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ECW ON SCI-FI ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 5/12: Caldwell, Hoops, Parks rate and review

May 13, 2009 - 12:25:47 PM
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James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (6.5)

The lack of wrestling on the show was balanced by a very nice start to the Hart Foundation v.2 debut and a fine closing segment between Christian and Jack Swagger to set up their ECW Title match at the PPV. D.H. Smith's re-debut on WWE TV stood out the most, to me, though. Smith looked monstrous in his return to smash Finlay, but in a healthy way, not in a juiced-up kind of a way. Smith will be good muscle to go with Natalaya's "brains behind the operations" and Kidd's increasing star power. Nice addition to the weekly ECW broadcast.

The closing segment between Christian and Jack Swagger established that Christian's a smarmy babyface and Swagger has a lisp, but not much else. Swagger playing the Matt Hardy role if whining about things not being fair is okay, but not preferable for his character. It plays to the kiddo crowd because they can relate to that annoying kid in class who whines about everything, but it doesn't make Swagger any bigger of a star.

The rest of the show was just filler. Henry beating Dreamer was fine with Dreamer getting in some offense, but the "emphasis" on Dreamer's ECW Title quest is so sketchy from week to week. Just not a program WWE is committed to investing in and if they decide for the fifth time to focus on the Quest, it will be too late to get anyone interested to spend money on an ECW PPV. ... Kozlov with another squash. Yippee. At least that punching bag put up a good fight.

Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)

Solid effort by ECW this week. This is consistently one of the best wrestling TV shows each and every week. If you like to watch wrestling on a wrestling show, you can't go wrong by investing an hour of time each week in viewing ECW. I like the Tyson Kidd-Finlay program, which was taken to the next level in a logical progression after a couple weeks of TV matches between Kidd and Finlay. Finlay is a great opponent for Kidd at this stage of his career and by adding DH Smith into the equation, prolongs the Kidd-Finlay program. Great job of booking! Koslov getting a squash is perfectly fine for him at this stage. Great segment to end the show. Christian is awesome in his role and Swagger is becoming very good also.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)

We finally saw the reformation of the Hart Foundation after so many rumors of it happening for the past year or so. I don't know exactly who they'll feud with on ECW since there are no groups (and the depth is shallow as well), but they should stand out even more. And props to WWE for dropping the "D.H." of David Hart Smith.

Mark Henry vs. Tommy Dreamer was not going to set the world on fire, but they did a serviceable job. Kidd vs. Finlay was an excellent contest and I see a bright future for Kidd. I wonder where the Paul Burchill situation is going to lead. And as for the Peep Show....a little disappointed by that since WWE went back to the "lisp" well again.


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