by James Caldwell, Assistant editor

WWE's ECW on Sci-Fi TV Report
January 6, 2009 - Year 3, Week 31 (Week 135 overall)
Taped in New Orleans, La.
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

The show started with the usual ECW intro complete with some new action shots of Tony Atlas pointing his finger, Alicia Fox dancing with D.J. Gabriel, and Mark Henry doing something.

In-ring: After the camera picked up the "so wrong" sign of "Nick Hogan drove me" here sign, we start the show with the All-American American Jack Swagger coming out for the opening match. Finlay then came out with Hornswoggle for the first-ever one-on-one match between the two. Hornswoggle didn't care to watch, so he disappeared under the ring.

1 -- JACK SWAGGER vs. FINLAY (w/Hornswoggle)

Swagger went to the mat early on, utilizing his amateur acumen, then Finlay got one up on Swagger before making a mock smiley face toward Finlay to mock his Cheshire cat grin. Swagger took exception and grounded Finlay on the mat. Matt Striker said he really likes the name Swagger, as it embodies what he's about. Finlay landed some European uppercuts with a thud as Todd Grisham reminded us that Swagger is the #1 contender to Matt Hardy's ECW Title. Finlay clotheslined Swagger over the top rope at 4:00, then Hornswoggle showed up and attacked Swagger with a splash from the apron. Kids popped. Swagger took exception and chucked Hornswoggle hard into the guardrail. Kids cried and booed. Finlay then came over to Swagger and smashed him into the ringpost before checking on his son. Kids cheered. Let's grab a break.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Swagger was in control inside the ring. Excellent belly-to-back suplex from Swagger, who then went to the arm with an arm bar. Finlay tried to fight back, but Swagger came up with a hard clothesline. BTW, Finlay is bleeding from the mouth here. In any event, Swagger stomped away on Finlay in the corner before landing a single-arm DDT. He then landed a high knee square in the face for a two count. Ref asked Finlay if he wanted to quit on another armbar, but Finlay shot back that he ain't quitting.

[Q2]

Match continued at 12:00 with Finlay struggling to escape the arm bar before landed three forearm blows. Swagger scooped him up, though, and nailed a shoulder breaker for another two count. Finlay then avoided a sit-down splash and rallied with a burst of momentum that included a seated butt bomb for a two count. Finlay then landed the rolling rock slam for another two count. Finlay then tried a shoulder tackle, but he smashed his shoulder into the ringpost. Swagger wanted the gut wrench, but Finlay countered into a roll-up for a two count. Swagger was the first one up, but Finlay used a headbutt to subdue Swagger. Swagger then caught Finlay with two knees to the head out of the corner before following right up with a gut wrench powerbomb for the win.

WINNER: Swagger in 15:00. Some people might not have liked this one due to the slow-down nature of the match, but I thought this was an excellent match. Swagger continues to take advantage of every opportunity he's given and advances in the ring every time out. He has "star" written all over him. Good piece of business here to have Swagger pick up a "respectable" victory over Finlay. (**3/4)

Backstage: D.J. Gabriel and Alicia Fox were shown dancing their way to the ring for something or another.

[Commercial Break]

Backstage: Jack Swagger stepped into Teddy Long's office to confront Teddy and Tiffany. Swagger kept cutting off Long to state his case for his ECW Title match against Matt Hardy. When am I getting the title shot, Teddy? Long said if he'll shut up long enough, he'll tell him. Long booked it for next week with Hardy vs. Swagger for the belt. Swagger slapped him on the chest and said he'll have a new face of the franchise next week.

In-ring: Paul Burchill was in the ring with Katie Lea to talk her up for a divas match. D.J. Gabriel then led Alicia Fox to the ring. They did some John Travolta "Grease" dance moves on the way to the ring to apparently intimidate Katie. Perhaps.

2 -- KATIE LEA (w/Paul Burchill) vs. ALICIA FOX (w/D.J. "Colt McCoy" Gabriel)

Alicia was impressive early on, snapping off some nifty aerial moves. She kicked Katie in the gut before landing a "splits-like" leg drop for a two count. Katie then slingshot Alicia throat-first across the middle rope before slamming her to the mat with a backbreaker across her knee for the win.

WINNER: Katie Lea in 3:00. Decent match. Alicia looked impressive in the limited amount of time she had in the ring on offensive. (3/4*)

Up sometime later: Hardy vs. Henry.

[Commercial Break]

[Q3]

Raw Rebound: First download the John Cena ringtone on WWE Mobile, then watch the Raw Rebound focusing on Shawn Michaels fighting with his conscious in last night's Raw main event before pinning Chris Jericho.

In-ring: The Boogeyman came to the ring sporting a completely black facepaint look. In the ring to face him was former Booker T PWA promotion champion Brett Idol.

3 -- THE BOOGEYMAN vs. BRETT IDOL

Boogeyman quickly went to work on Brett and finished him off with a pumphandle slam for the win. Not much here. Squash to re-introduce Boogeyman onto TV. Afterward, Boogeyman grabbed the bag of worms and took a bite of worms before regurgitating onto Brett.

WINNER: Boogeyman in 2:00. Well, it's Boogeyman. (n/a)

[Commercial Break]

DVD promo: Mr. Kennedy's "Behind Enemy Lines" is out on DVD today.

[Q4]

In-ring: Matt Hardy came to the ring for the main event. They showed a replay of Swagger winning the opener, then cut to Hardy nodding in recognition of Swagger's solid effort before their title match next week. Mark Henry then came out with Tony Atlas for the re-match of the re-match of the re-match against Hardy in the re-match.

4 -- ECW champion MATT HARDY vs. MARK HENRY (w/Tony Atlas) -- non-title match

Henry quickly went to work on Hardy, who's developed a bit of a gut while trying to heal his knee and unable to do as much cardio recently. Before they cut to a mid-match commercial, Hardy knocked Henry to the floor and came off the top with a splash sending both men crashing into the guardrail.

[Commercial Break. What are they trying to tell us if they're advertising diarrhea medicine? Maybe if they didn't push all those Taco Bell and Church's Chicken commercials, I wouldn't need the product.]

Let's get back to the action with Henry landing a big elevated hanging suplex for a two count. Henry was favoring his left knee while Atlas shouted instructions to continue punishing Hardy into buying the product. Henry out Hardy on the mat and twisted his neck to open up, but Hardy refused to take the product. He then chop-blocked Henry's left knee twice to force him onto the mat.

Hardy teased the Twist of Fate, but Henry blocked, only to take a bulldog from the second rope. Hardy was feeling it and wanted the TofF again, but Henry shoved him down to the mat. He missed with the Big Splash, though, and Hardy got the Twist on the third attempt to score the pin and the win. They replayed the finish, then Grisham and Striker gave a big plug for the Hardy vs. Swagger match next week.

WINNER: Hardy in 11:00. Nice match. One of the better ones in their series. And a good set-up for Hardy vs. Swagger for the strap on next week's show. Good conclusion to a book-end strong 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.

NEWS: We just launched our new PWTorch App this week, available for FREE in Apple's iTunes Store. The PWTorch App allows you to access all of our Main Listing (non-VIP) articles online on your iPhone or iPod Touch (Gen. 2) in a custom, fast-loading format that fits nicely on the small screen of your phone. Just click this link to get directly to our App sign-up page. PWTORCH APP ITUNES SIGN-UP PAGE

We suggest these recent related articles...

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Roman Reigns & Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman

METZGER'S ROH TV REPORT 10/4 & 10/7: IWGP World champ Okada vs. Roderick Strong main event, plus Briscoes vs. Time Splitters, more from "Field of Honor," Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/7: TNA Title Series kicks off, Bound for Glory fall-out, more; Overall Reax