The Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin and Zack Ryder were up first Tuesday night on ECW. Shelton's strength, speed and spontaneity surprise me every week. Benjamin pretty much monopolized the match and hitting Paydirt sealed the deal. Although Ryder looked none too happy about the outcome, I presume this competition will only escalate.
In other news, Tony Atlas was a good addition to the "Abraham Washington Show", I thought. He introduced the host with poise and personality. The first half of the show was taken up by insults and quirky humor mostly against Cleveland. Washington's first guest was a very quiet and reserved Gregory Helms. Helms stated he was NOT the Hurricane. However, a certain Burchill disagreed as the next guest proposed a little meeting of the fists next week on ECW between himself and the Hurricane.
Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson (accompanied by William Regal) faced an unsuspecting Mike Tolar and Jim Parks. Jackson and Kozlov made some fairly quick tags. They work well as a tag team but it appeared that only one needed to be in the match! Jacksonnearly decapitated one of the newcomers and it became hardly a contest at all. It was total domination. To make sure the job was done; William Regal got down and fixed the Regal Stretch on the poor guy! Christian and Tommy Dreamer came out and down to the ring ready for a "retribution" rumble. Things will be interesting this next couple of weeks between these men.
Note: Best match ever; Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at Wrestlmania!
No Disqualification. No Count Out. Goldust and The Celtic Warrior, Sheamus locked up again in a rivalry that's really building into something special. Sheamus won the match and even though Goldust has Sheamus's knee permanently imprinted into his back, I doubt the Golden Dream will just let this go anytime soon.
That's it. That's the run down. Great show. Stay cool people!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 09:27 AM EST
[General]
No time for chit chat this morning. I've got places to go, people to alienate and legacies to keep in tact. The American Dream Dusty Rhodes kicked off RAW this week from Detroit. The Hall of Famer did a great job hosting RAW and next week the one and only, an institution, Bob Barker will "C'mon Down" for his crack at managing the RAW roster and its goings on. I have a feeling there will be plenty of wheeling and dealing and perhaps the usage of several Plinko, I mean, bargaining chips. "It's not personal, it's business" was the quote of the night. The problem is, where does personal end and business begin or vice versa? The fix was in alright. Dusty gave his son the opportunity of a lifetime. Cody made a conscious decision not to act on it.
Alicia Fox was eliminated way too soon and too easily, in my opinion, from the 6 Diva Battle Royal. However, I was glad to see Jillian last to the near bitter end. Bitter it was. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Gail eliminated Jillian but forgot the Glamazon was still in the fray. Beth capitalized and happily took the #1 Contenders position to face Mickie.
A slightly more scowly looking than usual Chris Jericho headed to the ring to square off against the cannon shot MVP. No speeches? Wow. Surprises all around! "Almost" doesn't cut it when you speak of Chris Jericho. You either pin him or you don't. Almost is nothing. Chris Jericho would make the perfect double or even triple agent. He's resourceful, quick thinking, and knows how to survive when the chips are down. That kind of intelligence and experience is developed. It's nurtured, it's disciplined and programmed into him. You can't think that a set a brass knuckles will stop him. Jericho won the match and rightfully so. Will that always be the case? No, but now is what matters most.
I honestly can't even bring up Hornswoggle and Chavo anymore. Except to say, I wouldn't mind seeing Chavo and Evan Bourne muck it up in the ring.
Mark Henry and Big Show brought each other to their knees. That's no easy task! I believe Show to be a bit more athletic/physical than Henry but that by no means puts a damper on Henry's chances. I wouldn't mind seeing these two again and I certainly think there will be another go round after Show exposed the turnbuckle and rammed Henry straight into it. He may be big but Mark's got nerve endings too, man.
I loves me some Fatal 4 Ways and the one Monday night for the U.S. Championship was great. Back and forth action, flights of fancy and back breaking moves were distributed quite evenly in and out of the ring. The Miz was lethal and Kofi Kingston vigorously defended his title. On a personal note, I was secretly hoping Carlito won. Okay, I love the Miz's new look. People say he looks too much like Chris Jericho now. My reply to that is, "what better person to be compared to?" Look, as long as he doesn't resemble Doink the Clown, who really cares? I will tell you one thing though. He is on a mission to take the title from Kofi. Once he does face the current U.S. Champion, and he'll get there, it'll be a bloody battle. These two are no joke.
Beth Phoenix stopped at nothing to get the Diva's Championship away from Mickie James. She showed no mercy and wounded the little wing of Mickie. Ultimately, it was Mickie's vicious DDT that saved her. Great match.
A wake of bodies and an uncertain Lagacy was left in the ring when RAW went off the air. DX came to the rescue of John Cena who was turned on by Mr. Rhodes. Randy then turned on Dusty and delivered an RKO. This just got interesting. On one hand, the Legacy could start to unravel and be reduced to mere memories. On the other hand, they could do nothing and just move forward putting this all behind them.
I say up the stakes. Another member would be a crucial change and as timing would have it, necessary.
"ECW will never be the same again." Never was there a truer word spoken from the lips of one of the most influential men in the WWE at the moment, William Regal. By hand picking his own dignitaries, he established a dominant united front that will undoubtedly push him into total control. However, There's only one man standing in his way, Christian, the current ECW Champion.
I feel we need to bring Goldust into 3D pictures. We need to spruce him up a bit. A new look and perhaps new music is certainly in order to match the more aggressive, more untamed Goldust that we're seeing from week to week. It could just be the Celtic Warrior bringing out Goldust's inner "fierceness". In any event, no risk no reward and this rivalry needs to take the next step. He's got it in him; it just needs to be brought to the surface. Have faith, my friend.
What a wonderful world it is indeed when The Gold Standard is serenading you! It was for the Bella's anyway until Zack Ryder "Woo'd" the ladies right out of there. However, after the heated discussion backstage they had to pair up and face the team of Yoshi Tatsu and Tyler Reks, whom I saw in a whole new light this week. It was one of those "ah ha!" moments. You know what I'm talking about. But more on Reks next week. For now though, does anyone else have to fight the urge to bust out the robot when they hear Tatsu's music? No? Maybe it's just me. Well, I'm having a blast and needing some oil in the old joints cause I'm kicking it something crazy! Ow!
Christian has been bringing the "shock" I like to see these past couple of weeks. Although William Regal and his band of merry men have been supplying a whole lot of shock...right up the spine kind. You can't buy that stuff kids. It's all natural and pure. I would like to eventually see Shelton Benjamin make a run for the title and when Dreamer recovers maybe a little fatal 4 way? Anyone? Anyone?
ECW is heating up the Tuesday night slot people, in my eyes anyway. It's the new scene.
Back to life and back to reality! In the midst of checking off items for my Summer Slam soiree, I forgot to check my immune system! Like a huge ShamWow super absorbent cloud, this freak, intense cold loomed over me for days! It almost squashed all my excitement; almost. My inner pro wrestler listened for the cheers, chants and claps to get me back on my feet once more. I won. Too bad it was a non-title cold! Darn! Mr.McMahon strutted his birthday boy self to the ring Monday night. He even tolerated DX and all their Vegas style party antics.
The match between The Miz and Santino ended with a pretty easy breezy beautiful win for Mr. Mega Legs 2009. This new look forces me to take The Miz seriously now. The new image, to me, shows that he's willing to do the work and clock the hours to get to the top. Now, I don't know how far he'll get. I'm not a magic 8 ball here. But, he is gunning for Kofi Kingston and the U.S. Championship and it's the perfect place to start. He's working his way through the roster and with those legs, who can resist?
Never eat anything before facing Beth Phoenix. It will come back to haunt you as she thrusts you dramatically and viciously into the ring post. Ouch! Mickie fell to the Supermodel statuesque Alicia Fox with the 1, 2 punch...of sorts.
They've done some tweaking and mixing to the Jeri-Show entrance music and now it's got some juice! It sounds so much better. Props people! So, I mentioned at the end of my last show blog that I wasn't a fan of Floyd "Money" Mayweather and he did take not only his sweet time getting to the ring but OURS as well. BUT, the man has got some serious swag. Swag, however, can be misleading and dangerous. Careful ladies! Last year's Wrestlemania rehash led MVP to want a piece of the here and now. He chose Mark Henry as a partner and succumbed to the brass knuckle shuffle to get the win. At least, brass knuckles is what it "appeared" to be. We all know Jeri-Show would stoop, but MVP? Really? I don't know. It was head scratching. I kind of just lost a little faith in MVP and that ain't right. I just said "ain't". Every English teacher I ever had just got smacked across the face and they don't know why.
Too early to discuss Brett DiBiase...or is it?
Glow sticks, glow sticks everywhere! The birthday boy, Mr. McMahon, shared the spotlight with the duo that has made his life miserable BUT had his back Monday night, DX! They squared off against Legacy. This match was great. It was so overwhelming. I wasn't sure where to look, who to keep an eye on, or who was down. When Randy slid out of the ring to head home John Cena stopped him in his slithery tracks. Although the rest of the bout I'd prefer not to remember as it brought no victory to my team of choice, the overall match was fantastic! Holy Moly...nice job! That's what I'm talkin' about!
Note: The Cena/Orton match at Summer Slam stole the show.
I'm feeling slightly puckish today. I don't know if it's because it's Friday or what. Anyway you slice it; I'm smackin' the pretty off this blog and sparing you the Sylvia Plath. No room for sadness here.
I found ECW a bit disjointed this week but still great. Hurricane Helms caught his recent nemesis Paul Burchill in the eye of the storm and it wasn't pretty. I'll tell you what is nice looking though: some of Paul Burchill's moves. True, they can be deliberate, devastating and cold. However, there is a certain level of purity behind them. That's what untapped talent will get you. Keep them coming Paul.
Courtney Taylor's debut on ECW this past week was cut short. Wild eyed Willie and Vlad the destroyer decided to interrupt Tommy Dreamer's message to the people for a quick game of tackle with the boys. Ouch!
The tension between Goldust and Sheamus was awkward and unrelenting. The two have got serious issues to work out and I don't think they will find the solace they seek on "The Abraham Washington Show" starring Abraham Washington to one day become Late Night with Abraham Washington.
Zack Ryder showed that even though he can be all fun and good times, he is a jackal in the ring. He can zero in intensely on an opponents injury, inflict severe pain and use it to his advantage. It's almost like he's got another personality in the ring. Maybe that's what's going on with his ring attire. The WOO WOO WOORyder wanted trunks and the jackal wanted tights. I digress. I think we're all starting to KNOW IT. Ryder is galloping his way to the top of the ECW food chain. The problem is, look what's already there?
The Main Event was "vintage" WWE. There is nothing like the smell of betrayal and treachery to get your blood pumping. I bet Christian wished he could "just close his eyes" and chalk this past week up to a nightmare of sorts. He was outnumbered, outweighed, and out casted but a Royal, a Russian and a Radical. William Regal can be a one man British Battalion. But, now he's got more man power behind him: his own little gridiron gang. Looks like William Regal established a little Legacy of his own.
