Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
I really hated the fact that they had a ten bell salute for McMahon on the show. I thought that was in really bad taste considering the amount of wrestlers who have passed away recently and barely even got a mention, but Vince supposedly gets "wacked" and they have a salute and memorial show? Really weak.
Really didn't miss Lashley's promo this week. Really nice not to see him on both shows. Maybe they'll finally give him a mean streak on Raw because he should be upset about being stripped of the title, right? Sure.
I did find it odd that the title wasn't mentioned at all, and why weren't all the wrestlers arguing over who gets the title or a shot at it? Kinda thought that was stupid.
-MG
Cleveland
**********
ECW was bad. Real bad.
Every match was overshadowed by the apparent death of Vince McMahon. The only thing that I'll remember from the show was that Vince died after Monday Night Raw. Let's forget about the fact that Bobby had to vacate the ECW belt and that the creative team is going to have to rush to develop a storyline for Vengeance. Let's completely drop any storylines that we had before the WWE Draft. Sadly, even after his death, he was pushed harder than any of the wrestlers.
The worst part of the whole fiasco was the ten-bell salute. I'm not completely opposed to the whole storyline, but I think Vince stepped over the line. The salute was Pluto'ed to a bit in a storyline. Evidently, nothing is sacred within the WWE.
I hope this storyline ends soon. But my gut tells me that this is only the beginning...
**********
This was a better show than I thought it would be, to be honest. I'd had a look at the current ECW roster, on WWE.com and, to be honest, it isn't that good. They've been using the 'ECW Originals' as jobbers, for most of the time, The Boogeyman shouldn't be booked seriously in the Main Event, and neither Elijah Burke nor Marcus Cor Von are ready yet to be at the top of the card. Having said that, the show is only one hour in length, and the matches on this show were BOOKED as good as could be expected. Oh, and I skipped all of the Vince bits, in case you're wandering why I'm so positive.
The Balls Mahoney Vs Tommy Dreamer Extreme Rules match was good. Both Balls and Tommy tried their best, within the 10-minute time frame, and they surprisingly even used some psychology. This was present in the timely momentum swings in the match. When Tommy was in control, and just set a table up, he turns around to be hit in the face with a trash-can lid, or whatever it was. I was also impressed by the fact that it took more than just one shot from a weapon to down somebody. Three times was the correct number of shots, to be able to both sell a shot, and show some toughness and a little bit of psychology. The result was understandable because, of all of the ECW Originals, Tommy Dreamer would be the easiest to build up, and also the most reliable.
The Boogeyman is not out of place in ECW. It amuses me when some of the old-school ECW fans say something like "We weren't about gimmicks - just pure wrestling action". The 1999 - 2001 ECW was flooded with the like of Joel Gertner, Mikey Whipwreck, Simon Diamond, Jason, The Blue Meanie and all of the other goofy characters. Boogeyman is more entertaining, in my opinion, than any of those I've just mentioned. The match was okay: Striker got a bit of offense in, and Boogey showed us his best moves - including working on a body part. Not a classic, by any means, but it was...okay.
And the Main Event intrigued me. The bookers picked the best Main Event that they could possibly pick, and it would intrigue anyone, if we're honest. The match started out well, with some good amateur-style chain wrestling and teamwork. I'm not sure if the match was supposed to end how it was, because why would Cor Von slam Punk in the corner, and that be the end of it? And was the footage of Monday's angle there to replace the match, or simply to over-sell that goofy thing again? In my opinion, it's probably the latter. I hope. I also hope there's a rematch, which doesn't end in a DQ. And I hope that the next feud over the ECW World Title is between Punk and Benoit, with Benoit winning. No mention of the next ECW World Title match, though.
Jake Padget
West Yorkshire, England
**********
ECW Review for June 12th, 2007
So we open the show and just as if Vince was really dead, I had listened to Opie & Anthony this morning, and Tazz was looking a lot more mournful then he sounded that morning, when he was wondering more about what was going to happen to his paychecks. So they open the show, and they show the entire segment of last night. I can’t help but feel weird hearing that in kayfabe, somebody was presumed dead. At least they’re making it believable, unlike when Triple H got dropped in a car from a large height and came back the next week. Seriously, I was fully expecting Vince to come back tonight wearing only a neck brace. But whatever. To make things funnier, the crowd, (even the marks who could tell he wasn’t dead for real) booed his death bell tones. “So disrespectful.†I wonder if they’ll do this during Vince’s real death?
The next match will be contested under EXTREME RULES! OH MY GOD, HEYMAN, GET THE STOP SIGNS! Joey and Tazz remind us of Vince’s “genius†idea to bring back ECW at least 15 times. The new ECW has obviously destroyed how cool Tommy and Mahoney look. You’re so used to seeing these guys get squashed (most of the time by Snistky) that this match looked silly.
After the newly ECW-ed Boogyman wormifys Matt Striker, we see footage of firefighters putting out Vince’s limo out. Wouldn’t the CIA show up, seeing as it was a CAR BOMBING?! That is the kind of thing George Bush hates after all, isn’t it?
Chris Canadian (he’s ours and always has been) and CM Emo vs. Elijah Dork and The Monty Brown Experience – A pretty good match for Chris Benoit’s ECW debut (although that isn’t really true since he was there in 199somthing, broke Sabu’s neck and then left) But I still want the Monty Brown I know and love back…
*sigh*
Mark Davis
Windsor Ontario Canada
