The Sandman vs. Hardcore Holly
PK: With no real story or feud here, you have to image that Holly will get the duke.
Winner – Hardcore Holly
Widro: Hardcore Holly
Matthew Michaels: This could be interesting, fun and bloody, quite frankly. I’m guessing since a babyface is winning the two advertised matches, we’ll get some heat on Holly here, and maybe start Sandman’s push back up the card. Bob wins with some external help (Striker? Bashams?), and then bloodies up the former ECW Champ.
Winner – Hardcore
Eric Szulczewski: Fullington needs a win desperately, but they’ve spent so much time and effort into establishing Holly’s Tough SOB credentials that I’m wary of giving one to him. This is going to be the Tell Your God To Get Ready For Blood Match. Both of these guys are going heavy-duty on the juice here. I’ll take Holly for the win, but a run-in afterward for the save after Holly continues using a Singapore Cane on the fallen Sandman. Who will the run-in be? Punk needs a high-visibility feud to while away the time until Wrestlemania, so how about him? It’ll also give Punk a built-in excuse to job during the Elimination Chamber.
Winner – Bob Holly
Blatt: This one is somewhat interesting to me. Holly has proven that he’s willing to take some abuse, and Sandman is exactly the kinda guy who can dish out lots of violence. Unfortunately, I don’t see anything on the list of matches that says “EXTREME RULES”. This means that both of these guys are SOL in regards to this match. I however, see a change of rules after Hardcore Holly disqualifies himself to end the match for the first time.
Winner – Sandman first, then Hardcore Holly
Vinny Truncellito: What? This is a match on the card? Since when? What brings these two together? One would think that Hardcore gets the duke since he unceremoniously lost his slot in the chamber match and then failed to win it back from RVD.
Winner — Hardcore Holly
Danny Wallace: Man, they’re really grasping at straws here aren’t they. Sandman vs. Holly… there’s a match we all want to see. Yawn. Even though they only have 1 hour of TV, surely they could use the ECW website to add to the feud via video interviews, and what-not?
Winner – The Sandman
Daivari vs. Tommy Dreamer
PK: With Daivari being both the mouthpiece and the muscle until Khali is cleared to compete, it is up to him to get the pair over. Luckily, he is a decent worker, and still very young. Tommy will be doing nothing else for the rest of his ECWWE career then putting over the newbies, chalk that up as that.
Winner – Daivari
Widro: Daivari
Matthew Michaels: Uh…
Winner – Daivari
Eric Szulczewski: Tommy Dreamer is the master of the Art of the Job. He’s got a built-in excuse to do so with Khali at ringside. Tommy also likes putting the young guys over, and all of us seem to forget that Daivari is, what, 22 or 23? His future’s ahead of him. Tommy’s future is having to answer a call on his cell in the locker room after the match and hearing Raven say, “Dude, they’re making me do another Flock down here in Orlando, but at least I don’t have to job to Daivari.”
Winner – Shaun Daivari
Blatt: If you’ve been reading my Tuesday night coverage weekly (liek you should be doing) you’d know that Tommy Dreamer is 2006’s Brooklyn Brawler. The difference is that everyone remembers Tommy Dreamer as a great wrestler. I don’t remember Steve Lombardi being a great wrestler at any point in my life. It’s kind f like how I used to like Weezer. They retired the band, then they came back and they look and sound like the Weezer that I used to love, but they just don’t deliver the goods. Could you see Daivari losing his first ECW PPV match? I couldn’t. What I can see is Tommy blindly attempting to fight Khali because that something that he does. What’s more depressing than Tommy Dreamer’s win/loss record since ECW 2 began is that this match could be the match that sets the tone and curtain jerks for this PPV.
Winner – Daivari
Vinny Truncellito: What? This is a match on the card? Since when? Daivari needs the win more than Dreamer at this point.
Winner – Daivari
Danny Wallace: I should really pay attention to ECW more often.. why exactly are they rumoured to be fighting? Ah well.. at least it’s not Khali that’s “wrestling”. There’s no way Dreamers going to win after the apparent backstage heat he has on him.
Winner – Daivari
The Hardy Boyz vs. MNM
PK: With MNM only being around for ‘One Night Only’, which, with a anemic Tag Team division on all 3 brands, most notably SD, I think is complete bull shit, you might as well translate that as ‘We Will Not Win’.
Winners – Hardyz
Widro: Hardy Boyz
Matthew Michaels: With rumors that the Hardyz will be staying on RAW full-time, I have to wonder why this match is even on the PPV. Matt and Jeff — and the tag division overall — would be better off being on ECW, and it boggles my mind that this is simply being done to fill time and see if the Hardyz can help this buyrate. Although, there’s a chance someone can benefit from this one, since I’m picking Matt & Jeff to win, due to Mercury turning on Melina and Nitro (he kinda owes ’em one).
Winners – Team Xtreme
Eric Szulczewski: Fifty thousand volts up my ass couldn’t get me to care. With Da Meltz saying that Mercury’s going to stay in ECW while Nitro and Melina are headed back to Raw, and that they’re considering moving Mattsy-Poo to Raw to regularly team with Jeffykins, I think we know who’s winning this.
Winners – The Faerie Princes
Blatt: Rumor has it that Matt Hardy is going to be moving to RAW to reform the Hardy Boyz, and possibly give the tag team division some kind if wake up. Personally I think Jeff needs to go to Smackdown so I can see the Hardyz vs. the Hooliganz. That’s just me. But it also appears as if they are not going to reform MNM after D2D, but instead send Mercury to ECW. So I think that were going to see the Hardyz take a loss, it’s not going to harm their momentum as a team. Joey Mercury needs to be re-established for the ECW crowd who probably wasn’t watching Smackdown when it was dying as MNM were the tag champions.
Winners – MNM
Vinny Truncellito: Matt and Jeff were not reunited just to lose to a team that has no future, what with Mathews staying on ECW after this match.
Winner — The Hardyz
Danny Wallace: Seriously… I know that The Hardyboyz are known as TEAM XTREME, but if they don’t make this a TLC match or ladder match, what’s the f*cking point in having it on the ECW PPV? It’s shit like this that makes me think Vince has gone senile in his old age.
Winner – Who the f*ck cares? I’ll say Hardys…
Big Show (c) vs. CM Punk vs. Sabu vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Test vs. Rob Van Dam – ECW Title – Extreme Elimination Chamber
PK: Who do I want to win? CM Punk…just like every other wrestling fan out there. Who will win? I think it’ll be either Test or Lashley. With Big Show going down after the PPV to rest himself before WM23, putting on an Elimination Chamber match is the perfect way to move the title from heel to heel. Say what you want about Test, but he has stepped up in WWECW, and with Heyman as a mouth, can easily the top heel while Show is around. And really, wouldn’t we rather have Heel Champ vs. Face Contender over Face Champ vs. Heel GM/Owner/Commissioner? Oh, all that, and I hate Lashley.
Winner – Test
Widro – Bobby Lashley
Matthew Michaels: I’m probably forfeiting a pick here, but let’s face it, ready or not, sometimes you have to take a chance on someone and see what happens with a big push… and it’s time for WWE to take a chance on Punk. A few weeks ago, I would have said just put it on RVD or Lashley, but after hearing the Philly crowd’s reaction to Punk — when he was in the ring with DX and the Hardyz — at SurSer, I think the iron is hot, and it’s time to strike.
Winner – CM Punk
Eric Szulczewski: Wight needs time off to help his nagging injuries. They’re doing this match in a weapons-filled gimmick (taking it away from New Years’ Revolution, thus making that PPV entirely useless). Sabu’s in the doghouse. Van Dam is still in the doghouse. If they wanted Test to hold the title, they would have found some way to give it to him by now (they were planning on Test being the one to take the title away from Van Dam prior to the drug bust). It’s too soon for Punk; there are Wrestlemania plans in his future. They seemingly imported Lashley to this show to be the one to take the title away from TBS. Every single sign points to a title change and to who it’s going to. But WWE’s track record indulging in The Stupid makes me wary of actually saying it in here. However, given how this PPV’s been booked so far, they may have no choice but to indulge in the obvious. Hey, just make Punk look strong, and I’ll be happy.
Winner – Bobby Lashley
Blatt: There are multiple problems with this match, one of them being that we haven’t seen all six of these guys in one place at one time. Usually with a match like this, there will be just too many guys in the main event picture to sustain a regular match and the elimination chamber is necessary. This match is different though. the main event picture in ECW hasn’t consisted of anyone except the Big Show and Rob Van Dam since day one of ECW 2: Electric Boogaloo. There was a small non-important feud with Sabu, but he was never made to look like he was a real threat for the title. Test is in the back pocket of Heyman, but hasn’t had any interaction with the Big Show. Nor has he let on to having any aspirations of being the world title holder or just wanting to kick the hell out of Van Dam or Sabu. The addition of Lashley in ECW is surprising because of the “sportz entertainment” look that he possesses. At this point everyone (who reads the internet) knows how bad his health is. Were in a weird situation where Rob Van Dam supposedly is never going to get the ECW title again after his arrest in late June. Sabu just got squashed by Umaga to prove that RAW is superior to ECW. And also rumor has it that Sabu is upset that he’s no longer going to be the only guy in town with the middle eastern gimmick going for him. Of course Daivari speaks in Farsi and Khali speaks in Retard. On the other hand Sabu speaks in… English. Lashley is in ECW because the Smackdown writers had nothing else to do with him. Now that Stephanie is back, I don’t really expect CM Punk to be pushed as heavily anymore. Remmber, she’s the one who loves Daniel Rodimer so much. For those of you who don’t remember Daniel Rodimer, he’s about the same size and weight as Lashley. That leaves Test as the only guy who isn’t retiring within a few months, was recently arrested, or is a Smackdown reject. So that means I’m gonna pick CM Punk, only because CM Punk = ECW 2.0. not because I actually think he’s going to win.
Winner – CM Punk
Vinny Truncellito: RVD makes the most sense in terms of long-range ECW storylines since the re-launch of the brand. However, Vince McMahon has stated publicly that RVD is not his guy. The only reason to move Lashley was to give him the opportunity to carry the “smaller” WWE brand on his back, and see how it works out. Seems like the best choice right now, since Show basically HAS to drop the title due to injuries.
Winner — Bobby Lashley
Danny Wallace: It’s a toss-up between CM Punk and Bobby Lashley in my opinion. RVD f*cked up his previous chance as ECW Champion, Sabu has apparently huge heat right now, Test just got creamed by CM Punk, and Big Show’s back and knees are knackered. Lashley has been on a steady roll as of late, and I could easily buy him as ECW World Champ, but I could also buy CM Punk as ECW World Champ too, so I’m torn between the two. However, I’m going to have to side with Bobby Lashley, for one simple reason, that being he’s the only guy that could take out Big Show and put him on the kayfabe injury list, which gives Show a reason to take some time off and retire if he so desires. Bobby Lashley is one to watch in the coming years, and him moving to ECW can only improve his chances, as well as his skills. The guy can already dish out a good beating, he just needs to work on a couple of other things (like promos, for example) and he’ll be a future WWE World Champion, no doubt about it.
Winner – Bobby Lashley
Wild Card – Will there be more matches, and if so, what ones?
PK: Well, Terkay & Burke will be on the card somewhere, I can see them going over the FBI. Also, Knox or Thorn will face and beat Balls. I’d also like to see Striker vs. Shannon. Anyone else notice how this ‘New Breed’ of ECWers are all heels, except for CM?
Widro: Terkey/Burke vs. FBI, Thorn vs. Balls
Matthew Michaels: I can see the EEC going about an hour, including set up, video package and ring intros, so that leaves an hour and a half for three other matches? Yeah, we’re definitely getting two more, and I’m guessing Terkay and Burke vs. FBI (getting their win back) and then an extreme battle royale, which will probably be won by Balls (unless they use it to introduce and start a push for someone like Rodney Mack). Plus, we’ll probably get a catfight, which Trinity will win, no matter who she’s up against.
Eric Szulczewski: Well, since this isn’t an In Your House, there have to be more matches. I’ll go with a seven-match card, since the only way they can go Iron Man-length on the Elimination Chamber is if the last two are Van Dam and Punk, and I don’t see that happening. As for the other matches, I’ll go with a tag match between the FBI and Matt Striker and his new protege Rene Dupree, with Striker and Dupree winning. Balls Mahoney comes back from suspension to face Elijah Burke, with Burke taking it after Terkay-ference. And Knox and Fertig have to be involved in this somehow. I’ll tag them together against CW Anderson and Stevie Richards. Of course, Knox and Fertig win, but shatter apart at the end of the match, thus producing a bit of weirdness in a face!Fertig/heel!Knox brawl and a face!Kelly/heel!Ariel catfight. It’s an ECW PPV, so the catfight is mandatory.
Blatt: Of course there’s going to be at least one more match. I’m thinking that we’ll see Mike Knox vs. Balls Mahoney with Mike Knox coming out on top and we’ll see Kevin Thorn vs. someone who doesn’t matter with Thorn coming out on top.
Vinny Truncellito: There had BETTER be a few more matches on the card. Let’s go with some tag team action. FBI versus Burke and Terkay, who need to reclaim some heat following their loss to Team Xtreme.
Danny Wallace: Honestly, I’d be happy if the tag match and the two singles matches combined lasted for an hour and a half, then they let the Elimination Chamber go for the rest of the PPV. That would be awesome. I doubt that’ll happen though. For matches, I’d go with the FBI vs. Terkey & Burke, with Terkey & Burke picking up the win. For another match, I’d put Mike Knox up against Balls Mahoney, just because. Also, I’d throw in Al Snow vs. Matt Striker and Stevie Richards vs. Kevin Thorn (if Richards is a face… can’t quite remember if he is or not).
