Sorry for last week. I’ve been having computer troubles and keeping my ROH duties updated were the last things I could do. Anyway, here is this week’s 10 Thoughts on ECW.
01. Why have RAW and Smackdown both opened up with the champion in a match? Usually these kind of things are reserved for the end of the show. I kind of understand why they did it that way with Jericho (so they could build through the night the notion of who the challenger at No Mercy could be) but opening with Matt Hardy on ECW served no storyline purpose.
02. Mike Knox impressed me for the first ever, if only for his chest high drop kick. The problem is that a lot of the current gimmicks aren’t high concept enough to draw an audience and keep them entertained like they used to. That’s a big problem for the company in general as a lot of people are still struggling to find a good fit for themselves.
03. Evan Bourne, if developed correctly, is going to be the next breakout WWE star. It’s obvious that his run-in with Kane is going to end badly for him but the company really has taken notice of him and has already started pushing him on RAW. Now only if they can get a character behind him to back him up.
04. That was one sweet ass roll up that Bourne used on The Miz. If built up right, it could totally be cemented as a finisher in the same way a small package is a finisher for Bryan Danielson.
05. The Miz wasn’t as hate worthy tonight as it was clear that he trying to do well for himself out there. It’ll still take some work for him to get me over the absolute hate I have for him.
06. Jack Swagger is scary awesome. He doesn’t look like all that but when he unleashes that cat like speed, damn is he awesome to watch. The way he works in just entertaining to watch and his Red, White, and Blue Thunderbomb is a great, believable finisher. In fact, does Swagger remind you of Chris Nowinski?
07. Striker got really annoying during this match with his “Swagga!” remarks.
08. Mark Henry deserves the belt. He is much more entertaining to watch than Hardy.
09. The main event was a glorified squash match meant to build up Henry as super monster. Not that I mind.
10. The problem I had the main event and I guess Henry singles match is that when he utilizes such a simple finisher, he should be able to hit it at any time. With this in mind, the match went on way too long. In fact, if this match had came prior to Hardy/Knox, it would have put together the dynamics that these two guys are going to meet at No Mercy. Instead, the Hardy/Henry feud felt a bit disjointed tonight.
