On Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 11:10 PM EST ECW on Sci-Fi
March 13, 2007
Trenton, NJ
Commentators: Joey Styles & Tazz
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Edge was in the back when Orton came out of nowhere and got directly in his face. Orton was all over him about throwing him under the bus now that he’s an opponent of his at Wrestlemania. Orton said he’d better have his back tonight and Edge did everything he could to assure him he did.
The opening video aired and Joey Styles and Tazz welcomed us to the show.
The New Breed v. The ECW Originals Extreme Battle Royal
All hell broke loose in the ring and Sandman was dumped HARD to the floor by Matt Striker while trying to put a few fists in his head. Burke and Striker ganged up on Dreamer in the corner while Cor Von attempted to eliminate Sabu but was saved by Rob Van Dam. A botched double team and botched spot ended up eliminating Cor Von.
Sabu went for a hurricanranna, but Kevin Thorne caught him and planted him back in the corner before killing him with a lariat and knocking him to the floor.
Burke and Thorne double teamed Tommy Dreamer while RVD and Matt Striker went at it in the corner. RVD power bombed Matt Striker off the top rope before hitting a wind mill kick on Kevin Thorne. Striker tried to power RVD up and out of the ring before heading over to the opposite corner to prevent Burke from being eliminated.
RVD and Kevin Thorne were eliminated when RVD hit a flying cross body block on Thorne, sending both over the top rope. Thorne crashed to the floor while RVD held on with one hand. Striker came over and kicked his hand off the rope, eliminating him from the match.
Dreamer took a beating in the corner from Striker and Burke before fighting back. Dreamer eliminated Striker when Striker missed a follow up after an Irish whip. Burke hit his knee to the back before Burke hit a beautiful looking standing drop kick on the top buckle, nearly knocking Dreamer to the floor.
Dreamer held on on the apron and eventually fought his way back into the match. The two fought into the ropes before Dreamer caught a kick and took the leg and pushed it over Burke’s head, flipping him backwards and to the floor.
Winner: Tommy Dreamer
While the ECW Originals celebrated in the ring, Mick Foley’s music hit and he came out to the ring.
****Commercial****
Mick Foley said he was here to plug his book but he was also here to talk about Wrestlemania. He put over his selling out on ECW a few years ago. He said he had never been so honest in a book in his life before and gave it to Dreamer. He said he tried to give them the rub at ECW: One Night Stand, but now he was talking about Wrestlemania 23. He said in 22 years, he never had the honor of ever performing in front of that many people in his life. He said somewhere in the dark recesses of the upper deck, he would be plopping his ass in a seat and would stand up and chant ECW with everyone in the stadium. He chanted ECW with the crowd and then left the ring, while Styles and Tazz put over his now embracing his ECW past.
A video putting over Snitsky aired and he’ll be on next!
****Commercial****
The Extreme Expose aired before Snitsky broke up the fun. Conveniently, two wrestlers were waiting in the ring, ready to get squashed.
Mike Deke & Danny Jacks v. Snitsky
Snitsky beat both men around before ripping off Jacks’ head with a big boot for the win.
Winner: Snitsky via pin fall
CM Punk asked what Elijah Burke wanted and Burke said he apologized for coming at him all wrong. He said he didn’t get an answer from Punk last week and he noticed Punk went over to Smackdown and had a bad night. Punk protested before Burke told him the New Breed had bad nights too. Burke said Punk had a huge match coming up at Wrestlemania. He said he’d have a better chance of winning if the New Breed was in his corner. He gave him a New Breed T-Shirt and told him ‘the New Breed, my friend, is where the power lies” and then walked off. Great promo from Burke.
****Commercial****
A video recapping celebrity thoughts on the Battle of the Billionaires aired. A video putting over the Trump shot at McMahon last night aired as well.
ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley’s music hit and he came out to the ring.
Bobby Lashley v. Randy Orton
Before the bell rang, Edge’s music hit and he came out to the ringside area. Lashley was none to pleased about his presence.
The two circled it up and Lashley quickly backed Orton to the corner. Orton hit a boot to the gut only for Lashley to follow right back with some big shots of his own. Orton went right to his leg and booted away at the back of the leg of Lashley.
Orton chopped Lashley’s leg down to size before dropping a knee across his face. He attempted to choke Lashley out on the ropes, Edge distracted the ref. When Orton took off the pressure, Lashley snapped to and decked Orton. Orton bolted to the outside and began bantering with Edge in protest.
****Commercial****
We came back to Orton holding Lashley in a Boston crab in the middle of the ring. Lashley eventually reached the ropes before Orton dragged him to the middle of the ring and went into his Garvin Stomp. Orton went for a cover, but only got a two count.
Lashley rose to his feet and hit some punches before slamming Orton to the mat and dropping an elbow across his chest for a two count. Orton hit a thumb to the eye and rushed Lashley to the corner, hitting a series of forearms in his back. Orton connected with some European upper cuts Lashley tried to reverse an Irish whip but Orton caught him and twisted him into his inverted back breaker and really did a number on Lashley’s back.
Orton went for an RKO but Lashley dumped him to the mat. Edge came running into the ring with the belt but the referee caught him and threw him out of the match. Orton was beside himself and went out to remind his partner he was an idiot. Edge pleaded with Orton before turning around and leaving with a smirk on his face.
****Commercial****
Orton once again had the Boston crab on Lashley before Lashley got into the ropes. Orton kept hammering away at the back of Lashley before whipping him to the buckles and missing a follow up shoulder spear. Lashley hit a whip of his own and rocked Orton with a massive spear in the corner. Lashley lined up for a second and third before picking up Orton and flipping him to the mat like a baby.
Lashley dropped an elbow and got a two count. Lashley hit a sit out shoulder back breaker and went for a cover, but Orton somehow managed to kick out. Lashley kept on beating the crap out of Orton in the corner relentlessly before setting Orton up for the power slam and connecting for the pin fall.
Winner: Bobby Lashley
As Lashley celebrated with the crowd, Vince McMahon’s music hit and he came out to the aisle. Lashley dared him to come into the ring while Vince stared him in the entrance way. Overall: C-- Another pretty decent little offering from ECW although there were the usual big time blemishes.
First of all, thing things I didn’t like…
The Snitsky thing isn’t getting over at all. Snitsky is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I’m really just baffled as to why he’s getting much of a push as he really just doesn’t connect with fans in any way. The squash match segment was utterly awful tonight with the two jobbers miraculously showing up in the ring. Even for a squash match, it was terrible.
Although I like the concept of the ECW Originals v. New Breed feud, the opening match was pretty terrible, although the match itself was booked pretty well. First off, all four of these guys shouldn’t be in the same ring at once. There’s no need with it heading into Wrestlemania. Second, I’ve never seen so many botches in one battle royal. No one in the ring was on the same page.
The post match Foley promo was also pretty bad by Foley standards. I was almost hoping they’d go with some sort of Extreme Rules match at Mania for the faction feud just so it could have a little more meaning. I think it’s be a big plus, especially if Foley’s the referee. Alas, it doesn’t look like we’ll get that.
Despite all that, I still loved the little ending sequence of Dreamer doing what he does best and playing the baby face in peril. Burke got a good opportunity to shine.
Speaking of Burke, I suppose he’d be a good segue to the stuff I liked about the show.
The Burke-Punk encounter was fantastic and it wasn’t Punk that made it good. Burke is incredibly smooth on the mic and IMO, he’s the right guy to be leading this whole New Breed faction. With CM Punk added into the mix, it could add some really interesting stuff in there for after Wrestlemania. I’ll call it now though, I think CM Punk’s winning the Money in the Bank Match.
The Orton-Lashley match went a lot longer than I expected it to. Orton I felt, looked better than he has in quite some time and may be showing signs of turning things around. They built entirely around Lashley come back sequences, thus masking his deficiencies a little bit, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. The Edge angle seemed a bit forced, but Edge’s reactions at the end kind of saved it.
Overall though, this was a pretty decent show and at least ECW is getting to a point where one can almost get through an entire hour. We’re learning more about the characters and a pecking order of sorts is being established, rather than random pairings being thrown out there for the heck of it.