The ECW eXperience 7.03.07

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 07.04.2007

ECW is charged with the task of rebuilding around young stars -- much like the Seattle Supersonics.

by J.D. Dunn July 3, 2007 No "RAWtopsy" for obvious reasons. It will return eventually, but right now, it's just not appropriate. Besides, how many paragraphs do you need from me talking about how AWESOME William Regal's hair looks? By the way, happy 4th of July! Here's some required reading on your Independence Day, especially with the Sci-Fi marathon going on. From Dallas (?), Texas. They don't really say. Your hosts are Joey Styles and Taz. Pick Your Poison Match: Johnny Nitro vs. Tommy Dreamer. Tommy was handpicked by CM Punk to be Nitro's opponent. We also know that Nitro has chosen Kevin Thorn as Punk's opponent tonight. Nitro hits a few European Uppercuts and goes up, but Dreamer crotches him to take over. Dreamer hits a few rudimentary moves. Nitro comes back with a Divorce Court. Dreamer hits a Cactus Clothesline to take them both to the floor. We come back from commercial to Nitro holding a cross armscissors. Dreamer fights out of it, but Nitro fires off a series of roundhouse kicks to put him down. NICE! A cradle gets two for Nitro. Dreamer fights back again, but Nitro drops him with another Divorce Court. He does a sickening armbreaker off the second rope. The problem is he keeps going for pinfalls instead of locking in a serious submission move. He tries a springboard kick, but Dreamer ducks and comes back with a Fallaway slam. The Tree-of-Woe sets up a DDT attempt, but Nitro reverses to an arm twist and finishes with a rolling neckbreaker at 14:07. See, here's a case where the arm work didn't have to work in directly with the finish (as in a submission), but Nitro used it to counter Dreamer's finisher. Good psychology there. Nitro has stepped up his game considerably to fill the role they gave him. **1/2 Recap of "Beat the Clock" night. CM Punk promo package. Vacant ECW Heavyweight Title: CM Punk vs. Johnny Nitro (from Vengeance. The review of Vengeance is forthcoming. My copy didn't turn out thanks to me having Dish Network tuned to the wrong PPV channel (d'oh!). The WWE usually sends me a copy of the DVD, so I'll just review that instead. Nitro armdrags him down, so Punk lays into him with kicks and slingshots onto him for two. Nitro comes back with a springboard kick. He hits a nice backbreaker/Armbar DDT combo. Punk comes back with an enzuigiri. Nitro scoops him up for two but gets caught using the ropes. Punk comes back with a clothesline but can't hit the G2S. Punk hits the corner knee into a bulldog, but Nitro avoids the springboard clothesline and hits a rope-assisted DDT for the upset win and the title at 8:02. Not exactly an overwhelming match, but these two are definitely the ones you want to build around if you're ECW. **1/4 Pick Your Poison Match: CM Punk vs. Kevin Thorn. Punk hits a few roundhouse kicks before Thorn tosses him into the ropes. Thorn goes to the apron but stops to argue with the ref, so Punk SWEEPS THE LEG! We come back from commercial to Thorn giving Punk a Snake Eyes. Thorn hits a flapjack and a hard clothesline for two. Punk tries to come back with a crossbody, but Thorn catches him and hits a front powerslam. He tries an Arn Anderson pump-splash, but Punk gets the knees up. The corner knee/bulldog combo gets two. Thorn goes for Original Sin, but Punk blocks and hits the springboard clothesline for two. Thorn blocks the G2S and sets up for the Crucifix Bomb. Punk slips out, though, and finishes with La Majestral at 11:47. Johnny Nitro comes out to distract Punk long enough for Thorn to jump him from behind. Punk makes his own save. ** Stay tuned to that Twilight Zone episode where one guy is the same but everyone around him has changed. The 411: This was the WWE clearly saying, "Okay, *these* two guys are your stars, get used to it," because it was all Punk and Nitro, all the time. I'd like to see them get more promo time because Johnny Nitro really needs more depth if he's going to be charged with carrying the brand.