By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S ECW REPORT
MARCH 10, 2009
AIRED ON SCIFI NETWORK
JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

[Q1]

-The show opened with immediate hype for the tri-branded battle royal to gain entrance into the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania. Todd Grisham introduced the show and hyped it as a historical night on ECW.

1 -- THE MIZ vs. PRIMO COLON

Carlito (w/The Bella Twins) and John Morrison joined Grisham and Matt Striker on commentary. Morrison again called them Colon brother using the punctuation mark pronunciation. He also called them the Butt Brothers and the Sphincter Brothers. Morrison and Carlito exchanged insults. Morrison accused Carlito of "knowing nothing of the power of the abdominal region." Morrison made fun of the Colon hairstyles and said Miz is aerodynamic. Morrison acknowledged that Carlito is bilingual, but "I can use my tongue in a lot more interesting ways than you." Miz knocked Primo to ringside, at which point they cut to a break.

[Commercial Break]

Striker noted to Morrison that the Colons are the first brother tag team since the Bashams to hold the tag team titles. Actually, the Bashams were a team that pretended to be brothers, but the Colons are the first actual brother tag team since The Hardys. Before that, who was it? Answer at the bottom of the report.

[Q2]

At 13:00 Miz missed a charging knee in the corner and then Primo hit a Back Stabber right away or the win. Carlito said Primo stole his move like he stole his haircut, but he didn't sound upset about it. The Bella Twins, whom Morrison accused of having oversized chins, left together as Morrison checked on his partner in the ring.

WINNER: Primo in 13:00.

STAR RATING: **1/4 - Good TV match.

-They showed Striker and Grisham at ringside. They threw to a "12 Rounds" feature, focused on the supporting cast.

-They showed Great Khali and Ranjin Singh backstage.

[Commercial Break]

-ECW Fact: Last Tuesday, more male teens watched ECW than any other show on CBS, ABC, or NBC.

-A highlight feature aired on last week's Natalya vs. Alicia Fox match.

2 -- TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya) vs. D.J. GABRIEL (w/Alicia Fox)

Tyson caught Gabriel with a surprise high roundkick at ringside. Striker made reference to Gabriel's "Tetris trunks." He said regarding Fox: "She's like an Indian summer in the middle of winter, like a hard candy with a surprise center, she's just so wonderful." Kidd continued with a barrage of kicks, but Gabriel came back with a nice suplex for a near fall. Kidd reversed another suplex attempt and then hit a flying springboard elbowdrop to the chest for the win.

WINNER: Kidd in 2:00.

STAR RATING: 1/2* -- Good for a competitive two minute match. Kidd's kick are really strong and a good niche for him.

-Grisham hyped the tri-branded battle royal up next.

-A commercial aired hyping the Shawn Michaels-Undertaker match.

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

-A video aired on Evan Bourne, and it said he returns next week.

-A video package aired on the Triple H-Randy Orton feud including the home invasion.

-Ring intros took place for Cryme Tyme, Vladimir Kozlov, Christian, William Regal (w/Layla), and The Great Khali (w/Ranjin Singh). They cut away to a commercial.

[Commercial Break]

-The WrestleMania IX video package aired.

[Q4]

3 -- BATTLE ROYAL for a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WM25

R-Truth's ring intro then took place, with him rapping his way to the ring. The rest of the ring intros had already taken place for Funaki, Ricky Ortiz, Charlie Haas, Jimmy Wang Yang, Chavo Guerrero, Goldust, Tommy Dreamer, Paul Burchill, and Dolph Ziggler.

Ortiz was immediately eliminated by Khali. Kozlov quickly eliminated Funaki. Khali, though, quickly eliminated Kozlov. Striker noted that it was Kozlov who eliminated Khali at the Royal Rumble, so it was retribution. All of the wrestlers swarmed Khali and eliminated him. Grisham and Striker made a big deal out of the odds-on favorite being eliminated. Yang was out next. Ziggler dropkicked Goldust out. Shad dumped Ziggler. All of that happened n a few seconds. Grisham asked Striker for his favorite. Shad is the biggest, Regal the most experience, Christian the most savvy. Cryme Tyme eliminated Burchill. As they were cutting to a break at 3:00, J.T.G. eliminated his own partner, Shad.

[Commercial Break]

They recapped the J.T.G. elimination of Shad on replay. R-Truth then eliminated J.T.G. Back live, Dreamer DDT'd Regal. Dreamer backdropped Regal over the to rope, but Regal held on and then yanked Dreamer to the floor. Grisham said, "This is March Maddness and these are your final four!" It was R-Truth, Christian, Chavo, and Regal. A good final four as all would be seen as candidates for the MITB match. Grisham noted that Christian was in the first MITB ladder match. Chavo eliminated R-Truth at 9:00. Truth clutched his knee after landing, but it didn't seem lke a bad fall. Chavo nearly eliminated Christian, but Christian held on and maneuvered his way back into the ring. Regal threw an elbow to the head of Christian and then went after Chavo. He overhead suplexed Chavo into Christian. Regal tossed Christian over the top rope, but Christian landed on the ring apron. Regal turned and charged at Christian, but Christian backdropped Regal out to the floor. Christian and Chavo then battled. A this point in battle royals they almost always rush to the finish, but just to break from that predictable pattern, it'd be nice to see a 15 minute classic one-on-one battle follow. It'd change the expectations and drama for battle royals for years to come if they made it seem that the final two tend to battle for a wile once the distractions of multiple wrestlers from all angles is removed from the equation. Chavo and Christian battle on the ring apron for a minute. Christian tipped backwards using the middle rope of the fulcrum and knocked Chavo to the floor.

WINNER: Christian in 12:00.

STAR RATING: ** -- Solid battle royal. The rapid-fire eliminations early kept the match from dragging. The final four was decent, too. Not a great battle royal, but given the timeframe and talent involved, they did a nice job creating some drama.

-The show closed with Triple H-Orton hype on Raw, with more scenes of the home invasion, plus hype for the possibility of Ric Flair coming out of retirement to face Chris Jericho.

(The brother tag team to last hold WWE-based tag team titles before the Colons and the Hardys? Rick & Scott Steiner. The only other championship teams sharing the same last name were Jimmy & Johnny Valiant and Jules & Jay Strongbow.)

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