ECW on Sci Fi Results - 7/22/08 - Philadelphia, PA (A Fatal Four Way)

Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 2:29 AM EST

ECW on Sci-Fi
Philadelphia, PA
July 22nd 2008
Commentators: Mike Adamle & Tazz
Reported by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com


This evening my friends are in attendance at ECW and I am not. I’d like to pretend it is because doing this write up is more important, but the truth is they couldn’t reach me when they were ordering tickets. On the bright side you now have WrestleView’s best ECW recapper in your corner, so let the bodies hit the floor.

Video intro plays and we are airing from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Theodore Long is in the ring to present a NEW ECW Title Belt to Mark Henry in honor of his first successful title defense. It is really shiny and silver for those desiring a visual. Henry and Tony Atlas make their way to the ring with smiles largely emblazoned across their faces. Atlas grabs the mic and says how happy they are to get this new title in the home of the original ECW.

Somebody in the audience made a sign with yellow writing on white paper. There is no way I am going to be able to read it, and so this will bother me all night.

Atlas lets us know that this is a new ECW and as such those clinging to the old will be squashed and swept under the rug. Atlas introduces Colin Delaney and Colin walks down to the ring looking sweaty as ever, but slightly cocky. Colin says that people keep asking why he betrayed Tommy and said that he is tired of getting beat up week in and week out. He said at the Bash he saw Tony Atlas, a WWE Hall of Famer, on one side, and Tommy Dreamer on the other. Colin says that Dreamer is the past and that Henry is the future. He tells the fans that they all would have done the same thing. Colin offers to carry Atlas and Henry’s bags.

Long steps in at this point to say that Dreamer is not the past, and that as a result of Colin’s actions, he will face Tommy Dreamer in a match right now because this is Philly!

****Commercial****

Colin Delaney v. Tommy Dreamer

The bell rings and Colin attempts to get outside of the ring but Dreamer drags him back in and rams him into the corner. Colin is met with slaps and then gets tossed across the ring. Tommy whips him into the corner and Colin slides to the outside. Dreamer doesn’t let him get away with this as he slides Colin back in the ring. When Dreamer is making his entrance back into the ring Colin takes the slight advantage with some kicks and punches. Pin attempts fails. Dreamer gets the upper hand back with a barrage of slaps. Colin is held up in the Tree of Woe and Dreamer drop kicks Colin directly in the face. Dreamer hits a nice pump handle slam, and Delaney is writhing in pain. Dreamer almost seems to be starting to feel for Delaney as he helps him up to his feet. A vicious DDT takes care of any hint of remorse.

Winner via DDT: Tommy Dreamer

In the back we see Morrison and Miz. John says that last Sunday will be known as “Black Sunday” due to their loss. They say that the lost without actually getting pinned. They each put each other over in reference of winning the Fatal Four Way to determine the #1 Contender for the ECW Title later tonight. Morrison lets us know that his fur coat is made of farm-raised Jackal, classic.

****Commercial****

Generation Rescue plug by Jenny McCarthy for Saturday’s Main Event on August Second.

Chavo and Bam Neely make their way down to the broadcast booth so that Chavo can comment on

Evan Bourne v. James Curtis

“Evan from Heaven” as Adamle just called him. Apparently Evan has to go against a local wrestler, i.e. jobber. Interesting. The two circle around each other and Evan locks in an armbar but gets whipped back around. Bourne rolls through which results in him reapplying an arm hold to James. Curtis starts to give some swift kicks to Evan in the corner. Curtis goes for a snapmare but Evan lands on his feet! Evan hits a very high dropkick and then a hurricarana. Pin attempt is no good. Bourne hits a couple kicks and then locks in another armbar. Curtis is able to break the hold by slamming Evan in the corner but Evan dodges a splash attempt and goes for a monkey flip. Curtis blocks by throwing Evan to the mat. James lands a couple punches and kicks, and then hits a back suplex. Pin attempt hardly gets a one.

Curtis now locks in a head lock of sorts. Evan is really struggling and Adamle is also struggling to relevantly get his voice in on commentary. Curtis goes for another back suplex but Evan lands on his feet and then hits a couple kicks of his own. Evan bounces off the ropes and hits a nice roundhouse kick. Bourne jumps up high in the air and hits a beautiful hurricarana. Picture perfect Shooting Star Press and this match is over!

Winner via Shooting Star Press: Evan Bourne

After the match Chavo and Bam try running in from opposite sides of the ring to take him out but Evan Bourne uses his speed to escape.

Tazz just said that he dares anybody to find a superstar on RAW, Smackdown, or ECW that can do a maneuver like Bourne’s Shooting Star Press. To Tazz: PAUL LONDON. Enough said.

“Bourne to be wild does it again” – Mike Adamle

Finlay is in the back with his leprechaun son saying that he doesn’t need luck for the four way tonight, because who needs luck when you have a Shillelagh?

****Commercial****

Tiffany is in the back with Atlas Ortiz. Apparently he used to party in New Orleans with John Elway. Oh whoops, apparently his name is Ricky Ortiz. Teddy Long lets him know that he will have a match next week in order to put his “undefeated streak” on the line.

Video promo airs of Mike Knox, in case we forgot about him I guess.

Matt Hardy is shown in the back putting over his chances in the Four Way tonight. Matt sounds very determined.

****Commercial****

Miz v. Morrison v. Matt Hardy v. Finlay

Tony Chimel announces the wrestlers for this match. How do you think him and Justin Roberts split up who does the introductions? More importantly, how does Todd Grisham’s random segments factor in to this? Wikipedia says that Chimel and Roberts switched up Smackdown and ECW in 2007, but I think they still mess with my mind on a weekly basis.

All four men are in the ring and it appears as though Miz and Morrison will be teaming up. Miz tries to get a quick roll up pin on his partner in order to win the match! Hardy and Finlay don’t let this fly. A couple punches and Hardy and Finlay send both Miz and Morrison to the outside. Typical WWE tactic which ensures only two competitors are in the ring. Hardy and Finlay are standing nose and each competitor attempts some shoves. Finlay throws Hardy into the corner. Hardy ends up on the apron and Morrison pulls him down to the outside smacking his face against the apron in the process. Miz and Morrison each work on their opponents back in the ring. Hardy is with Morrison and Finlay with the Miz. Finlay and Hardy end up in control. Hardy hits his second rope elbow drop that I really don’t enjoy watching ever. Finlay slams Miz hard into the corner. Morrison starts getting some shots in on Hardy. Finlay goes for a roll up on Miz but Miz kicks out. Hardy tries to roll up Morrison, but again no luck.

****Commercial****

We come back in the ring and Miz and Morrison seem to have the advantage. Morrison and Finlay roll through each other a couple of times attempting for pinfalls. Finlay walks over to Miz and Hardy and starts to work on Miz. Morrison tries to get involved which only results in Hardy slamming his head into the turnbuckle. Hardy goes for a pin but Miz breaks it up. Miz tries to roll up Finlay, then Hardy tries to roll Finlay, then Morrison on Hardy. All of them fail. Finlay has Morrison held down with a nice armbar in the middle of the ring. Finlay tries another pin attempt as does Hardy and the ref looks like he wants to clone himself twice just to do this match. Well the third could go grab him a drink because it is hot.

Morrison throws Finlay to the outside of the ring and dodges Finlay’s apron maneuver attempt. Morrison starts to go after Hornswoggle but Finlay thanks him by throwing him into the crowd. The camera got hit by a cup of soda that Morrison threw at Finlay. Miz is working on Finlay by the ringside and M&M due their tag team elbow maneuver on the barricade!

Hardy is in the ring and keeps both Miz and Morrison down until the numbers game catches up to him and he is met with stereo boots to the face in the corner. Hardy is hit with a double gutbuster. Miz hits a snap suplex then Morrison looks to go for a DDT and tells Miz to watch his back as he tries to sneak in a roll up. Matt Hardy tries to take advantage of the arguing by rolling up Morrison, but it fails and Miz lays him out with a clothesline. Hardy is sent to the corner and dodges twin splashes. Hardy hits the side effect on Miz but only gets a two count! Finlay slides into the ring and hits his Celtic Cross on Hardy. It’s almost a three but Morrison breaks it up. Finlay chucks Morrison to the corner then spears him and hits nasty clotheslines on both Miz and Morrison. Finlay hits a missile dropkick from the second rope on Morrison. Hardy now has control and takes out both Miz and Morrison. Finlay buttplants Hardy and goes for a pin but only gets two! He does the same to Morrison and attempts a Celtic Cross on Miz but Miz manages to counter and hit Finlay’s head on the ropes. This is insane.

Morrison knees Finlay in the face but Hardy blocks the cover and tries to cover Finlay himself. Miz slides back into the ring and blocks the cover then throws Hardy into the corner. Hornswoggle is on the outside providing a brief distraction. This lets Finlay grab the shillelagh and take out Miz! Morrison spring boards off the top rope but Matt Hardy blocks the attempt and hits Morrison with a twist of fate! Hardy gets the pin!

Winner via Twist of Fate: Matt Hardy

Mark Henry and Tony Atlas make their way to the entrance ramp to smile as ECW goes off the air.

ECW Thoughts

I am going to start with the obvious. The Fatal Four Way main event is the best Fatal Four Way I have seen from the WWE in a very long time. It started off standard, but all of the counters and near falls at the end of the match really had the crowd going. That is how a four way should feel. All four men deserve a lot of credit for giving everything they had to make the match not only believable, but spectacular.

My comments on the Dreamer/Henry/Delaney situation are below in my Bash thoughts, and I really don’t have anything to add to them after watching tonight’s episode.

Evan Bourne once again is looking super impressive. He is so amazing that I am almost expecting to watch pure magic every time he enters the ring. This is of course a very good thing; I just hope the magic does not become old after a couple of months. I’m excited that they are actually giving him a decent feud against Chavo. Too bad Chavo’s feuds as of late seem to start the same way: “I was surprised and as such couldn’t really fight in the match so I deserve another chance”.

Great American Bash Thoughts

21% of you thought Tommy Dreamer was going to walk away champ, the other 78% of you were correct. That was no surprise so I won’t spend too much time on it though I guess I’ll touch on Colin Delaney. He turned heel, I suppose it eventually was going to occur or /* his character would get stale. This is one of those things I just want to sit back and wait before I comment on. I have always felt kind of indifferent towards Mr. Delaney so maybe this will change.

ECW went into the Great American Bash with 3 titles, we now hold 1. Does anybody really think we aren’t being shafted? I don’t get Hawkins and Ryder having the belts as I would rather have it on Jesse and Festus if it was going to leave ECW. Where does this leave Miz & Morrison? Tag Title picture was pretty solid on ECW with those two so I hope they don’t disappear from TV. I hope that doesn’t happen. Too bad the leprechaun didn’t get the belt. I was imagining some sort of land of rainbow and gold pots under the ring that would have housed the champs.

Matt Hardy also lost his belt. I already forgot who he lost it to, let me double check. Oh yeah, Shelton Benjamin, didn’t he use to be on ECW? Of course. One more thing, did anybody /* notice that once again the ECW belts were defended FIRST on the PPV. Three ECW title matches, and they go down 1..2..3. It is like creative just wants to get us out of the way so that the real PPV can start. If Heat was still around I bet one of these matches would have been held on there. Here’s to hoping that Summerslam will include an ECW match NOT first.

Reader Response Contest

Why do you watch ECW on Sci-Fi?

E-mail me your response. Please keep it to about 500 words or less. Winner that I select will have their response posted in next week’s column. I look forward to your responses not just to pick a winner but because I like being able to feel the pulse of what my readers are thinking and feeling about the product we are watching.

WrestleView Reader Poll Results Week of July 15th

Every week, more and more of you are voting, competition is getting fierce! Here is this week’s results

Match of the Night:
70% Miz & Morrison v. The Hardys
28% Chavo v. Evan Bourne
1% Mike Knox v. Shannon Moore

Face of the Night:
38% Evan Bourne
28% Tommy Dreamer
21% Jeff Hardy
9% Matt Hardy
1% Shannon Moore
1% Colin Delaney

Heel of the Night:
62% Mark Henry
14% Tony Atlas
12% Morrison
5% Miz
3% Chavo
1% Mike Knox

Most Impressive Wrestler:
73% Evan Bourne
11% Jeff Hardy
7% Morrison
3% Matt Hardy
2% Shannon Moore
1% Mike Knox
1% Miz
0% Chavo

GAB Prediction:
78% Mark Henry
21% Tommy Dreamer

This week’s poll can be found at: this link.

Send me e-mail! You think I’m perfectly right or completely off base? Let me know. The worst thing that will happen is you’ll get to talk with a wrestling fan. As always I am delighted to talk ECW and hear your thoughts. My e-mail is jugglernextdoor@gmail.com and I do my best to respond to everyone. Hit me up! Your thoughts keep me going.

-David Stephens