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ECW TV Report
December 18, 2007 in Rochester, N.Y.
Year 2, Week 28 (Week 80 overall) on Sci-Fi

They opened with Joey Styles and Tazz plugging ECW champion C.M. Punk vs. U.S. champion MVP on the show tonight.

John Morrison's music hit to start the live action. The Miz came out next, then they recapped Miz and Morrison's victory over Jimmy Wang and Shannon Moore last week. They're doing a re-match this week because the match was so close last week.

1 -- ECW tag champions THE MIZ & JOHN MORRISON vs. SHANNON MOORE & JIMMY WANG YANG -- non-title match

Styles with a nice touch to start the show that Shannon and Jimmy had a chance to go over the tape the past seven days to get a better feel for their opponents. That used to be a great sports element used in pro wrestling storytelling, but no one really touches on that anymore. Good to hear that from Styles. The babyfaces from Smackdown went for quick pins in the opening minute on Miz, but Miz escaped a pinfall. Morrison tagged in and took a mind-boggling multiple revolutions head scissors from Yang. Miz took a tag and took a hard chop to the chest from Yang. Yang then shoved Morrison off the apron and dumped Miz to the floor. The babyfaces went for dual baseball slide dropkicks, but the champs yanked them hard to the floor. The heels returned to the ring to get the heat in a change of formula with the babyfaces not in control going to break.

[Commercial Break]

They returned with the heels still on control. Morrison missed with a corner splash on Yang, who made the tag to Shannon. Morrison walked into a boot to the face, then Shannon got caught in the corner. Morrison went for a superplex, but Shannon shoved him to the mat. Miz covered for his partner and shoved Shannon off the top turnbuckle to the mat. The heels then worked over Shannon for a few minutes while Yang called out for a tag. Yang finally got that tag at 12:00 and cleared Miz to the floor. Shannon then cleared Morrison to the floor. He went up top and landed a sort of twisting splash/dive onto Morrison. Back in the ring, Miz nearly rolled up Yang for a three count. Morrison hopped up on the apron and tried to nail Yang with a spin kick, but Yang ducked and Miz ate the kick. Shannon cleared Morrison to the floor, then Yang came off the top rope with a moonsault onto Miz for the pin and the win. Styles said Yang and Moore may have just earned a title shot opportunity.

WINNERS: Yang & Moore in 15:00. Really nice tag match action. Nice to see them follow up on a hot match from last week to keep the program going. Like I wrote last week, ECW is a good show for underutilized wrestlers to have a chance to earn some points with viewers. A good deal for Yang and Shannon here, while giving Miz and Morrison good competition for the belts. Well done. (**1/4)

They showed footage from Armageddon when Big Daddy V squashed C.M. Punk's ribs at the PPV on Sunday. They cut backstage with a shot of the ECW Title belt around Punk's waist before focusing on Punk warming up for his match against MVP.

[Commercial Break]

Tazz was in the ring with Shelton Benjamin and a jobber out of the break. Tazz asked him what his name is. He said his name is Collin Delaney... and he's from Rochester, N.Y. Colin said he went to Eastridge High School, which got some boos. He admitted he's a little nervous right now. Colin sheepishly said this is his first match. Shelton looked at him like he was hungry for a snack.

2 -- SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. COLLIN DELANEY

Shelton quickly dropped Collin with an overhead supex and Collin sold a back injury. Collin, um, accidentally hit Shelton in the face, so Shelton smashed him with a kick to the face. Shelton gave him a running powerbomb into the corner turnbuckle. He finished young Collin off with a leaping DDT for the easy win.

WINNER: Shelton in 2:00. They're transitioning the Chris Masters program onto Shelton, which is fine for now because we at least know Shelton is capable of great things in the ring once he gets some quality opponents. (n/a)

Afterward, Shelton took the mic and shouted, "Ain't no stopping me, no!" His music hit again and he smiled for the camera.

[Commercial Break]

A new Kofi Kingston promo aired. They showed some guy in the background stealing items from a guy tanning and not paying attention. Kofi said there must be trouble in paradise. They showed people reacting to Kofi apparently beating up the thief. Kofi smiled for the camera after retrieving the stolen goods.

Kenny came out with Victoria looking a bit nervous. Nunzio then came out dressed as an elf. He took candy out of his toy bag and tossed candy into the audience. Just weird, but in line with Nunzio's previous re-enactment of Dracula for Halloween. Tazz said he must have a fetish for costumes.

3 -- KENNY DYKSTRA (w/Victoria) vs. NUNZIO

The bell sounded and Nunzio offered Kenny some candy, but Kenny delivered a boot to the gut. Kenny landed a delayed vertical suplex, then Kenny heeled on Nunzio by dumping the bag of candy on him. At least there weren't thumbtacks or worms in the bag. By the way, why is Boogeyman still in the intro video? Kenny settled into a chinlock on Nunzio that left plenty of light, then Nunzio powered to his knees and broke free. Kenny dropped him with a back body drop, though. Victoria called out random encouragement to her man, who dropped Nunzio with a pancake from the top turnbuckle. Kenny then went up top and landed his leaping guillotine leg drop for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Kenny in 3:00. Man, that guillotine leg drop reminds me of when Kenny actually meant something on TV, as part of the Spirit Squad. Don't take for granted what you have because you'll miss it when it's gone. (1/2*)

They aired a video package on MVP being a big ballin' star. MVP rhymed about how amazing he is, then Styles plugged MVP vs. Punk tonight. Nice video on MVP. Main event is next.

[Commercial Break]

The Raw Rebound focused on Ric Flair's promo and count-out victory over Umaga, then Vince booking Flair vs. Triple H on the Dec. 31 Raw show.

MVP's music hit as Styles plugged Flair vs. Hunter on the next live Raw. MVP made his entrance and looked focused on the match. He took the mic and re-introduced himself to the audience. MVP said he is Smackdown's MVP and the United States champion. He said that in a few moments, he will face Punk in a champ vs. champ match. MVP said Punk will get an opportunity to rub shoulders with Smackdown's highest-paid entertainer and find out why he is better than him. Punk came out and surveyed the crowd with a big grin on his face. He talked some trash to MVP while posing in the corner. Each man held up his respective title before they cut to a break.

[Commercial Break]

4 -- ECW champion C.M. PUNK vs. U.S. champion MVP -- champion vs. champion non-title match

They returned with the match in progress with MVP locking Punk in a chinlock. MVP took Punk down with a fireman's carry takedown into a quick pin attempt for a nearfall. They had a mat-based exchange with Punk getting a slight advantage before landing a big dropkick to the face. Nice mat-work early on. MVP then came back with a quick overhead release suplex. He followed with a charging boot to the head for a two count. MVP started toying with Punk, who came back with a hard slap to the face. MVP then avoided a dropkick and gave Punk another boot to the face at 6:00. MVP landed clubbing forearm blows before nailing a discus punch. He went back to a mat hold to stretch Punk's upper body. Punk started to power to his feet and he took MVP into the air before landing a falldown slam to break the hold. MVP tried to land a suplex, but Punk kicked him in the face to prevent the hold. Punk with a knee lift for a nearfall, then he smashed Punk in the corner with a running knee. After landing a bulldog, he nailed a springboard clothesline for a nearfall. Punk missed with a kick strike, though, and MVP scored a close two count with a German suplex. Punk came right back with an enziguiri kick to the head at 10:00.

Punk then went up top for a moonsault, but Punk crotched him and Punk hung upside down. MVP stomped on him repeatedly, which drew admonishment from the ref. MVP started pounding on Punk with forearm blows, but he didn't stop at the ref's five count. The ref called for the bell, DQ'ing MVP.

After the match, MVP measured Punk and landed a charging big boot to the face for the exclamation point on the show. He went to the corner and grabbed his title belt to leave. Suddenly, Chavo Guerrero slid into the ring and gave Punk a brainbuster suplex. He kicked Punk around before picking him up for another brainbuster suplex. Chavo looked at Punk's fallen body before going up top to land a frog splash. He screamed down at Punk as the announcers asked what the reasoning is behind this.

WINNER: C.M. Punk via DQ in 11:00. I liked the mat-based action early in the match. It didn't play well with the live crowd and didn't make for great TV to appeal to a mass audience, but I thought both wrestlers believed in the mat-based wrestling and did their best with it. The problem is that C.M. Punk is not a credible champion right now. Time and time again, he ends up getting beat down at the end of a show. He's rarely in a position of control on this show. Fans aren't fools. They see him as a cool babyface, but they don't buy into him as a champion to invest emotions in because he's getting his ass kicked by the end of the match. So, the poor crowd reaction during the match was a combination of the mat-based action and Punk losing credibility as a weak champ. Bringing Chavo in to feud with Punk could be OK. We'll see. (*3/4)

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