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ECW on Sci-Fi: April 14, 2009
by Samoa Rowe

-I don’t think I’ve watched this show since the last time I reviewed it. I’m feeling out of the loop, so here we go.

-Taped at the University of Tennessee. Our hosts are Matt Striker and Josh Matthews.

-Video recap of The Miz getting drafted to Raw and immediately attacking his partner, John Morrison.

John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne
Lock up leads to a series of counters. Shoulder tackle by Morrison. Bourne leap frogs and hits a deep arm drag. Bourne runs into an elbow, but Morrison misses a missile drop kick and almost gets pinned. Bourne is pulled onto the ropes and choked. Bourne responds to an uppercut with kicks but misses an enziguri. Bourne plants Morrison for 2. Hard Irish whip by Bourne, but he gets elevated onto the apron. Morrison sweeps the leg, causing Bourne to hit the apron hard. Morrison kicks him off to the floor, and pursues at ringside. Back to the ring, Morrison covers for 2. Modified torture rack by Morrison. Bourne counters with a tirt-a-whirl head scissors. Morrison cuts off Bourne’s dive attempt with a kick to the midsection. Cue the commercial!

After the break, Morrison is working a rest hold. Bourne elbows out and targets the legs. Spin kick to the head by Morrison gets 2. Morrison continues to target the midsection. Morrison hooks the arms and gets a pin attempt. Bourne kicks out but is stuck in the submission hold. Bourne finally powers Morrison into the turnbuckles to escape. Big clothesline by Bourne! Bourne ducks a clothesline and nails a head scissors takedown. Spin kick gets 2 four Bourne. Morrison gets planted on the top turnbuckle but smashes Bourne off. Bourne leaps up for a head scissors! Cover by Bourne gets 2.5! They exchange close pin attempts. They both tumble to ringside. Back to the ring, Bourne goes high risk with double knees to the face, but only gets 2 on the cover! Morrison blocks stiff kicks to the chest but can’t connect with the Moonlight Drive. Bourne goes high risk but eats an enziguri. Moonlight Drive by Morrison finishes it at 13:36 (shown). This was a very good showcase for two young guys who will hopefully go far in this company, ***½.
Winner: John Morrison

-The freshly drafted Vladimir Kozlov is strolling menacingly through the backstage area.

Vladimir Kozlov vs. David Florea
Kozlov goes right to work on destroying the jobber in the corner. Florea gets a boot to the face but jumps into a head butt. Fallaway slam by Kozlov and a series of head butts. Kozlov grabs the throat and plants Florea for the win at 1:01. Squasherrific, DUD.
Winner: Vladimir Kozlov

-Kozlov takes the microphone and puts ECW on notice.

-Hornswoggle and Finlay are squatting in the back.

-New GM Tiffany is talking to Paul and Katie Lea Burchill in her office. They are worried about being split up by the supplemental draft. Tiffany tells them they are eligible for drafting and that they need to log onto WWE.com for the results. Whoa, that was transparent. ECW Champion Jack Swagger wanders in and offers Tiffany some advice. He wants to be booked in a Q&A session on the first new episode of Superstars. She blows off his idea and says she enjoyed his match (loss) to Cena last night.

Christian vs. Finlay (with Hornswoggle) vs. Tommy Dreamer
The two superstars who don’t get pinned or made to submit will face each other in a singles match on Superstars for a shot at the ECW title at Backlash. Finlay jumps Dreamer and Christian jumps Finlay. Finlay comes out on top, hip tossing Christian onto Dreamer and getting a near fall. Atomic drop on Finlay by Christian, who then snapmares Dreamer and kicks the back. Dreamer drops both opponents with elbow shots. Dreamer and Christian jockey for a suplex over the ropes, with Dreamer settling for an ace crusher. Finlay plants Dreamer for 2. Finlay keeps Christian at ringside so he can work over Dreamer, but Christian returns with a neck breaker. Dreamer plants both men, getting a cover on Finlay. Elbow drop by Dreamer gets 1 on Christian. Dreamer clotheslines himself and Finlay to the floor. Christian dives off the top onto both men! Commercial time!

After the break, Christian is going high risk, but Finlay pushes him off into the barricade! Finlay works a chinlock on Dreamer. Finlay knocks Christian off the apron to keep up his advantage on Dreamer. After taking a prolonged beating Dreamer plants Finlay and drop toe holds Christian onto the Irishman. Dreamer gets knocked down and Christian and Finlay butt heads and both go down. Christian goes high risk, but Finlay cuts him off. Dreamer puts Finlay in a tree of woe and superplexes Christian over him! Cover by Dreamer gets 2! Drop-kick in the tree of woe by Dreamer onto Finlay. Finlay recovers and dumps Dreamer to ringside. Christian gets a near fall, but Finlay DDTs him out of the ring. DDT on Finlay by Dreamer gets 2. Dreamer blocks Christian’s Unprettier, tying him up into the ropes. Dreamer drops Finlay on Christian and rolls him up for 2.5. Finlay nails the Celtic Cross on Dreamer for the win at 10:24 (shown) while Christian watches from the ropes. This was nonstop action and it was nice to see Dreamer get to shine at this late stage in his career, **¾.
Winner: Finlay

Final Thoughts: A typically enjoyable and easy to sit through edition of ECW. The opener was excellent as far as television matches go and was the type of showcase that gives me hope for the future of World Wrestling Entertainment. The Kozlov squash didn’t do anything for me, and his addition to the ECW roster surely won’t do any favors for this show. They need to do something with Tiffany as she’s playing a one dimensional face General Manager and it’s boring as hell. Also, she is no where near as charismatic as one needs to be for this type of role, I’m really baffled why she isn’t the GM of FCW if they wanted to develop her into one of those characters. The main event was solid stuff, the upcoming Christian/Finlay match on Superstars definitely has my attention.

Thumbs up.

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