By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

Extreme Championship Wrestling
September 2, 2008
Upcoming PPV: Unforgiven (last episode before PPV)

ECW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the fifty-first 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)


Note: The nature of this week's ECW—with its last push for Unforgiven, its big main event that consolidated a few different rivalries, and its continued run of introducing new talent—must result in a really brief edition of ECW Storylines and Feuds.


ECW Champion MARK HENRY (w/ Tony Atlas) vs. MATT HARDY vs. THE MIZ vs. CHAVO GUERRERO (w/ Bam Neely) vs. FINLAY (w/ Hornswoggle) (7 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-ECW began with the talk segment called The Dirt Sheet, hosted by John Morrison and The Miz. They introduced Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, Finlay, and Matt Hardy, pretty much mocking everyone except Mark Henry. Eventually, as any of WWE's play-by-play commentators would say, the combustible elements in the ring inevitably led to a brawl.

-Theodore Long booked an eight-man tag team match for ECW's main event.

-In the final match of the night, Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer, Finlay, and Evan Bourne faced Mark Henry, John Morrison, The Miz, and Chavo Guerrero. The match ended when Matt Hardy nailed his Twist of Fate on Mark Henry for the big win.

Analysis:

Let me quickly mention the booking of this feud for a moment. ECW currently has four contenders for Mark Henry's ECW Title, with The Miz seeming like the odd man out since he's never held the ECW Title or any major singles title before. Chavo Guerrero and Finlay seem like they are involved to fill in what would otherwise be empty space. So, this is really just the Hardy-Henry feud in a different form.

Notice how WWE booked a match on Raw with these guys participating in a Battle Royal. On that night, Mark Henry got all the glory as he single-handedly eliminated all of his Unforgiven competition. One night later, Matt Hardy regained a lot of steam as he soundly defeated Mark Henry after crashing him to the mat with a Twist of Fate. Based on these past few matches, a clear favorite in the ECW Scramble Match doesn't stand out. I could see Henry retaining, Hardy winning, or even one of the less-prominent guys stealing it.

The Dirt Sheet was a fine way to get everyone involved in the match together, but it definitely doesn't stand up to all the hype it got from people who've watched it on WWE.com in the past few months. Something about the TV version doesn't translate the humor as well as WWE probably wanted it to. I still get the feeling that the success of The Dirt Sheet on WWE.com is the reason they are keeping John Morrison and The Miz together as a well-organized team on television.

It's also important to note the other players in the main event this week, most notably Evan Bourne. Bourne continues to impress viewers each and every week. If the babyface team were to have lost, you couldn't help but get the feeling that Tommy Dreamer or Evan Bourne would have taken the fall. Surprisingly, the ending was really different. However, Evan Bourne got some nice moves in as usual. His Shooting Star Press, along with his decent winning streak, is going to propel him to the top.

The big question is what happens to everyone after the Scramble Match is over. Finlay's feud with Mike Knox is over, The Miz currently has no program with anyone, and the Hardy-Henry feud may get stale if WWE tries to extend it beyond Unforgiven. Then again, the outcome of that ECW Scramble Match will really determine everything. If the title changes hands, the landscape of the current ECW can change dramatically (especially if The Miz or Finlay obtains it). If Matt Hardy finally earns it, you can probably expect a re-match clause storyline for The World's Strongest Man.

Overall, the three Scramble Matches at Unforgiven do stir a nice amount of intrigue because each title match has five completely different possible outcomes. Here's hoping that one of them is a total surprise.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 8 [up 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Mark Henry: Undertaker, Kane, Tommy Dreamer
Matt Hardy: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, MVP, Chavo Guerrero
The Miz: Jesse & Festus, Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney, CM Punk, Finlay & Hornswoggle
Chavo Guerrero: Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Kane, Matt Hardy
Finlay: Kane, Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali, Mr. McMahon, JBL, Miz & Morrison

CHAVO GUERRERO & BAM NEELY vs. EVAN BOURNE (8 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Summary Quick Shot:

-Both Chavo Guerrero and Evan Bourne competed in the main event tag team match; Evan's team won when Matt Hardy hit the Twist of Fate on Mark Henry for the 1-2-3.

Analysis:

There really isn't much to say about this. Nothing was done to further this particular rivalry throughout the show this week, and except for the fact that both men appeared in the same match, nothing seems to suggest that this one even exists any longer.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): n/a

Previous Feuds
Chavo Guerrero: Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Kane
Bam Neely: n/a
Evan Bourne: n/a


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Finlay (w/ Hornswoggle) vs. Mike Knox
(2) Chavo Guerrero (w/ Bam Neely) vs. Evan Bourne


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Super Crazy vs. Gavin Spears
(2) Ricky Ortiz vs. Ryan Braddock


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 "Boogeyman" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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