ECW Extreme Extracts 08.04.09

Posted by Andy Critchell on 08.04.2009

ECW's string of great shows comes to crashing end! But like a traffic accident, you just have to read on and find out what happened...

Hi everyone, and welcome to ECW Extreme Extracts! Extreme Extracts is not a full on recap column of ECW. Instead I highlight some of the angles and storylines and even speculate from time to time where they might be heading. Don't forget, in addition to the comment section below you can email me as well with any questions/comments and you'll see your letter reprinted on the Earth Wide Intertubes.
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Let's chat about tonight's episode of ECW…



Show results:
• Match One: Ezekiel Jackson def. jobber
• Match Two: Sheamus def. Goldust
• Match Three: Christian def. Tommy Dreamer

The main theme of the show:

mo⋅men⋅tum [moh-men-tuhm]
–noun, plural
1. force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events

The screeching sound you heard wasn't a car accident outside your house; it was the sound of momentum grinding to a halt. I really hate to be negative but this might have been one of the worst episodes of ECW in recent memory. Almost everyone seemed off his game tonight. Let's start at the top; the Abraham Washington Show. The last few times I have LOVED this segment but tonight it just didn't click. There goes Abraham's momentum. Then Zack Ryder came out and I thought the segment was saved for sure but then Ryder gave a pretty poor promo. And to top it off there was ZERO mention of his great match with Christian last week! There goes Zach's momentum. Finally Shelton came out and I was waiting for him to finally deliver that one great promo that would propel him to a level that a guy of his athletics gifts should reside. Instead he said he was going to speak in Smurf and participated in a Hootie sing-a-long. Yikes. If Shelton had any momentum it would have ended so I guess that's a wash. In the next segment we got Big Zeke killing another skinny jobber only for Big Vlad to come out and kill him again. Pretty much same as last week. And the week before. If you're not going forward you're going backwards people. One of these guys needs to say something about this and quickly. Gregory Helms is the mild-mannered backstage interviewer right? Throw one of those guys with him for two minutes so the people know who to cheer for otherwise this will continue to get a luke-warm reaction. So no momentum here. Speaking of Helms we had another appearance of the masked stranger preventing another disaster but this time Burchill was there to say what we're all thinking; "this is ridiculous." Huh. After that we got to see Sheamus once again beat Goldust but then after the match he got his ass kicked. By Goldust. Whom Sheamus had just beaten. I just don't see the point in extending this feud but whatever. So there goes Sheamus' momentum. Look, I totally get that they don't want to push all these young guys too far too fast simultaneously but they all ended up looking bad to some degree and all that does is make it even harder to get them over for good. If we were going to see Zeke/Kozlov shenanigans and Sheamus/Goldust once again, why not move one of those matches to Superstars and have a Yoshi match instead? You remember Yoshi right? He was the hottest young superstar they've brought up to this point so of course he hasn't been on ECW in two weeks. Sheesh.

The minor theme:

At least the belt is still very important. That was the message that was delivered in the Christian/Dreamer match and it came through loud and clear. Usually Extreme Rules matches are used in feuds that are very personal but that wasn't the case here as the Christian/Dreamer feud has never been personal and thus the gimmick was used quite effectively to put over just how much being ECW Champion meant to both men. I assume that this match also closed the book on their feud and they can now move on to other opponents; Dreamer as the man with unquestioned dedication and Christian as the proud fighting champ who will go through whatever punishment he must to hold on to a title that means more to him than anything else. Those kinds of characters can only serve to elevate the young talent they will (hopefully) be feuding with next.

Other quick thoughts from the show:

* Where was Tyler Reks?

* Even Matthews and Striker seemed off their games tonight as they stepped all over each other to make a "drive-by" remark when Christian had the car door and was gunning for Dreamer towards the end of their match.

*This week's show was as bad as last week's show was good. I hate being negative but it's the truth.

ECW Alumni Spotlight :
In an effort to show how important ECW is to developing new talents every week I am going to highlight anything significant involving a WWE Superstar that either got their start on ECW or made their biggest impact on ECW before moving to Raw or Smackdown. This week I shine the spotlight on my favorite wrestler; MORRISON. (Note: I've noticed that a lot of big name Japanese wrestlers have their names in all caps to help signify that they are major stars and I felt that MORRISON deserved nothing less so a while back I started doing the same thing for him. I'm a gigantic nerd. Let's move on.)

MORRISON had a hell of a week last week, first he had a great match with another former ECW star, Tyson Kidd, on Superstars and then he had what many are calling the free TV match of the year with Jeff Hardy on Smackdown. MORRISON was one of the reasons why I became such a fan of ECW and it is really cool to see him ascend to the main event level on Smackdown. At this point he seems right on the cusp of being the next great superstar in the WWE and having one great match after another. MORRISON is a guy that can wrestle a variety of styles with a variety of opponents and is recognized as a guy that can always be counted on to deliver when it matters.

Here is last week's edition of Superstars, MORRISON and Kidd was the first match:


And here is last week's edition of Superstars where MORRISON and Hardy closed the show:



Reader email:

I've got a great email this week from loyal Extract reader Dale. Let's check it out:
Hey, man. I love your article and I read it each week. I just want to say that after SmackDown, ECW is the second best show that the WWE has to offer. What I like about it is it's all about wrestling and pretty much everything revolves around the world title, just like every other show should. It really makes the title feel special and to see guys like Tommy Dreamer, Christian, and Kane hold the title, is just so awesome.

I have a couple questions, though:

- What are some of your favorite matches from ECW on SyFy?
- What are some of your favorite matches from the original ECW?

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for reading Dale! I think you hit the nail right on the head in regards to the way the ECW title in treated on the show. Now, for your questions:
1. My favorite matches from ECW on SyFy: you could pick pretty much any match with MORRISON and Punk, especially the one where MORRISON busted out Starship Pain in the ring for the first time. (He did it once before on Tommy Dreamer off of the security wall outside of the ring and I think that was the first time he ever did it on TV.) I also really liked the ECW Originals/New Breed angle that they had going when the show first started. WWE really missed the boat on Elijah Burke. More recently though I can point to last week's Christian & Ryder match, I thought it was fantastic.
2. I never watched the original ECW so I don't have an opinion on that one. I did really enjoy the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD set that came out a few years ago. I remember it had a great Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis match on it.
If any of my loyal readers would care to email me their favorite matches from ECW on SyFy as well as the Original ECW I would be happy to include them in next week's report.

* That's it for the Extract this week. Any comments can be made below. And if you have an opinion on the show that you'd like me to print in next week's column, email me at andy(dot)critchell(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm also posting a blog here on 411 that you can check out here. Also, make sure to check me out on the UBS Evening Movie News Report over on the Movie Zone where I post the Interactive Babe Photo News Brief each and every week.
Have a great week!