Reported by Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:00 AM EST

ECW on Sci Fi
June 3, 2008
Los Angeles, CA
Commentators: Mike Adamale & Tazz
Reported By: David Stephens of WrestleView.com

Are you ready? Cause, here we go.

We start by heading straight to the back where crew members are packing up items in Armando Estrada’s office as per the general managers orders. Estrada throws them out yelling that he is the general manager, until Theodore Long comes in and tells him “not any more playa”!!!

Don’t Question My Heart is blaring, the pyro is shooting, and we are live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

Tonight is already looking to be jammed packed as we are going to start off with a fatal four way with the winner facing Kane later tonight! Teddy Long is starting his reign with a bang.

CM Punk v. Tommy Dreamer v. Chavo Guerrero v. John Morrison

This looks to be a rematch from the Five Way at One Night Stand, except without The Big Show and the Singapore Canes. Adamle just informed us that the match against Kane later tonight will be a non-title match up, bummer.

Dreamer and Morrison start things off and Chavo plays with Punk over in the corner. Dreamer lays Morrison out in the middle of the ring which allows Punk to pick up Chavo and slam him on top of the Shaman of Sexy. There isn’t going to be any alliances tonight as Dreamer quickly starts to take it to Punk and Morrison and Chavo square off in the corner. Chavo and Punk are knocked down and Dreamer throws Morrison over the top rope. Dreamer hits a running clothes line from the apron onto Morrison. Chavo leaps over the top rope for a splash, and Punk suicide dives onto all three men on the outside. Morrison gets Punk back into the ring, but is only met with a huge knee to the face when he finds himself in the corner. A nice spinning kick to the back of Punk’s head from Morrison, but Dreamer runs in and locks Morrison up in a Texas Clover Leaf. Chavo enters the ring and breaks it up by hitting Dreamer with the three amigos.

Chavo is going up to the top, but Morrison isn’t going to let this happen as the two begin trading jabs from the top. Morrison attempts a suplex, but Punk runs up from the outside and knocks them down resulting in Morrison being locked up in a tree of woe. Dreamer capitalizes by hitting a nice running knee into Morrison’s face. Punk leaps into the ring to take out Tommy, but Dreamer kicks out of the pin attempt, only to lay victim to a frog splash from Chavo! Chavo doesn’t even get the chance to celebrate as Punk picks him up and nails him with the GTS. 1…2…3!

Winner via GTS: CM Punk

In the back Theodore Long is shown with Estrada explaining that the Board of Director’s has made him the General Manager, and since Estrada is also on the active roster, Long is going to make him wrestle in order to earn his paycheck. His match later tonight will be against a personal friend of Long’s: United States Champion Matt Hardy

****Commercial****

As we come back the “Jamaican Sensation” Kofi Kingston is seated with the announcers and will be narrating us through the upcoming match.

A video recap is shown of Benjamin’s attack on Kofi in the ring last week.

Shelton Benjamin v. Matt Sydal

Matt Sydal! This dude’s an awesome wrestler. Shelton hits him with a pump-handle slam to start things off. Sydal attempts a quick roll up but Benjamin kicks out. Matt hits him with a spinning kick and a beautiful running hurricarana. Matt then leaps from the third rope with his knees bent to hit a standing Shelton and it carries him down to the mat for a pin attempt. The crowd is actually oo’ing and ah’ing at this point. Matt bounces off the ropes and runs at Benjamin, but Shelton throws him up into the air and lets him freefall to the mat. Benjamin holds Matt up over his head and slams his ribs down hard on his knees. Sydal gets tossed like a ragdoll into the corner. A small Matt Sydal chant actually starts up in the crowd. Shelton locks Sydal up in an arm hold. Matt makes a break and runs toward Shelton but his face ends up on a date with Shelton’s fist. Benjamin throws Matt outside of the ring, and when Shelton follows he and Kofi get into a stare down. Benjamin lifts Sydal up in a powerbomb position and chucks Sydal at Kofi Kingston!

Winner via Countout: Shelton Benjamin

Kofi gets up and slides into the ring and viciously starts to take it to Benjamin. We get our obligatory “Jamaican Me Crazy” from Adamle. As they end up outside the ring Benjamin manages to Irish whip Kofi into the steel stairs.

****Commercial****

Matt Hardy v. Armando Estrada

Adamle: “The sharp dressed man with the island tan, Armando Estrada definitely will have to dig down into his bag of tricks, Tazz, to get it done against a man the caliber of Matt Hardy”. Can we please induct Adamle into the Hall of Fame right now?

Matt Hardy starts the match off by hitting Estrada with a clothesline and avoids absorbing too much of Estrada’s blows, which allows Hardy to lay Armando out in the middle of the ring and then hit him with an elbow from the second rope. Hardy hits the Twist of Fate and this match is over.

Winner via Twist of Fate: Matt Hardy

Theodore Long walks out and doesn’t let Estrada leave the ring, and tells the ref to ring the bell because Estrada will have a match right now with Colin Delaney.

Armando Estrada v. Colin Delaney

Colin runs into the ring and attempts a quick school boy, but the former General Manager kicks out. Estrada lands two punches before finding himself victim to a roll up.

Winner via The Momentum from Hardy’s Twist of Fate: Colin Delaney

****Commercial****

Estrada and Long are in Theodore’s office as Armando begs Long not to fire him and keep him around at least until the draft. Long is going to make Estrada earn his contract the same way Estrada made Colin Delaney earn his. Before Teddy leaves to go enjoy his first ECW main event, he imparts one last word of wisdom on Armando. Cue Ron Simmons for the best one liner available today: “Damn”.

Video is shown of McMahon’s press conference from earlier today. Clip is shown of different Superstars putting over the amount of money. HHH pulled out the Austin Power’s pinkie to drop the “one million dollars” line. I’m just going on the record right now as saying that if I win anything from this giveaway it is almost guaranteed that it will be the sixth place prize of $2.00. That’s just the kind of luck I have.

Adamle leaves us with this before the commercial: “We go from the color of money, the mean green, to the Big Red Machine”. Kane v. Punk is up next!

****Commercial****

CM Punk v. Kane

Punk tries to start things off by using his agility against Kane, but Kane breaks out of the first few attempts using his power and strength. Punk falls to the mat thanks to a shoulder block. Punk starts to work on Kane’s arm, but Kane chucks CM down to the mat. Punk finds himself unable to get away from Kane’s grasp and gets hit with some hard rights in the corner. Punk finally sees an opportunity and gives Kane a couple quick kicks and then clotheslines the Big Red Machine over the top rope and to the outside. Kane doesn’t let Punk gain any momentum, as he pulls Punk to the outside of the ring. The competitors get back in the ring and Kane is really bringing it to Punk now. Kane and Punk end up back to back as Kane holds his hands behind his head in a vice grip around Punk’s neck and holds Punk suspended in the air. Punk gets down and tries running at the monster but he ends up finding himself planted on the outside of the ring thanks to a big boot.

****Commercial****

As we come back, Kane has Punk locked up in the middle of the ring. Punk breaks free and attempts to tie up Kane but this only results in Punk finding himself on his back yet again. Kane flips Punk over, then as CM is sitting up in the ring, Kane hits a running dropkick to Punk’s head. Kane has “Mr. Money in the Bank” in a body scissors smack dab in the middle of the squared circle. Punk manages to fight out and runs at Kane and hits a successful sunset flip pin attempt, but Kane kicks out. Punk finds himself victim to a nasty clothesline that truly came from hell. Kane locks in the body scissors again. I’m liking this throw back submission hold. Punk starts to break free and lands kicks and punches all over the big man. Punk slides under Kane’s legs to hit a quick kick to the back of Kane’s head, but Kane follows this up with a boot of his own. Kane attempts to splash Punk in the corner, but Punk moves out of the way and hits two running knees into Kane’s face. Punk goes for a bulldog but Kane counters with a back suplex. Pin attempt, but Punk kicks out. Kane throws Punk into the corner but Punk turns around and is able to jump at Kane to successfully hit a bulldog. As they get up, Kane utilizes a sidewalk slam on CM Punk and then heads up to the top rope. Kane leaps and hits Punk with the flying clothesline. Pin attempt to no avail as Punk kicks out! Kane signals for the chokeslam. Punk manages to kick Kane in the back of the head from the hold and escape. Kane tries to throw him out of the ring, but Punk lands on the apron and spring boards over the top rope at the Big Red Machine. Kane catches is him with his arm extended in position for the chokeslam. Punk counters and puts Kane up on his shoulders for the GTS, but he can’t hold Kane up. Kane hits him with the chokeslam and gets the pin.

Winner via Chokeslam: Kane

After the match, Miz and Morrison run in out of nowhere and attack Kane. The monster is trying to get in some offensive, but he just can’t overcome the odds considering the punishment that CM Punk just dealt him in their match. We go off the air as Miz and Morrison exist with cocky expressions on their face. Kane is left flat in the ring, and we fade to black.

ECW Round Up

Now this is what I am talking about! This week’s ECW was exciting, fast paced, and entertaining. Truth is that there was not really much backlash from One Night Stand to deal with, so they were able to launch a bunch of new story lines.

For those of you who did not get an opportunity to view the ECW match from ONS, it was decent. The Big Show won, and that is pretty much all you need to know. He got busted open pretty bad and if you head over to wwe.com there are some pictures of his eye swollen up and with stitches. I was never a big fan of the Singapore Cane concept, but they served their purpose. I’m curious to see if CM Punk somehow mixes himself up into this Kane v. Big Show rivalry which is just starting to take off. Show’s absence from the program was acceptable considering his physical state as well as the way the storylines are playing out.

Theodore Long rocks. It’s nice to see Estrada have to eat some of his own pie by going through the same hoops that he put Colin Delaney through. It will be interesting to see how long this storyline gets carried out, or if it ends due to the draft. Hopefully the draft will make a lot of interesting changes this time around.

I’m continuing to like the Shelton Benjamin/Kofi Kingston story line. I maintain that they would make a great tag time once all is said and done with this feud, but in the meantime I’m enjoying this. They are two very talented and athletic stars, and their matches always bring out some nice moves and variants. Hats off to Shelton for letting Sydal get in some offensive maneuvers. Matt did just enough to impress those watching the match, while still maintaining the proper balance to carry Shelton through as the dominant wrestler. I would love to see Sydal on ECW, he would fit in with the style we have right now.

The main event tonight was really awesome. That match was PPV worthy in my mind. Just goes to show what an incredible worker Kane is. I’m not saying that to take away from Punk in any way, it is just nice to see Kane getting this push with the title. We have been able to see a lot of really great stuff from the Champ since Wrestlemania. He has been reinvigorating himself with new moves and holds that really makes it entertaining to watch.

Kane’s fire in his entrance reminded me of the steak and potatoes I cooked on my new grill tonight. It was actually delicious, though it took a little adjusting to figure out which areas had the best heat distribution and all of that. Think of all the marshmallows you could cook at once if Kane was on a camping trip with you. Park Ranger’s might come after him thinking he’s a forest monster though.

Final Thoughts to Marinade On:

-The Draft has me both excited and worried
-Same goes for ECW being taped with the RAW Roster in the future
-No Kelly Kelly again, I’m starting a search party if she’s not on next week.
-I’m not sure how the Tag Champs beating up the World Champ makes sense
-These recaps are going to get interactive with “ECW Wrestler Rankings” after the draft. Get excited

I want to thank everyone who has read my work and sent me e-mails. I really appreciate it as they help me plan out what to write and to know what you are looking for. I am going to an ROH show this weekend so look for another “Wrestleview Road Trip Column” and then I will see you Tuesday night for my ECW recap. Be sure to drop me a line at jugglernextdoor@gmail.com

-David Stephens