I hope you don’t mind back to back columns, but I’m doing this for two reasons. The first is, there’s a chance that over the weekend I’ll be out more than I’m home, so I don’t think I’ll be able to do a Smackdown column. But more importantly the second reason that I wanted to write my column today is because last night’s ECW show was fantastic. This had to be I think the best show yet and I just wanted to share my views with you since I’m still so hyped over what I saw.
Let’s start off with the crowd and the venue. ECW needs to be taped in front of their hard core fans. And the Hammerstein Ballroom is the perfect place for this show to be taped at. Just like One Night Stand this crowd played such a major part of the show, they really were off the charts. The opening match got things going with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman taking on Mike Knox and Test with lovely Kelly accompanying them. I’m not a Test fan and he didn’t make the match, BUT, you could not ask for more from all four of these guys. The crowd was so anti Knox and Test that they just added so much to the blood fest. Oh and when Kelly got spanked by Dreamer those fans just loved it. It was a good opener and Paul Hyman’s bodyguards attacking Dreamer was the icing on the cake.
This attack led to a very short backstage segment with Sabu still trying to get Heyman to give him a title match against Big Show. Naturally Heyman refused and as he walked away we got to see a quick glimpse of Francine giving Heyman a dirty look. And there were other ECW veterans giving Heyman the evil eye for becoming such a jerk. Just this short segment came off so very strong thanks to the looks, and Heyman making Sabu’s life miserable by telling him he will never get a title shot.
Now the following is the main reason why I really wanted to do this column. And I’m talking about CM Punk. First, he did a promo which again came off so well, but the best part was he wrestled and he wrestled Justin Credible. What an outstanding debut for Punk. Not only did he wrestle well, but the guy has charisma, oh does he have charisma. I’m telling you this was THE highlight of the show, at least for me it was. Credible did an excellent job, and the two of them gave the fans something really great to cheer about. And for a guy that has nothing to do with ECW I was amazed how the fans took to Punk. As soon as he came out the reaction was just unbelievable. Now you know why I’m still so hyped. This guy has it.
Kurt Angle returned and had maybe a 60 second match with the Brooklyn Brawler. Why the Brawler? That’s what I wanted to know. The crowd was very much with Angle which was cool but otherwise there wasn’t much to talk about. Now I have to say I’m not one for vampire gimmicks but I am interested in Kevin Thorne and Ariel. This character I think will do a lot better than that pathetic Mordecai gimmick that Kevin was given on Smackdown. So far this whole vampire thing is coming off well.
As far as the main event? I wasn’t crazy about the match with Big Show vs. Batista. But damn I sure loved all the negative chants the fans were spewing out while this was going on. Forget the match this segment revolved around these outstanding fans. They were not only on Big Show, but Batista got plenty of crap from the fans as well. And I loved all of the chants like “change the channel†and I believe they also said “same old shit.†These fans want ECW guys in there, and they made that clear with RVD chants. This show wasn’t done in front of a Smackdown crowd where you know Batista would have gotten major pops. As I said earlier last night’s ECW was taped in front of die-hard ECW fans and that’s what we should get week after week. Now back to the main event. The match did nothing for Batista at all. I really expected some type of focus on him but that didn’t happen. Except for Batista’s entrance which was cool because a fan seemed to be pissing Batista off, Dave just looked like another wrestler out there not like one of the top stars of Smackdown. And Big Show didn’t look exactly terrific in this one either. But none of that mattered since the fans made all of this so worth watching.
You have no idea how much I hope that last night’s show is just the beginning of what’s to come. I just wish Vince McMahon would do everything he could to make sure that ECW gets taped in front of “their†fans and stop the taping in front of families that are there for the Smackdown roster. I had a blast watching this show and for those of you that get it over the weekend in the UK please don’t miss it.
Okay as I said I don’t think I’ll have a Smackdown column over the weekend. Believe me if I can get one out you can bet I’ll do it. I read the spoilers and I heard from a few readers that were at the Super Show and they gave Smackdown very high marks. So I’m looking forward to watching it. If I’m not here over the weekend I will be back next Tuesday with my Raw thoughts.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
