ECW Extreme Extracts 09.08.09

Hi everyone, and welcome to ECW Extreme Extracts! Extreme Extracts is not a full on recap column of ECW. Instead I highlight some of the angles and storylines and even speculate from time to time where they might be heading. Don’t forget, in addition to the comment section below you can email me as well with any questions/comments and you’ll see your letter reprinted on the Earth Wide Intertubes.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Shawn Lealos for stepping in for me the past two weeks and doing such an amazing job. You’re the man Shawn!

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Let’s chat about tonight’s episode of ECW…

Show results:

• Match One: Hurricane def. Paul Burchill
• Match Two: Shelton Benjamin & Sheamus def. Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust
• Match Three: Zach Ryder def jobber.
• Match Four: Ezekiel Jackson & Kozlov def Christian and Tommy Dreamer.

The main theme of the show:
More than any others in recent weeks, this episode of ECW showed just how important it is for this show to not just have wrestling veterans but to have THE RIGHT wrestling veterans. Obviously ECW is the training ground for the up and coming superstars of WWE but none of that training would be effective without the right people in place to get the most out of the young stars. Hurricane, Goldust, Regal, Dreamer, and to a certain extent Christian have never been top of the card main event workers in WWE. In fact, Hurricane, Goldust, and Regal have mostly been comedic characters throughout their WWE careers but on ECW they now have a new role and all have thrived in it. First we had Hurricane getting yet another fantastic match out of Paul Burchill by giving Paul more than enough offense to come out of the match looking better than he did going into it. I’m sure I’m not alone in being excited to see where this feud between the Ripper and the Hurricane goes. The feud between Goldust and Sheamus is another fine example of an established vet giving his all to make a rookie look as good as possible, win or lose. In fact, it has been so effective that Sheamus is now able to move on to a feud with Shelton, a vet who is also looking to reinvent himself of ECW. And finally we have the combined efforts of Christian, Dreamer, and Regal in building Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson as monster forces of nature in ECW. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that both Kozlov and Jackson looked about as good as they have ever looked in the tag match tonight and even though they are still flawed and green (especially Jackson) tonight we saw glimpses of what they could possibly be if given more opportunities to grow and learn. It is really cool to see how these vets are willing to put their egos aside in the interest of building the future and giving back to the business. When each and every one of these guys were coming up and trying to make their names in this business there were vets who put their egos aside now the vets on ECW are doing the same. Christian has been especially great at this and has gotten fantastic matches out of the likes of Jack Swagger and Zach Ryder. I know a lot of people were upset when Christian made his big WWE return to ECW but look at it this way; Christian has the potential to leave a much bigger fingerprint on WWE by helping train the next generation rather than have big championship runs on Raw or Smackdown. Pardon the pun but Christian’s building a legacy through his work on ECW and putting him in that kind of position shows a lot more respect for his skills than token title runs on the “big shows” ever could. What we saw tonight were several examples of wrestlers taking that mindset by being unselfish and being the right kind of veterans for ECW. I love to see it!

The minor theme:
Tonight’s show wasn’t just about the young guys but it was also the final piece of the puzzle in the rebuilding of William Regal after his embarrassment at SummerSlam. Regal has been his evil and cunning best since that PPV and tonight was no exception. I have always liked Regal and I think that he really is the complete package when it comes to skills both in and out of the ring. Regal has the ability to get more meaning across in simple facial expressions than a lot of wrestlers can get out of an entire promo. Regal is a pro’s pro and through his efforts in directing the destructive powers of Kozlov and Jackson for his own gain he’s shown that he is a force to be reckoned with yet again. I also like how he has managed to get over the Regal Stretch once again. Funny thing, getting over a submission move heading into a submission themed PPV. Too bad Raw and Smackdown haven’t followed suit given that their title matches are actually submission matches. But hey, I’m just a writer on the internet, who am I to point out logic gaps? Anyway, Regal was amazing tonight with his antics on the outside during the main event tag and the way he picked the bones of Dreamer and Christian after the match. If Regal and Christian get enough time at the PPV they should have one heck of a match.

Other quick thoughts from the show:

*The whole duel identity gimmick was ruined during Hurricane’s first match when they called him “Hurricane Helms”

*Striker with about 7000 Marvel references to about 2 DC ones. And yet I knew all of them. Yikes?

*Paul Burchill means Katie Lea Burchill and we all know what that means…

* Very cute new interview girl tonight named Savannah. She’s known in FCW as Angela Fong. What happened to Courtney Taylor?

*In the Shelton Benjamin & Sheamus vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust match I would have liked to have seen Yoshi be the one to get the hot tag and run wild. I think that would have been more effective and let him showcase his skills better.

*Speaking of Yoshi…

* Thanks to 411mania Forum legend middlehead for the sweet pictures!

*No Abraham Washington makes me sad. This makes me feel better.

ECW Alumni Spotlight :

In an effort to show how important ECW is to developing new talents every week I am going to highlight anything significant involving a WWE Superstar that either got their start on ECW or made their biggest impact on ECW before moving to Raw or Smackdown. This week’s focus is Mike Knox!

When ECW on SyFy first started, Mike Knox was debuted as the jealous boyfriend of exhibitionist Kelly Kelly. You see, Kelly Kelly would start to “strip” but Mike would come out and cover her up right before she got to the good parts. So yeah, he was a bad guy. He was also pretty vanilla, I mean he had a somewhat menacing look and undeniable size & power, but he never really cut any promos and was always just “there” if you know what I mean. There was nothing that really distinguished him. He teamed with Test for a while and even had a little feud with CM Punk over Kelly Kelly. He was part of Team RKO at Survivor Series in 2006 but shortly after that he went back to developmental. He returned to ECW in September of 2007 and was mostly jobbed out before feuding with Stevie Richards and later Tommy Dreamer in the summer of 2008, even working a few mixed tags with Layla. He finished out his tenure on ECW feuding with Finlay before being moved to Raw in November of that year. His run on Raw was largely undistinguished and he was drafted to Smackdown in April of 2009 and since then he has really started to shine. We are just starting to scratch the surface of his character but his wild look coupled with his intelligent and calm manner of speaking leads one to believe that he is truly maniacal and capable of great harm to whoever crosses his path.

Here he is beating the crap out of Finlay:

Here he is on Superstars against Dolph Ziggler and Finlay:

*to all my international readers, I use Hulu.com because they are an official site for WWE video content and thus it’s where I can get the highest quality WWE videos. Plus they won’t get taken down like Youtube videos tend to be.

Reader email:
No email this week since I have been away but what I would like from you readers is a list of your favorite moments from ECW on SyFy thus far. I will compile them for an upcoming special edition of ECW Extreme Extracts!

* That’s it for the Extracts this week. Any comments can be made below. And if you have an opinion on the show that you’d like me to print in next week’s column, email me at andy(dot)critchell(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, make sure to check me out on the UBS Evening Movie News Report over on the Movie Zone where I post the Interactive Babe Photo News Brief each and every week.

Have a great week!