By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Opening Segment: ECW got off to a good start. Jack Swagger was good in his refusal to leave the ring. He is showing skills on the mic. I love his flippant attitude towards Tiffany. I love how he called her "blondie" and referred to her as a temp. He is playing his part very well. I wasn't thrilled at how the scene resembled a teacher scolding a student. It made Swagger look weak when he ultimately left to talk to Tiffany in her office after not getting what he wanted. However, the scene had such a strong ending with him pushing Christian off the entrance ramp, that he got his heat back and the segment recovered and landed itself in the Hit column.

Christian vs. Burchill: This was a good match. It was nice to see a 9 minute match go uninterrupted for a change. It was slow at times, but it told a good story of Paul Burchill trying to capitalize on Christian's knee injury, while the Champ tried to fend him off. The announcers could have done a better job of talking about what a huge opportunity this was for Burchill. They could have created a real since of urgency for the match, but that isn't the fault of the wrestlers who put on a good match, especially in the final few minutes when the action really picked up.

No Raw Rebound: I was pleased that there wasn't a Raw Rebound. That gave more time to feature the ECW roster. We saw Christian, Finlay, David Hart Smith and Burchill in medium to long matches, and a Zach Ryder squash. Jack Swagger had two appearances. Vladimir Kozlov cut a promo, and there was a backstage interview with Tommy Dreamer setting up his Title match against Christian on Superstars (Swagger has to interfere, and the triple threat I was predicting for Judgment Day has to happen at Extreme Rules). Throw in a backstage segment with the Hard Trilogy, and you got talking and wrestling action from ten ECW wrestlers, which isn't bad for a one hour show. Now, I wasn't thrilled with all of those segments, but the effort was there. If there had been a long recap of Raw, what would have been cut out?

ECW MISSES

Kozlov: It wasn't long, but it was boring. I am just not into this Russian military gimmick. I saw Kozlov at a house show before he had debuted on camera (even before his early Double Double E appearances at ringside) when he was called Oleg Prudius, which I believe is his real name. He was wearing the same military outfit and I groaned as he was interviewed in the ring. Although it took WWE several months to actually debut him on tv at that point, I was happy that they had dropped the military uniform from his gimmick. But, now it is back. And really, who cares about his gimmick? His promos are always going to suck and he is always going to suck in the ring. I'm not buying whatever WWE is selling for this guy.

Smith vs. Finlay: Man, this was boring. It just kept going and going and never picked up the pace other than for a few short moments. The first part of the match consisted of Finlay putting the same arm hold on Smith several times while Smith slowly inched to the ropes to break the hold, only to have Finlay reapply it a second later. It was monotonous, but it picked up some before the commercial, as Smith hit the running power slam like his dad on the outside. However, things were slow again after the break. It was one submission hold after another with Smith focusing on Finlay's back. I have no problem with submission holds. I love them when they are done well. But, they have to look good and they have to break up faster action. These didn't look like they would actually hurt. One of my least favorite moves in wrestling is a camel clutch when the opponent is on his knees, and it was used twice in this match. Seriously, with Finlay on his knees, it looks like there is no pressure on his back or neck at all. And it kept going and going at that pace. It picked up for the final minute or so, but even that culminated in a stupid ending with Smith knocking out Finlay with Natalya's shoe. And, the better pace at the end came after 18 minutes of boring action, so who cares at that point?

No Evan Bourne: This is the second week in a row without Evan Bourne. Where is he? He wasn't on Superstars last week, and isn't booked for Superstars this week. If he is unavailable for some reason, a personal issue or something, then I can understand that. And I know that I praised the effort from ECW of having more of the roster represented on the show. However, they have to get Bourne on. I would have preferred no Kozlov promo, and a much shorter main event in order to get Bourne some action.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars 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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