Friendly Competition 5.05.07
Posted by Sam Caplan on 05.05.2007
I debut a new format this week as I look back at the shaping of the Sacrifice card and Vince McMahon: ECW World Champion. And don't forget your favorite and mine, YOUR Dickhead Of The Week!
Howdy folks and welcome to another installment of your favorite weekly column...FRIENDLY COMPETITION! I changed up the format a bit this week, first I went from a segment-by-segment recap of the show to a highlight format, which will hopefully make it a little easier to read. Also, I got rid of the Top 10. It just wasn't realistic to keep going with the amount of matches on the shows each week, so I replaced it with a roll call of the champions and a weekly list of the standouts on both shows. Let me know what you think...
ECW On Sci Fi Results 5/1/2007
Vince McMahon made his first appearance as ECW World Champion on this week's episode, but awaiting him before his arrival was Bobby Lashley. Lashley said that he'th weally pithed off becauthe of what happened at Backwath when Mithter McMahon beat him fow the ECW Title, and he wanth a wematch tonight. Instead of Vince McMahon, he is greeted by Armando Alejandro Estrada, who informs Lashley that he will get a rematch, but it will be at a time of McMahon's choosing and not tonight. Furthermore, if Lashley puts his hands on Vince, Shane, or Umaga without being provoked, he'll forfeit his title shot. Unfortunately for Armando, Lashley figures out that he wasn't on that list, so Lashley takes Armando's wheelchair and runs him into the ring steps. What a great role model that Bobby Lashley is, beating up a crippled man. He ought to be ashamed of himself.
With Lashley unable to physically confront Vince, the Chairman and ECW World Champion is able to come to the ring and have an executive meeting with the ECW Originals. Sandman and Sabu don't have anything to contribute to the conversation, but Rob Van Dam tells Vince what pretty much every old school ECW fan thinks, and that's that Vince holding the title is a disgrace to the legacy of the promotion. Dreamer adds that even though Vince's name is on his paycheck, it's the fans who pay his salary and it's the fans who demanded that ECW be brought back. Vince understands their positions and shows their appreciation by offering them a single title shot, with the challenger to be decided in a one fall, four way extreme rules match between the ECW Originals. Rob Van Dam scores the win and will get the title shot next week.
The turmoil in the New Breed continued this week, as it appears that not only did CM Punk lead the New Breed along and stab them in the back, but actually caused a great deal of friction between the members of the group. Elijah Burke tries to rally the troops backstage and sends Kevin Thorn to face CM Punk, a match easily won by Punk in only a couple of minutes. After Hardcore Hobags does their worthless dance which I fast forward through, Kevin Thorn comes to the back in a huff and asks where the others were when he needed them. Burke basically said "Yo, you're my bitch, shut up." so Thorn responded with "Know what? Fuck this, I quit." Things only got worse for the New BReed later when Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von were upset by the Major Brothers, who I instantly hate not just because they're from Long Island, but also because they remind me of the Hardly Brothers from South Park. ("I've got a clue!" "Oh, I've got a raging clue!" "Oooh, let's go look at your clue right now!") They cleanly pin Striker and then while they go to the back to look at each other's clues, Burke chews Striker out for losing the match, but instead of showing some balls and telling Burke to go fuck himself like Thorn did, he just sulks and heads to the back.
Oh yeah, there was a Snitsky promo as well, but we were thankfully spared his weekly squash of Balls Mahoney this week.
TNA Impact Results 5/3/2007
After costing Sting his title shot against Christian Cage last week before getting laid out by Sting and his bat, Angle jumps Sting on his way to the ring and this leads to a pull apart brawl and a whinefest as they both claim that they deserved the title shot that has now passed by. Christian comes out and makes a match for later in the show with he and AJ Styles against Kurt Angle and Sting, and if Angle or Sting scores the win for their team, they get a title shot at Sacrifice. Styles is upset that Christian volunteered him for another tag match, but Christian (with much difficulty) explains to AJ that if both Sting and Angle are out of the picture, that makes Styles the top contender. AJ finally gets it and is really happy until he gets killed by Angle and Sting later in the show and made to tap out...by both men, who each have Styles in an anklelock. The controversy over which of them gets the title shot is quickly solved when Jim Cornette makes the main event of Sacrifice a three way NWA Title match with Christian Cage defending against both Sting and Angle.
Robert Roode intended to fire Eric Young this week, but was stopped by Jim Cornette, who mentioned that Eric signed his contract with Robert Roode while he had a valid TNA contract. This means that Eric Young is in breach of his contract, but Roode is also guilty of tampering with a contract. This leads to a shoving match which Roode easily wins, and though Eric Young tries to run in for the save, Roode takes over, cuffs him in the corner, and smashes a guitar over his head. Cornette thanks Roode for being a wiseass and rewards him by making Robert Roode vs Jeff Jarrett at Sacrifice.
Team 3D said that they were going to be fighting champions, and announced that they will defend the NWA World Tag Team Title against both LAX and Scott Steiner & Tomko at Sacrifice, then go on to face Samoa Joe & Rhino in a really good, hard hitting match that is unfortunately cut short when Christopher Daniels runs in and attacks both sides, but this time Joe gets his hands on Daniels and tosses him back in the ring where he is destroyed by all four men and gored through a table. Speaking of good brawls, Jackie Moore and Gail Kim of all people had one later on, and after Gail won, James Storm ran in and they double teamed Gail, but as Storm prepared to smash a beer bottle over Gail's head, Chris Harris runs out and removed the eyepatch, revealing himself to be fine, and brawls with Storm.
To round things out, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin continue last week's good hearted chiding of Bob Backlund by beating the shit out of him on the street, and Christy Hemme calls VKM stinky and promises another team to face them at Sacrifice.
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.
Championship Showcase ECW World Champion: Vince McMahon (Champion Since 4/29/2007, defeated Bobby Lashley)
NWA World Champion: Christian Cage (Champion Since 1/14/2007, defeated Abyss and Sting)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: Team 3D (Champions Since 4/15/2007, defeated LAX)
TNA X-Division Champion: Chris Sabin (Champion Since 1/14/2007, defeated Christopher Daniels and Jerry Lynn)
Standouts Of The Week
Vince McMahon: Is it disrespectful for him to hold the ECW World Title? Maybe, but you have to admit that having him not only on the show but actually carrying the title means that ECW and the ECW Originals are going to get the standard preferential treatment that anyone in a program with a McMahon gets.
Team 3D, Rhino, and Samoa Joe: Their match really caught me off guard because I was expecting a 3 minute match with a lame finish, and while it was shorter than I would have liked and did have a very lame finish, for those few minutes we got a really good, hard hitting brawl between four tough motherfuckers who can go.
Jackie Moore and Gail Kim: Speaking of catching me off guard, I had no expectations for this one, but these two women totally put themselves out there and had probably the best women's brawl I've seen in quite a while on TV. They really impressed me, I have to say.
Dickhead Of The Week: AJ Styles
Wasn't this THE guy in TNA a few years ago? The Golden Boy, the future of the company? How the hell are we supposed to take the guy seriously when he is jobbing left and right to save Christian Cage's skin while playing sidekick to the NWA World Champion? What's worse is that he's now being played as a total moron who doesn't even get it when Christian tries to explain the difficult mechanics of wrestling contendership to him. You know the scary part? This guy is one of Vince Russo's favorites! This is what the "Fire Russo" fans are talking about, if he can't even book his favorites properly, how the hell is he supposed to be trusted with the rest of the roster?
Vital Social Issues N' Stuff With Stuart
My first reaction to the apparently impending breakup of the New Breed and the possible dissension in the ECW Originals was that they were taking a great storyline which had more or less carried the brand for months and killing it. The more I thought about it, though, the better I think the move would be if they really are going forward with it. They have done all they really can with this feud, how many more 8-man tags can they have? They were successful both in building up the New Breed as serious names and also in restoring the credibility that the ECW Originals had lost over the months they were jobbing. Breaking them both up opens up a lot more combinations of matches that we wouldn't have gotten before, and also opens up a lot of people for CM Punk to work with on both sides. The more I think about it, the better an idea it seems to me.
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And if there were any doubts as to whether the possible dissolution of the ECW Originals and the New Breed would sink the brand, Vince McMahon's presence on the show should settle all those fears immediately. Simply put, if Vince is involved you know it's going to get top priority and will undoubtedly be the best booked angle on the brand. With Bobby Lashley possibly facing some time on the sidelines thanks to his shoulder injury, who else could they have realistically put the title on? CM Punk? I think it's a good move down the line, but it's too soon right now. The ECW Originals and New Breed aren't at that level right now. Snitsky? Don't make me laugh. Is there even anyone else on the roster? Short of bringing someone over from one of the other brands, this was as good a move as any. The old time ECW fans are certainly going to have a heart attack over it, but just like the Undertaker injury situation on Smackdown right now, how many choices do they really have? If anything, I think a reasonably long Vince title reign can be fun just to see how they can sneak him out with the title each week.
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And that leads me to my next thought, which is that even though the PPVs are now tri-branded and there was heavy crossover on the TV shows in the weeks leading up to and immediately after Wrestlemania, things seem to have settled down a bit, and it looks like ECW is back to its core group of the ECW Originals, the New Breed, Snitsky, CM Punk, and Bobby Lashley. That may not seem like a lot, but their one hour time slot is just the right amount of time to make a compelling show with these guys. I think I liked this streamlined roster a lot better than when they were overflowing with ECW Originals who just took up space and amounted to little more than jobbers. I mean, on a one hour show, how much time can you really spend on squash matches? Keep the Raw and Smackdown guys off of ECW as well, and I'm looking at you, Umaga. You did your job and got the ECW Title off of Lashley, now go back to Raw and leave ECW in the capable hands of Vince McMahon. ECW is proof that you don't need a ton of top talent to make a good product.
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It should be clear from what I wrote up above, but TNA really had a much tighter show this week, and that was in no small part thanks to the effort put forth in the ring this week. Of course the Team 3D vs Joe/Rhino and Gail/Jackie matches were both good, stiff brawls, but even the main event went longer than usual and had four of the best guys in the company going at it and, shocker of shockers, actually had a cool finish that set the stage for the three way at Sacrifice better than some stupid, contrived angle where they keep losing the title shot to each other until they just say the hell with it and throw both guys in or whatever stupid angle they do for these sorts of things in WWE. If they can have matches this good on a regular basis, I might not complain so much about them being so short.
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Another thing I liked about Impact this week was that it seemed a lot more focused than many recent episodes. Instead of bouncing around from place to place and angle to angle like they usually do, the focused on the Christian/Sting/Angle and Roode/Young/Jarrett stories for most of the show, while also giving healthy amounts of time to Team 3D, Gail Kim, Jackie Moore, James Storm, and Chris Harris and a couple short spots to Eye Spy and Christy Hemme. To me, this week's episode utilized their time a lot more efficiently than most shows. Listen, just because you only have an hour of TV each week doesn't mean you have to cram everybody on the roster onto every episode, because that usually means the segments are going to be really short and pointless. This week's episode is a format they should really follow more often.
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One complaint I do have is that I really don't understand where they're supposed to be going with Christopher Daniels. Now that the feud with Jerry Lynn is apparently over, we still don't have any idea what his motivations are supposed to be, and they basically made him look like an idiot by having him run in and get his ass kicked this week. If TNA is that serious about pulling all its talent from ROH and all the other indies, I really wish they'd find something better to do with them than what not only Daniels, but Joe, Aries, and Styles have been doing lately.
Bayani discusses the possibilities of a WWE brand in Europe in Truth B Told.
In week ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX of Fact Or Fiction, Brad Garoon and Scott Slimmer debate the hot topics of today.
Rob Halden looks at Randy Orton & WWE in the latest edition of the column with the awesomest title ever, You're An Idiot And Here's Why.
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...
-Vince McMahon has almost as much street cred as Jack Evans.
-Vince McMahon is a Blazing Saddles fan.
-Being phased out means winning the TV main event and getting a World Title shot the following week.
This week on TNA Impact, I learned that...
-Robert Roode didn't learn anything about contracts from the Mike Awesome situation.
-Team 3D can still deliver when they really want to.
-AJ Styles is the slowest person on the planet.
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Well, that's it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for The Ominous Thoughts News Report, but until then write me at stuwrestling@hotmail.com and let me know what you think of the new format. See you tomorrow.
