Nick’s ECW Review 6-17-08: “A Star is Bourne”



What’s up wrestling fans? I’m back with a look at what I think has become the most consistent WWE show of the week, ECW on Sci-Fi. Last night was, with the exception of an absurd opening match, an hour full of innovative action that left me anxiously awaiting next Tuesday night. Let’s head back to San Jose with a breakdown of the card.

Our opening match, if you want to call it that, was a singles match pitting Hornswoggle against Armando Estrada. If you didn’t see this charade, then your IQ is holding steady. If you did, eat some carrots, have a protein drink, read the entire dictionary, and you might gain back whatever part of your brain you lost. I said last week that I wouldn’t mind seeing Finlay and Horny take on The Miz and Morrison for the tag belts, but I don’t want to pay for it! I never actually thought WWE would book this match at a PPV of all places. I don’t mind Horny in small doses, but lately he’s all over ECW and Smackdown and now we have to pay to see him at Night of Champions. Enough already. Out of a possible 9 stars, I give this opening bout 1 star.

Back from commercial break and a quick shot of Layla gyrating in the ring, and it’s time for the show to really take off. Next up, we’re introduced to a singles match featuring Matt Stryker vs Evan Bourne. Bourne is a star on the rise. In what was a 3 minute match, this guy was able to impress me more than most can in 15 minutes. He has a great look combined with phenomenal in-ring skills and the live crowd is picking up on it immediately. I’ll add that Stryker looked pretty solid in this match too, hitting a few nice power moves. 6 Stars.

During his victory celebration, Bourne is attacked by Mike Knox and this leads us into our next bout, Knox vs Kofi Kingston. Following Bourne with Kingston provides a great one-two punch of excitement, and Kingston did not disappoint here. After a good back and forth contest, the match was interrupted by The Gold Standard and both he and Kofi began to brawl all over the ring. A missed kick by Benjamin landed on Knox and Kofi was able to escape. I really like this feud between Kingston and Shelton and I think it’s about time the two get more than 3-4 minutes in the ring with each other. I want to see this main event an ECW broadcast, or more so, get 12 or so minutes on a PPV. There’s no doubt that Kofi is ready to move up, and with the draft coming next week, the time has never been better. 5.5 Stars.

We head to the back and GM Teddy Long has the contract for Horny and Finlay to sign to make their match at Night of Champions official. Finlay signs, hands it over to Horny, and then he signs it with a “big green pencil.” I have to say I really hate the way they treat Hornswoggle as a 6 year old. He is a grown man for God’s sake. What kind of impression are you giving to children implying that little people have the intelligence of a child? His “Father’s Day Card” to Finlay was rather insulting, and the fact that he never talks, just grunts and groans, plays to every stereotype there is of little people. Let the guy act like a normal adult human being, because that’s what he is.

It’s now time for our main event of the evening, CM Punk vs John Morrison. I absolutely love when these two guys wrestle. Both have a unique style that compliments each other very well, and their matches never seem to get repetitive even though they’ve faced each other many, many times. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it, I think John Morrison is not only the best in-ring talent ECW has, but he is the most improved superstar of the past year in the entire WWE. It’s time for this guy to take a big step up in my opinion. 7.5 Stars.

To close the show, we now have an in-ring “confrontation” between Big Show and Kane over their title match at Night of Champions. Nothing really to note here other than the two of them hyping their match, but things took a step down when Mark Henry hit the ring and drooled all over the segment. Like it or not, “The World’s Strongest Boring” will be involved in the ECW title picture following Night of Champions and all I can say is I hope it doesn’t last too long.

Overall, this was a really fun show that was book ended by one horrible segment and one rather uneventful segment. The fact remains though, that ECW consistently showcases some of the best new talent WWE has to offer right now, and I look forward to the in-ring action every week. Out of a possible 9 stars, I give ECW 6 Stars.

Nick’s Notes:



-Does anyone else miss the Anaconda Vice? I like the GTS, but it would be nice to see Punk switch it up every now and then.

-Why do wrestlers react like they’ve been doused with hydrochloric acid whenever water is thrown in their faces?

-Adamle said he used to trip his sister with marbles when he was a kid much like Horny did to Estrada. This explains him having completely lost his marbles.

-It’s great to see the shooting star press back in action.

-If Kofi and Shelton are the “Ali and Frazier” of ECW, then Tazz and Adamle are “The Three Stooges” of ECW. Yes, Tazz counts as two people.

-I hope Big Show and Kane really go at it at Night of Champions. Big man matches are always so slow, I hope they understand that and up the anti a bit.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to send all feedback to VOWNick@gmail.com

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