The Week In Hardcore 9.23.06
Posted by Sam Caplan on 09.23.2006
The ECW Top Five, Hardcore Backstage News, and ECW On Sci-Fi results and analysis, plus my thoughts on Kurt Angle venturing into the world of MMA.
Hey folks, I'm back here after an awesome weekend of wrestling last week at the ROH shows in East Windsor CT (which was excellent, tent and all) and then their Manhattan Center debut which I was lucky enough to be front row for. It was without a doubt the best show I've ever been to live, and featured my pick right now for MOTY between Danielson and KENTA for the ROH Title in the main event and, to my very pleasant surprise, Danielson made KENTA tap like a bitch right in the middle of the ring. I don't jest, watching that match was like the wrestling equivalent of sex and KENTA tapping was the orgasm.
But I'm not here to talk about ROH, you can go read Ari's column for that, I'm here to talk about ECW. So let's do that!
ECW On Sci-Fi Results: 9/19/2006 (From Worcester, Massachusetts, 1.6 Rating)
-Sabu, Sandman & Tommy Dreamer defeated Matt Striker, Test & Mike Knox by DQ (11:24)
-Kevin Thorn pinned Balls Mahoney (2:03)
-CM Punk defeated Shannon Moore by submission (3:11)
-World Champion King Booker pinned Rob Van Dam (non-title, 8:39)
Storyline Developments
-Paul Heyman has King Booker and Queen Sharmell here tonight as special guests, and wants to show them around ECW. After meeting various members of the ECW roster, they meet up with Rob Van Dam, who knows who he is. Hey remember when Booker and Van Dam were Tag Team Champions on Raw like two years ago? Yeah, me neither. Booker is insulted by his flippancy and challenges him to a match tonight.
-Sandman was taken out of the six man tag early, but after Test drew the DQ by shoving the ref into the ropes, Sandman came back out and cleaned house with his cane and tells them he's sorry.
-Balls Mahoney had Francine with him this week, and she got into an oldschool catfight with Ariel on the floor, but this unfortunately distracted Balls enough that Thorn was able to give him the Vampire's Edge for the win.
-Van Dam hit the Five Star Notebook Splash on Booker, but Hardcore Holly ran out and nailed Van Dam with a chair, then gave him the Alabama Slam, allowing Booker to get a scissors kick for the win while Holly goes to the back to watch more porno.
ECW Top Five (As voted by...ME!)
All rankings are based on what happens on TV. House shows do not count. If it didn't happen on TV, it didn't happen.
ECW Champion: Big Show
1)CM Punk:Still riding high on his undefeated streak and wins again this week, despite Shannon Moore putting up more of a fight.
2)Kevin Thorn: It appears that the new breed is quickly rising the ranks, as the also undefeated Thorn picks up another win this week over Balls Mahoney.
3)Matt Striker: They were on opposite sides of the ring this week, but Striker was able to stay away from the Sandman and let Test and Knox do his dirty work for him.
4)Mike Knox: Hasn't looked great the last few weeks, but appears to be heading toward a confrontation with the tip-ranked CM Punk, a victory over whom would surely propel him up the card.
5)Test: has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle lately, but still has yet to be pinned or made to submit, and has looked like a real badass every week.
Hardcore Backstage News
The feeling at the taping this week was that the ECW workers are getting over with the crowd well due to their efforts. [pwinsider.com]
Well isn't that nice. That's very good to know. Hell, people even fnially know who Shannon Moore is!
ECW On Sci-Fi did a record low rating of 1.6 this week. [pwinsider.com]
The main reason I heard for this was that there were a bunch of other things on Tuesday night that would have taken away from the ECW audience. Also, I'm not sure what they did on Raw this week, but the ECW audience seems directly proportionate to what happens on Raw in terms of viewership and promotion.
Kurt Angle's people released the following statement:
Dear Angle Friends and Fans:
Kurt "The Machine" Angle wants to truly thank everyone for their concerns and best regards to his recovery and wellness. Kurt continues to read your kind messages and he feels truly blessed to have your support, as your well wishes continue to strengthen him mentally and physically. He also apologizes as he would love to reply to you everyone but unfortunately due to timing with his family, his rehabilitation, training, and business leaves very little time to converse.
Kurt wants me to update you, he's happy to express his physical condition is fastly rebounding. When Kurt left WWE, he was beaten and battered down at a mirror 220. Over the past many weeks with the right rest, a wonderful wife who is preparing the ideal diet, daily physical therapy, and back to good strength training we are happy to report he's up to a solid 240 with about 85% full flexibility....
As you may have seen or heard the latest news, Kurt Angle is a huge fan of all MMA programs (K1, UFC, PRIDE, WEC, and IFL to name a few) this former Olympic Gold Medalist and Extreme Athlete has the heart and the deep driven passion to show he's the best of the best. Angle has his sight on a full physical recovery and plans a day to put it all on the line....Real Fighter will have the exclusive....
I have a little bit more of my thoughts on this later, but I don't see how he could possible have physically recovered that much in just a few weeks. I was at his last match for WWE, and he didn't look good at all coming out of the ring that night. I seriously question how he could be doing that well without serious pain-masking drugs, which was the problem in the first place.
Vital Social Issues N' Stuff With Stuart
Again, the only Vital Social Issue this week is Kurt Angle. I'm not going to say Angle's crazy for doing it, because he needs to support his family (and not just his immediate family from what I've heard), it's not just for the love of comeptition, it's all he knows how to do. I'm not going to say UFC or whatever MMA group hires him is a terrible, cold group of people for considering it, because it WOULD draw viewers, and either they pick him up and let whatever happens happen and get the ratings and PPV buys, or they let somebody else get the publicity.
I think JR put it best in his recent remarks on his website: "My two cents on this matter is that Kurt should stay as far away from the mixed martial arts world as possible. Yes, there is huge money to be made for a few fights but at what cost? I say the potential risk facing Kurt is too great to even think of traveling down this road. I am not condemning the promoters of this genre as they are in the business of making money and most defiantly Kurt Angle in the MMA world is money but is the risk of permanent injury worth the cash? Not where I sit."
I just think it's really sad to see what's happening to Kurt Angle. The guy was a star, he was a two time NCAA Wrestling Champion, 1995 World Freestyle Wrestling Champion, and of course the Olympic gold medal in 1996. From there he came to WWE where I believe he held some version of the title or another five times, main evented numerous PPVs, and feuded with (and beat) all the top names there for the past few years. I think it's sad that he's more or less forcing himself to look into MMA. For one, I think it'll totally destroy any credibility he'll have going forward because, Olympic gold medal or not, he's going to get embarrassed out there. Yes, if you're a wrestler, it gives you skills that will probably help you fucking kill most people in a streetfight, especially at Kurt's level. But this isn't a streetfight, these are trained fighters and aren't concerned about sportsmanship like in amateur wrestling or taking care of their opponent like in WWE, they will hurt him if they have to.
Aside from the fact that he'll most likely get humiliated in a quick loss in his first fight and totally shoot his credibility, I think the potential for injury to Kurt is very great. If his neck is in that bad shape from years of (let's face it) pretending to fight, what's going to happen to it in a real fight? I really, really, really don't want to see Kurt get crippled, especially if his family is full of leeches who count on him to pay their bills. There is a HUGE chance that will happen if he does go into a MMA fight, whether it be against Lesnar, Puder, or whoever. No matter who he ends up working for or fighting against, I don't see any way Kurt Angle in MMA can end well, and I think it's a real shame that a guy with his background and name value is reduced to this.
Extremist Of The Week: Hardcore Holly
While I am sorely tempted to make Punk EOTW for beating up Shannon Moore again, Hardcore Holly was able to tear himself away from the porno movies long enough to get himself into the top program on the show. Although his two matches with Van Dam have had not had decisive finishes, he has looked good in both matches. He has experienced a career rejuvenation in ECW, and at this point appears to be on equal footing with Van Dam. Not bad for a guy who was nearly dead just months ago.
F'N Links
Michael Weyer takes a look at Canadians in wrestling and who is really to blame for Montreal. Montreal, huh? That sounds like a great idea for a nine-part series...
I make not one, not two, but THREE appearances this weekend, in the TNA No Surrender Roundtable, as well as my usual That Was Then, where I talk about tag teams, Smackdown, and the terrible loss of the ROH Pure Title. Hey, some of the references there will teach me to write columns like that too far in advance!
Mike LaFave does us a solid and tries to get Harry Smith over.
CM Punk's first program appears to be on the horizon, as he appears to be headed for a showdown with Mike Knox over the affections of Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly. Knox is a stud, but is he bad enough to hand Punk his first loss?
Matt Striker has used his brain to continue to taunt the Sandman while avoiding fighting him directly. He had Test and Knox to do his dirty work for him this week, but will they be there to support him going forward, or will Striker be forced to fight the Sandman on his own?
Kevin Thorn beat Balls again this week, but will he move on? He truly seems to enjoy tormenting Balls, and may want to make his life even more difficult before putting the feud to rest once and for all.
With Striker and Knox involved in programs of their own, where does this leave Test? He's the star of the group, but seems a bit directionless at the moment. More feuding with Dreamer? A program with Sabu, perhaps?
Big Show was given the week off this week, but with Hell In A Cell out of the way, what's next for him? Nobody seems to clearly be in line for a major program with him, so who will he wind up across the ring from in the coming weeks?
Banging Out
That's it for me this week, folks. I'll see you all back here in seven for another go-round. This is Stuart "F'N" Carapola, signing off.
All feedback can be directed to stuwrestling@hotmail.com
