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The Specialists
1/15 WWE ECW Hitlist: Cutting Edge, Main Event Jan 19, 2008 - 12:53:07 AM
The Cutting Edge: ECW got off to a good start with Edge’s special appearance hosting The Cutting Edge, with guest CM Punk. Edge was great early on talking about his match vs. Rey Mysterio at the Royale Rumble. I was disappointed that they showed footage from the opening of Smackdown last week, as I gave it a Miss, but that is a minor complaint. The banter between Edge and Punk was very good. I loved Punk’s line about making a bold statement in declaring that he can beat Edge. They were both strong here. Chavo Guerrero’s presence didn’t help, but it didn’t hurt either. At least there was a challenge from Chavo to Punk, which Punk accepted. That way, there is a decent excuse as to why he was getting another chance at Punk to win an ECW World Heavyweight Title shot. Unfortunately, the show was downhill from there. Not that it was all bad. Really, there wasn’t much to dislike on the show. But, there wasn’t anything else to like. Even Colin Delaney’s presence was just o.k. I like the character and have enjoyed it, but this week’s appearance wasn’t as fun as last week’s. WWE has to be careful and not let him become as much of a ridiculous cartoon character as Shark Boy in TNA. So, while the show did get off to a good start with The Cutting Edge, nothing else worked for me this week.
ECW MISSES
Miz & Morrison vs. The Highlanders: This match suffered from the start by the fact that the Highlanders are on the Raw roster, and nobody seemed to realize that, other than us viewers. Seriously, would it kill them to mention how exactly they were able to appear on ECW? They showed why they never got a serious push on Raw (other than the fact that no team ever gets a serious push on Raw). They just don’t do anything interesting in the ring. They are serviceable workers, but nothing more. Miz & Morrison are a fun team to watch, but compare this match to any of their series against Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore and you see there really isn’t a comparison.
Main Event: It is hard to put the same match on three weeks in a row and have the quality stay at a high level. This was the third week in a row that we have seen Chavo vs. Punk, and unfortunately we are going to see it again next week. I enjoyed the first two meetings between these two, but this one was not nearly as good. I can’t put my finger on anything specific about the match. But, when you’ve seen it twice before in such a short amount of time, what do you expect? At this point in their careers (one early, one late), neither is exactly dynamic in their in ring style. I am a big fan of Punk. He is a good worker, and has a chance to become great some day. Unfortunately, he has fallen into the WWE trap of only having about five moves. He used to do more. When you face a guy this many times, you have to change things up. Bring back old moves. Do something different. Chavo is on the downside of his career, and suffers from similar limitations at this point. If this had been their first match, I don’t know how I would feel about it. But given the context, I have to give it a Miss. I will say that Edge was much better doing guest commentary this week, than he was on Smackdown last week.
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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