By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

ECW on Sci-Fi TV Report
October 7, 2008 - Year 3, Week 19 (Week 123 overall)
Taped in Las Vegas, Nev.
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

The show started with us being informed someone is getting their ass kicked, as Mark Henry stormed out to the ring with Tony Atlas. Atlas cut a promo that Henry wants the ECW Title and he wants it now. ECW GM Teddy Long quickly put an end to this by coming out to answer Atlas on behalf on Henry. Long reminded playa Henry that he failed to get the job done last time, so if he's going to get the next title shot, it's going to be up to the fans. Long said Henry will be one of three wrestlers fans can vote for at Cyber Sunday. The qualifying matches for the other two slots will begin right now.

Henry got in Long's face to share a few words of encouragement, then Evan Bourne's music hit to a huge reaction. Bourne ran into the ring and Grisham whispered under his breath to get away and run. Bourne then extended a hand to Henry, but pulled it away from Henry and smiled. Atlas told Henry it wasn't worth it, so Henry left the ring as they cut to break.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Bourne was in the ring ready to find out who his opponent is. Out came Chavo Guerrero without Bam Neely as the opposition for tonight.

1 -- EVAN BOURNE vs. CHAVO GUERRERO -- Qualifying match for Cyber Sunday

Chavo dominated early on and entered into several arguments with the referee when he was asked to break holds in the corner. Bourne then countered a move in the corner and whipped Chavo through the ropes to the floor. Suddenly, Bourne came flying over the top rope with a twisting splash onto Chavo, who took a small percentage of the blow with Bourne eating the floor mainly. Still looked awesome, but Bourne sat up and clutched his knee just a little as they cut to break.

[Q2]

[Commercial Break]

They returned with Bourne hobbling on his knee, then he tried a standing moonsault on Chavo, but Chavo got his knees up to block. Chavo came up favoring his legs as well, then he settled into a mat hold, which he turned into a modified Muta lock. Bourne escaped and tried a move off the ropes, but Chavo nailed a rolling heel kick that took out Bourne for a two count only. Chavo is moving as if he's 10 years younger tonight. Bourne then came back with kick strikes to the leg before knocking Chavo off his feet with a thrust kick. Bourne then took Chavo up top and he wanted the home run of a huge huracanrana, but Chavo ducked and Bourne ate the top turnbuckle crotch-first. Chavo tried to capitalize with a cover, but Bourne escaped. This is a great match thus far.

Chavo settled into a half crab at 11:00 and Bourne escaped with a kick to the face from a seated position. And another. Bourne wasn't able to capitalize, so Chavo busted out the Three Amigos suplex combo. Except, Bourne escaped number three and nailed a gorgeous leaping huricanrana on Chavo. He then climbed up top, grimaced for the top row of fans, and rolled the dice on the Shooting Star Press. He connected to a huge reaction, then Bourne made the cover for the win.

WINNER: Evan Bourne in 13:00 to qualify for CS voting. Excellent TV match. Chavo was strong in the ring while Bourne played a great underdog babyface in the Rey/Jeff Hardy vein. Well done. (***)

Post-match: Henry stormed into the ring and took apart Bourne with a clubbing forearm to the back of the head before nailing the World's Strongest Slam. He then grabbed Bourne's hand and gave him the handshake from before the match. Henry smiled as the fans told him he sucks. Ref checked on Bourne as Henry walked out of the ring content with his post-match work.

Video package: The Boogeyman returns to ECW. When? Probably Halloween week. Just a guess.

[Commercial Break]

[Q3]

Backstage: Teddy Long was on the phone, then assistant Tiffany came into the office sporting a Vegas dancer costume. Very nice. Long said she was in the right mood for the Divas costume contest at Cyber Sunday. Jack Swagger then interrupted and asked Teddy what's up with not being in one of the Cyber Sunday qualifying matches. Long said he's only been here a month, so it's going to take time. Tommy Dreamer then walked in and Swagger shook his head in disbelief. Dreamer wanted the next title shot after Cyber Sunday, and Teddy said he'd think about it. Swagger then told Dreamer to stop living in the past because it's not 1996 anymore. Dreamer started to step up to him, but Swagger said, "Don't get Extreme on me." That was so great on delivery. Swagger stormed off after saying Dreamer is bastardizing his legacy, leaving Dreamer to huff and puff and bite his tongue. Commence version 14 of the Dreamer-defends-ECW-legacy storyline.

Backstage: Morrison and Miz were shown walking backstage. Morrison has a qualifying match against Finlay up next.

[Commercial Break]

WrestleMania promo: Various soundbytes from top names was the backdrop for classic WrestleMania moments. Where greatness is personified, tickets go on-sale for WM 25 at Reliant Stadium Nov. 8 at 10:00 a.m. I wonder if we'll have the roof fixed by April.

In-ring: Miz and Morrison came to the ring after Grisham and Striker exchanged barbs on how much money they've lost in Vegas thus far. Grisham plugged the Cyber Sunday voting, then Striker asked what happens if he simply texts a question mark to the text number. Grisham said it means you don't have a clue. Well, that's very much a possibility. Finlay then danced out with Hornswoggle for the match-up. Striker asked Grisham what he's "going as" for Halloween, but Grisham balked at the question. Striker suggested he would be either Repo Man or Bastion Booger.

2 -- JOHN MORRISON (w/The Miz) vs. FINLAY (w/son Hornswoggle) -- Qualifying match for Cyber Sunday

Finlay quickly started to work over Morrison with a ground attack, but Morrison came back with a running knee strike to the jaw. He settled into a shoulder wrench as Miz offered encouragement. The fans offered their own form of encouragement with a "Johnny Nitro" chant. Wow, long-term memory from a WWE audience. Impressive.

[Q4]

As Morrison continued to work on Finlay, the fans went with a "Let's go Finlay" chant that Hornswoggle pounded on the mat along with to keep going. Finlay escaped, then dumped Morrison over the top rope onto Miz. Finlay told the ref to check on his busted lip and injured eye, then Hornswoggle snuck into the ring and flew through the ropes with a mini-dive on both men. Kinda. He disappeared under the ring, then Miz was dragged down under with him. Finlay tossed Morrison back into the ring and we took a break.

[Commercial Break]

They returned from break with Morrison grounding Finlay on the mat. He kept working and working and working on Finlay for several minutes before a corner collision led to both men taking a mat nap. Finlay was first up and executed a backslide for a nearfall at 14:00. He then made his big comeback with successive clotheslines. Finlay teased the Celtic Cross, but Morrison blocked and nailed a neckbreaker for a nearfall.

Hornswoggle suddenly slipped into the ring and played dead to set up Finlay to run interference with the shillelagh, but Mike Knox showed up to steal the shillelagh. Morrison then smashed Finlay with the springboard kick to the head for the apparent finish, but Finlay kicked out. Knox was suddenly dragged under the ring, prompting the question of whether Hornswoggle was that strong. We then saw Cryme Tyme peek out from underneath the ring to show the true culprits. Finlay then smashed Morrison with the shillelagh in the confusion and scored the pin for the win.

WINNER: Finlay in 16:00 to qualify for Cyber Sunday. A bit of a wild match that was initially spent mainly on the mat. At least the crowd was into it, making the match bearable on TV during the slow-down period. (*1/2)

Post-match: Cryme Tyme celebrated with Finlay and Hornswoggle, but Finlay suddenly turned on both men with shillelagh shots. Hornswoggle liked what he saw, then Finlay and Horny left the ring to celebrate on stage. Henry then put an end to that by attacking Finlay from behind. They wrapped up the show in a clean 60 minutes as Henry stood over Finlay's body ready to inflict more damage.

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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