David Moore of Concord, Calif. (3.0): Best Match: C.M. Punk vs. John Morrison. Worst Match: Can I only pick one? In the words of Jerry "The King" Lawler, tonight ECW truly stood for, "Extremely Crappy Wrestling." For some reason I'm just not interested in Viscera A.K.A. Big Daddy V... And I'm even less interested in Balls Mahoney. I'm tired of being force fed Balls every week and the storyline with him and Kelly is just so stupid. Am I a fan of the original ECW? Yes! But I never was a fan of Balls Mahoney, this guy has zero charisma and zero wrestling skill. As for Big Daddy V, kind of hard to see him as "dominant," when I saw him as the 500 pound love machine. The only reason this show gets a 3.0 is for C.M. Punk and John Morrison, otherwise it would get a -923322354654654674. I think it's time to retire the ECW brand if this is all it has to offer.
Dan Wahlers (5.0): Best Match: Punk vs. Morrison. Worst Match: Thorn vs. Curtis. A pretty standard episode of ECW these days. It wasn't a good show, it wasn't a bad show, it was just kind of there. C.M. Punk and John Morrison had a solid main event match. Nice follow-up from No Mercy with Punk selling the ribs. I guess there will be no on-air punishment for Morrison like there has been for Ken Kennedy. Punk appeared to land right on his head with that reverse suplex/face buster finisher. They always have pretty good matches, but Punk-Morrison is a feud, I have no desire to see anymore. The Balls/Kelly/Miz storyline was forwarded ever so slightly. I'm enjoying the storyline so far. I'm really liking the character Miz is playing. Big Daddy V squashed poor, bald Tommy Dreamer again, and Kevin Thorn beat the immortal James Curtis. A quick, inoffensive hour of wrestling. But nothing I will remember tomorrow, or even an hour from now.
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (6.0): Best: Punk vs. Morrison. Worst: Big Daddy V vs. Dreamer. With a paper thin roster and only one match represented at No Mercy, not much ECW can do for an outgo show. The squashings served their purposes for Thorn and V, though I keep thinking that one day V will legitimately hurt someone with that elbow or Samoan drop of his. The countout finish of the Balls-Miz match was lame compared to their previous in-ring encounters, and Miz seemed to leave without Kelly, despite the fact that the point was driven home that Miz essentially owns Kelly. The storyline lost a step as a result. Yes, the finish at No Mercy was ridiculous, but it did help with the in-ring story for the returning Morrison looking to get some heat back. Punk took some sick suplex bumps outside on the steps and the modified inverted superplex on the inside, that did look like Punk almost took a header. That I can tell, even with the rib selling, I don't think he was being dead weight on that move. Thorn botched his finisher but recovered on his own; Punk botched a springboard dropkick but the crowd seemed to accept the rib selling as an out for the misplaced feet. And Morrison added an interesting enzuigiri to his repertoire. I'd like to see Punk keep the title for a little while longer before may they start trading it off.
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