Special Thursday Edition: ECW
Submitted by MIK on Friday, December 7, 2007 at 12:20 AM EST
Bakersfield, California: Rabobank Arena
Tuesdays 10/9 CT
Good evening to all! Tonight on a special Thursday edition of ECW, we will witness a rather ‘large’ decision as C.M Punk will “pick his poison” in a Champions Choice Match and face either Big Daddy V or Mark Henry. Which one of these behemoths will Punk choose? And will it be a successful pick or a demoralizing loss? Let’s find out!
Tonight’s show begins with a promo hyping up the Pick Your Poison Match. Striker says regardless of who Punk picks, he will have his hands full tonight.
-“Don’t Question My Heart” video package plays as we are welcomed to ECW by Tazz & Joey Stlyes.
John Morrison comes out as we are preparing for our first match of the evening which appears to be a tag team contest. After the Miz enters the ring, their opponents are revealed to be none other than the Major Brothers.
Match 1: John Morrison & The Miz v. The Major Brothers (Non-Title Match)
Brett Major and the Miz start with a lock-up. Soon afterwards Brett gets a hold if Miz’s arm and tags in Brian Major who gets a quick rollup in which Miz kicks out of. Brian nails a dropkick and send both Miz and Morrison out of the ring. Gaining support from the crowd, Brian runs and hits a rolling senton splash out of the ring. Minutes later, Miz manages to choke Brian on the top rope and tags Morrison in. The two hit a double face buster and Brian is hurt. Morrison continues to inflict damage as he connects with a knee to the face of Brian Major. Miz is quickly tagged in and applies a chin lock. Crowd begins to cheer for Brian who rolls around the ring and manages to tag in his brother Bret. Morrison is tagged in as well and kicks Brian Major out of the ring and Miz soon follows him out there. In the ring, Bret is in control until Morrison catches him and launches him onto the ropes. Bret is groggy at this point and Morrison capitalizes on that opportunity by nailing his corkscrew neckbreaker and this one is over. (Rating: 2.5. A good opener, but in my opinion was a bit short as it finished roughly around the 8 minute mark. Good fast tag team action from both sides with the crowd being involved.)
Post-Match: Morrison & Miz begin to boast as Brian attends to his fallen brother. We are then told that CM Punk is up next to tell the audience who he will pick to face later on tonight in the main event.
-Commercial-
We are shown an advertisement hyping the arrival of a new superstar. He is the first WWE superstar to come from Jamaica and goes by the name of Kofi Kingston. He reminds me a lot like Carlito as his promo was very similar to the way how Carlito had made his WWE debut. (beach, palm trees, sand, etc.)
We are then shown CM Punk in the backstage area and he basically says that he doesn’t care who he has to fight tonight. All he wants is action. He then tells everyone that he will let GM Estrada and/or Matt Striker decide his opponent for later tonight.
Kelly Kelly comes out to a great ovation as we are set for an inter-promotional inter gender tag team contest. Her partner is Balls Mahoney and they begin to talk strategy as we head to break.
-Commercial-
Kenny Dykstra and Victoria make their way to the ring.
Match 2: Kelly Kelly and Balls Mahoney v. Kenny Dykstra and Victoria
Mahoney and Dykstra start as Kelly gets the crowd pumped up. Mahoney attempts his signature punches, but Dykstra dodges the last uppercut and tags in Victoria. Mahoney tags in Kelly to much of the audiences delight. Kelly hits an amazing standing tilta-whirl hurricanrana. Dykstra distracts Kelly and gets slapped for his actions. From behind, Victoria hits a powerful clothesline and grounds Kelly. She locks in a straight-jacket type submission hold and Kelly is in pain. Crowd begins chanting “KELLY!” and eventually Kelly does manage to flip Victoria over and rushes to tag Mahoney back in. Dykstra tagged in as well, but is uppercutted and knocked down. Victoria attempts to hit Mahoney, but he sends Victoria to Kelly who hits a reverse victory roll and the two are outside. Dykstra charges and Mahoney, but is caught into a small package for 1-2-3. (Rating: 2.5. Holy Cow! This match went way better than I thought it would. Kelly Kelly showed great improvement in her wrestling abilities. She has managed it to the point where even the audience was screaming for her. Furthermore, the other 3 combatants also demonstrated good wrestling skills. For a quick match, it sure was entertaining.)
Post-Match: Victoria and Dykstra are infuriated as they walk backstage.
-Commercial-
Back, we see Shelton Benjamin make his way down to the ring and grab a mic. He says that he is here tonight to talk about promises. He goes on and says that he was promised an opportunity and would make the most out of it unlike the lazy members of the audience. Extreme heat here. He claims to be the gold standard and promises that he will raise the bar on ECW. Jimmy Wang Yang comes out to a decent pop.
Match 3: Shelton Benjamin v. Jimmy Wand Yang
Shelton takes Yang down and nails a snapmare which is followed by an impressive big boot. Yang, who is ‘shaking out the cobwebs,’ gets to his feet, but only to be caught and powerbombed onto the turnbuckle. Ouch! Benjamin quickly goes for the cover with a forearm in Yangs face, but Yang kicks out at 2. Minutes later, Yang finally beings to build momentum with a few body strikes and his a nice high round house kick. Yang goes up top to the turnbuckle and leaps off to strike Benjamin, but it is reversed into a gut buster. Benjamin hits an inverted bulldog for the win. (Rating: 2. Not bad, but certainly not the best effort from these two. Benjamin pretty much made Yang job to him which is not a good thing. Yang and Benjamin have the abilities to put on a good show, but unfortunately we did not see that tonight)
Post-Match: Benjamin brags on his victory as we get another promo hyping tonight’s main event.
-Commercial-
-Tazz & Styles go over Armageddon Card.
Match 4: Jeff Lewis (Local Jobber) v. Kevin Thorn
Match begins with an early should block to take down Lewis. Thorn nails a gut-buster and goes on to hit a body splash from the middle rope. As the match progresses, Thorn hits an elevated leg drop. Lewis tries gaining momentum, but is clotheslined multiple times. Thorn hits a torture rack backbreaker and this one is already over. (Rating: 1. Thorn has been off of television for several weeks and made his return with a new gimmick. He looks a bit funny, but re-building him by dominating people is completely worthless and a waste of my time. I’m sorry, but this was an awful match that shouldn’t have taken place.)
We are shown Matt Striker and the two behemoths walking behind him. Looks like they are about to make their way down to the ring.
-Be sure to catch the Holiday issue of WWE Magazine! Y2J and his ‘second coming’ is in detail!
-Commercial-
-Be sure to catch the RAWS 15th Anniversary Special this Monday with a special start time of 8/7 CT.
Matt Striker, Big Daddy V, and Mark Henry make their way down to the ring. Striker gets on the mic and says that he will flip a coin and whichever side it lands on, Punk will have to face that opponent. Heads is Big Daddy V and tails is Mark Henry. Striker flips the coin and it lands on tails. CM Punk’s music hits the arena and he makes his way down to the ring as Big Daddy V and Striker exit the ring for managerial services.
Match 5: Mark Henry v. CM Punk
Punk begins the match with a few kicks to the body of Henry which only angers him. Henry tries grabbing Punk, but Punk dodges a few attempts and applies a waist lock. Obviously, it is countered and Henry hits a powerful clothesline to Punk. Moments later, Punk nails even harder kicks to Henrys leg and applies a rear-naked choke. Henry intentionally goes outside of the ring with Punk on his back who is still applying the submission hold and runs backward into the ring post inflicting massive pain to Punk. Crowd begins to cheer for Punk. Punk somehow manages to nail 6 kicks to the head of Henry and bounces off the ropes but only to be rammed in by Henry. Henry bodyslams Punk and sets Punk in the corner. Henry backs away and runs towards Punk, but Punk moves and nails his signature knee to the face. At this point, Big Daddy V enters the ring and begins pounding on Punk as the ref calls for a DQ. (Rating: 2. A disappointing main event that did not live up to the hype. The match was heavily slowed due to Henry’s offense, but Punk did do a good job selling it. Both men tried but only had me into the match for a good 2 out of the 8 minutes it lasted. Is it me or Mark Henry boring?)
Post Match: Big Daddy V and Mark Henry continue to dominate Punk. Henry nails his Worlds Strongest Slam which is followed by Big V’s Samoan Drop. Suddenly, Kanes pyro goes off and he makes his way down to the ring with a steel chair in hand. Striker, who was outside of the ring, grabs two chairs and hands them over to his monsters. The three have a stare down and Henry tries first to strike, but to no avail, he fails and leaves the ring. Big V charges at Kane with the steel chair, but Kane moves and hits Big V with the chair once on the back. Big V rolls out of the ring as he and Striker and Henry head to the back in pain. Kane does his in ring pyro as ECW comes to a close. (Kane managed to save this last segment as it was heading into a deeper hole. Thankfully, we at least are left with something to see in the future between the 4 men.)
Quick Match Results:
-Miz & Morrison defeated The Major Brothers
-Kelly Kelly & Balls Mahoney defeated Kenny Dykstra & Victoria
-Shelton Benjamin defeated Jimmy Wang Yang
-Kevin Thorn defeated Jeff Lewis
-CM Punk defeated Mark Henry via DQ.
Highlight of the Night: Miz & Morrison v. The Major Brothers
Tonight was a decent show. Nothing memorable, but it had its moments. The Thorn/Lewis match really hurt tonight’s show. Instead they could have used it to make the main event longer. Every week does not need to feature 5 matches as time constraints play a big factor in hurting the ratings. But lets not forget about the first two matches as they both delivered in their respective parts. 4.5/10.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me, MIK, at akbarsaadi@yahoo.com
*NEW GALLERY* Very PRIVATE Shots of Maria & CM Punk MAKING OUT!!
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