches to Holly’s face and went for another cover attempt.
Holly got sent into the cage twice before the champ put the boots to him and went for another cover attempt, being ever mindful of the clock. Lashley whipped the challenger into the ropes and hit a splash in the corner. He went for the three point tackle but got a boot in the mug. Holly was bleeding from the forehead and he decided to skip town and climb over the top of the cage.
Lashley caught up with Holly and was on the top buckle before Umaga decided to show up. Hardcore Holly hit a super plex while Umaga decided to trash the ring side area. Umaga began launching weapons into the ring that Holly tried to use to his advantage.
Holly plastered Lashley with a chair shot to the skull but he couldn’t get the three count. Lashley popped up out of nowhere and hit a belly to belly suplex and then grabbed the chair and wrecked Holly himself. He looked over at Umaga and beat the crap out of Holly with the steel chair. Lashley hit one more chair shot for good measure and planted Holly into the mat with a running power slam for the win.
Winner and STILL ECW World Champion: Bobby Lashley via pin fall
Lashley and Umaga jaw jacked on their respective sides of the cage. Lashley took off into the ropes and threw himself at the cage wall, causing it to break free from the rest of the structure, and the Champion came crashing down on Umaga, cold-cocking both men. Styles swallowed his head repeatedly as we went off the air. ECW Weekly Round-UpQuick Results
Mr. Kennedy def. Sabu
Balls Mahoney def. Matt Striker
Kevin Thorn & Marcus Cor Von def. Rob Van Dam & Tommy Dreamer
CM Punk def. Stevie Richards
Bobby Lashley def. Hardcore Holly to retain the ECW World Championship
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Bobby Lashley
2. CM Punk
3. Rob Van Dam
Most Heat
1. Umaga
2. Mr. McMahon
3. Matt Striker
Match of the Night: Mr. Kennedy v. Sabu **
Show Review— This was easily the best ECW show I’ve seen in a while. The show flowed very well and every segment had a purpose. Not all the stuff was great, but the show had structure, which is something the brand as a whole lacked about a month ago.
The Money in the Bank Qualifying match was probably the best match of the night. The extreme rules thing wasn’t overdone and the whole crash and burn persona of Sabu was well preserved with that kind of ending. Kennedy is probably going to be the favorite to win Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania.
The New Breed-Originals feud is a good one for a lot of reasons. I don’t care about the heat it’s getting or the quality of the matches. I care about getting to know some of these new guys WWE’s brought through the curtain. Having them cheat to beat RVD and Tommy Dreamer, perhaps the two biggest symbols of ECW itself, gives them instant heat with the marks and gives them something to do with guys that can make them look half way credible. Although the sections of the match with Thorn bordered on flat out atrocious, the match still had a fun feeling about it, and didn’t get lost in the sometimes sloppy and poor work of all four. The ending was outstanding.
The Punk-Richards match was a ton of fun as well. Punk apparently thinks he’s KENTA these days, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. It was a relief to see Stevie Richards back on TV.
With Wrestlemania 23 likely being Undertaker’s swan song, chances are we’re going to see WWE really begin to push someone as his ‘replacement’ of sorts as that top, unstoppable monster. I pick Umaga. Period. The whole aura of the show went from fun to completely intense when he came out to the ringside area. The guy’s got a natural energy about him and his work is flat out awesome. Save for HBK and Taker, who seem to have taken a sip from the kiddy fountain lately, Umaga’s looked better than anyone in the company.
This feud with Lashley is a good one in the sense that everyone’s going to come out a winner. I know people may not be wild about getting Vince-Trump every show, but like it or not, it’s going to be the big draw. So far it’s garnered all the mainstream media attention for the show, negative and positive. From a financial and publicity standpoint, it’s a win for both Vince and the Donald. Lashley desperately needs someone to look like a genuine threat to his spot. I think Umaga’s the perfect guy to do it. With a special guest referee likely to be Steve Austin, it’ll give them an opportunity to put Lashley over and keep Umaga looking very strong. That’s got to be the goal one would think at this point.
Again, I like this ECW lay out. It runs smoothly, cuts right to the chase, and while the ‘work rate’ (I hate that phrase) isn’t stellar, the matches are fun, which is all we should ask for in our televised wrestling. ECW continues to make baby steps every week. This was the first time I legitimately enjoyed the brand in forever.
Overall: C