-- 8/18 ECW TV Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: Ryder vs. Tatsu. Worst: need I put it here again? As is custom, ECW didn't have much going to the PPV, so what did happen (Regal and Kozlov taking out Dreamer, then adding Jackson in for a Christian beat down) worked well. Christian pretty much retains for now, but Regal finally gets a major title match. This new Courtney person seems almost smoother on the mic than Tiffany does. And I like how she came across more journalistic even with the few lines she said. Hurricane made a sweet return in the ring. The match with Burchill seemed to go well, and Helms didn't look too rusty his first match back. I got the biggest kick out of Striker saying, "Meanwhile, back at The Hall of Justice." (Loved the old Superfriends show as a kid.) Ryder got back in the groove with a nice match with Yoshi Tatsu. With the show being an hour, and the roster the small size it is, there wasn't much time to explore Christian's partner options. Was Shelton Benjamin not around? So much for yet another attempted push stopped before it gets started. Why does WWE continue with the "critically acclaimed" Abraham Washington Show? Who "acclaimed" it? Sure wasn't me. It did let Goldust explain his tics in a serious way and lead to a good staredown, but we don't know why Goldust has an issue with Sheamus. Washington annoys the hell out of me, and not in a good heel way, either. The main event clued us in on the Summerslam match (as said before, seeing Christian retaining for now). But it let us know something else: Ezekiel Jackson isn't over and I don't think he will be over. Maybe the Jackson experiment needs the plug pulled.

John of Cocoa Beach, Fla., Sportswriter (8.5): Best match: Christian/Jackson vs. Kozlov/Regal. Worst: Abe Show. This was one of the best ECW shows in their run. Unlike Raw, ECW has three solid mid-card feuds - Goldust-Sheamus, Yoshi Tatsu-Zack Ryder, and Hurricane Helms-Paul Burchill, who has found his niche on ECW. A blind man could have seen that Ezekiel Jackson was going to be the partner for Christian, but I was a little surprised it wasn't a possibly face-turning Shelton Benjamin. Booking dictated it would be Jackson, though, and the turn wasn't surprising. Kozlov is being slowly built back up as a formidable heel, hopefully one day back on Raw or Smackdown into a major feud. A Batista-Kozlov feud would be interesting based on their intense characters. Dreamer getting squashed further helped elevate Kozlov, and with Regal and Jackson, they make a formidable heel three-some on the ECW brand. Now for the Abraham Obama, I mean Washington show: Less Abraham, more Tiffany. Love the new interviewer, Courtney Taylor. Give her time and she should shine. Would love to see at WrestleMania 26 none other than Roddy Piper crash the Abraham Washington show and show him how it's really done.

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