The ECW eXperience 8.14.07

by J.D. Dunn August 14, 2007 Live from the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Your hosts are Joey Styles and Taz. Jonathan Coachman, who has already been promoted from William Regal’s executive assistant to Vince McMahon’s executive assistant, announces that Armando Estrada is the new ECW GM. I guess Armando was off having his Alejandro removed. He says he hopes Vince McMahon took frequent trips to “Koo-bah” in the 1970s. Now Armando needs to grow a long beard and wear a commandante uniform. Contract Signing Both guys cut promos on one another, of course. Surprisingly, the table is not overturned, and they don’t come to blows. Instead, Estrada makes two separate matches: Punk vs. Big Daddy V and Morrison vs. the Boogeyman. CM Punk vs. Big Daddy V (w/Matt Striker). We saw this same basic match in The Great Khali vs. Ric Flair on Smackdown. Punk can’t string together more than a few moves with Vee overpowering him. He knocks Punk off the apron all the way to announce table. That earns Big Daddy V the countout victory at 3:20. Is Punk really hurt, or is he supposed to look like a giant pussy? You know, Rocky and the Karate Kid weren’t great underdogs because they got their asses kicked. They were great underdogs because they got their asses kicked but kept getting up. Punk, in this case, stayed down, which is fine if he’s actually injured, but if *that* was the booking, talk about counterproductive. And don’t give me the “well, this keeps Big Daddy V strong” argument because I’ll just counter with that they could have done the same booking they used with the Stevie vs. Thorn match later in the night. * In the back, Estrada tells Tommy Dreamer to get to the ring in 1:00 or forfeit the match. Suddenly, the backstage is littered with jobbers wanting to talk to him or debris tripping him up. He makes it to the ring, though, so we get… Big Daddy V (w/Matt Striker) vs. Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer fires away but gets squashed with a Samoan Drop. Flying Bossman Slam and elbow drop finishes for Vee at 1:14. 1/4* In the back, Mizzie Mac makes fun of his ho Kelly Kelly for taking a liking to Balls Mahoney. Miz looked like Anthony Michael Hall in Weird Science when he got high with those old black guys. Kevin Thorn vs. Stevie Richards. Thorn slaps Stevie around early, so Stevie takes him down and pummels him. Thorn brushes it off and hits a clothesline. Thorn starts slamming him around and hitting short clotheslines. Stevie starts firing back, but Thorn catches him with a spinebuster at 4:22. After the match, Thorn continues to punish Stevie. He gives Stevie the Crucifix Bomb over the ref’s warnings, so the ref reverses the decision, meaning Stevie is now 3-0 against Thorn. Oops. *1/4 In the back, Elijah Burke speculates on whether or not he might be Vince’s kid. It’s funny how all of these guys are throwing their real fathers overboard in the hopes of inheriting McMahon’s wealth. John Morrison vs. The Boogeyman. Boogeyman actually opens with a wrestling hold as he tosses Morrison overhead with a Fireman’s Carry. Now *that’s* scary. Boogey charges with a clothesline and hits a Warrior-ish splash. Morrison comes back with a missile dropkick, but Boogeyman no-sells. Boogey goes up, but Morrison HITS THE PELE OUT OF NOWHERE! The fans get behind Boogey as Morrison grounds him with an overhand hammerlock. The Corkscrew Moonsault misses, and Boogey comes back with a pair of bodyslams. MOVESET~! Morrison avoids a corner charge and hits a springboard kick. He slipped again this week. He should drop that move until he gets it down pat. I know it’s difficult, but Low Ki used to work it into nearly every ROH match, and I never saw him miss once. Then again, Ki accidentally knocked out a guy with it, and they had to end the show early, so maybe he’s not the best role model. Morrison starts stomping the Boogeyman and shoves the referee away, drawing another disqualification tonight. (6:06) So, Punk loses via countout, and Morrison loses via disqualification? And these guys are supposed to be your ECW representatives at the PPV? *3/4 The 411: Yikes. It looked like they were trying to shift the power structure away from Morrison and Punk and toward…**gulp**…Boogeyman and Big Daddy V. I understand ratings have been down, but that’s not just hitting the panic button, that’s ripping the button off and swallowing it like a cyanide tablet. Odd week this week because they did everything the opposite of how you would normally do it when building to a big PPV.