Hi Everyone. Some housekeeping first. Happy New Year!
Also, be sure to check out XHeadlines.com where Jacob Spades is doing a magnificent job of administrating that site. Also, TBLWrestling.com’s official forums are now located at XHeadlines.com, so if you’ve got something to say and you want us all to hear it, that would be the place to open up your mouth!
To start off this year, I’d like to review last night’s ECW show in my own special way. You see, I just started using a DVR so now I can tape these shows that I would normally never watch and review them at a later date.
So here are some of the issues that I’ve found either annoying or a waste of time with the January 2, 2007 ECW on Sci Fi.
To begin with, the opening intro looks and “feels” too much like WWE. I know, I know – WWE has come out time and time again and said that we all need to stop living in the past and realize that this version of ECW is not the 1990’s version. Okay. I got it. But does that automatically mean that this ECW is just another RAW or Smackdown! production? Let’s mix it up a little bit – do something different on Tuesday nights and hey, why not begin with the opening intro?
The next thing on the show was Test’s unnecessarily long promo to start the show. Bleh. Why would anyone in WWE allow a proven non-talker open their “new” show by…talking? No thought there, folks. I know that they’re trying to get Test over and that the WWE marketing machine feels that they can do something with Test, but a near-prime time show on a semi-major cable channel is NOT the place to push this guy down our throats. And remember, we all have a bad taste in our mouths that the Tuesday show is called ECW to begin with – don’t start an “extreme” show with Test!
The match between Test and Sabu wasn’t terribly bad, but it wasn’t terribly good either. I like watching Sabu in Sabu-style matches. Watching him beat up a board like Test doesn’t do it for me. And then WWE decides to have Test win the match – what a shame. This brings me to my next problem with the current ECW product. The matches feel nothing like “ECW” or “extreme” style. They just feel like Heat matches.
And while I’m doing a little complaining, who is the one telling everyone to talk about “impact” and the “impact” that Test can make, etc? Hello?! TNA has a show named Impact! Stop that!
After the commercial break, we have Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay. I don’t mind the quick promo from Elijah. That’s fine with me. And I don’t mind having them fight against the F.B.I. What I DO mind is that this match also shows nothing “extreme” about it. Honestly, at this point we might as well call the Tuesday show WCW – it would be more fitting (and I really don’t mean that as a knock on the product – it’s just not “extreme”).
Now I will always say that my audience is where I draw my internet strength from. So, since I haven’t been watching the Tuesday show, can anyone tell me why Trinity was paired with the Full Blooded Italians? It’s not that this presents a problem, but it is rather annoying if there’s no storyline behind it. Definitely not something that we’d find in the old ECW.
“He’s got a head like a Volkswagon!” – Tazz in reference to Sylvester Terkay
As we go to break, the producers at WWE feel the need to hype the main event again. This is completely unnecessary in a one hour show.
When we return from commercial we have Matt Striker going over some stupid equation before Hardcore Holly comes in and tells Punk that Punk can’t make Holly tap. This leads us straight into mindless banter with Tazz and Joey Styles and then to a missed cue from Tommy Dreamer which is covered up by a uniquely wWE-styled review of the Tommy Dreamer and Great Khali feud. This is all just bad television planning for a one hour program. No story is being advanced with this crap and it’s becoming burdensome to watch at this point. Who told the guys at WWE that a one-hour “extreme” show should be modeled off of a two-hour sports entertainment show? Fire that guy!
Tommy Dreamer yaps his trap for a little bit (more unnecessary stuff) and then we go to Rob Van Dam giving a completely go-nowhere promo.
Brad Armstrong makes an appearance at the announce table to add a decent level of humorous banter to the show as Kevin Thorne and Ariel come out to face Ballz Mahoney. I can’t hate too much on Ballz Mahoney because 1) he lives near me and 2) he’s a Jersey Guy! And there’s not much to really get mad at with Ballz other than the situation that WWE has put him in. Ballz in his most entertaining element when he’s in hardcore style matches. The lack of these matches on ECW television really makes you wonder what the deal is when they call this “Extreme” Championship Wrestling.
At this point in the show, we’ve seen no cruiserweight wrestling or high-flying matches. Is there a problem with this incarnation of ECW? Well, I’m hoping that this piece-by-piece review is helping you come to the same conclusions that the majority of wrestling fans have come to already…
I like Bobby Lashley, but is it just me or does he look like a Ghoulie?
Now I won’t hate on the “Tribute to the Troops” video package that they showed coming back from commercial, but if this was a PPV review or anything that could have been specifically-related to either of the other brands it would not fit in the show. The Russian guy that they’re interviewing is also a waste of the precious few minutes that we have to spend on this hour-long show.
And there’s no explanation for introducing RVD and then going through a commercial break before going right to the main event match. The ECW that we grew to know and love did a magnificent job of building up a sense of urgency in their main events – like you couldn’t miss every minute of their main event if the world depended on it!
The Rob Van Dam and Bobby Lashley match was mostly forgettable with nothing major taking place. The horribly botched camera angle on the RVD clothesline onto Lashley from the second rope on the outside was nothing special and showed that this brand is seriously lacking in “Oh my God!” moments. And when the hell did any brand ever stop a match because of a clothesline? This is a terrible end to a mediocre show at best.
The suits at World Wrestling Entertainment must know something that we don’t know. Either they are making money hand over foot with this “extreme” wrestling enterprise or they truly have missed what it means to call a match extreme. Or, there’s always the third option…that the internet crowd is right and the people who are making decisions at WWE are sorely misjudging what the fans want to see.
– E-mail feedback to joe1897@gmail.com
– Read more Balrog Babblings!