ECW on Sci-Fi
Dallas, TX
March 31st 2009
Commentators: Todd Grisham & Matt Striker
Report by: David Stephens of WrestleView.com
Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart because it’s time for the last ECW before Wrestlemania 25!
The show kicks off with some Extreme Charisma Wrestling as Christian makes his way down to the ring for tonight’s Tag Team contest.
Christian & Finlay w/ Hornswoggle v. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas & Kane
We start off with Christian and Kane in the ring. Kane is wrestling like a man who has a fire under his feet tonight as the big man is really moving. This is not a pleasing result for Christian who is met with a punch to the face followed by a slam down to the mat. Christian takes the fastest bus out of the ring as he tags in Hornswoggle’s father. Finlay comes in with the spirit of Ireland blazing on his back, but nothing seems to be able to stop the Big Red Machine. Finlay’s arm is twisted around and trapped into an armlock behind his back. This results in another quick tag as Christian makes his way back into the ring and we head to our first commercial.
****Commercial****
We come back and Kane and Finlay are in the ring, and Henry gets the quick tag in to wreak havoc. The big man begins his work on Finlay by literally standing on top of Finlay and working on his lower back. Kane gets the tag. Kane comes into the ring and locks Finlay into a headlock, while Hornswoggle is on the outside trying everything he can to get the crowd behind his papa. Kane tags Mark Henry back in who enters and promptly slams Finlay down to the mat. Finlay is backed into the corner as he is met with a slew of punches and kicks to the guts. The big men continue their routine of quick tags as Kane comes into the ring. Kane whips Finlay into the corner, but Finlay counters a splash into a DDT!
Christian gets the hot tag and comes in swinging at Kane. Henry gets tagged in and Christian goes bouncing off the ropes dodging a punch and gets lifted up for the World’s Strongest Slam, but is able to drop down and knock out Henry’s leg. Finlay runs in for the help to participate in a stereo dropkick to Henry’s face. Finlay and Christian knock Kane off the apron and Christian heads back over to Henry. Mark is met by Christian’s seesaw kick in between the ropes and Christian heads to the top rope! Captain Charisma leaps high into the air ? but is caught by Henry! Mark drops him down to the mat with the World’s Strongest Slam.
Winners via World’s Strongest Slam: Mark Henry & Kane
After the match Mark Henry proves that there are no allegiances as he attacks Kane
Did You Know? John Cena is in a movie called ?12 Rounds?. Promo airs
****Commercial****
Wrestlemania plug: Kid Rock will be performing live!
Wrestlemania plug: Shawn Michaels & Undertaker
****Commercial****
Wrestlemania plug: Edge v. Cena v. Big Show
****Commercial****
Did You Know? John Cena is in a movie called ?12 Rounds?. Promo airs
Wrestlemania Plug: Wrestlemania 23 Recap
Wrestlemania Plug: HHH & Randy Orton
****Commercial****
Wrestlemania plug: Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger will be in attendance
Nikki Bella w/ Miz & Morrison v. Brie Bella
Ok, Nikki is in red and her twin sister is in gold. Nikki takes her sister down to the mat with a tackle and jumps on top of her. They both get up and Brie is taking the upper hand by slamming her sister down to the mat and holding her arm locked in. They exchange a couple of punches and Brie jumps on Nikki in the corner in an attempt to hit a monkey flip, but Nikki throws her off. Nikki hits a nice vertical suplex. Brie’s body is getting contorted and twisted as Nikki maintains control.
In what has to be one of the oddest distractions I?ve ever seen, Team MizMo hold up their Slammy awards to I guess distract the ref with their shininess. The Colon Brothers weren?t too thrilled so they run over to try and attack MizMo. In the ring Nikki gets the roll up for the win.
Winner via Rollup: Nikki Bella
ECW Thoughts
Wow, what a waste of time. The middle 30 minutes were one ad after another. This could go down as the shortest recap ever because there was honestly nothing to write about sans two matches.
The first match established that anyone can win the Money in the Bank Match and that there won?t be any alliances. The second and final match was build for the Tag Team Championship Unification match at ?mania. Aside from trying to constantly figure out which twin was which, it was nothing special.
For those unaware there is a popular website called fmylife.com which is all the rage on college campuses. It’s usually an amusing read for when you are bored as people write quick little things about embarrassing or discouraging things that happened to them. Well this would be mine from tonight’s show:
Today, I recapped the final ECW before Wrestlemania, but instead of watching wrestling I was met with 30 straight minutes of commercials followed by a match between two identical twins. FML
Forget it, let’s move on.
ECW Grievance
Let’s take a good look at the ECW Title Match for this year’s Wrestlemania! Yeah, it seems that no matter how far I search nor under how may rocks I overturn, I am unable to discover anything more than the leftover worms that The Boogeyman’s untimely departure has left us with.
I try my best to always be positive about my views on ECW and the WWE as a whole. In all truth this isn’t an “act”, the weekly programs are honestly entertaining enough to leave me satisfied 8 out of 10 weeks. But Wrestlemania 25 is leaving me with a pit in my stomach.
It is easy to get frustrated and bogged down with backstage gossip to the extent that it becomes next to impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. If I am to believe the rumors then I would have no choice but to accept the fact that Vince does not believe that Jack Swagger is ready for such a grand stage.
Well, phooey that’s just not the case. I’m not going to go on a rant in which I put Swaggs over because he is legitimately a new star that still has a lot of room to grow. He has had some great feuds and matches, but he also was privileged to wrestle some great talent to get to where he is (Matt Hardy, Finlay & Christian). I still don’t see the justification in not giving him a spot in one way or another at Wrestlemania. If it is an experience factor then throw a veteran in the mix or make it a triple threat, there are several ways to get around the “problem”.
From the day that Christian set foot in ECW there were two main trains of thought that persisted in my mind. The first and foremost was my absolute belief that he would be drafted away come April 13th. I don’t think that is a shock to anyone, it makes sense to gradually reintroduce him to the WWE audience by bringing him in to ECW and giving him a solid push. The second belief I had was that Christian would be facing Jack Swagger at Wrestlemania 25. The match made so much sense that it was difficult to see it not occurring. Instead the ‘E decided to blow out that feud with in a couple of weeks and have Christian lose his Title shot. As a result Christian is in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which if “backstage reports” of Vince’s dislike for pushing Christian are any indication, he doesn’t have a ducks chance in corn of winning the match.
Actually what tugs at my heart strings more than the plight of Christian & Swagger is the fate assigned to ECW’s most over talent – Evan Bourne. I was astounded with the ovations he has received the past several weeks. If anything his absence for injury has built up a mythical sense of wonder for his skill. He had a great match with Matt Hardy at Cyber Sunday this year (yeah there was ONE redeeming match on that card). His astounding percentage of the vote that he received over both Finlay & Henry turned some heads.
Take them for what they are worth but “reports” have stated that if the ECW Title Match was to have occurred at Wrestlemania that it would have been a contest between Swagger and Bourne. Look I’ll give creative the benefit of the doubt on this one. I think they could hold their own and put on a fun 10 minute match, but if experience on the “grand stage” is really such an issue than they could have thrown in a veteran such as Finlay. It would make a lot more sense for the Irishman to be in such match over the Money in the Bank match anyway.
Look this is just my two cents on the subject, so take it for what it is worth (probably around 2 cents). It is really disappointing to watch the show that week in and out provides an exciting hour of wrestling. It is in the one refuge from the over the top drama of RAW and Smackdown. If you don’t feel like watching a middle aged mother being fought over by two #1 contenders for her affection, then you can tune into ECW. The humorous antics of the under-the-ring characters of Hornswoggle & The Boogeyman were both a tolerable and entertaining escape from the rest of the “WWE Universe”. ECW consistently had great wrestling matches including from young talent such as DJ Gabriel and Tyson Kidd.
Sorry to send you off with such a depressing show before Wrestlemania but tonight was the absolute worst ECW I?ve ever recapped and furthermore not worth the time to watch it. I know that a lot of my readers are overseas and read my report to decide whether or not to watch the show when it airs in their country. I?ve never said this before, but save yourselves the effort because there is no reason to watch, it was just a giant advertisement. Read my Column ?That’s a Wrap? tomorrow, I promise it will be much more uplifting!
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.
December 30th 2008 ? March 31st 2009
1. Jack Swagger ? 48 pts. [l.w. 1]2. Finlay ? 37 pts. [l.w. 2]3. Mark Henry ? 29 pts. [l.w. 3]4. John Morrison ? 23 pts. [l.w. 4]5. The Miz ? 22 pts. [l.w. 5]6. Paul Burchill ? 20 pts. [l.w. 6]
6. Tommy Dreamer ? 20 pts. [l.w. 7]6. Christian ? 20 pts. [l.w. 8]9. The Boogeyman ? 16 pts. [l.w. 9]10. Hornswoggle ? 15 pts. [l.w.10]
Look for ?That’s a Wrap? on WrestleView Wednesday!
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.