PWInsiderXTRA - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

WASTE OF TIME - READER FEEDBACK TO ECW

Wooo-hoo. (That's about an excited as I can get anymore, especially with RVD leaving and the rest of the original roster being used as cannon fodder for much lesser talented individuals.)

Mr. McMahon in a rocking chair.

Sigh. What can I say about the new direction of the Mr. McMahon character -- from the megalomaniacal despot to the mentally fragile and now sometimes catatonic feeble old man? Well, on the plus side the catatonic character doesn’t ramble on with self-serving 20-minute-Triple-H-in-2003/2004 promos. However, ALL of the McMahon characters are long past due for an indefinite hiatus. Every one of them, in my opinion, draw X-Pac “GET-THE--H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS--OFF-MY-TV” heat. But, obviously the fans opinions mean squat to the McMahon family. So, if I have to choose between a rocking chair or a 20-minute verbal masturbation session from 60-year-old jackoff or overbooked Russo-esque handicap matches where a 60 year old non-wrestler continually defeats the promotion’s top dog, then I say…. rock on, Big Daddy…. rock on.

Lashley versus ECW Originals in a Hardcore Handicap match.

I liked this match. Then, I thought who are the fans supposed to cheer for? (The feeble old man in the rocking chair wouldn’t tell us what to think, like he’s supposed to.) The fans in the arena seemed confused who to cheer for too, and throughout most of the match they seemed pretty quiet. I’m also thinking “what’s the logical motivation/storyline for the ECW Originals” in this match? There’s no storyline grudge against Lashley. There’s no storyline title shot opportunity at stake. It really didn’t make sense. It just …. was. That said, I did ultimately enjoy the match… mostly for the fact I did get to see Sandman and Dreamer and Balls, whom I much prefer to the any of the new characters including Lashley. And, I enjoyed the finishing sequence (except for the odd-looking spear by Lashley on Balls), although I still hate seeing all of the original roster reduced to modern day jobbers.

Kevin Thorn versus Stevie Richards.

Perhaps the best thing (maybe the only good thing) I can say about the “new” Thorn character is that Joey Styles no longer has to say “these two (Thorn and Ariel) frequent bite clubs around the world”. (Gosh, that was excruciatingly annoying!) I do enjoy watching Stevie Richards wrestle, though. However, I think they’re totally pushing the wrong man in this match. Kevin Thorn reminds me of characters in the past, such as Damian Dimento or Mantaur, where the WWE gave a dumb gimmick to a wrestler that had no charisma and not enough wrestling talent to overcome their bad gimmick. Richards, on the other hand, can work a good match, has a good look, but has NEVER really been given a chance to shine. The mini-pushes that he has received during his WWE tenure never gave his characters enough momentum to elevate Richards from his undeserved jobber status. The mini-pushes never lasted long enough for the fans to think, “Maybe Richards will win this match.” (SIDE NOTE: I hope someday they change Richards’ embarrassing entrance theme. The "I'll show you, you'll see" opening line is ridiculously childish wrestlecrap.) (Interesting trivia: Stevie Richards was trained by Iron Mike Sharpe, the premiere perennial jobber throughout the WWF Rock and Wrestling era.)

Extreme Expose danced.

And I couldn’t care less. A couple of clicks on the DVR remote and I was on to the next segment…

Randy Orton: Legend Killer/Concussion Thriller

I saw the original events, and I have seen the replays on Raw, Smackdown, SME, and wherever they’ve been. One replay is enough… another reason for DVR.

Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von versus Brett & Brian Majors.

Mr. McMahon disappeared sometime during this match and so did the rest of my attention span. (Tazzz missed the boat on color commentary….”Mr. McMahon’s off his rocker” was a comment ripe for the picking, but no one took advantage.) I am interested in watching Elijah Burke, although he’s still very green but slowly improving. Cor Von… you know, for some reason I just can’t get into him. I didn’t really get into his character in TNA either. I think he’s someone that could really use a seasoned old-school manager (ala, Heenan, Cornette, or Slick). Elijah Burke is just too green to effectively carry the Cor Von character. I think adding a cocky loud-mouth manager could get Cor Von over and could eventually be the impetus for an interesting Burke/Cor Von feud. As for the Majors Brothers…. sigh… right now, they remind of the great Cole Twins (Ken and Keith) from early 1990’s WCW. Remember them? Yeah, I thought so. How about the Shane twins (TNA/WWE)? Another great brother team. Sadly, I don’t see the Majors achieving a Funk or Briscoe legacy. I foresee them as boring, bland, vanilla jobbers who stopped by for a cup of coffee in Titanland and picked up a Bary Horowitz fluke win over the New Breed once upon a time.

CM Punk versus Matt Striker.

I had trouble staying awake during this one, due to the predictable outcome and the current work levels of the two participants. (Gasp, what did I just imply?) Yes, for some reason, I am not quite sold yet on CM Punk’s body of work in WWE (even though that may get me branded as a heretic by the IWC). I have not seen any of his work outside of TNA (where he was an insignificant Raven lackey) and WWE. I have not seen any of his matches from ROH (which seems to be where he propagated his darling status with the IWC) because I cannot justify $10-$20 per episode. I can see his potential, but honestly he has not captivated my attention even to the degree that Elijah Burke has. His character is just too aloof about everything. He doesn’t seem to care about titles (or title, since there’s only one in ECW). He hasn’t communicated any sort of direction or purpose with his character, and he has been completely nonchalant in every so-called “feud” he’s had in WWE-land. (Did he seem to care about Kelly Kelly or was he ticked off by Mike Knox? Not really. Has he said anything for or against the New Breed or the ECW Originals? No, not hardly.) His moveset is, so far, not interesting enough to compensate for his lack of character charisma. Sorry.

As for Matt Striker. The recent scoldings from Elijah Burke were interesting developments in the New Breed storyline. However, none of that was continued tonight. It would have made perfect sense to have Burke watching the match from the entrance way, and have Striker distracted by Burke and nervous about screwing up again. Instead, Striker was back to the boring, old “blah, blah, I am your teacher” character, while Burke was nowhere to be found. That, plus the aforementioned problems I have with the Punk character, made this match seem pretty insignificant and definitely not worthy of a main event.

Bottom Line:

I enjoyed the first match, and I did enjoy watching Stevie Richards wrestle, although the match as a whole wasn’t that great. The rest of the show really felt like a waste of time.

I had trouble staying awake after the second match, and I completely dozed off during the New Breed/Majors match. However, I had no trouble staying awake AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER, during season finale of “The Shield” on FX (which ran from like 12:40am until 2:00am EST). That says a lot about the ECW product and how well it’s being booked these days.

I'm hoping the draft can offer some improvements, but I’m not holding my breath.

Todd Jackson
Flint, MI

**********

It sucked. Plain and simple. I wished they would end this crapfest of a program. Vince's ideas as always are old hash re-runs from the old days. With the exception of the deranged character he is playing pretty much everything else is a train wreck waiting to happen.

Paul Heyman must be laughing right now knowing the fact that Vinced "screwed" himself by firing him from the creative side of the show. At least he is being paid to. Imagine that. Vince rather pay someone as talented as Paul to sit at home and do nothing rather to help the business grow for future generations to come. Since his McEgo doesn't allow him to swallow his pride and do what's "right" for the business, he just lets it rot and talent go un-noticed. Boy, do I wish for the day someone with big cahunas to come along and knock that old man off his throne. It's time for a change people and I don't mean Stephanie or Triple H.

Enjoy laughing all the way to the bank Paul because redemption is so sweet.

**********

Vince in a rocking chair.  Squashing all the remaining ECW Originals (except Little Guido).  Yeah, this was a waste of an hour.