By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Opening Segment: ECW got off to a good start this week with the opening segment featuring Tommy Dreamer, Christian and Jack Swagger. This was a nice way to follow up on Dreamer becoming the ECW Champion at Extreme Rules. Dreamer gave a classic teary eyed promo. Christian came off as a heel and the fans responded that way. However, they responded in an even more negative way when Swagger came out. I kept expecting something strange to happen as Dreamer kept getting interrupted before having a chance to sign his new contract, but it didn't which was good. After Jeff Hardy won the World Title from Edge only to lose it to CM Punk moments later, and after Batista won the WWE Title from Randy Orton only to have it stripped the next night on Raw, I didn't want to see another new Champion lose his Title for some reason so soon. The physicality at the end of the segment worked well as Christian got Dreamer back for the DDT from last week.

Possible Hurricane Return: I for one was happy to see a hint that The Hurricane might be returning to WWE. If Gregory Helms is not going to retire from the ring, and if he is healthy then a return to the ring as The Hurricane has a lot of potential. If he isn't returning to the ring, then I'm not sure where WWE would go with his character, but there might be potential for a super hero / backstage announcer too.

Christian & Swagger vs. The Hart Dynasty: This was a good main event. This is a case where storytelling and wrestling quality came together to create a good match. This was all about how Christian and Swagger were not able to work as a team, while Tyson Kidd and Christian got in some very good in ring action. David Hart Smith hasn't shown me much in his ECW run, but he certainly looks better in tag matches where he doesn't have to be in the ring for an entire match than he has so far in singles matches. Swagger was great in his role on the outside as an antagonist to his partner. It all worked. Dreamer's involvement afterwards worked also. It was interesting to see him come to Christian's aid. WWE has officially made Dreamer look like a bigger star than they had in his first, I don't know, seven or eight years in the company.

ECW MISSES

Bourne vs. Atlas: This 4 minute match was not a good way to showcase Evan Bourne's skills. In fact, this whole feud with Bourne and Mark Henry falls into that category. Hopefully, WWE will find a way to move this feud to another place where we can see what makes Bourne so much fun. Atlas is a Hall of Famer, but he shouldn't be in the ring. He did very basic moves and looked competent, but that didn't make for a good match.

Kozlov: I am bored with Vladimir Kozlov, and no amount of bizarre grin is going to change my mind.

3 Hour Raw Next Week: I am only giving this a Miss in my Hits & Misses for ECW as it was the official announcement of two of the three title matches for the show. We got the announcement that a new WWE Champion would be crowned in a Fatal Four Way between John Cena, Big Show, Triple H and Randy Orton. The problem is that they didn't make a big enough deal about Batista forfeiting the Title. Also, I wasn't thrilled with the way the ECW Title match, Dreamer vs. Christian was just sort of thrown out there with little fan fare, on ECW no less. Dreamer and Christian had interaction and Christian said he wanted a rematch, but to just have the announcers say it will happen on Raw next week seems anticlimactic. Also, do we really want to see another 3 hour Raw?

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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