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By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

ECW on Sci-Fi TV Report
August 5, 2008 - Year 3, Week 9 (Week 113 overall)
Taped in Atlanta, Ga.
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

The show started with Todd Grisham welcoming us to the broadcast. He talked about the recent announcer changes, then brought in Matt Striker, who was filling in for Tazz this week. They didn't say why Striker was filling in.

In-ring: Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely came out first for an opening tag match. Evan Bourne and Ricky "Atlas" Ortiz then came out as the opposition.

1 -- CHAVO GUERRERO & BAM NEELY vs. RICKY ORTIZ & EVAN BOURNE

Striker quickly won some points in Minnesota by referencing Bam's background from Robbinsdale, Minn., where the likes of Rick Rude and Curt Hennig came from. Match started with some back-and-forth action while the announcers talked about Bourne scoring an upset victory over Chavo a few weeks ago. Bourne took a hot tag at 5:00 and nailed Bam with a sweet double-knee smash from the top rope. Ortiz and Guerrero spilled to the outside, leaving Boruen and Bam in the ring. Bourne snuck underneath Bam and rolled him up with a unique bridge pin for the win. Striker was willing to admit that was quite impressive from Bourne.

WINNERS: Bourne & Ortiz in 5:00. Very nice finish by Bourne, who is officially a star on ECW. Nicely done. (*)

Dirt Sheet plug: Miz and Morrison bring the Dirt Sheet to the broadcast tonight with Mark Henry as their guest.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

In-ring: Mike Knox cut a promo on Finlay, then rolled footage of the Summerslam clip with Finlay and Hornswoggle dancing on the lawn in front of the Full House house. He said Finlay used to beat people up, but now he's resigned to simply dancing around with Hornswoggle. Finlay's music hit to interrupt, then Finlay and Hornswoggle came to the ring. Finlay said that was a funny clip. He said he likes to have fun to go along with fighting, so he offered Knox the first shot. Finlay took off his jacket, then told Knox to go for it. He said Knox better knock him out, though, because if he doesn't, Knox will find out whether he's gone soft or not. Instead, Knox simply backed out of the ring and left to fight another day. Good progression without pulling the trigger this week. Fine.

Raw Rebound: They focused on Cena & Batista winning the World Tag Titles last night. Would have liked to have seen more emphasis on the great work from Rhodes & DiBiase, but the video made it seem like Batista & Cena had it in the bag all along.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Armando Estrada came to the ring for a match. Announcers said it's Armando's last chance to earn an ECW contract. Tommy Dreamer came out as the opponent while Striker said Armando could find himself outside the hardware store looking for work (as a day laborer) if he loses. That's a bit touchy.

2 -- ARMANDO ESTRADA vs. TOMMY DREAMER

Colin Delaney showed up two minutes into the match wielding a chair. He wanted to take out Dreamer, but Dreamer scared him away into Striker's lap. Dreamer nearly walked into a boot to the face back in the ring, but he avoided the move. Delaney then hopped onto the apron to distract Dreamer, allowing Armando to roll up Dreamer from behind for the win to apparently earn an ECW contract.

WINNER: Armando in 3:00. Random deal here, as the match came out of nowhere when Dreamer was off last week's show and Armando has been a forgotten man for some time. Oh well. (1/2*)

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

Backstage: Armando was pumped up, then Colin walked in to talk to him. Oh, here's the connection. Armando asked Colin why he helped him out after all the crap he put him through when he was GM. Colin said at least Armando gave him a chance, whereas Dreamer didn't help him at all. Teddy Long then interrupted and told Colin that Dreamer is going to give him a major beating next week when they have an Extreme Rules match. Colin whispered, "You can't do that" as Armando walked off.

Smackdown Rebound: They focused on the Edge-Foley confrontation that was must-see TV, as reviewed by Mike Roe in the "C&R Returns from Summer Break" audio update posted last night. ... Announcers plugged the Summerslam card.

Backstage: They showed Braden "Chris Harris" Walker walking in anticipation of a match.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

WWE 24/7 promo: More filler content with a repeat of last night's 24/7 moment of Steve Austin giving Sgt. Slaughter the Stunner in Sept. 1997.

In-ring: The opening chords of a Pearl Jam-esque song struck, then Braden Walker came to the ring to face our good friend, James Curtis. Striker gave us info that Curtis was trained by Savio Vega.

3 -- BRADEN WALKER vs. JAMES CURTIS

Announcers played up Walker as if he's never wrestled before entering the WWE Universe. Considering no other wrestling organization exists in WWE's world, it's par for the course. Some basic wrestling ensued, then Walker landed a running left-arm clothesline. Grisham proclaimed Walker is a big fan of the clothesline. Apparently Walker has been watching some Nigel matches. Walker then finished off Curtis with a fisherman suplex for the win.

WINNER: Walker in 4:00. This was your ECW main event. Not exactly the four-way deal from two weeks ago. (1/2*)

Dirt Sheet up next.

[Commercial Break]

Dirt Sheet: Howard Finkel introduced the Dirt Sheet segment, then they cut to the ring where Morrison and Miz were seated on their Hollywood director chairs. They kept the lights down for Morrison and Miz to introduce themselves. Morrison said he turned down $15 million from People Magazine for pictures of himself as a baby. Nice line. They brought out their first guest, ECW champion Mark Henry. They cut to a graphic of Henry's face on the Titantron to do a Conan-like segment where someone's mouth moves on the still-picture. This died rather quickly. Was that Ole Anderson doing the voice-over for the Shockmaster?

Mark Henry had enough of this act, and it was time for somebody to get his or her ass kicked, as Henry's music hit. Henry stormed the ring with Tony Atlas following close behind. Atlas spoke for Henry that there must be some sort of misunderstanding because they were not led to believe there would be disrespect for Henry. Miz and Morrison said if they were going to disrespect anyone, it would be Matt Hardy. Cue up Henry's mug on the Titantron with the voice saying something stupid.

[Q5 -- over-run]

Henry spoke to the Hardy lips on the Titantron, then Matt Hardy came to the ring sarcastically applauding this rough bit. Hardy waited out the applause, then Hardy drew the conclusion that Miz & Morrison must be huge Conan O'Brien fans to come up with such great, original content. Hardy said he just wanted to join the party, then he threw out the Brokeback Mountain line about Miz and Morrison. Hardy said he earned the ECW Title shot at Summerslam because in life and in high-priofile matches, there are winners and there are losers. He mocked them with their line to be jealous.

Miz and Morrison had enough of Hardy disrespecting them on their show, which led to a mini-skirmish. Morrison then accidentally punched Henry in the face, which upset the angry ECW champion. Henry squashed Morrison in the corner, then Hardy dropped Miz with a Twist of Fate. Henry and Hardy were left in the ring sharing a little bit of respect for each other to close the show. Tag match next week anyone?

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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