Teddy Long's assistant Tiffany brings him out. He has an "announcement". Uh-oh. Sure enough, ECW will also have a Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven. We re-iterate the rules. Qualifying matches will take place tonight.
Matt Hardy then makes his entrance to a loud pop for the first qualifying match. John Morrison then comes out as the opposition. Well, either an upset is on its way, or Morrison won't be in the Scramble. Why he'd be kept out of it is just beyond me.
1 -- MATT HARDY vs. JOHN MORRISON - Championship Scramble Qualifying Match
Hardy gets out to an early start on the offensive. Morrison tries to springboard into the ring, but Hardy hits him in the stomach and sends him to the floor. Hardy brings him back inside, but Morrison locks in a chinlock, and then hits him with a neckbreaker for two. Morrison attempts a corkscrew split-legged moonsault, but misses. Hardy goes back on offense, and then hits a Side-Effect, but only for two. He goes for the Twist of Fate, but Morrison hangs him up on the top rope and then sends him to the floor, for a break.
[Commercial Break]
Out of break, Morrison has a rest hold locked in. Hardy breaks free, but takes the modified backbreaker into a russian leg sweep for two. Morrison looks for the Moonlight Drive, but misses. He tries again, and Hardy counters again, but Morrison gives him a clothesline. He sends Hardy to the outside, and then upon him re-entering, takes him down for another two count. Morrison locks in a chinlock, but Hardy escapes. Hardy hits the clothesline-bulldog combo for two. He drops the standing elbow, but only for two again.
[Q2]
Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate, but Morrison gets free again. Morrison goes for a backslide, and gets a near two, but the referee notices his feet on the ropes. Hardy goes for a rollup for another near two. A nice exchange ensues, where Hardy counters into a Samoan drop for two, which Morrison converts to a rollup for two. Then, Morrison comes off the second rope with a nice kick to Hardy's head for another near fall. Morrison goes for the punches in the corner, but Hardy knocks him over. Morrison goes for the Moonlight Drive, but Hardy counters and finally hits the Twist of Fate for the pin and the win.
WINNER: Matt Hardy in 13:00 to qualify for the Championship Scramble. This was inevitable, and it furthers the main ECW angle with he and Mark Henry, but this having been said, it's just inexcusable that Morrison isn't in the ECW main event at Unforgiven.
Backstage, Mark Henry confronts Teddy Long about the Championship Scramble. Pretty much the standard stuff, about the champion having issues with not having to be pinned to lose his title.
[Commercial Break]
Recap of Raw last night: Basically the same package of the Cena-Batista match at Summerslam. About two million slow-motion recaps of the Batista Bomb that caught Cena in midair. Cena is out indefinitely, and is replaced by Rey Mysterio in the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven.
The Miz comes out for the next qualifying match as Striker and Grisham talk about Cena's injury. Evan Bourne comes out as his opponent. If Bourne loses, I riot. Or, at least I think twice about ordering Unforgiven.
2 -- THE MIZ vs. EVAN BOURNE - Championship Scramble Qualifying Match
Bourne gets off to a strong start, to Miz's disdain. Bourne locks in some arm holds, which Miz reverses. Bourne hits a nice arm drag into a pin combination for two. Miz breaks free of another armbar, but Bourne locks it right back in. Miz sends Bourne into the corner, misses with a running boot and takes a hurricanrana. He goes for another in the corner, but Miz sends him flying to the outside. Miz tackles Bourne abdomen-first into the ring apron.
[Q3]
Back in the ring, Miz takes over, stomping on Bourne and hitting a legdrop off the second rope, sideways. He hooks Bourne in a low abdominal stretch, as the crowd gets fairly loud for Bourne. Miz with knees to the midsection and a vertical suplex, followed by another mat hold. Bourne turns this into a pinfall for two, but when Miz tries for a pumphandle slam, Bourne counters into another pin for two. Bourne gives Miz some hard kicks, and ducks a clothesline, hitting two kicks to the face and another hurricanrana. Miz goes for the Reality Check, but gets taken down. Bourne with a standing moonsault for two. Miz heads to the second rope, but Bourne hits a jumping high knee without use of the ropes. He goes for another hurricanrana with Miz sitting on the top rope, but Miz crotches him, hard. Miz hits the Reality Check for the pin and the win.
WINNER: The Miz in 7:00 to qualify for the Championship Scramble. So, let me get this straight. Morrison isn't in the Championship Scramble, but Miz is. In addition, so far Morrison and Bourne, two of the most talented wrestlers on the ECW roster, have been left out of the match. I'm having major trouble caring about the ECW Scramble.
Next is Chavo vs. Tommy Dreamer in another qualifying match.
[Commercial Break]
WWE.com has more visits than more websites than I could write down in time combined. I saw Nascar.com and Maxim.com, though, so I guess that's impressive.
Chavo Guerrero enters, with Bam Neely in tow, for the next qualifying match. Dreamer is out next, to a depressingly indifferent reaction.
3 -- CHAVO GUERRERO (w/Bam Neely) vs. TOMMY DREAMER - Championship Scramble Qualifying Match
Dreamer gives Chavo a powerslam and an arm drag early on. Striker tells the children out there looking to become a wrestler to look at Dreamer. It's too bad they've done nothing with him, even if he deserves such acclaim. Chavo takes over, keeping Dreamer grounded. Pretty slow stuff, with Chavo linking holds, but I'm amazed by the way that Striker and Grisham keep this interesting. Dreamer hits a big back body drop and then follows up with the running bulldog. He does the big arm-span play to the crowd, and slams Chavo for two. Dreamer whips Chavo into the corner, but takes an elbow. Dreamer sets up the tree of woe, draws an "E-C-W" chant out of the crowd and hits the dropkick. Neely gets up on the apron, and Chavo whips Dreamer into him. Chavo then hangs Dreamer up on the top rope and hits the frog splash for the win.
WINNER: Chavo Guerrero in 5:00 to qualify for the Championship Scramble. Somehow, they've actually managed to make the Scramble less and less interesting with each match tonight. Show of hands: who honestly wanted to see Chavo Guerrero in a title match? Meanwhile, the continued burial of Dreamer continues. I guess someone had to replace Stevie Richards.
[Q4]
Another segment for the WWE's presence at the Democratic National Convention, this time with Batista talking about how he's registering to vote for the first time. I'm honestly impressed with how well WWE is pushing this. Especially in an election year as pivotal as this one, people need to get out.
Striker plugs our main event: Finlay vs. Knox for the final Scramble spot.
[Commercial Break]
Striker runs down the rules for the Championship Scramble. Apparently it has rules now.
Finlay comes out for the main event, as Striker and Grisham recap the past week of the angle. Knox comes out to get the match going.
4. FINLAY (w/Hornswoggle) vs. MIKE KNOX - Championship Scramble Qualifying Match
The typical main-event lockup starts us off. The match starts off really slow, with a lot of circling, but Finlay finally sends Knox to the outside. They brawl, with Knox clotheslining the ring post. Final commercial break, already. This is a little surprising, given the lack of action beforehand. I don't want to invoke the "T" word, but that's what I thought of.
[Commercial Break]
Finlay has Knox in an armbar out of the break.
[Q5 - overrun]
Finlay smashes Knox's arm into the ring apron, and then sends Knox to the outside. Knox gives Finlay a scoop slam onto the floor. Knox splashes Finlay into the ropes and locks in a chinlock. Knox clotheslines Finlay for two, and locks in another chinlock. Finlay powers out. Knox goes after Hornswoggle, but Finlay sends him back into the ring and attacks with a flurry of offense. Knox stops him with a big boot for two. Knox tries to untie the top turnbuckle, while Finlay grabs the shileleagh. Knox stops Finlay, but the referee yells at Knox for bringing it in. Hornswoggle slips Finlay a second shileleach, which Finlay nails Knox with to get the pin and the win.
WINNER: Finlay in 12:00 to qualify for the Championship Scramble. Given how solid the buildup for this match has been, this was pretty disappointing. As far as ring work is concerned, Knox proved tonight that he hasn't really evolved since his push two years ago. Also, I find it a bit of a contradiction that Finlay and Hornswoggle are being pushed as family heroes, even though they used sleight-of-hand and weapons to win. WWE contradicted themselves with this one.
Comments? Feedback? Email me at mayerdom@hotmail.com.
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