WWE “ECW on Syfy”
Taped earlier tonight in Cleveland, OH

[Q1] The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Josh Matthews and Matt Striker welcomed us to the show. They promoted the encore presentation of Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker. Striker said if one piece of footage could represent everything wrestling is, it would be this match...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice statement from Striker. He’s dead on.

1. Shelton Benjamin defeated Zack Ryder in 3:29 Shelton enjoyed the early advantage. Ryder took over with a leg lariat and grounding attack. Benjamin used a high risk style to regain the advantage and hit Paydirt for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: This was surprisingly a throwaway match given the push Ryder was getting and Benjamin’s overall status. It just seems odd that both men are involved in an opening match feud on the number three show.

Goldust vs. Sheamus in a no disqualification match was promoted as tonight’s main event... [C]

A commercial promoting Undertaker’s return to Smackdown to confront his opponent at Breaking Point, C.M. Punk...

Tony Atlas did an Ed McMahon like introduction for Abraham Washington and The Abraham Washington Show. He was audible, which was an improvement for him. Washington came out and gave a monologue. He said Arsenio Hall was from Cleveland. He said “Coming to America” sucked. Atlas purposely overdid his laugh.

[Q2] Washington said he was the best thing to happen to Cleveland since Lebron James. He called out his guest, Gregory Helms. Helms said he was not The Hurricane. He said he was the longest Cruiserweight Champion in WWE history and his neck injury put him out of action. He was simply an ECW announcer.

Paul Burchill and Katie Lea came out. Atlas said Katie looked hot. Burchill called Helms a joke. Hurricane appeared on the Titantron and challenged Burchill to a match next week. Burchill looked at Helms and accepted...

Twill’s Two Cents: Atlas is going to save this thing. He was obnoxious and hilarious.

An Undertaker video aired with multiple wrestlers putting him over...

William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, and Vladimir Kozlov were shown walking to the ring... [C]

2. Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov (with William Regal) defeated Jim Parks and Mike Tolar in 2:01. Jackson and Kozlov had fun with their opponents before Kozlov scored the pinfall...

Twill’s Two Cents: Basic squash and nice build to a powerful faction in ECW.

[Q3] Christian’s music hit and he came out to the stage. Regal invited him to the ring. Christian said he did not come alone. Tommy Dreamer’s music and he came out. Christian and Dreamer hit the ring with kendo sticks. They hit Jackson and Kozlov but could not get to Regal. Regal had his guys retreat with him...

A Shawn Michaels video aired with wrestlers putting him over too. Chris Jericho called him the greatest performer ever... [C]

A WCW DVD advertisement aired...

General Manager Tiffany introduced the Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker match. A creepy lady narrated over the ring entrances before a rock song played over match highlights. I thought we were getting the entire match.

The video package of perhaps the greatest Mania match of all time included multiple camera angles, fan reactions, and every single nearfall and high spot. Just the highlights of the match is a top ten match of the year candidate...

Twill’s Two Cents: They advertised that like we going to see the entire thing, so that was weak. The highlights were sweet to see though.

[Q4] Taker returning to Smackdown on Friday was promoted by Striker...

Goldust and Sheamus received the “split screen walking to the ring and looking mean” shot... [C]

3. Sheamus defeated Goldust in a no disqualification match in 12:37.. Sheamus and Goldust fought to the floor early on as the show went to its final commercial... [C]

Bob Barker will host Raw this Monday. Awesome...

They worked back and forth on each other. Neither man took much advantage of the stipulation except for being on the floor for too long. Sheamus worked a lot of mat holds as the crowd got behind Goldust.

[Overrun] Goldust dropped an F bomb. Funny. The crowd chanted for Goldust as Sheamus continued to work over his back. Goldust hit a series of crowd pleasing moves as some really annoying broad kept screaming near the primary audio camera.

They fought to the floor where Goldust got the best of Sheamus. Goldust was thrown off after trying a bulldog. Sheamus hit the Irish Curse (left handed Rock Bottom into a backbreaker) for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: The match really picked up in the last few minutes, which made up for the mediocre earlier part. I think this has been a solid feud and Sheamus is now moving on to hopefully bigger and better things.

What did you think of the show? Let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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