WWE - ECW on SyFy TV Report
September 15, 2009 - Year 4, Week 15 (Week 171 overall)
Taped in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with a video package from Breaking Point looking at Christian defeating William Regal to retain the ECW Title. Package suggested the main reason why Christian retained the title was because Kozlov and Jackson were banned from ringside.

Arena: Josh Mathews welcomed us to the show with a reminder that Christian is still the ECW champion. ECW GM Tiffany then came out to the ring to presumably announce some new contendership action. Tiffany said the WWE Universe is still buzzing about Breaking Point. She said she's proud of her title match at Breaking Point...William Regal's music interrupted and he slowly came to the ring with Kozlov and Jackson.

Regal, dressed in a suit, apologized for the interruption and tried to talk up Tiffany that she's lovely this evening. He said she's looking exceptionally beautiful tonight. Tiffany turned off her smile and wanted to know where he's going with this. Regal said he needs to talk to her about what happened at the PPV. He said she has an eye for talent, just like he has an eye for talent with Zeke and Kozlov. He wanted to know why she banned them from ringside at the PPV. Tiffany said she made the decision to keep the match one-on-one with no outside interference.

Regal smiled and said her decision was a little rash. And it did cause him unnecessary grief with his preparation. He asked for another re-match against Christian. Tiffany reminded Regal of the necessity to involve multiple people in the title picture since he's a former GM. And he's not getting a title shot. Tiffany then announced a battle royal tonight to determine the next #1 contender. Regal, frustrated, started to walk off, but Tiff held him back and said he's got a match...right now. The Hurricane's music hit and he slowly walked out with a smile on his face as Regal shot him a look of death. Match is next.

[Commercial Break]

1 -- THE HURRICANE vs. WILLIAM REGAL (in a suit)

Action was joined in progress with Hurricane taking it to Regal in his suit sans dinner jacket. Regal then tossed Hurricane to the outside, but Hurricane ran back into the ring and chased Regal to the outside. Regal begged for help from the ECW announcers, but Hurricane smashed him into the announce table. Back in the ring, Regal came back with left hand strikes before Hurricane landed a high cross body block for a two count. Hurricane landed a neckbreaker, then went up top for a cross body for a two count. Regal then bailed to the outside to take an Orton powder, but Hurricane chased him down on the outside. Back in the ring, Regal surprised Hurricane with his big knee smash and made the cover for the win.

Post-match: Regal stumbled out of the ring and checked on his fine clothes to make sure the cuff links were still in place. I thought there would be a Burchill connection to this match, as Burchill snuck in behind Hurricane and dropped him with a jackhammer suplex to KO Hurricane. Burchill stood over Hurricane as the crowd mustered a few boos.

WINNER: Regal in 4:00. WWE definitely needed to get sympathy back on Hurricane in the post-match. Not very admirable for the babyface to fight the heel while the heel isn't dressed to compete, especially after the heel got his comeuppance at the PPV. Match was good and the crowd was into it. Hurricane has looked good in-ring since his return from injury. (*1/2)

[Q2]

Backstage: Goldust apologized to Yoshi Tatsu for not having his back last week in a tag match. Goldust then gave Yoshi some English lessons. Where is the train station? Yoshi repeated Goldust's statement clearly. "How much is a cup of coffee (turrets kicks in) coffee?" Yoshi then repeated Goldust's coffee lesson with the turrets. WWE making sport of the international student. Shocking. Zack Ryder then walked in and told Yoshi to repeat loser. Goldust told him to go ahead and repeat loser. "Zack Ryder," Yoshi said. That was pretty funny. "Bro, you serious? You got jokes?" Ryder said in Yoshi's face. Ryder told Yoshi he wants him in the ring tonight.

[Commercial Break]

Smackdown plug: Batista is back.

Backstage: They showed Paul Burchill walking down the hallway. Backstage interviewer Angela Fong ran up to Burchill wanting answers on his actions. Burchill laughed and said oh yeah, "backstage interviewer" Gregory Helms is in the ring after he laid him out. He called him a fake and a phony. He vowed to eliminate him from ECW, but he has a battle royal to focus on.

In-ring: Bella Twins came to the ring as the special guest ring announcers for the Yoshi vs. Ryder match. Yoshi came out first sporting some NOAH-approved emerald green trunks, then Zack Ryder stomped out telling Yoshi "bro" to take a good look at him.

2 -- YOSHI TATSU vs. ZACK RYDER

Nice start with some chain wrestling to build a methodical pace. Yoshi then took Ryder to the mat and rolled him around into a pin position for a two count. Ryder avoided a corner splash attempt, then stomped on Yoshi's back to begin working him over. Typical Zack Ryder match working the babyface over with mat holds and chinlocks four minutes in.

[Q3]

Yoshi got a knee up in the corner and nailed a roaring elbow smash. Striker loosely referenced the green trunks connection to Misawa after the roaring elbow, but didn't name Misawa by name. Yoshi made his full comeback and took Ryder to the corner for a top rope huracanrana. Crowd wanted a three, but Ryder kicked out. Moments later, Ryder hit a flying leg lariat that appeared to be the finish, but Yoshi kicked out. Yoshi then slipped out of a back drop and nailed a kick strike to the back of the head for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Yoshi in 7:00. Nice finish to a competitive match. You knew Ryder wasn't winning, though, when it looked like every other Ryder match where mid-way through he was settling into the trademark chinlocks and mat holds with the facial expressions. Yoshi looks pretty good right as an up-and-coming babyface. He should get some focus in the main event battle royal to reinforce the win. (**)

Main event plug: Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, Shelton, Sheamus, Ryder, Burchill, Kozlov, Yoshi, Zeke, and Reks in the #1 contender battle royal.

[Commercial Break]

Hell in a Cell plug: They're already giving the hard sell for Hell in a Cell on October 3 with plugs for John Cena vs. Randy Orton and DX vs. Legacy. Good advanced selling since they're basically repeating Sunday night.

In-ring: Tony Chimel introduced the ECW #1 contender battle royal 21 minutes before the top of the hour. Could use an appearance by champ Christian ringside on commentary to enhance this. Shelton Benjamin came out first. Kozlov, then Ezekiel Jackson came out. Tommy Dreamer out fourth. Goldust came out fifth. Tyler Reks was out sixth, followed by Sheamus. They cut to break before finishing the ring intros.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

In-ring: Yoshi was on his way out coming out of the break. Paul Burchill, then Zack Ryder finished up the ring intros to bring us to the main event.

3 -- ECW Title #1 contender Battle Royal

Striker liked Sheamus as his darkhorse to win the match. That means he's not winning. Striker then changed his mind and went Zeke or Kozlov. Or, maybe Yoshi. Ryder is confident. "You just picked everyone," Mathews retorted. Basic battle royal opening with some one-on-one action in each of the four corners. Shelton then dumped Burchill out at 1:25 to make the first elimination. Action slowed to a crawl as men tried to dump other men out of the ring. Crowd broke the monotony with a brief "Goldust, Goldust" chant. Yoshi, Dreamer, and Shelton tried to dump Zeke out of the ring, but Zeke fought them off and went to work. Yoshi started screaming and grunting trying to make an elimination. No dice.

At 5:00, Shelton skinned the cat following an Ezekiel toss and safely returned to the ring. Reks randomly wound up on the apron, then Kozlov and Jackson had a mid-ring stare down taking us to break. Rough, turn-the-channel start to this one. But, it's building to a better finish.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, we were shown Reks getting eliminated by Kozlov. So, we're down to eight. And Yoshi was eliminated either during the break or right out of it. So much for Yoshi getting focus. WWE must have figured a singles match victory was enough for tonight. They teased a Goldust elimination at 11:30, but Goldust held on until Dreamer could make a fiery save. Crowd again with the "Goldust" chant. Striker referenced Jimmy Hart when talking about Ryder laying back trying to avoid everyone. Suddenly, Shelton exploded on Sheamus with a clothesline to eliminate him. Shelton and Dreamer then eliminated Jackson. Sheamus then yanked Shelton down to the ground and a brawl broke out on the floor. Not clear on whether Shelton was eliminated. Shelton didn't care and chased Sheamus to the back. Announcers confirmed Shelton is done.

[Q5 -- over-run]

At 13:45, they were down to four with Ryder, Dreamer, Goldust, and Kozlov. Crowd wanted Goldust, of course. Kozlov didn't like that and headbutted him in the gut. Goldust then came back on Ryder with an exploder clothesline. He tried to eliminate the Woo Woo Woo man, but Ryder held onto the top rope, only to pull the top rope down to send Goldust over the top rope to the floor. Crowd was hot for Goldust being eliminated. Goldy is over big time. Down to Kozlov, Ryder, and Dreamer. Dreamer then pulled the same trick Ryder used on Goldust by pulling down the top rope on Kozlov. Kozlov out. In the chaos, Ryder then snuck up behind Dreamer and immediately eliminated him to win the match and become new #1 contender. Mathews said they know Ryder is next. He celebrated post-match and did the title-around-the-waist motion to close the show.

WINNER: Ryder at 16:05 to become new #1 contender. Nice scramble finish and they got some new blood in the ECW Title picture. Christian vs. Ryder should be really good with WWE giving Ryder another run at Christian after their good TV singles match a few months ago. Battle royal was pretty weak early on, then picked up steam as Goldust remained in the picture. Goldust was the star, as he is really connecting with crowds lately. They need to continue finding a way to feature him weekly on TV. (*3/4)

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