Straight Blazing: ECW Report For 06/16/09

Finlay Iz Chargin Hiz Lazuh!!

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to this edition of Straight Blazin! I will be taking you on the experience of the June 16th edition of ECW! So sit back, Grab your Johnny Blaze doll, and lets get into some great ECW action!

First off we had the announcers trying to sell The Bash, Which is coming up VERY shortly, and trying to see the meeting of HHH v Orton for the umpteenth time in 2 years. I honestly don’t see how they can keep hyping this feud as we have seen a Last Man Standing match from them 4 times in 2 years. As well as they have wrestled against each other so much its now become redundant to even want to watch HHH v Orton. But I digress, They also showed a highlight package of the 3 hour Raw where it was announced that Trump bought Raw. They also showed Tommy Dreamer winning the ECW title against Christian, and if you missed it, Yes I said Trump bought Raw. Next weeks Raw will be commercial free and Trump will be there personally, Lets hope he gets attacked by a Ninja or something entertaining. Horrible storyline, but lets see where it goes!

The first match up of the night seemed to try and set the pace for the show as Christian was about to take on David Hart Smith! Hart Dynasty had just beat Christian in a tag match last week and they showed a clip of that before the match got underway! Christian came out to another mixed reaction and it seems the WWE has done a good job of making him a tweener in a land of faces and heels. *insert golf clap here* Anyways, The match gets underway and of course DH Smith is the more powerful of the two and Christian is the more agile one. DH Smith was in control for a good bit of the beginning of this match and was showing why he is the true powerhouse of the group. A really cool spot was when the two were on the apron and DH Smith did a Side Effect to Christian on the apron. The bump was SICK and it was done very efficiently. Christian gets the upper hand back in the ring when DH Smith charges him against the ropes and Christian propels him over the ropes.

We are back and DH Smith has Christian on the ground and is working a very effective big man ground game. Keeping him on his back and controlling the match very well. Christian tries to get the crowd behind him and they seem to forget his heel actions as of late and they get behind him and he nails a few Pendulum kicks to DH Smith as well as a sunset flip and I believe a spinning elbow smash from the top rope. All of these garnered two counts and the match progressed nicely. DH Smith got some control back and nailed a few moves himself that almost got the victory. A running Bulldog Power slam was almost the clincher but he couldn’t put Christian away. Natalya then decided to distract the ref and TJ Wilso.. Err.. Tyson Kidd nailed Christian and DH Smith took the advantage and nailed a Rolling Belly to Belly suplex and picked up the victory over Christian!

After the match The Hart Dynasty came into the ring and looked prepared to beat the crap out of Christian and were about to until out comes Finlay with his shillelagh. He chases the Hart Dynasty out of the ring and they re group on the ramp where you can hear an annoying fan calling them kindergartners.. How.. Erm.. Mature? The camera pans back to the ring and out of nowhere Finlay cracks Christian in the head and the crowd erupts in boos after just erupting in cheers for him. Got to love the beautiful transitions from heel to face around ECW. Stryker and Matthews did a little bit of over-selling and were “So confused” and “at a loss for words” at Finlay’s heel turn. Fail

Match Rating: 4/5

Match Review

It was a damn good match that had a lot of action and also showed why DH Smith is the future of this business. Christian is a pro at selling and making people look like gold as well. It was an all around good little fifteen minute opening match. One of the best from ECW as of late.

We are back and I am once again listening to Matthews and Stryker overselling this “unexplainable event” and what do you know, Finlay is with Gregory Helms to explain it! Fail again. Finlay tells Gregory Helms that he injured his eye breaking up a fight between Dreamer and Christian, Now its an eye for an eye. ROFL.. Got to love than analogy right there.. Go back to the ring and we have Mark Henry v Evan Bourne! Bourne is selling his “rib injuries” from Mark Henry and Tony Atlas.. And we get to see them wrestle for the umpteenth time as well!

Well once again we are seeing Mark Henry and Evan Bourne.. This might have been the worst match in the 20 match series they have had lately. Evan Bourne got some offense in but there wasn’t much of a match for him to get offense in on. The match lasted about three minutes and ended with Mark Henry destroying Evan Bourne’s career.. Um.. I mean Evan Bourne! Why they keep burying one of their best talents I wont understand but Mark Henry defeats Evan Bourne quite easily and picks up the victory.

Match Rating: 1/5

Match Review

We are back and getting another three for all recap video this time in more depth. Showing Trump’s announcement of a Last Man Standing match for the WWE title next week during a Commercial Free Raw. Showing Dreamer, Punk, and Orton winning their respective titles. And also showing HHH becoming the number one contender again.. And we are now graced with Gregory Helms backstage this time with Jack Swagga! Swagga tells Helms that Dreamer is a joke as Champion and tonight when he beats him, He will get a title shot and take his title back.

Come back and its Main Event time! Jack Swagga v Tommy Dreamer and if Swagga wins he gets a shot at Dreamers title at The Bash! The match started out with a bang and the two worked really well together for a good portion of the match. Swagga was also sporting a nice little rugged beard look, it did the job making him look more like a heel. And I just want to say that Jack Swagger looked on POINT in this match.. He was at his best I have ever seen him I believe and he really seemed to help carry Tommy Dreamer through a good portion of the match. A couple good spots and some solid storytelling made this match a good main event.

Dreamer nailed his cannonball move from the apron to the outside, as well as his bulldog/swinging neck breaker combo. Swagga went for the finish with his gut wrench power bomb but Dreamer reversed it into a small package! He got a close two count and the match continues on past the eleven mark for the first time that I can remember! Dreamer hit a reverse DDT and then went on the top rope, which is rare, he then missed a splash and Swagga capitalized and got the roll up for the victory! Solid match with a nice ending!

Finlay hits the ring after the match is over and he chases Swagga out of the ring and then proceeds to nail Dreamer in the eye just like Christian! Christian hit’s the ring now and him and Finlay tussle on the ground and Swagga comes back in and nails Christian in the back of the head. Swagga throws Christian out of the ring and Finlay stands up and nails Swagga with the shillelagh then as well! He gets a pop from the crowd for that after being booed for the other shots! Once again Finlay is made out to be a tweener while Christian was as well.. ECW is full of people that don’t know if they are good guys or bad guys.

Match Rating: 4/5

Match Review

Swagger and Dreamer put on an excellent display of a wrestling match with good psychology and a good pace. Swagga is honestly one of the better young talents and he shows it every week more and more. This was probably his best outing to date and I thought he looked FANTASTIC

Show Rating: 8/10

Overall Review

With two awesome matches its hard not to rate this high on the scale. If you were watching to be entertained, then this wasn’t your show. But if you were watching to see some good wrestling, This was a perfect show! 2 matches that took up a half hour combined, which is half the show, that were excellent? How can you go wrong?

Remember to STAY BLAZIN!

RIP MITSUHARA MISAWA

There will never be another quite like you.. Thank you for all the years of amazing in ring work and for the athleticism you brought this business. Misawa was one of the best puro stars there was and if any of you have NOT seen him in ring, look up his matches. Excellent worker and it’s a tragic thing to see him go. At least he went out in the ring like he would have wanted to, Thank you Misawa for the years of entertainment. You will not soon be forgotten by your legions of fans.