On Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 11:13 PM EST ECW on Sci-Fi
April 17, 2007
Milan, Italy
Commentators: Joey Styles & Tazz
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Elijah Burke was in the ring with the New Breed. He talked about what a wonderful addition CM Punk would make to the group. He introduced Punk who came down and shook hands with everyone in the ring.
Burke said it was obvious why he chose to join the New Breed. He said he knew it, and so did all the people watching. He asked him to explain to the world why he wanted to join the winning team. Punk took the mic and thanked Burke for the forum but was going to keep his reasons to himself. He said as of right now, he was officially a member of the New Breed.
Burke said that not only was a great new member of the New Breed, but he was also modest. Rob Van Dam came out to the entrance way and told Burke to shut his mouth. He said he was ticked at Punk for turning his back on the men that broke their backs to build ECW. RVD said he would live to regret it. Burke said no one was going to regret anything around here. Burke said the only person regretting anything were the washed up ECW losers. Burke said he was just pissy over losing to Cor Von last week.
RVD said he was right and challenged Burke to a match tonight. Punk stepped in and said if RVD wanted to Rumble, he could Rumble with him. Burke stepped in and said he’d lead by example and accept the challenge tonight.
****Commercial****
Nunzio v. Snitsky
Nunzio grabbed a go-behind but Snitsky easily broke it and tossed him across the ring. Snitsky caught Nunzio and placed him on the top rope where Nunzio grabbed a side headlock. Snitsky tossed him into the ropes and flat backed him with a shoulder block. He grabbed Nunzio and tossed him into the buckles before Nunzio caught him with a boot to the face and a drop kick to the knees. Nunzio scaled the second rope and hit a second drop kick to the face and earned himself a cover attempt.
Snitsky hit a head butt and then uncorked a brutal gut buster before loading Nunzio up and hanged him up on the top rope. Snitsky hit a lariat, before picking up Nunzio and hammering him with a boot to the head.
Winner: Snitsky via pin fall
Elijah Burke was in the back with CM Punk. Burke wanted to know if Punk thought he was scared of RVD. Punk said he did think Burke was scared of RVD. Burke said if he wanted to be part of the New Breed, then he needed to fall in line. Punk nodded at him skeptically and walked off.
****Commercial****
A video aired putting over “The Condemned”.
Kevin Thorn (w/ Ariel) & Marcus Cor Von v. The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer
Cor Von and Dreamer tied up and Cor Von immediately took control with his power. Dreamer hit a drop toe hold and smashed his head into the corner before tagging in Sandman. The two hit a double team elbow before Sandman went for a Heinekenranna but Cor Von pushed him off. Cor Von uncorked a lariat before tagging in Thorne.
Thorn entered the match and hammered away at Sandman’s chest before slapping on a rear chin lock. The crowd rallied Sandman who fought back with some elbows to the gut but got cut off with a clothesline. Cor Von tagged in and began working over Sandman with some clubbing blows and a body slam. Cor Von connected with a double under-hook suplex for a two count.
Thorne tagged back into the match and dug his fingers deep into Sandman’s face. Cor Von tagged back in quickly and hit an Irish whip before hitting a splash. Cor Von looked for it again but Sandman ducked away and tagged in Dreamer. Dreamer hit some clotheslines and cleared Cor Von off the apron with a drop kick. Dreamer went for his DDT but Thorn bum rushed him to the corner. Dreamer looked for the sunset flip but Thorn was able to fight it. Dreamer finally got him over and held onto the bottom rope for the dirty win!
Winners: The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer via pin fall
Thorn and Cor Von were irate after the match.
Punk was with Striker in the back and said the New Breed needed a leader with vision and moral fiber. Striker was very into what he was saying.
****Commercial****
ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley’s music hit and he came out to the ring. He got on the mic and said he couldn’t wait for Backlash. He said on his way here tonight, he stopped by Raw last night and showed a video of what happened.
Lashley introduced the new Intercontinental Champion Santino Morella. Santino showed off his title to the Italian crowd. Santino cut a promo in Italian after thanking Lashley for his help. Santino sure thanked a lot of freaking’ people. The two posed with their belts and played to the crowd as we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
CM Punk was with Thorn and Cor Von telling them to not let what just happened to them set them back. Burke looked a little ticked off. He said he recruited Punker but he needed to learn to fall in line. Punk said Burke didn’t need to go nuts about it and he would have his back in his match with Van Dam.
Rob Van Dam made his way out to the ring for his match.
****Commercial****
Rob Van Dam v. Elijah Burke
Burke slapped Van Dam who cold cocked him with a kick to the head. RVD went for a whip but Burke raked the eyes and tossed Van Dam into the ring post. Burke pounded away on Van Dam in the corner before being pulled off by the official.
Burke laid in some punches after slapping on an arm wringer. Burke jaw jacked with the crowd a little bit before laying some boots in on the shoulder of Van Dam. Van Dam eventually slipped out of a back drop attempt and hit another spinning heel kick to slow down Burke. Van Dam came bounding out of the corner with a body press and almost got a three count.
Van Dam looked for the Monkey flip combo, but Burke avoided the move and looked for a roll up with his feet on the ropes, but only got a two count. Burke slapped on a key lock as the Italian faithful rallied behind RVD. Van Dam began to fight back until Burke slammed RVD to the mat with a cross arm breaker. Burke went for a cover but only got a two count before going back to the key lock.
Burke hit a pump handle slam before draping Van Dam’s arm on the ropes and dropping down on it. Burke hit a nice running knee drop before playing to the crowd a little bit more. Van Dam fought back a little bit and the two exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring before Burke was able to gather Van Dam and send him careening into the ring post shoulder first. Burke hit a belly to back suplex and got a two count.
Burke went back to the key lock again, still trying to wear Van Dam by working over his shoulder. The hold evolved into a hammer lock while RVD fought to his feet. Burke hit a drop toe hold to cut the comeback short and dropped two elbows to the back of Van Dam’s head for a two count. Burke hit a snap mare and worked in an arm bar. Van Dam fought back some more with punches to the gut before Burke whipped him to the ropes. RVD ducked under the clothesline attempt and connected with one of his own before flooring Burke with two more side kicks.
Van Dam hit some mounted punches in the corner and finally connected with his monkey flip out of the corner. Van Dam hit some forearms in the corner before trying to whip Burke back into the corner. Van Dam sent Burke in who inadvertently clattered into the official. Van Dam gathered Burke and hit a kick to the face but caught knees to the back when he attempted rolling thunder.
CM Punk came running down the entrance way to cheer on Burke. Burke asked for a chair and Punk accidentally slid the chair in too far. Van Dam collected the chair and hit a Van Daminator on Burke. He scaled the top rope and hit the five star frog splash for the pin fall victory.
Winner: Rob Van Dam via pin fall
After the match Punk apologized to Burke who was despondent on the mat. Punk didn’t look too sincere. ECW Weekly Round-UpQuick Results
Snitsky def. Nunzio
Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman def. Marcus Cor Von & Kevin Thorne
Rob Van Dam def. Elijah Burke
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Lashley
2. Nunzio
3. Rob Van Dam
Most Heat
1. CM Punk
2. Snitsky
3. Elijah Burke
Match of the Night: Rob Van Dam v. Elijah Burke **
Show Review— I’m pretty glad to see that WWE’s heading in the ‘No Honor Among Thieves” direction with CM Punk joining the New Breed. He’s already trying to undermine Elijah Burke’s leadership with pep talks to all members of the New Breed. I really like it. Should this whole thing escalate to a war games type thing, it’ll make for some compelling stuff. That’s the way to pick up the slack on this feud, which could really use it, and add some depth and spice.
Other than that though, this was a pretty quiet week, all things considered. They ran through the usual ‘nice to see Bobby Lashley’s here’ segment and Snitsky squash. The final two matches were decent enough action. The RVD-Burke match was a decent step down from what they normally do. Burke was working the match like they were going to go 20 minutes when they only went 10. It was perfectly acceptable action though.
Again, this was a decent show, but didn’t have a whole heck of a lot to it. Things are headed in the right direction though.
Show Grade: C-