WWE “ECW on Syfy”
Taped earlier tonight in Columbia, S.C.

[Q1] Abraham Washington and Tony Atlas welcomed us to the show. They were backstage and Abe said he was the host tonight. Someone walked through the shot and Abe asked him what the hell he was doing. The man turned out to be Chris Jericho. Jericho just wanted to know where the GM’s office was. Abe said he would love to have Jericho on his show. Jericho replied, “I’m sure you would.” Abe asked if that was a yes. Tony laughed and said, “I think that was a no.” ...

Twill’s Two Cents: Was Jericho’s appearance advertised anywhere? If it was, I never saw it. If it wasn’t, it should have been because viewership would have risen at least a little bit.

The opening video placed and fireworks lit up the stage. Josh Matthews and Matt Striker welcomed us to the show. Lauren Mayhew stood in the middle of the ring and announced that the winner of the following match would be the new number one contender for the ECW Championship...

1. Yoshi Tatsu defeated Zack Ryder to become the number one contender for the ECW Championship in 10:17. Ryder dominated early in the match and grounded Yoshi by working on his rib cage and lower back. Yoshi didn’t successfully come back until the four minute mark when he hit a series of kicks and an enziguiri for a nearfall. Both men went to the top rope and Ryder was attempting a superplex, but they both tumbled to the floor... [C]

Back from commercial, Ryder had Yoshi down on the mat again. From the ground, Yoshi kicked a standing and reeling Ryder multiple times. He slingshot Ryder into the corner and scored multiple nearfalls with a leverage aide. Yoshi won the match with a slingshot splash from the apron. Honestly, I didn’t think he was getting the pinfall there...

Twill’s Two Cents: Good match and about as good as I expected. I am just not on the Yoshi Tatsu bandwagon and I would have rather seen Zack Ryder in the number one contender’s spot.

[Q2] Rosa Mendes was backstage kissing up to Tiffany. Chris Jericho approached Tiffany and said he was scouting ECW talent for Team Smackdown. Tiffany told him no. She said Jericho could stay and watch the show, but he would not cherry pick talent from ECW. Jericho stormed off... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Save your jokes about how this was the first time Tiffany said no to anybody. I like her character. She has a professional and tough aura about her, as opposed to being overly bubbly. Her character is becoming a very good one and she is definitely good enough for this role. As for Jericho, he is obviously not confident in his team and I’m sure that will come up either tonight again or on Friday.

Did you know? WWE has produced twenty books that have reached the New York Times Best Seller list...

William Regal told Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson that it was a travesty Yoshi Tatsu was receiving a title shot before him. Chris Jericho and Regal exchanged pleasantries. Regal said he really calls the shots in ECW. Jericho said he wanted Regal’s guys for his team. Regal said something could be worked out.

Tiffany approached the foursome and took exception to Jericho’s actions and Regal’s comments. She said Regal would continue to find himself on the outside looking in of the ECW Title picture. She then kicked Jericho off of the show. Jericho said he could go to any show he wanted. Tiffany agreed and put Jericho in a match tonight against Christian... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Again, nice character development from Tiffany. Also again, Jericho will now wrestle on the show and it was not advertised ahead of time? Christian vs. Chris Jericho is a big time match. What is stopping Jericho from just leaving if he really doesn’t want to participate tonight?

2. Sheamus defeated J.T. Quinn by disqualification in 1:13. Sheamus could have pinned Quinn but kept pulling him up. Shelton Benjamin hit the ring and beat up Sheamus, who retreated to the back. Shelton’s music played...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice feud progression with these two.

The Randy Orton vs. John Cena video that played last night played again...

[Q3] Josh and Matt ran down the Bragging Rights card and for the second straight PPV, ECW is not represented on the show...

Christian’s music could be heard as Christian readied himself backstage for his big match tonight... [C]

Paul Burchill and Katie Lea came out to the ring for a promo. Footage was shown of Paul defeating Hurricane Helms last week and the announcers talked about how Paul wanted to expose Hurricane as being Gregory Helms. Josh said Paul and Katie were still celebrating...

Twill’s Two Cents: How did beating Hurricane in a match expose the truth?

Paul cut a pretty good promo about how Americans look up to superheroes and English people are educated and well spoken. He demanded Helms come to the ring and admitting Burchill was the better man. Hurricane’s music hit and he walked dejectedly to the ring. This is a fake. That tattoo is drawn on.

The fake Hurricane took his mask off and handed it to Burchill. Burchill was very pleased with himself. The man looked up and it wasn’t Helms. “You aren’t Gregory Helms,” said Paul. No shit. Hurricane’s music hit again and Paul beat up the guy in the ring. The real Hurricane beat up Paul with a huge stick and celebrated as the brother-sister duo retreated to the back...

Twill’s Two Cents: With only one belt, ECW needs to do a good job building their midcard feuds and they have done that here too (just like with Sheamus vs. Shelton). Fans may not love the talent involved, but at least the feuds are being built well.

WrestleMania tickets go on sale in 18 days... [C]

Twilling Note: The new announce girl is 99% better tonight. She has a ways to go, but she is miles ahead of where she was before.

[Q4] 3. Christian defeated Chris Jericho in a non-title match in 14:31. I was about to type how I disappointed I was that nothing was mentioned about their history, but then Matt Striker jumped in and said they were former tag team champions and haven’t met in almost six years (WrestleMania XX). Jericho debuted new tights and boots.

Christian, Jericho, and referee Charles Robinson, in the ring at one time, are responsible for keeping hair bleach products in the stores. Striker “went on record” and predicted a Team Raw win for Bragging Rights. After a short pause, he awkwardly said, “Wait a minute,” and then changed his prediction to Team Smackdown. Odd. It was like someone told him to change his mind.

The match started fast and stayed fast for the first few minutes. Christian knocked Jericho to the floor and followed that up with an Irish whip delayed dropkick. Jericho tried to recover on the floor as Christian stood triumphantly in the ring as the show went to commercial... [C]

Christian was still in control coming back from commercial. He scored a two count after a missile dropkick. Jericho, from the apron, backdropped Christian to the floor. Striker talked about Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, and Monday Nitro as the reasons moves like that were popular today.

Jericho scored a nearfall after a back suplex. He followed by grounding Christian with a submission hold. Christian stood up and applied a school boy for a two count. Jericho came right back with a huge closeline for another nearfall. Jericho landed a few big right hands and taunted the crowd.

[Overrun] Jericho attempted a lionsault and missed. Christian fought back and hit a second rope back elbow. He went for the Killswitch but Jericho countered. He went for another missile dropkick but Jericho caught him and applied the Walls. Christian countered into a rollup for a two count. The pace picked up as both men scored nearfall after nearfall.

Jericho countered another Killswitch into a Walls attempt but Christian countered that with a slingshot. Jericho was able to finally apply the move. Christian struggled his way to the ropes. Jericho jumped at Christian but crotched himself on the ropes. Christian finally hit the Killswitch for the win...

Christian vs. Yoshi Tatsu for the ECW Championship was announced for next week...

Twill’s Two Cents: Very good match and a case of Jericho giving one to his friend there. Fans will question the booking because Jericho is a Smackdown team captain and Christian won’t appear on the pay-per-view, but Jericho is bulletproof and ECW is not acknowledged on the other shows. Nonetheless, very good show tonight and maybe the best ECW broadcast yet.

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

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