this week’s show opened up with a recap of last week’s main event. it was RVD vs. Bobbly Lashley for the ECW world title that ended up in a double knockout. they then announced that the rematch would occur tonght.
following this, with brad armstrong at ringside, was our first match of the night, CM Punk against Hardcore Holly. this match, though it was alright, I feel was a little bland for Punk’s potential to carry a match, but hey, there’s only so much that one man can do! this match was alright, I guess.
main highlights:
-Punk did a dropkick to the back of the head and neck of Holly, looking almost like a less powerful, reverse shining wizard
-Punk attempted a suicide dive to Holly, but Holly was able to step out of the way in time
-Holly got Punk tied up in the ropes and delivered a few cross-body strikes
-Holly suprizingly delivered a second rope leg drop to Punk
-Holly, after sending Punk into the steel post, gave him a spinning Alabama Slam, and got the three count on Punk for the win
after this, a referee went backstage to tell Test that his match was up next. Test replied saying that he felt overlooked, and that he should be in the ECW world title picture. he said that because of this, he refused to participate in his schedueled match tonight.
next up was Elijah Burke in the middle of the ring issuing an open challenge, saying that he would knockout any of the wrestlers backstage or anyone in the crowd. Sandman answered this challenged, and ended up caning Burke a few times. Burke then fled the ring.
they then went into a video clip promo for The Great Khali. the promo made him look dominant and destructive, as wwe is good with making such promos, even though in reality Khali sucks and should be taken out of wrestling before he kills someone else. that’s right, someone ELSE.
appropriately following was a match with The Great Khali against Tommy Dreamer. while this match was eh as it was, the stipulation of this being extreme rules could’ve been used a bit more. Dreamer did come out with a road sign, but that’s one weapon out of many that could’ve been used but weren’t. vince doesn’t know shit about ECW hardcore.
main highlights:
-Khali steps on the road sign that Dreamer brought in basically as the match began, giving Dreamer no opportunity to use it
-Khali put a foot choke onto Dreamer while Dreamer was downed in the turnbuckle, Khali’s foot and Dremer’s head ending up against the apron
-Dreamer regained hold of his sign and started hiting both Khali and Daivari with it
-Khali punched Dreamer through the sign, chokebombed him, then got the three count with one foot on Dreamer’s chest
RVD then had an interview backstage. he said that other people seemed to think that he was too calm about things and that it showed that he didn’t care about anything. he, of course, said that this wasn’t true, and that he cared deeply about ECW and about regaining the title. no idea where he heard that rumor from, so I guess this was just an excuse for Rob to have a promo.
next up was a match between Kevin Thorn and Shannon Moore. Moore has been jobbing out every week in ECW, and this week was no different. at least when he jobbed in TNA, they let him show a little talent while he did it, not to mention he actually WON A MATCH when he was teamed up with Samoa Joe. anyways, I digress, this match was alright, with Thorn given the opportunity to show of some of his true skill.
main highlights:
-Thorn gave Moore some cross body strikes
-Moore countered a move Thorn tried to do running at him in a corner with an elbow; this would end up as Moore’s only offensive, or defensive for that matter, move the entire match
-Thorn grabbed Moore by the back of his pants and the back of his mohawk while Moore was on the second turnbuckle, and flipped him over, causing Moore to land in the middle of the ring, flat on his face
-Thorn did his normal finisher, a stunner while his opponent’s legs hung onto the top rope, this time staring deep into Moore’s eyes before he did it and Joey Styles announcing that Thorn called it the “Dark Kiss”; Thorn then got the three count for the victory
we were then shown a clip of Lashley getting ready backstage. again, he looked pumped and ready.
they then did a video clip promo for KellyKelly, announcing she would “return” to ECW next week. I never really noticed that she was signifigantly “gone” at all, but I just hope this doesn’t result in another striptease wasting all of our time.
finally, we come to our main event, the rematch for the ECW world title between Rob Van Dam and Bobby Lashley. this match was highly entertaining and had plenty of good highlights to it, and so it thusly gets my approval for seal of the night, despite the fact that the endings for ECW main events seem to be tending to get a bit predictable, another screwjob.
main highlights:
-Lashley had a spear to RVD delivered early on in the match, completely mowing RVD over
-RVD did a STANDING 450 leg drop! even though it missed, that’s still pretty damn cool!
-Lashley gave RVD a running shoulberblock while RVD wsa on the apron, sending RVD into the crowd
-RVD set up Lashley on the announce table, much like he did last week, and went for his signature spinning leg drop form the apron, but Lashley got out of the way in time and RVD hit the bottom of his leg against the edge of the announce table, and it looked like it HURT!
-eventually, Test interrupted with a chair and hit both Lashley and RVD, resulting in a no contest finish with Lashley still champion
final thought:
this week’s episode of ECW was alright, better than last week. the biggest dissapointment, really, had to be that we finally got to see a hardcore match back on the show, but it really wasn’t that hardcore. also, yet another main event on ECW ends in yet another screwjob, it seems to be getting a little reduntant now. still, an alright show with the main event finally getting match of the night.
Thanks to Steven Gerweck for these results: