ECW on Sci-Fi
Kansas City, MO
March 24th 2009
Commentators: Todd Grisham & Matt Striker
Report by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com
Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart because it’s time for ECW!
I have to start off by apologizing for a lack of my recapping for the first 20 minutes of the show. My feed was messed up and it took me 20 minutes in to the show to realize what was going on and how to fix it. WrestleView fan Chris Kelly [Crelly in the chat] was kind enough to cover the first 20 minutes for me:
?Are you ready to enter the land of extreme?
The opening sequence hits telling you to stop question your heart that’s prepared to fight (I thought this was ECW not SD?)
We are welcomed to the show by your teacher Matt Striker and Todd Grisham who remind us we are 12 days away from WM25. They plug the VIP with all the MITB participants. John Morrison? music hits as he comes to the ring with The Miz and Nikki Bella. We are shown clips from last week when the title match for Wrestlemania was announced as well as the spitting of apples. Carlito comes out with Primo and Brea Bella
WWE Tag Team Champion Carlito vs. World Tag Team Champion John Morrison
They lock up with Morrison getting the power and chucking Carlito into the rope. Following a struggle Carlito climbs the ropes but is cut off by Morrison and Morrison hits a massive kick to the head of Carlito as we go to a break.
Back from the break Morrison has Carlito in an arm bar. Carlito rolls out of it and hits a springboard elbow. A pin attempt gets a 2 count. Morrison whips Carlito into the corner then hits him with a leg sweep. This again results in a 2 count. A swinger neck breaker is hit by Carlito and another 2 count! Both wrestlers reverse each other’s finishers as a big spine buster is hit by Carlito. Miz grabs John Morrison and takes him up the ramp. They are cut off by Teddy Long. Their Tag Team bout is now a Lumberjack Match! The Lumberjacks make their way down to ringside.
A superplex is reversed and then John Morrison attempts an elbow springboard which misses. This is followed by a double clothesline. Carlito dropkicks John Morrison out the ring into LumberJacks who chuck him back into the ring straight into a backstabber. 1-2-3
Winner: Carlito
The announce team then announces that Howard Finkel will be inducted into the HOF. Well done “The Fink”. The VIP Lounge is plugged again. A recap of Raw is shown of the HHH/Randy/Stephanie drama. The commentators run down the WM25 card is ran down. ?
****Commercial****
We come back [and I join you] as we are greeted by a video recap of the HHH/Orton saga
Grisham and Striker run down the card thus far for Wrestlemania 25!
We are treated to video of John Cena on the Tonight show, followed by a plug for John Cena’s new movie 12 Rounds.
****Commercial****
Jack Swagger & Tyson Kidd w/ Natalya v. Tommy Dreamer & Evan Bourne
Evan is in his home crowd tonight and he comes out to a boisterous ovation. Tyson and Evan are starting things off in the ring. Evan takes him down from behind and Tyson uses the ropes to break the hold. The two briefly stare down and Tyson teases a feat of strength but instead kicks Evan in the gut. Tyson whips around and follows this up with another kick but Evan springs to his feet and hits a dropkick. Tyson rolls out of the ring and Evan follows after. Tyson uses Natalya as a shield and then punches Bourne. Both competitors are back in the ring and Dreamer gets the tag.
Dreamer sets Tyson up in the Tree of Woe and looks to go extreme and nail his signature baseball slide, but Swagger is on the apron trying to be the distraction. Tommy wails him in the face then gets down on all fours as Bourne enters the ring. Evan takes a running start and leaps off of a Dreamer to kick Tyson square in the face!
****Commercial****
Welcome back as Swagger and Dreamer are the competitors in the ring. Dreamer is getting punched repeatedly in the face. He tries to counter a whip but Tyson holds him back on the ropes and Swagger gets in a cheap shot. Swagger hits a leg on Tommy and goes for a pin. Dreamer kicks out. Tyson gets the tag and comes into the ring to apply the obligatory head lock. Tyson has a pretty awesome look as he is trying everything to keep Dreamer down. Tommy starts to power out so Tyson starts to go to work on beating him down. Tyson pulls down his knee pad and hits an exposed knee on Dreamer’s face.
Swagger is tagged back in and Matt Striker start’s putting over Jack’s body. Swagger does not leave any room for air as Dreamer is really getting pummeled. Dreamer is somehow able to plow Swagger into the mat. Bourne gets the hot tag as Swagger is able to get Tyson in the ring. Evan comes in with a springboard hurricarana onto Tyson. He follows this up with a couple of roundhouse kicks. Swagger is on the apron but Bourne pops his foot into Jack’s Face. Evan heads to the top rope as Tyson attempts to knock him down. Kidd instead falls to the mat and Evan hits his Shooting Star Press!
Winners via Shooting Star Press: Evan Bourne & Tommy Dreamer
The crowd was going absolutely insane for Bourne at the end of that match. Striker was even a bit taken back on commentary.
****Commercial****
Special VIP Lounge hosted by MVP with all the MITB participants
MVP puts over the MITB match at Wrestlemania and his quest for World gold. MVP thanks Christian for allowing the VIP shown tonight instead of the Peep Show. Christian says that quite frankly the reason he agreed was because everyone knows that this will most likely turn into a brawl and he didn?t want his furniture messed up. Shelton is next on the mic and makes fun of MVP for having a lack of funds due to his losing streak.
MVP needs to never appear on camera again in a button down open chest shirt with a wife beater underneath while wearing the US Title and a doo-rag. Really that needs to never happen again. The rest of the competitors all take their respective turns putting over their individual desires to win the match at Wrestlemania. Highlights include Kofi saying that he will just leap up and grab it and Mark Henry trying to convince anyone that he will possibly be able to climb the ladder. Kane takes the cake in this segment as he brings his arms down and red fire erupts from the ring posts. That’s all she wrote.
ECW Thoughts
Oh ECW how you never cease to amaze me. Well it wouldn?t be fair for me to really discuss the opening segment tonight as my feed was messed up, special thanks again to Chris for sending me his report. I like starting with the tail so let’s discuss the final segment.
It is with a very heavy heart that I compliment the last segment. The sad state of affairs is that ECW will not be having a Title match on the grandest stage of them all. Backstage ?gossip? leads one to believe that Vince doesn?t think Swagger is ready for such a big match. Other ?gossip? leads one to believe that the scheduled match would have been Swagger v. Bourne.
There are a lot of things that bother me in the world. The first is using the phrase ?one? to describe an individual. It brings back nightmares of my Humanities studies in high school. The other is people who take backstage ?gossip? as the ultimate truth. Unless something is on the WrestleView main page I?m reluctant to believe it, and even then 100% accuracy isn?t guaranteed.
So on that subject I?ll say that Swagger v. Bourne sounds like it would have been awesome, but there is nothing any of us can do about it. Last year they only gave ECW a 14 second match and this year we don?t get one at all. We are getting shafted, but here is to hoping that the draft treats us well.
Tonight’s tag match was really awesome. Tyson and Evan were of course the ones who brought it home tonight. I have begrudgingly cheered on Bourne since he arrived on Sci-Fi. As a stout Paul London fan it was difficult to watch someone else be allowed to use the Shooting Star Press when he wasn?t. Taking all of that into consideration, Evan really gave everything tonight. He received what were easily the loudest cheers on ECW.
The fact is that Evan is incredibly over right now. His time off for injury seems to have only built up the ?legend?. Evan has definitely been turning heads, and understandably so. I?m not a fortune teller so I have no idea if he will be staying on ECW after the draft. No matter where he ends up I will be following his career with great interest [I sound like Palpatine talking to Anakin in Phantom Menace].
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.
December 30th 2008 ? March 24th 2009
1. Jack Swagger ? 48 pts. [l.w. 1]2. Finlay ? 35 pts. [l.w. 2]3. Mark Henry ? 26 pts. [l.w. 3]4. John Morrison ? 22 pts. [l.w. 4]5. The Miz ? 21 pts. [l.w. 5]6. Paul Burchill ? 20 pts. [l.w. 6]
7. Tommy Dreamer ? 20 pts. [l.w. 7]8. Christian ? 18 pts. [l.w. 10]9. The Boogeyman ? 16 pts. [l.w. 8]10. Hornswoggle ? 14 pts. [l.w.9]10. DJ Gabriel ? 14 pts. [l.w. 10]10. Tyson Kidd ? 14 pts. [l.w. NA]
Look for ?That’s a Wrap? on WrestleView Wednesday!
So that’s ECW. Love it? Hate it? Disagree with everything I said? Just want to chat wrestling? I?m always up for reading your thoughts so send them over to me at jugglernextdoor@gmail.com.