By Greg Parks, Torch specialist

PWTorch VIP members have first-look access to all of Torch Smackdown specialist Greg Parks's latest blogs in the newly upgraded VIP Forum. His blogs are published first in the PWTorch VIP Forum, and Parks interacts with other VIP members and Torch staff and contributors in the blog comments area afterward. Some of Parks's blog entries will be exclusive to the VIP Forum.

So I was pretty excited about the prospect of a Finlay vs. David Hart Smith match on ECW heading into last night. I'd get to see some new blood in Hart matched up against a wily veteran like Finlay, who can help him improve in the ring. It had all the makings of a solid contest.

And then they had the match. And boy was it just excruciating to sit through. I know Wade Keller has railed on Finlay's style in the past, but it really came to light in this one. I can't imagine anyone thinking a match with all those rest-holds would be a good idea to put on TV in 2009. And for almost 20 minutes? I can't imagine WWE's target audience of young kids, with their short attention spans, caring anything at all about that match.

The worst part is it did nothing for Smith. Like most heels in WWE now, he won thanks to outside interference. It's his debut match and he should have gone over strong....I mean, do they really need to keep Finlay from avoiding a clean loss? Why protect him? It's the same thing that's killing Legacy right now.

Smith spent most of the match sitting in a hold, or applying one. We learned very little about his in-ring style and there wasn't much to get excited about. It really did nothing for him. Even Matt Striker and Josh Mathews seemed bored on commentary.

I can, however, understand those who liked the match. It's a style that is different from everything else in WWE right now, a bit old-school (which is en vogue) and there was nothing technically wrong with the match as the holds and locks were applied properly and everything.

But the bottom line is it just wasn't entertaining. I mean, they did so little in the match, I can't even remember much about it, save for all the rest-holds. It was just a chore to watch and it pains me to say that because I think Smith has promise and as I said earlier, I generally like Finlay's in-ring work. But for a TV main event that went 20 minutes, this was just awful.

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