By Wade Keller, Torch editor

KELLER'S ECW ON SCI-FI REPORT
JULY 15, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C.

-A clip aired of Teddy Long welcoming Tony Atlas backstage last week and then inviting him to be a guest ring announcer and Mark Henry telling Atlas if he wanted a payday, he'd let him carry his bags after the show, but ending up with Atlas turning Colin Delaney and Tommy Dreamer.

-The ECW opening aired, then Mike Adamle introduced the show and hyped the Hardys vs. Miz & John Morrison as the main event.

-Tazz introduced Henry from mid-ring. Henry walked to the ring with a smiling Tony Atlas. Tazz asked Atlas, "Why?" Atlas said when Henry said he could carry his bags, he said he wouldn't carry just anyone's bags as a Hall of Famer, but he'd be "gracious" to carry Henry's bags because he's the World's Strongest Champion. Atlas grabbed a frying pan from a ringside helper. He asked the crowd if they knew what that was. I know this is the Drive-Thru generation, but I'm pretty sure everyone can recognize one. He explained to the fans that's what their mothers cook with. Henry took it and banged it against the ringpost. They challenged anyone in the crowd to step into the ring and try to bend it. A fan in an orange Bobcast t-shirt stepped into the ring. He had the fan try to bend the pan. The pan didn't bend. Atlas told the fan to get out of the ring. Then he handed the pan to Henry who rolled the pan like a burrito. It looked pretty impressive. The question still lingers, though, whether that was worth ten minutes of TV time.

Tommy Dreamer walked out. He said he wasn't there to fight, because he was saving that until Sunday. He told Henry what he just did was damn impressive. Dreamer said he's been working out really hard lately and he wants to give a shot to bending a pan. Atlas laughed and handed Dreamer another pan. Dreamer tried to bedn it, but it didn't bend at all. As Henry gloated, Dreamer bashed him over the head with the pan, then rolled out of the ring with the dented pan in his hand. Ouch.

[Q2]

[Commercial Break]

-Backstage Long told Dreamer to calm down. He told him this isn't Raw and he won't tolerate any "civil unrest." He said Dreamer has the rest of the night off. Dreamer protested and asked what he did so wrong. Then he kicked a door as he left the arena.

1 -- MIKE KNOX vs. SHANNON MOORE

Adamle called Moore a local favorite. He said he, like Colin Delaney, is undersized and sometimes underestimated. At 1:00 Moore got a local pop for a near fall after a top rope head scissors. Knox finished Moore seconds later after a faceplant suplex toss.

WINNER: Knox in 2:00.

-A Raw recap aired including JBL trying to kill John Cena with his truck. There were all kinds of camera angles for this supposedly impromptu attempt at vehicular homicide. That means JBL told the camera men ahead of time what he had planned so a camera could be placed inside the car that JBL leaned Cena against and sped into.

[Commercial Break]

[Q3]

2 -- CHAVO GUERRERO (w/Bam Neely) vs. EVAN BOURNE

Adamle said Bourne is "the poster boy for degree of difficulty." Tazz plugged the Edge-Vickie wedding on Smackdown this Friday. Lots of great athleticism from Bourne that had Tazz speechless at times. Bourne hit a shooting starr press for a big upset win of the former ECW Champ - surprisingly undersold by Adamle and Tazz.

WINNER: Bourne in 3:00.

-In the parking garage area, Henry and Atlas walked up to Delaney. Atlas said he had nothing to worry about, but seconds later Henry grabbed him and squeezed him and then press dropped him onto some garbage crates.

[Commercial Break]

-A clip aired of the C.M. Punk-Batista angle from Raw.

-Tazz and Adamle plugged the Great American Bash line-up, which apparently is also a NASCAR event or something since they had images of speeding race car clips in the background of the wrestler images.

-The ring introductions took place for the tag team main event.

[Q4]

[Commercial Break]

3 -- THE MIZ & JOHN MORRISON vs. MATT & JEFF HARDY

The match was joined in progress. Tazz called it an "extremely rare appearance" of Matt and Jeff together. They clocked six minutes of back-and-forth action, mostly with the Hardys on offense, and then cut to a break as the heels took a break to recover at ringside.

[Commercial Break]

After the break, the heels took over offense.

[Q5]

At 17:00 Jeff made a comeback and hot-tagged Matt, who showed good fire as he went to work on Morrison. Morrison surprised Matt by hotshotting him onto the top rope leading to a two count. When he climbed the ropes, Matt got up and powerbombed him to the mat for a two count, broken up by Miz. Matt gave Miz the Side Effect, then Morrison gave Matt a sudden neckbreaker, but Jeff flipped off the top rope onto the back of Morrison, leading to Matt scoring the pin.

WINNERS: The Hardys in 19:00.

STAR RATING: **3/4 -- Good TV match. I would have liked to have seem some hype before the match to set the stage for what each team thought was at stake in the match so that the potential outcomes had more meaning and drama. They just kinda threw them out there lazily as a marquee match because the Hardys don't team up much and they were in North Carolina. But absolutely watchable, and it showed Miz & Morrison continue to earn respect as a tag team that can have good matches with established teams.

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