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ECW Report
September 9, 2008
Broadcast on Sci-Fi
Reported by Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor

We open with a recap of the ECW Scramble, in which Matt Hardy finally won his world title in the least legitimate way imaginable. He's still champion, though, so I guess that's cool. Title sequence.

Tony Chimmel introduces the new ECW Champion, Matt Hardy. He comes out to a big pop and gets a lot of time to play to the crowd. He thanks the crowd and talks about his long journey to the ECW Championship. He thanks the crowd for keeping the faith and always staying by him, which got a massive "Hardy" chant. Thanks were then in order to the people who never believed in him, for motivating him to prove them wrong. Hardy aims to be the greatest ECW Champion ever. You have miles to go before you sleep, sir. You've never wrestled in a ring wrapped in barbed wire. Then, Mark Henry comes out, and he does not look pleased.

To nobody's surprise, Henry demands a rematch. If this is not met, they will have a problem. A fight breaks out, which ends in Henry being low-bridged to the outside and Tony Atlas recieving a Twist of Fate. Hardy walks up the entrance ramp and celebrates as Atlas clutches his arm.

The announcers then plug tonight's main event: Matt Hardy and Finlay vs. Mark Henry and Mike Knox.

[Commercial Break] : A plug for the Punk-Jericho cage match next week on Raw.

Evan Bourne comes out to a huge pop. They recap Raw, where Bourne and Mysterio acted as a tag team that would've been godlike seven or eight years ago.

[Q2]

John Morrison comes out with The Miz as his opponent.

1. EVAN BOURNE vs. JOHN MORRISON (w/The Miz)

This has the potential to be a fantastic TV match, if they can bring themselves to give it time. Chain wrestling back and forth to begin. Morrison whips Bourne into the corner, but Bourne flips over the rope, gives Morrison a shoulder to the midsection and goes for a sunset flip, but fails. Bourne hits a spinning heel kick for two. Morrison then goes on ground offense to keep Bourne down. Bourne finally gets back into the game with a dropkick that sends Morrison to the outside. He follows this up with a gorgeous hurricanrana that sends Morrison into a full flip. That was awesome. We cut to commercial.

[Commercial Break]

Back from the break, Bourne is kicking Morrison in the face. He goes leaping into the corner, but Morrison dodges. While Morrison distracted the ref, Miz flipped Bourne off the turnuckle. Bourne goes for a high body block off the second rope, but Morrison ducked it. Outside the ring, Morrison drops Bourne jaw-first onto the barrier, drapes him on the apron and punts him. Morrison gets two, and then settles into a chinlock. Morrison lifts Bourne into a powerbomb position and drops him backwards onto the rope. Morrison continues on offense with the legsweep combo for two. He continues to hold Bourne down, and then throws Bourne out of the ring. Morrison kicks him right in the ribs. Morrison continues to work the jaw, which is an interesting part to work. I don't think I've seen that one before. Morrison gives him another backbreaker for only two. Back to the chinlock. Is this filling time? The sad thing is that these guys are both capable of better. Bourne comes back with the hard kicks to the legs and face. Morrison takes another hurricanrana, and gets a back kick for two. Bourne follows up with another hurricanrana from a standing position, into a pin for two. Quite a TV match, especially for the undercard. Bourne goes for the standing moonsault, but Morrison gets two legs up.

[Q3]

Morrison also misses a moonsault, and Bourne goes up for the Shooting Star Press, but Miz interferes. Bourne kicks him down, but gets absolutely rolled, flipping forward and smashing his head on the apron on his way down. Morrison immediately pulls him into the ring for the pin.

WINNER: Morrison in 15:00. This should be the ECW Championship feud within the year. There were more rest holds than should have been necessary, but this was Bourne's biggest singles display to date, and he met the call. These two are the stars of the future.

A clip airs of the Finlay-Knox feud, to explain why Knox is in tonight's main event. Another plug for that match takes us to commercial.

[Commercial Break]

Somebody named Jack Swagger comes out for a match. That might be, in all honesty, the single worst ring name I've ever heard. And apparently, he's not the jobber here. Seriously, Jack Swagger looks stoned.

2. JACK SWAGGER vs. MIKE DANIELS?

Missed the designated jobber's name. Some basic stuff from Swagger. I like how they're only introducing the Superstar Initiative people sporadically. If they keep this guy around, they really need to change his ring name. They did it for Sydal. I can't tell if Swagger is big enough to be wrestling this big man style, or if he just looks like it due to this tiny jobber next to him. This might be telling, but I didn't even really notice what Swagger took the match with.

WINNER: Swagger in 3:00. To reiterate: That's a terrible ring name. This guy just doesn't look interesting to me. We'll see what's done with him.

Hardy, Finlay and Hornswoggle get stopped by Ricky Ortiz on the way to the ring, and Hornswoggle eats one of his towels. Okay...

[Commercial Break]

[Q4] : A commercial airs for Wrestlemania's 25th anniversary next April.

Mark Henry comes out. As per a friend of mine, let me pose a question: In a match between Kimbo Slice and Mark Henry, who would win? It's worth thinking about for next year's celebrity crossover at Mania. Mike Knox comes out to his grating entrance music as his partner. Finlay enters with Hornswoggle for the face team, and Hardy rounds out the field.

3. MARK HENRY (w/Tony Atlas) & MIKE KNOX vs. FINLAY (w/Hornswoggle) & ECW CHAMPION MATT HARDY

Hardy goes on the offensive against Henry to start. Henry takes Hardy by the throat while no-selling forearm shots. Hardy goes down with a clothesline, and Henry dominates. I don't like this booking, because it makes Hardy look like an illegitimate champion. I don't like the logic of this match being this one-sided two days after a pay-per-view either. Henry has been in charge for nearly this entire match so far. Finally, Henry misses with a big elbow, and we go to commercial. Interesting.

[Commercial Break]

Hardy's in a chinlock courtesy of Knox coming out of break. I'm sorry, but Hardy should be the one waiting for the hot tag, not the other way around. Finlay gets in and cleans house. Knox takes a hard shoulder tackle in the corner. Finlay clotheslines Knox to the outside. They brawl, and Finlay tries to re-enter the ring, but takes a bicycle kick from Knox.

[Q5 – overrun]

Henry comes in and stomps Finlay. Knox is tagged in, and the heels give Finlay a double shoulderblock. Finlay continues to get worked over, and there are now only a few minutes left in the match for those to turn around. Finlay is bought back to the heel corner and rallies. However, Knox brings him back down. Knox, after a little bit of an awkward pause, clotheslines Finlay. Finlay escapes long enough to tag Hardy back in. Hardy finally mounts some offense on Knox, giving him a second-rope bulldog for two. Hardy hits a Side Effect and hits a nice moonsault. Henry breaks up the pin, but Hornswoggle and Finlay take him out with the same sleight-of-hand they used a couple weeks ago. Hardy gives Knox the Twist of Fate for the win.

WINNERS: Finlay and Hardy in 15:00. I did not enjoy this match, because the faces were essentially destroyed for the entire match before getting the narrow win. Simply put, this isn't protection of a champion. Also, this officially established that this episode had no purpose throughout. Solid wrestling, but no real point. See you next week.

Comments? Feedback? Email me at mayerdom@hotmail.com.

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