Quick hits on ECW
• The ECW title match that I have been hoping for between champion Christian and Shelton Benjamin is going to happen at the TLC pay-per-view on Dec. 13. That’s the good news. The great news is that it will be a ladder match. That announcement on Tuesday night’s episode of ECW got a much bigger pop than the announcement on Raw that WWE champion John Cena would be facing Sheamus in a tables match at the show, which doesn’t surprise me. Expectations will be high for the Christian-Benjamin match, and I think they’ll steal the show – as Christian said he wants to do – if they are given the opportunity to do so.
• The match between Benjamin and Zack Ryder – which Benjamin won to gain the title shot – was good. Benjamin showed more fire than usual.
• It looks as if Ezekiel Jackson is turning babyface. He laid out both Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal after Regal’s loss to Yoshi Tatsu. Before Jackson became one of Regal’s henchmen, I wrote that I thought he had potential as a powerhouse babyface. If he is booked correctly – and by that I mean a Goldberg-type push in which he squashes people and isn’t asked to do too much – I think he’ll get over. As for the inevitable Jackson-Kozlov match, well, as Jim Ross would say, that one will be “bowling shoe ugly.”
• I laughed when Kozlov pointed at Jackson and said, “He did it,” after Regal demanded to know which of them shoved Tatsu toward him, which ended up costing him the match. I suppose Kozlov was hoping that Regal wouldn’t watch a replay.
• I was surprised to see Tatsu beat Regal so quickly, especially after Regal was talking backstage about not giving up his quest for the ECW title.
• How good did Rosa Mendes look sitting ringside? Is she paying tribute to the late Farrah Fawcett with her hairdo?
• Tony Atlas has emerged as the star of The Abraham Washington Show. Without him laughing, smiling and dancing, the past few shows would have been pretty bad. OK, some of you probably think they were bad anyway. It looks as if the seeds have been planted for a split between Washington and Atlas, but I’m not sure where WWE could go with that.
• That was a heck of a clothesline that Vance Archer gave to an enhancement guy. Archer is looking good, but the crowd doesn’t care about him yet.
Comments
It doesn't say much for the WWE product when the WWE Superstars themselves won't even watch the replays of the match they just lost.
Posted by: Mr. Sarcasm | November 25, 2009 6:38 PM
Glad Shelton gets a chance at gold, er, silver. I'm a huge Benjamin mark, but I'd prefer him as a heel. Like a Tully Blanchard/Arn Anderson type that wins without cheating, but will cheat anyway. Then add sudden paydirt finishes, and a ruthless streak, he'd be nasty. The problem with him as a heel was that there was blandness in his character. Yes, he's not good on the mic, but bringing back mouthy managers would be great.
Well, he's getting over with the crowd now so that makes me feel good. He and Christian will kill the PPV. That's the match I'm most looking forward to.
Do you think if Christian looses, he'll go to one of the other shows or do you think ECW still needs that big name on the roster? I don't think Regal and Shelton can carry the whole division.
Posted by: Frank King | November 25, 2009 11:55 PM
Really excited for the ECW title match....hopefully they get more then 5-10 mins.
My guess is that Ryder will now feud with Hurricane considering they are a face/heel combo that need a new feud.
" Archer is looking good, but the crowd doesn’t care about him yet."....So i guess that means he'll be the #1 contender after TLC, right?
Archer should move on to face Goldust/Dreamer to give him some wins that actually count on the 'scoreboard'
And if Matt Hardy wanted to promote his show, wouldn't it've made sense to do so on Raw considering its seen by a greater audience...not sure the average ECW watcher regularly tunes into ScyFi...same goes for SD and the MYNetwork channel
Posted by: eee | November 26, 2009 12:04 AM
Rosa is hot. One of the hottest divas. I'm glad to have her not be competing as her thin arms make it difficult to buy her as a threat, but as eye candy she is perfect. I also think she performs her part well.
Posted by: Andy | November 26, 2009 12:17 AM
The crowd doesn't care about Vance Archer because they don't give him any mic time.
Posted by: Erik | November 26, 2009 8:26 AM
The ladder match should showcase a couple of guys who deserve pushes on the bigger shows. Both Shelton and Christian have proven they can go and deserve a shot. I also think that if either one would put on a better match with John Cena than Sheamus will. He belongs on ECW developing his character, not main eventing a PPV 6 months after his WWE debut.
Posted by: Pat Coyne | November 26, 2009 3:22 PM
They really need to make Abraham Washington the color commentator on ECW. At least he has an identifiable personality, unlike the uber-vanilla Byron Saxton.
Posted by: Joshtinpowers | November 26, 2009 7:49 PM
The crowd doesn't care about Vance Archer because they aren't impressed by guys that squash jobbers. Time and time again the WWE tries to get guys over this way, and time and time again it fails.
Posted by: Ken Raining | November 27, 2009 9:50 AM
Christian vs. Shelton stealing the show at TLC? Really? My prediction: One minute away in the match, William Regal and his cohorts give 'em a beating, making it a no-contest. It's better to think like this than to be extremely hyped then BOOM - bait n' switch. Past PPVs teach us as so.
Posted by: JETZexc | November 27, 2009 1:59 PM
Kevin, Have you heard anything about Shane McMahon possibly going to the UFC? I saw this post on cnnsi.com truth and rumors section and thought it was pretty interesting.
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/129579-mcmahon-to-buy-ufc-stake
thoughts?
RESPONSE FROM KE: I've heard the rumors and it's no secret that Shane has long been interested in doing something with MMA. It makes sense, but who really knows?
Posted by: Neil | November 27, 2009 3:44 PM
Byron Saxton is the Coach before he found his personality.
BTW, how come no one misses the Coach???
Posted by: rob the barber | November 27, 2009 10:40 PM
Has the Regal Roundtable split up? One can only hope. From day one, I haven't understood this group's motivaton. Kozlov and Jackson took turns abusing enhancement talent, then they joined Regal because he was so smart? If you say so. Frankly, I have found the 'Table to be one of the lowlights on ECW over the past few months, so I hope that we have seen the last of it. Oh wait; the alternative is Big Zeke getting a singles push....
Posted by: Christopher | November 28, 2009 4:13 PM
Do we know if Paul Burchill will return? He's a good performer. I know his brother was killed in Afghanistan this year: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6670034.ece
Maybe this is why he's off, and he's coming back?
Posted by: John Wilding | November 30, 2009 12:46 PM