"Before I go on with this week's ECW, I have some very sad news to report. WWE Hall of Famer, Captain Lou Albano passed away earlier this morning. Albano began his wrestling career in the WWE in the 60's, then known as the WWWF as one half of the Sicilians with Tony Altimore.
"He later became one of the most successful wrestling managers in all of professional wrestling, managing 16 Tag Team Champions that included:
The Wild Samoans
The Valiant Brothers
Mr.Fuji and Mr.Saito
The US Express
The British Bulldogs
"And managing singles wrestlers such as:
Greg ''The Hammer'' Valentine
Don "Magnificent" Muraco
Andre The Giant
"And many other legendary names, and not to mention all the appearances that he made in Cyndi Lauper's music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", creating the Rock and Wrestling Connection.
"Albano will be missed by the WWE, and it's longtime fans. He passed away due to cancer. He was 76.
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"Onto last night's ECW:
"I'm sure that William Regal was still very unhappy after his controversial loss last week to Yoshi Tatsu. As was Zack Ryder, who wasn't very happy with Regal and his gang of thugs, costing him his match last week against ECW Champion, Christian.
"So last night on ECW, the main event was ECW Champion, Christian, teaming up with Tatsu vs. both Regal and Ryder. But before their match, there was a heated confrontation backstage between both Regal and Ryder, which led the whole WWE Universe, including myself wondering if they are going to work well together.
"I will say this, Christian and Tatsu gelled a hell of a lot better together than both Ryder and Regal. Christian and Ryder were the 2 legal men in the ring and Tatsu saw that Regal was going to interfere, but was stopped by both Tatsu and the referee.
"Regal then had himself tagged in the match, which really didn't sit right with Ryder at all. When Regal was pushed into Ryder by Christian, he was clotheslined on the top rope by Ryder, allowing Christian to nail Regal with the Killswitch to get the win.
"A member of Regal's Ruthless Roundtable saw action last night when Ezekial Jackson took on the bizarre Goldust.
"Goldust really took the fight to Big Zeke. Goldust was looking for ways to weaken this big monster, but even though he was looking to gain a lot of momentum, he missed a lot of openings during this match, and I think that is what cost him the match against Big Zeke.
"Before I go on with the next match, Sheamus claims that he is not done with the Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin. Well, I don't think that the Gold Standard is done with Sheamus. I know that the Gold Standard is going to look for retribution the next time he is in the ring with Sheamus.
"Paul Burchill is so hell-bent on proving that the Hurricane is really Gregory Helms, and what another great match in this rivalry that took place last night.
"The Hurricane in the past has had the upper hand in their matches, and even though Burchill really could never pull off a clean victory over the Hurricane, last night, the Ripper himself did manage to get some retribution with an impressive win. I actually thought that he was going to take the mask off, but I guess not yet."
Thanks, Rob! RIP Captain Lou Albano. You will be sorely missed by every longtime wrestling fanatic like myself. Have a turnbuckle tomorrow, everyone.
Captain Lou Albano 1933-2009:(
"He later became one of the most successful wrestling managers in all of professional wrestling, managing 16 Tag Team Champions that included:
The Wild Samoans
The Valiant Brothers
Mr.Fuji and Mr.Saito
The US Express
The British Bulldogs
"And managing singles wrestlers such as:
Greg ''The Hammer'' Valentine
Don "Magnificent" Muraco
Andre The Giant
"And many other legendary names, and not to mention all the appearances that he made in Cyndi Lauper's music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", creating the Rock and Wrestling Connection.
"Albano will be missed by the WWE, and it's longtime fans. He passed away due to cancer. He was 76.
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"Onto last night's ECW:
"I'm sure that William Regal was still very unhappy after his controversial loss last week to Yoshi Tatsu. As was Zack Ryder, who wasn't very happy with Regal and his gang of thugs, costing him his match last week against ECW Champion, Christian.
"So last night on ECW, the main event was ECW Champion, Christian, teaming up with Tatsu vs. both Regal and Ryder. But before their match, there was a heated confrontation backstage between both Regal and Ryder, which led the whole WWE Universe, including myself wondering if they are going to work well together.
"I will say this, Christian and Tatsu gelled a hell of a lot better together than both Ryder and Regal. Christian and Ryder were the 2 legal men in the ring and Tatsu saw that Regal was going to interfere, but was stopped by both Tatsu and the referee.
"Regal then had himself tagged in the match, which really didn't sit right with Ryder at all. When Regal was pushed into Ryder by Christian, he was clotheslined on the top rope by Ryder, allowing Christian to nail Regal with the Killswitch to get the win.
"A member of Regal's Ruthless Roundtable saw action last night when Ezekial Jackson took on the bizarre Goldust.
"Goldust really took the fight to Big Zeke. Goldust was looking for ways to weaken this big monster, but even though he was looking to gain a lot of momentum, he missed a lot of openings during this match, and I think that is what cost him the match against Big Zeke.
"Before I go on with the next match, Sheamus claims that he is not done with the Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin. Well, I don't think that the Gold Standard is done with Sheamus. I know that the Gold Standard is going to look for retribution the next time he is in the ring with Sheamus.
"Paul Burchill is so hell-bent on proving that the Hurricane is really Gregory Helms, and what another great match in this rivalry that took place last night.
"The Hurricane in the past has had the upper hand in their matches, and even though Burchill really could never pull off a clean victory over the Hurricane, last night, the Ripper himself did manage to get some retribution with an impressive win. I actually thought that he was going to take the mask off, but I guess not yet."
Thanks, Rob! RIP Captain Lou Albano. You will be sorely missed by every longtime wrestling fanatic like myself. Have a turnbuckle tomorrow, everyone.
Captain Lou Albano 1933-2009:(