Reported by David Stephens of WrestleView.com
On Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 10:36 PM EST

ECW on Sci-Fi
Baltimore, MD
December 16th 2008
Commentators: Matt Striker & Todd Grisham
Report by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com

Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart because it is time for ECW!

The show kicks off with a bang as Matt Hardy, the ECW Champion, makes his way down to the ring. Matt has the mic and gives a heartfelt promo about both his and Jeff’s current title holdings. Chavo’s music hits and he makes his way down to the ring. This is someone we haven’t seen on ECW in awhile. Chavo tells Matt to live it up, because this scenario is not going to last for very long. Chavo says that later tonight he is going to wrestle Matt, and take the ECW belt for himself. Chavo says Vicky already talked to Long. Apparently Long didn’t actually feel the same way. Teddy makes his way out to the front of the entrance ramp, wearing an elf outfit. No lie. Long says that yes he talked to Vicky, but the match won’t be later tonight, it will be right now!

ECW Championship Match
Matt Hardy v. Chavo

Chavo goes strong on the attack at the start of the match. Chavo lands some punches and backs Hardy into the corner before Matt bounces out and hits some punches of his own. Chavo blocks a Twist of Fate attempt and Matt follows it through to send Chavo out of the ring. Chavo is able to jump up to the apron and bounce Matt’s neck off the top rope and then makes his way back into the ring. Chavo locks in a bicep hold on the ECW Champ.

****Commercial****

We come back and Chavo still has Matt’s arm locked up. Matt breaks free and hits a scoop slam on Hardy. Matt tries to bounce off the ropes and hit a shoulder block, but Chavo reverses and sends Matt down to the ground. Chavo locks up Matt’s arm again. Hardy is able to power out and lift Chavo up in the air and drop him down to break the hold. Matt bounces Chavo off the ropes and drops him with an elbow and then hits and elbow drop on Chavo. The pin attempt fails and Matt hits a suplex on the Mexican star. Hardy goes up to the second rope and hits his EPIC elbow. Chavo kicks out of the pin.

Chavo gets up to his feet and Matt hits a bulldog, Chavo kicks out. Hardy hits Chavo with an elbow and Matt goes up to the third rope. Matt is looking for the moonsault, but Chavo jumps up after him. Matt brings Chavo down hard with a side Russian leg sweep from the second rope. Matt hits the Side-Effect and goes for the cover. Chavo kicks out.

Matt tries to hit the Twist of Fate, but Chavo is able to counter the move and starts to hit the three Amigos. Before he can finish, Matt counters into a Twist of Fate!

Winner via Twist of Fate: Matt Hardy

****Commercial****

We come back and Finlay and Hornswoggle are in the ring. Hornswoggle is in a playful mood and jumps out to the Announcers table. He douses Striker with water and steals their Slammy!

Finlay w/ Hornswoggle v. Gavin Spears

It’s been awhile since Gavin has been on the show; apparently ECW is all about the long lost superstars on this fine evening. Gavin is sent down hard by a shoulder block from Finlay. The Irishman follows this up with a clothesline and scoop slam. Finlay parts Gavin legs and stomps down on his gut. Finlay sends Spears to the corner and hits a nice spear. Gavin rolls outside of the ring and gives ‘swoggle an eye. Finlay runs out to protect his son and Gavin take the advantage to hit a nice kick.

Both men make their way back into the ring and Gavin Spears is now in control. Spears has a headlock punched in on the Irishman. Finlay breaks free with a jawbreaker. Finlay bounces off the ropes and lays out Gavin with a couple of punches followed up by the Pot ‘o Gold. Gavin is sent hard into the corner and Finlay hits a spear. Gavin finds himself lifted up and gets hit with the Celtic Cross!

Winner via Celtic Cross: Finlay

****Commercial****

In the back we see DJ Gabriel and Alicia Fox dancing. Mark Henry dressed as Santa and Tony Atlas dressed as Rudolph come onto the camera. Someone must youtube this immediately. Mark Henry recites “The Night Before Christmas” Mark Henry style. I can’t even type this with a straight face. I can’t believe this is what I do with my Tuesday nights. World’s Strongest Santa, I don’t even know what to say.

****Commercial****

Jack Swagger, Miz & Morrison v. Kofi Kingston, CM Punk & Ricky Ortiz

Kofi and Morrison start things off. Kofi lands a couple of punches and then locks up Morrison’s arm. Kofi tags in Ricky Ortiz. Ricky gets in a couple of punches and Morrison goes for a quick roll up before Ricky. CM Punk gets in on a tag and dropkicks the heels outside of the ring as we go to commercial.

****Commercial****

We come back and Kofi and John Morrison are in the ring. Kofi is flipping around the ring and seems to be in control of the situation. Kofi goes up to the top rope, but Swagger knocks him out of the ring and he lands on the steps. Morrison rolls out and brings Kofi back in. Miz gets the tag. Miz picks up Kofi and slams him down. Jack Swagger quickly gets tagged in.

Swagger lies down with Kofi in the middle of the ring and has his head locked up. Kofi hits a headscissors take down and tags in Ricky Ortiz! Ortiz comes in a clears house with a couple of dropkicks and knocks MizMo off the apron. Ortiz goes to the apron and tries to bring the pain to Jack Swagger. The iron is hot in this match here tonight! All the men are on the outside except for Ricky and Swagger. Ricky tries to springboard off the top rope but Swagger decks him with a high kick. Jack Swagger hits the Blue Thunder Bomb and this match is over.

Winners via Blue Thunder Bomb: Jack Swagger, Miz & Morrison

ECW Thoughts

World’s Strongest Santa for the win. I still cannot for the life of me figure out how he did not crack up. I almost couldn’t look at the TV with Tony Atlas’ red nose glowing. I don’t know who wrote that segment, but he deserves a raise.

The opening match was pretty interesting tonight. Both men put on a really solid display, as has been the norm from Matt Hardy on ECW. I like how they tied Chavo in to the storyline, but in my opinion they really need to give the guy a storyline of sorts. It has been as though he has been completely non-existent the last couple of months.

Gavin Spears didn’t impress me tonight, but on the other hand it is not as though he didn’t impress me. I was truthfully just completely emotionless about him. I don’t think I pulled that last sentence off, my triple negatives are a bit shaky.

I’m really excited to see “The Wrestler” over my winter break as it will be released in Philly during that time. I saw Mickey Rourke’s Stunt Double wrestle in CZW last summer during their Tournament of Death 7.

The main event tonight seemed really quick to me. A lot happened and it was of course a solid match, but I seemed to find it hard to follow. Maybe it was me, it just seemed to be really out there.

As always, send you thoughts over to me at jugglernextdoor@gmail.com I’m looking forward to your views on tonight’s show.

Power Rankings

3 Month Rolling Rankings; ECW Title Win 5, ECW Title Loss 4, ECW Win 3, ECW Loss 2, ECW Appearance 1, PPV Title Win 10, PPV Title Loss 8, PPV Win 6, PPV Loss 4, PPV Appearance 2.

September 16th 2008 – December 16th 2008

1. Matt Hardy – 57 pts. [l.w. 1]
2. Mark Henry – 42 pts. [l.w. 2]
3. Finlay – 41 pts. [l.w. 4]
4. John Morrison – 39 pts. [l.w. 3]
5. The Miz – 37 pts. [l.w. 5]
6. Jack Swagger – 33 pts. [l.w. 6]
7. Evan Bourne – 21 pts. [l.w. 7]
8. Tony Atlas – 20 pts. [l.w. 8]
9. Tommy Dreamer – 16 pts. [l.w. 9]
10. Ricky Ortiz – 15 pts. [l.w. 10]
10. Jack Swagger – 15 pts. [l.w. NA]

-David Stephens

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