James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (3.0)

For the love of God, where is Evan Bourne? It's one thing to watch 20 minutes of a slow-it-down...I mean way down "Finlay match." It's another thing when I have to sit through a Paul Burchill match on the same show. Just looking for some balance here. Not asking for a whole lot. Just some balance.

Apparently WWE's solution to the recent ECW Ratings Disaster - not to be confused with the Denver Debacle or Conference Finals Calamity - was to throw mat-based wrestling and bland characters at the audience. Paul Burchill bores the heck out of me. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of watching his act on TV. I need to know something about him. Why does he show up at the building and report for work? What makes him tick? Give us something to work with.

David Hart Smith had an okay debut match on ECW TV. Again, we don't know anything about him. Heck, 80-90 percent of the current WWE audience doesn't even know who Davey Boy Smith was. Just show a video on the braided hair or the running powerslam or Summerslam 1992 or Matilda. Anything to translate over to David Hart. The 20-minute TV main event was fine and had its moments, but, again, it's about balance. If they had an exciting, athletic contest earlier on the show, perhaps the main event would have been more tolerable.

Jack Swagger opening the show with a sit-in was good. I liked it. Swagger being treated like a five-year-old by Principal Tiffany was written for an audience already asleep for school on Wednesday. Swagger being presented as a watered-down heel who complains and whines and probably "tattletales" instead of "reports" misbehavior (pre-K teachers get that) isn't going to enhance his character. I'd like to see him presented more credibly, but that doesn't appear to be an area of immediate concern right now.

Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.0)

Not the best ECW they have presented. The matches lacked a main event intensity level that previous shows had possessed. Christian was OK at selling, but putting Burchill in as his opponent with no build up and no reason for them to be wrestling, didn't make me care about the match. The Zach Ryder squash was OK and I am perfectly fine with a squash match in the middle of every ECW show as a way to build up some of the talent and establish their characters without hurting someone else on the roster. The Hart-Finlay match was pretty slow-paced. At least the match had a little build up from the previous week, but could have been better as it seemed to plod along.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (4.0)

All of the points pretty much are for the first 20 minutes to half hour of the show. The Jack Swagger sit-in was good, and Tiffany finally got to use her authority in a situation that warranted it, to give her some credibility as GM. I liked the Christian vs. Paul Burchill match, especially the story with Christian in peril because of the knee injury suffered at the hands of Swagger.

The Zack Ryder squash was nothing special, and the same can be said about his gimmick. It just feel so forced coming from him. The main event was just excruciating to sit through; I can't believe they think a match like that could get over to the viewers in 2009, especially now that they're catering to a younger audience who aren't exactly known for having full attention spans.

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