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By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

ECW on Sci-Fi TV Report
March 18, 2008 - Year 2, Week 41 (Week 93 overall)
Biloxi, Miss.
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

In-ring: They started with Kane's ring entrance for the opening match. He will be one of the wrestlers participating in the 24-man battle royale at WrestleMania. Elijah Burke came out as the opponent.

1 -- KANE vs. ELIJAH BURKE

Kane dominated early, then Burke tried to come back with the Elijah Express in the corner, but Kane easily side-stepped him. He then finished Burke off with a chokeslam for the easy win.

WINNER: Kane in 3:00. Basic TV warm-up match to set up Kane as one of the dominant forces heading into the 24-man battle royale. I don't get it with the booking of Burke, but it fits the pattern lately. (1/2*)

Backstage: They showed Armando shaking hands with Mark Henry. Not sure what that was about. Chavo then stepped in and stared down Henry's chest. Chavo asked what that was all about, and Armando said he booked Henry as part of the 24-man let's-call-it-a-monster battle royale along with Kane, Khali, and other assorted giants. Colin Delaney then stepped in and stuttered through an explanation that he wants a contract on ECW. Chavo laughed and said Colin embarrassed ECW by going to Raw last night and getting destroyed by JBL. Colin couldn't get his promo out, as Chavo kept cutting him off. Armando apologized for Chavo's rudeness and booked Colin in a non-title match against Chavo. If he wins, he gets an ECW contract. And so begins the next journey for young Delaney.

[Commercial Break]

Video promo: They showed the Mayweather video promo from Raw on his humble beginnings.

In-ring: Kofi Kingston came to the ring to face off against ECW's weekly enhancement talent, James "don't call me Psycho Sid" Curtis. (Mr. Curtis added a leather jacket to his presentation this week.)

[Q2]

2 -- KOFI KINGSTON vs. JAMES CURTIS

The match started with Curtis grounding Kofi into the mat. Kofi made his comeback at 3:00 with some open-hand palm thrusts, then he dropped Curtis with a side leg sweep. He then did his boom-boom leg drop that's slowly getting more of a live reaction. Kofi did his rising hand-clap that the fans caught into, then he flipped over Curtis and nailed the Jamaican buzzsaw kick for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Kofi Kingston in 4:00. All right, there's some progress for young Kofi. Crowd is slowly catching onto what he's doing in the ring. Like I've written every week, it's going to take five months, not five weeks for it to really catch on. (*)

Backstage: C.M. Punk was waving his hand across Festus's face trying to see if he's awake. Punk said he had an uncle who had that problem once after three bottles of wine on Thanksgiving. Punk asked if he's going to be good for the six-man tag tonight. Jesse assured him that Festus has the face of a man ready to take it to the extreme.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: John Morrison came out first for the big six-man tag match. The other-half of the tag champs, The Miz, came out next. Shelton Benjamin rounded out the three-man team with a re-mix of his Ain't-no-stopping-me theme music. Jesse and Festus came out for the babyface team, while Styles and Tazz plugged their tag title opportunity on Smackdown this Friday night. Punk rounded out the field to a good reaction.

[Q3]

3 -- SHELTON BENJAMIN & WWE tag team champions THE MIZ & JOHN MORRISON vs. C.M. PUNK & JESSE & FESTUS

The bell sounded and Festus stormed around the ring, causing grown men to run for cover. He eventually chased Morrison back into the ring to start things off. Well, things didn't last too long in the ring, as Punk landed a springboard dive onto Miz and Morrison on the outside. Jesse then tried to get a running start for a big splash on the pile of humanity, but Shelton cut him off with a hard clothesline. Festus had enough of that and quickly flipped Shelton off the ropes onto the men below on floor. Cut to a break.

[Commercial Break]

They returned with Punk working on Miz with signature body kicks. Morrison cut him off from behind to give the heel team the advantage, then they isolated Punk in their corner. How is it that Festus is controlled enough not to jump into the ring whenever he feels like it just to attack someone and break up the heel team's advantage? Eventually, Punk made the hot tag to Festus at 10:00 and he cleaned house. The action then broke down with everyone getting involved. Miz went for his finisher on Festus, but he blocked and nailed the modified F-5 on Miz for the pin and the win.

WINNERS: Punk & Jesse & Festus in 12:00. Basic, predictable six-man tag match. Just a chance to set up the Smackdown title match and give Punk a role on the show. Fine. (*1/2)

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

Raw Rebound: They focused on Triple H being the smartest man in the world with control of Raw last night, and Umaga and JBL ensuring that everyone recognizes they are indeed not jobbers. ... Announcers: Styles and Tazz talked about the WrestleMania card. They plugged the BunnyMania match, but no mention of Candice's injury.

Hall of Fame Inductee: Styles and Tazz introduced a video on Eddie Graham being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. They included commentary from Pat Patterson, Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Vince McMahon, who called the Graham Brothers his favorite tag team of all time. They included a few seconds of commentary from Gordon Solie over some in-ring clips. (Foreshadowing.) The video also focused on Graham's contributions to the Florida community. Styles announced that Dusty Rhodes will be inducting Graham into the Hall of Fame. So much for Hogan.

Backstage: They showed Colin Delaney walking toward the ring.

[Commercial Break]

Video package: They showed a new Big Show video package, with clips of him sitting at home playing with his dogs. ECW Rough Cut focused on Show pointing out how tiny Mayweather is compared to his wife and his dogs. Show there are no gimmicks with him. He said he lost a lot of weight and his speed is a lot better than it has ever been. He said he hasn't felt this good since his early 20s. They showed clips of him working the punching bag, then did a slow-motion clip on Jericho taking the one-hand punch from Show last night. Where has this video been the last five weeks? Great promo video.

In-ring: Tazz welcomed Colin Delaney to the ring to talk about his match tonight. Colin said he feels more beat up tonight than he's ever felt in his life. He said if this is what he has to do to get a WWE contract, then it will all be worth it. The fans gave him a respectable applause. Chavo Guerrero then came out for the main event.

[Q5 -- over-run]

4 -- ECW champion CHAVO GUERRERO vs. COLIN DELANEY -- non-title match -- Colin gets a contract if he wins

This isn't going long, that's for sure. Chavo smirked before locking up and landing a knee to the gut that doubled over Colin in sheer pain. Suddenly, Colin busted out a hip toss. Wow, fans popped for a hip toss. Colin then pulled out a dropkick that sent Chavo to the outside. Chavo got to his feet with a look of shock. He said he was just taking it easy on him, but now it gets serious. Chavo then returned to the ring and smashed Colin with a double axehandle blow. He screamed at him, "You want to play?!" then choked him throat-first across the bottom rope.

Chavo went for the Three Amigos suplexes, but Colin was so limp after two that Chavo simply threw him down instead of going for a third suplex. Chavo smirked and went up top where he missed with the frog splash! Colin then tried to roll him up, but Chavo kicked out. Chavo was really mad now, so he nailed the Gory bomb for the pin and the win. Afterward, Chavo rubbed his elbow in Colin's face to add insult to injury.

WINNER: Chavo in 5:00. Fine, entertaining match to begin the stage of Colin's quest for a legit spot in WWE, while giving Chavo a chance to look tough heading into Mania. (**)

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for an "ECW Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on ECW TV, click here.

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