ECW on Sci-Fi
Fresno, CA
February 10th 2009
Commentators: Todd Grisham & Matt Striker
Report by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com
Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart because it is time for ECW!
The show kicks off with a recap of the Finlay/Swagger feud and match from last week.
Jack Swagger makes his way to the ring on the heels of his first loss in his five months with ECW. He grabs the mic and is a bit annoyed. He says that he has been victimized and embarrassed for the last two weeks. Jack Swagger says he is calling out Hornswoggle right now! Music hits and ?
IT?S CHRISTIAN! CHRISTIAN HAS RETURNED AND HE IS ON ECW!!!
Christian comes down to the ring and the crowd is going insane. Christian grabs the mic and starts dissing on Swagger and makes fun of him for his lisp. Christian says he is here on ECW to get the ECW Title! He is challenging the winner of the Swagger v. Finlay match. I literally jumped out of my chair for that one folks. Swagger starts to say that Christian isn?t a threat. Christian responds by punching him in the face! Captain Charisma has returned!
****Commercial****
In the back we see Teddy Long with Swagger. Jack says that he is taking the night off. Teddy says no you aren?t, because tonight it is going to be Christian v. Swagger in the main event!
Video recap airs of MizMo’s beatdown and mocking of Dreamer last week.
Dreamer v. Miz
The two begin to lock up and Dreamer suckers Miz to the outside of the ring. Dreamer hits Miz’s head on the apron. Back in the ring Dreamer is thrown into the corner and falls to the ground. Miz jumps on him to lay in some punches and then hits a kick to the gut. Dreamer is able to get himself up and hits some hard punches. Dreamer goes for a bulldog but hits it very awkwardly. Miz is able to gain the upperhand with some quick offense. John Morrison provides a brief distraction which allows Miz to hit his new finisher, the MIZhap!
Winner via MIZhap: The Miz
This was a quick match, but the crowd and I were both still stunned and excited by the return of Christian.
****Commercial****
Teddy Long is with Tiffany in his office when Jamie Noble walks in and interrupts. Jamie is angry that The Boogeyman tried to shove worms down his throat last week. Noble says that he was a big dog on RAW and this isn?t how you treat a million dollar star. In walks Natalya with Tyson Kidd [TJ Wilson]! They are welcomed to ECW by Teddy Long.
In the back we see Christian putting on his wrist tape. Hornswoggle runs in and frolics around a bit. Finlay comes in and tells Christian that if he wants the ECW Title he has to go through him!
****Commercial****
Tyson Kidd w/ Natalya v. Bao Nguyen
Tyson was trained by Bret Hart. He locks up Bao in an armbar which Bao reverses. Tyson hits some beautiful looking kicks. Kidd follows this up with a nice drop kick. He gets whipped into the ropes and counters with a kick to the gut. Tyson hits a hard kick to Bao’s face. Kidd goes out to the apron and hits a spring board elbow drop!
Winner via Spring Board Elbow: Tyson Kidd
After the match Jamie Noble appears on the ramp and he and Tyson Kidd stare each other down.
****Commercial****
Jack Swagger v. Christian
The excitement in the building is just amazing. The excitement in my head is also amazing. The two lock up and Swagger is able to take Christian down to the mat. Christian is trying hard to break the hold and he is moving with incredible speed and energy. Christian is backed into the corner and he slaps Swagger in the face. Christian goes for a quick roll-up but Swagger kicks out. Christian bounces off the ropes and kicks Swagger in the gut. Swagger regains his feet and whips Christian into the corner. Christian jumps up into the air and hits a sunset flip for a roll up. Swagger kicks out.
****Commercial****
We come back and Finlay and Hornswoggle have walked down and joined the commentators. In the ring Swagger is behind Christian and has him locked up. Swagger releases him and starts unloading with some punches as Swagger backs him into the corner. Hornswoggle is grunting away on commentary. Swagger gets behind Christian again. Christian hits a hard punch, but Swagger gets him in the corner and drives his shoulder hard into Christian’s gut. Christian is sitting on the top turnbuckle and trying to fight Swagger off. Christian leaps up and hits a HUGE DDT on Swagger. Christian goes for the cover, but Swagger kicks out.
Swagger gets a burst of energy driven by fury, but Christian sends him down. Swagger is laid out in the ring and Christian goes to the top rope. He leaps for the Frog Splash but Swagger moves out of the way. Swagger tries for a quick roll up but Christian kicks out. Christian gets up and tries for the Unprettier, but no luck as Swagger counters into a roll up. Christian kicks out. Christian and Swagger have made their way out to the apron. Christian uses the momentum of the ropes to hit Swagger across the face with his feet.
Swagger throws Christian towards Hornswoggle as they are all on the outside. Jack gets back into the ring and takes the momentary distraction to uncover the turnbuckle. The referee sees the turnbuckle and heads over to fix it. Finlay jumps up and hits Swagger in the back of the leg with the Irish Foreign Object! Christian hits the Unprettier and gets the pin on the ECW Champion!
Winner via Unprettier: Christian!
ECW Thoughts
Wow.
I mean, there really isn?t any better way for me to sum up tonight’s show. Truth be told, you can just feel free to copy and paste the word ?Christian? over and over again for about 5 pages to understand my excitement. I?d encourage you to get a life sized cut out of him in celebration, but those things freak me out when it is dark and you are walking into a room and ? well anyway the point is it is great to have him back. I?m sure that as you scavenge the net this week you are going to find reports about everything from how Christian is the savior of the WWE to how he made the worst mistake of his life by leaving TNA. Ok, probably not the latter, but you never know.
In a perfect world Christian will stick around through the probable draft in June. This will allow him to possibly hold the ECW Title as well as get a solid following and push built back up. While those of us reading this recap know what he has been up to for the last couple years, the bulk of WWE fans may not, so it is important to get him the reacquainted. After he gets a solid push I?d say draft him over to RAW or Smackdown, with Smackdown being the likely candidate. I know, that’s a shame that he would have to leave ECW for such a lesser show, but hey I?m trying to be realistic.
But let’s stop prepping the tissues to dry out tears for the day Christian leaves ECW; the fact is that today he is ours! Christian, Captain Charisma himself, has come back to the WWE and he has landed right in the middle of the ?E’s best show ? ECW! Christian is going to do wonders for rising stars like Jack Swagger. Jack has been getting quite the rub from veterans such as Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer, Finlay, and most likely Christian. This is exactly the right environment for a potential star such as Swagger to be built up.
Regarding the Finlay v. Swagger match for No Way Out I?m predicting that Swagger retains. I?m almost positive on this one. The Swagger/Christian feud leading into Wrestlemania will be a lot more beneficial than a Finlay/Christian feud would be for both the workers and the company.
As long as we are talking about potential future stars, we have to talk about this week’s other acquisition ? Tyson Kidd, aka TJ Wilson. Forget for a second that he is a graduate from the Hart Dungeon, the last graduate in fact, or the fact that he was trained by Bret ?The Hitman? Hart himself! The fact is that Tyson Kidd was impressive tonight. It wasn?t because he had an amazing array of offensive moves, though I?m sure he does. Kidd hardly did much more than land kicks and their variants all over the poor jobber in the ring, but what impressive kicks they were! If nothing else he was just a joy to watch. There is a certain ‘snap? that seems to accompany his moves. I?m not one to make bold predictions, but I really see great things for Tyson down the line if this initial push works out.
The Miz and Dreamer had a pretty quick match tonight. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was so overshadowed by the return of Christian moments before that it was kind of hard to get into. That being said, I?m at least glad that MizMo were on the show again. Having them start a feud with Dreamer at least answers the question of exactly what Tommy will be up to while he’s waiting for a Title shot. Seriously though, if Dreamer is going to contend for a title he has to win a match at SOME point. I do my rankings on a three month rolling basis. I can say that in the past 3 MONTHS Tommy Dreamer has not won a match on ECW or PPV.
As you may know by now from reading my recaps, I neither rate matches or grade shows. This is because I find such things to be very subjective and arbitrary. However, I?m going to break that trend for one night only. Tonight’s ECW was an absolute ?A? show. I?ve been doing these recaps for quite some time now, and I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed an ECW more. From amazing debuts to decent matches and storyline builders, this is exactly what I want to see on my Tuesday nights. Great show everybody, don?t miss next week’s!
Five Words from the WrestleView Chat
Crelly: OH MY GOD CHRISTAN RETURNS
Power Rankings
3 Month Rolling Rankings; ECW Title Win 5, ECW Title Loss 4, ECW Win 3, ECW Loss 2, ECW Appearance 1, PPV Title Win 10, PPV Title Loss 8, PPV Win 6, PPV Loss 4, PPV Appearance 2.
November 11th 2008 ? February 10th 2008
1. Jack Swagger ? 41 pts. [l.w. 1]2. Finlay ? 38 pts. [l.w. 2]3. Mark Henry ? 36 pts. [l.w. 3]4. The Miz ? 28 pts. [l.w. 5]5. John Morrison ? 27 pts. [l.w. 4]6. DJ Gabriel ? 17 pts. [l.w. 6]6. Hornswoggle ? 17 pts. [l.w.7]8. The Boogeyman ? 15 pts. [l.w. 9]8.Tommy Dreamer ? 15 pts. [l.w. NA]10. Ricky Ortiz ? 14 pts. [l.w. 10]10. Tony Atlas ? 14 pts. [l.w. 8]
So that’s ECW. Love it? Hate it? Disagree with everything I said? Just want to chat wrestling? I?m always up for reading your thoughts so send them over to me at jugglernextdoor@gmail.com.
-David Stephens
P.S. Christian is back!!