By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

ECW TV on Sci-Fi Live Report
June 12 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Year 2, Week 1 (Week 53 overall) on Sci-Fi

We start the first show of ECW's second year on Sci-Fi with a clip from earlier today at WWE HQs with the WWE flag at half-mast. Ringside, Joey Styles and Tazz stood in front of a silent audience and talked about the demise of Mr. McMahon at the end of Raw last night. Tazz wasn't sporting his sunglasses, so you know it's serious. Styles introduced complete, unedited footage from the end of Raw when McMahon solemnly walked to the ring before heading backstage past the circus crowd of wrestlers and ultimately to the white limo before it exploded and was engulfed by flames.

Back live ringside, Styles and Tazz stared into the camera. Tazz said the matches tonight will be dedicated to the memory of Mr. McMahon. In the ring, Justin Roberts told the audience to rise out of respect for Mr. McMahon. They did a ten-bell salute and some fans booed with each passing toll of the bell. Styles and Tazz called it disrespectful. What, the fans booing? Or McMahon booking a ten-bell salute for a storyline when many wrestlers have had the same ten-bell salute in death after giving their bodies to McMahon to line his pocket?

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

1 -- TOMMY DREAMER vs. BALLS MAHONEY -- Extreme Rules match

Styles and Tazz put over McMahon for giving the Originals a chance to have another run on ECW. Dreamer clotheslined Balls over the top rope to the floor, then pulled out various weapons from under the ring. He caught Balls with a plastic kitchen sink, then Balls reversed a whip into the ring steps. Balls then went under the ring and tossed various weapons into the ring. Back in the ring, Dreamer nailed Balls with trashcan shots over the head before going back to the outside and grabbing a couple of chairs. Balls reversed a whip off the ropes and gave Dreamer a drop toe hold to the seat of a chair. He then went to the corner for a high-risk move, but Dreamer crotched him and landed a can shot to the chest. He then followed with a basement dropkick sending the can into Balls's chest. Dreamer declared "E-C-W!" and went back under the ring for the big prize of a table. He set it up in the ring, but Balls caught him with a can shot to the face. He then placed Dreamer's head on the table and went for a leg drop from the second rope, but Dreamer moved, and Balls crashed through the table. Dreamer then dropped Balls with a DDT on a chair for the win. After the match, Dreamer and Balls slapped hands out of respect.

WINNER: Dreamer in 6:00. Classic ECW match with no long-term selling and plenty of weapons. Crowd gave the match a fair reception. Solid opener. (*1/2)

Later tonight, it's Benoit & Punk vs. Cor Von & Burke. And up next is the Boogeyman.

[Commercial Break]

Striker was already in the ring for his match against Boogeyman. He looked to the ceiling and mouthed, "I love you".

2 -- MATT STRIKER vs. THE BOOGEYMAN

Bell sounded and Striker fed his arm to Boogeyman for a hammerlock. Fans were catcalling early on for this one. Striker went on the offensive with clubbing forearm blows, thenn Boogeyman made his Superman comeback and the crowd didn't react. He scoop slammed Striker then hit a big splash off the ropes. He started dancing in the ring before landing a charging clothesline in the corner. Boogeyman followed with the two-hand chokeslam for the pin and the win. After the match, Boogeyman pulled out a whole heaping of momma's favorite worms and dropped them right in Striker's mouth. Gross.

WINNER: Boogeyman in 3:00. Whoa boy. Another Boogeyman push until WWE pulls the plug again. For some reason, they keep expecting different results each time they re-start the push. (1/4*)

[Q3]

Ringside, Styles and Tazz returned to super serious mode and said we would see post-limo explosion footage from last night after the break.

[Commercial Break]

Styles and Tazz spoke solemnly about what happened when Raw went off the air last night. In the fastest response to a fire in the history of the world, fire trucks were on the scene of the burning limo within seconds of the explosion. They showed footage of a few firemen putting out the flames with a hose. This lasted for several minutes. And it went on and on. Great television right there. Back live, Styles said the flames reached 30 feet up in the air. Tazz said he had black soot all over his car, and they could still see the black smoke from their hotel a mile away. Styles said it was indescribable.

Up next is the main event of Punk & Benoit vs. Burke & Cor Von.

[Commercial Break. The local advertisement for Vengeance at Toyota Center in Houston lists the PPV as a Raw brand PPV only. Shawn Michaels was also listed prominently, so a tad behind on the advertising.]

Chris Benoit came out alone before C.M. Punk came out to a strong ovation. The New Breed music hit and Burke slowly walked out alone before Cor Von followed out to his own music.

[Q4]

3 -- CHRIS BENOIT & C.M. PUNK vs. ELIJAH BURKE & MARCUS COR VON

Styles said Benoit had his first major exposure in the U.S. back in ECW in the early '90s. Well, if you ignore his few matches prior to that in WCW at Clash of the Champions. Cor Von started the match with Punk, working on his back. Burke then tagged in and worked on Punk's oft-injured ribs. Burke landed a knee to the face, resulting in a nearfall. Punk came back with a single arm takeover before landing shoulder blocks and tagging out to Benoit, who tried to rip off Burke's head in the first 30 seconds of his turn in the match. Burke rolled to the outside, then rolled back in and tried to beg off, but Benoit snapped off a suplex for a nearfall. Cor Von then tagged in and landed forearm blows before Benoit landed a hard chop to the chest. Cor Von was a bit off with his offense against Benoit, who tried to cover for Cor Von by creating movement. Punk then took a tag and landed a springboard fist smash on Cor Von. Tazz and Styles mentioned the vacant ECW Title for the first time on the show, hinting that one of these four men in the ring could be contenders for the belt. The babyfaces tried to get their shine as the New Breed regrouped on the outside before they cut to a break, but the crowd was quiet.

[Commercial Break]

Back live, Burke had Punk in a reverse chinlock, then Cor Von and Burke started tagging in and out to work on Punk. The New Breed cut off Punk from making tags to Benoit, then the ref called for the bell when Cor Von, not the legal man, was in the ring too long and didn't leave before a five count.

[Q5 -- over-run]

After the match, Benoit finally entered the ring and gave Burke a round of German suplexes before hitting a top rope diving headbutt. He then slapped on a Sharpshooter as the ref called him off. Why not reverse the decision like on Snitsky last night for too much post-match activity? Benoit and Punk saluted the crowd as Styles talked about the McMahon deal again.

WINNERS: Punk & Benoit via DQ in 14:00. This is bush league with WWE's handling of the rules right now. Possibly worse than what TNA's been guilty of on PPVs in the past. WWE is insulting the intelligence of the viewer by loosely applying rules without any consistency from match to match or show to show. Match itself wasn't very good, and the crowd was pretty much worn out after a Smackdown taping and being bashed over the head with video packages on the limo angle. (*)

They went back to footage of McMahon being blown up in the limo on Raw to close tonight's show.

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for an "ECW Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on ECW TV, click here.

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