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ECW Reax #1: "The quality of ECW is taking a horrendous nosedive and WWE seems oblivious."
May 7, 2008 - 4:41:16 AM


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Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (0.5): Best Match: Main Event. Worst Match: Opening. What a mess. Just sad. The downward spiral for ECW started somewhere back a month ago. Used to be a time where Raw and ECW were reliable shows. Now they are just duds and the pendlum has swung towards Smackdown and Impact (help me) as shows I look forward to. There is a "yin/yang" in wrestling, in that for every excellent moment, there are abysmal ones. They call these times "The Lean Times," when fans are strugg-a-ling trying to stay emotionally involved, the feuds are barely lukewarm, and watching shows seem more like a test of endurance. At first I gave "Bad Mic" Mike Adalme a chance. Some hiccups, but maybe he could grow. I thought that on Raw showing him as a joke would be the nail in the coffin. I gave him a month, and after a month (especially after the last Raw), I thought, "Well, he's gone." So when ECW opened up with the "voice of ECW" Adalme bathering on about how he announced football games and American Gladiators, well, whoopee doo. Adalme is not a wrestling announcer. Mick Foley is light years ahead of Adalme. Nothing against Adalme, but alone he makes ECW not at all fun to watch anymore. During this opening I was expecting Sandman to pop up and cane him silly. But I guess I'm supposed to take him seriously. I would rather not spend my Tuesday nights listening to wrestlers mocking their announcer (boy, that's really productive for your show). The quality of ECW is taking a horrendous nosedive and WWE seems oblivious. Listening to this show was bad. This was comedy hour, but it was sad that it was trying to be respectable. The most remarkable thing of the night was when they showed a video package of RVD vs. Hardcore Holly, with all of the pain, injury, and blood. Then right after that "up next is Kofi Kingston vs. Matt Striker!" Right. I gave up and started to watch ECW on mute, which I'm thinking of doing when I watch this show now. I guess ECW nowadays is good for if you want to do voice-overs in your living room.

Eric Gall of Bridgeport, Conn. (7.0): Best Match: Colin Delaney vs. Estrada, Dreamer vs. Knox. Worst Match: Nothing to speak of. The story of underdog Colin Delaney is infinitely more watchable than supermen main-eventers destroying the rest of the card. The pre-match scene with the locker room encouraging Colin was a great moment. It might not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but this is my wrestling TV moment of the year - a five-foot-nothing, one-hundred-and-nothing "Rudy" who's fighting just to get a spot on the roster. For a one-hour program, there seemed to be something for everyone on the roster. Nobody was buried, storylines were advanced, and nothing made me want to kick in the screen of the TV. It's these little things that ECW does that still makes it my favorite WWE show. I know it's the trendy thing to do to diss ECW, but because it's mostly left to itself to put on a wrestling show and not to force storylines and "superstars" down our throats, but I still say it's the best show coming out of Titan Tower these days.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Tommy Dreamer vs. Mike Knox; Colin Delaney post-match Worst: Chuck Palumbo promo ECW did all right for Number 100. The replays from the vaults will probably want fans to want RVD, Sabu, and the other Originals back, but that's not likely gonna happen. Kofi-Striker moved along the Kofi-Shelton feud without the two going a full match, Shelton did well cn commentary, too; works better with others versus going alone. Speaking of commentary, who knew Stevie Richards could do so well? He helped to put over the opening Extreme Rules match and Dreamer's ECW experience very well. Colin finally got his win, and it was received by the crowd as a big enough deal, but WWE didn't give it the treatment it deserved. Armando Estrada looked very good in there body-wise, but didn't bring much to the table in terms of repertoire (but it fits his character). Colin put over his big-deal win like a pro. There's a starstruck quality to his promo which really added a nce touch. Kelly's Expose was repetitve in moves, but unlike the other dance-offs, there were smooth transitions between "look at me... no, look at me." The brawl that followed was nicely done. Those two should go to Smackdown as there really is no one else there to move them along. Lena Yada, however, should be sent away as she couldn't put two words together, which badly effected Palumbo's promo. The fact there was no followup didn't help, either. The main event was blah, but furthered something along that everyone so failed to look at as performance. More proof that "Mike Adamle" is a work after Raw last night is the very stiff delivery of his promo. In character he's been under serious pressure and this promo showed it. No further explanation was given to his losing his cool, but that may come into play soon enough. In the opening match, with Stevie Richards at commentary, Adamle was much more relaxed and less prone to make mistakes. In the main event, Miz and Morrison were at the comm, and Adamle was summarily trashed and buried throughout the match. Tazz did clearly try to support Mike, but got caught up a little. Am I the only one seeing a Tim White-esque or "gone postal" storyline on the horizon?

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "ECW Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on ECW, click here.

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