After watching the abraham washington show are we to believe that shelton is now a face

RESPONSE FROM KE: I was wondering the same thing. My guess is that he's still a heel. If that was an attempt to make him a face, it was a pretty lame one.

kev did you hear the kennedy interview?
it was pretty damn revealing as to why wrestling is as bad as it is right now. vince is a senile control freak and hhh cena and orton are throwing boulders down at anyone who could make them loose their spotlight... the whole thing sounds rather bleak would be interesting to hear your opinion on it.

Zach Ryder is my favorite thing about ECW right now. Glad to see the WWE giving him a chance to do something.

The Hurricane vignettes are always amusing as well.

Kev,
Do you any word on the jobber (Danny Danger?) who was destroyed last night by Ezekiel Jackson and Koslov? It looked like the ref gave the signal for an actual injury.

Im still not sold on The Abraham Washington Show. He seems to be missing something. Maybe he needs like a bodyguard type, sort of like Big Bubba was to Cornette. That way he can be more serious/funny with his guest b/c he has backup. Glad we were spared the show last wk at the arena. I think Finley should have stayed on ECW to feud with Sheamus ( battle of the Irish men). Intersted in seeing Benjamin and Ryder go it. I think these 2 could put on a great match. Woo Woo Woo You Know It

I change the channel whenever Washington comes on. Turning back a few minutes later to see Benjamin singing Hootie only validated my decision. However, I did enjoy the scuffle between Benjamin and Ryder. Benjamin's character (or lack of one) needs some shaking up to remain relevant, and being a 'tweener while feuding with Ryder would probably do that.

I was surprised by Goldust's attack on Sheamus after the match, as it suggests the two will start a program. I've always liked Goldust, but this feud isn't the way to put Sheamus over. But after what they've done to Tyler Reks I've stopped trying to understand the method behind WWE's madness.

Tyler Reks is the new Ryan Braddock!

Line of the night - Sheamus after his win against Goldust: "I came to ECW for gold and you gave me dust." Goldust has looked in the best shape in years during his current WWE run. I wonder if he actually toned down, or if black isn't as slimming as they say.

No clue what they are doing with Shelton Benjamin. It's quite clear that he is not the best on the mic, but neither was Dean Malenko or Chris Benoit and they were great performers. Just let Benjamin show what he can do in the ring and leave Hootie out of it. Please. That segment belonged on the "Dr Ken and Jeremy Piven present Summerfest" show.

Was sitting front row at the taping last night.

First off, the crowd reaction to Ryder was much stronger than usual, and was a good opportunity to get him over with the fans at home, as the crowd was rowdy during the segment. They should have given him a match, since his home crowd would have been into it. The singing was awful. It was designed to have Benjamin look good, but no one wanted to hear him either. Couldn't a match have served the same purpose? Overall, the segment would have been Abraham's only acceptable one, minus "Abraham Idol". I may be biased, but Ryder seems like a star.

The Ezekiel Jackson / Kozlov thing is lame. Neither seems destined for anything. Jackson is everything that is wrong with RAW and represents the "Ultimate Warrior" past of WWE.

Goldust and Seamus' match live was GREAT. May have seemed weaker at home, but they were very stiff with each other and were working well together. The main problem here is that it showed how much talent Goldust truly has and not Seamus. The tougher version of his character was a nice change.

The extreme rules match was fun. The crowd was behind both stars and the chants were very loud. Dreamer really showed that this was his element, and exemplified the old ECW attitude, tossing a hot dog to a fan and getting a garbage can stuck on his shirt. Christian desperately needs to move on, however, as he is becoming stale while Dreamer gains more respect.

Overall ECW was pretty good.

"Kev,
Do you any word on the jobber (Danny Danger?) who was destroyed last night by Ezekiel Jackson and Koslov? It looked like the ref gave the signal for an actual injury."

He was fine. Got up right when they went to commercial.

While having the feeling that the title wasn't changing hands didn't help I thought
it was hard to get emotionally invested in the title match because they made a mockery out of something that they spent the last couple of months trying to portray as something serious. The ECW title may not be the most respected title on the planet but Tommy Dreamer crying about it all the time sure made me think that he cared about it. But all that went away when Dreamer was pushing a hot dog cart down to the ring, and stopped to have a bite in the middle of the match. The crowd didn't help either. They hardly popped for anything. I thought the car door was a little campy too, but the spot to end the match with Christian reveresing Dreamer into the Kill Switch was well done and testament to both men because that could have ended poorly.

Kevin, I have watched WWE/F since approximately 1988 and watching the promos that the stars put on now makes me ask... have they always had a creative team writing scripts? Now I'm only 34, but I remember back to a time when superstars seemed a little more natural, HH, Iron Shiek (though you usually could rarely catch what he was saying), Rowdy Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, Macho Man, Bret Hart. Are we just dealing with a different class of people now a days or are they pressured that much to stick with a script, that they can come off as stiff? As always, Thanks for what you do!!!

RESPONSE FROM KE: Scripted promos have been around for about a decade or so. Before that, guys had to rely on their own creativity to get over.

I think the Abraham Washington show is going to be like the movie Showgirls in that its so bad its actually kinda entertaining.

Is Abe Washington ever going to wrestle in a match...or Gregory Helms for that matter? Suprised that Ryder didn't get a match with Benjamin - especially since the show was on Long Island and he just had a very good match with Christian.

The 'new superstar initiative is looking to be more of a bust; only sheamus appeared, and I agree with you Kev, he's missing "it."

That Abraham Washington show was just as dreadful as the "singing" competition. I actually watched it twice make sure it was as bad as advertised. I really want the light to go off for Shelton Benjamin but he REALLY needs a manager/mouthpiece...and I don't mean his "momma".

I like to see finflay and seamus wrestle since seamus has cut 2 promos mockng finlay and love to see him come to Sd and have finlay fine tune his wrestlin and maybe tag team as the only Irish tag team in WWE history.

Vince can't be watching ECW. Cause there's no way I could believe he watched that "Smurf" segment and was pleased with his writers. TV writers who specialize in "How I Met Your Mother" type stuff just can't write for wrestling. Let the wrestlers come up with their own stuff, let the naturally funny guys get over and don't make your big heels or Lashley type guys talk more than they need to. Makes for better shows.

Whats up Kev? just thought about something on RAW. Shawn Michaels was supposed to be financially set for life after beating JBL last year. Why did he tell HHH he was at a job, or at least insinuate that he has taken a job? Maybe since WM25 hes been living the hi life and blown thru all his money. hah! nevermind. just another case of them thinking fans dont remember anything. BTW, love your blog.been reading it for a couple yrs now since right after you started it.I like your blog because U are a smart fan but u understand this IS entertainment. some people take it too seriously. i still enjoy RAW even tho its sucked lately,but i look forward to your blog as soon as its over. keep up the GREAT work. GMAN

I watched a bit of ECW the other night. It was BAD. Boring and its a SHAM its still being called the ECW. WOOOO

Kev, could you see WWE rebranding ECW at all? At this point it seems silly to have an "extreme" PG rated show, and considering Tommy Dreamer is the only original left, the name ECW is dying a slow painful death.

I thought the main event and the Sheamus, Goldust matches were good. Don't know were they are going with big Zik and Koslov but I wish they would hurry up. Shelton and Zach Ryder singing was very scary thing.

Abraham Washington reminds me a little bit of Brother Love ("I Loooove You") from back in the WWF days, with his "Thank you, thank you thank you" to annoy the fans...kinda cool, I think he could really start generating some major heat if he keeps it up.

It's good Tiffany is still around as GM, so there's a clueless but incredibly hot blond to come rushing over when someone gets saved by Hurricane Helms.

Sheamus just comes off as a huge tool on his way down to the ring. Maybe he needs a gimmick, perhaps he could push a hot dog cart to the ring or something. When Goldust attacked him it seemed like they wanted to show Goldust's "Extreme" side.

The Ezekiel-Kozlov encounters are interesting, but if the intention is for a match, just set it up on ECW already...Not like it's going to draw people to order a Pay-Per-View.

"It was very telling that there was a recap of last week’s Smackdown instead of Monday’s Raw."

___________________________

I took note of that too. I didn't watch Raw (except for the handicap match), but I believe anyone who says that it was awful. I give WWE some credit for not cramming a recap of such of poorly received episode of the A show down our throats.

P.S. Sorry if a fragmentary version of this got posted earlier. I had some sort of keyboard miscue.

Okay so I was the only one who loved the smurf talk? Sorry my friends and I had a good laugh over that, maybe we are at the right age for it to appeal to our fond memories (30)