WWE: ECW TV Reax - January 13, 2008

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (5.0): Best: Swagger vs. Hardy. Worst: everything else. Tonight was a one-trick pony show at the expense of what could have been a solid show. The opening tag match had my attention offset by Striker's focus on Burchill's knee braces. Yes, they are a part of Burchill's ring gear, but I think they serve a more important purpose for someone with past knee injuries. Dreamer's "I'll retire if I don't reach my goal" speech was nicely delivered, but his credibility is useless now. It would take a Herculean effort to make Tommy look threatening enough to challenge for the ECW title by June. Save for the Swagger video, the rest was plain filler or replay which hurt the momentum of the program. Matt's promo, Swagger's video package, in-ring intros, and all-show build made the match important and the title a big deal. The match itself was very nicely done, with the finish sold well. I'd rather see Jack pick up a limp Matt Hardy than know I'm seeing a choreographed finishing move. I was pleasantly surprised that Swagger was given the strap, but I'm concerned with Swagger being pushed this fast. Hardy gets a re-match, so the next match may tell us if we should be assuming that Hardy is going elsewhere.

Alex Roberts in the U.K. (6.5): Best Match: Swagger vs. Hardy. Worst Match: Boogeyman vs. jobber. It's been weeks since his debut and still I'm not seeing anything in D.J. Gabriel to make me excited. He's just unimpressive in almost every way imaginable. However, he is a giant leap ahead of The Boogeyman. Just how many times is WWE going try pushing this guy before they get the message? On the plus side I was incredibly impressed by Tommy Dreamer this week. He delivered a very strong promo that sets up a strong One Night Stand title match but what's more impressive is that WWE is even thinking that far ahead. I don't for a second think he's actually going to become ECW champion, but it's nice to see WWE trying to make his eventual retirement meaningful. Speaking of the ECW Title, I really enjoyed the Swagger vs. Hardy main event and while it may be too soon to put the belt on Swagger, it's hard to deny that he's been incredibly impressive since his debut and has turned in ever improving performances. I don't however understand why the WWE opted to do this on free TV and not at The Rumble. Nor can I understand why they've felt the need to take the title off of Hardy at this point, unless they have bigger plans for him on Smackdown? None the less, I nervously await the coming weeks to see how Swagger adapts to his new championship status. This will either make or break him and for the WWE's sake I hope it makes him because potentially Swagger is their next big star.

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