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ECW TV Report
September 18, 2007
Live from Atlanta, Ga.
Airing on The Sci Fi Channel
By Jason Combs, PWTorch.com Contributor

ECW comes live from Atlanta, Ga. Tonight we will be "treated" to a main event match featuring Big Daddy V squaring off against The Boogeyman. Joey Styles and Tazz are at ringside handling the commentary.

Elijah Burke makes his way to the ring. Joey mentions that Burke dominated his ECW Championship opportunity at Unforgiven against C.M. Punk, but was unsuccessful in wrestling the title away from Punk. Burke wants his rematch, which brings out Kevin Thorn. Thorn says that Burke had his chance but came up short, so it's his time to get a title shot. Tommy Dreamer joins in saying that he has accomplished something that neither of them has, winning the ECW Title, and he wants nothing more than to achieve that goal again. Thorn tells Dreamer that the way he talks about ECW and being an original doesn't mean anything to him. This brings out Stevie Richards, who says he is the only man who wasn't beaten in the past week, and that should elevate him to the #1 contenders spot. Burke wonders if the Blue Meanie will be making an appearance. GM Estrada makes his way out and says that the four men will have an opportunity to prove who deserves a title shot at No Mercy. He announces an "Elimination Chase" for the #1 contendership, which will see the first man eliminated from contention following our opening match, a four-way dance.

(1) Elijah Burke and Kevin Thorne pin Stevie Richards to eliminate him from the "Elimination Chase" to No Mercy. A commercial break follows the announcement. We return from break and the action has begun. Joey and Tazz put over the fact that in normal four-way matches there are three losers, but in this case there will actually be one loser and three winners. Burke slingshots Stevie throat first into the bottom rope, while Kevin Thorn sends Tommy Dreamer into the steel ring steps. Tazz and Joey discuss Stevie's past neck problems. Tommy delivers a belly-to-back suplex to Stevie, and then goes to work on Burke. Tazz mentions Dreamer as a former ECW World Champion, but fails to mention that it was HE who was beaten by Dreamer for the belt. Thorn takes out the legs of Dreamer on the second rope, which causes the back of Tommy's head to impact the mat hard. Then, from the category of "things you weren't expecting to see so soon" comes Elijah Burke delivering a trifecta of rolling German suplexes to Stevie Richards. Thorn works on the arm of Dreamer, stretching it around the ringpost. Burke continues to use moves that focus on the neck of Richards. Burke missed an attempted running drop across the middle rope on Richards. Burke hits his handstand elbow drop on Dreamer, which Joey calls an "outer limits" elbow. Richards delivers a series of snap kicks that bring down Thorn. Burke hits a running drop kick to a seated Stevie. Burke is clearly dominating the action in this match. Dreamer rolls up Burke, but he's in the ropes. Running front kick by Stevie on Thorn. It's Dreamer and Richards trading near-falls with sunset flips and reversals. Dreamer sends Stevie over the top with a clothesline. Thorn nails Dreamer with a modified Manhattan Drop/jawbreaker combo. Burke and Thorn begin slugging it out, and Burke scores with a golden gloves uppercut. Richards begins pounding on Thorn on the floor. Burke hits both men with a slingshot cross body, but Thorn and Richards catch him. Dreamer hits a baseball slide to Burke while still being held by Thorn and Richards. A great variation on a spot you usually see in a tables match. Dreamer with a Thesz press off the apron to Thorn on the floor. We go to commercial. Back from break and Thorn gets hit by Dreamer with a sky high powerbomb. During the break, Richards sent Burke into the steel steps. Richards takes over in the ring on Dreamer, hitting him with the same slingshot move he experienced earlier in the match. Burke goes on the offensive against everyone in the ring, delivering a series of body punches to Stevie in the corner. Thorn locks Burke in a torture rack, and then sits out of it to inflict more damage to Burke. That move only gets Thorn a two-count. Dreamer puts Thorn in a Texas cloverleaf, but Thorn is immediately in the ropes. Fall away slam on Burke by Dreamer. Thorn sets Dreamer for the "Original Sin" but Stevie connects with a Stevie-kick to the face. Another two-count. Dreamer goes for a DDT, but Burke hits him with a driving STO. Burke to the top rope, but Dreamer catches him, and sets up for a superplex. Stevie dumps Dreamer, and chops away on Burke. Richards goes for a superplex, but Kevin Thorn intercepts and hits a powebomb on Stevie who hits a superplex on Burke. Tommy off the top rope with a splash onto Stevie, but Thorn tosses Dreamer from the ring. Burke and Thorn both make the cover on Stevie to pick up the three-count.

A very strong television match. A little sloppy in some places, but an outstanding effort from all four men involved. Four-ways are very difficult, and in the WWE we usually get a lot of cookie-cutter matches. This match felt much fresher, and there were some very innovative spots during the bout. All four men looked strong at points during this match, with Burke continuing to look the best. Next week will see round two of this "Elimination Chase", where another competitor will be taken out of the running for a title shot at No Mercy.

Thankfully this year's Diva search is being kept exclusive to WWE.com. Just think that of all the winners of Tough Enough and of the Diva Search, only Layla El is still on WWE Tv, with Ashley doing Survivor.

A recap of the Cena-Orton dynamic airs from Raw. Another Last Man Standing match for Cena. That will be his third on pay-per-view this year. I think this feud would be better suited for Hell in the Cell, or maybe something they haven't done since 2002, like Three Stages of Hell.

Burke runs into Punk in the back and asks him to autograph the WWE Fall premiere magazine. Punk wishes Burke good luck, and that doesn't make Burke too happy. He reminds Punk that he himself said "luck is for losers", to which Punk says that is exactly why he said it.

The Miz comes to the ring accompanied by Extreme Expose. Kelly Kelly is still carrying the bear she received from Balls last week. Miz isn't dressed to wresle, but to be fair, is he ever truly dressed to WRESTLE? Miz introduces Extreme Expose who perform their dance to Salt n' Pepa's song "Push It". If you've ever seen "Grandma's Boy" then you will know that Linda Cardellini performed a drunken version of this same song that I am happy to say was much hotter than the girls of Extreme. Balls Mahoney comes to the ring following the performance. His opponent will be the recently returned, Mike Knox.

2) Balls Mahoney defeats Mike Knox via pinfall.
Joey recalls for us that Knox and Kelly were at one time an item. Knox hits a very impressive high elevating drop kick. He then locks in a reverse chinlock. Balls tries to escape, but he is dropped by a clothesline from Knox. Another reverse chinlock. Balls escapes and hits his Balls' punches. Knox reverses an Irish whipe attempt into a knee. Knox misses a high kick, and Balls finishes him off with the "Nutcracker Suite". Kelly is very happy by Balls' win.

Following the match, Balls asks Kelly Kelly out on a date. Before Kelly can answer, Miz leads her away from the ring. Balls decides that her lack of an anwer is a yes answer.

This match was short, and filled its role fine. It could be interesting for them to play up the previous Knox-Kelly relationship, maybe even have Knox begin applogizing and trying to get back with Kelly. This would open up the match up possibilities by allowing Miz and Knox to feud as well. With such a thin roster, any way of getting more talent onto tv is worth a shot. They could even go with Knox attracting the attention of another member of Extreme Expose, which would raise the ire of both Miz and Kelly. It would also allow for some character development on the part of Miz, as his "ladies' man" claim would be put to the test for the first time. It would allow for a lot of fresh match ups, and compelling storylines, if they so choose to be creative.

An Unforgiven recap airs. I didn't see the show, but from all accounts that I read, it was not very well done. The build for No Mercy at least seems to be much more focused, which hopefully will lead to a better presentation on ppv.

A video recap airs highlighting the friction that exists between Big Daddy V and The Boogeyman.

Raw preview for next week is shown, featuring Triple H vs. Carlito inside of a steel cage. Huh, and here I thought it was a "Buried Alive" match this week on Raw.

(3) Big Daddy V (w/Matt Striker) defeats The Boogeyman via pinfall. Big Daddy V makes his way to the ring, accompanied by Matt Striker. Not much reaction for Big Daddy V. The Boogeyman comes out, also to almost no reaction. That probably doesn't bode well for this main event. V begins the match by kicking Boogey, and pounding on his back with forearms. A short-arm clothesline drops The Boogeyman. V goes for the bag of worms, but he is caught in the corner by an avalanche by Boogey. The offense is short-lived as V takes back over with a shoulderblock. Boogey goes to the floor in pursuit of Striker, but V catches him from behind. V with an avalanche of his own to Boogey against the barricade. Big Daddy V sends The Boogeyman into the steps. Back in the ring and Big Daddy V stands on top of Boogey with all 500lbs. of his weight. V is dominatiing this match, and he locks in a vice on the head of The Boogeyman. Boogey fights back, but gets caught in a fireman's carry. V isn't able to hit the Samoan drop, and V works him back into the corner. Avalanche in the corner from V, and he follows that up with a scrapbuster slame, and then the big elbow drop for the three-count.

This was a total squash match, and not worthy of the build-up and the opportunity to be a main event match that it received. The ECW Title and subsequent chase of wrestlers trying to get a shot should be the ultimate focus of this show. C.M. Punk, or the wrestlers directly chasing his title need to be put in the main event. This is the kind of focus that has helped to diminish titles. If this was the kind of feud that transcended the championship (i.e. Hart-Austin, Undertaker-Michaels, Austin-HHH, etc.) that would be one thing, but this is a mid-card feud that features two wrestlers that fans don't connect with. The first fifty minutes of this show was very good. I really enjoyed the four-way match, and the concept for determining a #1 contender is intriguing and different from the usual one-on-one match, battle royals, or "beat the clock" matches we've seen this year. Hopefully next week we will see more focus on Punk, and the continuing chase for his title, with three men still in the running.

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