The February 12th edition of ECW opened up, to my chagrin, with a long promo to announce the night’s main event. Chavo Guerrero, however, played a great comic heel in his promo, talking about how he had a migraine, the lights were bothering his eyes, and that he’d been stung by a jellyfish last week. Fans laughed and boo’d, and I was entertained.
Armando Estrada came out and stated that, despite Chavo’s “demands” that he be “able” to defend his title against CM Punk tonight, the match was set for No Way Out. However, Punk would be facing off against Mark Henry in the main event.
They showed some of the emotional interview from last week with Stevie Richards. Tonight was his return to an ECW ring. He faced a guy billed as Rory Foxx, who he pretty well dominated. Stevie by pinfall, using the Stevie-T, in a short match. It was great to see Stevie Richards back in action!
After that, it was time for Kelly Kelly vs. Layla El part 67. Not that I’m complaining. As I’ve been saying, these two are getting better in the ring every week, and, of course, they’re both easy on the peepers, as well. Probably, some people tune in just to see Kelly and Layla, and that’s a good reason to keep showcasing them.
Kofi Kingston faced his biggest challenge yet in…MIKE KNOX!? That’s right. Mike Knox was back on ECW TV this week. I was surprised as anyone, and, I’ll tell you, this was a very entertaining match. Knox and Kingston very well might have faced off before in the WWE farm system, because they looked quite comfortable wrestling each other. Both of them came across well in this match. I really liked it.
Kingston won, as he has been doing, by hitting the “BOOM! BOOM!” double legdrop, and an enzeguri / spinning heel kick type maneuver. Good match. Knox was an instantly credible opponent for Kingston, due to his history on the ECW brand and Joey Styles’ insistence that he might be able to end Kingston’s undefeated streak. Kofi looks better now that he’s won the match.
Tommy Dreamer w/ Colin Delaney defeated John Morrison w/ The Miz. I liked this match a lot better than the one these two had last week, and not just because Dreamer finally got a win. The win came, by the way, after Dreamer countered a Morrison neckbreaker into an impressive DDT – made more impressive, of course, by the way Morrison landed.
Afterwards, Miz entered and the tag champs double-teamed Dreamer and Delaney. Quick plug: Delaney will be appearing as part of CHIKARA’s King of Trios tournament in Philadelphia, the weekend of February 28 – March 2nd. So, if you’re in the area that weekend, check it out. One Man Gang and Demolition will also be making their in-ring returns as part of the tourney.
The night’s main event saw CM Punk taking on Mark Henry, per the orders of General Manager, Armando Estrada. Chavo Guerrero came down to ringside. Predictably, Punk won the match by disqualification when Mark Henry wouldn’t break a hold on the ropes.
Afterwards, Chavo was pulled into the ring by Punk and was given the Go to Sleep. With Punk embarrassing Guerrero yet again, don’t expect him to win the ECW title back at No Way Out.
Well, that’s the show. It was solid, again, moving along all of the angles pretty nicely. The end of the show made the pay-per-view match a little too predictable, in my opinion. As far as the storyline goes, though, it made it appear that Chavo will have a hard time holding on to the belt at No Way Out. Fans might want to order, confident that Punk will be able to recapture the championship.
I could’ve done with a Shelton Benjamin match in place of Chavo’s promo being as long as it was, but that might’ve been asking for too much. That said, tonight’s undercard was so good that there was also hardly enough time for the main event.
All in all, the February 12th edition of ECW on Sci-Fi gets a 7 / 10.
Kevin McElvaney is also a contributing writer for Pro Wrestling Illustrated and The Wrestler / Inside Wrestling. Send questions or comments to kjmcelvaney@yahoo.com.
