Live ECW on SciFi Coverage – BLATT vs. ECW 10.17.06

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Welcome to the first live BLATT vs. ECW.

BLATT vs. ECW – 10.17.06

Sandman over Striker by count out in a Singapore Cane on a Pole Match
So I missed the first few seconds of the show but let’s start with Justin Roberts explaining the rules of a Singapore Cane on a Pole Match. It’s good to see ECW really pulling the trigger on some of these feuds. This will be one of many matches between these two guys.

One of the main problems in ECW is the constant need for Taz and Styles to explain the characters. I don’t know how often it needs to be mentioned that Sandman drinks beer or that Matt Striker is a former New York City school teacher that had to resign in disgrace. At least if they were going to ttalk about it week in and week out Styles could word it differently.

This is a well booked match to hide Sandman’s weaknesses and to promote that Striker is indeed a “smart” wrestler when he immediately went for Sandman’s legs. Also a nice touch to have Striker run away once he saw his own blood. This is of course a huge steamy load of bullshit as the match ends before it really begins.

We’re left with a promo for CM Punk “in action”. This of course means we’ll be seeing someone who doesn’t get TV time or wins on a regular basis. Oh well. I guess it’s nice that CM Punk is still getting air time.

Bathroom break over The Marine promo
Hey, it’s a The Marine promo. Time to go to the bathroom.

CM Punk over Rene Dupree by Anaconda Vice
Dupree is once again sporting his diaper like white tights. This is a re-match from last week and we’re reminded that CM Punk is straight edge and his wrist thing he does it to warm up his fingers and wrists. Rene is quite shiny tonight… gross.

It’s interesting pairing who new guys like this up in their first real programs. ECW doesn’t seem to want to elevate two guys in one feud (see Thorn and Balls) just yet so I only assume that Punk is going over in this one. After some early offense by Dupree, we’re given the usual few moves by Punk to win the match.

Post match Punk is attacked by Knox but Knox backs down after unsuccessfully getting into the ring. Punk wants to “make it official” but Knox just backs down.

Rebbeca is standing by with RVD. Rebbeca is either high or stoned. She’s standing with RVD so it’s a toss up here. RVD has one opportunity at the title, he’s got to beat the Big Show tonight. If you missed this week’s news post, Vince has been feeling sour about Mr. Tuesday Night being the face of ECW and carrying the promotion.

Pillman’s DVD is coming out soon. I wonder if the WWE is going to be giving any of the money they’ll make on this to Pillman’s family.

Test comes to the ring and is called a “box of intensity” by Taz. We’re aso reminded that this is not the same Test that wrestled in the WWE. This is ECW Test. Whatever. Test has a live mic.

Test calls himself the Impact Player of ECW. Nice little dig at the recent AWOL release Justin Credible. Check Lance Storm’s commentary this week, he might have something to say. Test plays the Holly gets cut video, then talks about how one week later he touched the man who hired and inspired him. They play the clip of Test attacking Holly. Looks like we’ll be getting an upcoming feud straight from the mid-card of 2000. Holly is coming back next week and Test will be waiting for him and will be making an example out of him. Test is about as good on the mic as Dan Hevia is with women.

Balls Mahoney’s music hits and we’ve got Test and Balls face to face. Balls says Holly is medically suspended and if Test wants competition then Balls i here right here and right now. Test would love to fight Balls, but just not tonight. Balls starts a fight anyway. We’ve got a ref in the ring and here comes the bell.

Test over Balls by Test’s Finisher
I guess that Balls’ feud with Thorn is over and done with because now he’s fighting Test after last week he was dealing cards in the strip war videos. This match is about as physical as you’d expect with some blatant rest holds by Test. Balls has the crowd behind him, but that doesn’t do much good when you’re fighting a heat vampire like Test.

Can you remember the last time Balls Mahoney got a win? I can’t. Looks like Balls is getting the revival Jerry Lynn push of losing most of his matches and still getting over with the crowd. I wonder when the crowd stops caring after seeing Balls lose match after match.

Is Balls’ suspension up yet? Nice to see three matches in the first half hour of the show. We’re back and “The Reject” Shanon Moore is in the ring as Sabu is making his way out to the ring. This is squash #2 of the night.

Sabu over Shannon Moore by slingshot leg drop
I guess that the officials realy didn’t like Shannon Moore’s debut in ECW. He went from having some screen time every week to losing two matches in embarrassing fashion to CM Punk to becoming the Justin Credible 3.0. Sabu walks all over Moore in this match, which serves the purpose of… umm… reminding us that Sabu is still around? Sabu might be one of the only guys who varies upt he endings of his matches on a regular basis.

Rebbecca is back with the Big Show. Big Show says that RVD doesn’t know how lucky he is because he’s not just standing in the ring with the ECW champion, but the champion of champions. This is followed by Show cutting a promo on Cena and Booker T. RVD needs to thank Paul Heyman because Heyman wants to give RVD a break. Show is obviously reading his promo off some cue cards or a teleprompter above the camera. You’d figure that a veteran like show wouldn’t need to read his promos anymore.

The Marine gets shoved down our throats once more as the B-Movie that is currently scored as a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. This one sis all about how they blew a lot of stuff up during the movie shoot. SOMETHING has to distract people from the plot.

It’s main event time with 16 minutes to go in the program.

Big Show vs. Rob Van Dam
This is a rematch from July 4th, where RVD lost the ECW title to the Big Show following his drug arrest. We’re reminded how big the Big Show is in person. Wait a second, weren’t we supposed to see Tommy Dreamer vs. Kevin Thorn tonight? What happened to that match?

Anyway, Big Show vs. RVD is going as you’d expect. RVD uses his speed for an advantage and any time the action slows down, Big Show takes control and gets a few moves in on RVD. We break for commercial after RVD gets thrown out of the ring.

Like I mentioned earlier, big poppa Vince has reportedly soured on RVD as the ECW champion for whatever reason. That doesn’t bode well for RVD’s eventual title shot. You can guess he’s winning this match because Styles and Taz keep playing up that if RVD loses, he’ll never get a title shot against the Big Show. That’s wrestling speak for “RVD is probably winning tonight because it’s hard to book yourself out of that corner.”

The Big Show started out his ECW title reign as an impressive heel champion plowing through his opponents. Over time though, his style has slowed down and he’s relying more and more on his old move set and slowing his style down thanks to his back injury. Maybe he’ll be the next guy to be “fired” for needing time to heal, when in reality Vince ground him down over time not letting him take time off until he’s a shell of his former self hooked on pain medication to get him through the day. The other thing that’s changed about the Big show is his gut and arms. Look at some photos of him from ECW’s debut and look at him now. He’s lost definition in his arms and grown his usual gut back.

The ref gets bumped about twelve minutes in of course we see RVD get jumped by Test while going for the frog splash. Test goes for a chair and attacks RVD as everyone knows what happens next as the referee is still out. Here it comes. Hardcore Holly flattens Test with a nasty looking chair shot outside the ring and then goes after the Big Show hitting him with two stiff chair shots. RVD takes advantage of the prone Big Show and we get a five star frog splash approximately fifteen minutes into the match. RVD gets the win and the right to face the Big Show for the ECW title.

The Inside Pulse
I can’t argue with five matches in an ECW show but I can argue with a no-delivery of a match that I was kinda looking forward to. Dreamer vs. Thorn was left off the card for no reason I can tell, and instead we got a Sabu squash of Shannon Moore. I suppose it could have been worse and been a Mike Knox squash.

ECW managed to move their stories along tonight. More feuds are set for the future and a few more questions pop up here. What are they doing with Rene Dupree? If you remember a few weeks ago he debuted with some “hardcore” moves like an elbow drop off of the first turnbuckle. Where did those moves go? By feuding him with CM Punk, it clearly sends the message that Punk is going over Dupree before the match even starts. Especially with Punk on his way to his first extended feud with Mike Knox.

Sandman beat Striker in a nothing match to start the show and we’re obviously going to see Sandman and Striker II very soon. We’ll probably see the rules bent more in Striker’s favor next time around, but neither of these guys have shown me anything that tels me that these matches are going to be enjoyable. At this point in his career, I have doubts that Sandman can go technical and I also have doubts that Striker can go hardcore. We’ll see in the future, but Striker just doesn’t hit me as the kind of guy who can adapt his style that well.

Balls continues to float around with no one to fight. I suppose his program with Thorn is over and done with as we were left hanging for the Dreamer vs. Thorn match we were supposed to see. Maybe we’ll finally see Balls vs. Rene for a few weeks.

And finally outside of RVD, I don’t see anyone who can step up to the plate and fight for the title at the moment. I don’t think that ECW is willing to extend the RVD vs. Big Show feud until December to Dismember, but odder things have happened.

We’re at a three star show this week as nothing was offensively bad but nothing was great either. I’ll see you next week for another round of BLATT vs. ECW, same Blatt time, same Blatt channel.