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The Specialists
4/1 ECW Hits & Misses: C.M. Punk, New Champ, Colin Delaney, & More! Apr 2, 2008 - 2:03:01 AM
CM Punk's music hitting during the opening segment: My heartbeat quickened, my face lit up, and my mind raced as I tried to figure out where they were going to go with C.M. Punk as Money In The Bank winner. Would he keep his promise to use it to go after the ECW title? Would he announce when he plans to use it? Would he show us all why it's time for Punk to move to the next level? Well, no, we didn't get any of that. But Punk just holding that Money In The Bank briefcase is fascinating, and I'm excited to see where they go with it. My faith in it being something special wavers, but I'm excited to find out. I'll save the complaining about what they actually do for later.
Big Show vs. Colin Delaney: Poor Colin. Big Show being apologetic beforehand was great. At least Show was nice about the way he killed this young man. Show was absolutely perfect throughout this, and Colin spinning like a top as Show tossed him to the side was tremendous. I'm curious whether Show uses that chokehold he put Colin out as a regular finisher, or if it was just him being merciful to the young lad and he'll go back to his standard finishers from here forward.
Colin Delaney buying a ticket for Wrestlemania: Colin's promo where he talked about how next year, he won't need to buy a ticket, was so perfect. Colin continues to excel as the generic white friend you wish you had.
Using WWE Mobile to build an angle: While I question the direction of this storyline (see the misses for more), I think that the idea of using WWE Mobile and the internet to build an angle is decent, as long as it gets recapped on TV like it did here. It lets you give a feud built-in history before it ever debuts on television, and it gives the feud a little extra umph without as much television time.
Ric Flair recap package: How does anything ever top this? Seriously now. I've never been so jealous of Torch columnist Bruce Mitchell's decades of following Ric Flair's career as I am this week.
ECW Misses
Kane as ECW Champion: Who is Kane? I have no idea what his character is anymore. He's just... Kane. He's not really evil anymore. He's a kind of scary big guy, but not really, since he's a babyface who doesn't act particularly mean to anyone else. His character needs a mission statement, a constitution beyond just "I wrestle and win most of the time so enjoy!"
Opening promo segment: Aside from Kane's promo, which was probably the best of the bunch but hurt by the lack of character integrity, we had C.M. Punk teetering on the edge of losing all credibility but thankfully holding back on using the money in the bank on a title he has no need to use it on, Chavo Guerrero offering one of the weaker heel explanations for a loss ever, and Shelton Benjamin cutting a promo that proves why he isn't getting a bigger push. And these are the top four stars on ECW. Seriously.
Mike Knox derailing Stevie Richards' push: Stevie Richards came back from his injury with passion and seemed ready to prove that he was more than the jobber he'd become. It was a rocky road, but he started picking up some momentum and the fans began to connect with him. Then he started feuding with Mike Knox. Mike Knox, people! And Mike Knox has been beating him! Why?!
The main event: It was fine. If ECW wants to move beyond ratings in the mid-1's from week to week, they need to be putting on main events that are more than fine. I guess the writers decided to take a break after Raw last night, as we didn't get cohesive mission statements for either of the two major ECW storylines coming out of Wrestlemania (Kane as champion and C.M. Punk as Money In The Bank winner), but instead, we got a tag match. Yay.
Mike Roe is PWTorch.com's fill-in guy, providing his point of view on Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact until Hits & Misses Specialist Jon Mezzera gets home and kicks him to the curb for the inevitable walk of shame. Email him at mikeroe@gmail.com.
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