The ECW on Sci-Fi Breakdown 06.20.06

Most of you hated last week’s show. Hated it with a passion. Fiery passion. I did get a handful of e-mails voicing a sort of lukewarm support, though.

I dont get why you 411 guys are ripping on ECW. And I
dont understand why everyone thought the NEW ECW would
be the same as the old one. Of course this one will be
different and of course the fans watching this are WWE
fans so yeah you will get the “Im on my cellphone”
types. At least they didnt chant about a wrestler’s
penis all night.

I saw the same argument in the forums, so that seems to be the dividing line between the “liked it” and “didn’t like it.”

What I get from the people who wrote in is that they didn’t hate it for what it wasn’t (the real ECW), but they hated it for what it was (namely a bland, crappy show). It’s not just that it was different, but that the different show was horrible. And I’d prefer “penis” chants to no chants at all. Enthusiasm, no matter how misguided is always welcome. (Well, outside of stabbings).

I do think they could learn a few things from the original, though. More on that in the ‘final thoughts.’

ECW on Sci-Fi June 20, 2006 From Albany, NY. Your hosts are Joey Styles and Tazz. Crazy-ass Tarot lady explains what happened last week and on Raw. Yeah, that’s great, lady, but you’re supposed to read the future! Actually, this is a pretty decent way to recap if you’re going to do the Tarot lady. Nice to see Drea DeMatteo getting work too. Other good news for ECW: It’s sandwiched in between “House of the Dead” and “Scarecrow Slayer” tonight, which should make it look good by comparison if nothing else. Although, if you get a chance, check out the original “Scarecrow” starring my good friend Tiffany Shepis. Sabu vs. Tony Mamaluke (w/Trinity) Trinity is SMOKIN’ hot, so this show is already better than last week’s. I can’t imagine her hanging around Mamaluke for long, though. Sabu hits a triple jump plancha, blocks a splash off the top by tossing a chair into Mamaluke’s face. He puts Mamaluke through a table for good measure and finishes with the Camel Clutch around 3:20. 1/2* Rob Van Dam shows off his new title and talks about he gets to wrestle tonight. I should point out that the arena is darkened during the matches, which helps the atmosphere considerably. The Northeast crowd doesn’t hurt either. Tommy Dreamer gets on the mic and tells Big Show if Show wants to make a name for himself, he’ll have to go through him. He slaps him right in the face, so Show knocks him around and slams him against the post. Basically, this is legalized slaughter to demonstrate that Show is, indeed, a big nasty bastard. Macho Libre vs. The Sandman. Okay, this is pretty funny. Some fat guy comes out in Jack Black’s Nacho Libre costume and does an impersonation of Macho Man Randy Savage and Eddy Guerrero’s illegitimate child. Oooooh yeahhhhh, dig it! Sandman destroys Macho with the cane and finishes with the White Russian Leg Sweep at 0:27. This is cute, but it’s a little hypocritical to make fun of sports entertainment when the rest of your show is still sports entertainment. 1/4* Paul Heyman learns that John Cena is outside the building. He tells the referees to mobilize the troops. John Cena surprises the ECW roster by showing up and confronting everyone directly (and by doing his best Ben Roethlisberger impersonation). He says he’ll take on any of them and offers to meet Sabu in an “Extreme Lumberjack Match.” Why is ECW being positioned as the heels on their own show? Kelly strips again. This time to the Pussycat Doll’s “Buttons.” Nice choice. Ironically, Kelly doesn’t seem to have any buttons. Some guy comes out and stops her once she takes her bra off. I’m sure I should know this guy. He has “Outlaw” written on his tights. And if it’s Ron Bass, he’s aged incredibly well. Test is coming to ECW! Hmmm…that could be worth it for the shoot promos alone. Edge & Randy Orton (w/Lita) vs. Rob Van Dam & Kurt Angle. Not diggin’ the Carnie Wilson ‘do on Lita. Kurt Angle versus Rob Van Dam should be the very first angle they run once they truly go independent of the other brands. Angle outwrestles Edge early. Van Dam crotches Orton on the top rope and hits a sidekick. He takes it to the floor and hits a moonsault. He continues to dominate until Lita yanks down the ropes, and Van Dam spills to the floor. Van Dam takes another nasty spill as Edge tosses him to the floor. Randy hits a nice dropkick, but Rob tags to Angle. Angle hits Rolling Germans. No bridge. All impact. Angle locks in the Anklelock, but Edge helps Orton to the ropes. Angle blocks Edge’s double ax-handle and goes for the Angleslam, but Orton clips his knee. The Raw guys go after Angle’s leg. Angle takes Edge down and tries to choke him out, but Lita crawls in and claws the eyes. Van Dam gets the hot tag and cleans house with a spin kick on Edge and a pescado on Orton. Angle locks in the Anklelock on Edge, but Lita runs in again with the belt. He sees her coming and gives her the Angleslam. Orton sneaks in behind him and gives Angle the RKO. Orton stops to gloat, so Van Dam hits him with a flying thrust kick. In a really cool spot, Edge punts Van Dam when he goes for Rolling Thunder. Edge readies for the spear, but Van Dam picks up the title belt, and Edge crashes into it instead. The Five-Star Frogsplash finishes at 15:14. Very WWE-ish and not ECW-ish, but what do I care. It was good wrestling. *** Final Thoughts: The most important thing I read last week was not the good ratings, nor Paul Heyman’s thoughts, nor that Hoyt and Bentley are in the TNA doghouse, but that Vince McMahon was not pleased with the ECW show. It may seem like a small detail, but it shows that Vince is at least aware of the problems. Some of them were corrected here, but there are still a few to go. A) They need to work their own angles. Soon. I expect some cross-promotion with Raw and Smackdown, but part of the excitement of having a new brand is getting to know new wrestlers in new situations. B) More varied wrestling. It still feels like WWE squashes with ECW spots. If ECW is to be anything more than low-rent Raw, it has to offer something you can’t see anywhere else like the old ECW (and even WCW) did. Real lucha libre, technical wrestling, extreme brawling, a combination of all three. C) Where’s the attitude? ECW was infamous for the honesty displayed with the audience. They let Douglas shoot on Flair. They let Taz shoot on Sabu. Even at One Night Stand, they let Heyman and Styles rip the WWE. More of that, please. But overall, this was much better than last week. Cross your fingers for continued improvement. J.D. Dunn