By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Hurricane vs. Burchill: This is a marginal Hit. It was good to see a healthy Gregory Helms (or is it?) back in the ring. He seems like he needs to shake off the ring rust and get into better shape, but that will come with time. He looked good otherwise. Paul Burchill played his part during the match well as the overpowering bully. He is developing a bit of a character with this feud, like how he expressed his displeasure with Hurricane's antics. I like that they were given 11 minutes. But, the match itself wasn't that good. It was solid. It had some nice action and some good moves. They seemed a step off at times. But, it was still a marginal Hit.

Ryder vs. Tatsu: This is another marginal Hit. It was a good match between Zack Ryder and Yoshi Tatsu, but it was too short at just 3 minutes. I enjoyed it while it lasted and wished it would have lasted longer, but that is in part a testament to Ryder and Tatsu. If the match had stunk while it lasted, I wouldn't mind the short length. Also, I am more forgiving of the short match in this case as it wasn't part of a feud (like last week's Ryder vs. Shelton Benjamin). It was a random match between two mid carders. Tatsu seems over with the fans and will still be popular despite the loss, while Ryder gained some momentum after his loss last week to Benjamin. So, it worked fine in the end. It also allowed Matt Striker to make the first Dick Togo reference on WWE tv in years.

Regal's Royal Roundtable: The focus of ECW was on the main event which was good. It started after the opening match with the new interviewer, Courtney Taylor (two first names?) with Tommy Dreamer, who was then ambushed by Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal. That led to the inevitable that Christian would have to find a new partner for the main event tag (which was predictably Ezekiel Jackson). At the end of that main event, we found out that Jackson was actually working with Regal and Kozlov. It wasn't clear as to whether this was a one night deal, or the start of a new faction (which I'm calling "Regal's Royal Roundtable" in hopes that WWE writers are more creative that I am). It will be interesting to see how this develops at SummerSlam and going forward on ECW next week. I was also thrilled to see the Jackson - Kozlov angle advance, not into a feud but a partnership.

ECW MISSES

Abraham Washington Show: I like the fact that WWE gave some mic time to Goldust and Shaemus this week as a follow up to their recent string of matches. However, I would have liked a better stage for the verbal confrontation that The Abraham Washington Show. I'm just not into his gimmick. It is the same shtick every week and it is already old (insult real late night talk show hosts, insult local fans, say he's just playing, insult babyface, say he's just playing, bring out second guest, etc.). And, the actual verbal encounter wasn't good. Goldust didn't get much in about Shaemus as he started to stutter. We didn't hear his thoughts. Shaemus didn't have much time to talk and then they went face to face, then Washington abruptly ended the show. It just wasn't well written to really advance the storyline.

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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