1/27 ECW TV Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Dreamer vs. Henry. Worst: Boogeyman-Ortiz. Matt Hardy gives an out to every other wrestler who's ever moved from one brand to another since the draft: he just asked to leave. Why was Teddy Long so willing to just let him go when he makes life difficult for any other wrestler who does something considered remotely heinous? I would rather have Matt come out and ask for the leave instead of Teddy announcing it. His explanation would further define his alignment (frustrated face or pissed off heel) before he left. The announcers so quickly dismissed Matt Hardy rather than wondering out loud what could be in Hardy's mind. With one less member on the roster, and none added in (or back in), Swagger's run can't be sustained as a heel. Two top (healthy) faces remain: Finlay and Dreamer. Finlay looks to be the transition to Dreamer's retirement storyline, and is solid enough to give Swagger another credible opponent to notch on his belt. I'm glad that the easy way isn't happening with Tommy Dreamer. Mark Henry got some heat back from the Rumble, which was fine. At the same time Dreamer didn't just suddenly become credible on his road back to one last championship. It will be interesting to see how this will be followed up on next week.

Alex Roberts in the U.K. (4.0): Best Match: Henry vs. Dreamer. Worst Match: Ortiz vs. Boogeyman. Teddy Long is easily the single most ineffective authority figure in professional wrestling. We're really supposed to believe that he just let his top star waltz off to Smackdown with no compensation or argument? The WWE could and should have used this as a way to bring a fresh face to ECW to help fill the void left by the departure of Matt Hardy. To make matters worse, Long was then completely indifferent when informed that his brand's title belt went gone missing. Long telling his champion that he's too busy to deal with it showed Long has reached the absolute height of ineffective booking. He doesn't have the charisma, presence, confidence, or general aura of power to overcome any of it. Away from Long's ineptitude, ECW was a trainwreck this week. None of the matches were worthwhile or even particularly entertaining and the likes of Ricky Ortiz and Boogeyman continue to get pushes while Burchill and Katie Lea are wasted as jobbers. Jack Swagger meanwhile is trying his best to grow into the role of champion and I'm willing to give him time to do it given how remarkable his improvements have been since his debut. Of course, being stuck with the awful segments, like what he was given during this show, probably won't help him much. Working with Finlay, however, should do nothing but good things for him in the ring and I'm hopeful these two will get a decent amount of time at No Way Out or even WrestleMania.

1/20 ECW TV Reax before Royal Rumble PPV

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Hardy-Swagger opener. Worst: Boogeyman. Last chance for ECW to set itself up for the Royal Rumble PPV and it delivered. In the middle was another tidbit for the Dreamer storyline, which hinted Dreamer's first feud in his storyline and a continuation of another one. It didn't do much to bump up Dreamer's credibility, but at least showed some thought was put into Dreamer at this stage in his career. Was it just or did Ricky Ortiz look pissed off when he came out for his match? He entered and wrestled pretty much like a heel, then went to the back as a face. And I just knew that Burchill was going to feed to Boogeyman, but thankfully he wasn't squashed (nor was Katie embarrassed). The main event had a surprise of Morrison pinning Miz. It's the best illustrator of the "every man for himself" concept of the Rumble match, but I'm hoping it's not a future sign for the duo. The opening segment was fairly short and covered its points, and was fairly even so no obvious assumption can be made of the match on Sunday. Nothing was really pointed out about Swagger's loss on Smackdown, so it may be treated as nothing more than a non-title win for Matt. How Swagger is perceived to be carrying himself in his first real PPV match will show up in the end result.

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