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ECW on Sci-Fi TV Report
August 12, 2008 - Year 3, Week 10 (Week 114 overall)
Taped in Norfolk, Va.
Report by Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com contributor

Title sequence. Striker and Grisham plug tonight's main event: Matt Hardy and ECW champion Mark Henry vs. John Morrison and The Miz. Can the champ and the #1 contender coexist?

Ringside: Tommy Dreamer comes out with a shopping cart full of weapons for the hardcore grudge match. Colin Delaney comes out next, looking like he's walking to the gallows. I'd just like to point out that Delaney is getting higher billing than Dreamer, apparently.

1 -- TOMMY DREAMER vs. COLIN DELANEY – Extreme Rules Match

Dreamer attacks Delaney as soon as the bell rings. Dreamer tries to run Delaney into the ring steps, but Delaney reverses. Delaney stomps Dreamer's hand into the steps, but Dreamer answers immediately with a Kendo stick to Delaney's ribs. Back in the ring, Dreamer with a modified pumphandle suplex using the kendo stick. Dreamer sets Delaney up in the tree of woe, with a trashcan in his face, and Delaney eats the dropkicked trashcan. Dreamer then takes the trashcan lid up to the second rope, but misses with a big elbow. Delaney covers for barely one. Delaney gives Dreamer a shot with a small stop sign, but misses with a second-rope legdrop. Dreamer gives Delaney the DDT onto the stop sign for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Dreamer in 4:00. Okay match, but this feud seemed like it was over, and it seems like ever since, the writers have been falling back on this whenever they needed to fill a segment. Hopefully, this is officially the end of the feud, though I don't know what they're going to do with either of these guys from here, given that both have been established as jobbers to everyone else, beyond this feud.

Backstage: Lena Yada interviews Miz and Morrison. She congratulates them on last week's Dirt Sheet segment, and we roll footage. Loud, epic music drowns out the fact that the crowd was dead last week. Miz with a good line, about Seth Rogen wishing he could do comedy like them. Miz continues with the Pineapple Express analogy. Miz says that Hardy and Henry will learn tonight that in life, there are winners and there are losers. Not the best promo ever, but why aren't these guys still the tag champs? It's not like the wondertwins over on SmackDown really needed the belts.

[Commercial Break]

Smackdown Rebound: Recap of the destruction of La Familia, with the black roses, Edge destroying Chavo and threatening Vickie. Even days later, and in shortened form, this is still money. I still say Edge is a notch above Jericho as the best heel in WWE right now. The Hell in a Cell match is pretty much the only reason to justify buying Summerslam this year.

[Q2]

Evan Bourne makes his entrance to a pretty good pop.

2 -- EVAN BOURNE vs. BAM NEELY (w/ Chavo Guerrero)

Flashback to Bourne winning the tag match over Neely last week. Neely shoulderblocks Bourne hard in the corner. Neely charges Bourne, but Bourne responds with a running high knee and a pair of dropkicks. Bourne goes up top, but Neely knocks him off to the outside. Back in the ring, Neely gives Bourne a hard clothesline for two. Crowd gets behind Bourne powering out of a chinlock. Neely picks him up, but Bourne counters into a sunset flip. Bourne with a kick to the back of the head and a standing moonsault for two. Bourne looks for a hurricanarana, but Neely counters, and Bourne counters again into a DDT. Nice exchange. Bourne with the Shooting Star Press for the win.

WINNER: Bourne in 3:00. Next to Matt Hardy, I don't think anyone is more over in ECW right now than Bourne. Between his push, and the one for "The" Brian Kendrick on SmackDown, it seems like smaller, talented guys are finally getting a shot.

Backstage: Armando Estrada shows off his official ECW contract to Teddy Long and demands a signature. Teddy signs, and then showers Armando with compliments and champagne, before booking him in a match tonight, against Finlay. It's next.

[Commercial Break]: Summerslam commercial, highlighting Cena vs. Batista. Because, you know, none of the world title matches or Hell in a Cell are as important as the super-rushed cash-in match featuring the most stale face in WWE right now.

Just before the end of the break, the Hollywood Summerslam commercial runs, ending with Finlay and Hornswoggle dancing. We cut to the duo entering for their match. That'd be a good segue, if that wasn't all illustrating the point Mike Knox made last week.

Armando Estrada enters with his still-awful music.

[Q3]

3 -- FINLAY (w/ Hornswoggle) vs. ARMANDO ESTRADA

Finlay locks Estrada up, and corners him. Finlay with some hard chops and a harder clothesline. Grisham: "It takes more than a great body to make it in the WWE." Finlay works Estrada over, and gives him another clothesline, for two. More hard strikes by Finlay. As Finlay slams Armando's head onto the ring apron, Mike Knox appears at the entrance. Finlay with a body slam and a nerve hold, staring down Knox all the while. Finlay switches up to the armbar, as the camera pans to both Knox and Hornswoggle. Grisham teases Striker about his doting upon Hornswoggle. Meanwhile, Armando drops Finlay's neck onto the ropes, and locks in some submission holds. Armando with a snapmare takedown into another headlock. Finlay powers back with a clothesline, followed by the Celtic Cross, which according to Striker is now called the Emerald Fusion, for the win.

WINNER: Finlay in 5:00. Surprising amount of offense given to Armando, but overall, a showcase for Finlay. If ever there was a time to get Armando and Umaga back together, now would be it. Neither of them seem to have any direction at the moment.

Post-match: Finlay and Knox have a staredown at a distance, with Finlay calling Knox out. Knox heads for the back. Right after this, Hornswoggle and Finlay bring a little boy in from the audience to dance the jig. Finlay hoists him up on his shoulder. I'm a fan of this, it's like Mysterio interacting with the young fans. It makes all this targeting of the young audience seem like it has real value.

Another plug for the tag-team main event.

[Commercial Break]

Did You Know: More viewers watched Raw last night than Monday Night Football.

Backstage: Ricky Ortiz continues to pitch merchandise to Teddy Long, this time a Ricky O. rally towel. Ortiz says that he's looking for Teddy to foot the bill for said towels. Teddy books Ortiz against a new ECW superstar next week, as the continuation of the Superstar Initiative. Well, I guess they had to swap someone else in, now that the Braden Walker experiment/whatever that was with him is over.

Slam of the Week: The Cena-Batista brawl that ended last night's Raw. Nope, still not sold on this match happening before Wrestlemania, like it should have.

Striker and Grisham run down the Summerslam card.

[Q4]

Backstage: Mark Henry and Matt Hardy go face to face. Henry says that he's part of this team just to get his hands on Miz and Morrison, and that this isn't one of those "you stay out of my way, I stay out of your way" deals, because just like at Summerslam, he'll go right through Hardy anyway.

[Commercial Break]

The Miz comes out solo for the main event. Interesting. Striker: "Miz, with his signature hat. I wonder if it comes in mens'." Well played, sir. Morrison comes out next. Henry out next. Even more interesting. The champ is billed second to the contender? Hardy has the larger following, yeah, but the champ is the champ. Hardy makes his entrance under the menacing stare of Henry. Say what you will about Henry's in-ring ability, but the man has serious presence, and for some reason, I take him a lot more seriously than I do someone like Khali.

4 -- ECW champion MARK HENRY (w/Tony Atlas) & MATT HARDY vs. JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ

Morrison tries to lock Henry up, and fails. Henry throws Miz and Morrison around, and then Hardy joins in. Hardy and Henry stare each other down, and we go to our final commercial break. That was fast.

[Commercial Break]

We return from commercial to find Morrison still being tossed around by Henry. During commercial, Morrison got absolutely launched by Henry. Ouch. Henry tags Hardy in, and they seem to be working together surprisingly well, so far. Hardy with a bulldog for two. Striker: "Miz calls himself the chick magnet. I didn't know women were made of metal." That's getting a little too punny, but I'm very much impressed with Striker's work on commentary.

[Q5 – over-run]

Miz shoves Hardy into the ring steps, and then applies a chinlock in the ring, to a huge Hardy chant. Morrison and Miz continue to isolate Hardy in the corner. Does this mean Henry is slowly being turned face, if he's waiting for the hot tag? They're playing this like he is. He's no more heelish than Cena or Batista, at this point. Hardy with a Side-Effect off the second rope on Morrison, as Henry clamors for the tag. Hardy goes for the pin, and gets the three count.

WINNERS: Hardy and Henry in 8:00. That's gotta be the first time that the Side-Effect has ever actually won a match. Somewhere, Michael Cole is smiling. Meanwhile, the misuse of Miz and Morrison continues.

Post-match: Henry and Atlas raise Hardy's hand in victory. Well, we know where this is going. Henry with a World's Strongest Slam on Hardy. So much for what I was saying about Henry being played as a face. Henry shouts at Hardy, as he heads up the ramp. One last plug for the ECW Title match on Sunday.

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