By Chris Newth, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor
Extreme Championship Wrestling January 1, 2008 Upcoming PPV: Royal Rumble (fourth-to-last episode before PPV)
ECW STORYLINES AND FEUDS
Welcome to the eighteenth edition of ECW Storylines and Feuds.
For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:
10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)
Feuds on ECW—particularly because of how heavily the talent exchange seems to weigh on that show—are difficult to accurately pinpoint. The best notable example involves C.M. Punk and Chavo Guerrero. Chavo attacks Punk, and then he fights Punk the next week, ultimately losing a shot at the ECW Title. Okay, so is that it? Well, it's unpredictable. Chavo may be back to seek further revenge, or he may end up playing a more important role on Smackdown. Other feuds are changing without any clear resolution, such as the Miz/Morrison-Jesse/Festus rivalry, which proved to be short-lived. And other feuds have been going for so long that one has to wonder whether they should even be considered relevant anymore (such as the Kelly-Layla feud).
In any event, ECW proved to be on par with their current product expectations. WWE is using the talent exchange to switch out people when it's convenient for them in order to give the show a different feel each week. Of course, with people moving in (like Chavo) and others disappearing without a trace (like Elijah Burke), it's difficult to build solid feuds. Everything feels too unstable. Viewers may no longer be surprised to find a new guy coming in or an old guy leaving the scene.
If Kevin Thorn had a squash match next week, would it surprise anyone? No. If next week didn't feature Shelton Benjamin, would it surprise anyone? Not really. Every wrestler is someone's favorite, so there will be exceptions, but in general, things are just not steady on ECW at the moment. That isn't to say that the current method is bad per se. WWE is trying to find a formula that works. They found it difficult when the show got too repetitive with too few wrestlers on the brand. Now they may be experiencing just the opposite effect. It will ultimately be a compromise of sorts. They need to change things up enough to keep things fresh, but they also must retain a certain amount of consistency so that they can engage people with established, growing feuds and storylines.
Feuds will be discussed momentarily, but let's start with non-feud segments. On ECW, that guy that jobbed to Shelton Benjamin last week was back to try his luck again. "I got that first one out of the way. I've been training real hard. I'm a lot more confident tonight," Colin said. This time, however, he would face an even bigger challenge—Big Daddy V. Styles referred to V as a "quarter ton of terror." As you might guess, V destroyed Colin within minutes, marking the amateur's record 0-2. Interestingly, it almost seems like WWE is beginning a story that features the creation of a WWE Superstar from the very beginning (and it's someone who clearly doesn't typify what has become the average look of a WWE star).
Shelton Benjamin was then booked for a match against another jobber named James Curtis. The match ended when Benjamin was able to hit his reverse bulldog maneuver for the emphatic victory. There really wasn't anything to it. It's nice to see Benjamin on TV regularly again, and his current rise as ECW's newest big star feels fresh and interesting. The multiple little wins are bound to remedy a few years of improper booking for Shelton. And WWE is handling the whole thing perfectly. He's even getting a lot of mic time each week.
And now to the feuds!
ECW Champion C.M. PUNK vs. CHAVO GUERRERO (3 weeks)
The show opened with a pretty rare appearance by the General Manager of ECW, Armando Estrada. He introduced Chavo to the show, and Guerrero walked out to explain his actions last week. Chavo cut a promo about how while he was injured, he watched ECW and noticed the emergence of C.M. Punk on Tuesday nights. He talked about how people were calling Punk the future of WWE. "That made me sick!" Chavo exclaimed bitterly. Suddenly, Punk's music abruptly hit, and the reigning ECW Champion entered the ring to confront his latest attacker.
Chavo continued by referring to C.M. Punk as his stepping stone to the top. Punk responded with some nice passion. Said Punk: "I am nobody's stepping stone. In fact, I'm going to tell you what I tell everybody else that parades out here. You want to challenge me for my title? Chavo, I'm standing right in front of you." And that's where Armando stepped in again. He told Chavo that to earn a title shot, he'd have to beat the ECW Champion in a one-on-one matchup later in the night.
And that match served as our main event. Chavo and Punk went head-to-head in what became a pretty long battle. At the end, Punk attempted his Go 2 Sleep, but Chavo reversed it, knocking Punk out of the ring. The two fought at ringside. As the referee's count neared ten, Punk raced to the ring, but Chavo caught his leg. At the last second, Punk managed to kick his opponent away and win the match via countout. So there may be no ECW gold in Chavo's future after all.
It's still uncertain whether Chavo-Punk will remain an ongoing feud on ECW TV. After losing his shot at an ECW Title match—as well as having hinted a new role on the Smackdown brand—is Chavo even likely to continue appearing in the Land of Extreme? The story is kind of there, but it isn't very clear. Chavo returning out of jealousy is a little weak. There are multiple champions on each of the brands, so why would he target Punk specifically? Maybe it's because he's the only babyface champion on either Smackdown or ECW, but that's too dull of a reason. If this one is set to continue, let's see how it develops in the coming weeks.
On a side note, it was nice to see Chavo lose that match since the stipulations stated that he'd have to win to get a title shot (which implied a win for Chavo so that the storyline could continue). It was good to see WWE go the other way there.
Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5.5
Previous Feuds
C.M. Punk: Elijah Burke, John Morrison
Chavo Guerrero: Rey Mysterio
WWE Tag Team Champions JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ vs. JIMMY WANG YANG & SHANNON MOORE (4 weeks)
With their title match just around the corner, Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore teamed with Kelly Kelly to face Morrison, Miz, and Layla in a six-person mixed tag team matchup. The match basically served as a promotional segment that allowed the announcers to hype Yang and Moore in their last week before a big WWE Tag Team Title match next Tuesday night. It also clumped another feud—the Kelly Kelly vs. Layla rivalry—into the same segment for some variety.
The match ended when Jimmy Wang Yang planted a big kiss on Layla. Kelly then tackled her former dance partner to the ground, leaving only Miz and Yang in the ring. Yang quickly gained the advantage, hitting his standing moonsault on a dazed Miz to earn yet another victory.
The story here so far has been about how this underrated, eclectic team of Yang and Moore has been able to one-up Miz and Morrison for weeks. The matches have been lengthy and entertaining, and everyone has played their role just right. Fans have clearly flocked behind this odd tandem, this mixture of redneck and reject. At the same time, Morrison and Miz have been losing heat, so this feud benefits all parties involved.
Overall, people are probably more interested in straight-up wrestling here than anything else. If I were writing this one, it would be one of the few cases where I'd purposely ignore any outside storylines. Just let these teams fight it out. The real entertainment here is watching these long matches and getting excited when the babyfaces keep upsetting the heels. This coming week, ECW will feature a 15 Minutes of Fame Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where Miz & Morrison will face Yang & Moore in what is essentially a 15 minute tag team Ironman Match. The team that scores the most pinfalls and submissions in 15 minutes will walk out the champions. That should be exciting.
Intrigue Level (out of 10): 7
Previous Feuds
John Morrison: C.M. Punk
The Miz: Balls Mahoney
Jesse & Festus: n/a
KELLY KELLY vs. LAYLA (6 weeks w/ 2 weeks hiatus)
Kelly Kelly has been fighting her longtime dance partner Layla for weeks, but it never seems to get anywhere. This week, WWE avoided any storyline development by featuring them in that six-person tag team match with Yang, Moore, Miz, and Morrison. It was a passable way to incorporate the feud into the show another week, but at this point they will have to do something more (whether it be a promo or backstage vignette) to get the audience interested again.
Intrigue Level (out of 10): 3.5 [down 0.5 since last week]
Previous Feuds
Kelly Kelly: n/a
Layla: n/a
BIG DADDY V (w/ Matt Striker) vs. KANE (11 weeks w/ 3 weeks hiatus)
Thankfully, this one might just be over. Kane did not appear on ECW, and Big Daddy V may be about to begin a feud with The Undertaker over on Smackdown.
Intrigue Level (out of 10): n/a
Previous Feuds
Big Daddy V: Tommy Dreamer
Kane: Finlay
CONCLUDED FEUDS
(1) Big Daddy V vs. Kane?
POTENTIAL FEUDS
(1) Shelton Benjamin vs. ??
(2) The Rise of Colin the Jobber?
Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I appreciate all of the feedback. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Stevie Richards" so that I know it's not junk mail.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!
