By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Opening Segment: ECW got off to a good start with Armando Estrada introducing CM Punk as the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Estrada’s attempts to kiss Punk’s ass without admitting it were pretty funny. Punk was good on the mic and certainly as the Champion needs more mic time than he’s gotten in the past. The segment took an odd turn when Elijah Burke showed up. Estrada went from kissing Punk’s ass to running away and announcing that Burke was going to face Punk for the Title at Unforgiven. It just seemed so rushed. If Estrada knew that Burke was going to come out, and as he is obviously favoring Burke in their match, then why go through the trouble of trying on Punk’s t-shirt? But the segment picked up again once Burke and Punk had their verbal and physical exchange. So while I had some problems with it, it was still a strong opening.

Miz, Kelly and Mahoney: Ultimately, we are going to get to the point where we are tired of this storyline. Some of you might be there already. But I am still enjoying it. All three play their parts well. The Miz was in a decent but short match with Tommy Dreamer, and Kelly Kelly continued to do a good job of cheering for him without really cheering for him. She and Balls Mahoney had a nice moment backstage. Their relationship is developing nicely, but they can’t drag her leaving Miz too much longer. That isn’t to say that the storyline has to come to an end soon, but it has to move on to something new soon once she finally goes with Balls.

ECW MISSES

Match Endings: The in ring action has been good on ECW as of late. This week it took a down turn. There was a lot to complain about in the matches, and the first thing that really stuck out in my mind was that the endings to all four matches were pretty weak. Tommy dreamer dominated Miz for most of their match. Then, he missed a shoulder in the corner, and Miz hit his Reality Check finisher and got the win. It was weak in that the Reality Check is not a great finisher to begin with, and here it was one of the few offensive moves that Miz hit and it was all that it took to finish off Dreamer. I guess this helps sell it further as a vicious finisher, but I am not buying it. The second “match” was Matt Striker vs. Nunzio which went less than a minute and ended on a roll up after outside interference. It was lame. Balls Mahoney vs. Mike Knox had a similar ending after outside distraction allowed Knox to hit Balls with a big boot. It was too similar to the previous match and I have never been a fan of a big boot as a finisher. The Main Event’s ending was maybe better than the rest of the matches, but not by much.

Main Event: In fact, the Main Event was disappointing. For starters, the match only went 7 minutes which is pretty short for a t.v. Main Event. For another, it was just a standard very typical WWE style tag team match where one baby face (predictably Stevie Richards) gets a prolonged beat down before his partner comes in to a hot tag. I don’t mind that basic formula as a rule, as long as there are some twists to it. But this one was so standard, possibly because they were short on time. After Punk got the hot tag, I kept expecting a twist where Richards would come to his aid. Even after he hit the Go To Sleep on Kevin Thorn, I figured Richards would have to come in to stop Elijah Burke from breaking up the three count, but that didn’t happen. It was the stripped down tag team formula, and none of it was particularly compelling. Burke and Thorn didn’t do any type of interesting looking double team moves. It was sort of boring to watch, which given the talent of at least some of the participants is not acceptable.

Too Much Happening: Part of the problem with the Main Event was that it didn’t go long enough to allow any playing around with the tag team formula. Part of the problem with the other matches was that they were all too short as well. There was just too much happening on this show that it reminded me a little of TNA Impact. There were two video recaps of Punk winning the Title. Did we need two? We got a replay of the Diva Search which I guess we will have to accept for the next several weeks. The Big Daddy V promo was unnecessary. When he and Striker came out for the match against Nunzio, the announcers could have simply said that V had challenged Boogeyman to a match next week, then afterwards they had Boogeyman on the screen to respond. I would even advocate for the fact that Mahoney vs. Knox would have been better next week. We already had gotten a furthering of the Miz vs. Mahoney feud, and we could have gotten more of it next week. That would have certainly allowed more time for Miz vs. Dreamer and the Main Event. ECW has the advantage over Impact in that they are not building towards a PPV event every month. But this week it felt like they were.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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