PWTORCH.COM
VIP SIGN-UP JUMP TO VIP
CONTACT US VISIT MMA TORCH




Select Next Article by Category





TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU!

PWTORCH IPHONE APP
Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here
Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.


The Specialists
ECW Storylines and Feuds - Analysis on Hardy as ECW Champion, plus Evan Bourne and Finlay-Knox
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:37:36 PM


By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

Extreme Championship Wrestling
September 9, 2008
Upcoming PPV: No Mercy (fourth-to-last episode before PPV)

ECW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the fifty-second 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 MATT HARDY vs. MARK HENRY (w/ Tony Atlas) (8 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Matt Hardy kicked off ECW by saying, "This is a dream come true." He ran through a list of thank-you's, but Mark Henry cut him off.

-Henry got right to the point, clubbing Hardy to the floor with his forearm. Hardy recovered, however, knocking Henry to ringside before felling Tony Atlas with a Twist of Fate.

-The main event match featuring Matt Hardy and Finlay vs. Mark Henry and Mike Knox ended when Hardy hit the Twist of Fate on Knox for the win.

Analysis:

Many people have waited years for Matt Hardy to win a world title, and although the ECW Title clearly carries less weight than the WWE and World Title, it still has value and resulted in a somewhat memorable moment. The opening segment featuring Hardy eluding Henry's beating and getting some payback on Tony Atlas was a nice way to start his title reign. Perhaps, despite the massive size difference between Hardy and Henry, WWE is going to portray Matt as a champion with a good strategy and great veteran instincts. He doesn't immediately come across like a guy who's going to have to run away from his larger opponent and have to rely on luck to slip out of matches with victories.

The main event match further cemented Matt Hardy as a force to be reckoned with. Over the past few weeks, he's shown that he can beat anyone on ECW (even Mark Henry, who only won matches with the help and interference by Tony Atlas). It looks like this Hardy-Henry feud is going to continue with Mark Henry demanding a re-match for the ECW Title, so their rivalry will presumably culminate at No Mercy. The decision to keep the feud running from here is probably not a bad one after all because now the title has a new home, and consequently, the dynamic of this feud has shifted dramatically. It almost feels completely new. Also, ECW's roster is still very thin. WWE is making the right move by extending this particular storyline instead of shooting a new opponent at Matt Hardy right away.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 7.5

Previous Feuds
Mark Henry: Undertaker, Kane, Tommy Dreamer
Matt Hardy: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, MVP, Chavo Guerrero

JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ vs. EVAN BOURNE (1 week)

Summary Quick Shot:

-John Morrison faced Evan Bourne in singles competition this week. The match ended when The Miz distracted Bourne as he was about to hit the Air Bourne. Morrison capitalized with a springboard kick to Bourne's head, earning him the victory.

Analysis:

The potential for this feud is really strong as both Evan Bourne and John Morrison are exciting to watch in the ring. This feud essentially started Monday when the Raw-ECW talent exchange continued with a tag team match featuring Bourne and Rey Mysterio versus Miz and Morrison.

Evan Bourne probably got all he could have out of his feud with WWE veteran Chavo Guerrero, so it was time for something new. Not only could this feud result in some interesting matchups over the next few weeks, but Miz and Morrison seem like the perfect duo to bring out more of Bourne's personality and character. If WWE utilizes The Dirt Sheet—or if they simply show clips from the WWE.com version—Miz and Morrison could be of great assistance to help connect Evan Bourne with viewers. Maybe he'll even start talking in promos and backstage scenes or argue with Miz and Morrison face-to-face.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6

Previous Feuds
John Morrison & The Miz: Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney, CM Punk, Finlay & Hornswoggle
Evan Bourne: Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely

FINLAY & HORNSWOGGLE vs. MIKE KNOX (7 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Summary Quick Shot:

-As mentioned above, Finlay and Matt Hardy won their match against Mark Henry and Mike Knox when Hardy hit the Twist of Fate on Knox for the win.

-ECW also recapped the Finlay-Knox feud earlier in the show with clips from the past few weeks.

Analysis:

This one confuses me. I had been pretty optimistic about this rivalry once Mike Knox gave a legitimate reason for attacking Finlay and Hornswoggle. The story was sound, and Knox seemed to be benefitting from it. Then WWE temporarily pulled the plug on the feud after about 5 or 6 weeks so that Finlay could focus on the ECW Scramble Match.

Now that Unforgiven has passed, this feud has ostensibly been restarted. One hint for that is how they booked a match with Finlay and Knox, but the finish only involved Hardy and Knox. The problem WWE now faces is that they need to do something else, something more, to put fire behind the rivalry. If a storyline is temporarily discontinued, there needs to be something new or relevant about it for fans to start caring again.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5.5 [down 1.5 since two weeks ago]

Previous Feuds
Finlay: Kane, Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali, Mr. McMahon, JBL, Miz & Morrison
Hornswoggle: Mr. McMahon, Miz & Morrison
Mike Knox: Kelly Kelly, Tommy Dreamer, Evan Bourne


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Matt Hardy vs. The Miz vs. Finlay vs. Mark Henry vs. Chavo Guerrero
(2) Chavo Guerrero (w/ Bam Neely) vs. Evan Bourne


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Super Crazy vs. ?
(2) Gavin Spears vs. ?
(3) Ricky Ortiz vs. ?
(4) Ryan Braddock vs. ?
(5) Jack Swagger vs. ?


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.

Comment on this Article Below

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)

ALSO DISCUSS MORE SUBJECTS IN OUR PWTORCH FREE FORUM

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET


For UFC NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO


MORE "The Specialists" ARTICLES
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.7 - Matt Hardy vs. ROH fans
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's moneyball, Eric Young wins a match, SuperJJ thinks he's Triple H, Matches too short (as usual)
CHARACTER MATTERS: Why The Game Doesn't Play with Me - The Flaws of Triple H's On-Air Persona
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 7/2 TNA Impact: Kurt Angle saw "The Hangover," Stacker2, A.J. Styles Eats a Lot of Cookies, Stacker2, Jeff Jarrett Has the Power of Flight
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's sit-down, Kurt Angle Plays the Game, Matt Morgan a Hit?, Samoa Joe muted, Bad acting, Raven MIA
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - TNA Impact 7/2: Paging Dr. Wayne Cowan, look at all those tag team titles, cool stats for wresters in debut matches in WWE vs. TNA
7/2 WWE Superstars Hits & Misses: Santino, Reks, Edge vs. Punk
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.6 - C.M. Punk vs. ROH
6/30 ECW Hits & Misses: A Look at the Total Re-Launch of ECW
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 6/30 ECW TV: You See, Stereotyping People Put Smiles On Faces
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL: Mark Henry Returns From His Time Machine, Monday Night Raw Wants To Be Like Saturday Night Live, Why "Proven Commodity" Reigns Supreme
6/29 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: McMahon's Announcement, Miz vs. Cena, MVP vs. Triple H, Gauntlet
MAYER'S BLOG: Analyzing the "Re-Draft" - ECW is only supposed to be pillaged once per year, Looking at where Swagger, Hardy, Benjamin fit in
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 6/29 WWE Raw: Raw Trade Players to be Named Later, Spellchecking Signs, A closer look at Lilian Garcia, Can Big Show really bench press a VW?
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - Wrestling Burnout, Suge Knight Shares Foxhole with Vince McMahon, Feuds That Won't Go Away, Yoda Teaches Young Skywalker About "The Cena"
PARKS BLOG: The Bash Hangout Report - Quick Reaction to Rey vs. Jericho, Hunter vs. Orton stretcher job, Miz's clean loss, McCool & Taker
NEWTH'S STORYLINE ANALYSIS - As The Bash airs, get analysis on how WWE handled the Punk-Hardy rivalry leading into the PPV
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 6/26 WWE Smackdown: No good reason why McMahon was on SD, Name Game History of The Bash, English please, The Crusher
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Randy Orton vs. Triple H given away on commercial-free TV

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.

QUICK CLICK REFERENCE LISTING
-CLICK TO FOLLOW PWTORCH ON TWITTER!
-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PWTORCH IPHONE APP

-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PODCAST (#1 in iTunes!)
-CLICK TO GET INFO ON BECOMING A VIP MEMBER
-CLICK TO VISIT MMATORCH.COM
-CLICK TO VISIT PROWRESTLING.NET

-CLICK TO EMAIL PWTORCH EDITORS


PWTORCH READER POLL

TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
Name a replacement partner for Chris Jericho
Vacate the titles and book a tournament
Vacate the titles and book a battle royal
Vacate the titles and book a different "multi-team" match
Have Chris Jericho defend by himself in handicap matches
Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio for the IC and Tag Titles
  

VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS


ARE YOU VIP? SIGN UP NOW FOR $7.50 A MONTH FOR INSTANT ACCESS TO AD-FREE, BENEFIT-PACKED VIP VERSION OF PWTORCH.COM (see screen capture)
PWTORCH VIP HOME PAGE

INFO ON SUBSCRIPTION TO AD-FREE VIP SITE

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!

Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?

AND NEW FOR 2009!
Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?

SIGN ME UP NOW!


UPCOMING EVENTS LISTING

Articles Grouped by Category
Torch Today
FOURTH OF JULY: Fun facts from the Great American Bash 10 & 20 years ago
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 2 of 2)
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 1 of 2)
WWE News
WWE News: Quarterly WWE Raw TV ratings report - Comparing January-March to April-June "WM25 + KFC gimmick" season
WWE News: John Cena says where he will be in ten years, talks about "feud" against The Rock
WWE News: Tommy Dreamer interview, Hacksaw Jim Duggan working on a book, Breaking Point PPV update
TNA News
TNA News: Latest episode of the Spin Cycle with Sting, Jarrett, Cornette, Foley greatness (w/VIDEO)
TNA News: TNA video game franchise without a home after Midway Games bought out; Analysis of interesting domino effect involving WWE
TNA News: Sting talks Shockmaster with Jeff Jarrett, Jim Cornette (w/VIDEOS)
ROH News
ROH News: Lance Storm's first match out of retirement announced, details on second match against Chris Hero
ROH News: Notes on Toronto Gauntlet match, Nigel McGuinness below-average performances into storyline, ROH selling PWG DVDs
TOP FIVE STORIES - Weekend edition: Three WWE PPV title changes, WWE announcer leaving, Lashley blasts Sapp, Jerry Lawler's son arrested, "State of TNA" address
Other News
Other News: Torch Talk All-Star Lanny Poffo Video interview, great poem on taking out Hulk Hogan
Other News: Brian Blair denies hitting his children in Father's Day Fight; local news runs 911 call leading to arrest (w/VIDEO)
Other News: New clip of Rob Van Dam doing a stunt for his upcoming movie (w/VIDEO)
PPV Reports
THE BASH PPV COVERAGE: Listing of the Torch's WWE PPV coverage - Title changes, Jericho writes on Rey match, Miz on Cena match
RADICAN'S WWE THE BASH PPV BLOG 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Hunter PPV
CALDWELL'S WWE THE BASH PPV REPORT 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Triple H, Punk vs. Hardy
TV Reports
WWE VINTAGE COLLECTION TV REPORT 7/5: Awesome show - Tiger Mask '82, Randy Savage vs. Dynamite Kid, Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio
TNA EPICS TV REPORT 7/4: Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss, Infamous Sabu vs. Abyss "Barbed Wire Massacre" match
7/2 TNA Impact Recap by Wilkenfeld: The oddly-invincible Jeff Jarrett
Arena Reports
7/3 WWE in San Diego, Calif.: First-hand report on Edge's apparent injury, Punk vs. Rey Mysterio, Ricky Steamboat in action
6/27 ROH in Chicago: Austin Aries vs. Nigel McGuinness, KENTA vs. Black, Petey Williams looks odd, Crowd eats up Flair's generic promo
6/28 PWG in California: Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher, Davey Richards vs. Young Buck, Michael Jackson entrance themes
MMA / UFC Coverage
UFC News: Kimbo Slice, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans plus rest of cast of TUF 10 to be revealed...
UFC - ENNIS COLUMN: The Lay of the Lane - A look at MMA's top heavyweights from Brock to Mir to Carwin to Fedor to...
MMA: Plan a week of UFC and other MMA viewing with the Torch's viewer's guide including Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
KELLER'S TAKE
KELLER: How bookers, like Jeff Jarrett last night, show that they're the toughest SOBs in the world
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT TAKE 7/2: Thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
KELLER'S ECW ON SCI-FI REPORT 6/30: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
MITCHELL'S TAKE
MITCHELL SHORT: WWE Proving Once Again That Life is Easy...
MOJO MITCHELL'S 6/29 Raw Stream Of Randy Orton Faces ECW and Loses and That's The Main Event
Mitchell Short: Your Thank-You Note to WWE
MCNEILL'S TAKE
The Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Buyrates: McNEILL Previews WWE Bash 2009!
Redemption: McNEILL previews TNA Slammiversary 7!
MCNEILL BLOG: A Modest Proposal For Monday Night Trump
CALDWELL'S TAKE
CALDWELL: Analysis of WWE's roster shuffle from the 15-person trade - who benefited, which brand needs help
CALDWELL: Instant Reaction to key storylines on Raw and post-PPV developments
CALDWELL: WWE Smackdown/The Bash PPV analysis - Don't Mess with C.M. Punk's dynamic character
RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN: Torch readers sounds off on Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw (w/Radican Reax)
RADICAN: Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw leaves a bad smell in the room
RADICAN: A follow up on the Death Before Dishonor audio with Feinstein with notes on Special K angle, Punk-Raven feud, where's Misawa now?
The Specialists
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.7 - Matt Hardy vs. ROH fans
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's moneyball, Eric Young wins a match, SuperJJ thinks he's Triple H, Matches too short (as usual)
Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: Historical perspective on Austin Aries's ROH Title victory - his journey from main event to mid-card back to main event
EDITORIAL: TNA needs to K.I.S.S. the King of the Mountain match to make it more appealing to TNA viewers
EDITORIAL: How WWE could have better handled the Vickie-Edge segment on Raw and caught up with the year 2009
Torch Feedback
Smackdown TV Reax #1: "Fresh match-ups, superstars, and storylines just create great TV"
Thursday Night TV Reax - SS/Impact: "X Division, we hardly knew ya after Abyss beat up the only two representatives who showed up"
ECW TV Reax #2: "Yoshi is already on the road to being the next Funaki at this point"
Ask the Editor
Ask the Editor: Wouldn't incorporating MMA-style holds into pro wrestling matches just be trying to be something it's not?
ASK THE EDITOR: Have the Michaels-Batista promos crossed a line with use of insider terms, references to "jobs"?
ASK THE EDITOR: Why do wrestlers in WWE refer to wrestling as "the business" and not "the sport"?
DVDs - VGames - Books
RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES: 2/7 "Proving Ground: Night 2" (Danielson-Generico, Steen-Richards)
RADICAN'S TORCH DVD REVIEW SERIES: YouShoot with Sabu: Sabu opens up about working in WWE, incident with Kurt Angle, negotions with TNA, more...
RADICAN'S PWTorch DVD review: The Best of RVD TV Vol. 1: RVD trains MMA with a UFC fighter, talks the power of the mind with The Ultimate Warrior, discusses love on a beach with Samoa Joe
Torch Flashbacks
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT REPORT (5 Yrs. Ago): Eric Young headlines, Jerry Lynn, R-Truth, Dusty Rhodes, Sabu, A.J. Styles, Jarrett, D-Ray 3000!
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Bruce Mitchell Feature Column - The Fluke Death of Owen Hart - May 23, 1999
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Torch Newsletter #550 cover story on Owen Hart's death (PART TWO) - May 23, 1999
VIP Exclusive Features
7/5 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Cena says he wants to be doing same thing in ten years, but can he last? Plus Duggan, Dreamer, Raw, Submissions PPV (12 min.)
7/4 Bruce Mitchell Audio Show, part two: The Vickie Guerrero Injustice, Torrie Disrespect, Jericho Laments Schedule, Wrestler Twitters Going Too Far, Punk's Surprising Hardy Comment, TNA's Ho-Hum Kidnapping of Lauren (76 min.)
7/4 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Edge Injured, Jeff Hardy's Uncertain Future, WWE PPV Strategy, Wrestling on FX? (19 min.)
Torch Trivia
TORCH TRIVIA 2/28: Which wrestler backed out of a WWA PPV in February 2002?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/27: Who said this quote about Hulk Hogan's athleticism 11 years ago?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/25: What said this quote about WWE's mid-1990s drug testing policy?
Torch Instant Polls
TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
FOURTH OF JULY POLL: What's your favorite July 4th "gimmick" in pro wrestling?
7/3 SMACKDOWN MICROSCOPE POLL: What related topic from tonight's Smackdown do you want to see analyzed Under the Microscope?
PWTorch Free Podcast
6/23 Nostalgia Audio with Brian Hoops: Former WCW rapmaster PN News joins Brian Hoops to preview upcoming Midwest shows (10 min.)
FREE AUDIO: Keller & Mitchell Discuss Randy Savage's Place in WWE History, Elizabeth's Strengths and Weaknesses
FREE FOR ALL TODAY - 5/31 Keller Hotline: Tons of info on Kennedy situation, immediate future, plus what top star's days in TNA are numbered, what's working against Kennedy getting big push in TNA, much more
Annual Obituaries
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 1999 - Muchnick, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, Renegade...
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2000 - Solie, Albright, Duncum, Tsuruta, Blue Demon, Al Costello
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2001: Johnny Valentine, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, Bertha Faye, Helen Hart