ECW on SyFy
Boston, MA
September 29th 2009
Commentators: Josh Mathews & Matt Striker
Reported by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com
Tonight Zack Ryder takes on Christian for the ECW championship (again)! Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart and join me, because it’s time for ECW on SyFy!
That’s right my friends, welcome to the last ECW of September 2009! We see William Regal in the back who regrets to inform us that our esteemed General Manager, Tiffany, was in a car accident. The doctors say that she will make a full recovery, but in the meantime the board of directors have made William Regal the acting General Manager. He announces that instead of Christian taking on Zack Ryder, it will be Christian v. Ryder? AND Kozlov? AND Jackson? AND Regal in a 4 on 1 handicap match!
Abraham Washington Show
Tony Atlas is the first on the set and he introduces Abraham. Tony announces that tonight’s guest is none other than the Intercontinental Champion, John Morrison! Abraham comes out and puts over this Sunday’s PPV of Hell in a Cell as well as this Friday’s Decade of Smackdown celebration.
Abraham Washington introduces John Morrison and he makes his way out to the set. They put over the shirt that Morrison is wearing (which you can get on WWEShopZone.com). Morrison tells Atlas how much he loves Atlas? laugh. John says that he wants to make it his cell phone ringtone (me too!). Morrison says that he loves what Washington does with his talk show. Abraham points out that Morrison used to have a great show on WWE.com called the ?Dirt Sheet?. Morrison says that he did in fact have that show and if it still existed he would be Abraham Washington and The Miz would be Tony Atlas. Atlas proceeds to take the opportunity to give us a Miz signature ?I?m Awesome!?.
Morrison begins to put over his match on Sunday and starts attacking his opponent Dolph Ziggler. He adds that if Dolph ever became half as good as he thought he was, he could be a champion one day. Morrison says that he will still be the Champion at the end of the PPV.
Dolph is in the building and comes out to the set. Abraham Washington is confused as he certainly didn?t book him. Washington makes a comparison to Rocky IV and then Morrison proceeds with, ?what he means is, goodnight Mr. Ziggles!?. Ziggler grabs the mic and looks to make a retort, but Atlas jumps in with ?goodnight Mr. Ziggles!?. The show music plays and the segment ends!
In the back we see William Regal in the back on the phone with management. Apparently, the board isn?t thrilled by his match making and adds three guys to Christian’s side for tonight’s main event!
****Commercial****
Paul Burchill w/ Katie Lea v. Shelton Benjamin
While Shelton is making his way to the ring, Sheamus emerges and starts to brutally attack him before the bell rings. Sheamus rolls Shelton into the ring and referees direct Sheamus to the back. The referee starts the match, in which Burchill quite handily takes the advantage through the use of a couple punches. Burchill lays in with several kicks and goes for a pin, Shelton kicks out. Burchill has him on the mat and starts to work on the left arm and shoulder which were injured by Sheamus throwing Benjamin in to the steel post. Burchill throws Shelton out of the ring as we head to commercial.
****Commercial****
We come back as Paul Burchill has Shelton locked in an arm bar. Benjamin starts to get to his feet but gets sent back down with a back body drop. Burchill goes for the cover, but Shelton kicks out. Burchill goes back to work on the arm. The crowd is behind Shelton as he reverses a suplex for a neckbreaker! Shelton’s momentum is killed when Burchill charges into his shoulder. Paul sets him up in the corner and looks to be going for a Superplex. Shelton punches his way out of it, sending Burchill down to the mat. Shelton is still struggling to even sit up. Shelton leaps to go for a sunset flip, but Burchill moves out of the way. Paul hits a knee drop to the face and goes for the pin, but Shelton kicks out!
Burchill gets behind Shelton and has him down on the mat locked in another arm bar. Benjamin escapes by sending Paul into the turnbuckle. Burchill connects with a huge shoulder block! Burchill bounces off the ropes again, but Shelton connects with Pay Dirt out of nowhere!
Winner via Pay Dirt: Shelton Benjamin
****Commercial****
In the back we see Christian, Dreamer, Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust as they are getting pumped up for their match which is up next!
****Commercial****
William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, Kozlov & Zack Ryder v. Christian, Tommy Dreamer, Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust
Ryder and Goldust take to each other for only a couple of seconds before Jackson gets tagged in. Goldust catches his arm and tags in Yoshi. Tatsu heads to the top rope and connects with a double armed axe handle to Kozlov’s arm. Kozlov is able to use his power to make his way to the corner. Jackson gets the tag. Jackson throws Yoshi down to the mat. Jackson charges, but Yoshi ducks and tags in Goldust. Dust doesn?t get much accomplished as Jackson tags in Regal. William locks his head up and then tags in Zack Ryder.
Zack gets caught by a Goldust punch to the face. Zack heads to the corner and tags in Christian. Christian allows himself to briefly get distracted, but counters a move by Zack into a neck breaker. Christian hits the flash point and then tags in Tommy Dreamer. Tommy comes in which slows down the pace of the match. This allows Ryder to tag in Ryder as we head to commercial.
****Commercial****
We come back with Jackson in the ring taking on Dreamer. Jackson is loading some sledge hammer punches straight to Dreamer’s back. Jackson throws Dreamer to the mat and then connects with a power slam. Zeke goes for the cover, but Dreamer kicks out. Jackson tags in Kozlov who kicks Dreamer in the back before setting him up in the corner. Kozlov rams his shoulder into Tommy’s gut and then tags in Regal. William isn?t happy and mercilessly goes after the Innovator of Violence with a slew of punches. Regal tags Jackson into the ring. Jackson loses sight of Dreamer for a second which allows Tommy to tag in Christian. Jackson whips Christian into the ropes, and then Christian flies to the outside via Kozlov pulling the rope down!
Christian makes his way back up onto the apron. Jackson grabs him and hits a huge vertical suplex! Jackson picks him up and connects with two consecutive back breakers. Jackson heads to the corner and tags in Regal. William hits a lateral press and goes for a pin, but Christian kicks out. Christian tries to go for a tag, but Regal cuts him off.
Kozlov gets the tag and heads in with the full Soviet arsenal in his fists. Kozlov slams him and goes for a cover, but Christian kicks out. Kozlov holds Christian in the air for a back breaker submission. Kozlov lifts him up again and hits a throw away slam. Ryder gets tagged into the ring and kicks the ribs of Christian. Ryder goes for a pin but Christian kicks out. Ryder locks in a leg scissors on Christian’s abdomen. Zack tags back in Kozlov.
The big man takes Christian to the corner and thrusts into his gut with his shoulder. Christian is able to push Kozlov off and then heads to the second rope. Christian connects with a missile dropkick. Christian makes it to his feet and tags in Yoshi Tatsu. Kozlov tags in Ryder. Yoshi hits a dropkick and follows up with a rolling snapmare. He follows with a strong kick. Yoshi heads to the top rope and connects with a spinning wheel kick. Yoshi goes for the cover, but Jackson breaks it up.
All hell breaks loose as seemingly everybody and their mother enters the ring. Christian leaps to the outside which leaves us with Yoshi in the ring and Regal on the apron. Regal runs in and Yoshi hits his KA-RA-TAY kick on William Regal! Yoshi pins Regal!!
Winners via KA-RA-TAY: Yoshi Tatsu, Goldust, Tommy Dreamer & Christian
ECW Thoughts
Despite the incredibly soap opera-esque ?accident? angle with Tiffany, I?m a fan of having William Regal serve as the interim General Manager. I happen to be a fan of Tiffany as I think she has come a long way since debuting on the show, and I hope that she returns down the line. I found it interesting that Regal is really being treated as an ?interim? GM in principle. The board of directors have not given him unlimited power as evidenced by the phone call in which they changed the ECW main event to a 4 on 4 instead of 4 on 1. I think that is a necessary and unique dynamic that will be fun to see played out.
The Abraham Washington show tonight was one of my favorites in a while. I?m sure a lot of people will attack it for not having ECW guys, but quite honestly I don?t think that made a difference. ECW doesn?t have much going into the PPV so they used it to promote Morrison and Ziggler. Tony Atlas is off the charts with that laugh. He is really making the show for me right now. I have found it interesting that Washington was playing more of the good guy role tonight. Perhaps being a ?tweener is the perfect stance for a talk show host.
Burchill and Shelton had a better match than I expected. I say that not as a knock on their skill, but because Sheamus came out for an attack before it started. I really dug the run in because we don?t get too many of them on ECW so it felt fresh. It keeps the feud going AND put Shelton over even further by having him win the match.
The flip side to that is that it caused Burchill to look fairly weak. He really has not been coming out on top during his run on ECW as of late which may be costing him. Burchill still looks strong, but his legitimacy is diminishing. On a random note, does anybody else think that Burchill is the embodiment of how THE Brian Kendrick would look if he got jacked up on hyper steroids? Just a thought.
This brings me to the character of Katie Lea. I?ve actually become a fan of hers lately which I mainly attribute to the awesome eye makeup she has been wearing. Seriously I would love to wear ? never mind, the point is I?m a fan. I feel as though her brother is holding her back. She has a lot of ability that is being squandered on ECW. I think it is time for her to turn face, leave her jobbing brother, and head for another brand.
The main event was pretty much what you would expect from a big 8 man match. Ryder was understandably upset that Regal put himself in a match that was meant to showcase Ryder against Christian, but didn?t let it affect his performance. I loved the fast pace to open the match. There were more tags then I could keep track of which kept it moving. It could be a considered a huge upset that Yoshi pinned Regal, and it was an enjoyable one. They are pushing this kid to the moon and he seems to have the fan support to make it happen. I think it shows the incredible amount of talent available on the brand at the moment. The match was a fun end to my favorite edition of ECW in recent memory.
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.
June 30th ? September 29th 2009
1. Christian ? 62 pts. [l.w. 1]2. William Regal ? 38 [l.w. 3]3. Kozlov ? 37 pts. [l.w. 4]4. Ezekiel Jackson – 32 pts. [l.w. 5]4. Yoshi Tatsu – 32 pts. [l.w. 7]
6. Tommy Dreamer ?30 pts. [l.w. 2]6. Zach Ryder – 30 pts. [l.w. 5]6. Shelton Benjamin – 30 pts. [l.w. 8]9. Sheamus – 26 pts. [l.w. 9]10. Paul Burchill ? 21 pts. [l.w. 10]
10. Goldust ? 21 pts. [l.w. NA]
Look for ?That’s a Wrap? on WrestleView Thursday!
Join up on Facebook to get special access to features I don?t have space for here on WrestleView. This is the best way to interact with me as well as stay on top of the latest news regarding the Institute for Wrapping Things up, including our LIVE Video shows Wednesdays @ 10pm EST.
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.
Follow WrestleView.com on Twitter: twitter.com/wrestleview
Send us news/results: click here