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OOC: Hello. As with some of the recent BTB's posted, I'm bringing this over from WC with the idea of continuing where I left off. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll post a couple summaries, detailing what's gone on and who's doing what. This kicked off after WrestleMania 25, and recently saw the completion of SummerSlam.
The WWE Edition of ECW
The Roster:
ECW Champion: Christian
Bryan Danielson
Charlie Haas
Curt Hawkins
David Smith
DJ Gabriel
Ezekiel Jackson
Finlay
Hurricane Helms
Jack Swagger
Mark Henry
Paul Burchill
Shelton Benjamin
Tyson Kidd
William Regal
Yoshi Tatsu
Zack Ryder
Alicia Fox
Natalya
Super Katie
The Teams:
WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: The World’s Greatest Tag Team; Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin
The Green Knights: Fit Finlay, The Hurricane, Hornswoggle & Super Katie The Hart Dynasty: David Smith, Natalya & Tyson Kidd
William Regal & Paul Burchill
Mark Henry & Vladimir Kozlov
Upcoming Summaries:
The Early Days (WrestleMania 25 – Night of Champions)
Recent History (Night of Champions – SummerSlam)
Slight change of plan, rather than posting two large summaries, I'm just going to post the matches from each Pay-Per-View along with a brief summary of what went on in the build up until we reach SummerSlam. This should mean less to read. And less work for me, tbh.
The Road to WWE Backlash
Kicking off the ECW Show presented after WrestleMania was the ECW General Manager, Tiffany, who would go on to announce a mini tournament to crown a new number one contender, one which was eventually won by Evan Bourne, defeating the ECW Legend, Tommy Dreamer in the finals.
Meanwhile, Christian and the ECW Champion, Jack Swagger would continue their pre-WrestleMania rivalry, eventually meeting in an ECW Championship match on an episode of ECW. Unfortunately, Christian would lose this match because of some questionable tactics from Jack Swagger, leading Tiffany to create a triple threat match at Backlash between Jack Swagger, Christian and Evan Bourne for the right to be called ECW Champion!
Elsewhere, Curt Hawkins made his ECW debut under the guise of The Martyr of Sin, explaining he’s made his way to ECW to rid the brand of all sinners. The first target was his former tag team partner, Zack Ryder, and throughout the weeks, Hawkins would play mind games with Ryder and his ally, Tyler Reks.
In the tag team area, The Hart Dynasty continued their good run of form, defeating many local teams before then defeating the unlikely alliance of Fit Finlay and The Hurricane, leading them to issue a challenge to the current WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, The Colons for a match the Tuesday after WWE Backlash.
Other stars like William Regal, Paul Burchill, Katie Lea and Ezekiel Jackson - who the Tuesday before Backlash would kick off a rivalry with Fit Finlay - would make sporadic appearances throughout the lead up to the big show.
The Match:
***
AND NOW … RAW, ECW AND SMACKDOWN PRESENT WWE BACKLASH!!!
---
!! ~ PYRO ~ !!
---
After the RAW and SmackDown commentary teams introduce themselves and run down their respective cards for the evening (same as real life), we hear from our very own Matt Striker and Josh Matthews who explain they are starting off WWE Backlash with the Extreme brand where Jack Swagger will defend his championship in a triple threat match.
‘… GO …’
**JUST CLOSE YOUR EYES**
The first competitor to make his appearance this evening is none other than CHRISTIAN! The first challenger walks onto the specially designed stage wearing special silver attire for the occasion. With a very good pop behind him – Captain Charisma reaches the ring and climbs the turnbuckle, looking out to the sea of fans before him.
Tony Chimel: The following contest is scheduled for one fall … and is a triple threat match for the E – C – W Championship!! Introducing first, already in the ring, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada … CHRISTIAN!
Christian turns his attention to the stage, waiting for the first of his opponents.
**AIR BOURNE**
And out next, EVAN BOURNE rushes onto the stage looking hyped and ready to compete. He looks down at his opponent from the ramp – the man he kicked in the head on the previous edition of ECW. With the ECW Championship in his mind, Bourne makes his way down to the ring.
Tony Chimel: His opponent, from St. Louis, Missouri – EVAN AIR BOURNE!!
Bourne slides into the ring, keeping one eye on Christian and climbs to the second rope for the crowd to see.
Once he’s back down, he retreats into his own corner and the two men await the arrival of the champion …
… who takes an absolute age to make his appearance … but finally …
**GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES**
The current ECW Champion, JACK SWAGGER appears at the top of the ramp. He has the belt around his waist and he jumps on the spot – watching his two opponents.
Tony Chimel: Their opponent, from Perry, Oklahoma – he is the E – C – W Champion … The All American American … JACK SWAGGER!!
The champ climbs into the ring – reluctantly gives the championship over to the referee who holds up the silver belt before ringing for the bell.
Immediately, Jack Swagger dives out of the ring – telling Christian and Bourne to have at it. The two men are wise to his games though and despite the hit to the head on the last episode of ECW – neither of them makes a move towards each other. Instead, they exit the ring at opposite sides and come at the champion from different directions. Swagger rolls back into the ring to avoid them but they follow him and Jack says this isn’t fair to the referee who says he can’t do anything. Jack goes down fighting though – throwing punches at the Bourne and Christian who gang up on The All American. The champion is thrown from the ring – allowing Christian and Evan to square up, circling each other before locking up.
From here, Swagger takes a time out, smartly noted by Matt Striker – allowing Christian and Bourne to compete in the ring. The two men trade blows for a minute until Swagger gets back into the ring – rushing the two men but they see him coming and step back from each other, allowing Swagger to hit the ropes and comically falling through them to the outside again. Christian and Bourne go back to battling while Swagger slaps the mat on the outside. He gets back into the action, clubbing Bourne from behind and throwing him into the corner. Christian tries to grab Swagger but the champion blocks a right hand and whips his hated rival into the corner – sandwiching Bourne. The All American builds up a head of steam and smashes into them with a corner clothesline.
Christian falls to the mat and Swagger goes for the pin but only gets a one count. Frustrated, he turns to look for Bourne – who has recovered from the corner blow and is already on the top rope. Bourne jumps feet first towards Swagger, USING HIS SHOULDERS AS A SPRINGBOARD … ONTO CHRISTIAN WITH A PICTURE-PERFECT SPLASH!! Instead of going for the cover, Bourne stands up and catches Swagger with a drop-toe-hold, then runs the ropes and smashes into him with a low drop kick to the side of the head. Despite a two count – Bourne seems to be in control and Christian is the first out of he and Swagger to get up. Bourne tries to hit him with a standing drop kick but Christian side steps it – and absolutely SLAPS THE TASTE OUT OF HIS MOUTH WHEN HE STANDS UP!! Striker says that’s retribution for the kick last Tuesday and Bourne is incensed at the slap – taking Christian down with a double leg sweep.
The next minute consists of Christian and Bourne trading blows on the mat – rolling around, each man trying to gain the high ground. Finally, the ECW Champion grabs Evan from behind and launches him shoulder first into the ring post through the top and middle turnbuckle! Evan screams in agony and rolls to the outside. This allows Swagger and Christian to spend the next few minutes facing off. The typical triple threat format seems to happen here – with one man on the outside recovering, the heel in Swagger is able to work over Christian using some underhanded tactics which can’t be punished in the triple threat such as using the ropes to choke him.
Swagger finally calls for the end and goes for the Gutwrench Powerbomb but Christian is able to roll through from the top of his shoulders – only getting a near two count. When he rises – Swagger catches him by the leg and tries to lock in the ankle lock but Christian rolls through, sending the champion barrelling through the ropes and onto the outside. For the next minute, Christian is able to impart some offence on the outside – using the barricade to his advantage a few times. However, from above, we see Evan Bourne climbing to the top rope and when Christian and Swagger spot him – HE SOARS THROUGH THE AIR AND LANDS ON BOTH FO THEM WITH A CROSS BODY!! He grabs the first man he could reach – Christian and rolls him into the ring covering him for a two count.
Evan looks out to the crowd and suggests its time to end it. He climbs to the top rope – balancing himself for his finishing move – that is until Swagger climbs onto the apron and tries to stop him. Bourne tries to kick him away but Swagger has a good grip of his ankle … that’s when we realize what is going on – Swagger has the ankle and is wrenching it hard. The awkward angle of Bourne straddling the top turnbuckle makes it hard for him to reach out and punch the champion. Swagger is just out of reach and Bourne is yelling in agony. Suddenly, Christian is back on his feet and smashes into Swagger on the apron – sending him flying into the barricade!!
Christian tries to capitalize by attempting to hit Bourne with a superplex from the top rope. Bourne blocks it though, hooking his leg underneath the middle turnbuckle. After a couple of clubbing blows to the back – Christian is able to get Bourne into position – But here comes Swagger, sliding into the ring and grabbing Christian in the powerbomb position!! It’s the tower of doom spot we’d been expecting – Swagger does his part and Christian does his part – but showing amazing athleticism , Bourne flips forward, out of the grip of Christian and lands on his feet as Swagger and Christian slam down to the mat!!
Bourne hits the ropes straight away – and catches Swagger by jumping onto him and twisting – landing a tornado DDT!! Bourne covers the champion but only gets a two count! Desperate, Bourne now dives on Christian but again only gets a two count! The next few minutes continues at a very fast pace with each man trading some blows to the other. Eventually, it descends into Bourne and Christian ganging up on the champion in the corner. Christian pushes Bourne away – looking to inflict as much pain as possible on his bitter rival, Swagger. Bourne comes back though and pulls Christian from him and we get a face off from them – Christian telling him that Swagger is his and so is the ECW Championship which Bourne obviously doesn’t take well. The two get into a shoving match which Swagger watches from the corner.
After a couple minutes of back and forth between Christian and Bourne – Christian is the one who attempts his finisher, aiming for the Killswitch but Bourne twists out and pushes him forward – into Swagger but Christian sees him and smashes a forearm smash into The All American, sending him back in to the corner from where he came. Bourne then hits Christian with the same high kick he had done on ECW – this time from behind, sending Captain Charisma to the mat. Bourne climbs to the top, looking for the Shooting Star Press but Christian gets the knees up and then gets up – HITTING THE KILLSWITCH ON BOURNE!!
He looks for the cover … but Swagger grabs him and sends him to the outside!! Unbeknown to The All American, Christian lands on his feet and this gives him enough time to break up the almost certain three count!! Christian pulls Swagger off Bourne and goes for another Killswitch but Swagger pushes him away and then hits him WITH HIS GUTWRENCH POWERBOMB!! Swagger dives on top of Christian and watches the referee make the count – but it’s interrupted by Bourne!! The highflyer hit a nice running low drop kick to the skull of Swagger – seemingly knocking him out cold.
Bourne wasn’t done there! He kicked Christian enough so that he was forcibly removed from the ring and onto the outside – still feeling the effects of the powerbomb. Gingerly, Bourne climbs to the top rope … steadies himself … LANDS A BEAUTIFUL SHOOTING STAR PRESS!! He covers the champion … 1 … 2 … THREE!! NEW CHAMPION!!
WINNER & NEW ECW CHAMPION: EVAN BOURNE @ 11.51
DESPITE THE EFFORTS OF CHRISTIAN JUST AN ARMS REACH AWAY – EVAN BOURNE HAS PINNED THE CHAMPION!!
The referee takes the silver championship from Tony and hands it to Bourne who clutches it to his chest – the cold metal against his skin. He smiles and hugs it tightly before raising it above his head to decent cheers from the crowds. Many of them came to see Christian become the champion, but a number of them are quite happy with the result.
A mega result for Evan Bourne – pinning the ECW Champion himself, but Striker and Matthews do wonder what this means for the Swagger and Christian rivalry and what will off this on ECW this Tuesday night!
Oh hey. Good to see you've brought this over. One thing about the recaps is I hope new readers are able to grasp how awesome the Hawkins character, as well as some other up and coming ones which I won't spoil. I think a big part of the beauty of the Hawkins character are the way you write all of his mannerisms, and your descriptions.
I remember at the time this Bourne win was a bit of a shock, but definitely something that gave ECW a fresh, new feel which was enjoyable. Anyhow, you know I'll be following.
Thank you, Stoj! I get what you mean, as much of what I enjoyed writing about the Hawkins character was the little things, so moving forward I'm going to include one or two favourite segments of mine - not just from Hawkins - and matches, so not just the PPV match. Thank you to everyone, too, who have left likes on the thread, means a lot! In the next week or so I hope to leave some more comments on other threads since I've finished going through the painstaking process of moving all my previous shows to a google doc.
The Road to Judgment Day!
The night after Backlash, we’d see the alliance between William Regal and Mark Henry form. The duo would target the current ECW Champion, Evan Bourne while Christian would continue his rivalry with the former ECW Champ’, Jack Swagger – resulting in an Extreme Rules match on ECW TV which Christian would pick up the victory in. In the weeks after Backlash, Evan Bourne and his use of the Singapore Cane would be a major factor in his ability to handle both William Regal and The World’s Strongest Man – resulting in William Regal having to suffer ten lashes of the cane after Regal cheated to allow Mark Henry to get a pinfall victory over the champ (this would come up again later).
Perhaps the focus of ECW for the month was the feud between The Martyr of Sin, CurtHawkins and Zack Ryder. More attention was placed on Hawkins and his backstory and goal including the use of the white rose flower and his deck playing cards with images of every ECW Superstar on them, (some of these segments have been included below) stating his first target to remove all sinners from ECW was Zack Ryder – who was guilty of the sin of gluttony. Zack Ryder resorted to his friend, Tyler Reks to do the job and take care of Curt Hawkins, but obviously that failed. And as a result, Hawkins was able to choose the stipulation for their match, which he named Sanctuary of Sin. (Along with the Judgment Day match, I’ll post this at the end of the summary as I was rather proud of it.)
With no warning, we’re thrust into a dark scene where night has fallen, and a full moon is in the background. As the camera focuses on the foreboding structure directly ahead which upon closer inspection appears to be a large, dilapidated church. In what was no doubt a spectacular sight decades ago, the building appears to have seen better days as the windows are boarded up and only the doorway appears to be open. The camera now cuts into the building where a figure sitting on a long pew is lit up by the faint flicker of candlelight coming from the candle burning in his hand. The camera zooms to reveal Curt Hawkins staring into the flame. Hawkins quickly lists the reasons why Ryder is in this predicament including the abandonment of his friends and the absolute overindulgence in the fake person he has become. Hawkins makes it clear that Ryder has fallen foul to the sin of gluttony and their match next week will decide whether he has forgiveness.
Hawkins looks up into the camera and announces Ryder will face the consequences of his sins next week in the first ever Sanctuary of Sin match where Ryder will be forced to battle for forgiveness, where Ryder will meet The Martyr of Sin in a battle for the ages, contested inside this church where everyone will see the sinner that Zack Ryder truly is.
The last thing we see is Hawkins pulling Zack Ryder’s card featured in a segment a couple of weeks ago and burning it in the flame of the candle. The camera focuses on that as we cut away to the final commercial break of the evening.
Ezekiel Jackson and Fit Finlay entered a bitter rivalry centred around Hornswoggle and Jackson’s bullying of him. Finally, the rivalry came to ahead with a match between the two in the main event, and despite Jackson picking up the win, he would see fit to attack Finlay after the match, bringing out The Hurricane to save the day (again, this will come up later) but he was no match for the huge figure of Ezekiel Jackson. One man was, however. The Russian, Vladimir Kozlov made his ECW debut, kickstarting a rivalry with Ezekiel Jackson.
In tag team action, The Hart Dynasty had their opportunity to face The Colons for the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles on their home turf of ECW but came up short in a losing effort. For the first time since their debut, The Hart Dynasty faced an experienced team and came up short, which would come up again after a rivalry was formed with The Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin after he accidently spilled a cup of coffee on Natalya (creative, right?)
Meanwhile, ECW Legend, Tommy Dreamer would start a rather lengthy losing streak, with the question of retirement and the end of his contract in a couple of months coming into play. In the couple of weeks before Judgment Day, he’d lose to Jack Swagger, Shelton Benjamin and even Tyler Reks. A frustrated Dreamer would meet Christian backstage, who’d give his friend a helping hand and a pep talk, hopefully leading to a rejuvenated Dreamer in the weeks after Judgment Day, with Christian saying he’ll always be there for his friend.
The Matches:
The feed coming back from the commercial isn’t the normal one from the arena we’d expect. Instead, the feed fades into a shot of a dilapidated church where the entrance is wide open. On the left of the door is a tall window that you’d expect in a church, very colourful and depicting a religious scene. The camera pans around to reveal Zack Ryder looking rather worried, staring at the foreboding structure. The referee’s white shirt stands out amazingly in the dark and Charles Robinson is the poor fella tasked with this. Ryder turns to him and says, ‘Are you serious, bro? I’m not going in there.’
‘I want to be here even less than you, Zack. All I’ve been told is to follow you two around and count the three,’ he says. Ryder takes his head and approaches the structure slowly, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. The camera man follows him and switches to a front view of the Superstar, and in the background appears to be a stretch of grass that has seen better days. Once inside, Ryder takes a deep breath and looks around. Robinson stays to the side as Ryder walks down the aisle, glancing left to right, trying to work out where his rival is. The church has been lit up by a hell of a lot of candles, stretching down the aisle up to the centre piece where a bowl of holy water stands and beside that is a large table where a single white rose lies.
Ryder reaches the rose and picks it up. He looks around the high church, seeing the green mould around the windows and the cobwebs high up in the ceiling. ‘Come on then, bro,’ he says, spinning around, keeping his wits about him. Suddenly, the sound of a large door creaking shut is heard and Ryder spots Curt Hawkins standing in the doorway, turning around after closing the big door. The camera cuts and we get a closer look at The Martyr of Sin who appears to be holding a crowbar in his right hand. Ryder grabs Robinson by the scruff of the shirt. ‘He can’t use that, can he?’ Robinson shakes his head and simply tells Ryder he’s been told anything is legal and he’s just there to count the three. Robinson tells Ryder he’s calling the start – ‘it starts now!’
Main Event: Sanctuary of Sin
Curt Hawkins vs. Zack Ryder
With that new knowledge, Ryder looks around as Hawkins begins approaching with the crowbar. The Long Island Iced Z decides to fight another day – wanting none of the weapon Hawkins is holding. He looks around frantically for an escape route and to his left appears to be a long narrow corridor, lit up by candles, almost like a walkway. Ryder decides it’s his best shot and he jogs down the corridor, the camera cutting to what appears to be a stationary camera hidden on the wall. He reaches a large door at the end of the hallway and pushes it open. He closes it tightly behind him. In the room sits a large table which Ryder pushes in front of the door. Unfortunately for him, it appears the room is a dead end because the only window is boarded up and despite his best attempts to pry off the wood, he can’t do it. That is when he notices what is on the wall.
Adorning the wall is numerous pictures of Zack Ryder from his time as one of The Edge Heads. Several have images of Hawkins and Ryder celebrating after a victory, hugging, and looking like best friends. As he studies the wall, he sees the centre image of the two of them holding the WWE Tag Team Championships and next to that, the images fallaway to Ryder with his new persona.
Suddenly, the camera cuts to catch the door almost opening but the table prevents it. Ryder backs up to the far wall and continues to look for a way out – he puts his head in his hands, avoiding looking at the pictures any longer. Hawkins bangs on the door, likely with the crowbar and Ryder covers his ears, blocking out the loud banging. Channelling his inner slasher killer, Hawkins continues to bang on the door before sticking the crowbar into the side of the door. Ryder can hear the door start to give way and he takes a deep breath, getting into a fighting stance but looking rather concerned. Finally, Hawkins pries the door from it’s hinges and kicks it down. In the warm candlelight, Hawkins looks damn right possessed as he stares at Ryder.
‘Look bro,’ Ryder says, ‘I got no trouble with you. Just let me leave and we’ll call it a day.’
Hawkins slowly shakes his head then rushes forward, smashing into Ryder with a knee to the stomach and then he THROWS RYDER OVER THE TABLE. Hawkins waits for Ryder to get up and he SMASHES THE END OF THE CROWBAR INTO ZACK’S GUT! Zack screams in agony, holding his stomach but Hawkins continues, slamming Ryder into the wall covered in pictures. Curt grabs his former friend by the head and makes him look at the images before throwing him into the doorway – sending him out to the hallway.
Ryder stumbles back down the corridor, into the main area of the church but Hawkins is right behind him, stalking him like a predator does to their prey. The Long Island Iced Z almost falls right into the structure holding the holy water, but he manages to keep his footing. Despite the pain rushing through his stomach, he manages to focus and sees Hawkins approaching. Ryder dips both hands in the holy water, picking up as much as he can AND LAUNCHES THE WATER INTO HAWKINS FACE! THE WATER GETS IN HIS EYES AND THE SURPRISE SENDS CURT STUMBLING BACK!
Ryder attempts to cash in on the distraction and grabs Hawkins by the head, looking to smash his head off the table that held the white rose, but Curt blocks it and then does the same to Ryder. This sends Zack sprawling to the cold hard floor. ‘I GOT YOU ZACK,’ comes the shout from the entrance way of the church. The door is open and standing in amongst, holding his arms out at the side as if he was Jesus himself, is TYLER REKS! The surfer points at Hawkins and SPRINTS down the aisle – looking to get involved and help his friend, but Hawkins is smart, and he tightens his grip on the crowbar and puts all his might into THROWING the crowbar! The metal bar smashes into Tyler’s chest and the surfer falls into the pews to the left of him.
With the weapon out of the equation for now, Ryder sees his opportunity and he ATTACKS HAWKINS FROM BEHIND. Ryder uses the distraction and throws Hawkins into one of the pews. The Martyr of Sin yells in agony as his back hits the awkward shape of the wooden bench. Ryder picks him up and forces him to walk to the entrance area of the church. For good measure, Zack does hit him with a couple of forearm smashes on the back as Hawkins stumbles up the church. They approach the colourful window and Zack grabs his opponent by the hair THEN SENDS HIM STRAIGHT THROUGH THE GLASS! Hawkins lands on the wet grass outside and Ryder leans against the wall, taking a breather.
With no regard for Tyler Reks, Zack leaves him amongst the pews and follows Curt outside. Ryder, looking a little like his old self, the cocky brash attitude is back as he approaches Hawkins who’s struggling to get up. ‘Come on bro. Get up, bro. You wanted me here. Get up, bro.’ Hawkins does, indeed, manage to get up, albeit on all fours, but Ryder KICKS him in the side and sends Hawkins sprawling. For a good minute, Ryder dominates, with multiple punches and kicks. Charles Robinson watches as Ryder climbs on top of Hawkins and wraps his hands around his former friend’s throat. Hawkins looks up into the whites of Ryder’s wide eyes and starts coughing. ‘You wanted me here, bro. That was a mistake!’ Ryder leans back and BRINGS DOWN A FOREARM – LOOKING TO SMASH HAWKINS NOSE IN but Curt moves his head to the side! Out of nowhere, Hawkins moves his head up quickly, smashing it against Ryder’s face!
Ryder walks away around the side of the church, holding his face and what might be a broken nose. Hawkins follows him and the camera catches the scene of Zack walking away with the dark figure of Hawkins illuminated by the full moon behind him following. Ryder turns the corner and the camera cuts to the back of the church where what appears to be a large pit of HOT black coals! Ryder sees this and tries to NOPE the F out but he turns right into Hawkins who kicks him in the stomach and PLANTS HIM ON THE GROUND WITH HIS UNDERHOOK DDT! At this point, Hawkins could cover Ryder and likely win, which is what Charles Robinson suggests – but Hawkins has other plans.
Hawkins looks at the pit of burning coal and almost smiles. He grabs Ryder and drags him over to the pit. Ryder squirms and tries to get away, but Hawkins grip is iron tight. Luckily, TYLER REKS appears, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, he JUMPS on Hawkins from behind and tries to fight The Martyr of Sin, but Hawkins is too strong and too motivated. Hawkins fights him off and grabs him by the dreadlocks – AND THROWS HIM INTO THE PIT OF COALS! Ryder watches as Tyler screams in agony, the sound of pain accompanying the sizzle of cooking skin on heat. Tyler flails around and quickly grabs the side of the pit, pulling himself out and ROLLING ON THE COLD WET GRASS, GETTING SOME RELIEF.
With Tyler out of action again, Hawkins grabs Ryder by the scruff of the neck and drags him over to the pit. Hawkins grabs him by the neck and leans him over the pit, holding him back from falling face first into the hot coals. ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT?!’ Ryder yells, putting all his might into moving his face back from the heat.
‘ADMIT IT!’ Hawkins practically yells Ryder’s ear and for a moment, Ryder thinks about what to say. He glances at the coals and glances at Tyler who’s in the foetal position a few feet away. ‘FINE! FINE! I ADMIT IT! I’VE SINNED, OKAY. LET ME GO! LET ME GO!’ Ryder says it through gritted teeth, but he’s admitted it now, but Hawkins continues to hold Ryder over the coals. Hawkins finally pulls Ryder back from the coals and says, ‘Some sins can never be forgiven.’
At that moment, Hawkins kicks Ryder in the stomach and HITS HIM WITH ANOTHER UNDERHOOK DDT! Hawkins covers him and Charles Robinson does the honours.
Winner: Curt Hawkins @ 12.27
There are no fans to react to the victory and Hawkins barely reacts himself and the referee sees his chance to get the hell out of there.
Hawkins is left to survey the damage done. Tyler Reks – burnt and in pain. Zack Ryder – knocked out and not with forgiveness.
Hawkins takes a deep breath and walks away from the scene, silhouetted by the full moon. The camera slowly fades away and fades back, onto the flower bed at the side of the church, where a bunch of white roses are growing.
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WWE Judgment Day!
***REGALITY***
Coming down the ramp first – WILLIAM REGAL accompanied by MARK HENRY! The Englishman looks mighty confident as he ignores the jeers from the crowd and walks down the ramp. The big man follows behind him, looking as angry as ever.
Tony Chimel: The following contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the E – C – W Championship! Introducing first – accompanied by Mark Henry - from Blackpool England, weighing in at 243lbs – WILLIAM REGAL!
The challenger has reached the ring by this point and hands his purple and gold robe to a ringside assistant.
***BORN TO WIN***
The ECW Champion – EVAN BOURNE rushes onto the stage with the silver championship around his waist. Rather than the usual happy go lucky champion we normally see – he’s instead all business, staring down at Regal and Henry – still feeling the effects of the duos attack on Tuesday.
Tony Chimel: And his opponent, from St. Louis Missouri, weighing 185lbs, he is the reigning E – C – W Champion … EVAN BOURNE!
Bourne slides into the ring – keeping a wary eye on the two men in the opposite corner and hands the championship over to the referee. The man charge – Charles Robinson – takes the championship and lifts it up for the crowd to gawp at. He’s about to call for the bell when …
***INSATIABLE***
All eyes turn to the stage where the ECW General Manager, TIFFANY walks confidently onto the stage with a microphone in her hand. Bourne looks just as confused as Regal does but the commentary team of Striker and Matthews wager what she’s about to say likely won’t sit well with the Englishman …
Tiffany: Mister Regal. Did you really think you could get away with a blatant disregard of the rules that I had set last Tuesday?
Bourne quickly glances at Regal who looks far from happy.
Tiffany: You were right about one thing – I can’t take away your championship opportunity tonight. But it’s clear over the past couple of weeks you have relied on Mark Henry to get yourself into this position.
She pauses for dramatic effect.
Tiffany: Because of your actions last Tuesday – I’m taking away the thing that’s got you here. Therefore, Mark – please get out of my ring and go to the back … where you will stay … because you are barred from ringside.
Regal practically hits the roof at this point – his face turns a deep shade of red, clearly not happy at losing his ace card.
Henry looks at Regal for confirmation, then slowly takes his leave, walking up the ramp while muttering to himself.
Tiffany smiles sweetly at Regal and leaves the stage. Bourne smirks and Regal kicks out at the bottom rope before saying – loud enough for the camera to pick it up – ‘fine, I’ll do it myself.’
Charles Robinson calls for the bell and the champion immediately rushes the challenger, attempting to take him by surprise. Bourne connects with a running forearm which staggers Regal enough to send him stumbling backwards into the corner. The champion continues the quick flurry of offense with a couple of low kicks then a couple of high ones into the chest before whipping Regal into the opposite corner. The Englishman hits the turnbuckles with so much force that he his momentum causes him to stumble forward – right into a tilt-a-whirl head scissors – sending him across the ring, face first into the canvas! Regal rolls right out of the ring, attempting to compose himself and slow things down – but Bourne has other ideas as he uses the top rope to sling himself over the top, looking for a crossbody … but Regal side steps him … BOURNE LANDS ON HIS FEET! Regal tries to hit him with a running right hand but the champion ducks then HITS A BEAUTIFUL PELE KICK!
Regal falls backwards but uses the steel steps to steady himself. Bourne continues with the quick pace, utilizing quick blows while Regal tries to create some distance. The champion appears to be in complete control as he allows Regal to get some space. Bourne then tells the fans near him to take a step back – for him to hop onto the barricade! Bourne – with an immense sense of balance – runs along the cushioned top of the barricade and eventually reaches Regal – RUNNING KNEE TO THE FACE! Bourne quickly picks Regal up and rolls him into the ring and goes for the cover! 1 … 2 … NO!
After a quick kick for good measure, the champion heads to the apron where he waits for Regal to get up. SPRINGBOARD CROSS BODY! He lands it perfectly but rolls onto his feet, hitting the ropes and SMASHING REGAL WITH A RUNNING LOW DROP KICK! Continuing the fast paced offense, Bourne heads back to the apron and this time leaps to the top rope, using it has a springboard to hop over to the other rope by the turnbuckle … LOOKING FOR A MOONSAULT ONTO THE STANDING OPPONENT! But Regal dives out the way and Bourne seems to have landed heavily because he hops on the spot, holding his left knee … AND REGAL SPOTS THIS AND CHOP BLOCKS IT! Regal stands up and runs his hands through his hair and kneels on the champions chest and smashes away with closed right fists – he’s done with the flippy shit!
For the next few minutes, Regal is in control, working away at the left knee with his usual technical offence but he also incorporates more of the brawler style, clearly frustrated at the lack of his back up and Bourne’s quick start. This continues until Bourne manages to fight out of a leg lock and fight back – despite the knee – hitting a couple of fast paced moves including a tilt-a-whirl arm drag and a spinning wheel kick which takes him a few moments to recover from.
Measuring Regal, he connects with a beautiful STANDING CORKSCREW SENTON which gets a massively close near fall! Bourne attempts to follow that up with a Small Package Brainbuster but his left knee gives out and he fails to lift the Englishman! Regal tries to fight back but Bourne connects with a roundhouse kick, sending Regal to the mat! Bourne climbs to the top rope – slowly – and by the time he reaches the top, Regal is already on his feet … DIVING METEORA! Immediately, Matt Striker calls that as the ‘WRONG MOVE’ to take because of the fact he’s just landed on his knees – and it shows because the champion screams out, rolling on the mat, clutching the injured knee while the referee checks on him.
Bourne punches the canvas and goes for the cover but Regal kicks out at two. With Regal seemingly still able to move and the fact his knee is getting worse as the match goes on, Bourne decides to try to end things by heading back to the top rope … LOOKING FOR THE SHOOTING STAR PRESS … BUT REGAL GETS THE KNEES UP … SMALL PACKAGE! PIN-NO! REGAL TWISTS AND TURNS IT INTO A HALF LEG BOSTON CRAB! Bourne suffers nearly a minute of pain before he is able to get the wherewithal to pull himself over to the bottom rope. After the count of four – Regal breaks the hold!
Sensing his time might be coming – Regal picks Bourne up and HOOKS THE LEFT LEG … REGAL PLEX! That’s it surely?! ONE – TWO – TH NO! The Englishman absolutely loses it at the referee – pushing him back into the corner and telling him to do his job. Once he manages to compose himself, he waits for the champion to get up … and HE ATTEMPTS TO HIT HIS KNEE TREMBLER! But Bourne dives out the way!
Regal almost runs straight into the turnbuckle, but he stretches his arms out, managing to stop himself. Charles Robinson is in the opposite corner, still shaken from Regal’s outburst and in front of him, Bourne is just staggering to his feet. Regal rushes the champion but again Evan dives out the way and Regal runs STRAIGHT INTO CHARLES – ACCIDENTLY HITTING HIS KNEE INTO THE REFEREES CHEST!
With Robinson out for the count seemingly, Regal looks back at Bourne then at the referee, then back. He smirks then grabs A PAIR OF BRASS KNUCKES from his tights! Striker calls it genius as Regal puts them on – Bourne has no idea. Regal aims for the champions skull … but BOURNE CONNECTS WITH A JUMPING ROUNDHOUSE KICK! This sends Regal falling like a tree to the mat and the brass knuckles sliding across the ring.
The champion – nursing his knee – notices these and picks them up. He looks at them and then looks at the crowd. He looks at Regal and shakes his head – frustrated that he’d try something like that again. Bourne does the right thing and throws the weapon out of the ring. However, instead of continuing with the match, he sees the referee is still out and has an idea. He slides out of the ring and searches underneath the apron. He doesn’t find what he’s looking for, so he hobbles around to the next side and PULLS OUT A SINGAPORE CANE!
This draws a large pop from the people in attendance who watch ECW. Bourne slides into the ring and circles Regal slowly – who by now is on his knees and begging off. ‘You’ve got four shots to complete the ten,’ Bourne says, before LASHING REGAL WITH THE CANE THREE TIMES IN THE BACK AND ONE ON THE SKULL!! The crowd are loving it, but Bourne stops at four, and just in time because Charles is starting to get some awareness about him. Regal’s seemingly out for the count thanks to that last show … and close enough to the corner but Bourne to slowly hobble to the top rope …
SHOOTING STAR PRESS! It connects! COVER! Slow count! ONE – TWO – THREE!!
Winner And Still ECW Champion: Evan Bourne @ 10.30
Tony Chimel: Here is your winner … AND STILL … E – C -W CHAMPION … EVAN BOURNE!
Charles Robinson slowly gets the championship and hands it to Evan Bourne, who must use the ropes to hold himself up. He checks on his knee and gives it a slap before raising the championship above his head.
The camera focuses on the red marks on Regal’s back with Matthews declaring justice has been served after Regal managed to get out of the lashings last Tuesday.
Bourne is helped out the ring as Judgment Day cuts backstage.
In the world title picture, Evan Bourne would celebrate his victory over William Regal with an in-ring promo, which was short lived due to an interruption by Jack Swagger, who resorted to a knee to the balls and then a brutal beating to get one over on the champion. A huge match between Bourne and Swagger failed to get going after The World’s Strongest Man, possibly at the behest of William Regal, hit the ring and put down both men with The World’s Strongest Slam. During a backstage segment, where Tiffany had to deal with three Superstars, telling Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger that due to Mark Henry’s interference, they would compete at Extreme Rules under Steel Cage match rules, and she would tell William Regal that he’ll compete in a number one contender’s match against his associate, Mark Henry – a man who has a pinfall victory over the ECW Champion. On the go-home show, we’d see the debut of Abraham Washington, with his over-the-top talk show, The Abraham Washington Show, and the man himself would endear himself to the ECW audience with snide remarks and in his attempts to fan the flames of any potential rivalry between his guests.
Confident in his associates loyalty, William Regal went into his number one contenders match against Mark Henry believing The World’s Strongest Man would lie down for him, but that wasn’t the case as Mark defied Regal and put him out to pasture, picking up the victory on the go-home show and cementing a ECW Championship match in his future, leaving Regal to lick his wounds and wonder what was next for the Englishman.
Curt Hawkins would continue his endeavour to rid ECW of all sinners, now with Zack Ryder vanquished, he had a new target, but we’d have to wait to find out as all through the month, we were treated to cryptic videos and segments, teasing the next victim.
The ECW feed comes back – but we’re backstage in a darkened room with a what appears to be a blackboard behind a candle illuminated Curt Hawkins! On the board, under Gluttony appears an image of Zack Ryder crossed out with white chalk or white ink. The camera zooms out to reveal Hawkins sitting on a steel chair in front of a table. On the table is around five to six cards face down with a white rose emblazoned on the back.
In his hands are two cards. One in his right and one in his left. The camera can’t see what or who is on the other side, but Hawkins appears to be looking between them. Finally, he places one of the cards down and stares at the one remaining. He shakes his head then stands up and walks out of the shot – leaving the camera to zoom in on the fallen image of Zack Ryder.
This week, rather than seeing the usual ECW video package, the feed fades into the outside of a darkened dilapidated church with the full moon shining bright in the background. The camera pans around slowly and we see Curt Hawkins moving slowly across the patchy grass, behind the side of the church and out of view. The feed cuts to the area we have seen previously where a firepit of coals sits. Up ahead, Hawkins approaches the flower bed where a bunch of white roses have grown.
He kneels on the damp grass and gently takes one from the ground. He looks at it for a moment, before pulling out a playing card with a rose on the back. He looks between the two items and nods to himself. The camera doesn’t get a glimpse of who is on the front of the card. Hawkins stands and looks up to the church then walks out of the frame as the feed zooms in on the flowerbed.
Backstage, the camera focuses on the back of who appears to be Curt Hawkins! The Martyr of Sin waits as the camera slowly pans around and we see his face illuminated by the flicker of a small candle in front of him. He slowly reaches into the pocket of his leather vest and pulls out a card with white rose emblazoned on the back. Like the scene we saw when he had finally marked Zack Ryder as his first victim – he slowly dips the card into the candle flame and waits for the card to come alight. After this, he stands up and leaves the shot, dropping the card on the floor and once he’s gone, the camera zooms down and reveals the card has landed up right, but we can’t quite see who it was on the card thanks to the burned edges and small blames.
With that lasting image, we fade to the commercial break, and after it, Tommy Dreamer will fight for his career against Christian!
Tommy Dreamer continues his recent string of bad results, even resulting in a stern conversation with the ECW General Manager, Tiffany, telling Dreamer that his contract is due to run out soon, and if he doesn’t improve then they will not be renewing it. Knowing the pressure was on his friend, Christian gets more involved with Dreamer, giving him another pep talk and advice, only for Dreamer to push him away and tell him he’ll do this on his own. We first saw the cracks start to form after a loss to the debuting Yoshi Tatsu, shaking the Japanese stars hand, only to let frustration boil over and connect with a brutal clothesline after the match. A remorseful Dreamer left the scene, only to be confronted by Christian, who tried to snap his friend out of it once more, but the ECW Legend turned and walked away. Thing’s truly boiled over when Dreamer took a chance on himself and tried to confront one of the baddest men on ECW after Ezekiel Jackson defeated a local talent.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson @ 0.31 That’s a wrap, folks.
Jackson was obviously winning this match. Poor Jack Cross – he suffers a second Book of Ezekiel after the contest for good measure. The skinny kid is then kicked out of the ring by the hulking figure of Jackson.
Hold up, though. Jackson calls for a microphone – we’re about to experience the promo skills of the big man.
He angrily walks around the ring and calls Vladimir Kozlov out for not showing here tonight. He says a real man would have got his ass down that ramp and into this ring regardless of what the doctors say.
Jackson turns to the stage and challenges anyone in the back to come out and try to take him out. He throws the microphone to the side – short and sweet – and waits.
No music yet …
The music of the ECW Original, Tommy Dreamer plays!
After a couple of seconds – Tommy Dreamer walks out from the back with his eyes set on Ezekiel Jackson. The big man is smirking in the ring and welcoming Dreamer to walk down the ramp.
Dreamer takes two steps before Christian jogs out from the back and steps in front of him. The music turns off here and the camera zooms in on the two – picking up the frantic conversation. Dreamer makes it clear he needs to do something to earn a contract renewal to which Christina glances at Ezekiel – before saying this is NOT the way to do it.
Christian tells Dreamer he’ll end up hurt or worse if he steps into that ring and calls him stupid for even thinking of it. The commentary team agree – saying Dreamer is making a mistake and becoming desperate.
Dreamer shakes his head. He takes issue with being called stupid and pushes Christian again … this time though, Captain Charisma pushes back! Ezekiel watches on from the ring, pacing.
Dreamer grabs Christian and throws him out of the way – a little two aggressively so Christian lands hard on the floor. Dreamer almost looks remorseful, but then turns his back on Christian and walks towards the squared circle. Christian shakes his head and shouts that Dreamer is making a mistake!
Ignoring him – Dreamer rushes down the ramp to confront a waiting, Ezekiel Jackson. Once in the ring, Dreamer and Jackson start trading right hands with the ECW Original receiving large cheers from the crowd here tonight. However, the crowd aren’t enough to spur him on, because Jackson connects with a large knee to the gut and then throws Dreamer shoulder first into the shoulder post between the turnbuckles!! Christian watches from the outside on the ramp as Dreamer is picked up … BOOK OF EZEKIEL!!
Dreamer is out! The commentary team send their commiserations to him – the desperation to make an impact and win a contract renewal has resulted in some bad decisions tonight. Ezekiel slaps his hands together as if saying that’s his job done before turning to the camera and telling Vladimir Kozlov he’ll be waiting.
The big man steps out of the ring and walks past Captain Charisma, barging into his shoulder as he does so. Christian ignores him – a smart choice – and approaches the squared circle. He starts to help Dreamer up but again, the ECW Original pushes him away – frustration well and truly boiling over now.
Weeks and weeks of trying and failing comes to ahead with Dreamer getting in Christian’s face – telling him he doesn’t need his friendship and his patronizing attitude. Instead of letting it happen, Christian pushes back now, telling Dreamer he’s only trying to help – BUT HE GETS A RIGHT HAND FOR HIS TROUBLES!! Dreamer dives on Christian and pounds him with rights and lefts before standing up and kicking out at the bottom rope.
Dreamer immediately leaves the ring – leaving Christian sitting on the mat, shaking his head, and feeling where Dreamer’s hand met his mouth.
Then, this would all culminate in the main event of ECW before the pay per view, where Christian would defeat Tommy Dreamer with a somewhat shocking aftermath and send off for the ECW Legend…
Winner: Christian @ 11.04 That’s it! Christian has won. Tommy Dreamer must retire!
The crowd are in a state of shock as hardly any on reacts. Most people assumed Dreamer would survive and win himself a new contract.
Even Christian seems staggered as he sits on the mat beside the ECW Original and stares out at the disbelieving crowd.
The fans were firmly behind Dreamer, and it shows because now people are on their feet and giving applause as Dreamer slowly rolls over to the rope and uses them to stand up.
Christian gets up too and stands at the opposite side of the ring. The two men stare at each other, both looking like they’ve been through the ringer, Dreamer’s arm hanging down by his side. Dreamer nods finally and outstretches his good arm!
Christian approaches, more cautiously than normal due to Dreamer’s react actions, but after looking to the crowd for guidance and getting a loud cheer, Captain Charisma and the ECW Original shake hands!!
Christian and Dreamer turn to the hard camera and Christian raises Dreamer’s hand in the air and then gives him a round of applause, which the ECW fans do too.
Before leaving the ring, Christian again shakes Dreamer’s hand… THEN PULLS HIM IN AND USES HIS OTHER ARM TO CONNECT WITH A HARD CLOTHESLINE!!
CHRISTIAN QUICKLY GRABS DREAMER AND PULLS HIM TO HIS FEET AND CONNECTS WITH ANOTHER KILLSWITCH!!
The people in attendance are absolutely stunned at what they have just seen. So are the commentary team, because neither Striker nor Matthews can make any sense out of this!
But Christian isn’t done … because he leaves the ring and grabs TWO STEEL CHAIRS!
He climbs back in, sliding the two chairs under the bottom rope. After this, he grabs one and… places it under Dreamer’s face!!
We’ve seen this before! Christian grabs the other chair and stands above Dreamer, looking down at his (former) friend.
Christian raises the chair above his head… AND BRINGS IT DOWN ACROSS THE BACK OF DREAMER’S SKULL! CON-CHAIR-TO!
An eery silence falls over the arena. The commentators don’t say a word, and as Christian looks down at Dreamer, the WWE Logo appears on the screen and as the crowd start to gather themselves and rain down boos, the feed slowly fades to black.
The rivalry between Ezekiel Jackson and Fit Finlay would come to ahead in an Extreme Rules match in the main event of ECW which Jackson would win, before moving on to a bitter feud with the recently debuted Vladimir Kozlov. This rivalry would be felt across ECW as the duo brawled each week, leading up to a short lived match between the two, where the chaos was so much that the referee had to count the two out, with the end result being Jackson connecting with a Book of Ezekiel on the steel steps.
Shelton Benjamin would continue his solo effort in combatting The Hart Dynasty, electing to not bother looking for help, believing he could take them on his own which proved costly, as he fell in defeat to David Hart and then while working out, Smith and Tyson Kidd pressed the barbell Benjamin was lifting down onto the man’s chest. Meanwhile, Kidd would enter his own semi-rivalry with the recently debuted Yoshi Tatsu, targeting the Japanese star before their match on WWE Superstar with a disrespectful slap to the face. These two stories would neatly come together as Benjamin enlisted the help of Tatsu, finally admitting he’d need someone to back him up if he wanted to get back at The Hart Dynasty. However, the newly formed duo would fall to The Hart Dynasty in the main event of WWE Superstars, perhaps showing Benjamin he’ll need to enlist someone he has better chemistry with.
In other news, The Hurricane and Hornswoggle started a new initiative on ECW, one where they would recruit the best and brightest to form a new super group. Every week or so, we’d be treated to a video segment backstage, where the two would hold an audition for someone to become a member of what they called, The Green Knights. Many came and went during the month, including a surprise appearance from Rosey and interestingly, ECW Superstar Paul Burchill – auditioning as the pirate much to the chagrin of his sister, Katie Lea. This would later come up again in the months to come in a somewhat surprising fashion.
The Pay-Per-View
*** !! WWE EXTREME RULES !! 28/06/09 ***
With the opening video having done its job in hyping up the events of the evening, the commentary teams for both RAW and SmackDown chime in before throwing it over to Matt Striker and Josh Matthews for the opening match!
The lights dim slightly in the arena and the Steel Cage above the ring starts lowering to the sound of ominous music. As it does this, the commentary team discuss how it was Evan Bourne who took Jack Swagger’s ECW Championship and discuss how the cage will come into play, with its primary reason to keep outside interference, likely from one of William Regal or Mark Henry, to a minimum.
*** GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES ***
The music of the challenger fills the arena and the crowd react with the usual smattering of heat for The All American, Jack Swagger. Despite the cage looming over him, Swagger walks down the ramp and tries to put on a confident façade, but he finally reaches the ring and the mask breaks for a moment as he looks up at the foreboding structure.
Tony Chimel: The following contest is a Steel Cage match and is for the E-C-W Championship! The only to win is either by pinfall or submission, climbing out of the cage or by leaving through the door. Introducing first, from Perry, Oklahoma, he is The All American … Jack Swagger!
The referee unlocks the cage door, allowing Swagger to climb into the ring and wait for his opponent.
*** BORN TO FLY ***
Soon enough, the current ECW Champion, Evan Bourne, rushes out onto the stage and plays to the crowd for a moment. Now, he sets his eyes on the cage and his opponent.
Tony Chimel: And his opponent, from St. Louis, Missouri, he is the current E-C-W Champion … Evan Bourne!
As Bourne makes his way down the ramp and over to the referee, he unclasps the silver championship from around his waist. He looks at the belt and then hands it over to said referee and then climbs into the ring.
The referee slams the door closed and locks it with the heavy padlock.
With the cage being primarily there as a deterrent against any outside interference, neither man decides to go for the early escape, and instead they battle in the centre of the ring, exchanging rights and lefts until the power of Swagger comes through and gets Bourne on the back foot. Smartly, The All American brings the cage into play early on by bashing the champion’s head into the steel mesh and taking the time to soak in the hatred from the fans.
Using this momentary distraction, Bourne fights back and takes control of the contest with some nifty high-flying abilities, keeping the bigger man off his game, and at points even using the cage to his advantage. With Swagger on the back foot, Bourne climbs onto the top rope, using the mesh as a balancing prompt and goes for a flying cross body but Swagger catches him in mid air and connects with a fallaway slam into the steel cage!
Swagger stays in control for the next few minutes, smashing Bourne off the cage multiple times but not yet going for the escape. After controlling the contest for some minutes, Swagger signals to the crowd that enough is enough and he picks Bourne up, looking for the Gutwrench Powerbomb! But, Bourne’s momentum catches Swagger off guard on the pick up and The All American stumbles backwards so Bourne can grab the steel mesh. Swagger loses his grip and turns around, right into a kick to the face and then a flying drop kick!
As Swagger is down, Bourne climbs to the top rope, possibly looking for a Shooting Star Press, but The All American is up and running at the champion. Bourne clocks this and jumps over the onrushing challenger and Swagger smashes into the turnbuckle. Bourne takes his opportunity hit Swagger’s face off the steel pole between the mesh and then turns him around and picks him up so he’s in a seated position on the top turnbuckle.
The ECW Champion tries to go for a Superplex but Swagger blocks it and headbutts him, sending him falling to the mat and holding his head. Perhaps seeing an opening, Swagger decides he’s had enough, and he turns and reaches to the stop of the cage, pulling himself up until he’s straddling the top near the corner! Bourne’s quick though. Picking himself up, the ECW Champion scales the cage, preventing Swagger from having an easy escape and with no William Regal or Mark Henry in sight, the two duke it out on the top of the cage, balancing with their legs on either side.
Finally, though, it’s Bourne who grabs the advantage, and sends Swagger tumbling down, narrowly avoiding an awkward landing by missing the ropes by a few inches! The champion could have an easy out here, but he looks down at Swagger and looks at the crowd before nodding to himself, psyching himself up. He slowly stands, using the wiring at the top of the cage to balance himself. With Swagger still not moving, Bourne takes a deep breath …
SHOOTING STAR PRESS FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE!!
IT CONNECTS!
ONE – TWO – THREE!
WINNER AND STILL ECW CHAMPION: EVAN BOURNE @ 11.29
And with that, the bell rings and the steel cage is slowly lifted from the ring.
Once the cage is halfway up, the referee slides into the ring with the ECW Championship and hands it to a very winded Evan Bourne. The ECW Champion holds the title aloft as Swagger still hasn’t moved from his position on the mat. Clearly the Shooting Star Press from the top of the cage having the desired impact.
Just as it seems ECW is done for the evening …
The music of Curt Hawkins plays! As you’d imagine, most of the crowd don’t tune into ECW every week, but a good portion of the crowd react for the appearance of Curt Hawkins who walks through the crowd with a purpose. Clad in the leather vest and a pair of blue jeans, Hawkins jumps the barricade and climbs slowly into the ring with his eyes on the ECW Champion.
Bourne is ready for a fight, holding the ECW Championship in a stance where he could effectively use it, but Hawkins takes his gaze slowly off the champion and glances at Swagger who’s still on the mat. The commentary team question what this means and who out of the two of Bourne and Swagger is next, but that question is answered straight away by Hawkins reaching behind and pulling out a white rose from his back pocket.
It’s a little deshelled, but Hawkins approaches the prone body of The All American and looks down at him. After a moment of quiet contemplating, Hawkins lowers the rose and places it on Jack’s chest. Striker questions what sin The All American has crossed, but Matthews goes the opposite direction and states it could be any damn one of them judging by how he’s acted this year.
Hawkins rises again and looks at the ECW Champion, and for a moment, the briefest of seconds the camera catches Hawkins nod gently at him, then he backs away and leaves the ring.
Getting into so much of the good shit now. Hawkins on fire, that amazingly constructed Christian turn, Henry being a beast, Big Zeke, and the Benjamin and Hurricane angles are truly only just getting started. Can't wait to get the new stuff but certainly enjoying the trip down memory lane.
On the show after Extreme Rules, we’d kick off with perhaps the most talked about WWE Superstar for that week, but not quite in the way you’d expect.
Before we dive into the arena for the beginning of ECW, we’re treated to a quick video package, detailing – first – the events of Extreme Rules, focusing on the successful title defence by Evan Bourne thanks to a rather brave Shooting Star Press from the top of the cage. Switching gears, the video package takes a sombre tone as we head back to last Tuesday where Tommy Dreamer fought for his career, but ultimately came up short against Christian. The video ends with the image of Christian standing over Dreamer with one of the steel chairs in his grasp.
Now, the regular opening video plays before we are swept into a rather jam-packed arena for this evening’s extreme festivities. Before we get into the action, Matt Striker & Josh Matthews do their thing, hyping up the card for tonight, The Hurricane versus Paul Burchill, The Abraham Washington Show and the main event, the ECW Champion vs. Yoshi Tatsu! Once the hype job is done, they briefly touch on the events of last week and Striker states the world has been waiting on an explanation for what Christian and it seems we don’t have to wait long because …
… The familiar music of Captain Charisma, Christian blares out over the speaker system, prompting the crowd too boo heavily as the man himself walks out slowly from behind the curtain. Gone is the usual bravado of making a show for the crowd, instead it’s replaced with a shake of the head and a walk to the ring with a purpose.
While he’s walking down the ramp, Matthews questions why Christian would do that to who everyone believed to be his friend, and states he, along with the whole world, is looking forward to hearing what Christian has to say.
Soon enough, the Canadian has a microphone and is stood smack bang in the centre of the ring. His music slowly dies down and the lack of music only serves to increase the volume of the boos. Christian continues to look down at the mat, before slowly raising the microphone to his mouth, but before he can speak, he’s cut off by loud ‘YOU SUCK’ chants coming from the audience!
Christian lowers the microphone again, working the crowd and staring out into the abyss of hatred. The camera momentarily cuts backstage where we see a number of babyfaces watching the events on a monitor, namely The Hurricane, Vladimir Kozlov, Shelton Benjamin and the ECW Champion, Evan Bourne! The camera goes back to the ring. After a few more seconds of letting the chant continue, he again raises the microphone to his mouth and the crowd finally shut the hell up, clearly keen to find out what he has to say.
He looks out to the crowd and opens his mouth … then lets the microphone slide out of his hand and hit the mat with a huge thud, sending feedback echoing throughout the arena. Again, the crowd erupt into a chorus of boos, and that only intensifies when Christian turns to the stage and … EXITS THE RING?!
Matthews is incensed on commentary, doing his best to put over the fact everyone had been waiting to hear from Christian for seven days, only to be made fools out of. Striker tries to calm down Josh down as Christian slowly walks up the ramp, ignoring the jeers and boos from the people nearest to him. Again, more ‘YOU SUCK’ chants can be heard nearest the camera and even a ‘GO BACK TO CANADA’ shout can be heard.
Christian reaches the top of the ramp and with his head still down, he approaches the curtain. Suddenly, Captain Charisma stops, and the cameraman does a good job on getting closer towards Christian’s back, catching the Canadian turning his head slightly and looking back at the crowd … AND A SICKENING SMIRK STRETCHES ACROSS HIS FACE!
The crowd – seeing this on the big screen – explode again into more boos but it’s all for nothing, because Christian turns away and disappears beyond the curtain, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Subsequently, a short backstage segment would entail between Christian and the ECW Champion, Evan Bourne. The champion made it known to Christian that he’s lost the respect of the locker room, but all Christian would do in response was pat the ECW Championship and walk off. It would be the following week we would get some form of an explanation, and the surprise appearance of an ECW Legend …
Back from the commercial, the Philadelphia fans are still on their feet, seemingly raring to continue as they await the arrival of perhaps one of the most hated men in WWE right now.
‘JUST CLOSE YOUR EYES’ plays over the speaker system, sending the crowd into a rapture of boos. After a moment, Christian walks slowly out onto the stage, not dressed to compete, instead opting for jeans and a t-shirt. He waits in the middle of the stage and closes his eyes and taking a deep breath. The lights in the arena all go out suddenly, but then a spotlight is cast upon Christian and he starts walking to the ring, looking like all the attention is on him for the night.
He walks around the ring until he reaches the opposite side, and then pulls out a steel chair from underneath the ring? The spotlight shows a dent in the middle of the weapon, which we can only assume to be caused by the impact felt on Dreamer’s skull. He slides it into the ring and then grabs a microphone. Once he’s ready, Christian climbs into the ring and holds the chair in his other hand.
Just like last week, the music dies down, but the spotlight stays on him as he looks out into the darkness. Silence. The silence continues from Christian as the fans do what they did the previous week, and that’s boo the hell out of him. Christian finally starts his promo, at first softly spoken, saying for the past two weeks people have been asking him ‘why?’
He glances at the chair in his other hand, then looks back out towards the darkness and says if people truly had to ask that question, then they don’t understand what the past few weeks and months have been like for him. He says he wanted to address the situation last week, and address Tommy Dreamer, but he thought he’d wait until they were in the birthplace of ECW in Philly. He doesn’t let the crowd react to the name drop, instead saying he’s first going to address the fact that his so-called Peeps abandoned him when he was trying to do a good thing and help Tommy Dreamer. He continues by saying when he was challenging Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship at Backlash, the fans cheered when Evan Bourne won, and nobody cared that Christian had been cheated out of his one on one title opportunity when Tiffany injected Bourne into the contest.
He says he came back to the WWE after many years away and he thought he’d come out to the ring, and put a show on for all of his peeps who’d sorely missed him after his time away. But during this time away from the WWE, he forgot that when he left, he was booed out of the building because the WWE universe doesn’t know they have a good thing until it’s gone. He explains he is finished with caring about what the fans think, and what the locker room thinks, and now he cares about one thing and one thing only, and that’s himself.
They’ll be no more Captain Charisma and no more peep show because the peeps are now dead to him.
The camera zooms in on his face as Christian looks at it dead centre, before holding the steel chair up so the frame is just his face and chest with the chair. He first mentions Tommy Dreamer’s name, then cuts the crowd off by saying, ‘I tried to help you, man.’
Christian believes if Dreamer had taken his advice and not behaved like an idiot, then he’d still be in ECW and not be sat at home like a vegetable. He glances at the steel chair and asks Dreamer how it felt to have this chair smashed into his skull, caving it in between another chair and he wonders if the ECW Original can even eat without help. He says Dreamer isn’t worth his time anymore, and tonight is the last time he ever mentions the ECW legends name.
He finishes up the promo by saying with Dreamer gone, he is the heart and soul of ECW, and the premiere WWE Superstar who will fly the flag for the extreme brand. With the spotlight still on him, he says it’s fitting they are in the birthplace of ECW and the place where Tommy Dreamer made his name, because it’s here that Christian is announcing that the legend of ECW and the legend of Tommy Dreamer is ‘dead and buried.’
It's at that moment some commotion starts to be heard amongst the fans, and the lights in the arena start to rise slowly as to the far left of the ring, A HOODED FIGURES SLIDES UNDERNEATH THE BOTTOM ROPE WITH TWO SECURITY MEN CHASING HIM/HER!
The commentary team say nothing, but Tony Chimel is up and warning Christian of the fan coming into the ring, and Christian turns as the figure stands up and explodes towards him!!
SPEAR?! WAIT WHAT?! A HELL OF AN IMPACTFUL SPEAR!!
The figure is immediately tackled as Christian lies on the mat, clutching his stomach and writhing in agony. The commentary team come into play now, asking what the hell is going on as the two security men struggle to apprehend the intruder. A couple of more security goons descend on the ring before their finally able to pull the figure out of the ring.
The hood gets caught on the bottom rope, and falls down as the camera zooms in and in the mess of the security guards we see …
RHYNO?!
IT’S RHYNO!
THE MAN BEAST IS HERE!!
IT WAS A GORE!! GORE!!
It takes another two security guards to drag Rhyno over to the timekeeper’s area to get him up and over the barricade, as the ECW General Manager Tiffany jogs down the ramp and climbs into the ring, she checks on Christian as she glances into the crowd where Rhyno is being dragged away.
The crowd – understandably – are on their feet but the lasting image of tonight’s jam-packed show is of Christian kneeling on the canvas, clutching his stomach and asking Tiffany what the hell just happened?!
Non-Christian related, Bourne would compete in main event of the show against Yoshi Tatsu, ending in a win for the champion, only to be brutally attacked after the match by The World’s Strongest Man, and number one contender, Mark Henry!
The main event of the super card would feature Evan Bourne defending against The World’s Strongest Man, with the champion successfully retaining his ECW Championship. A moment of respect between the two after the match, with Bourne telling Henry that he never needed William Regal.
Later in the month, Evan Bourne would welcome the challenge of Yoshi Tatsu at Night of Champions, stating the Japanese star earned his respect and the two would have a respectful build to the pay-per-view.
The issue between Rhyno and Christian would become conjoined with Tatsu and Bourne's rivalry, and on the go-home episode of ECW, we saw the four of them end the show.
Tony Chimel does the honours and announces it’s main event time! And out first, is The Japanese Sensation, Yoshi Tatsu!!
The commentary team does a stellar job in hyping up the Night of Champions match this coming Sunday between he and the ECW Champion, Evan Bourne!
However, as Yoshi reaches the halfway mark of the ramp – A FIGURE RUSHES OUT FROM THE BACKSTAGE AREA!!
The cameras soon show us CHRISTIAN as he barrels into the back of Tatsu, sending him sprawling down the ramp and onto his back. The crowd boo heavily as Christian continues the assault, picking Tatsu up and LAUNCHING HIM BACK FIRST INTO THE BARRICADE!!
Striker condemns this as Christian making sure Yoshi doesn’t make it to Night of Champions as he feels he is the rightful contender!
We can only watch on though as The Heart and Soul of ECW HURLS TATSU INTO THE STEEL STEPS!!
Christian takes a brief second to look at the crowd before shaking his had and grabbing Yoshi again, and then rolling him into the ring. The Canadian slides into the ring and kneels down beside Yoshi, berating him for thinking he was worthy of a match with The Heart and Soul of ECW and starts pounding on his mush with closed right fists!!!
Yoshi tries to cover up, with the aim of protecting himself just enough that he can make it to Sunday, but it’s not enough as Christian connects with one last punch, seemingly knocking Tatsu out.
Christian takes the brief moment to exit the ring and look underneath the apron cover … and we can only assume the worst until …THE ECW CHAMPION AND YOSHI’S OPPONENT THIS SATUDAY – EVAN BOURNE – RUSHES DOWN THE RAMP TO THE SOUND OF HIS MUSIC!!
Christian slides into the ring, ready to meet the champion head on WITH A STEEL CHAIR, but it’s the champion who takes the advantage by DUCKING the steel chair shot and hitting the ropes, rebounding back with a RUNNING DROP KICK!!!
This sends Christian tumbling backwards and through the gap between the top and second rope! The Canadian lands on his feet and stumbles away from the announce teams area towards the timekeeper, holding his jaw from the double feet to the face.
In the ring, the ECW Champion tells Christian he’s welcome to come back in, but then murmurs and cheers start from the crowd!!
The camera catches it at the very last second … someone jumping the barricade …
IT’S … RHYNO!!!!!
RHYNO’S BACK BUT CHRISTIAN HASN’T NOTICED!!!
THE MAN BEAST EXPLODES TOWARDS CHRISTIAN AND AT THE LAST SECOND THE CANADIAN REALIZES …
GORE!!
GORE … THROUGH THE BARRICADE … INTO THE TIMEKEEPER!!!
IT’S CHAOS AS CHRISTIAN IS LEFT IN A HEAP AMONG THE MESS OF THE BARRICADE AND THE SMALL TIMEKEEPERS TABLE!!
The Man Beast stands back up, looking a little stunned, BUT HE’S SOON SET UPON BY NO LESS THAN FIVE SECURITY GUARDS!!
As Rhyno is hauled away through the crowd, receiving platitudes from the fans in attendance, the cameras turn back to the ring!!
The ECW Champion is staring down at the fallen Christian, but Yoshi is back on his feet and clocks Bourne focusing on the Canadian.
Yoshi takes two long steps towards him and GRABS BOURNE BY THE ARM AND TURNS HIM AROUND!!
FRUSTRATION BOILING OVER – TATSU TELLS BOURNE HE NEEDS TO STOP LOOKING PAST HIM!
Tatsu spots the fallen ECW Championship on the canvas, and he quickly picks the silver championship up. While people start attending to Christian at ringside, Yoshi lifts the ECW Championship in the air and then shoves it into Bourne’s chest! The last shot is of Tatsu backing away and the ECW Champion lifting the title up, setting the battlefield for Sunday’s championship match!!
In the ECW tag team picture, The Hart Dynasty would feature on an episode of The Abraham Washington show, ultimately being interrupted by Shelton Benjamin and the ECW debut of a certain old tag team partner.
Speaking of Tyson Kidd, his allotted interview time is coming up, because the ring is all ready to go with large black sofas and a nice wooden desk waiting for the arrival of the host. It doesn’t take long for the confident Abraham Washington to arrive as the typical late night chat show music plays and Abe marches down to the ring. He goes to shake a fans hand near to the barricade but pulls his hand away at the last moment before making his way to the ring. Once inside, he grabs the microphone from the desk and stands front and centre.
He welcomes everyone to ‘The Abraham Washington Show, hosted by Abraham Washington!’ and then reminds us of his world breaking debut last week and tells us of the ratings for his show hitting the roof! Apparently, according to Abe, networks across America and even some overseas have been on the phone, begging to buy him out of his exclusive contract with WWE, but he is staying for one reason and one reason only – his adoring fans! Loud boos come in now, but Abraham is undeterred and states he wishes to dedicate tonight’s episode to the fans in attendance tonight, as he loves them all, each and every one of them. Striker snorts at this and remarks, ‘But not enough to shake one’s hand!’
He then quietens the crowd down, and welcomes his guests tonight, the hottest tag team in all of sports entertainment, accompanied by Natalya, it’s The Hart Dynasty! The Canadian tag team walk down the ramp to a decent number of boos. Once inside the ring, the three of them sit on the leather sofa while Abraham takes his seat behind the desk. He reaches over and shakes Natalya’s hand as she’s the nearest one, and just like last week, he quickly squirts a bit of hand sanitizer into his palm.
With the formalities taken care off, Abraham begins by touting the resume of The Hart Dynasty, stating them to be the successors of The Hart Foundation, but then brings it around and asks how they feel knowing they couldn’t get the job done against The Colons when they challenged for the Tag Team Titles. Not expecting the loaded question, Natalya looks taken aback, then picks up her microphone and tells Abe to watch it, because that wasn’t on the question list. Washington leans back in his chair with his hands outstretched in a passive motion while Striker explains he’s likely trying to pop a headline or a rating again. Under his breath, Abraham reminds himself to get a screen guard between the desk and the sofa.
Abe switches gears, stating that while this question wasn’t on the pre-approved list, he needs to ask Tyson Kidd if he will accept Yoshi Tatsu’s challenge for this coming Thursday. Kidd grabs his microphone and explains he’s already beaten Yoshi Tatsu, but he has no problem putting him back in his place and beating him on Thursday, because he accepts his challenge! With the match set for Thursday, Abe asks after the team’s victory last week on Superstars, what’s next for them and if they are finished with Shelton Benjamin?
David Smith takes his one. He lifts the microphone and says they have one goal and one goal only – to become the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, stating that the current holders – Edge and Chris Jericho (the mention of these two gets a large pop despite being heels) are only keeping the titles warm for them. A sarcastic under the breath comment about losing to The Colons goes unnoticed before Abraham asks him again about Shelton Benjamin.
Natalya takes this one and says they are finished with Shelton because they are focused on the tag team championships, because at the end of the day, her boys are the greatest tag team in WWE and will soon be at the top of the food chain.
Abraham is about to wrap things up until …
‘AIN’T NO STOPPIN’ ME NOW’ blares out across the speakers and Shelton Benjamin walks onto the ramp with a microphone in hand, dressed to compete in his usual gold attire and a black t-shirt. When the music dies down, before Shelton can say anything, Abraham interrupts and makes it clear that The Gold Standard ain’t getting paid by Abe’s team for his appearance!
Shelton shrugs it off and focuses on The Hart Dynasty. He says they have been a pain in the ass for too long now, and he admits he was naïve to think he could take them on without help. He makes sure to state Yoshi is great, but they don’t have the chemistry like The Hart Dynasty do. Shelton goes on to say he heard The Hart Dynasty talk about how they are looking to challenge again for the WWE Tag Titles and reminds them that he is a multiple time tag champ himself.
Benjamin also notes Natalya mentioned Kidd and Smith are the greatest tag team in WWE at the moment … he laughs and says that couldn’t be further from the truth because he’s found the right tag team partner to take them on.
The crowd start to talk amongst themselves while Abraham realises what is about to happen and makes himself scarce, diving out of the ring. Attention turns to the stage as the old but familiar theme of THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM plays and soon enough, RAW’s CHARLIE HAAS walks onto the stage, dressed in his old gear and looking pumped up. He and Benjamin shake hands and look down at The Hart Dynasty.
Suddenly, The World’s Greatest Tag Team rush down the ramp, propelled on by the screams of the crowd and they slide into the ring …
…
BUT NATALYA HAS ALREADY LED HER BOYS AWAY AND OUT OF THE RING!
Haas and Benjamin take a corner each and stand on the second rope as Natalya leads her team out of the area, past the timekeeper’s area and into the crowd, and the cameras catch her telling her guys they need to think about this before reacting. After that, the cameras focus on the reunion of Benjamin and Haas while the camera fades to the commercial.
On the 07 July episode of ECW, we would see the continuation of the super card, where The World’s Greatest Tag Team would face off against The Hart Dynasty.
After the usual opening video package, we dive Philadelphia where Matt Striker and Josh Matthews welcome us and hype up a HUGE event for tonight. Striker and Matthews announce the decision taken by their network SyFy to not interrupt any match tonight with any commercial breaks, and if needed, they have been allocated an extra fifteen minutes of airtime!
Kicking off this week’s festivities is a video package detailing the rivalry between The Hart Dynasty and Shelton Benjamin. Starting with their very first interaction and Benjamin’s attempts at combatting the tag team by himself before resorting to teaming with Yoshi Tatsu in a losing effort against the very skilled Hart Dynasty. Dramatic footage of last week’s Abraham Washington show plays now, showcasing Charlie Haas’s ECW debut, reuniting with Shelton Benjamin, and setting the stage for the first match of the evening.
Now, after Tony Chimel does the honours and explains the following contest is set for one fall, and will determine who gets a shot at the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions; Chris Jericho and the recently announced Big Show, it’s The Hart Dynasty who make their entrance, glad in their usual pink and black with Natalya by their side. Natalya seems to be talking game plan with the two men as they walk down the ramp, and after they reach the ring she takes her place on the floor while the other two climb into the squared circle.
Up next, the familiar tune of The World’s Greatest Tag Team plays, drawing a good pop from the crowd, fuelled by nostalgia and the idea of Shelton Benjamin finally getting one over on his rivals. In matching blue and white attire, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin walk down the ramp with a purpose, not taking their eyes off their opponents.
Once inside the ring, Tony Chimel steps forward, and gives the match a big introduction, taking the time to introduce the two teams, even touting The World’s Greatest Tag Team as multiple time Tag Team Champions and bigging up The Hart Dynasty as the successors of the famous Hart Foundation. While the introductions are going on, the two teams are face to face, with the referee between them, making sure nothing occurs until the bell rings.
Speaking of said bell, once Tony is done and out of the ring, the referee – Charles Robinson – backs the two teams up into their corners and then once the legal men have been decided, calls for the first bell of the night.
Match One: Tag Team Contest (Winner Receives Shot at WWE Unified Tag Team Championship)
The World’s Greatest Tag Team versus The Hart Dynasty w/Natalya
The first match of the night kicks off with Shelton Benjamin and Tyson Kidd as the legal men. The two rivals lock up in the centre of the ring and engage in some aggressive chain wrestling, resulting in – initially – Benjamin getting Kidd onto the mat, using his amateur background, but the training from the Hart dungeon comes in handy for Kidd as he battles back to a standing position and pushes The Gold Standard into the ropes, using the momentum to send him running to the opposite side. Shelton rebounds and slides between Kidd’s legs as he attempts a right hand, and Benjamin puts both hands on Kidd’s shoulders and pushes himself up and over his back to a standing position in front of him. As he lands, Benjamin sets off running, hitting the ropes, and coming back, narrowly dodging a standing drop kick then grabbing Kidd by the waist as he hits the ground and pushing him down into the mat.
This back-and-forth action continues for a solid minute and a half before David Smith – perhaps realising his partner is playing a good, but ultimately losing game – tries to grab Benjamin as he hits the ropes, but Benjamin is just out of reach, but he feels the miniscule contact nonetheless. Turning to Smith, Shelton ROCKS him with a forearm, sending the big man tumbling off the apron, narrowly missing Natalya who was standing nearby. Despite the distraction, Benjamin senses Kidd approaching behind him and side steps him, resulting in Kidd bouncing chest first into the ropes and backwards into a ROLL UP! Only a one count for Benjamin! The Gold Standard doesn’t let up, grabbing Kidd as he’s on the mat, and throws the chain wrestling out the window and starts beating on Kidd with closed rights, letting out weeks of built of frustration of dealing with two on ones and The Hart Dynasty’s underhanded tactics!
With the crowd purely behind him, and looking like they’re enjoying the contest so far, Benjamin yanks Kidd to his feet and throws the relatively smaller man into The World’s Greatest Tag Team’s corner. Benjamin tags in Charlie who sees his first in-ring action on ECW! It’s double team time, because Shelton shoves Kidd into the middle of the ropes and grabs his legs, lifting him up he’s horizontal to the ground and the Canadian has to use his grip on the top rope to stop himself from falling flat on his face. What he doesn’t realise, though, is Haas is approaching Benjamin from behind, using the opposite ropes as momentum and then leapfrogs his partner, LANDING RIGHT ON THE LOWER BACK OF THE CANADIAN! With Kidd writhing in pain, Benjamin leaves the ring and leaves his partner to an attempted pin, but the referee only reaches a two.
Haas picks Kidd up, but the Canadian breaks his grip and the first thing he does is scramble backwards to his own corner where David Smith is waiting with an outstretched hand! We’re nearly five minutes into the contest and it’s the first time the huge frame of Smith enters the match, and Haas is slightly taken aback by the height of the man, and he struggles for a minute to get a foothold in the match thanks to Smith being able to power out of any predicament. At one point, when Haas was attempting to whip Smith from corner to corner – Haas was grabbed by Smith and literally thrown out of the ring with one hand, showcasing the raw strength of the muscle of The Hart Dynasty! Perhaps realising he had bitten off more than he could chew, Haas takes a moment on the outside to ground himself, and receives a clap of support from Benjamin, before sliding back into the ring. Smith welcomes the challenge as Haas rushes him, but Charlie smartly swivels, twisting so that he comes out behind Smith, and he literally kicks the back of David’s knee, as you would a football. Smith is down to one knee, and Charlie bounces off the ropes, rushing back at Smith, looking for something but he gets caught with a big hand around his throat, and Smith steps up to both feet, looking frustrated, only for Haas to kick out again, hitting the knee again!
Sensing blood in the water, Haas goes after the knee and uses this weakened body part to manipulate Smith’s body so he’s grounded on the mat for the next while. With the strength nullified, Haas dominates proceedings until he eventually tags in Shelton, and The Gold Standard comes in, continuing the good work, that is until he pushed Smith into corner and lifted him up onto the top rope. With the son of The British Bulldog on sitting on the top rope, The Gold Standard backed up to the opposite corner, and then sprinted towards Smith … LEAPING AND LANDING FEET FIRST ON THE TOP ROPE! Perhaps looking for a belly-to-belly suplex, he tries, but Kidd causes a distraction – running along the apron towards Benjamin, and Shelton takes his eyes off the prize for a split moment, allowing Smith to reach up – and stand on the second rope, bad leg, and all, GRABBING BENJAMIN AND CONNECTING WITH A POWERBOMB FROM THE SECOND ROPE!!
In the position they landed, Smith is able to make the pin rather easily, but the referee only gets to a two count before CHARLIE HAAS BREAKS IT UP! Robinson admonishes him, but Haas retorts by pointing at Kidd and reminding the referee to keep his eye on them – clearly he’s had enough of the distractions and cheating! Nonetheless, the match moves on now with a lengthy rest period where Smith and Kidd utilized frequent tags to keep Benjamin near to their corner and on the defensive. After a number of near falls, it’s Smith who signals for the end, and tries to WRAP BENJAMIN UP IN THE SHARPSHOOTER! Shelton is able to fight it though, kicking Smith off, not once but twice before playing possum and grabbing Smith as he approached a third time, rolling him up in a small package! A narrow two count occurs and Smith kicks out and looks around, looking flummoxed but he manages to spot Benjamin crawling to his tag team partner. Smith dives on the leg of Benjamin and in a classic tag trope, Benjamin hops up onto one leg and swivels, then KICKS SMITH IN THE SIDE OF THE SKULL!
Smith falls like a massive tree in the woods and the sound he makes when he hits the mat bashes through the arena. Both men are now crawling to their corners, and it’s Smith who gets their first – bringing Kidd into the ring who rushes over to Benjamin, at one stage pressing a hand to his back which was injured early on by The World’s Greatest Tag Team’s double team. It’s too late though, because Benjamin leaps a couple of feet, arm outstretched and contacts Charlie’s hand. HOT TAG!! Charlie comes into the match looking fired up and immediately takes Kidd down with a clothesline, and then another, before picking Kidd up and planting him with a hard spinebuster! Haas roars out to the crowd and the commentary team sound equally fired up, saying Haas seemingly has no ring rust! With Kidd on the back foot, Haas tries to press the advantage and whips Kidd into the corner, and SMASHES INTO HIM WITH A CORNER SPLASH! Kidd flops to the mat and rolls onto his back, just as Haas climbs to the second rope and measures Kidd before jumping and connecting with a lovely second rope elbow drop!!
Haas goes for the cover but Kidd kicks out at two, the referee ignoring Natalya jumping onto the apron. Natalya hops down and looks stressed as she tries to raise Smith from his seated position at the steel steps. In the ring, Haas measures Kidd as he gets to his feet … DOUBLE LEG TAKE DOWN … THEN HAAS TRIES TO TURN HIM … LOOKING FOR THE HAAS OF PAIN!! We’ve not seen that in a very long time, and it looks like we’ll have to wait even longer because Smith – spurred on by Natalya – slides into the ring and CRASHES INTO CHARLIE’S BACK!!
But here comes Benjamin! He rushes into the ring and despite the beating, he pushes Smith into the ropes before taking a couple steps back and using his athleticism to explode from a standing position with a flying clothesline, but both tumble to the outside!! The two continue to fight on the outside until Smith gets the better of Benjamin and he THROWS HIM SHOULDER FIRST INTO THE SIDE OF THE ANNOUNCE DESK!! It’s chaos at ringside with the commentary team scrambling and Natalya shrieking from her standing position near the timekeeper’s area. Smith slumps beside Benjamin and the two lie on the cold mat, taking a breather and feeling the effects of the hard match!
Back in the ring, it’s Kidd who’s now measuring Haas – who seems to be struggling after the hit from Smith. Once Charlie gets to his feet, he turns around into a swift kick to the gut, and Kidd sweeps the legs away – LOOKING FOR THE SHARPSHOOTER!! Haas tries to fight it, and fight it he does by kicking Kidd off him, but when Haas stands up he walks right into a roundhouse kick! Attempt number two – Kidd grabs Haas and looks to be close to cinching in the sharpshooter, but off to the right of the camera, BENJAMIN SLIDES INTO THE RING, LOOKING TO SAVE HIS TAG TEAM PARTNER!! Smith is right behind him though! Smith grabs Benjamin by the legs and takes him down to the mat and kicks him in the chest before LOOKING AT KIDD … AND THE TWO PUT ON TANDEM SHARPSHOOTERS! But hold on, Smith is facing away from Kidd now and he doesn’t see Haas counter by kicking Kidd off and then LOCKING IN THE HAAS OF PAIN!
Neither Charlie Haas or David Smith can see their tag team partners predicament, which works out well for The World’s Greatest Tag Team since Haas and Kidd are the legal men, but it sucks for Benjamin who’s looking like he’s been in better situations. Haas seems to notice though, after glancing at the big screen and seeing his partner behind him in a world of pain. Being the good tag team partner, Charlie lets go off kid and rushes over to Benjamin – perhaps idiotically? – and repays the favour Smith gave him, by crashing into the back of him! Benjamin immediately grabs his legs but starts to get up but as Haas is checking on him Kidd is approaching quickly, bad back and bad legs and all, AND HE WRAPS HAAS UP IN S SCHOOL BOY PIN!! The referee narrowly misses a three count, as Haas kicks out at the last second!
Kidd stands up and turns … RIGHT INTO BENJAMIN … SUPER KICK!! Benjamin falls to the mat, exhausted and in pain, but the camera follows Kidd who stumbles backwards into a roll up from Haas!
ONE… TWO… SMITH TRIES TO GET BACK TO HELP BUT BENJAMIN CUTS HIM OFF AND DIVES ON HIM!!
Natalya climbs on the apron but it’s too late!
THREE!!
WINNERS: The World’s Greatest Tag Team @ 12.17
Robinson calls for the bell, but Haas is already out of the ring, and he rushes around to where Benjamin is lying and wheezing, pulling his tag partner out by the legs. Robinson rushes to them and helps to raise their hands as Smith and Kidd sit on the mat, looking frustrated. Natalya stands beside them, hands on her hips.
Benjamin and Haas back up the ramp slowly, looking rather pleased with themselves, and likely due to the fact they now have a date with the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions! The commentary team make sure to note that it doesn’t seem the end to this rivalry, as the match ended in abrupt fashion, and Striker even goes to say it proves nothing as to who the better team is.
What is impressive though, at least to Matthews, is that this was the first time The World’s Greatest Tag Team teamed together in a couple of years, and they looked damn good. In the ring, The Hart Dynasty lick their wounds as Natalya stands by the ropes and makes sure to tell Benjamin and Haas they got lucky, and that this isn’t over.
With the result in the bag, Benjamin and Haas cemented their challenge of the Tag Team Titles, and because of this we would see the first cross-over between ECW and SmackDown, as Chris Jericho was the guest on The Abraham Washington Show.
Tonight’s episode of ECW kicks off with the usual hype package, showcasing the best and brightest of WWE’s Extreme brand. After which, we head directly into the arena where a large black sofa has been set up across from a nice black desk. The commentary team chime in here and welcome us to the show, Josh Matthews does the hype job for the main event which will see The Heart and Soul of ECW take on The World’s Strongest Man while Matt Striker does the honours in talking up the segment which will kick off the show tonight.
To boos, the typical talk show music plays and soon enough Abraham Washington comes jogging slowly out onto the stage, taking the time to go each end and wave to his ‘adoring crowd.’ Speaking off which, the camera catches the word ‘APPLAUSE’ being branded on the big screen which obviously spurs them onto boo louder. Either choosing to ignore the boos, or simply being delusional, Abe walks down the ramp, suited and booted and looking fired up for tonight’s show. Once he’s in the ring, he grabs the microphone from the desk and stands front and centre, smiling a shit eating grin as the music dies down.
As the norm, he welcomes us to “The Abraham Washington Show, hosted by Abraham Washington” The applause image appears on the big screen again, but it has the opposite effect. Abraham wants to inform everyone, that after speaking with ECW General Manager Tiffany, and because of the show’s strong performance, he – and his team – have all been given a substantial payment increase which he says is down to one thing and one thing only, he paces back and forth and points at individuals in the crowd, before turning his hand back around on himself and saying it’s all due to him!
With the usual opening of the show out of the way, Abraham big’s up his guest tonight as one half of the Unified Tag Team Champions, the first ever Undisputed WWE Champion and a man lucky enough to be on The Abraham Washington Show – SmackDown’s – CHRIS JERICHO!!
After the initial pop, the crowd’s reaction turns too boos as the ever cocky and confident Chris Jericho walks slowly onto the stage with the two tag team titles around over his shoulders. Clad in gold, he walks down the ramp, ignoring the jeers from the crowd and climbs into the ring and approaches the sofa. Abraham – who’s retreated to his safe place behind the desk – extends his hand to him but Jericho ignores it and takes a seat. Washington plays it off ‘smoothly’ by pretending to rub his skull while taking a seat.
After the music dies down, Abe picks up the microphone and welcomes Chris to the show, and says it is a pleasure to have a former talk show host appear on The Abraham Washington Show, and he then asks Jericho – talk show host to talk show host – if he would like some pointers should he ever make a comeback?! Jericho switches from staring at the crowd to staring at Abraham Washington, who not realising he’s stuck his foot in it continues by reminding Chris if he ever does choose to bring back The Highlight Reel, it better not be in competition with The Abraham Washington Show because it’s no contest!
Abraham ignores the stare that he’s getting from Jericho and continues, hyping again Jericho’s accomplishments which gives Chris time to pick up his microphone. Washington finally crosses the line by saying he was glad and not the least bit surprised when a mega star like Jericho called Abe’s team to get a slot on his show! Jericho cuts him off from speaking once again with a stare which could only be described as a death stare while slowly pulling the microphone up to his mouth. “Your team called me.” This draws a large pop from the crowd and Abe looks flustered for a moment before laughing it off and suggesting they get down to business and talk about the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions.
Abraham starts speaking about Chris winning the Tag Team Titles with The Rated R Superstar, Edge but Jericho cuts him off, stating he doesn’t wish to talk about someone as weak as Edge was to allow himself to get injured. Abraham nods, and asks Jericho what his thinking was behind choosing The Big Show on Monday Night RAW as his tag team partner to which Jericho stoically says he’s over four hundred pounds and Abe fires back that if that’s the case then the big man needs to stay out of catering, “if ya know what I’m saying!”
With the poor joke behind him, Abe asks what Jericho’s thoughts are of the recently reunited World’s Greatest Tag Team and it’s at this moment that Jericho tells Abraham he’s had enough of listening to a second-rate talk show host and all of these hypocritical people in the crowd. He doesn’t notice the under the breath comment on Abraham bringing The Highlight Reel into question as he stands up and takes centre stage facing the crowd. Jericho explains his and The Big Show’s focus is on Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase at Night of Champions, and after that, and only after that he will address Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, explaining that as The Best in the World at what he does, he knows what it takes to be that good, and the so-called World’s Greatest Tag Team certainly don’t have it.
He tells the crowd he’s glad he’s not contracted to a subpar brand like ECW where he would suffer the terrible fate of having to listen to Abraham Washington every week and watch idiots like The Hurricane and Hornswoggle running around pretending to be superheroes. At that, Jericho says he’s had an awful time on ECW, and he hopes he never has to appear in this cesspit again and he then drops the microphone down to the mat.
He looks like he’s about to leave, but then, The World’s Greatest Tag Team come out after a moment of their music playing to the sound of a decent pop! Both men aren’t dressed to compete, instead coming out in t-shirts and shorts, but they walk down the ramp with a purpose and once in the ring, they stand face to face with Jericho. Before Benjamin can speak though, Abe butts in and just like last time, tells Benjamin and Haas they aren’t getting paid for this appearance, and telling himself he needs to speak to his team to get some security out here. Abe sits down looking exasperated and decides to watch what’s about to unfold.
Benjamin reminds Jericho that he and his tag team partner here, are two-time WWE Tag Team Champions, and if Benjamin is correct, Chris Jericho is on their show and for that reason, he needs to show a bit of respect. Jericho – after picking his microphone back up – tells Benjamin and Haas he doesn’t give a damn about the show he’s on, because as far as he’s concerned, after visiting the Extreme brand and seeing his future challengers in the flesh, he has no reason to be here any longer. Before he goes, he reminds them that he, himself, is a multiple time tag team champion, but unlike the so-called World’s Greatest Tag Team he doesn’t brag about his accomplishments, which brings out a sarcastic comment from Abe stating that’s all Jericho does!
Ignoring that, Jericho tells Haas and Benjamin to get out of his way, “if you know what’s good for you.”
Haas finally speaks, telling Jericho that those are mighty big words for someone who came to ECW without his tag team partner…
Suddenly …
“WELLLLLLLLLL” sounds over the speaker system and all attention turns to the stage after the camera catches a sly smirk appear across Jericho’s face! RAW’s BIG SHOW walks out, looking aggressive as ever with the two title belts draped over his neck.
Benjamin and Haas get into defensive positions, backing themselves into the ropes to keep both Jericho and the approaching Big Show in their eye line. Meanwhile, the cameras catch Abraham shaking his head and throwing up his arms in exasperation at ANOTHER uninvited guest on the famous talk show and decides to head out before things get violent.
Once Big Show’s in the ring, Jericho goads The World’s Greatest Tag Team, stating they aren’t as confident now that his tag team partner is here. Big Show stands across from both Haas and Benjamin, his frame almost taking up the whole camera shot.
Benjamin and Haas do their best to big themselves up like prey trying to look big against a predator, but suddenly Jericho makes a move … taking a quick step towards them and raising his fist which draws Benjamin and Haas’ eyes … LEAVING BIG SHOW ABLE TO LAND A KNOCK OUT PUNCH … SENDING CHARLIE HAAS TUMBLING TO THE GROUND LIKE A TREE FALLING!
Shelton takes a second to realize what’s just happened, but he’s immediately jumped by Jericho and then Big Show who start to lay into the other half of The World’s Greatest Tag Team! Despite his best efforts to fight back, Benjamin looks like he’s in trouble until …
THE HART DYNASTY COME RUSHING DOWN THE RAMP?!!?
With Natalya behind them, Tyson Kidd and David Smith slide into the ring and … HELP(?!) Benjamin – Smith taking Big Show on with a large shoulder block as Jericho bails from the ring, avoiding a spinning heel kick from Kidd! The ECW fans don’t quite know how to react as Smith forces Big Show out of the ring!!
The WWE Tag Team Champions regroup on the ramp, sent packing by The Hart Dynasty, but the attention switches from them to the two tag teams in the ring. Benjamin is warily waking Haas up, keeping one eye on The Hart Dynasty who are staring at them, still looking frustrated and aggressive.
As Charlie is helped to his feet, Striker and Matthews question if it is brand loyalty, genuine respect now, or is it some kind of game?! We seem to get our answer as Natalya climbs into the ring and stands between them, she backs her boys up with a smile and the team head out, leaving Benjamin to hold a struggling Charlie Haas.
Before she leaves the ring, she turns to them and smirks and then joins The Hart Dynasty on the ramp. With a date for the WWE Tag Team Title match still to be set, likely after Night of Champions where Big Show and Jericho will face Legacy, we end the first part of tonight’s show with a peculiar moment between bitter rivals.
The rivalry between Jack Swagger and Curt Hawkins would continue from Extreme Rules, with Swagger animatedly complaining to the ECW General Manager, Tiffany. The advice from her – to not let Curt Hawkins get into his head. However, the last moment of the show after Extreme Rules saw this happen …
But wait! We’re not quite done tonight, because the cameras cut away to a scene backstage where The All American, Jack Swagger is walking through the parking lot and comes across a silver BMW, clicking his key fob and unlocking his vehicle.
He opens up the back door and throws his satchel bag into the back seat, but before he climbs into the front, he spots something resting on the hood of the car. The camera slowly pans out as Jack approaches to reveal a white rose! Swagger – still struggling to get the events of Sunday out of his mind – grabs the rose and angrily throws it to the ground. He turns to the empty parking lot and his eyes dart around like a wild animal looking for a predator before finally turning and getting in the car.
He slams the door closed and speeds out of view as the cameraman stays where he is. Slowly, the shot zooms in on the white rose on the concrete, until a big black boot steps into the frame and a hand delicately reaches down and picks up the rose. The camera follows the hand until the picture reveals Curt Hawkins who receives a huge pop, his fanbase growing by the week.
Hawkins looks towards the direction where Swagger sped away from, and he smiles to himself. It’s a different approach to how he got under Ryder’s skin – more subtle – but it’s one that seems to be working because he looks rather pleased.
The picture fades to black.
Then, things would continue the following week with a recorded segment from The Martyr of Sin.
The screen is black. Murmurs in the crowd. A small flicker of a candle flame starts to appear.
The camera slowly zooms in on the flame until we fully cut backstage into a dimly lit room where a dark figure is standing with his back to the camera. It’s obviously Curt Hawkins and he appears to be studying the canvas in front of him which have the seven deadly sins plastered on the top of it with the image of Zack Ryder – who’s not been seen since his Sanctuary of Sin match – underneath the word ‘gluttony.’ The camera slowly pans around to reveal Hawkins staring down at a small playing card with a white rose emblazoned on the back of it.
‘Shame,’ he says, before looking up at the board and then turns the card around so the camera can see, and we see an image of … TOMMY DREAMER??
Hawkins explains his plan after handling his old friend Zack Ryder was to confront Tommy Dreamer, the ECW Original, and give him the opportunity to admit to his sins but in the end, he was too late. Nonetheless, Hawkins places the card on the canvas board underneath the sin, ‘ANGER’. Hawkins now turns to the camera fully, so his frame is taking up most of the shot with just the flicker of the flame keeping his face illuminated.
Hawkins starts by explaining when he arrived on ECW, he had a carefully curated list of ECW Superstars who he felt had done wrong in their life. He thinks for a moment, before saying that list is growing with every passing week, but Jack Swagger is the unlucky one, because after what happened to Tommy Dreamer – and Hawkins makes sure to note he will deal with what occurred to Dreamer – Jack Swagger was moved up the list.
Because Swagger – despite all his natural talents – has fallen to the sin of greed and everything that in entails. A superstar athlete with the ability to transcend the WWE and become a worldwide star, a natural amateur wrestling with the credentials to match. An All American with the record for the most pins in a single season at the University of Oklahoma. However, despite all of that, he goes out to that ring every week and resorts to underhanded tactics to get the better of his opponent, and when it doesn’t go his way, he complains until he gets what he wants.
Hawkins says that’s over. He speaks about Swagger complaining to Tiffany about what happened at Extreme Rules, and notes that what happened then was the tip of the iceberg.
Hawkins goes silent for a moment, then holds up Swagger’s card to the camera, showcasing Swagger winning a match over Fit Finlay before WrestleMania by hooking the tights. He turns around and smacks it with force onto the canvas. He turns to the camera and says Swagger’s time has come and soon enough, Swagger will know what how Zack Ryder felt when he stood face to face with The Martyr of Sin.
Swagger, biting off more than he could chew, took it upon himself to visit Hawkins’ Sanctuary of Sin, and put a beating on him, but this seemed to play into The Martyr of Sins hands.
Before the usual ECW opening video, the feed fades slowly into the outside of the well-known church which we previously saw in the Sanctuary of Sin match. To the top right of a frame, a full moon lights up the dilapidated building and the portion of mud and grass adjacent to the front of the church.
Slowly cutting into the inside of the church, we see the dark figure of CURT HAWKINS sitting on one of the pews. He’s twirling Jack Swagger’s playing card with a white rose plastered on the back. He has his hair laid over his face so we can’t see his expression, but from his body language we can see he’s deep in thought.
Eventually, he looks up and looks directly at the camera and starts by mentioning The All-American’s name, but before we can dive into what he wanted to say, he’s interrupted by a creaking sound coming from off the camera. Hawkins face briefly moves towards the sound which appears to have come from the entrance way where one half of the large wooden doors are open, letting the sounds of the night air filter through.
The camera catches Hawkins face twist into a quick smirk as he stands up and walks down the alter towards the open doorway. He walks out with no hesitation …
AND A FIGURE WITH A HOOD UP EXPLODES FROM THE SIDE!!
The camera does a good job in getting closer and we can see it’s JACK SWAGGER who’s got Hawkins by the hair and lays into him with multiple forearms to the jaw! Hawkins doesn’t even appear to be fighting back as Swagger gets the better of him, and Swagger asks sarcastically and aggressively if Hawkins thinks The All-American is scared of him now?! Hawkins doesn’t get a chance to answer as he’s thrown face first into the other door which is closed, resulting in his head meeting the hard wood!
Hawkins falls into a slump, but Swagger’s not done because he drags Hawkins over towards the mud and grass where the large tree awaits. He throws Hawkins onto the tree and The Martyr of Sin slides down into a seated position. The All-American lays into him with multiple right hands and they’re unprotected because Hawkins doesn’t even look like he’s trying to cover up!!
Swagger backs up, and asks again if Hawkins think’s The All-American is scared? In response, all Hawkins does is slowly, ever so slowly raise his right hand to the side of his head, and with his index finger repeatedly taps his temple, signifying he knows he’s in The All-American’s head! Swagger, further enraged by this, clenches his right hand and as he makes contact with Hawkins jaw, the camera zooms in cinematically until Swagger backs away and out of sight.
Hawkins, illuminated by the full moon, allows the camera to zoom in on his now swollen and twisted face, and as the camera fades to black, a small smile appears on The Martyr of Sin’s face.
The feud between Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov would come to an end in a Parking Lot Brawl on the super card show. Kozlov would pick up the victory after an Iron Curtain on top of a car after a brutal match. The two would then go their separate ways, for now.
Meanwhile, a mini feud between Paul Burchill and The Hurricane would happen, with most of the time spent on it being had on WWE Superstars. Throughout this, we’d get hints of a crack forming between Burchill and Katie Lea. This would result in The Ripper dropping his alliance with his sister, and forming one with his fellow Englishman, William Regal.
Regal would aid Burchill in his crusade against The Green Knights, in exchange for Burchill helping with the little problem of The World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry. This came to ahead with a match between Burchill and The Hurricane, however after the match we saw for formation of The Green Knights, when Fit Finlay came to the rescue, joining the group!
WINNER: PAUL BURCHILL @ 6.45 It appears thing are on the up for The Ripper since his alliance with William Regal! It was only a few weeks ago his career looked dead in the water, as he couldn’t match The Hurricane on that night, but tonight he’s dealt with him swiftly and decisively thanks to Regal’s influence at ringside!
Regal enters the ring and applauds his fellow Englishman, and raises his hand in the air to a decent amount of heat. With no Mark Henry on the horizon, the duo looks plenty pleased, and Regal can be heard telling Burchill that soon ‘the Russian will join us.’
The Hurricane retreats into the corner where he starts to recover, and Hornswoggle climbs in the ring to check on him, still wearing the Superhero mask. On the other side of the ring, the two Englishmen appear to be leaving, but Regal clocks what’s going on with Hornswoggle and Hurricane, and he mentions something to The Ripper, and then both men turn and start approaching.
Hornswoggle, none the wiser, is grabbed from behind by Burchill and he holds him by the scruff of the neck while Regal mocks and goads the little guy. The Hurricane sees what’s happening and tries to get up to help, but Regal spots this and lands a huge boot to the mush!!
The crowd are in uproar as Regal directs traffic, instructing Burchill to pick Hornswoggle up and hit a brain buster but before this can happen …
‘MY NAME IS FINLAY … AND I LOVE TO FIGHT’
IT’S FINLAY!!!
NOT SEEN SINCE HIS LOSS TO EZEKIEL JACKSON – FINLAY RUSHES DOWN THE RAMP WITH HIS TRUSTY WEAPON IN HAND!!!
The commentary team quickly note it was Finlay who The Hurricane was trying to recruit all those weeks ago!!
Burchill throws Hornswoggle to the side and turns to meet the Irishman sliding into the ring … FINLAY DUCKS A RIGHT HAND … TURNS AROUND AND SWINGS HIS WEAPON INTO BURCHILL’S STOMACH!!
The crowd are on their feet as Finlay goes for Regal but the Englishman bails out of the ring, leaving Burchill to the mercy of The Fighting Irishman!!
Finlay throws his weapon to the side and grabs the staggered Burchill … HE HOISTS HIM UP AND HOLDS HIM IN THE CELTIC CROSS POSITION!!!
He points at Regal … THEN SLAMS BURCHILL INTO THE MAT!!!!!
Regal looks incensed on the outside, but the crowd are loving it as they are on their feet and cheering the returning Fit Finlay!!
Burchill rolls to the outside and Regal is already half way up the ramp as Finlay turns and helps The Hurricane to his feet. Hornswoggle looks appreciative to see Finlay back, and for a moment it looks like the drama is over for now, until The Hurricane points at his own mask, then at Finlay, and looks to the crowd for a large cheer!!
Hurricane looks at Hornswoggle and says, ‘it’s time!’
Hornswoggle nods and looks at Finlay, before PULLING OUT A GREEN SUPERHERO MASK FROM HIS POCKET!!
Finlay looks at the mask, which matches The Hurricane’s black and Hornswoggles green mask. It’s clear what The Hurricane and Hornswoggle want as the little guy holds the mask out towards The Fighting Irishman!
The crowd cheer as Finlay looks around – possibly for approval? After what seems like an eternity, Fit Finlay smirks and GRABS THE MASK … PUTTING IT ON AND IT APPEARS ECW NOW HAS THEIR OWN JUSTICE LEAGUE!!
The three Superhero’s stand in the centre of the ring, looking rather pleased, but the cameras pick up Finlay turning to The Hurricane and saying ‘no capes’ in a call back to the very first time they teamed together against The Hart Dynasty!
The Match:
:: WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS ::
:: 2nd August 2009 :: With the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships successfully defended in the opening contest, Chris Jericho and Big Show retaining over The Legacy, it’s now time for the second championship match of the night, the ECW Championship!!
***J POP DROP***
Despite growing in popularity on the ECW brand over the past couple of months since his debut, YOSHI TATSU receives a more muted response, with many of the crowd only paying attention to RAW and SmackDown. Nonetheless, The Japanese Superstar focuses on the ring, not taking the time to interact with the fans, purely focusing on the task at hand.
***BORN TO WIN***
And out next is the champion, EVAN BOURNE, receiving a better response from the crowd, the ECW Championship around his waist. Once Bourne reaches the ring, he hands the belt to the referee, who lifts it in the air while Bourne and Tatsu watch each other from their own corners.
:: ECW Championship :: Evan Bourne defends against Yoshi Tatsu
With the champion being in the form of his life, it’s more than a struggle for the challenger to get any kind of offence in at the very beginning. Bourne, using the usual fast paced tactics, takes the fight to Tatsu, forgoing the expected feeling out process and taking Yoshi by surprise.
The commentary makes sure to note that Bourne was the champion, even before Tatsu debuted on the Extreme brand, and while Tatsu has impressed recently, it’s clear how much experience is playing a part in this match.
After the first couple minutes of pure domination by Bourne, finally Yoshi manages to get some offence in, successfully dodging a Suicide Dive, and then shoulder thrusting Bourne back first into the barricade!
Tatsu, perhaps sensing this was his opportunity to take control, aggressively yanked Bourne up, rolled him into the ring and headed to the top rope, connecting with a missile drop kick! After an opportunistic pinfall attempt, Tatsu builds on his momentum, using his own brand of fast paced offence to really take it to the ECW Champion, perhaps giving off the impression he may actually take the belt here tonight!
The commentary team do a great job in putting Yoshi over, as Bourne is on the back foot for a good few minutes, and despite many attempts at countering Tatsu’s offence, he comes up short. Eventually, however, a misstep on Tatsu’s part, stumbling on the top rope, allowed Bourne to fall onto the ropes, sending Tatsu falling groin first on the top turnbuckle!
The ending to the contest came quickly after, with a Superplex from the top rope, followed by a near fall, and then a missed Shooting Star Press allowed Tatsu to connect with his Roundhouse Kick, and then a Diving Spinning Heel Kick from the top rope!! However, Bourne, using all of his ring knowledge, rolled out of the ring, frustrating The Japanese Superstar.
Once Bourne is pulled back into the ring, he takes advantage of the momentary distraction and connects with a Jumping Roundhouse Kick, and then a quick Standing Moonsault! With all the momentum behind him, Bourne heads to the top rope, steadies himself and CONNECTS WITH THE SHOOTING STAR PRESS!!
WINNER AND STILL ECW CHAMPION - EVAN BOURNE @ 8.36 ECW’s showing for the evening is over. The referee grabs the ECW Championship, hands it to Evan Bourne and lifts his arm high in the air once he’s taken a moment to recover from having the wind knocked out of him.
Leaving the ring, Bourne backs up the ramp with the title over his shoulder, and as Tatsu recovers in the centre of the ring, the champion gives him a couple seconds applause, before heading to the back.
Loving going through all of this again. The awesome Christian, Hawkins character work, the well orchestrated tag team feud, The Green Knights appearing for the first time. Everything was so hot at this point in time, can't wait until we get to the new stuff. I'll parrot what I've said in the past, this is your best work for sure.
Side note: The next post or two (still not decided if I want to post them all at once or not) will feature shows that have already been posted on the other side. Around two full ECW shows and a couple of snippets from WWE Superstars and RAW. Then, it's finally onto the new stuff.
The Road to WWE SummerSlam!
The ECW Championship picture would take some twists and turns over the time leading up to WWE SummerSlam. Evan Bourne, the ECW Champion, would take a vested interest in Christian – who is now depicting himself as The Heart and Soul of ECW. Meanwhile, Christian still had the problem of The Man Beast, Rhyno to deal with before setting his sights on Bourne’s championship …
We return from the break with the sense of anticipation filling the arena as we know what is about to come – the confrontation the people have all been waiting for.
The commentary team are expecting The Heart and Soul of ECW to come out first, but the camera focuses on the crowd where we see The Man Beast, RHYNO dressed in a dark hooded top and blue jeans. With his hair shrouding his face, Rhyno makes his way through the crowd, receiving pats on the back from them. He hops the barricade, checking the security team near him aren’t going to stop him, then he enters an ECW ring for the first time in many years.
Now, the entrance music plays of the man the people love to hate, and CHRISTIAN shows his face, coming out onto the stage, looking frustrated already – Striker explaining The Heart and Soul likely would have wanted to be first out so he could be the one to call out The Man Beast.
With a microphone in his hand, Christian starts walking down the ramp slowly, but he has to wait a while before he can speak because of the ‘YOU SUCK’ chants coming from the people in the arena tonight. Eventually, the chants die down, allowing Christian the chance to speak, and he first tells Rhyno to calm down because he can see how worked up he is and how big of a moment it must be for The Man Beast to be back in an ECW ring.
He reminds Rhyno that he isn’t contracted to the WWE, and is here on Christian’s invitation, therefore he expects a level of decorum. Since he’s The Heart and Soul of ECW, he figured he should extend an olive branch to Rhyno and try to put the past where it should stay – in the past.
Rhyno doesn’t seem to be listening now, pacing back and forth like a wild animal, itching to get his hands on Christian, but he knows he has to wait for his moment. Christian appears to be closing in on the ring. He speaks again, reminding Rhyno that while he may think he is defending ECW’s honour or his old friend Tommy Dreamer, Christian believes Rhyno is still a friend to him.
He reminds Rhyno about all those nights spent on the road travelling together and competing together. He wonders if Rhyno remembers the fact they teamed together many years ago and states he was extremely disappointed in Rhyno’s actions a couple of weeks ago, which brings a sarcastic comment from Striker about Christian’s own actions.
Christian goes on to say he asked Rhyno here tonight, because he wants to say sorry. Rhyno stops, dead centre in the ring and listens. Christian reaches the steel steps, climbing up to the top step and slowly tells Rhyno that he’s sorry, for what he did to ECW, for what he did to Tommy Dreamer … and the reason he’s sorry?
‘I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner!’
Before Rhyno can react, Christian backs away from the ring and states that he did what someone else should have, and take Tommy Dreamer out to the woodshed and put that old dog down, and as for ECW – as The Heart and Soul of the brand, he’s carrying the torch forward, in a way which has never been seen. Obviously, this draws a lot of heat from the crowd and seems to be just enraging The Man Beast.
Just enough, that because of that final remark, RHYNO SLIDES UNDERNEATH THE BOTTOM ROPE AND RUSHES TOWARDS CHRISTIAN ON THE RAMP!
It’s no use though, because Rhyno is suddenly football tackled by FOUR guards!! But – wait – Striker states the stipulation was that no security would get involved tonight! Rhyno is manhandled by the guards, who aren’t just restraining him, but ATTACKING him! Clubbing blows to the back of the head and neck is what’s on the menu for Rhyno, before he’s taken back to the ring by the four ‘security guards’ and rolled into the ring. The foursome then hold Rhyno in place as Christian climbs.
With the microphone, he explains the rule for tonight was that the ECW security team would not get involved, but he didn’t say his own private security team would not. Christian explains that he hired this crack team of security for one night and one night only, because he knew Rhyno would not be civilized and he knew that he would need to be punished – not only for tonight, but for all the ‘unwarranted attacks’ over the past few weeks!
With that in mind, with Rhyno firmly restrained, Christian rushes forward, connecting with a boot to the face, but Rhyno is unfazed, yelling at Christian to continue and try again. Christian – offended – SLAPS the taste out of Rhyno’s but The Man Beast shows fight, breaking the grip of the four men and taking Christian down with a double leg takedown!!
Rhyno’s on top of Christian now – laying in rights and lefts with the crowd firmly behind him!!
The team that Christian had hired now jumps on Rhyno again, and The Man Beast starts fighting them off all at once, blowing through them with closed rights and headbutts, but then Christian connects with a CHOP BLOCK to the back of the right knee!!
Christian tells the security team to continue what they are doing, and the camera zooms in on them stomping away at Rhyno while Christian leaves the ring and grabs two steel chairs!
The crowd boo immediately, understanding what might be about to happen!
However, just as Christian is about to climb into the ring –
THE ECW CHAMPION – EVAN BOURNE SPRINTS DOWN THE RAMP
CHRISTIAN’S HIRED GUNS GO TO MEET HIM
FLYING FOREARM TO ONE
ROUNDHOUSE KICK TO THE OTHER
KICK TO THE GUT THEN A STANDING DROP KICK TO THE THIRD
AND FINALLY THE LAST ONE GETS LAUNCHED INTO THE RING POST
Bourne stares at Christian from his position on the mat, while Christian stands over Rhyno! With no warning, Bourne slides into the ring, and Christian SWINGS THE CHAIR AT HIS HEAD … BUT HE MISSES AND THE CHAIR HITS THE TOP ROPE … REBOUNDING ONTO HIS OWN HEAD!!!
Christian staggers back, the hit not quite doing the damage you’d think, but he walks right into a standing drop kick and then he falls through the bottom and second rope!
The commentary team are in a frenzy as Bourne welcomes Christian back into the ring, but The Heart and Soul of ECW backs up the ramp, allowing Rhyno to recover and get to his feet. The current ECW Champion and the ECW Original share an awkward glance at one another, but then the music of ECW General Manager, Tiffany plays and she walks out to a decent pop.
She has a microphone and states she is tired of her show being derailed by this situation between Christian and Rhyno. She goes on to stage that in two weeks’ time, five days before Summerslam, ECW will hold their own special event called ECW: Heat Wave! And the main event, will feature the so-called Heart and Soul of ECW.
Christian looks perplexed, as does Bourne while Rhyno just looks pissed – pacing back and forth. Tiffany says she understands that Rhyno is not a contracted ECW Superstar, and she has no plans to sign him – this draws some boos – but she wants this whole situation to end, therefore in two weeks’ time (if Rhyno accepts) it will be The Heart and Soul of ECW, Christian facing The Man Beast, Rhyno in an Unsanctioned Match!!
Christian looks mighty pissed while Rhyno simply nods and points at him, sending a message that he – Rhyno – will get his hands on Christian!
The show ends with Christian arguing with Tiffany on the stage while Bourne keeps his distance from the rampaging Man Beast.
And now, the Unsanctioned Match between Christian and Rhyno, featuring a somewhat surprise inclusion …
*** SPECIAL MATCH VIDEO PACKAGE ***
SONG: LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR
(‘LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR X4’) SHOTS OF OLD SCHOOL FOOTAGE OF TOMMY DREAMER INTERTWINED WITH OTHER FOOTAGE OF RHYNO COMPETING IN OLD SCHOOL ECW
(INSTRUMENTAL) SHOTS OF CHRISTIAN MAKING HIS DEBUT, INTERUPTTING JACK SWAGGER ON AN EPISODE OF ECW – COMMENTARY INTRODUCES CHRISTIAN – VARIOUS SHOTS OF CHRISTIAN COMPETING ON ECW
(‘BEATEN, WHY FOR?’) SHOT OF CHRISTIAN WATCHING AS EVAN BOURNE WINS THE ECW CHAMPIONSHIP IN FRONT OF HIM TO THE ADJULATION OF THE CROWD
(‘CAN’T TAKE MUCH MORE’) SHOTS OF CHRISTIAN TRYING TO GET TOMMY DREAMER UNDER CONTROL DURING HIS LOSING STREAK, WITH DREAMER RESPONDING BY PUSHING CHRISTIAN IN THE CHEST
(‘ONE, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘TWO, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘THREE, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘FOUR, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’) QUICK FIRE SHOTS OF CHRISTIAN OVER THE COURSE OF A COUPLE OF WEEKS TRYING TO HELP DREAMER AND GETTING IT SHOVED IN HIS FACE, PROGRESSIVELY BUILDING TO DREAMER PUSHING CHRISTIAN INTO THE STEEL STEPS – THEN, QUICK SHOT OF TIFFANY MAKING THE CONTEST BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND TOMMY DREAMER
(‘ONE, SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE’
‘TWO, SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE’
‘THREE, SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE’) EXTREMELY DARK SHOTS OF CHRISTIAN SLOWLY BUILDING UP TO HIS HEEL TURN THROUGHOUT THE MATCH WITH TOMMY DREAMER – ECHOING BACK TO HIS ATTEMPTED SUBMISSION AFTER CONNECTING WITH THE FROG SPLASH – A SHOT OF DREAMER LANDING A SLAP TO THE FACE – THEN, CHRISTIAN WINS THE CONTEST WITH THE KILLSWITCH
FOOTAGE SLOWS DOWN AS CHRISTIAN RAISES DREAMERS HAND TO AN ADORING CROWD
(‘LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR X4’) CHRISTIAN PULLS DREAMER INTO WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HUG BUT CONNECTS WITH A HARD CLOTHESLINE
(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL) FOOTAGE OF CHRISTIAN CONNECTING WITH A CON-CHAIR-TO, SHELVING TOMMY DREAMER, RETIRING THE ECW LEGEND
(BACK TO NORMAL SPEED)
(‘PUSH ME AGAIN
THIS IS THE END’) FOOTAGE OF RHYNO CONNECTING WITH MULTIPLE GORES OVER THE COURSE OF A COUPLE OF WEEKS – RHYNO FIGHTING OFF SECURITY – BEING PUSHED THROUGH THE CROWD – CHRISTIAN ON THE MAT, IN PAIN
(‘HERE WE GO HERE WE GO HERE WE GO, NOW’) MORE FOOTAGE OF RHYNO AND CHRISTIAN OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS – TIFFANY MAKING THE CONTEST BETWEEN RHYNO AND CHRISTIAN
(‘ONE, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘TWO, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘THREE, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’
‘FOUR, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME’) OLD SCHOOL FOOTAGE OF THE EARLY RUTHLESS AGGRESSION ERA SHOWCASING CHRISTIAN AND RHYNO TEAMING TOGETHER IN VARIOUS TAG TEAM CONTESTS – SHOTS OF RHYNO CONNECTING WITH MULTIPLE GORES TO VARIOUS WWE SUPERSTARS OVER THE YEARS
(‘ONE, SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE’
TWO, SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE’
‘THREE, SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE’) FINALLY, WE GET MORE FOOTAGE FROM CHRISTIAN DURING THE COURSE OF HIS CAREER, WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS – FOOTAGE OF RHYNO WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ECW – FINALLY, FOOTAGE OF CHRISTIAN AND RHYNO STARING AT EACH OTHER, ONE FROM THE RING AND ONE FROM THE CROWD
It’s now time for the match we’ve all been waiting for – the music of The Heart and Soul of ECW, Christian plays to rapturous heat from the fans in the arena tonight! He walks through the curtain onto the stage, past the decrepit and dark decorations and down the ramp – dressed to compete in his normal tights and boots. He climbs into the ring after Tony Chimel introduces him, and turns to face the stage, now focused on his opponent.
But The Man Beast does not arrive from the front of the stage, instead he comes from the side, through the curtain there – technically not a member of the ECW roster – and he does not receive any kind of music either, since he’s not a fully fledged employee, Rhyno crosses over to the floor to the ramp, and takes a moment to look at the man in the ring! The Man Beast isn’t wearing his usual singlet we’d see him wear during his career – instead he’s opted for a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt!
He stares at Christian for a moment longer, then takes his shirt off, and throws it to the side, and LEGS IT DOWN THE RAMP TOWARDS CHRISTIAN AND AS HE SLIDES IN THE RING THE REFEREE QUICKLY CALLS FOR THE START TO THIS UNSANCTIONED CONTEST!
Main Event: Unsanctioned Match Christian vs. Rhyno
Christian immediately goes for a right hand, but The Man Beast ducks … hits the ropes and …
CONNECTS WITH A STRONG GORE!!
It’s a hugely fast start to the Unsanctioned Match, and despite having Christian in a place where Rhyno could conceivably get the three count – he doesn’t! It’s not about winning for him – it’s about inflicting as much pain on the self-proclaimed Heart and Soul of ECW!
Rhyno takes Christian to the outside, spending a couple of minutes punishing him, using the ring apron, barricade and announce table to inflict damage. Then, Rhyno takes Christian into the crowd – and the fans near them scream loudly as the two men battle their way through them, Christian managing to get some shots in.
Eventually, the two of them end up on the stage, climbing down from the crowd and trading rights and lefts. Christian starts to get the better of Rhyno, and manages to counter a clothesline attempt into a BACK BODY DROP … ON THE WOODEN BENCH!! The wood is strong through and doesn’t budge – holding Rhyno’s weight and Christian takes this time to take a breather.
Then, he picks Rhyno up off the bench and table, then throws him HEADFIRST into the LED boards! One panel starts to malfunction, losing its image. The two men continue to battle on the stage, trading momentum until Christian goes for the KILLSWITCH … BUT RHYNO FIGHTS BACK … PUSHING CHRISTIAN TOWARDS THE TITANTRON … CHRISTIAN MANAGES TO STOP HIMSELF, THEN TURNS … GORE!! RHYNO PROPELS CHRISTIAN INTO THE LED BOARDS … GORING HIM STRAIGHT THROUGH … SPARKS FLY EVERYWHERE AS THE TWO MEN LIE IN A HEAP!
Once Rhyno starts to recover, he drags Christian from the debris and takes him down the ramp, giving him some clubbing blows to the back for good measure. Inside the ring, Rhyno throws Christian into the corner and The Heart and Soul of ECW crumples into a sitting position. While Christian is sitting there, Rhyno takes the time to RIP the canvas of the ring up, revealing the wooden planks underneath! The crowd are into this as Rhyno looks back at Christian, then shakes his head, and then he slides out of the ring and PICKS UP A TABLE FROM UNDERNEATH!
In the time it takes Rhyno to set up the table above the wooden planks, it allows Christian to somewhat recover, able to stand up, but Rhyno grabs him and GOES FOR A SUPLEX THROUGH THE TABLE … AND ONTO THE WOODEN PLANKS … BUT CHRISTIAN COUNTERS IT WITH A KNEE TO THE STOMACH!
Christian fights back, knocking Rhyno senseless with hard clubbing blows to the chin, and then he places The Man Beast on the table … and Christian heads to the top rope … FROG SPLASH … IT CONNECTS … AND THE TWO MEN TUMBLE THROUGH THE TABLE … ONTO THE WOOD BELOW!!
Christian stands up, and measures Rhyno, and the crowd know what’s coming … once The Man Beast is up … Christian goes for him … GRABBING HIM AND GOING FOR THE KILLSWITCH … BUT RHYNO PUSHES HIM OFF … HE HITS THE ROPES … GORE!!
NO!! CHRISTIAN GETS A KNEE UP … RHYNO IS STAGGERED … KILLSWITCH … ON THE WOODEN PLANKS!!
COVER … ONE – TWO – THREE!! Winner – Christian @ 9.28
And there we have it!
Christian has come out victorious tonight! The Heart and Soul of ECW rolls off Rhyno’s prone body, onto the hard wood of the ring and looks up at the ceiling. He takes a breath, and the camera zooms in on his face, looking incredibly frustrated.
He sits up, and pushes the referee away who was trying to raise Christian’s hand. The Canadian sneers at him and tells him to back off while standing up, and he looks down at Rhyno with a hateful expression … then to cause the boos to get even louder – he SPITS on Rhyno’s lifeless body!!
The man formerly known as Captain Charisma looks to the timekeepers area, then back at Rhyno, then nods to himself, and takes his exit, approaching Chimel and the timekeeper, aggressively telling them to move. He grabs not one, but two STEEL CHAIRS and slides them into the ring!! The commentary team know what’s about to happen, and so do we!
He places one of the chairs under Rhyno’s face, and stands over him with the other chair in his own grasp. He takes a deep breath and raises the chair over his head …
…
…
But here comes the current ECW Champion, Evan Bourne!
His music plays and he’s greeted with a huge pop from the crowd, perhaps the loudest we’ve heard in quite some time – he rushes down the ramp, dropping the ECW Championship and is about to reach the ring when …
THE CAMERA CATCHES A FIGURE JUMPING THE BARRICADE! A FLURRY MOVEMENT HAPPENS – A MAN DRESSED IN BLACK …
SUDDENLY, BOUNRE IS LITERALLY LIFTED OFF HIS FEET WITH A HARD AMERICAN FOOTBALL-LIKE TACKLE … AND THE ECW CHAMPION LANDS HARD ON THE GROUND!
In the commotion, the camera zooms out to reveal THE PERSONIFICATION OF DOMINATION … EZEKIEL JACKSON!! The commentary team quickly remind the audience that Christian was seen outside Jackson’s locker room last week!
The crowd are booing now, and the heat only intensifies when Jackson angrily grabs the ECW Champion by the head, and LAUNCHES HIM SHOULDER FIRST INTO THE STEEL STEPS!!!
In the ring, Christian is watching on with a large smile draped across his face! He nods briefly to Jackson, and then all the attention turns to what’s happening in the centre of the squared circle, as Christian raises the steel chair high in the sky …
AND BRINGS THEM DOWN … ON THE LIFELESS HEAD OF THE MAN BEAST!!
The sound of steel on flesh echoes around the arena as Christian stares down at his rival here tonight.
With the ECW Champion in a heap beside the steps, Ezekiel slides underneath the bottom rope and joins Christian – both men standing over Rhyno, and it appears they were in league with each other, because they raise each other’s arms in the air!
Then, the final shot of the night comes as Christian looks down at the fallen current ECW Champion, and in the background of the shot is another fallen former champion of ECW!
The situation between Curt Hawkins and Jack Swagger would continue, with much of the story centred around Swagger going to extreme lengths to prove he doesn’t fear The Martyr of Sin, but it’s clear his over-eagerness is having the opposite effect. As the feud continued, we’d get another message from Curt Hawkins.
Back from the commercial, we’re in a darkened room where a lone chair sits in the centre, shrouded in a faint light bulb hanging above. After a moment, a figure walks into the shot, sits on the chair and then lightly taps the bulb, sending it swaying from side to side, the camera zooming on Curt Hawkins face as it illuminates then darks repeatedly. Hawkins is sporting injuries from last week's attack by Jack Swagger, his left eye black and blue, a little swollen. Hawkins stares into the camera for a moment before congratulating Jack Swagger on showcasing bravery that Hawkins didn’t think he had. The Martyr of Sin explains he knows The All American is scared, which prompted him to go to the extreme by visiting somewhere where he should have not stepped foot in. He wonders how often Swagger thinks about him, and wonders if Jack realises just how rooted The Martyr of Sin is in the brain of The All American.
Hawkins - bulb still swinging - smirks and points at the eye, and tells Swagger that this injury is nothing compared to what is going to happen to him, unless - of course - The All American admits to the sin of greed, caused by his incessant cheating and need for the focus to be on himself.
Hawkins goes on, bringing out four playing cards and spreads them in his hand, showcasing them to the camera. Pictures showcase Swagger winning the ECW Championship, then using underhanded tactics to retain the title or win matches by cheating.
The Martyr of Sin stares into the camera, drops the cards to the ground and looks up to the bulb then back at the camera, and challenges The All American to meet him in the ring next week, stating it’s time to get this over with.
Then, the following week, Curt Hawkins would successfully goad Jack Swagger into accepting a match, even giving Swagger the honour of choosing the match, which he eventually chose a Submission match. The advantage seemingly in The All-American’s corner, but The Martyr of Sin seemed suspiciously confident after hearing of the stipulation.
Rather than kicking off the show with the expected video package, we dive straight into a darkened arena where the crowd are murmuring over something while the commentary team stays quiet. After around ten seconds of waiting, the lights suddenly go on and sat in the ring is CURT HAWKINS! The Martyr of Sin is sitting with a white rose in his hand, idly twirling it around while he waits.
The commentary chimes in here, quickly welcoming us to the show, but mentioning the fact Hawkins is clearly waiting on someone, and they question whether or not he will show—
Suddenly, JACK SWAGGER’S music plays, and the camera catches Hawkins looking down at the canvas, a smirk slightly appearing before changing back to his serious expression. On the stage, Jack Swagger walks out, despite getting one over on Hawkins a couple of weeks ago, he doesn’t look pleased, like he wants this all to end.
He has a microphone his hand but stays where he is, on the stage, and away from the man sitting in the ring – who’s still not looking at Swagger, instead looking out to the hard camera, the darkened eye still visible for all to see after Jack’s attack on him at the Sanctuary of Sin.
Swagger brings the microphone to his mouth, and for a brief second stutters before collecting himself and saying he has nothing more to prove, to anyone. He goes onto say he believes Hawkins has the wrong person, because The All American believes he is the furthest thing from a sinner on ECW. He reminds Hawkins the last time they crossed paths; it was Hawkins who was put down in the mud with a black eye to boot. Striker scoffs at this, questioning if Hawkins knew what he was doing, effectively getting in the mind of The All American, since after all Swagger is still fixating on this.
Swagger goes onto say that everyone he’s spoken too has asked him if he’s scared of The Martyr of Sin – if what happened to Zack Ryder (who still hasn’t been since) will happen to him. He shakes his head, and again reiterates that he’s not scared, and is not fearful of anybody, and again states he has nothing more to prove.
The camera cuts to the ring, where The Martyr of Sin reaches behind him and pulls out a deck of cards, idly spreading them out on the mat in front of him before pulling a card out, showing it to the camera, revealing an image of The All American winning the ECW Championship. The camera cuts to Swagger quickly who looks frustrated again.
Back in the ring, Hawkins reaches into a pocket on his vest and pulls out a lighter and sets the card on fire, watching the card slowly wither away until the flame goes out and the card disintegrates. Then, pulling out a black microphone (without the WWE branding), he slowly turns to the stage – still in a seated position – and says he knows what Swagger is, and he’s a sinner of greed, and it’s up to The Martyr of Sin to make him pay. He wonders to himself, if what Swagger says is true, that he isn’t scared, but then he wonders why Swagger is even out here, and wonders why for the past while, The All American hasn’t been thinking about anything else.
Finally, wrapping up his part of this opening, Hawkins tells Swagger he can either accept The Martyr of Sin’s challenge to face him in a match, or the cloud that The All American is under will follow him throughout his life.
Again, Swagger looks frustrated on the stage and paces back and forward, becoming more and more agitated by Hawkins’ words. Perhaps pushing him over the edge, Hawkins states the reason he knows The All American fears what is about to happen, is because Swagger attacked him in a place that no man besides Hawkins is confident enough to enter. He ends by saying fear can make a man do strange things, and finally gives Swagger the chance to end this.
After about thirty seconds of indecisiveness, The All American finally relents and aggressively says he accepts the challenge – ON ONE CONDITION. He states he is NOT competing in the same match that Zack Ryder fell in, and not tonight, and this time wants to go one on one in a SUBMISSION match!!
The camera zooms in on Hawkins, focusing on the black eye caused by The All American, and Curt slowly nods, before bringing the microphone to his mouth and saying in that match, he will make Swagger admit to his sins, but whether he is given forgiveness has yet to be decided.
Then, the match …
Out first the Submission contest is The All American, Jack Swagger! He ignores the crowd jeering at him and heads down the ramp, wearing a black and purple singlet. He climbs into the ring and waits for his opponent.
An instrumental version of Metalica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls (sans the bell – can’t be infringing on The Undertaker’s gimmick here) plays, signalling a new theme song for The Martyr of Sin. Curt Hawkins receives a decent pop from the crowd, and it takes the camera a few seconds to find him – eventually locating him on a set of stairs within the fans. He ignores the people around him, dressed in his usual black vest and black tights. He locks eyes with The All American, then heads through the crowd and into the ring.
Match One: Submission Contest
Curt Hawkins vs. Jack Swagger
Bit of an interesting start to this one – Jack Swagger looks perplexed as Hawkins simply stands in the centre of the ring, watching as The All American circles him. Hawkins looks nonplussed by this, ignoring Swagger’s feints and false attacks – then, eventually, Swagger goes for the leg, looking for a takedown – but Hawkins bring his knee up at the exact right moment … KNEE TO THE FACE!!
Swagger stumbles back, pressing his hand to his face, and for a moment looks like he’s out of it – but he doesn’t have time to think, because Hawkins is on him in a flash, diving on him, grabbing the arm and wrenching it, turning it into an arm bar submission!! Swagger immediately grips the bottom rope, and uses it to pull himself out of the ring, and stands by the announce table, looking flustered already, while Hawkins looks calm in the centre of the ring.
This continues for a good couple of minutes – Swagger trying to get the better of Hawkins, and failing multiple times, then escaping from Hawkins grasp, until finally, Swagger resorts to his bag of tricks which Hawkins’ has condemned – Swagger pokes him in the eye, and then takes him down to the mat, levelling into Hawkins with closed fist to the same eye!
Swagger dominates the action from here, working on the lower leg to weaken Hawkins up for the ankle lock, but he spends just as much time working on the right eye of Hawkins – the one that had been black and blue not too long ago! Perhaps providing Hawkins’ point, Swagger cuts off any comeback attempt with underhanded tactics such as another poke to the eye and a low blow – which has no bearing on the Submission match as technically, anything goes.
Eventually though, Hawkins does get back into the contest, shrugging off the pain from the ankle, but the camera shows us that his right eye is red and the skin around it is starting to swell. He fights back, working on Swagger’s lower back and arm, perhaps looking to weaken him for some type of submission. Striker and Matthews ponder what submission Hawkins has up his sleeve, and we find out, because after a sustained period of offense – HE LOCKS IN ANOTHER ARM BAR!!
Swagger looks desperate here, trying to avoid tapping out, and eventually manages to turn Hawkins on his back, and with all the strength in the world – LIFTS HAWKINS OFF THE GROUND WITH ONE ARM … AND SLAMS HIM BACK INTO THE MAT!! Hawkins isn’t a small man by any means, which makes the move by Swagger that much impressive. Fired up – Swagger brings the straps down and then LOCKS IN THE ANKLE LOCK!!
Hawkins struggles to lift his chest off the mat, and he tries to pull himself out of Swagger’s grip but Jack has too good of a hold! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hawkins manages to roll through and Swagger is propelled into the ropes chest first. He rebounds off, into a snap German Suplex and he lands awkwardly on his neck! Hawkins uses the ropes to help himself up, and with one bad ankle, he limps over to a stunned Swagger and hooks the arms, and connects with an Under Hand DDT!
Hawkins looks down at Swagger, and shakes his head, then methodically stands over his back, and then picks Swagger up by the neck, and stretching his arms out in the sign of the cross … AND LOCKS IN A CAMEL CLUTCH!! Swagger struggles for a brief moment before his body goes limp and Hawkins tightens the hold – Swagger is still pawing at Hawkins grip with his own hands but its clear Swagger has no where to go – all the while, Hawkins is telling him to admit to his sins and resolve himself … but unlike Zack Ryder – The All American chooses not too, keeping his mouth shut (except for the hideous screams of pain) and this enrages Hawkins further, and he WRENCHES BACK … BRINGING THE TAP OUT FROM THE ALL AMERICAN!!
Winner: Curt Hawkins @ 8.27
And there we have it – Hawkins comes out the winner while Swagger lies on the mat, looking like he’s passed out. The commentary team hype up the great job done by The Martyr of Sin and condemn the fact Swagger did not admit to his sins, but in the end he gave up and lost in a battle that meant so much to both men.
Hawkins stands above Swagger, and unlike the ending of the Zack Ryder match, he doesn’t look happy. Perhaps going against the expected actions of him, Hawkins angrily grabs Swagger and yanks him to his feet, and looks like he’s going to go for another DDT but Swagger squirms out of his grasp and falls to the mat, backing into the corner, holding his neck and chest. He holds out his hands to Hawkins, in a gesture of fealty and looks The Martyr of Sin in the eyes.
Hawkins stands over The All American in the corner and slowly tells him to admit to his sins and he might be given forgiveness, and after a moment, Swagger nods and closes his eyes, saying he’s done and that he regrets everything – he begs off from Hawkins who takes a step forward, putting his hands in his back pocket, and pulling out another playing card with a white rose emblazoned on the back – he holds it in front of Swagger, but doesn’t rip it, instead drops it in front of Swagger and leaves the ring.
We fade to the commercial, with the image of Jack reaching over to the card but the pain in his chest causes him to wince and he falls back into the corner – the commentary team quickly discuss these events and then send us to the commercial.
The WWE Unified Tag Team Championship picture would take another interesting turn, as only a week after saving The World’s Greatest Tag Team from a beating at the hands of Chris Jericho and The Big Show – The Hart Dynasty would do the same thing again, but this time they themselves would attack the number one contenders, and leave The World’s Greatest Tag Team laying in the centre of the ring.
After some confrontation on WWE SmackDown between The World’s Greatest Tag Team and the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, it was announced that the championship would be on the line on an episode of ECW. And this was what happened …
Coming back from the commercial break, it’s time for the biggest match of the night, which Matt Striker and Josh Matthews announce will happen right now, because there not messing about tonight on ECW. Before the entrants make their appearance, we get a video hype package, first showcasing Chris Jericho and Edge winning the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships, then showing the unfortunate injury The Rated R Superstar suffered, resulting in The Big Show becoming Chris Jericho’s new tag team partner.
Switching gears, we see the reunion of The World’s Greatest Tag Team on The Abraham Washington Show and then we see them defeating The Hart Dynasty to become the number one contenders. Finally, the attacks from Jericho and Big Show on The World’s Greatest Tag Team are shown, and finally ending the package we get a glimpse of years ago, when Haas and Benjamin first became WWE Tag Team Champions, and then we get a soundbite of Matt Striker wondering if it’s now time for The World’s Greatest Tag Team to become WWE Tag Team Champions once more, and truly cement themselves as the world’s greatest.
And now, as is customary, with championship matches, the challengers enter first – coming out in specially designed attires, paying homage to Benjamin’s Gold Standard moniker, both men wearing gold and black tights with silk black and gold hooded vests. Looking pumped up, The World’s Greatest Tag Team walk down the ramp, heads held high. They climb into the ring and take off their vests before retreating to their corner and await their opponents.
The WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, Big Show & Chris Jericho now show up, bringing with them a display of pyrotechnics and lots of gold titles since both the World and WWE titles are still on show. They come down the ramp, Striker rhyming off both of their accomplishments, including both being former WWE Champions with Jericho being the first ever Undisputed World Champion. After the hype job, Jericho and Big Show hand the titles to the referee – Charles Robinson – who lifts the titles, all four of them, high into the air. He then rings for the bell.
MAIN EVENT: WWE Unified Tag Team Championships
Chris Jericho & The Big Show vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team
This is given all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a championship match with a fired-up crowd making for a hell of an atmosphere as the fan favourites of The World’s Greatest Tag Team attempt to take the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships over to the purple brand!
The team of Benjamin and Haas managed to compose themselves enough to not allow the frustration of the last little while to not take them off their game, and as a result of that, they are able to take Chris Jericho to town, showcasing why they work so well as a team and showcasing why they are former tag team champions.
After a bunch of double team moves, Jericho manages to get the tag to The Big Show, who comes in looking to calm things down, but even he struggles as Benjamin and Haas change from the slow methodical double team moves used against Jericho to fast paced, quick tags, quick attacks to keep the man off his game.
It takes a distraction on the apron from Jericho for Show to get some offense in, now in control of Charlie Haas, taking full advantage of the distraction.
The standard tag team affair happens here, with the heels working over Haas in their own corner until Haas manages to fight back, getting the tag to Benjamin who comes in hot and takes it to Jericho – the legal man – and The Big Show. After a couple of near falls, it looks Benjamin and Haas might be onto something here until …
THE HART DYNASTIES MUSIC PLAYS AND OUT COMES NATALYA LEADING DAVID SMITH AND TYSON KIDD!!
Benjamin – naively – turns to the stage, forgetting about Jericho for a moment, and shouts aggressively to The Hart Dynasty to get out of here, until he turns around … INTO A CODEBREAKER … NO!! He blocked it!!
Jericho spins … SCHOOL BOY PIN … FEET ARE ON THE SECOND ROPE … THE REF HASN’T SEEN IT…
JERICHO AND BIG SHOW RETAIN!!
WINNERS AND STILL WWE UNIFIED TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: BIG SHOW & CHRIS JERICHO @ 7.04
As Jericho rolls quickly out of the ring, the ECW crowd are in an uproar here as they rain boos down on the champions and The Hart Dynasty who are retreating up the ramp, out of sight, leaving Benjamin in the ring, punching the canvas while Haas sits in the corner, head in his hands.
The Big Show joins Jericho on the ramp and hands him two of the titles, and the champions raise the belts in the air, stealing one here tonight and looking mighty pleased with themselves.
The ECW commentary team is absolutely incensed – Striker the louder of the pair, shouting about the fact Jericho just stole a victory, and even had to resort to legs on the ropes after the distraction. Striker – despite normally playing the heel commentator – tarnishes The Hart Dynasty, questioning their loyalty to the brand, stating they should have kept out of this as it would have been the smart thing to do.
Matthews manages to calm Striker down, but even he sounds angry at the events here tonight, finishing off before we head to a commercial break stating this likely isn’t the last we’ve seen on this rivalry between The World’s Greatest Tag Team and the Tag Team Champions – and he’s sure The Hart Dynasty will feel the consequences of their actions!
*** LATER ***
Immediately, we’re thrust into the action backstage where ECW General Manager, Tiffany, is giving a dressing down to The Hart Dynasty, telling them how stupid and pathetic they are for letting their rivalry with Benjamin and Haas to—
And the chaos continues as The World’s Greatest Tag Team rush into the show, attacking The Hart Dynasty and the brawl is on!! Natalya makes herself scarce as Benjamin and Haas are on top of Kidd and Smith, taking out their frustrations on them until some security rush into the room and manage to separate them, but not before Tiffany is accidently involved, receiving an accidental barge from the shoulder of Smith, sending her falling backwards, landing hard on her desk.
Everything stops for a moment as Tiffany regains her composure, straightening her suit vest and jacket. And she looks mighty pissed. The two teams are separated now, with security standing between them. Tiffany gets in Kidd and Smith’s face, and tells them she has had ENOUGH of them, and from now on, they are SUSPENDED for thirty days – starting now!! Kidd and Smith start to protest, but Tiffany instructs the ECW security team to get rid of them.
This leaves The World’s Greatest Tag Team standing with the ECW General Manager. Tiffany turns to them and tells them she will speak with SmackDown General Manager, Theodore Long, and whoever the guest host for Monday Night RAW is next Monday, but in the meantime, she wants The World’s Greatest Tag Team to go to SmackDown this Friday, and send a message, and she tells them she doesn’t care how they get in the arena – ‘just get it done.’
With The Hart Dynasty now suspended, it was announced a rematch would be had, and the months long build to The World’s Greatest Tag Team reuniting would culminate in the biggest match of their careers …
As with any big match, Chimel builds up the moment, stating that this contest is for the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship, and out first comes the challengers – The World’s Greatest Tag Team!
Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas look ready to go tonight, dressed in matching outfits – white with trims of gold, matching Benjamin’s gold standard moniker. They walk down the ramp, and immediately slide into the ring and retreat to their corner, and then give themselves a little pep talk then focus on the ramp.
It is now – when we’re made to wait – that Striker informs us that they have had the acceptance from SyFy that we will stick with this match no matter how long it takes. And now here come the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, Chris Jericho and The Big Show walk down the ramp, looking confident tonight with the four title belts wrapped around them. Once inside the ring, they head to their corner and hand the titles to the referee, who holds them aloft.
For a brief second, before the bell rings, we get a glimpse backstage where the only man to hold a title on ECW at the moment, Evan Bourne, is sitting on a chair with the babyfaces of the roster – The Green Knights, Yoshi Tatsu, Goldust, DJ Gabriel, Alicia Fox and finally, in the background, the ECW General Manager, Tiffany!
It’s Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho pairing off for the opening couple minutes of the contest, the two of them circling the ring, Jericho taking the time to talk some trash to The Gold Standard, attempting to get under his skin, but Benjamin – using his experience – shrugs it off and the two men lock up in the centre of the ring. Benjamin immediately goes on the offensive, taking out weeks of frustration on Jericho, backing him into the corner and teeing off with knife-edged chops until the referee must separate them forcefully.
A reset occurs here where Jericho and Benjamin engage in some mat-based chain wrestling, with Benjamin coming up trumps here thanks to his amateur wrestling background – Jericho is no slouch, though, keeping up with The Gold Standard, eventually taking the game to a standing position and ending the chain wrestling with a knee to the stomach. What follows is an Irish whip into the ropes, and Benjamin rebounds into an attempted Hip Toss … but The Gold Standard showcases his raw athleticism by landing on his feet!! Then, Benjamin goes for a standing drop kick, but Jericho side-steps it, and when Benjamin stands up – he then has to dodge a drop kick attempted by Jericho! Stalemate! Perhaps slightly frustrated, Jericho rushes Benjamin, but The Gold Standard dodges and pushes Jericho in the back, sending him chest first into the ropes, and Jericho rebounds … RIGHT INTO AN EXPLODER GERMAN SUPLEX!!
It's an electric move which gets the crowd going on and forces Jericho to rethink things and get the tag to his bigger partner in The Big Show. The Gold Standard stays in the game, though, facing off with Big Show and giving a good account of himself, fighting the big man with all he’s got, but it seems Show is shrugging off every bit of offense. Finally, despite Benjamin’s best efforts with a bunch of shoulder thrusts in the corner, Show grabs him by the head and drives his own skull into Benjamin’s! Show dominates the proceedings for a minute here, until a brief comeback, spurred on by Haas on the apron playing cheerleader allows Benjamin to take advantage, eventually getting Big Show into the corner and wearing him down with lots of chops and forearms.
Then, Benjamin uses all his strength to left Big Show up into a seated position, so that he’s sitting on the top turnbuckle. Benjamin climbs up, but then Jericho starts to walk along the apron, and gets a boot in the face for his trouble! Haas is quickly on the scene on the outside, standing in the way of Jericho trying to get involved. Back in the ring, Benjamin looks like he might be going for a huge super plex but Big Show pushes him off. The force is enough to send The Gold Standard stumbling all the way back to the opposite turnbuckle … then he does something we’ve seen before, he explodes towards Big Show … LEAPING ONTO THE TOP TURNBUCKLE IN ONE JUMP! Show has it scouted though, and he keeps his head low and pushes forward, headbutting Benjamin’s chest, sending him falling to the mat … but he lands on his feet!
Something’s wrong! Benjamin lands awkwardly and looks to have twisted his knee as he crumples down in a heap in the centre of the ring. The action stops here as Charlie Haas slides into the ring to check on his partner, and the referee has to prevent Jericho and Big Show from taking advantage of this, because it seems like Benjamin is well and truly hurt!! The referee talks to Benjamin in his corner, The Gold Standard lying against the bottom turnbuckle, and desperately trying to lower his knee pad! Big Show and Jericho look like sharks circling their prey, barking orders at the referee to get on with it, but the referee – an ECW official – tells them to back off while he does his job.
The camera picks up a medical staff member attending to Benjamin, telling him he cannot continue, and the camera zooms on Benjamin who looks close to tears – likely from the pain but also he could be losing his chance to become Tag Team Champion here, letting down the man he brought back, the man who stood by him during his run in with The Hart Dynasty!! The referee tells him he cannot compete any longer, so he’ll need to call the match, but Haas grabs him by the wrist, and tells him unless both are injured then he cannot end it like this. Benjamin glares at Charlie and tells him he’s good to go and tries to stand up but the knee gives out straight away, prompting Haas to tell his partner and long-term friend to leave this to him, and he’ll bring the titles home for them. Benjamin – looking none too pleased – is helped out of the ring by the medical staff now and looks incredibly frustrated as he is helped up the ramp, despite receiving great cheers from the crowd.
It's here where Matt Striker and Josh Matthews inform us that we have gone into our overrun time slot, and we’ll stick with this until the bitter end!
For the next while, Haas fights valiantly against the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, but the mixed team from RAW and SmackDown appear to have this in the bag. They practically toy with Haas for a good couple of minutes, putting him through immense pain and punishment, using frequent tags to prevent any kind of comeback from Charlie. The former RAW man, Haas, does get some offense in, and does look like he might be building momentum at certain point, but the man advantage really does him in here.
At one point, Haas even managed to mount a comeback against Big Show, after escaping from a sleeper hold, and in his pain filled mind, he reached out for his tag team partner who was no longer there! Back to the present, and Big Show tags Jericho in and tells him to end things here. And then, Jericho tries to lock in the Walls of Jericho … BUT CHARLIE COUNTERS IT … TWISTING AND TURNING … GETTING JERICHO IN THE HAAS OF PAIN!!
The crowd are up but the momentary moment of hopefulness is gone quickly, with Big Show climbing back in the ring and clubbing Haas from behind, then connecting with a HARD CHOKESLAM!! There is a small delay while the referee gets Show out of the ring, but when he turns around Jericho goes for the cover and this should be it … BUT HAAS KICKS OUT!! This match continues! Haas – with the crowd on his side, perhaps being the most over he has been in many a year – fights on, fighting Jericho for a couple of minutes until Jericho catches him out and LOCKS IN THE WALLS OF JERICHO!!
For what seems like an eternity, Haas refuses the urge to tap out to the submission hold, reaching out – conveniently – in the direction of his own corner. The crowd chant his name, but it seems to be fading, and seems ever so close to bringing his hand down to the mat and tapping out, and it doesn’t help that Jericho is shouting at him to do just that. But, then, the crowd get on their feet, and the camera catches SHELTON BENJAMIN WALKING – HOBBLING – DOWN THE RAMP!! The Gold Standard grits his teeth and awkwardly climbs onto the apron, extending his hand, showing his teammate that he’s there for him – just like he was with The Hart Dynasty – and this spurs Haas on to crawl and crawl, but Jericho pulls him back to the centre of the ring … but this lets Haas twist onto his back, and PUSH JERICHO OFF!!
Haas tries to get the hot tag, but Jericho DIVES on his opponents leg and pulls Haas back, but eventually the challenger manages to stand up on one leg while Jericho keeps hold of the other … ENZIGURI KICK!! Both men are down!! The crowd are on their feet, the atmosphere is electric as Haas slowly crawls to his injured partner, and the camera catches Matt Striker on his feet, and even Josh Matthews joins him, brand loyalty on show tonight.
HAAS GETS THE TAG TO BENJAMIN … JERICHO TAGS IN BIG SHOW!!
And here we go! Benjamin climbs through the ropes, and manages to push through an awkward couple of steps before breaking into a controlled sprint, ducking an attempted right hand, hitting the ropes and connecting with a flying forearm … and then another!! The hot tag sequence continues, with him knocking Jericho off the apron, and taking the fight to Big Show, and it seems the adrenaline is working for him, preventing him from feeling the injury. Although, after a minute or two of this, it's clear that Benjamin is slowing down, and the injury is, in fact, taking it’s toll, because it allows Big Show to connect with a large spinebuster! Big Show, looking to end things, grabs Benjamin and lifts him into the air … LOOKING FOR THE CHOKESLAM … BUT BENJAMIN BREAKS SHOW’S GRIP … AND ON HIS WAY DOWN … GRABS HIM AND CONNECTS WITH PAYDIRT!!
BUT HERE’S JERICHO!! CHOP BLOCK TO THE BACK OF THE KNEE!! THEN A CODEBREAKER TO THE KNEELING BENJAMIN!!!!
AND NOW HAAS IS BACK IN THE RING … SHOULDER TACKLE TO JERICHO … SENDING HIM TO THE OUTSIDE … HAAS HITS THE ROPES … SUICIDE DIVE!!!!
He lands, flush, on Jericho but quickly stands up and grabs the champion … THEN THROWS HIM SHOULDER FIRST INTO THE STEEL STEPS!!!
Haas rushes around the ring, feeling the energy of the crowd and climbs onto the apron, begging Benjamin to get the tag … and despite having to drag his bruised and battered body, Shelton does get to his corner and brings in Charlie!!
Show is still stunned from what just happened, and Charlie tries to take advantage of his … measuring Big Show for something, and then it looks like he’s going for an Underhanded DDT … but Show breaks out of it, and PUSHES HAAS AWAY … CHARLIE HAS HIS BACK TURNED … THE CHAMPION WINDS UP FOR THE KNOCKOUT PUNCH …
BENJAMIN PUSHES HAAS OUT OF THE WAY … AND TAKES THE FULL BRUNT OF BIG SHOW’S HUGE FIRST TO HIS JAW!!!
JERICHO SLIDES INTO THE RING AND GOES FOR HAAS … BUT CHARLIE SIDE STEPS HIM AND JERICHO RUNS RIGHT INTO BIG SHOW’S LARGE SHOULDER … AND THEN HAAS TAKES THE OPPORTUNITY TO CLOTHESLINE JERICHO OVER THE TOP ROPE!!
Bodies are everywhere, and the crowd are loving it, and Benjamin is completely spark out in the centre of the ring! Big Show turns around … Haas runs at him … DUCKS ANOTHER SWING THAT LOOKED LIKE A KNOCKOUT ATTEMPT AND TURNS AROUND IMMEDIATELY … BIG SHOW IS FACING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION … WHAT’S THIS?!
HAAS LEAPS UP … CONNECTS WITH A … REVERSE PAYDIRT!! BIG SHOW IS OUT!! JERICHO IS DOWN ON THE OUTSIDE…
HAAS PRACTICALLY MOVES SHOW ONTO HIS BACK WITH HIS OWN HEAD AND SHOULDERS … COVER …
ONE … THE CROWD ARE ON THEIR FEET … TWO … HAAS HOOKS THE LEG … JERICHO IS STIRING – TRYING TO GET IN THE RING …
THREE!!!
!!!WE HAVE NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!
WINNERS AND NEW WWE UNIFIED TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM @ 14.18
THAT’S IT!! ECW HAVE WON TONIGHT! MORE GOLD IS COMING TO ECW!!
Haas rolls of Big Show while Jericho slumps down in front of the announce table, below where Matt Striker and Josh Matthews are on their feet, applauding.
After a moment, Tony Chimel comes on the microphone as the referee hands the four championships to Charlie Haas and loudly informs everyone that we have NEW Tag Team Champions!!
While Haas crawls over to his partner, who made the ultimate sacrifice, perhaps his way of thanking his friend who came to his aid against The Hart Dynasty, we quickly cut backstage, to see a picture and picture shot of the ECW locker room applauding – the ECW Champion leading the cheers while the ECW GM, Tiffany, looks on from the background, looking rather pleased!
Back in the ring, the focus is on the new Tag Team Champions, as Benjamin slowly comes too and Charlie shows him the belts and it slowly dawns on Benjamin what has just happened!!
Charlie tries to help Benjamin up, but it takes the help of the referee too to hold The Gold Standard up from the other side, and that’s how this episode of ECW ends tonight, with an ECW team standing tall after a gruelling contest!
The last show is of Charlie – a man who had no direction on RAW only a couple of months ago – and Shelton holding their tag titles, embracing each other while the crowd cheer their name!
Striker and Matthews do their best to put over how big of a victory this is for The World’s Greatest Tag Team, and with Striker’s voice becoming a little hoarse, he quickly thanks the SyFy network for allowing us the time to do this tonight, and reminds us to tune in next week for ECW HeatWave for a double main event where Jack Swagger will face Curt Hawkins, and The Man Beast will make his ECW return against Christian!
The picture fades to black, with the lasting image of The World’s Greatest Tag Team holding up their championship belts!
One thing to note, is that on WWE Superstars and certain ECW episodes, William Regal and Paul Burchill set about recruiting the Russian, Vladimir Kozlov who has been defeating local talents after his rivalry winning match against Ezekiel Jackson. Speaking of William Regal, the Englishman left Paul Burchill to the devices of Fit Finlay, The Hurricane and Hornswoggle, and as an apology, Regal presented Burchill with the WWE European Championship, which is no more than a prop at this stage as it’s not officially recognised by ECW, for now.
The feud would reach boiling point between The Green Knights and William Regal and Paul Burchill with a tag team match on … and someone known to Burchill would make an appearance …
The first of our two tag team matches is about to start and the first team out is the English team of Paul Burchill and William Regal! The two take the time to scowl at the crowd while walking down the ramp – the unsanctioned European Championship around The Ripper’s waist. Before the duo enter the ring, Regal takes the time to look as if he is about to shake hands with a young, impressionable fan, but then swipes his hand away at the last moment before shaking his head, then heading to the ring.
Out next, it’s ECW’s resident superhero group, as Hornswoggle leads Finlay and the leader of The Green Knights, The Hurricane out onto the stage. The three of them walk down the ramp, clad in green with their own individual masks – The Hurricane in black, Hornswoggle in white and Finlay in green. The Hurricane stops by the child that had a negative interaction with Regal and gives the child a spare black mask. With that out of the way, the team turn their attention to the two men in the ring.
Match One: Tag Team Contest
The Green Knights vs. Paul Burchill & William Regal
Being that this is the first of two tag team matches tonight, the action is more reserved in this one, with the fast-paced tag action being held back for the main event, and due to that it’s the heel team of Burchill and Regal who take advantage early on, utilizing underhanded tactics to keep The Hurricane away from Finlay.
Despite Hornswoggle cheering on from ringside, The Hurricane struggles to get any kind of momentum in the contest thanks to the cheating tactics of the two Englishmen – successfully isolating The Hurricane, so much so that Finlay spends the whole first few minutes on the apron.
Finally, though, with The Hurricane showing some superhero level fortitude, he fights back out of the corner, whacking Regal with forearm smashes then knocks Burchill of the apron with a right hand. The Hurricane blasts out of the corner and connects with a flying forearm, keeping both men down on the canvas.
The standard tag match formula follows here with The Hurricane getting the hot tag and Finlay coming into clean house after Regal got his own tag to Burchill. With the Irishman looking like he’s ready to put Burchill away, measuring him for The Celtic Cross, Regal grabs the European Championship from ringside and throws it in the ring, and at the same time getting the referee’s attention, meaning he’s not seen Burchill reach out and take the belt.
Finlay hasn’t noticed either because he’s telling the referee to get control of Regal on the apron but Burchill’s up now and measuring the Irishman with the belt …
BUT THEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT!
The arena is pitch black and the crowd are murmuring as to what is going on. Then, the lights come back on, and all the attention is focused on the top turnbuckle … WHERE KATIE LEA STANDS!
Hold on, though! Striker tells us that’s not Katie Lea! It’s Super Katie!! Dressed in green, the female version of The Hurricane’s outfit and with a black mask of her own with a white and green outline, she soars through the air onto her brother … LANDING A CROSS BODY SPLASH!
The referee turns around after dealing with Regal, but he doesn’t know what to make of the situation in front of him – Burchill is down and Finlay is standing over him, staring awkwardly as Katie Lea – Super Katie – so the referee can’t make a decision as to what’s just happened!
Fit Finlay then aggressively picks Burchill up as Super Katie retreats from the ring and CONNECTS WITH THE CELTIC CROSS!!
Regal – seeing this – tries to slide underneath the bottom rope … BUT HORNSWOGGLE HAS HOLD OF HIS LEG!!
The referee counts the fall and it’s a deserved win for The Green Knights!!
Winners: The Green Knights @ 6.35
The action doesn’t stop there because straight away, Regal – incensed – grabs Hornswoggle and THROWS HIM INTO THE STEEL STEPS!!
The Hurricane rushes around the ring to help his fallen brethren but Regal knees him in the stomach, then rolls him in the ring where Burchill is back up, clutching the European Championship and BLASTS FINLAY ON THE BACK OF THE HEAD!!
It’s not two on one with Regal sliding in after The Hurricane and the two Englishman stomping away at the leader of The Green Knights! Striker embellishes – wondering if this is the end of The Hurricane while Super Katie looks on helpless from the outside!
But then …
‘SOMEBODY GON GET THEIR ASS KICKED’
It’s Mark Henry!!
The World’s Strongest Man!!
Not seen since he was taken out backstage before his ECW Championship match by William Regal and Paul Burchill! He’s here!
He get’s a huge pop from the crowd as he speed walks down the ramp, sporting a new shaved head and long beard look. Regal and Burchill look like they have seen a ghost and as Henry starts to climb into the ring … the Englishmen make a hasty retreat.
This draws a large number of boos as the two back up the ramp, losing the match but sending a message to The Green Knights, holding the European Championship high above their heads.
Inside the ring, The Green Knights have recovered, although barely. Finlay clutches the back of his head while Hornswoggle holds onto his shoulder. The only two that look remotely like they could continue to fight is The Hurricane and Super Katie.
Mark Henry sees them, and looks them up and down, before shaking his head. The Hurricane extends a grateful hand, but the camera zooms in and we see he’s offering a Hurricane mask! Perhaps we’re getting the fifth member of The Green Knights tonight?!
Henry looks at it for a long couple of seconds, then shakes his head with a smirk before backing up and leaving the ring. The Hurricane and Super Katie look at each other before both saying ‘wassup wit dat’ while Henry walks up the ramp, intentions firmly set on William Regal and Paul Burchill.
The following week, William Regal’s chase of recruiting Vladimir Kozlov came to ahead …
And now, The World’s Strongest Man is already in the ring, with a microphone in his hand, sporting his new look, and he’s dressed to compete, and he looks rather angry. Mark Henry brings the mic up to his mouth and immediately gets into the short promo, demanding William Regal come out and meet him like a man, because he has a beating coming to him!
After a couple of seconds, William Regal’s music plays, and the Englishman walks out with the unofficial European Champion, Paul Burchill at his side. The duo walk down the ramp, looking surprisingly confident tonight. They make sure to hold their hands out in a gesture of good faith, asking Henry to take a breath as they enter the ring. Regal and Burchill warily stand in the ring, a few feet from Henry who looks to be holding in the frustration, willing to let Regal speak, but Regal doesn’t raise the microphone to his mouth, instead he smirks … then …
The beat of Vladimir Kozlov’s music blares over the sound system, and the Moscow Mauler walks down to the ring with a purpose – the crowd unsure whether they should cheer or boo. The commentary reminds us that Regal has been courting the Russian since he defeated Ezekiel Jackson in the Parking Lot Brawl a few weeks back.
Mark Henry glances at the Russian as he enters the ring, but then his full attention is taken when The Moscow Mauler steps to him, through Regal and Burchill – standing eye to eye with The World’s Strongest Man! Then, just as Burchill and Regal start to approach … Kozlov slowly turns to face them!
The crowd cheer as the Russian refuses Regal’s offer of joining him and Burchill, seemingly siding with Mark Henry on this issue, and an uneasy alliance forms between the Kozlov and Henry! Regal looks perplexed at this, but then his expression turns to shock, as Kozlov and Henry explode forward, taking Regal and Burchill down with stereo clotheslines! The European Championship belt goes flying underneath the bottom rope, landing with a thud on the mat beside the ring, and Burchill is then tossed into the corner by Kozlov, who then lays into him with rights and lefts to the mid-section!
Meanwhile, Henry has Regal in his grasp, pressing him against the rope, hand around his throat and telling him he made a mistake when he attacked him before his ECW Championship match against Evan Bourne! Regal grits his teeth, and pushes his head forward, headbutting Henry on the nose, making the big man’s eyes water, and immediately – rather than press the advantage – Regal heads for the hills, again leaving Burchill in the ring, in the grasp of The Moscow Mauler who notices this … AND PLANTS BURCHILL WITH THE IRON CURTAIN!!
Still recovering, Henry points at Regal through watering eyes and tells him his time will come, while Kozlov “helps” Burchill out of the ring, picking him up and tossing him through the top and second rope. Leaving the unofficial European Championship by the ring, the cameras zoom in on it, then slowly pans up at the crowd, revealing Bryan Danielson watching the events unfold from his front row seat!
Meanwhile, the Russian and Henry stand tall in the centre of the ring, as Regal and Burchill skulk off to lick their wounds and live to fight another day!
Before joining Christian as his associate, Ezekiel Jackson would enter into a short mini-feud with Goldust, causing Goldust to have some kind of crisis, eventually ending with him removing the make-up and turning up on WWE Superstars as Dustin Rhodes, decked out in a three piece suit, long cane, twirling a Sapphire gem ring.
Speaking of WWE Superstars, DJ Gabriel would go on a small losing streak, resulting in Alicia Fox dropping him and cutting short their association.
And finally, it would be announced that Bryan Danielson has signed an ECW contract, and on a few occasions, he'd be pictured in the crowd, watching on, and most of the time this would be pared with the William Regal/Paul Burchill and Mark Henry segments.
The Matches:
WWE SummerSlam
30th August 2009 | Los Angeles, California
I’m not going to go into too much detail with the beginning of this match, as all you really need to know is Chris Jericho and The Big Show left The World’s Greatest Tag Team and Cryme Tyme to battle it out, allowing them to tire one another out.
After a few minutes of this, Big Show tagged himself in, clearly tired of waiting to get involved, despite Jericho’s protests. Ignoring his tag team partner, Big Show gets his hands dirty, battering JTG around the ring, preventing him from getting a tag to his bigger tag team partner or to any of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas.
The first elimination came after JTG tagged in Shad Gaspard, and despite Shad putting up a good fight, following a distraction from Jericho – which didn’t seem to go down well with Show since he glared at Chris after the pin – Shad fell victim to the knockout punch and the three count.
Elimination #1 – Cryme Tyme @ 4.27
Now the real action started, in what was a rematch from one of the recent episodes of ECW, Big Show and Chris Jericho went toe to toe with The World’s Greatest Tag Team. Although, it took Jericho tagging himself in, and berating Big Show for Jericho to finally get involved.
Jericho targeted the injured leg of The Gold Standard and seemed to be working well until Benjamin got the hot tag to Charlie Haas, and Haas came in and took the fight to Jericho, taking the former Tag Champ to the woodshed and throwing him around the ring.
The ending soon came when Haas was whipped into Jericho and Show’s corner, and Jericho looked to smash into Haas with a clothesline, but Haas dived out of the way and Jericho smashed into Big Show, sending him off the ramp!
This allowed Haas to get involved and wrap Jericho up in the Haas of Pain! However, Jericho managed to wriggle out, and turn Haas around and get him locked into The Wall’s of Jericho!
Then, off to the side, show slides into the ring and perhaps frustrating throughout the match boiling over, Show PUNCHES JERICHO IN THE FACE!!
Haas looks warily up at Show, but then hooks the leg, and the referee does the honours.
WINNER AND STILL WWE UNIFIED TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM @ 11.53
What the hell has just happened?!
The crowd are in a shocked stage of silence while Haas rolls off Jericho’s prone body and sits up, staring at his rival, and then looks at the ramp, where the battered and bruised Big Show is walking away, back turned to the ring and disappearing.
It’s not the way they would have wanted the result to happen, but Haas and Benjamin are glad to have their championships handed to them, and the duo slide out of the ring, back to ECW where they can look forward to the next challenge!
In a show of disrespect, the match begins with Christian walking into the centre of the ring, and extending his hand with a huge grin on his face, begging Bourne to shake his hand! For a moment, Bourne looks at Christian’s hand, and then clocks him with a jumping roundhouse kick! And rather than go for the cover, Bourne dived on top of Christian, and lands a few closed right hands!
For the next few minutes, Bourne dominated proceedings, expelling weeks and weeks of frustration on Christian, and it was all The Heart and Soul of ECW could do to get out of the ring and create some separation – resulting in a diving suicide dive from the ring onto Christian by Evan Bourne!
With the crowd in the palm of his hand, Bourne continues to show why he’s the current ECW Champion by punishing Christian for his recent actions, but it takes the appearance of Ezekiel Jackson – walking slowly down the ramp – to allow Christian to take control!
For the next while, Christian uses underhanded tactics to keep Bourne grounded, whether that be using the bottom rope to choke him, or wrapping his arms up between the bottom and middle rope and landing a few unprotected kicks to the face, or distractions from Jackson on the outside. Not much to say about this, other than Christian spent the time getting the crowd riled up and dominating Bourne.
Then, after Bourne managed to create some separation, beating his way out of a sleeper hold, he attempted to make a comeback, but a trip of the leg from Jackson’s arm on the outside meant Bourne fell flat on his face – however … the referee saw it! And after a moment of build-up, the referee ejects Jackson from the arena!
Christian protests this repeatedly and then focuses again on Bourne, who now takes the fight to the challenger, and looks like he might be about to wrap things up with a Shooting Star Press, but Christian get’s the knees up! A bit of a back and forth occurs here, resulting in Bourne ending up behind Christian and running him forward, almost into the referee, who turns his back to protect himself … sensing this … Christian LIFTS HIS LEG AND LOW BLOWS BOURNE BETWEEN THE LEGS!!
He immediately grabs the champion and wraps him up … KILLSWITCH … PIN!
ONE – TWO
THREE!
NEW CHAMPION!!
WINNER AND NEW ECW CHAMPION: CHRISTIAN @ 10.06
Aw, that son of a bitch!
Christian rolls from Bourne’s lifeless body and slides on over to the bottom rope where he sits and shouts at the referee to get the damn title.
The referee does as he is told and hands the championship over. Christian stands up, using the ropes for support, and raises the title high above his head.
Then, he steps forward and places on boot on the neck of Bourne, and again raises the championship up in a final show of disrespect!
Culmination of so much good work in this one with WGTT taking the hold, and Christian finally reaching the pinnacle. And to think, the easy way would have been just to give bland babyface Christian the gold at Backlash. Man oh man, did you do it better.
Whilst we're getting close to up to date so I don't know how things will turn out from here, I can say I'm pumped. The base you've set is phenomenal but the inclusion of Danielson, and this new Rhodes character adds so much more potential to this as well. Future is bright in here.
Side Note: These are all elements of the thread posted elsewhere. One more post like this, and then we'll be onto brand new stuff. Also, I got the timings wrong on the whole Goldust into Dustin Rhodes detail on the previous post, and the switch starts to happen on the WWE Superstars detailed below. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Monday Night RAW | USA Network | 31st August 2009
The return of The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels was on the tip of everyone’s tongue following his return to aid The Game, Triple H, in his rivalry with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase – and it would be HBK kicking off Monday Night RAW, setting up a heartfelt promo about his loss to The Undertaker at WrestleMania, thanking The Deadman for a great match, but warning him that Mr. WrestleMania will be back, perhaps leading to a WrestleMania rematch?!
Anyway, the moment would be ruined by a despicable attack from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase – the two Legacy members rushing the ring and taking the fight to Shawn Michaels. As expected, Shawn’s D-Generation-X partner came to his rescue, and the combined might of Triple H and Shawn Michaels saw off the enthusiastic Legacy pair.
Later on in the evening, Triple H would be interviewed by Todd Grisham, who questioned The Game on what’s next for him and Shawn Michaels – responding by telling Grisham and the world that the rivalry isn’t over between D-Generation-X and Legacy – and he challenges them to meet them next week in the main event of RAW, and after speaking to tonight’s guest host – Trish Stratus – the winner will go on to challenge for the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships – a title that D-Generation-X hasn’t held before.
ECW on SYFY | 1st September 2009
A brief video recaps the ECW-centric events of SummerSlam, detailing The World’s Greatest Tag Team’s victory over Cryme Tyme and the now defunct team of Chris Jericho and Big Show, and Christian’s nefarious ECW Championship victory!
And kicking off the show, as you’d expect, is the arrival of the NEW ECW Champion! Christian with Ezekiel Jackson saunter down the ramp, looking rather pleased with themselves after their actions at WWE SummerSlam – receiving a lot of boos from the crowd here tonight. It’s up to Striker and Matthews to introduce the rest of the show tonight, including William Regal versus Mark Henry and The Abraham Washington Show featuring The World’s Greatest Tag Team!
Once in the ring, the self-proclaimed Heart and Soul of ECW grabs a microphone, and starts by telling the crowd to be quiet while he basks in the glory of becoming the rightful ECW Champion! With Jackson standing behind him, Christian is all confident tonight, and tells everyone that Evan Bourne has not been cleared tonight and will therefore not be in attendance – which draws a lot of boos.
Now, he continues, by dedicating the victory at WWE SummerSlam to none other than Tommy Dreamer. He thanks Dreamer for showing him the way, and for being gullible enough think they were friends – because it was Dreamer and the way he treated The Heart and Soul of ECW which led to Christian seeing the light – that being he doesn’t need to pander to these people, and that he deserves the brightest spotlight on ECW, and that’s what he has now.
He mentions Rhyno, as a former ECW Champion, stating that the linage of the ECW Championship is filled with people who couldn’t lace Christian’s and Big ‘Zekes boots. This segues nicely into explaining the alliance with Ezekiel Jackson, telling the crowd that Jackson needed direction, and Christian has given him it. He places a hand on Jackson’s large shoulder, and thanks Jackson – off microphone – for his help on Sunday.
Speaking of SummerSlam, Christian brings the topic back to Evan Bourne, and the plucky attitude he showed on Sunday, but in the end – it didn’t matter, because Bourne just wasn’t good enough to defeat The Heart and Soul of ECW. He does give Bourne credit, though, saying for the last few months, Evan has defended this title week in and week out, and that will not be happening during Christian’s reign!
Christian states that he is a special champion, and one that will not give title shots to any random hick that walks into the locker room, and everyone will need to earn their way into a match with him. Striker makes a snide comment about Christian and Jackson cheating to beat Bourne at SummerSlam – but do you think Christian cares? Nah.
Then, just as Christian is about to drone on even longer, continuing the celebrations, Yoshi Tatsu’s music plays, and the Japanese Sensation walks down to the ring.
Yoshi grabs a microphone from the ringside staff member, and climbs into the ring, showing no fear in the face of the ECW Champion and the large Ezekiel Jackson. Yoshi starts by saying what happened at SummerSlam made him sick to his stomach – to his core – because Christian cheated to win the ECW Championship, and he doesn’t respect a man who would cheat like he did.
Christian retorts, smirking, and saying he doesn’t care if Tatsu respects him or not, because frankly Tatsu is lucky that Christian even knows his name. We get a reminder of the match between Bourne and Tatsu, which Christian tried to prevent, and Christian asks the Japanese star why he’s come out here tonight and before Tatsu can answer, Christian asks rhetorically is it to defend his best friends honour … or is it to beg for an undeserved championship opportunity?
Tatsu steps up to Christian, then, but Jackson steps between them, and stares down at the Japanese Sensation. Yoshi, to his credit, shows no fear, staring up at Ezekiel and for a moment it looks like shits about to hit the fan until …
ECW General Manager – Tiffany comes out from the back, looking rather smart with her suit jacket on.
She has a microphone and starts by saying that while she can’t change what happened at SummerSlam, and by the letter of the law, Christian is, and will stay the ECW Champion – she wants to remind him that she makes the matches around here, and if she says that he’ll defend the ECW Title, then he will do so.
She talks to Yoshi now, stating that while she hates to admit it, Christian is right in the sense that Yoshi recently had an ECW Championship match only a few weeks ago at WWE Extreme Rules, and therefore has to EARN another championship opportunity.
And she’ll give him that opportunity, tonight! Tatsu nods while Tiffany explains that in the main event, it will be Yoshi Tatsu versus Ezekiel Jackson! And, should the Japanese Sensation prevail – next week, on ECW, Christian WILL defend his newly one ECW Championship!
She takes her leave now to a chorus of cheers, leaving Tatsu to keep his guard up as Christian shakes his head, leaving the ring with Jackson in tow, the ECW Championship held aloft as he backs up the ramp!
Back from the commercial break, we’re treated to the entrance of the dastardly William Regal! The Englishman makes his way down the ramp, dressed to compete. While he waits for his opponent, we get a brief recap of the issue between Regal and his opponent tonight, showcasing their short-lived alliance and the attack on The World’s Strongest Man.
And now, Mark Henry comes out to a strong cheer from the crowd. He walks down the ramp with a focused expression, staring at the Englishman. The commentary team talks up the fact Vladimir Kozlov has seemingly refused William Regal’s advances to join him and Burchill.
Match One: Singles Contest
Mark Henry vs. William Regal
This contest starts as you’d expect, with the smartness of William Regal coming into play – the Englishman electing to keep his distance and use the hit and move tactic which keeps Henry off his game.
However, the match is short lived, though, as Henry manages to get his hands on Regal, and he looks like he’s going to dominate until the end, until he looks to be setting up for The World’s Strongest Slam but Paul Burchill comes sprinting down the ramp, sliding into the ring and he SLAMS THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP INTO THE BACK OF MARK’S HEAD!
Winner – Mark Henry via Disqualification @ 5.15
The assault continues after the match, with Burchill laying into a prone Mark Henry, snarling at The World’s Strongest Man while Regal takes a few seconds to recover while seated on the mat.
Regal starts to direct traffic here, telling Burchill to pick Henry up, but then …
VLADIMIR KOZLOV comes down the ramp, receiving a decent cheer, and the Russian slides into the ring – and meets Burchill and Regal head on, fighting off the two of them for as long as he possibly can.
But, the numbers game starts to take advantage here, and Burchill and Regal manage to take Kozlov down, thanks to a LOW BLOW from Regal and then the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP to the face! This gives Regal and Burchill free reign over Henry, and they finish off the night with Regal’s KNEE TREMBLER to Henry’s mush!
And with that, the commentary team sign us off to the next commercial break, as the two Englishmen stand tall for a change, Burchill hoisting the unofficial European Title over his head.
The second and final of our in-ring segments tonight comes with The Abraham Washington Show! Coming out to the expected late night talk show music, Abraham Washington jogs onto the stage in a flush navy suit, playing to the jeering crowd with a huge shit eating grin.
He walks down the ramp, taking the time to shake a couple of hands before entering the ring. It’s the usual set of the talk show, and he takes a seat behind the large Oak desk across from the black leather sofa. He starts by, as ever, sanitizing his hands after contacting the crowd.
He begins by welcoming everyone to the critically acclaimed talk show, The Abraham Washington Show, hosted by, the one and only … Abraham Washington! This creates jeers from the crowd, but the camera cuts to the big screen where a large ‘APPLAUSE’ word is flashing, but the crowd take no notice obviously.
He continues by saying one of his guests tonight is someone who has been trying to get on The Abraham Washington Show for weeks and weeks, calling back to the fact Shelton Benjamin has seemed to be on most of the recent Washington shows without being an actual guest.
Abraham builds them up as being the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, and outcomes The World’s Greatest Tag Team! The duo – Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas – come out, dressed in dark jeans and T-shirts, with the four gold titles over their shoulders.
Washington only shakes Benjamin’s hand, leaving Charlie hanging, but still takes a minute to use the pump operated sanitiser. He turns to Benjamin and Haas, and after a moment of staring at them, thanks them sarcastically for dressing up for the occasion.
He starts off the interview by saying he wants to get down to the hard hitting, journalistic, important questions, and want’s to know how Shelton feels now that he’s a legitimate guest of the world wide talk show, The Abraham Washington Show! Again, the big screen shows ‘APPLAUSE’ but the crowd ignore this and boo the cocky talk show host.
Benjamin grabs the mic and states it’s good to – for the first time – be a proper, paid guest on the show … and speaking being paid, he questions Abraham on the fact the cheque Abe’s people gave Benjamin’s people has bounced!
Abraham swiftly deflects the question, saying Benjamin obviously is dealing with an inept bank – and then brings up the fact The World’s Greatest Tag Team are the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, and he turns to Charlie, and asks how it feels to be back riding the coat tails of Shelton here, considering he was doing NOTHING on RAW during the last year!
Haas laughs it off, part in fact since Washington said it with a smile on his face, and instead grabs the microphone and says that it’s true, he had nothing going on when he was on RAW, but he’s on ECW now, and as it stands, he’s one half of the Unified Tag Team Champions!
Washington blows him off here, turning to Benjamin, and asking The Gold Standard how it felt getting his ass kicked week in and week out by The Hart Dynasty, and how it feels knowing he had to resort to asking an old friend for help, and asks Benjamin why he needs his little friend Haas around to fight his battles for him.
This doesn’t go over well with the crowd, and unlike Haas who laughed off Washington’s attempts to get under their skin and ‘pop a rating’, he aggressively says he’s glad to be the WWE Tag Team Champion, but he could have, and would have dealt with The Hart Dynasty on his own if he had too.
Under his breath, but still on the microphone, Haas makes a remark saying that Benjamin was lucky he agreed to team up again – which Benjamin hears and turns to his tag team partner, asking him to repeat what he just said, but before Charlie can say anything, Benjamin reminds him of the fact that when The Gold Standard called him he was doing nothing in on RAW – like Abe said, which brings a smug look from the talk show host – and on the brink of being fired!!
The two tag team partners go face to face now, standing up, the gold still over their shoulders, and in the background of the shot, Abraham leans back in his cheer, puts his feet up and smiles at the scene he’s created. But then, The World’s Greatest Tag Teams slowly look at Abe, and smirk which turns Abe’s face sour. They then say Abe can try all he wants to get under their skin and create something here, but it won’t work because they know what he’s all about.
Abe takes his feet off the table, clears his throat and smooths down his tie as the tag champions take a seat again. He continues – asking Benjamin and Haas how they feel about tag teams all over the WWE staking claims to challenging for the titles, especially with the number one contenders match scheduled on RAW next week between D-Generation-X and Legacy!
Haas – who looks like he’s about to speak – is cut off quickly by Benjamin, who says they don’t care if it’s a RAW tag team or a SmackDown tag team, be it Triple H and Shawn Michaels or Cryme Tyme or some other team, they plan on holding the belts for a long time to come. Then, Haas speaks now, and brings it back to ECW, saying that they are plenty of teams in the back that—
Somewhat surprisingly …
‘STAND BACK … THERE’S A HURRICANE COMING THROUGH!!’
To a decent pop, The Hurricane leads out the merry band known as The Green Knights. Leading the way, Fit Finlay and The Hurricane in matching masks with Hornswoggle and Super Katie close behind! The group walk down the ramp, The Hurricane with a microphone in his hand.
Once in the ring, they stand across from the WWE Tag Team Champions. Before they can speak, however, Abraham speaks up, lamenting the fact that week after week, his show is interrupted by uninvited guests, and…
He’s cut off by both The World’s Greatest Tag Team and The Green Knights, both of them saying ‘Shut up, Abe!’ and to his credit, the talk show host keeps his mouth shut and sits back down – muttering about bringing in some security guards and saying The Green Knights better not be expecting a payment for this appearance.
It’s a standard promo from here, with The Hurricane mentioning his team were listening in the back, and The Green Knights believe they need to have some gold to complete their formation as a group, and they – Hurricane and Fit Finlay - challenge The World’s Greatest Tag Team to a championship match!
Showing some attitude, Haas brings the microphone up to his mouth, and says they’d be happy to accept the challenge, however Hurricane should consider putting Hornswoggle in the match instead of The Green Knights leader – because they’d stand a better chance.
Fit Finlay steps forward and gets in Charlie’s face, and it takes an arm across the chest from Hurricane, who smirks at Charlie then faces Benjamin and asks if that’s what they truly think, but before Benjamin can respond he’s cut off mid-sentence by The Hurricane shouting ‘IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!’ which brings a cheer for the obvious mention to The Hurricane’s old rival, but Abe can be seen in the background burying his face in his hands. The Hurricane brings it back to something serious, and he say’s The Green knights look forward to challenging for the WWE Tag Team Titles and becoming the new champions.
And with that, The Green Knights back up, leaving the ring and backing up the ramp. In the ring, Benjamin and Haas watch the superhero group back up, and the tag team champs hold the titles in the air. And the commentary team hype up a future tag team title match between the two ECW teams.
And back from the commercial, we fade into a shot where we’re witnessing what appears to be a dilapidated church with barred windows. The camera flows to the front door of the castle, where a darkened figure with a hood up walks into view. He continues, walking past the camera and into the night.
The next shot is shot as if we’re looking through the man’s eyes and we walk through the mud and grass of the area around the castle towards a flower bed which is filled with large white roses. The camera lowers, mimicking the point of view of a man kneeling on the ground, and then a hand stretches out from the camera shot, grabbing, two of the roses and places one in each hand.
The camera moves from side to side, as if the man’s point of view is looking at each rose in turn, deciding on which one to take, then the man drops one of them, and takes the other out of shot, and the camera fades away.
And now it’s time for the main event! Already at the commentary desk, is the ECW Champion, Christian! The commentary team of Striker and Matthews talk briefly about the video package before-hand, only to be interrupted by Christian, staring previously staring hard at the little TV monitor, and he brings the conversation back around to him as the new ECW Champion.
Out first for the main event, is The Personification of Domination, Ezekiel Jackson! Clad in his usual red trunks, Jackson walks down the ramp. At the commentary desk, the ECW Champion stands and applauds, trying to ignore the jeering fans around him before he turns to a fan holding a box popcorn who was shouting at him. Christian tells the fan to shut up and sit down before he shoves that popcorn down his throat, or better yet he’ll take the damn popcorn from the fan since he looks like he needs to shed a few pounds.
Back in the action, Yoshi Tatsu rushes out from the back to a decent pop, the familiar synth playing him down to the ramp. He locks eyes with Ezekiel Jackson and stops. Tatsu takes a deep breath and heads into the ring and the referee makes sure both competitors are ready before calling for the bell.
Main Event: Singles Contest
Ezekiel Jackson vs. Yoshi Tatsu
In the beginning, Tatsu keeps one eye on Christian, and despite that, he manages to keep the offense of Jackson at bay, using his pace advantage. Tatsu resorts to some more high-flying offense than we’re used to seeing from him, and it gets the crowd off their feet and on his side. That is, until the relatively inexperienced Tatsu tries one high flying move too many, and is caught by Jackson out of mid-air, and Ezekiel connects with a fall-a-way slam!
Following the near fall, Jackson takes control, and the big man is heralded by Christian on commentary. While Jackson dominates, Striker questions Christian on when Jackson will receive a future ECW Championship match, since that was part of the reason that Ezekiel agreed to align with the ECW Champ’. This question, as expected, get’s no response, and Christian tells Striker to focus on the match and do his ’damn job’!
Following the domination period from Jackson, the Japanese star makes a fired up comeback, breaking out of a sleeper hold and getting the crowd involved again. Jackson struggles with Tatsu’s speed, and after a few high impact, fast paced kicks and drop kicks, Tatsu signals it’s time to end things and he heads to the top rope, perhaps looking for his Flying Spinning Heel Kick, but here come’s Christian!
Christian hops onto the apron and feigns to run at Tatsu, who reacts by kicking out and almost losing his balance, this momentary distraction allows Jackson to recover. Christian jumps down to the mat, and Tatsu then goes for the Spinning Heel Kick, but Jackson dives out the way – thanks to the distraction! And Jackson grabs Tatsu aggressively and lifts him up – BOOK OF EZEKIEL!! Cover! It’s over!
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson @ 8.21
And with that, the night’s action comes to an end. The ECW Champion slides into the ring, adjusting his shirt and holding the title across his shoulder. He pushes the referee away and takes it upon himself to raise the championship above his head. The crowd all boo in unison as the referee sees to Tatsu and the WWE logo flashes across the screen.
Before we go, Matt Striker has enough time to tell us to tune in next week, when – just announced – The World’s Greatest Tag Team will defend their Tag Team Titles against The Green Knights, namely The Hurricane and Fit Finlay! And finally, Striker announces that as per ECW General Manager Tiffany, following his mandated recovery time, the former ECW Champion will be in the building to address the events of WWE SummerSlam! All this and more as the road to WWE Breaking Point kicks off!
WWE Superstars
3rd September 2009
Kicking off WWE Superstars this week, is the arrival of The Moscow Mauler, Vladimir Kozlov who receives a decent pop from the crowd. And with him, is The World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry! The duo receive a decent cheer from the crowd tonight, and the commentary team discuss the ongoing rivalry between these two and William Regal and the unofficial European Champion, Paul Burchill.
Once Kozlov is in the ring, the familiar beat of DJ Gabriel’s music plays, and DJ walks down the ramp, looking rather concerned about what he’s about to face, and with no Alicia Fox after her betrayal of him on the last episode of WWE Superstars! He slides into the ring and waits for the referee to ring the bell.
Match One: ECW’s Contest
DJ Gabriel vs. Vladimir Kozlov
This match isn’t particularly an enjoyable one to watch, and neither is it a competitive one to kick off WWE’s Thursday night show. As Kozlov dominates Gabriel all over the ring, the commentary team discuss the events of Tuesday’s ECW, and then hype up the next episode when The World’s Greatest Tag Team will defend against The Green Knights, and interestingly, Striker makes note that The Hart Dynasties suspension has been lifted now, but they’ve yet to hear from the Canadian team.
The match comes to an end, with Kozlov almost murdering Gabriel with an impactful Iron Curtain, almost slamming DJ through the canvas. Vlad ducks down for the cover and hooks the leg, and the referee counts the three count.
Winner: Vladimir Kozlov @ 4.59
Vladimir doesn’t wait around to have his hand raised, instead he heads out of the ring and he and Mark Henry walk up the ramp, job done here tonight. Meanwhile, the commentary team tell us to tune in on Tuesday where we expect to hear more regarding the situation between Kozlov, Henry and Burchill and Regal.
However, DJ Gabriel’s night goes from bad to worse, as Alicia Fox comes rushing down the ring, pushing past Kozlov and Henry, showing no fear from the two big men and she slides into the ring just as Gabriel is getting up.
The two lock eyes, and for a moment, DJ smiles and shouts ‘I knew you’d come back!’ and he goes in for a hug, but Fox kicks him in the groin – LOW BLOW! Down goes Gabriel! Fox isn’t done though, because she stomps and kicks at him, shrieking at him while pushing him with her boot out of the ring, underneath the bottom rope.
Fox follows him, pulling Gabriel to his feet, and – for some reason, after pointing at a fan – she pushes Gabriel into the STEEL STEPS and ECW’s resident dancer seems to be spark out now on the mat. Fox walks around the ring, coming to the commentary table and yanks Striker’s headset from him and put’s it on, telling everyone that this is what happens when no one listens to her! She tells Matthews to tell her what her name is, and after stuttering he does, and for whatever reason that seems to calm her, but then she throws the headset off her head, landing it on Striker and now she grabs Striker by the tie and stares at him, almost an inch from his face, breathing heavily, but then she smiles sweetly and walks away, past Gabriel, giving him one last look of disgust.
Later …
Before the main event which comes from SmackDown this week – we get a video package from the ECW brand, and it’s of a darkened room, but a light is in the centre and it seems there is a mirror that has been illuminated …
Then, Goldust (?) walks into the shot, approaching the mirror and he puts his hands on the sink, tightening his knuckles around it, and he looks at himself for a moment, then shakes his head.
He brings up what looks like a sponge, and Goldust starts wiping the face paint off. He does this for a few seconds, then he looks up, and he’s not got no paint on. Then he smiles, and then lifts what looks like a black cane with a golden circular knob.
He stares at the cane for a few seconds, then looks back in the mirror, and smiles again. Before he leaves, he mutters something about ‘creating the family’ and then walks away.
Posting this now because I'll be away for a couple of weeks. Last of the previously posted batch. Brand new shows coming soon.
Monday Night RAW
7th September 2009
#1 Contenders Match: WWE Unified Tag Team Titles
D-Generation X versus The Legacy
Result: No Contest
I won’t go into too much detail, but just as D-Generation X was about to pick up the victory, the current WWE Champion, Randy Orton would interfere on Legacy’s behalf, first slapping the referee, causing the no contest, and then Orton’s rival, John Cena would rush out onto the scene, helping D-Generation X in their plight against Legacy!
Later, the guest host for the evening, Bob Barker, would announce the main event for the evening, a six man tag, when D-Generation X will team with John Cena against Legacy, and if Cena and his team were to win, he would get a shot at Orton’s title, and DX a shot at the Unified Tag Titles – but if Legacy were to win, then Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase would get the Tag Title shot, and John Cena would never be able to challenge for the WWE Title as long as Orton was champ.
Six Man Tag: Winner Take All
John Cena & D-Generation X vs. The Legacy
Winners: John Cena & D-Generation X @ 12.48
John Cena and D-Generation would go on to win in the main event – Triple H connecting with a Pedigree, then Shawn Michaels with a Super Kick, right into an Attitude Adjustment from Cena, all connecting with poor Ted DiBiase.
Cena would take the cover, much to the chagrin of the WWE Champion, Randy Orton, and Cody Rhodes sprawled on the outside. The episode of RAW would end with perhaps the three most popular stars in WWE standing tall, with two of them setting up a date in the future with either The World’s Greatest Tag Team or The Green Knights, all from ECW.
ECW on SyFy | 8th September 2009
Kicking off this week’s edition of ECW is a short video package, showcasing the previous weeks events, including The Green Knights challenging The World’s Greatest Tag Team, and Ezekiel Jackson defeating Yoshi Tatsu in the main event with the help of the ECW Champion, Christian.
And now, once we’re in the arena, the team of Matt Striker and Josh Matthews introduce us to the show, hyping up the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship match scheduled for the main event and briefly mentioning we now know who will challenge the winners at WWE Breaking Point, since D-Generation X and John Cena defeated The Legacy last night.
Out first, to a massive pop, is the former ECW Champion, Evan Bourne! He nods appreciatively to the crowd but looks like he means business as he walks down the ramp, clad in blue jeans and a black t-shirt, now looking rather naked without his silver ECW Title.
He’s in the ring and holding a microphone, but before he can speak, the music of the current ECW Champion, Christian plays, who understandably receives a lot of boos from tonight’s crowd. Unlike Evan Bourne, the Canadian happily holds up the ECW Championship, rubbing his victory at SummerSlam in.
He makes his way down the ramp and looks like he’ll enter the ring as Evan Bourne looks ready for a fight, but the Canadian backs up a moment, and holds his finger up to the crowd, and then Ezekiel Jackson’s music plays, and the Personification of Domination comes out to heat, and joins Christian at the bottom of the ramp.
Now with a microphone in his grasp, Christian sarcastically welcomes Evan Bourne back to ECW after taking the night off last week, and Matt Striker makes sure to note it was a medically mandated night off and Bourne had no choice. The champion continues, explaining the reason he’s out here tonight because he knows Bourne will issue a challenge to him, but he reminds everyone that thanks to some wonderful work from his lawyers, the contract did not have a rematch clause!
He goes on to say that he has no intention of allowing Evan Bourne a shot at his championship, because in his mind and the mind of everyone in the arena, Bourne failed at SummerSlam and Christian showed the world why he’s the best ECW has to offer, and he lifts the ECW Title to show it. Christian finishes up his part of the promo, telling Bourne to get out of the champions ring, otherwise he along with Ezekiel Jackson will force him out.
Bourne appears to be thinking about it, looking at the hulking frame of Jackson, but then the former ECW Champion decides to hold his ground, throwing the microphone to the ground and ushering the two men in front of him into the ring for a fight. This gets brownie points with the crowd who shower Bourne with a lot of cheers.
On the outside, Christian pats Jackson on the back, and the big man leads the way, leading the ECW Champion into the ring and the two stand in front of Bourne, starting to circle him, but then Yoshi Tatsu comes rushing out, his music playing, and he’s coming with help, because in his hand is a Singapore Cane which Bourne has previous with!
He slides into the ring, and swings at Christian’s head who ducks and then heads out of the ring immediately, leaving Tatsu to swing at Jackson but Ezekiel blocks it, grabbing the cane and ripping it from Yoshi’s grasp. Jackson stares at Tatsu and then SNAPS the Singapore Cane across his knee. From behind, Bourne hits the ropes and connects with a running drop kick, landing two feet on Jackson’s back, sending the big man forward, his neck whipping back like he had been in a car crash.
Jackson falls out of the ring and joins Christian on the outside. The ECW Champion looks frustrated while Bourne and Tatsu shake hands. The commentary hype up the fact this rivalry is far from over, and just announced – Yoshi Tatsu and Evan Bourne will team together next week, and take on the ECW Champion, Christian and Ezekiel Jackson in tag team action!
Before we head to the first commercial of the night, we get a glimpse of the backstage area, where Mark Henry, The World’s Strongest Man is walking through the corridors, on his way to the gorilla position, and the commentary team tell us that after the break, Henry will be in action!
Already in the ring upon our return, is Tyler Reks, receiving a muted reaction from the crowd.
Out next, as expected, is Mark Henry, receiving a decent pop from the crowd, and The World’s Strongest Man walks down to the ring, looking prepared for tonight’s contest. Once inside the ring, he retreats to his corner and we await the referee calling for the bell.
Match One: Singles Contest
Mark Henry vs. Tyler Reks
This isn’t much of a contest, despite Tyler Reks making it his goal to annoy and disrupt Mark Henry and his offence by playing a game of cat and mouse, keeping his distance. However, it didn’t take long for Henry to get his hands on Zack Ryder’s former associate (which is a subject discussed on commentary that we haven’t seen Zack Ryder since his Sanctuary of Sin match with Curt Hawkins) and take him to the woodshed.
Domination followed here, resulting in Mark Henry looking mighty strong, and eventually, after he spent a minute or two softening Tyler up, The World’s Strongest Man decided to end things with The World’s Strongest Slam, picking up the three count and having his hand raised by the referee.
Winner: Mark Henry @ 2.26
As expected, it’s a victory for Mark Henry, and after he takes a moment to allow the referee to raise his hand, he notices Matt Striker entering the ring, leaving his place on commentary, with a microphone. Striker approaches Mark cautiously and asks Henry if he could have a word with him, to which The World’s Strongest Man grunts his approval.
Striker begins by asking him what his plans are in the next few weeks, as it still seems he has a problem with William Regal and Paul Burchill, and with the addition of Vladimir Kozlov, it doesn’t seem like this will end any time soon. Henry grabs the microphone aggressively from Striker and backs him down, saying he’s damn right it’s not over, because Mark still hasn’t got his hands around Regal’s neck and watched the life drain from his eyes.
Insinuated murder aside, Henry continues, saying he didn’t ask for Vladimir’s help, but he appreciates it nonetheless, because Regal likes to hide behind Paul Burchill, and himself a few months ago. He reiterates that Regal and Burchill cost him a proper chance at the ECW Championship, and he plans to make them pay, but first he needs to get rid of the ‘unofficial European Champion’ and therefore, The World’s Strongest Man challenges Paul Burchill to a match, next week on ECW since he knows Regal, and Burchill aren’t here tonight.
Henry leaves the ring, walking past the crowd, and as he does so, the camera stays on the section he just passed as he disappears out of shot, and the camera starts to zoom in on the man known as Bryan Danielson, who’s staring at the direction of the ramp, where Henry is now leaving via. And with that, it’s time for our second commercial of the night.
Back from commercial, we’re backstage where some commotion is going on, and the camera is frantically trying to rush through the corridors, getting ever closer to the source of the sound. Eventually, the camera is taken through a large set of white metal doors, into the parking lot, where Ezekiel Jackson is attacking Yoshi Tatsu!
Battered and bruised, Yoshi is trying his best to fight back, but despite his best efforts, Jackson has the measure of him and rams Tatsu’s skull into the hood of a white Audi, and then the hood is raised and brought down on Tatsu's neck! Several production staff try to intervene, some ECW referee’s too, but it appears nothing can be done, as Jackson picks Yoshi up, and connects with The Book of Ezekiel on the car!
With that, the attack appears to be over, just as the former ECW Champion, Evan Bourne rushes into the shot, after clearly being made aware of what was going on, but by then Jackson is already making his retreat, having done what he came here to do – this leads the commentary team to wonder if Tatsu will be in any state to feature in the tag team match next week.
Before we head off, it’s only for a split second, and you’d only notice it if you were eagle eyed and paying attention, but in the depths of the car park, a shadowed figure can be seen, watching what has just transpired, and then after a quick cut away, and then cut back, the figure is gone.
Cutting elsewhere, to a more organised situation, Todd Grisham is standing by, and welcomes as his guest tonight, Alicia Fox! Alicia, who has been showing some irrational tendencies recently, tells Grisham to get a move on, and he asks what possessed her to cut ties with DJ Gabriel and…
Speaking of DJ Gabriel, the man himself walks into the shot, sunglasses on and looking as stupid as ever. Grisham takes a hike, leaving Gabriel and Fox to sort out their issues, but despite Gabriel’s best attempts to an apology to Alicia (for what reason? We have no idea) it is all for nothing, as Fox kicks him in the stomach, and then throws him face first into the TV standing nearby!
Gabriel is left in a heap, as Fox shakes her head, and then she scares of a staff member trying to check on Gabriel. Alicia walks out of the frame, leaving the camera to zoom in on Gabriel as the commentary team tell us that the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Match is up next!
Before the main event tonight, we get treated to a short recap of the previous week when The Green Knights challenged The World’s Greatest Tag Team to a match.
And now, The Green Knights make their entrance, only The Hurricane and Fit Finlay walking down the ramp, Super Katie and Hornswoggle staying in the back to watch their teammates try to bring home the gold. The Hurricane takes the time to interact with some fans, giving them some extra masks he had, but Finlay is all business, heading to the ring and waiting for their opponents.
Out next, The World’s Greatest Tag Team, the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions – Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. The duo walk out in matching silver and gold attire for tonight’s big match, and unlike The Hurricane, choose not too interact with the crowd, instead heading to the ring.
I won’t go into too much detail with match writing, but the match did begin with The Hurricane and Shelton Benjamin squaring off, with Benjamin easily getting the better of ECW’s resident superhero, using his athleticism to keep the older Hurricane off his game. However, the tide turned when Fit Finlay tagged himself in, and ever the ruthless competitor, Finlay targeted the previously injured leg of Benjamin’s.
Benjamin suffered at the hands of Finlay, eventually having to tag Charlie Haas in and nurse his leg on the apron while Charlie took the fight to Finlay. It was a respectful contest, with both men trading wrestling holds and taking each other down to the mat, before Finlay said fuck this, and smashed Haas in the face with a closed fist, then a forearm and started to ground and pound the hell out of him.
Another tag, and Benjamin came back in, looking to help his tag team partner out, but again, quick tags from The Green Knights and targeting the injured leg – Finlay more so than The Hurricane – saw to it that Benjamin couldn’t get much in the way of offense. However, after a sustained period of dominance, Finlay called for the end of the contest and measured Benjamin for The Celtic Cross, but upon trying to lift him – The Gold Standard slithered out, landed on his feet, and kicked, but Finlay caught it – only for Benjamin to spin and hit the Irishman with his other foot!
One hot tag later, and Haas was taking the fight to The Hurricane, showing everything why he’s so skilled in the ring, and with Benjamin injured on the outside, Haas got a chance to show off his skillset like he has done in the previous two championship matches, with the commentary team making a point to state that perhaps Haas is outshining Benjamin in these matches!
In the end, the finish would come, as Haas countered The Hurricane Choke Slam into The Haas of Pain, and despite Finlay trying to get to his partner – Benjamin grabbed on to Finlay’s leg – The Hurricane would eventually tap!
Winners And Still WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: The World’s Greatest Tag Team @ 8.28
After the contest, after being handed their tag team titles, Benjamin and Haas exchanged a hug together, then helped The Hurricane up to his feet, and despite being dejected, The Hurricane and Fit Finlay offered their hands to the champions, and after a second, The World’s Greatest Tag Team shook hands with The Green Knights – the two ECW teams showing why tag team wrestling is a big thing on ECW.
The Green Knights leave the ring to the champions and head up the ramp while the champs’ take in the cheers from the crowd. On commentary, Matt Striker and Josh Matthews begin to sign us off and then …
‘ARE YOU READY?’ *BEAT DROP*
Despite not being ECW Superstars, the crowd come unglued at the appearance of RAW’s premiere tag team and two of the most popular Superstars in all of the WWE! Triple H and Shawn Michaels, D-Generation X, come out to the huge cheer and while Michaels does his usual on the ramp, getting the crowd hyped up, it’s The Game Triple H, who looks all business – both men dressed in D-Generation X gear.
In the ring, Charlie and Benjamin can be seen discussing something, hands over their mouth so no one can hear what they are saying, and then they readjust the Unified Tag Team titles on their shoulders and wait.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels climb into the ring and stand toe to toe with The World’s Greatest Tag Team – the music dying down, allowing the crowd to take over the in the moment, standing on their feet and cheering. It’s all serious tonight, because DX don’t even go for a microphone to do their usual thing, instead Shawn points at the tag titles on Haas’ shoulder while Triple H stares into the eyes of Benjamin.
Matt Striker makes sure to note the history between Triple H and Shelton Benjamin, noting that Benjamin has beaten The Game on more than one occasion, and he’s just receiving word in his ear, that at WWE Breaking Point, it will be D-Generation X facing off against The World’s Greatest Tag Team but they have run out of time tonight and we’ll need to tune into next week’s RAW and ECW for more from this situation …
But, just as he does that, Benjamin and Haas raise the titles above their heads, and Benjamin says something to Triple H, which angers The Game, and now the two teams are face to face as the WWE logo comes on the screen and we say goodnight!
:: WWE Breaking Point ::
27th September 2009 – Detroit, Michigan
With SmackDown’s showing of Kane versus Jimmy Wang Yang in the books, it’s now time for ECW’s portion of the show, and upon returning from the commercial break, we hear the voices of Matt Striker and Josh Matthews welcoming us back, and spending a couple of seconds recapping the recent behaviour of Alicia Fox.
The attention turns to the ring, where a long-haired blonde woman is waiting in the corner, wearing short black and red tights. ECW’s ring announced, Tony Chimel, announces the women as Lacey Von Erich! On commentary, the team tell us this is a try out match for the female member of the Von Erich family, and they spend a moment telling the world about the history of the family.
Meanwhile, Alicia Fox makes her way down the ramp, looking frustrated and pointing at Lacey, shouting something about being overlooked again, and telling Lacey she’s about to regret getting in that ring. The commentary team tell us they have heard from the backstage team, the rumour the reason for Alicia’s recent behaviour has been because of her lack of progress in WWE being saddled with DJ Gabriel.
Match Two: Singles Contest
Alicia Fox vs. Lacey Von Erich
Despite the Von Erich name, it’s clear the fans don’t particularly know who Lacey Von Erich is, and for that reason it’s a muted crowd for this match, even though Lacey does get some strikes in the early going. It’s clear, though, that Lacey isn’t quite ready for this level. She struggles to keep the momentum going, and Alicia takes complete control after around a minute.
From there, Alicia dominates the match, punishing Lacey. Strangely, during the match, we get a picture in picture feed of the backstage area for a moment, where Goldust (the commentary team refer to him as Dustin Rhodes), clad in a three-piece suit, holding a black cane with a golden eagle on the top is stood, watching the match. The commentary team do their best to hype up Von Erich, but it’s obvious to the crowd and anyone watching at home that this match isn’t going to last long, and right enough – after a couple minutes of Fox working Lacey over, she puts her away with a Booker-T like aggressive Scissor Kick.
Winner: Alicia Fox @ 3.37
After the match, the commentary team are sympathetic to Lacey, stating she’s not ready to compete in the WWE against the likes of Alicia Fox, or the other women on the ECW roster and SmackDown and RAW for that matter. They do make a point of saying she may find a role in man management sometime down the line, but as of right now, Lacey Von Erich will NOT be an active woman’s wrestler in the WWE.
In the ring, Fox makes a show of going over to Lacey, and offering her hand to the blonde Diva. Lacey looks hesitant for a moment, but then takes Alicia’s hand, and Fox picks her up – ONLY TO CLOCK LACEY WITH A CLOTHESLINE!
The bell rings in vain, as Fox dives on top of Lacey and lays into her with repeated closed fists to a chorus of boos – the crowd might not know much about Von Erich, but they’re not keen on Alicia’s behaviour recently, and tonight.
But then …
‘STAND BACK … THERE’S A HURRICANE COMIN’ THROUGH!’
Green Knight member, Super Katie has seen enough!!
The female member of ECW’s resident Superhero group rushes down the ramp, looking to fend off Alicia Fox and her attack on Lacey Von Erich, but – perhaps smartly – Fox backs off, leaving the ring just as Super Katie slides underneath the bottom rope.
Super Katie checks on Lacey while Fox backs up the ramp, shaking her head, jawing with a nearby fan. Lacey shakes Super Katie’s hand, holding her neck and nodding her head. Not her night.
Meanwhile, backstage, we see a picture in picture shot of Dustin Rhodes watching the action unfold, twirling what looks like a golden ring with an sapphire gemstone at the top, holding onto his golden eagle cane with his other hand. Then, he backs up, leaving the shot, allowing the commentary team to throw it to the commercial break, and afterwards, SmackDown will put on a show with Dolph Ziggler taking on Slam Master J.
Yes, yes, yes. So happy we are up to date. Most looking forward to seeing how this Rhodes character develop, as well as waiting for Hawkins to pick his next victim.
Christian/Bourne stuff is solid, and the pairing of Christian with Jackson is a good one. Tag title scene is a lot of fun as well. Basically, everything in here is a hit, the only stuff I'm not completely sold on is the Alicia Fox stuff, but I've confidence you'll deliver in the end. Don't leave us for to0 long.
