WWE "ECW on Syfy"
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] An ECW commercial aired promoting tonight's Jack Swagger vs. Yoshi Tatsu match. Odd placement of a TV spot. The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Josh Matthews and Byron Saxton welcomed us to the show. Savannah introduced the former ECW Champion, Jack Swagger. Jack walked out to the stage with microphone in hand.

"Finally this show is worth watching again." Swagger explained the ECW Homecoming concept for those that didn't know what it was. He tore down Christian and Tommy Dreamer. He introduced and played a video of himself. Afterward, he referred to himself as the once and future ECW Champion...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice promo by Swagger. He effectively put over the Homecoming concept and himself at the same time. By the way, Savannah is already better than Lilian Garcia ever was.

Zack Ryder's music hit. He and Rosa Mendes made their entrance while Swagger still stood on the stage. Zack gave Swagger the head nod "What's up dude?" Footage aired of Ryder telling Dreamer he was going to end him last week...

1. Zack Ryder defeated Tommy Dreamer in 3:48. Zack had the early advantage but Dreamer hit a legit superplex. He followed up with a backdrop and powerslam for a nearfall. Not surprisingly, Ryder came back and hit the Zack Attack for the win. No sign of Slater or Kelly...

Twill's Two Cents: Solid opener that could prove to be Tommy Dreamer's last match in WWE. If it was, they should have made a bigger deal out of it and even done a loser leaves town type of gimmick match. Nevertheless, nice win for Ryder here.

A graphic hyping Swagger vs. Yoshi was shown... [C]

[Q2] Did you know? Over 16 million people in the United States watch WWE every week. Over 15.5 of them thought Raw sucked...

Tony Atlas introduced Abraham Washington for the Abraham Washington Show. Abe came out and said he supported Tiger Woods. He said Tiger used to call him all of the time before his wife hit him upside the head with his cell phone. He told a few more bad Tiger jokes. Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft came out as Abe's guests.

The new tag team started talking about the new superstar initiative and Abe said he was part of it. They asked if Abe had ever been in the ring. Abe said they were right. Barreta and Croft said they would come back to next year's Homecoming as the WWE Tag Team Champions. Atlas said he was a former tag team champion. They called him old. Abe started to stick up for Tony. Tony said, "I didn't know you cared." Abe said, "I don't" and told Tony to end the show...

Twill's Two Cents: This was an average edition of TAWS and it still sucked. Technically, that doesn't make any sense, but then again, the fact that this shit still takes up an entire segment doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

Backstage, Swagger approached Tiffany backstage and they reminisced. Hurricane flew in and Swagger asked him what his powers were. Hurricane said he had Hurri-powers, but he could not take away Swagger's speech impediment. Tiffany had a stupid grin on her face and Swagger said "Whatever" before taking off... [C]

A video focusing on John Cena and the Tribute to the Troops was shown. This was the best of the Cena videos because anything involving the troops works for me...

[Q3] 2. Vance Archer defeated Goldust in 2:51. Archer impressed early with his power and focus on Goldust's back. His tramp stamp is classic. He won the match quickly and without much of a challenge with his reverse DDT finisher...

Christian was shown watching a monitor. A graphic aired of everyone who has advanced...

Twill's Two Cents: The build to the ECW Title is stronger than anything any of the other championships have right now. Archer really does nothing for me and his finisher is weak. After all of the hoopla and setup, it's just a reverse DDT.

Swagger vs. Tatsu was promoted again... [C]

Footage was shown of Rey Mysterio defeating Batista to earn a Christmas Day title shot at The Undertaker...

Saxton introduced footage of the problems within the Ruthless Roundtable. Ezekiel Jackson will face Vladimir Kozlov on Superstars this Thursday...

Backstage Christian gave Yoshi a pep talk. Swagger entered and referred to Yoshi as the Karate Kid and Christian as Mr. Miagi. Christian called him a dork. Swagger told Christian to tell Yoshi, in any language, that he was steamrolling him tonight. He warned Christian that he will be his at the Royal Rumble... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: I like how they are treating Swagger like a star tonight. By the way, Christian can still get away with saying "dork" without sounding like one himself.

[Q4] Ted DiBiase is starring in The Marine 2. The ECW fans were treated to the trailer. Grab your DVDs for a post Christmas treat! ...

3. Yoshi Tatsu defeated Jack Swagger in 14:16. Jack dominated early on and even tried to will his way into landing the gutwrench powerbomb, but Yoshi countered out of it, much to the shock and dismay of Swagger... [C]

Back from commercial, Swagger had an armbar applied. Jack scored a nearfall after a vicious back suplex. He followed with a belly to belly. He dropped two elbow drops and a leg drop. Everything was deliberate and cerebral.

[Overrun] Yoshi came back and hit a series of diet kicks. Yoshi tried the snapmare/kick combination, but Swagger telegraphed it and scored a nearfall. Yoshi went to the top and hit a a double spinning heel kick for another two count.

Swagger hit a powerslam and the delayed corner splash for a long two count. Swagger jawed with the referee a little bit. As he picked Yoshi up for another move, Yoshi hit the buzz saw kick out of nowhere for the three count...

Twill's Two Cents: Okay match. Swagger looked really good, but there were some awkward and choppy spots because of Yoshi. I just don't buy Yoshi's offense either because his kicks are soft. We've seen other wrestlers, Japanese or not, utilize much stiffer and much more effective kicks. I hope Swagger losing here means he will get a better push on Raw, but I'm concerned that will not be the case.

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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