Friendly Competition 4.21.07
Posted by Michael Bauer on 04.21.2007
Same friendly column, different friendly author.
Hey, it's not the ECW Report, but it is I, Mike Bauer, covering off for Stu this week on Friendly Competition. Off the heels of the big CM Punk decision and TNA's Lockdown, it surely was to be an interesting week on the ECW and TNA programming.
ECW On Sci Fi Results 4/17/2007
- We start off with The New Breed in the ring and the introduce CM Punk. He gets the royalty treatment, they talk, and RVD comes out to challenge Burke. After Punk tries to accept, Burke takes the match. It took all of ten minutes of television time to start the tension.
- Hey, it's a Nunzio sighting… and a Snitsky one to match. This one is pretty obvious, but they let Nunzio get some offense in before Snitsky finishes off the squash match in under three minutes.
- Backstage, Punk thinks Burke is afraid of Rob Van Dam. Burke tells Punk to fall in line.
- Dreamer and The Sandman defeat Marcus Cor Von and Kevin Thorn and really shouldn't have. Thorn got the shoudler up, Dreamer used the ropes and botched it up in thr process. Punk is backstage and annoyed, telling Matt Striker his vision for The New Breed.
- Bobby Lashley comes out and brings out Santino Marella, the new Intercontiental Champ in the biggest joke ever put on a wrestling fan. The guy has charisma it seems, but there is no way he should be any sort of champion. The story they give is that he was born in Italy, moved to Canada to train to wrestler, and was visiting family in Italy when he took on the challenge. Not to mention, I can't understand a word he says.
- After Punk giving a pep talk to the losers earlier and telling Burke that he has his back, Punk learns the reality that the New Breed will always be a step behind, even with a numbers advantage. RVD defeats Burke in the main event after a ref bump, Punk throwing a chair too hard to Burke so it goes to RVD, a chair shot, and a five star frog splash. But of course, Punk threw the chair in and then watched in disgust at everything else. He then goes to Burke to apoligize way too much.
TNA Impact Results 4/19/2007
- We open with Mike Tenay in the ring with Jeff Jarrett, saying it is time for him to give back some. He says parts one and two are done, but part three will shock us all. This brings out Kurt Angle, who bitches about not having the title shot. This brings out Sting who gives Angle a shot next week for the title shot that he just won. Angle vs. Sting wasted on free television. Meanwhile, Team Cage is happy they are fighting each other. Cage warns Abyss not to screw up this tag team title shot.
- We then get treated to a nice little four way match between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, and Rhyno. Daniels looks like a man possesed with that mask, bat, and tattoo. Very good, fast paced match, and I wish it got more time, but Daniels wins thanks to the baseball bat to the face of Rhyno while Styles and Joe fight it out.
- Angle is again complaining and sayng that he will beat Sting next week.
- Robert Roode is set to take on Chris Harris, but Jackie jumps Gail Kim and they brawl into the crowd. Short match that ends with the ref distracted by Eric Young and Traci just long enough for a cheap shot with handcuffs by Roode. Roode then gets on the stick and berates Young. Young surprises us all by saying Petey is not his friend and Roode gives Young seven days to tell the world who this friend is.
- Abyss is getting scolded by Mitchell for being a moron. This whole story is intense. And the whole crazy time with black machismo is back. Shelley is having a blast, but Dutt is pissed off and realizes how much of a joke he has become.
- In the main event, Cage and Abyss get their title shot with LAX watching closely. Abyss does everything right, but gets shoved into Cage who is on the top rope and walks into a 3D for the Team 3D title win. Cage then lays into Abyss, but the big man fights back and Blackhole Slams Mitchell! Team Cage comes out and beats Abyss to a bloody pulp after some chair shots from everyone, a barbed wire bat, and then the conchairto using the barbed wire bat as well. And the whole time, Konnan loves it. Abyss is left a bloody mess as the show ends.
Overall Top Ten Ranking
As voted by me. This ranking includes wrestlers from both groups, is done on a week by week basis, is based on a combination of how well they produce in the ring and how much they entertain me, and is entirely subjective.
ECW World Champion: Bobby Lashley (Champion Since 12/3/2006)
NWA World Champion: Christian Cage (Champion Since 1/14/2007)
1) Christopher Daniels
2) Abyss
3) CM Punk
4) Rob Van Damn
5) Elijah Burke
6) Christian Cage
7) Robert Roode
8) Tommy Dreamer
9) Sting
10) Team 3D
Dickhead Of The Week: Snitsky
Yeah, yeah, I know. Snitsky won his match this week, beating up on poor little Nunzio. So how in the world is he my Dickhead of Week? Simple. First off, he killed the guy in his home country of Italy. Now, as much as we all expected it, Snitsky did in such a fashion that is beyond repair. Yes, Snitsky actually had to play the defense for once, but looked real bad in doing so, like having an out of body experience. And then, his big boot for a finisher looked so weak that I doubt it would have hurt my grandmother. Overall, Snitsky looked worse this week than The New Breed, and they went 0 for 2. If Snitsky wants to accomplish anything, the guy has got to step it up in the ring and make us believe he is supposed to be a killer. For now, he looks like an over-rated Dickhead of the Week!
Vital Social Issues N' Stuff With St… Mike
Well, I guess the main thing to start with would be the complete waste the ECW Chmapionship looks like right now. Yes, that's right, it looks like a complete waste of space and time. I won't go into the whole deal of the title not being on the line at Wrestlemania, cause we have heard that one enough. But Bobby Lashley is the champion of the ECW brand and he has not been seen in a match on Tuesday Night for the past two weeks. And why is that? Because your great champion has been to busy handling a monster on Raw known as Umaga. So the gold around your waist is not good enough o dela with on ECW, you have to go to Raw to defend it against said monster and the McMahon family patriarch and the demon sperm. I guess either that means that the ECW is not good enough for their own title or that Raw is so big that they can handle two world titles. Either way, it doesn't bode well for the ECW when the only thing going for them is one feud that takes up over 50% of the known roster.
I admit that I don't have a lot of thoughts on TNA as I don't catch it as much as would like. After this week though, I definitly would change my view.
And Michael Weyer starts a great four part series on the Four Horsemen in Shining a Spotlight.
What Did We Learn This Week?
In all things, there is at least one lesson to be learned. Here I will impart upon you what I took away from the weekly television of ECW, TNA, and WSX. You too can learn important life lessons from Kevin Thorn and Maverick Matt, and are encouraged to send in your own revalations.
This week on ECW On Sci-Fi, I learned that...
- CM Punk wil be the full leader of the New Breed by Summerslam.
- If it is your hometown, you will get killed.
- The show is a ton better when there are no Extreme Expose routines.
This week on TNA Impact, I learned that...
- Jeff Jarrett not being selfish looks so weird, but actually looks good.
- Conchairtos + Barbed Wire = One sick looking shot
