I missed this one thanks to a business trip to San Francisco. Thanks to the technology of a DVR, I was able to catch up. I feel like this show should have been a pivotal show in most of the angles that ECW is pushing.
BLATT vs. ECW 10-03-06
Heyman gives Holly lip service
Holly’s got the right idea challenging RVD to a match, and even manages to get Heyman over as a pussy general manager. Are they going to push Holly as a face by attacking Heyman? And especially by getting attacked by Test? What the f*ck are they doing to me? I’d sooner cheer for Test than Holly.
Matt Striker and Big Show over Sandman and Sabu by Big Show splash
I watched the first four installments of WWE 24/7’s History of ECW Hardcore TV and noticed that they tend to use different sets of music for that and the current ECW TV. Interesting to notice, but it doesn’t really matter.
Show’s clean shaven and it doesn’t make him any more aerodynamic. He still moves slower than the Sandman. And it looks like he’s hobbling to boot. The rest of the match is pretty standard fare for your usual match involving Sandman, Sabu or the Big Show. Sandman finally gets his hands on Striker during this match and even manages to pull off a Heineken-rana.
Kelly and Trinity issue a challenge of strip poker proportions
Oof. No more close up shots of Trinity like that. However, I’m not gonna complain about them boobies. Kelly Kelly tries to top it by showing her slightly saggy small breasts. She still doesn’t get kicked out of bed for eating crackers in my book though.
Kevin Thorn w/Ariel over Tommy Dreamer
Nice to see Dreamer back on the program. Ha. Kevin Thorn goes to “bite clubs”. The ref goes for the Arn Anderson Chris Benoit under the ropes call. Usual bullshit heel wins with bullshit outside interference.
Maria talks strip poker
This is kinda humorous use of Maria in promotion for the strip poker thing they’re doing on the 10th.
CM Punk over Danny Doring by Anaconda Vice
Bullshit squash. End of discussion. Am I watching Impact?
Looks like they’re finally gonna do something with Knox and Punk. Kelly goes into her “I’m hot but I can’t really strip” dance, but gets interrupted by Knox once more. Knox warns Punk to stay away from his girl. Punk finally gets some live mic time and proves he’s no Shelton Benjamin. I wish they’d display the heels in this promotion as anything but a group of drippy pussies.
Ashley and Kristal will be poker stripping as well
Whoopdie-friggin-doo. None of these chicks will be getting naked. It’s just an opportunity for an ECW heel to establish himself as an asshole. I call shenanigans a week early.
Test over Rob Van Dam by distraction
I already believe that this match is going nowhere thanks to Holly being attacked earlier in the night. RVD gets obvious face heat. I have issue with Joey Styles saying that the ECW faithful is cheering for RVD. I have a feeling that non-ECW faithful still cheer for RVD. I think it’s the Smackdown crowds that really are cheering for Van Dam. Styles drops the hint that Holly is in a medical facility at the moment. Test manages to get in some nice offense, but that;s because RVD is killer at selling. Test on the other hand, isn’t the best.
They set up the same spot from the previous week with Test suplexing RVD out of the ring and through the table. Instead RVD sunset flip power bombs Test through the table but the table was on its way to being knocked over and Test went through an upside-down table. Nice touch, and it still looked a little
odd to say the least as at first I couldn’t figure out how the table landed like it did. If there is one guy who’s benefited from ECW originals, it’s been Test. Sandman, Sabu, RVD and Dreamer have all helped this guy out.
This match has the usual shitty heel ending of Big Show comes out, prevents RVD from hitting the five star and Test hits his finisher. Bullshit.
In interviews Heyman has been talking about how good it is that he can really slow burn angles. How about ending an angle definitively? Test has been feuding with the ECW originals since his debut day. Has he finished one of these feuds? Not really.
The Inside Pulse
Let’s recap these matches, shall we? Four matches, three heel wins thanks to outside interference and one squash. In what I think is one of the worst booking moves to date that Holly might wind up a face and a soft looking one at that instead of a bad ass heel that will stop at nothing to destroy Van Dam. Instead they’ll re-hash the gimmick of the heel who gets hurt and returns as a face in order to get revenge against the guy who was in the ring with him when he got hurt. Sound familiar? That’s because Hardcore Holly was that guy when he came back from his broken-freakin’-neck. He came back to fight Brock Lesnar for the Smackdown! title and what should have been a main event feud turned into a contrived title match with a guy who didn’t seem like he was ready to fight in the position that he was in. ** for this show, Rob Van Dam vs. Test saved this crap show from being rated below two snowflakes.
