TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
TV Reports
ECW ON SCI-FI ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 1/6: Caldwell, Mezzera, Stevens rate and review Jan 7, 2009 - 1:51:24 PM
Jack Swagger is living in his own swagger world and we're all just buying tickets to enjoy the show. Every time out, he looks more and more impressive as a fast rising star. On the babyface side, it was Evan Bourne. On the heel side, it's Jack Swagger. Once Bourne returns, the ECW brand will have a very nice mix of Matt Hardy, Bourne, Swagger, and well...okay, that might be it. Paul Burchill? No. Boogeyman? Can't get beyond squashes. Henry? Too many losses and his ECW run is tired. Ricky O? Don't even get me started.
Finlay is the steady hand in this mix, and he wrestled a very nice match against Swagger in the opener. Swagger was impressive, but he needed that veteran willing and able to work with him to help him look solid gold. Finlay's role is invaluable on the WWE roster to help develop young talent.
Hardy vs. Henry wasn't all that bad, actually. One of the better matches in their series, but it's still Hardy vs. Henry. It's a limited match-up, but they squeezed some good juice out of this lemon once again. Hardy vs. Swagger for the strap on next week's show was built up very nicely. Looking forward to next week, which should be the goal with every episode of TV.
Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)
This was a pretty good episode of ECW. It got off to a good start with the 15 minute Swagger vs. Finlay match. It wasn't a great match and did get slow at times, but it was still a good match and it was very nice to see Swagger get a clean win over his toughest opponent yet. I also appreciate how the match was booked to keep Hornswoggle's involvement to a minimum and to get it out of the way early. I also enjoyed the follow up scene between GM Teddy Long and Swagger, which culminated in the announcement that Swagger will face ECW Champion Matt Hardy next week. That has potential to be a very good match.
The main event, another match between Hardy and Mark Henry was also good. It was one of the better matches between the two. Hopefully it will be an end to the feud. I have enjoyed it, but we don't need to see these two wrestle for awhile. The match was better than expected, as Hardy got in much more offense than I expected and looked very strong against Henry.
The one down side to the show (other than the fact that WWE continues to insist on running Raw Rebounds on ECW which isn't necessary) was the involvement of the Boogeyman. I don't see any value in having him squash jobbers. We all know he can't wrestle and any feud he gets involved in will end in a bad match. So, what's the point?
Lee Stevens, PWTorch.com Contributor (8.0)
I'm sure that the pacing of the Finlay vs. Jack Swagger match wasn't up to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed the fact that they devoted almost a quarter of the broadcast to this pairing. Swagger continues to progress nicely and Finlay doesn't look any worse for the loss. A clean win is such a refreshing change. Bonus points for Swagger catching Hornswoggle, ensuring that it wouldn't be a light-hearted finish.
We've seen Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry before, but with a limited roster, I guess that is to be expected. Solid effort from them before Hardy defends against Swagger next week. I don't agree with Swagger getting a title shot so quickly, but who else could get it? On the negative side, we see Boogeyman comfortably sitting in his usual seat. I understand that the wrestling audience covers a wide range and that there could be youngsters watching who love this act. I remember The Godwins tossing slop onto people and Papa Shango made black ink drip from The Ultimate Warrior's head. Jake Roberts made a career out of tossing long, slithering things onto people, so perhaps I shouldn't judge the Man of Boogey so harshly. If there was more to the in-ring package beyond the worms, perhaps the score would be higher. Solid show overall.
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
