-- 7/14 ECW TV Reax

Brian Jaffe of Iowa City, Iowa (7.5): Best Match: Shelton vs. Christian. Worst Match: Kozlov vs. Dreamer. I think the New Superstar Initiative is already going quite well, as this week's ECW was entertaining. Shelton vs. Christian was a great great match, and it's nice to see that WWE isn't just going to have Shelton on the mid-card. Vladimir Kozlov is starting to show some personality, which is a big improvement for him. Ezekiel Jackson's promo was generic; he should stick to destroying people in the ring. It's a little shocking how popular Yoshi Tatsu has become in only three weeks, and even a trip on the top rope didn't stop the crowd from going nuts for the guy. Tyler Reks seems extremely generic to me, but then again, so did Randy Orton and John Cena when they debuted. I am absolutely loving Zack Ryder, and I hope WWE realizes how great he is in his role. I truly think that Sheamus will be the next Jack Swagger on ECW - the young guy who just rockets up the card. He has such a unique look and has an aura about him that screams that he will be a big star. Dreamer vs. Kozlov was exactly what I expected, though it was interesting to see the ECW Champ and #1 Contender both lose, as well as seeing Kozlov stand dominant at the end of the show. Overall, a pretty good ECW that has me excited to see what's coming next.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.5): Best: Christian vs. Benjamin. Worst: Sheamus vs. jobber. While it wasn't perfect, this was a well balanced show. Despite Ezekiel's horrible first impression, he did follow up well on the mic introducing himself more. It was smart to tie in the partnership with Kendrick rather than start from scratch. He could have driven the dagger in
deeper by saying that since Kendrick's been without him, Kendrick's been nothing. I'm not totally convinced Yoshi Tatsu's slip on the springboard move was a botch. Springboard maneuvers do have a small degree of error so it may be and I'll stand corrected if it was so. But something about the way his left foot slipped didn't fit a botching. We'll see the next few weeks what that move meant. If Evan Bourne is now on Raw, why did the commercial for ECW still have him in it? His SSP is a beautiful sight, but new viewers may get the wrong impression to see him the ads but not on the show. So Tyler Reks's matches on Superstars were tryout matches? Okay, I can dig it since Superstars isn't brand specific. And Tiffany was right: despite losing both, he did pretty well. And he seems comfortable on the mic, so he should be on his way on ECW. Wish I could say the same thing about Sheamus. He's okay on the mic but starts and stops too much in teh ring. When I heard Goldust being billed as being 238, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. But even the closed
captioning read 238. It reminded me of Buddy Rose being billed as 217 when he was far from it. Striker threw in some nice gems, including a few words of Ryder's theme to explain Zack's character. His comment about which way the champion presents the belt on the way to the ring could lead to some interesting debate. And it looks like there will be a another triple threat match at Night Of Champions. Oh joy. And ECW followed Raw's lead on the main event house cleaning. Throw Shelton Benjamin into the title match mix and I might lay off being sarcastic about the whole thing.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "ECW TV 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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