I’ll be covering this slightly delayed as I watch it on my antique TiVo…
Coming pre-taped to you from Providence, R.I…
Christian steps out on the stage to a strong ovation. He stands in the middle of the ring and calls out William Regal. Look out folks, Christian’s pissed.
Regal no-shows, so Christian starts to head to the back, until Tiffany comes out to the ring to some atrocious entrance music. Oh, and she has a cast on her arm.
Tiffany apologizes to Christian, says it’s her fault Regal and his goons attacked Christian because she refused to give him a title shot. Christian stands up for her and does the manly thing. Says he disrespected her. Christian wants Regal in the ring, period.
Right on cue, enter the Regal. Regal taunts Christian, and reminds Christian that he has the advantage. If Christian is so hungry to get to Regal, why not put up the title? Christian says it’s on. So what does Regal do? He says no.
Regal is the one in control here. He’ll only accept the match on his terms. Regal pulls a classic heel move and says this audience isn’t worth seeing the match. Instead, he wants the match to happen in front of his home crowd, in England, next week.
It’s a done deal. And Tiffany makes one more stipulation: Jackson and Kozlov are banned from ringside.
Oh, and then she tells Regal he’s in action next.
And then Christian dropkicks Regal in the face.
This was an excellent segment. Regal plays the heel role fantastically, as he always has. Christian is the furious babyface, blinded by rage, and itching to get his vengeance. And Tiffany seemed less like a victim than she usually does. But, her entrance music has got to go.
Back from break: tonight’s main event is Yoshi Tatsu & Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson & Vladimir Kozlov. That should be good.
The lovely Lauren Mayhew announced Regal already in the ring and still selling that dropkick as his opponent Goldust comes out to the ring. Lauren’s in-ring announcing has certainly improved over the past few weeks, and for those of you that have missed out – she started sounding out rather… well, evil.
Goldust vs. William Regal
Byron Saxton and Josh Mathews get some brief camera time as the bell rings. A collar and elbow tie-up, and they jockey for position on the ropes before a flurry of punches. Regal ducks out of the ring but Goldust cuts him off and takes him out on the floor.
Back in the ring, they trade some more punches, and once again, spill out of the ring. Regal throws a punch and misses, Goldust hits an atomic drop, but Regal gains the advantage and gets Goldust cornered. After a two-count, Regal starts grounding Goldust, but the power of the fans compels him to his feet.
Classic Goldust with a sliding punch, and he’s back on the offense. Goldust hits a sort of sloppy power slam and a two-count. Regal sidesteps a charge into the corner, Goldust bounces off, and Regal plows him in the head with the running knee for the pin and the victory.
Winner: William Regal by pinfall
Not the best match I’ve seen from these two – both men are capable of more and frankly I’ve seen Goldust much more inspired with his past feuds on ECW. Regal really needed the win here to look strong going into next week but frankly this match didn’t do anything for either of them.
Backstage, Zack Ryder is staring at his wonderful hair. Rosa Mendes approaches him and starts talking to him, but Zack zones out, apparently falls in love, and the segment takes a turn down Horrible Street. It ends with a suggestive bottle squirt.
Ugh. Ok, that was bad.
Rosa Mendes stands in the ring after the commercial and babbles before finally introducing Zack Ryder. Not gonna lie, I’ve got a soft spot for his ring entrance music. Ohhh radioooo…. *ahem* sorry.
Zack’s checking out Rosa as she announces his opponent: Shelton Benjamin. Folks… this could be a fantastic match.
Shelton Benjamin vs. Zack Ryder
The bell rings and the Shelton quickly takes it to the mat. He brings Zack to his feet with a headlock, and rebounds off the ropes with a shoulder block. Zack bails out and starts immediately hitting on Rosa. Shelton chases after him but Zack jumps in and nails Benjamin with a sweet dropkick, and takes control of the match.
Ryder corners Benjamin and hits a face wash for a two-count. And then… a headlock! Shelton works his way to his feet but Ryder grounds him immediately for another two-count, and another headlock. Shelton starts to work his way out but Ryder dominates back into the corner until Benjamin hits a sweet fits and gets on the offense.
A body splash in the corner connects, and moments later Shelton hits an exploder suplex. Ryder rolls out of the ring but Benjamin tosses him back in. Zack gains the advantage on the ropes until Shelton flips over the top rope and lands on his feet. Zack’s too busy staring at Rosa, and once he spins around, Benjamin nails Paydirt for the win.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin by pinfall
Good match, but this could’ve been much better. Ryder has put on a series of incredible matches with Christian and Benjamin is one of the best wrestlers WWE has, yet I think the storyline they’re pushing with Ryder got in the way of a decent match. I feel like a bit of a fool after hyping up ECW in my last article…this is a pretty ho-hum episode so far.
The announcers give a brief plug about WWE.com looking for Parts Unknown, and then we’re back in the ring to see Paul and Katie Lea Birchall. He’s calling out Gregory Helms The Hurricane. And, sure enough, here he is, wielding his Hurri-Cane! (I’m sorry, that was lame).
Birchall tells Hurricane that Halloween is over, and Hurricane quips back that Halloween lasts all year for some people – he should ask Katie! Birchall is frustrated he’s not the one people look up to – he’s fit, has great family values, etc… but The Hurricane says maybe people just want to have fun. Besides, chicks apparently dig super-heroes. I always thought they hated comic books?
Birchall wants one final match – if he wins, Hurricane unmasks. If he loses, Paul and Katie Lea leave ECW.
I guess we’ll be seeing Birchall on Smackdown in two weeks.
This was actually a pretty good exchange. I’ve always liked Paul Birchall – I think he’s got a lot of promise with the proper push. The Hurricane has always been strong on the mic, and I think he has really helped Birchall grow as a performer. ECW has been doing a great job of hyping up future matches tonight – both in next week’s main event for the title, and this match, which I also assume is next week.
Backstage, Abraham Washington is complaining about Regal busting up his set. Tony Atlas is playing the yes man. They knock on Tiffany’s door and get ready to demand a new set when the door opens, and ECW’s newest superstar, “Vance Archer” walks out. Tiffany calls him “intense.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the wrestler formerly known as Lance Hoyt is about to make his WWE debut, sans haircut. As for the rest of the segment, I hate Abraham Washington’s show, but this segment was pretty good. The guy can talk, and Tony Atlas plays a good sidekick. Tiffany was pretty convincing too. Oh, and Archer looked mean.
After the break, the Raw Recap with the horrible WWE’s Got Talent segment. How come we rarely see a Smackdown Recap? Or better yet, why is there never an ECW Recap on the other shows?
Vance Archer makes his entrance to fairly generic music. He looks weird with short hair and no beard or goatee. In the ring is his opponent, local jobber Logan Jones.
Jones actually got a pretty loud pop.
Vance Archer vs. Logan Jones
Here comes your squash match of the night. Logan is about half the size of Vance. Archer makes some pretty creepy facial expressions as he forces Jones out of the ring. He gives Jones a swift kick to the chest as he tries to climb back in, a slap to the face in the corner, and a belly-to-belly suplex before nailing his finisher, which starts out as a body slam but ends up as a sort of reverse DDT. And the match is over.
Winner: Vance Archer
Just your basic squash match to get him in the ring. It was fine I guess. We don’t know anything about the character, except he’s “intense.” And creepy, not in a Kane or Undertaker sort of way either.
Yoshi and Christian head to the ring for the main event before the break. And when we return, a plug for the ECW title match next week in Sheffield, England. Nice to see them pushing next week’s main event.
Kozlov and Jackson are in the ring already. Christian makes his entrance and waits on the ramp as Tatsu’s music hits.
ECW Champion Christian & Yoshi Tatsu vs. Ezekiel Jackson & Vladimir Kozlov
Looks like Tatsu and Jackson will start the match off. Jackson quickly overpowers Tatsu, but Yoshi starts throwing a flurry of kicks and goes for a quick pin. He gets a one-count and Jackson flings him off. Kozlov wants the tag, and he gets it.
Tatsu trades kicks with Kozlov and gets the better of the exchange, but can’t bring Kozlov down. Vladimir counters with a headbutt, tosses Tatsu in the corner and tags Jackson back in. And Tatsu gets beat down with power attacks and is kept in the corner primarily. Good tag team philosophy here.
Tag to Kozlov. Again, they work Tatsu in their corner, keeping him pinned against the ropes and using strength moves to keep him on the ground. Kozlov uses headbutts and a underarm suplex for a two-count, then tags in Jackson, whom goes for a ground submission move of sorts – kind of a half-nelson stretch thingie.
Tatsu squirms out and baits Jackson into running into the corner face first. Christian gets the tag as Kozlov does and they go at it. Christian gets the better of the exchange and hits a flying European uppercut. He takes out Jackson at ringside and goes to the top rope but Kozlov takes him out.
Christian reverses out of a powerbomb and hits a reverse DDT. Jackson interferes but Tatsu runs in and teams up with Christian to knock Jackson over the top rope. Tatsu leaps over the top rope to keep him out of the ring.
Kozlov catches Christian as he charges in and hits an impressive fallaway slam. He makes the charge into the corner for a headbutt, but Christian dodges and nails a second-rope spinning DDT. Christian nails the Killswitch and gets the pin for the victory.
Winner: Christian & Yoshi Tatsu by pinfall
William Regal rushes the ring but Christian catches him. They throw punches until Jackson runs in and attacks Christian from behind. Soon enough Kozlov is back on his feet and Regal is coordinating the attack. They drag Christian to the ring-post and start slamming his ribs into the post. They spill outside and Regal applies the Regal Stretch while headbutting Christian. I’m not entirely sure, but he might be biting Christian too.
The three stand over the beaten Christan as the show comes to an end.
Solid main event followed by an impressive beatdown. Regal needed to get some edge back after that sloppy win earlier, and Christian makes a great vulnerable babyface. I’m hoping they give the two of them at least 20 minutes next week – hopefully 30 minutes – because this has been a great feud.
Overall, not a bad episode of ECW. It’s mostly newsworthy for the main event announcement for next week, and the debut of Vance Archer. No idea if Hurricane and Birchall are officially on for next week – considering the ECW title is on the line they might hold off until the following week (not a bad idea in my opinion).
Hope you join me again next week as we cover the show again!
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Very nice recap my friend. I look forword to my of your future reads