This week’s ECW was a real mixed bag, for me. When it was good, it was really good. When it made me scratch my head, I did so until my scalp was especially irritated. Let’s break it down, brick by brick.
The opening contest was a rematch from last week, Miz & Morrison vs. Jimmy Yang & Shannon Moore. Again, a great match. The finish came when Jimmy Yang hit a moonsault press on The Miz for the three count. This is a pretty good way to build a tag team feud…Yang and Moore had a good outing the first time, so a rematch was made. They won, and now they’ll probably get a tag title shot. I’ll enjoy watching that, as well.
I should also mention that Yang and Moore (especially Yang) are good at playing to the crowd and keeping them interested in the match.
Shelton Benjamin defeated Colin Delaney. Taz introduced Delaney via brief interview before the match. Supposedly, he was a local Rochester, NY boy. Benjie hit a bunch of really hard-hitting moves on the sideburned young fella, and it’s not hard to figure out that he also won the match. Benjamin’s finisher, which Joey Styles is referring to as an “inverted bulldog” (probably a fair description) is solid. After the match, Shelton’s mic time was limited to “AIN’T NO STOPPIN’ ME NOW” – which, it should be mentioned, had just played as part of his theme song.
I think they ought to just let Shelton roll over the lesser used Smackdown guys. Occasional backstage interviews would help him, too. No need for a catchphrase.
Kenny Dykstra squashed Nunzio, who was dressed as an elf. The finish came when Dykstra hit his top rope legdrop for the pin. Poor Nunzio. Poor, poor Nunzio. He really should’ve been given the win here. Or at least some more offense.
The main event, it was CM Punk against MVP in a title vs. title match with nothing on the line. This was really a delight to watch, with plenty of chain and counter wrestling. The Rochester crowd was very respectful and into the match, which certainly helped. Guys like Punk and MVP are over enough to wrestle most any style and keep the attention of the fans.
The ending is where this one went all wrong. It was a great match, and it needed a true winner. Instead, MVP attacked Punk repeatedly while the ECW champ was hung up in the tree of woe. The bell was rung, with Punk winning by DQ. After the match MVP attacked Punk. Now, I know MVP is the US champion and an important part of the Smackdown roster, but what was the point of this? There is and will be no feud between the two, at least for a while. Punk easily could’ve taken home the win, but SOMEONE should’ve won.
Where it gets worse is with what happened next. Out of nowhere, Chavo Guerrero made an entrance and attacked Punk, laying him out with a series of very spaced out – or “deliberate,” as Joey Styles called them – vertical suplexes, followed by a frog splash.
Now, like Chavo or not, there isn’t room for him in the ECW title picture right now. Plus, footage was shown earlier in the night of Big Daddy V PINNING Punk at Armageddon. Why isn’t the focus on Punk vs. V? Honestly, it’s a match I’m more interested in than Chavo, because I’m curious to see how Punk could work against a man so much bigger. The Chavo idea, while it wasn’t necessarily bad, should’ve been saved for later.
Okay, now it’s time to rate this week’s show. The opening contest was great. So was the second match. Even though it was a squash, it was very physical and made Benjamin look like a million bucks. Dykstra vs. Nunzio…well, I wasn’t a real fan of that one. But the main event had some serious potential. The bout was really entertaining, but its ending and the aftermath tarnished it for me.
The show was riding at about a 9 this week, even after the Nunzio squash, until Punk was senselessly buried at the show’s end. As such, we’re down to a 6/10 for the 12/18 ECW.
Next week’s Christmas, but I’ll be here with a review, so feel free to log on to see it!
