WWE - ECW on SyFy TV Report
September 29, 2009 - Year 4, Week 17 (Week 173 overall)
Taped in Boston, Mass.
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with a close-up shot of William Regal standing backstage. Regal said ECW GM Tiffany was involved in a "terrible car accident" this past week. He said the WWE board of directors has made him temporary GM. He can't make decisions regarding the ECW Title. Regal said the main event tonight will not be Christian vs. Zack Ryder, but now Christian vs. Ryder...and Kozlov (enter Kozlov) and Ezekiel Jackson (enter Jackson) and himself in a four-on-one handicap match. Stack the deck against the champ...who doesn't have a match on Sunday.

Arena: Justin Roberts is apparently handling double duty, as he introduced the Abraham Washington Show.

Abe Show: Tony Atlas introduced the Abraham Washington show with a plug for IC champ John Morrison appearing on the show. Abe came out to heavy boos and started his monologue. After putting himself and his show over, he plugged Hell in a Cell on Sunday. This Friday, they will also have the Decade of Smackdown celebration. He said his next guest knows a thing or two about these situations. Abe welcomed out Mr. John Morrison. Girls are screaming.

Morrison came out on stage with a big smile for the kids and girls. Morrison heavy on the fake tan tonight. Morrison plugged his t-shirt available on WWE Shop. He then plugged Tony's big laugh and suggested he'll save it as his cell phone ringtone. Morrison needed to share a word with Abe. "I like what you do," he said. "You do? ... I mean, you do!," Abe said. Abe reciprocated with a plug for the Dirt Sheet. Morrison said Abe is him and Tony is The Miz. "I'm awesome!" Tony said with several follow-up chuckles. Morrison took a shot at The Miz, then Morrison said Dolph Ziggler is much like The Miz because they're both delusional thinking they're going to win championship gold this Sunday. Morrison said that won't be happening on Sunday when the IC belt stays around his waist.

Cue up Dolph Ziggler's music for the interruption. He is perfection. Josh Mathews suggested on commentary that chaos is happening on ECW. Um...not really, but we'll go with it. Abe wanted to know from Tony if he's now booking guests on his show. Abe told Dolph not to show up on his show, then there were a bunch of Rocky movie references. Abe told Dolph to have his people call his people for a scheduled booking. Ziggler prepared to talk, but Morrison told him, "Good night, Mr. Ziggles." Kids screamed with delight. Ziggler sold frustration. Tony followed up with "Good night, Mr. Ziggler." Morrison, Abe, and Tony then left Ziggler speechless on the couch. Bland, blah segment. Just didn't have any bite to it, although some kids were probably laughing their heads off at the Tony Atlas caricature.

Backstage: William Regal was on the phone with someone demanding repercussions against Christian for his behavior last week. Zack Ryder then walked in without his usual cocky persona wanting some answers. He said he doesn't need their help handling Christian tonight. "I don't care what you want," Regal said. He said it's now the four of them vs. Christian & Yoshi & Goldust & Dreamer. Ryder shook his head and looked down at the ground questioning Regal. Regal answered, "Are you questioning my decision-making as general manager?" Ryder looked up and quietly said his "You know it" catch phrase. A little character change for Ryder there. Interesting to see where this is going.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

In-ring: Paul Burchill and Katie Lea came to the ring for the opening match of the show. Shelton Benjamin, now consistently a babyface until further notice, came out to face Burchill. He didn't make it to the ring, though, as Sheamus sought retribution for being embarrassed on the Abe show last week by jumping Shelton on the outside. Sheamus smashed Shelton into the ring post, then the guardrail and targeted the ribs. Refs eventually came out and separated Sheamus from Shelton to send him to the back. Shelton rolled into the ring and sold mid-section pain as the ref checked to see if he could wrestle. Shelton showed fighting spirit and demanded the match start despite selling pain.

1 -- SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. PAUL BURCHILL (w/Katie Lea)

Bell sounded and Burchill immediately charged Shelton with knees to the stomach. He landed a rolling belly-to-back side suplex for a two count and couldn't put Shelton away leading to a commercial.

[Commercial Break]

Burchill stretched Benjamin's abs with a submission hold, then landed another rolling belly-to-back suplex for another two count. Burchill tried another suplex, but Shelton flipped onto his feet and landed a neckbreaker center ring. Both men slowly recovered on the mat as the announcers talked about the possibility of a draw if neither men could reach their feet. Not often "draw" is mentioned on WWE TV. Seems a little too 'rasslin for WWE's marketing. With both en on their feet, Burchill took Shelton to the top turnbuckle, but Shelton elbowed him to the mat. Shelton recovered on the top rope and slowly made his way to his feet only to miss with a flip dive attempt. Burchill then dropped a knee and made a cover, but Shelton kicked out. Burchill then went back on the attack working Shelton's shoulder that Sheamus rammed into the ringpost. Burchill then yelled and screamed bouncing off the ropes to build momentum, but Shelton caught him with the Paydirt finisher. Shelton with the pin and the win.

WINNER: Shelton Benjamin in 11:00. Classic babyface storytelling to show Shelton overcoming tremendous odds and showing fighting spirit, grit, and all that to pull out an improbable victory. Only problem is the audience has been given eight different looks at Shelton turning heel, face, heel, face, and back again that the audience didn't quite buy into it. Hopefully it's the start of a decent babyface push. As for Burchill, well, at least he didn't run away from Shelton when he was down and out unlike Randy Orton, who was booked to look like an idiot last night on Raw. (*1/2)

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

Announcers: Mathews and Striker plugged the Hell in a Cell PPV line-up for Sunday night. Apparently the ECW brand is going to be left off the show. ... Roll video of the Randy Orton vs. John Cena feud leading to their WWE Title re-match on Sunday. Footage included the ridiculousness last night where Orton took an FU onto sharp razor wire, crocodiles, barbed wire, glass, thumbtacks, and mousetraps that left Orton motionless to close Raw. Wait, what's that? He didn't? You mean, Orton was fresh as a daisy and took a simple FU on the soft top of the Cell and sold death? Oh. ....... ECW announcers then plugged the other matches on the PPV card.

Backstage: Tommy Dreamer pumped himself up, then Christian walked in like a general addressing his troops. He told Dreamer they're going to war tonight. Dreamer nodded. He told Yoshi Tatsu he's fresh blood on ECW here, so they need him to step up. Yoshi nodded thank you. Christian nodded. Yoshi nodded. Christian nodded. Yoshi nodded. Christian said this is getting awkward. He then walked over to Goldust. Christian said after all these years, one word comes to mind. Christian in a high-pitched voice: "freak." Goldust wanted to know why he would say that. Christian said it's a complement and he wants him to take them home. Goldust shook off the turrets and did a "one, two, three, go team!" cheer. Yay, let's go get 'em, guys!

In-ring: William Regal led the caricature heels to the ring for the main event. Zack Ryder wasn't included with the Ruthless Roundtable group. He'll be out after the break.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

In-ring: Regal, Jackson, and Kozlov were in the ring. Regal had his arms folded in disgust. Zack Ryder then came out with sort of a "future babyface vibe" to his ring intro. Something about Ryder is different this week after taking Christian to the limit in an ECW Title match last week. Goldust, Tommy Dreamer, then Yoshi Tatsu came to the ring first for the babyface quartet. Yoshi did some jumping jacks and smiled before ECW champ Christian came out showing off the ECW Title belt. They cut to a shot of Ryder staring down Christian from inside the ring. Ryder has this really marketable rugged beard look right now. It's the "it" factor for him.

2 -- ECW champion CHRISTIAN & GOLDUST & TOMMY DREAMER & YOSHI TATSU vs. WILLIAM REGAL & EZEKIEL JACKSON & KOZLOV & ZACK RYDER

Dreamer and Ryder started things off. Dreamer landed a series of arm drags to over Ryder before Goldust came in. Goldust is a consistent fan favorite now after that program with Sheamus. Yoshi then tagged in and worked over Kozlov's shoulder. Jackson then tagged in and pounded Yoshi, but missed with an elbow drop and corner clothesline. Goldust back in to work on Jackson, who came back with a loud clothesline. Jackson doing a lot of yelling and screaming now. William Regal then tagged in and yelled. Kozlov was even heard yelling from the ring apron. Ryder tagged in, then Christian tagged in to pick up their title program last week.

Christian ran over Ryder with elbows then hit a rolling elbow from the second rope. Heels tried to get involved, but Christian ran them off, ran down Ryder, and hit a running clothesline for a two count. Dreamer tagged in and hit a double-team move on Ryder to keep the action going. Dreamer went to the second rope for a move, but Regal ran down the apron and distracted him, allowing Ryder to smash him off the turnbuckle to the mat. Regal then tagged in and worked on Dreamer as they cut to break. Lots of fast-paced action with quick in and out tags. Crowd is sitting on their hands a bit waiting for the finish, though.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Dreamer was still being worked on by the heels. Christian eventually took a tag and was quickly met by offense from the heels. Regal cut him off, though, then Ryder worked over Christian. [Q5 -- over-run] More heel work on Christian, who avoided a corner splash by Kozlov and hit a dropkick from the second rope. Christian then hot-tagged in Yoshi, who landed kick strikes on Ryder. Yoshi and Ryder were a little off on a roaring elbow, but Ryder removed any thoughts with a big kick strike to the chest followed by a spinning heel kick from the top rope for a two count.

On cue, the action broke down with bodies flying everywhere. Babyfaces cleaned house on the floor while Regal made a legal tag for Ryder. Regal tried to sneak up behind Yoshi, but Yoshi blasted him with a big kick strike to the head and made the pin on Regal for the win. Yoshi and Friends celebrated the big victory while the Ruthless Roundtable comically dragged Regal away from ringside to close the show.

WINNERS: Team Yoshi in 14:00. Lots of emphasis behind Yoshi right now. I like it. Match was just okay for an eight-man tag. Crowd didn't really get into it until the chaos happened at the end. Until WWE convinces the audience that a pin could happen at any time during a match, that's going to be the case. It would take years to re-write that crowd mentality city by city, though. And ECW closes without a title match or any match for Sunday's PPV. (**)

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