By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

Extreme Championship Wrestling
May 27, 2008
Upcoming PPV: One Night Stand (last episode before PPV)

ECW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the thirty-seventh 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)


ECW Champion KANE vs. WWE Tag Team Champions JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ (4 weeks)

In ECW's main event, The Big Red Machine faced both John Morrison and The Miz in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match. At one point, Kane grabbed both men by the neck hoping to nail a double chokeslam, but the WWE Tag Team Champions collectively mauled him. The referee called for the disqualification when both men continued to beat on Kane at the same time. After the match, CM Punk, Tommy Dreamer, and Chavo Guerrero joined the fray. As all the men battled in the ring, Big Show's music hit, and he walked to the ring. Show and Kane cleared the ring before ending the show with a stare-down.

It was smart to involve the ECW Champion in some type of program leading up to One Night Stand, where the focus will be on the potential contenders for the title rather than the champion himself. The booking for this week's show was pretty strong. They have five people battling for that prestigious number one contender spot, so they broke it down into two singles matches and one match featuring Kane, Morrison, and Miz (who is really the odd man out in this equation and has filled the empty space across the ring from Kane while his five colleagues vie for ECW Title contention). It's rare to see a Handicap Match end in this type of a disqualification, but Tazz made sure to emphasize that the rules were indeed broken since it was technically "one on tag" instead of "one on two."

Of course, the real focus was then immediately shifted to the brawl at the end. It would be utterly amazing if someone other than Show managed to pick up the win Sunday, just for the sake of unpredictability. But it does look like we have our next feud already laid out. It will be interesting to see how WWE plays this, however, since logic would indicate that the best plan is to steadfastly abide by the brand separation for at least the next four weeks until the WWE Draft finally occurs. With Show (from Smackdown) feuding with Kane (who came from Smackdown to win the ECW Title), many viewers are going to wonder what the point of the draft is.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Kane: Finlay, Big Daddy V, Shelton Benjamin, Chuck Palumbo, Chavo Guerrero
John Morrison & The Miz: Jesse & Festus, Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney

CM PUNK vs. BIG SHOW vs. WWE Tag Team Champion JOHN MORRISON vs. TOMMY DREAMER vs. CHAVO GUERRERO (2 weeks)

This week's ECW kicked off with a singles match pitting two former ECW Champions against one another: it was Big Show versus Tommy Dreamer. They replayed footage from last week where Show cleared the ring of each of his One Night Stand opponents before entering himself in the number one contender's match at Sunday's PPV. During the match, a loud "Big Show" chant broke out. The bout ended when Show delivered a stalling chokeslam for the win. Later in the show, CM Punk went one-on-one with Chavo Guerrero. At the conclusion of that match, Chavo dodged an attempted knee strike in the corner and rolled up Punk for the three count.

These two matchups, particularly Chavo-Punk, exemplified strong booking prior to the only real One Night Stand match that has anything to do with ECW. As I mentioned last week, it's a nice change of pace on Tuesday nights to see five people battle for ECW Title contention, despite the fact that the winner of the Singapore Cane Match seems ridiculously obvious. Show's a strong character who would make a good opponent for Kane, but it would have been nice to see him progress up the roster on Smackdown for a while.

WWE almost had no choice, however, since Smackdown has a surplus of top babyfaces with too few top heels. Hell, Batista has even been wandering aimlessly on Friday nights looking for a fight. Tommy Dreamer deserves more than just being a jobber all the time; the fans would back him if WWE gave him a small push. And as for Chavo and Punk, they put on a nice match, but I don't think another rivalry between those two would be warranted. Their last feud didn't get too far, and people seemed happy to have Punk move on to something new.

And that leaves us with One Night Stand. Let the caning begin.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
CM Punk: Elijah Burke, John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero
John Morrison & The Miz: Jesse & Festus, Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney
Tommy Dreamer: John Morrison & The Miz, Mike Knox
Chavo Guerrero: Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Kane
Big Show: Floyd Mayweather, The Great Khali

COLIN DELANEY vs. ECW General Manager ARMANDO ESTRADA (10 weeks w/ 3 weeks hiatus)

Lena Yada stood backstage with Colin Delaney for an interview. She asked him about McMahon's big giveaway, to which he replied quite positively. The only other topic of discussion was the WWE Draft, and Colin said he would like to stay on ECW. He then added that he hopes Armando Estrada is drafted to another brand.

With all the hype for the Singapore Cane Match at One Night Stand to determine the new number one contender for the ECW Championship, there really wasn't much time left for the other feuds on the brand. WWE correctly chose to pursue the Kofi-Shelton feud and give Colin-Estrada and Kelly-Layla the week off. It was nice, though, to include a short interview with Colin. Any little segment that gives viewers a chance to see the superstars' likes, dislikes, desires, or needs is well worth it. In this case, we got a better sense of what Colin wants when it comes to his immediate future in WWE: He wants to stay on the ECW brand, and he's slightly fearful of the possibility of new talent arriving to beat him up.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [down 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Colin Delaney: John Morrison & The Miz
Armando Estrada: n/a

KOFI KINGSTON vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN (6 weeks)

Shelton Benjamin joined Tazz and Adamle on commentary as Kofi Kingston battled Mike Knox in singles competition. Benjamin talked about ending Kofi's undefeated streak, but conversation never turned to Benjamin's loss only three days later on Smackdown. Shelton took offense when Adamle mentioned how Kofi may not have ever been in a ring with a man as agile as Knox. The Kingston-Knox bout concluded when Kofi felled Knox with his Trouble in Paradise Kick. After the match, Shelton tried to capitalize on Kofi's weakened state, but Kingston got the best of Benjamin. However, their fighting provided a distraction for Kofi, and Knox eventually avenged his loss by hitting his corkscrew faceplant on Kofi. Shelton left the ring with a smile on his face as Kofi tried to pull himself to his feet.

This was a pretty strong continuation of the Kingston-Benjamin feud. From the looks of Knox's face and the state in which Kofi was left, it appears as though Mr. Kingston has mounting problems on ECW. It would almost make sense that WWE would add Knox to this particular feud since they can only go so far with just Shelton and Kofi. Plus, viewers immediately realize who has the obvious upper hand in their singles matches, so adding another heel to help grow the opposition for the up-and-coming midcard babyface is a smart move. And this could be a case where something accidental—namely, Knox being busted open—leads the story in a new direction. It's easy to see how Knox's involvement this week turned from something that could have simply been meant to fill time into something that could branch into a new development for the storyline.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 7 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Kofi Kinston: n/a
Shelton Benjamin: Kane, CM Punk, Money in the Bank

KELLY KELLY vs. LAYLA (4 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Neither Kelly nor Layla showed up this week on ECW. The show had a heavy focus instead on the upcoming number one contender's match at Sunday's PPV.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 2.5 [down 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Kelly Kelly: Miz, Layla, Victoria
Layla: Kelly Kelly


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) CM Punk & Kane vs. John Morrison & The Miz?


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Kane vs. Big Show


Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate all the feedback that I receive, and I will respond to every email. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Nunzio" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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