Dusty Rhodes has been brought in to help out with the creative end of ECW.

It was ECW writer Dave Lagana’s idea to bring in Rhodes as ECW’s #2 idea man.
Rhodes was credited for the turnaround of SmackDown when it was considered near-death over the summer.

Rhodes has no problem with the move, and says he will work wherever McMahon thinks he can be used the best

this week’s show opened up with a recap of Vince McMahon’s run-in with Elijah Burke the occurred last week. in case you didn’t watch, Vince claimed that everything about the original ECW sucked, and that Burke was going to be a part of ecw’s future. after he called out Burke, Burke came to the ring and gave an alright promo, after which a bunch of the ECW originals came out and attacked Burke.

appropriately afterwards, Vince adressed the ECW wrestlers in the ring. he said that he would put a few of them in matches tonight and that if any of them were to interfere or attack any of the officials, they would be fired.

after this there was a video promo for Snitsky. with his newly shaven head, as well as his shaved off beard, he now looks like a sad ripoff of Kane.

following this was our first match of the night, Kevin Thorn VS. Tommy Dreamer, with special guest referee  Matt Stryker. this match was a little boring and could’ve been better, but at the same time it did, indeed, play into the storyline well. not that great wrestling-wise, good story-wise.

main highlights:

-Thorn gave Dreamer an interesting inverted jawbreaker

-Thorn also fish hooked Dreamer’s mouth and nose

-Dreamer did his own version of the chokebomb pin, but Stryker faked a leg injury, and did not give him a count

-Thorn clotheslined Dreamer over a knelt down Stryker, and rolled him up, and all of the sudden Stryker’s health returned  and was able to give Thorn the three count for the win

after this, there was a video/interview style promo for Bobby Lashley displaying where he had come from before he was in the WWE.  included were interview from his sister and mother, as well as video clips from Lashley revisiting his old high school, and the place he trained when he wrestled for the army. I thought it was interesting, though it had nothing to do with the rest of the show.

appropriately folowing this was a match between Bobby Lashley and Hardcore Holly. this match was the real sleeper of the night, except for this one move Holly did that impressed me, and I’m not very often impressed by Holly. it was a boring match with one or two good parts to it and an ending that they probably won’t end up following up on.

main highlights:

-Holly locked in a modified camel clutch onto Lashley

-Holly also did a modified figure four leglock into an interesting version of an STF, into a grapevine choke

-Lahley gave Holly a falling pres slam

-Lashley won by pinfall, but after the match, Snitsky interfered and beat on the champion, inevitably delivering Lashley straight into an Alabama slam by Holly

after that, there was a match between Balls Mahoney and Marcus Cor Von. Mahoney came into the match at a disadvantage seeming as his neck had been injured the night before by Umaga on Raw. not a great match, and most of it was Cor Von on the offensive, but it did still move along this new fued well.

main highlights:

-Mahoney gave Cor Von his signature striking combo (a couple punches followed by a windmill punch)

-Cor Von gave Mahoney the pounce

-Cor Von locked on a version of the cobra clutch onto Mahoney and won by knockout (supposedly Mahoney blacked out during this cobra clutch)

next up was another dance number by Extreme Expose, KellyKelly, Layla, and Brook. they danced around to a remix of that song from the Pussycat Dolls “Doncha Wish Your Girlfriend” or whatever the specific name is. it was a short dance number, however, as Matt Stryker interrupted. he announced that he would be the new ring announcer for the next match, with Marcus Cor Von as a special guest commentator, and and Kevin Thorn as the special guest time keeper.

the next match, as Stryker had announced, came immediately after Stryker’s interruption. this was the main event of the night, Rob Van Dam against Elijah Burke. the match was set up greatly, as Vince had claimed Burke to be the future of ECW last week and RVD is the most loved of the ECW originals. while the wrestling wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before, it was still better than the rest in all of the elements of a good match, thusly making this the match of the night.

main highlights:

-RVD had an interesting legdrop off the top rope to Burke where he held his legs in front of him as he dropped, then sprung them out as he was about to hit the floor

-Burke gave RVD a massive kick to the face while RVD hung over the side of the apron, reminicent of the Undertaker

-Burke also gave RVD an impressive running double knee strike to the chest while RVD was in the corner

-RVD gave Burke his viscious rolling monkey flip

-RVD did his finisher, the five star frog splash, off the top rope, but before he could pin Burke, Thorn rang the bell to end the match; as Stryker tried to announce Burke as the winner of the match, he argued with the ref who was telling him that he never called for the bell, and behind the ref’s back, Burke gave RVD a low blow and pinned him for a three count

after the match, Stryker, Cor Von, and Thorn all went in to beat up RVD, but the Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Sabu all came to RVD’s aid.

final thought:

THE BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN, BITCHES!!! this is looking to be the BEST storyline in the new ECW since is re-launching, the new breed against the ECW originals. the wrestling could be better, and there could be more hardcore matches, but that seems to be a bit of a lost cause at this point. even so, I’m still excited about this brand new storyline and I hope they develop it to the fullest!

the show opened up with a recap of the championship match with Bobby Lashley against Hardcore Holly. in case you didn’t know, Lashley won, but Snitsky interfered.

 

appropiately following this wsa a rematch for the ECW world championship, Lashley against Hardcore Holly, extreme rules! this match was decent, but it did indeed give me a bit more respect for Lashley sa he pulled out a few moves that I didn’t really expect out of him. this must be the first extreme rules match in ecw for quite some time, and though that was occasionally used, it didn’t have that hardcore feel to it. I guess that’s wwe for you, but still, a good match nonetheless.

main highlights:

-Holly kicked Lashley through a chair

-Holly set up a chair between the middle and top turnbuckles, but Lashley reversed the irish whip, sending Holly into his own chair

-Lashley gave Holly a kneeling shock treatment (much alike the move from Abyss of TNA)

-Holly set Lashley up for an Alabama slam onto a chair, but Lashley SUNSET FLIPPED OUT OF IT, and ended up giving Holly a power slam onto that chair, followed by Lashley getting to pinfall for the win

 

after that was a video promo for Snitsky. they’re still making him a cheap ripoff of Kane. whoop-de-doo.

 

next up was a dance number from extreme expose. they danced, they stripped, then were interrupted, again, by the first entrant in the next match approaching the ring as the match started, in this case it was Kevin Thorn. wow, this is getting repetitive.

 

that match that Thorn interrupted extreme expose to begin was him and Marcus Cor Von versus Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman. this, obviously, signified a portion of the continuing of the ECW originals against the New Breed. this match was, to be honest, more good for it’s storyline purposes than for the actual wrestling, but regardless was still worth the watch.

main highlights:

-Thorn whipped Dreamer into the ropes, followed by Cor Von giving Dreamer a pounce, err, excuse me, “body block”

-Sandman gave Thorn a Heinikenrana off the top rope (kinda like a hurricanrana, but from a frontal body scissors as opposed to head scissors)

-Sandman also gave Cor Von his signiture right Russian Legsweep

-Thorn hit Sandman with his cane, then pinned Sandman for the win

 

after that, they showed a video clip promo for CM Punk. he would be returning to action on ECW for the first time after the fallout he had with Arn Anderson and others with backstage politics.

 

following this was Lashley geting a visit from Teddy Long. Long congratulated Lashley for his ECW championship title reign, and invited him to come to smackdown later in the week. Lashley accepted.

 

next up was a match between CM Punk and Mike Knox. this match was impressive for both men (Punk was still as good as always and Knox seemed better) and, despite it’s depressing ending, still gets my seal of approval for match of the night.

main highlights:

-Knox gave Punk a nasty faceplant off the top rope

-Punk managed to somehow give Knox a knee strike counter out of an abdominal stretch

-Knox gave Punk a standing dropkick, something I honestly thought I’d never see out of him

-Punk countered a clothesline into a euronagi/anaconda vice for the win by tapout, giving him his first win in ECW in months, but after the match Snitsky interrupted to beat on Punk

 

after that was another backrund promo for Lashley. this mainly focused on his career as a wrestler, nothing about his personal life. I would say it was a wast of time, but I must admitt that it was a little interesting.

 

finally we come to our main event of Rob Van Dam and Sabu versus Elijah Burke and Matt Stryker. this match was good for both the match and the wrestling involved, though the only thing that stopped me from giving this match of the night is that I wasn’t suprized by it. all of the participants, except partially for Burke, I consider good wrestlers and while they were their skillful selves during the whole match, there wasn’t anything that suprized me out of them. still a good match on all angles, however.

main highlights:

-RVD and Sabu did their impressive quadruple leg drop double team on Stryker

-Burke gave Sabu his running double knee striker in the corner

-Stryker gave Sabu a running facewash, reminicent of the move Samoa Joe does

-RVD gave Stryker a somersault plancha, a move more often seen out of Sabu as of late

-Burke countered a springboard legdrop from Sabu, tripping Sabu when he went to the ropes, and got the pinfall for the win, though it is beyod me how a countered springboard is enough to put away Sabu of all people

 

final thought:

Dusty Rhodes is doing WONDERS for ECW right now! the wrestling has improved, the storylines are better, and we finally get an extreme rules match!!! not only all of that, but I think one of the main things missing in the wwe is stables that actually matter. yeah, they had the mexicools a few years ago, but they never really got very far. the last main event-worthy stable (in wwe’s eyes anyways) was with evolution, and that was a looong time ago. some would argue I’m wrong with the “reuniting” of dx, but I consider them more of a tag team than a stable. here we’ve got two stables getting main event recognition and, in fact, dominating most of the show. I think the work Rhodes has done for ECW has been great, and I sincerely hope it continues. the only real negative thing I can say about the matches is how the main event ended. Sabu can take chairs to the head, going through tables, barb wire, thumbtacks, you name it, he’s done it and still pulled out, but they have him lose after a messed up SPRINGBOARD?? common! otherwise geat show this week.

Courtesy of WWE.com:

Test released
Written: February 27, 2007

As first reported by WWE Mobile Alerts, WWE has come to terms on the release of ECW Superstar Test (Andrew Martin). We wish Test all the best in all future endeavors.