By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Shaemus vs. Goldust: After a bad start to ECW, the show ended up being pretty good, starting with this rematch of Shaemus vs. Goldust. Normally, the match itself really wasn't long enough to get a Hit. It was good while it lasted. It featured solid to good wrestling action. Shaemus continues to impress in the ring. It was interesting to see him pick apart a body part like Goldust's shoulder, instead of just squashing his opponent. He even threw in a really good submission hold. Goldust was good in his comeback attempt. All of that led to a short but good match. However, this Hit is also for what happened afterwards. Shaemus was right in the middle of a promo (one that made me take notice of his mic skills more than I had before) when Goldust beat him up from behind and chased him away. Matt Striker had a great line about Goldust finding his aggressive side which is what he needs to once again be successful. This is the type of feud that can help firmly establish Shaemus, while also giving credibility to Goldust which would be useful for his future angles.

Smackdown Rebound: I have said many times that WWE never needs to do a Raw rebound, especially considering the size difference of the audiences for Raw and ECW. I have also said that it would be better to do a Smackdown Rebound instead. Well, they did it. It was a much better Smackdown than Raw so I was much happier to see this recap. My only complaint is that it should have been shown on Raw too.

Dreamer vs. Christian: This is one of those fun to watch if you turn off your brain type of matches. Tommy Dreamer and Christian did put on an entertaining Extreme Rules match. They did some innovative spots with the weapons. The use of the hot dog stand and the car dar obviously stand out. There was even a tad bit of ring psychology at the beginning of the match when Christian hesitated in using a weapon, but Dreamer didn't. Why did he hesitate? Did he not want to blast his friend? Unfortunately, that theme went out the window right away and we were left with a more typical WWE style hardcore match. When I say you have to turn off your brain to enjoy it, I mean that it is unbelievable that each guy could take that much punishment. When they face in a normal match, they wouldn't have that type of ability to keep getting up. In other words, in most normal matches, if one wrestler cheats and uses a weapon once on his opponent, he is going to get the win, but not here. But, WWE doesn't do these matches often which helps make them feel novel when they do.

ECW MISSES

Abraham Washington Show: Everything about this opening segment was terrible. Hearing Abraham Washington go on and on about Sarah Palin was bad with his horrible jokes. It was interesting that Zack Ryder got a babyface pop for coming out to interrupt him. I know he is a local boy, but I think he would have gotten the same positive reaction in any arena just for his music putting a stop to Washington's monologue. Now, here is the question. Who were the fans supposed to cheer in this segment? Surely not Washington. So, they cheer Ryder as the local hero who interrupted Washington and disrespected his set. But then, Ryder acted like an ass. He is fully established as a heel. But, so is Shelton Benjamin. Hearing two heels rip a wrestler would usually signal that he is a babyface. Benjamin came out to respond as if he were a babyface. But, he is a heel. If WWE wants him to be a face now, he has to have more of a turn than just cussing out these two in Smurf language (which was really lame, as was Matt Striker's use of it at the end of the segment). The Abraham Idol was ridiculous. The idea of fighting over who is more entertaining isn't going to get fans interested. The physicality at the end was well done, but who cared at that point?

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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