By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Opening Segment: ECW was far from a great show, but it got off to a very good start with the in ring segment between former ECW Champion, Matt Hardy, and the new ECW Champion, Jack Swagger. It was a good way to get an update on Jeff Hardy's condition, while advancing the storyline slightly with Matt's statement that the pyro accident was not actually an accident. Then they moved on to Matt's Title loss last week and his upcoming rematch at the Royal Rumble. Hardy was solid on the mic. He put over Swagger and didn't make any excuses. Then Swagger came to the ring and delivered well in his part. I'm not sure what comes first, his confidence as a performer or his confidence as a character. Either way, he exuded that confidence. It also worked because it added a personal element to the feud which was lacking before. It had been all about the Title, which is fine. But now, it is also about Hardy wanting to get revenge on Swagger for his comments about Jeff.

ECW MISSES

None: As I said above, this was far from a great episode of ECW. However, there are no Misses. That is a bit contradictory, I will admit. Yet, the reason is that nothing stood out as being singularly bad enough to get a Miss. At the same time, nothing after the opening segment stood out as being singularly good enough to get a Hit either. Ricky Ortiz isn't good, but his squash win over the jobber was ok. So was the scene with Teddy Long, Tommy Dreamer and Paul Burchill. I hate the Boogeyman, but I am tired of complaining about him. Plus, one of my complaints has been the total lack of crowd response for him, but this crowd actually liked him and gave him a good response (for some reason which is beyond me). I could have done without the Raw Rebound (as always), but this one was at least for a really big major angle, so I wasn't that bothered by it. I enjoyed the Royal Rumble video on Raw. I didn't need to see it again on ECW, but it was a good video so I don't mind. The main event fatal four way was also ok, which seems to be my word of the day. There was some decent wrestling action, but it was not good enough to be a Hit. It was just ok (there's that word again). After the first segment, the show just sort of existed, which wasn't particularly enjoyable to watch.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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