The Tremendous Tirade: ECW on SCI FI 1.08.08
Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.08.2008
More goodness from Morrison, Miz, Moore and Yang!
+++ECW on SCI FI 1.08.08+++
ECW BACK IN THE DAY!
ONE YEAR AGO…
-Hardcore Holly defeated CM Punk
-EXTREME RULES MATCH: The Great Khali defeated Tommy Dreamer
-Kevin Thorn defeated Shannon Moore
-ECW TITLE MATCH: Bobby Lashley NC RVD
Miz and Moore to begin. Moore with rights, Miz battles back but a roll up by Moore for 2. Backslide for 2 by Moore. A knee by Miz, to the corner and rights by Miz. Tag to Morrison who beats Moore down and allows Miz to choke Moore. A neck breaker and a cover for 2. A running knee strike by Morrison connects, and he covers for 2. Morrison works the side headlock on the mat to ground Moore. Moore fights back, escapes a suplex and slams Morrison into Miz. Moore tries for a tag and gets it. Yang in and levels Morrison with clotheslines. Sweet reverse high kick by Yang. Monkey flip with the awesome Morrison sell gets 2 as Miz makes the save. Moore in with a RANA to Miz and they go to the floor. Chops by Yang misses the moonsault press, lands on his feet and Morrison then counters a roll up and gets the ropes, but Moore breaks it up. Leg lariat by Yang, ref is distracted by Miz. Yang levels Miz, but Morrison rolls him up for the first pin @ 3:45. They celebrate as we head to a commercial @ 4:00.
Back from a commercial @ 7:10 with Morrison and Miz leading 1-0. Morrison has the million-dollar dream on Yang and has him grounded. Yang fights to his feet, and gets a backslide for 2. Yang nails Miz, up top and is crotched by Morrison. Morrison pulls him into the tree of woe and lays the boots to him. Miz chokes him out and then pummels the knee of Yang. Morrison then sets him up top, Yang fights him off and gets the moonsault press for the pin @ 8:46.
We're tied at 1-1 and Miz is in and working the knee of Yang. Miz now gets the single leg Boston crab and sits back. Yang manages to roll and kick out, Morrison in and kicks away at the leg of Yang. He lays it on the ropes and does the Flair drop down. Morrison with spinning drops on the knee, almost spinning toehold like. He then transitions to the knee bar, Yang spins out and Miz tags in to stop the tag to Moore. He tries to wrap the leg around the post and does, further damaging the knee of Yang. Miz now goes for a cover and gets 2. Morrison back in, they get the catapult/elbow drop combo for 2. Morrison back working a variation of the knee bar, and Yang makes the ropes. To the corner, and Morrison wraps the leg around the ropes. Tag to Miz, he whips Morrison at Yang, but he moves and Morrison nails the corner. Yang dives for a tag, but then gets a sunset flip for 2. TAG to Moore! Up top and a cross body to Miz. Rights to Morrison. He clotheslines Miz to the floor and then gets a PLANCHA onto Miz! Yang basement dropkicks Morrison, goes up top and a HUGE cross body to the floor onto Morrison! Moore and Miz back in, fall away neck breaker by Moore gets 2! Rights by Moore, slams Miz to the corner, up top and gets a cork screw moonsault press on Miz for a CLOSE 2! Tag to Yang, and they flub the neck breaker/Samoan Drop combo (THEY AREN'T SAMOAN) for 2 as Morrison gets Miz's foot on the ropes. Yang with a spin kick on Miz for 2. Yang up top…Monnsault press! Yang's knee is hurt, he crawls, covers…1…2…BELL RINGS!
Winners: DRAW 1-1 (Morrison and Miz Retain)
Another good match from these guys. A few slight misses, but another great effort with the old school time run out finish. Hopefully we'll get a rematch at the Rumble so these guys can shine on PPV.
Rating: ***
-Tazz is with the world's greatest jobber Colin Delaney. He is all bandaged up ala Shark Boy, and they check the replay of his match with Big Daddy V. Well they want to, but they are having difficulties. Tazz explains what happened and asks how Colin felt. He says it wasn't as close as he liked. He they says it hurts everywhere. This kid is great. Tazz says he doesn't have to face an ECW star tonight, but he will face a Smackdown star.
Colin Delaney vs. Mark Henry
Henry catches a right and head butts Colin down. Off the ropes and a press slam by Henry. To the corner and a YOKO drop by Henry. Henry grabs up Colin and gets the world's strongest slam for the win.
Winner: Mark Henry @ 1:05 via pin
Colin Delaney is officially the greatest jobber ever.
Rating: SQAUSH
-We get a Kofi Kingston video package. Some guy ruins a sandcastle and Kofi kicks his ass and then steals his cell phone.
-Tazz and Styles hype the men that have made it into the Royal Rumble.
DANCE OFF: Kelly Kelly vs. Layla El
LENA is in the ring to host the dance off. Kelly is almost wearing clothes, I approve. I also approve of the dance off, I mean, did we learn nothing from West Side Story? Layla looks great as well. They get 30-seconds to show their stuff and the fans will choose the winner. Layla goes first, she dances, and she is hot. Kelly is second, she dances, and she is hot. LENA then says she forgot that there is one more diva to enter the competition. Her. She dances, she's hot. The crowd didn't like her all that much. So of course she names herself the winner. Kelly and Layla are OFFENDED!
-Shelton says it is time to get dirty, filthy even. He has seen the first shimmer of gold. It says Royal Rumble match. After he wins at the Rumble, he will get the mother load at WrestleMania. Ain't no stopping him now. You know, when he just calmly speaks the line, I don't mind it nearly as much.
Punk fakes some leg kicks, they lock up and go to the ropes. They fight off, and an arm drag by Punk. Guerrero with a takedown, into the chin lock and then side headlock. Elbow shots by Punk, off the ropes and a tackle by Guerrero. Off the ropes and a monkey flip by Punk. Side headlock takedown by Punk, Guerrero counters into a head scissors, Punk escapes and gets a basement dropkick and cover for 2. Uppercuts by Guerrero, rights and then a slam. Knees to the back and then kicks. An Irish whip by Guerrero, but Punk with an Enziguri takes Guerrero to the floor. We'll head to a commercial @ 3:20.
Back from commercial @ 6:35 and Guerrero is working an abdominal stretch. Punk hip tosses out, goes for a splash but eats the knees of Guerrero. Kicks by Guerrero, he targets the ribs and then goes into a surfboard. He adds the boot to the middle of the back, and then the head for leverage. Punk sneaks a roll up for 2, but then eats a clothesline and is down again. Gut buster by Guerrero and then a kick to the ribs again, and that gets a cover for 2. Leg kicks by Punk, but Guerrero cuts him off and continues to work the ribs and covers for 2. A snap mare and body scissors by Guerrero and he stays concentrated on the ribs of Punk. Elbows by Punk, but Guerrero rolls him for a cover of 2. Punk rolls into the guard and then gets kicks to the back of Guerrero and a catapult and Guerrero flies all the way to the floor! Punk hits the ropes and gets a SUICIDE DIVE onto Guerrero! Back in, Punk springboards for the clothesline and connects. Both men are down, Punk manages a cover for 2. Suplex try, knees by Guerrero and then charges into the tilt a whirl back breaker for 2. Guerrero snatches up a double leg and roll up for 2. Punk bridges out, to the corner and the knee of doom followed by the bulldog for 2! Guerrero charges Punk to the corner, shoulder rams to the ribs and ten the suplex lands, the second one lands and the third one is countered, GTS try, countered and Guerrero gets the Canadian back breaker for 2. Crowd into Punk now, Guerrero grabs him and a snap mare and Guerrero to the corner and undoes the turnbuckle pad. The ref yells at him and then he goes and gets the ECW title and the ref grabs that. Chavo is DQ'd.
GTS by Punk anyway to finish off Chavo.
Winner: CM Punk @ 15:00 via pin
Well the match was fine, not great, and was heating up until the shenanigans.
Rating: **
The Tremendous Tirade: The Morrison/Miz vs. Moore/Yang tag title feud has been THE reason to watch ECW as of late and they delivered in another good match. I really hope that they make the Rumble and get a chance to deliver there. The Colin Delaney stuff is silly, but makes me laugh as other guys get to show their dominance, harmless fun really. The chicks dancing instead of wrestling is fully approved of. That way they don't hurt anyone, and they fill the sex appeal demographic. Guerrero vs. Punk was a fine match, but I have very mixed feelings. This makes three wins in a row by Punk via CO or DQ, and when you factor in the DQ win over MVP, and before that he saw a tag loss at Armageddon. The title run isn't looking strong these days, and this is not his fault. This was another solid show this week overall.
Didn't like Punk-Chavo. I was excited for this feud when Chavo first attacked Punk, but after two weeks of matches it just isn't there.
Posted By: Andy Clark (Registered) on January 09, 2008 at 12:24 AM
Are they trying to make Colin Delaney a new MIkey Whipwreck?
If so then that would mean: Colin Delaney, Future ECW Champion.......
Posted By: JS (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 12:43 AM
JS: After this week, that's the feeling I was getting as well. Great call. Thanks for reading.
Posted By: Larry Csonka (Registered) on January 09, 2008 at 12:46 AM
But soon, when he is worthy of receiving one, they need to find someone qualified to deliver an EPIC beatdown and not a jobber squasher quality beatdown to young Colin.
Unfortunately the only people qualified are HHH and the Undertaker. Anyone else, people would just see it as midcard quality. Just look at what happened with Santino and Umaga.
Posted By: JS (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 01:39 AM
I like the Benjamin build. Yang is carrying these tag matches whenever he gets in the ring and I love that fact. Layla is ultra hot and I can watch her do what she does all night. Kelly SUCKS chants? Beatiful. The Colin experiment thing is mindless fun. A good episode.
Posted By: Bryce (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 01:49 AM
Good show this week indeed. You hit all the notes in the head to what I thought, Csonka...all the way down to the Shelton promo. It's true. Calmly speaking his catchphrase is more tolerable. He just looks like an idiot screaming from the top of his lungs. Anyways, keep up the good work.
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 02:11 AM
Really good summary of ECW this week. I enjoy reading this column, just about as much as actually watching ECW.
Posted By: Matthew Burgess (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 04:33 AM
I wanna have Layla's babies!
Posted By: JMASCORPIO (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Larry, I don't think most people care about how Punk has been winning (same applies to Orton.) Both are becoming strong champions because no one can take their titles. This day and age, a long reign seems to add up to "strong champion" more than clean victories. (because long reigns are unusual in this era of pro wrestling.) As an example, while I was watch ECW last night, I started thinking about what a great champion CM has been for ECW, and it wasn't until I read your comments that I even realized that his last several wins have all been CO's or DQ's. I think you need to remember that most people don't write wrestling columns and thus, don't necesarily calculate wins/losses or how many pins they get versus countouts. Most people (especially non-internet fans) just remember that it was months ago that Punk won the title and he's still got it. Same goes for Orton. (who, BTW, I think has been booked as effectively as he's ever been in his career thus far. Dude is OVER.) Thanks for the recap.
Posted By: A more different Kevin (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 09:14 AM
Great recap, I missed the show but it seems there was some great tag team action. Hey TNA this is how you book tag team wrestling properly!
Anyway, I love what they're doing with Shelton and I will order Summerslam just for that event.
The Colin Delaney squash got me thinking: Instead of doing the same old Punk/Chavo match perhaps ECW should take this opportunity to have their "stars" like Chavo and the tag champs face nothing but jobbers like the old WTBS shows from Saturday nights. This way when they do have a major faceoff it will look more important and also it will stretch feuds.
Posted By: Ryder (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Sometimes the simple things are the best ones. A good tag match, a dance-off for the T&A portion of the show and another solid if unspectacular main event. Benjamin seems alot more confident in his promos of late, I wonder whos been coaching him.
Posted By: JMASCORPIO (Guest) on January 09, 2008 at 02:00 PM
