ECW on Sci-Fi: October 28, 2008
by Samoa Rowe
-This show is dedicated to Special Delivery Jones.
-It’s Halloween week, so Theodore Long is dressed up as Ron Burgundy. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. Tonight, a special edition of The Dirt Sheet, where The Miz and John Morrison will try to punk out DX. Also, a big six-man tag main event. The teleprompter makes Long call himself a moron, turns out it was a “genius” prank by Hornswoggle.
-They are airing live from San Diego, California. Our hosts for the evening are Todd Grisham and Matt Stryker
Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, and Finlay (with Hornswoggle) vs. Chavo Guerrero, Bam Neely, and Mark Henry (with Tony Atlas)
Bourne has a lot of momentum going for him, as he won the Cyber Sunday poll to face Matt Hardy and he took Rey Mysterio to the limit on last night’s Raw. ECW Champion Hardy is now treating Bourne like his equal. Guerrero and Neely are having trouble getting along, as their dissension cost them a match against the Colons on the last Smackdown. Henry is pissed in general, perhaps because only 6% of the fans voted for him at Cyber Sunday.
Chavo and Bourne start the match, and they trade moves. Bourne outsmarts Chavo and gets a cover for 2. Bourne goes after the arm and tags Finlay. Finlay goes after the head. Chavo corners Finlay in the heel corner and tags Neely. Finlay quickly fights off Bam and tags Bourne. Neely eats some stiff kicks and a head scissors takedown to the floor. Bourne dives off the top turnbuckle onto Neely on the floor, injuring his own ankle in the process. The match comes to a stand-still as we head to a break.
After the commercial, Mark Henry is in the ring and he’s working over Bourne’s injured ankle. Neely tags and slams Bourne before stretching the bad leg. Chavo tags and continues the abuse. Bourne drop-kicks Chavo but eats a clothesline. The tags keep coming from the bad guys, as Bourne is decimated and isolated. Bourne awesomely fights off Chavo and gets the hot tag to Matt Hardy, who cleans house on Chavo. Hardy hit’s an elbow off the second rope and fights off Bam Neely. Matt goes for the cover on Chavo, but Neely breaks it up, accidentally hitting the elbow on Chavo. Henry gets involved, slamming Matt. Hornswoggle runs in and bites Henry, but Finlay makes the save with the shillelagh. Finlay goes for the cover, but Atlas pulls him out, so Hornswoggle makes the save. The chaos results in Chavo hitting the frog splash on Matt for the win at 7:09 (shown). So it’s that time of year when they throw Chavo a bone. Quality tag match, they worked around Bourne’s legitimate injury nicely and everyone looked good, ***.
Winners: Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, and Bam Neely
-Monday Night on Raw will be a special three hour episode, featuring DX vs. Miz and Morrison.
-Video package with John Cena’s Boston relatives. They put over how passionate Cena was about wrestling as a kid. They have a lot of family home videos of Cena and his brothers wrestling. Cena became a gifted football player and moved to California to pursue his wrestling dream. The clip ends with Cena’s entrance during his Smackdown debut in 2002.
-Last week, Todd Grisham interviewed Jack Swagger on his views of Tommy Dreamer. Swagger repeats his insulting “Tommy Who” comment. Backstage, Lena interviews Dreamer about Swagger. Dreamer says he is celebrating the 19th anniversary of his first wrestling match. Despite all his injuries, he still loves what he does. Dreamer says his career isn’t about wins and losses, it’s about the fight. Dreamer says that Swagger should be able to beat him in five minutes, but what if he doesn’t, or if Dreamer wins? Good stuff.
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger
Swagger takes Dreamer down by the head and stomps the leg. Swagger misses an elbow drop. Dreamer goes to work on the arm. STO by Dreamer. More arm work by Dreamer. Dreamer knocks Swagger to the floor and connects with a running baseball slide. Swagger pushes Dreamer off and returns to the ring. Knee lift to Dreamer as he was entering the ring. Cue the commercial.
After the break, Swagger is working a chinlock. Dreamer frees himself, but eats a belly to belly suplex. Cover by Swagger gets 2. Swagger shouts in Dreamer’s face and works the head with a dragon sleeper. Dreamer escapes, but Swagger aggressively stays on him. Slam by Swagger but he misses a splash off the ropes. Dreamer rebounds with a swinging Neckbreaker and an elbow drop. Cover by Dreamer gets 2. Bulldog by Dreamer, who is selling a neck injury. Dreamer knocks Swagger down from the second rope and goes high risk. Swagger climbs up, but Dreamer knocks him off. Swagger counters the DDT with a Northern lights suplex! Dreamer counters a power bomb with a bridge for 2. Swagger rolls through and hits the gut wrench power bomb for the win at 5:43 (shown). This was hard hitting and played well to both characters. Dreamer made Swagger earn that win, **½.
Winner: Jack Swagger
-It’s time for the Dirt Sheet starring John Morrison and The Miz! They put themselves over on the microphone, making sure to take a verbal swipe at the illegal immigrants in the area. They hype their match against DX on Raw as the greatest team of the 21st Century vs. the greatest team of the 20th Century. When DX was formed in 1997, Miz and Morrison were in high school. But since then, they went to college, created the top talk show on the internet, and became the best tag team in history. Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels and Triple H won a bunch of world titles and started families. But how well do we know them? In the spirit of the political season, we get mock political attack ads against Michaels and Helmsley. As per usual with Miz and Morrison, the videos are hilarious. They welcome their guests "DX." A couple of imposters pretending to be DX join them in the ring. Morrison verbally cuts down DX on the mic, since they do not play to the lowest common denominator. Miz says if the fans don’t get their brand of entertainment, it’s their own fault. Miz says he and Morrison have been more entertaining in one year than DX has been in 11. They beat down the fake DX. They have two words for DX: "Be jealous." Well, Miz and Morrison are totally jobbing on Monday.
Final Thoughts: Everything is still running strongly on ECW. We were treated to another quality television match, and Dreamer effectively put over Swagger without being buried in the process. Miz and Morrison continue to shine in their roles as clever assholes, though I fear for what the future holds for them whenever WWE decides to turn them face. In the mean time though, this show is definitely worth checking out. Thumbs up.
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