Wow, ECW Entertaining For Once
Yes, you heard me right, I actually enjoined watching ECW tonight. It for once featured matches that were all good and the action was not bad in itself. The first match was a great throw back to classic ECW matches as it saw Chavo, Miz and Morrison take on Evan Bourne, Super Crazy and Tommy Dreamer. Granted we did not throw anyone off a stage through six tables or slice open their head with a cheese grater, but Crazy and Bourne's flights out of the ring onto the opponent brought back memories of guys like Sabu putting their bodies on the line to sell a match. It was great to see the old Super Crazy, instead of the comedic sidekick jobber he has been turned into. This guy has so much potential due to his willingness to take the high risk maneuver route and should be featured more. I would love to see him and Bourne tag together as their airborne tactics would make for some fun matches. Also Tommy Dreamer put in a decent performance using his brawling tactics to clear the ring of all three of his opponents. Too bad it was not enough as Miz got the pin, but it's great to see some guys who needed a good match get that solid performance tonight.
In the new star initiative we saw Ricky Ortiz beat Gavin Spears. Both guys did not look out of place and put together some good sequences, but without much character development the match lacked a bit of interest. But that's OK as both men showed they can handle themselves in the ring, and since ECW is about the young guys they should have plenty of time to develop a persona. Ortiz is starting to gain some popularity as some fans has the rally towels for him. He has shown a good lovable funny side, and if he can harness it a bit more he may find himself moving up the ladder.
Finlay again called upon Mike Know to take to the ring in order to settle the score over Knox's perceived notion of Finlay being weak. Knox did show up but refused the invitation. So Finlay than decided to take matters in to his own hands and went after Knox and tackled him on the ramp. The official s broke up the impromptu brawl but the two will meet next week in a match. This has to be seen as an attempt to get Knox over as Finlay matches his brawling style. I really don't think the second time will be the charm as they have released Knox once and I really can't see him making it as he is another one of those guys who fits the Snitsky mold.
Our main event was the Summer Slam rematch for the ECW title. The match this time went longer as Mark Henry dominated for the most part. He was able to use his ground and pound style to prevent Matt Hardy from getting the advantage with his speed. While the match was good, going this route of Henry controlling the match does tend to make it seem longer than it really is. The limitations to Henry's in ring skills are the reason he never has been able to establish himself and once he loses the belt to Hardy we may never see him in a high profile program again. He did get the win tonight, but Hardy should be able to get a rematch due to Tony Atlas interfering again. This time the ref missed Atlas pulling Hardy off the champ during a pin attempt. It is just matter of time before Hardy becomes champ, but I'm not sure how long they can keep this program fresh due to the aforementioned lack of skill on the part of Henry.
In the new star initiative we saw Ricky Ortiz beat Gavin Spears. Both guys did not look out of place and put together some good sequences, but without much character development the match lacked a bit of interest. But that's OK as both men showed they can handle themselves in the ring, and since ECW is about the young guys they should have plenty of time to develop a persona. Ortiz is starting to gain some popularity as some fans has the rally towels for him. He has shown a good lovable funny side, and if he can harness it a bit more he may find himself moving up the ladder.
Finlay again called upon Mike Know to take to the ring in order to settle the score over Knox's perceived notion of Finlay being weak. Knox did show up but refused the invitation. So Finlay than decided to take matters in to his own hands and went after Knox and tackled him on the ramp. The official s broke up the impromptu brawl but the two will meet next week in a match. This has to be seen as an attempt to get Knox over as Finlay matches his brawling style. I really don't think the second time will be the charm as they have released Knox once and I really can't see him making it as he is another one of those guys who fits the Snitsky mold.
Our main event was the Summer Slam rematch for the ECW title. The match this time went longer as Mark Henry dominated for the most part. He was able to use his ground and pound style to prevent Matt Hardy from getting the advantage with his speed. While the match was good, going this route of Henry controlling the match does tend to make it seem longer than it really is. The limitations to Henry's in ring skills are the reason he never has been able to establish himself and once he loses the belt to Hardy we may never see him in a high profile program again. He did get the win tonight, but Hardy should be able to get a rematch due to Tony Atlas interfering again. This time the ref missed Atlas pulling Hardy off the champ during a pin attempt. It is just matter of time before Hardy becomes champ, but I'm not sure how long they can keep this program fresh due to the aforementioned lack of skill on the part of Henry.
