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WWE - ECW on SyFy TV Report
October 13, 2009 - Year 4, Week 19 (Week 175 overall)
Taped in Boston, Mass.
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with ECW announcer Josh Mathews saying WWE is preparing for the Bragging Rights PPV. Notice the ECW brand is not preparing since they were left out in the cold from the seven-on-seven Raw vs. Smackdown match.

In-ring: Ezekiel Jackson came out with Kozlov to start the in-ring portion of the show. New ring announcer Lauren Mayhew is handling the ring intros for our opening match. Goldust then came out to face Jackson. Lauren more emphatic on the second ring intro. A bit hesitant on the first.

1 -- EZEKIEL JACKSON (w/Kozlov) vs. GOLDUST

Goldust held the early advantage, which only upset Jackson. Jackson smiled a heelish smile and charged Goldust. After an exchange, Jackson landed a giant clothesline that put Goldy on the mat. Jackson went to work on Goldust with mat holds and the crowd rallied behind Goldust, but Jackson cut off a comeback. Back to mat holds for Zeke. Goldust then blocked a charge with a big boot. He made a comeback with his uppercut before landing a bulldog for a two count. Goldust then went up top, but Kozlov distracted the ref and Jackson kicked Goldust in the head. Jackson followed with his uranage finisher for the pin and the win. Post-match: Kozlov looked at Jackson approvingly, but decided he needed to send a follow-up message with his Iron Curtain uranage to put an exclamation mark on the match.

WINNER: Jackson in 5:00. Fine match. Just continuing to build up the Ruthless Roundtable. WWE is investing plenty of time into the group with 1.3-1.5 million viewers watching them in the ring. Goldust had enough offense to look credible, no one will remember him losing next week, and he was put on TV for a solid five minutes. (*)

Announcers: Mathews and Striker talked about controversy following William Regal. They showed a clip of Yoshi Tatsu defeating Regal in a singles match, but Regal complained he had his foot under the bottom rope. WWE spot-shadowed the finish, then rolled footage of Christian vs. Zack Ryder that ended in a DQ last week when the Ruthless Roundtable interfered. As a result of what happened last week, it's Regal & Ryder vs. Christian & Yoshi.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

Raw Preview: Snoop Dogg hosting Raw and John Cena in possibly his final Raw match ever. "An epic career on Raw has all come down to this..." They showed a clip of Cena and Triple H nose-to-nose from their previous encounters.

Backstage: William Regal was looking around, then Zack Ryder barged in to suggest Regal is threatened by him. Ryder said Regal isn't so tough with his goons around doing his business. Jackson and Kozlov then walked into the shot and cornered Ryder, who shut his mouth. Regal took the opportunity to give Ryder a word or two. He told him to pay close attention. Unless he wants a fate far worse than the beating he took last week, he better pay attention to exactly what he says in the tag match tonight. Regal and the RR walked off, leaving Ryder with some focused camera time. Ryder looked a little weak backing down like that, but the main story was bonus focus on Ryder's character. Good outweighed the bad. Good stuff.

In-ring: Sheamus came to the ring dressed for a match. He took the mic and cut a promo. Sheamus said last week on W-W-E Soup-errr-stars, he had a match against Shelton Benjamin where Shelton's name was in the winner's column of the record books. Sheamus rolled footage of Shelton winning via DQ. Sheamus said he has a little story to share. Shelton came to WWE ten years ago with some of the best talent ever, but he's done nothing with it. Sheamus said Shelton has ability, but it's obviously not enough because he's never hit the top. He said in WWE, there's a lot of extra baggage. He told the extras to leave, follow, or get out of his way because the Celtic Warrior, Sheamus, is using people like Shelton as steppingstones to get where he wants. Sheamus said he's going straight to the top. Good, logical, plausible explanation for why this feud has been taking place. Sheamus has found his way into two very good feuds since joining the main roster five months ago.

Backstage: They showed Paul Burchill walking with Katie Lea for a match on the other side of the break.

Nancy O'Dell video: WWE rolled footage of Nancy O'Dell's promo promoting her charity, Betty's Battle, in honor of her mom.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: The Hurricane came to the ring for a singles match. Striker let us know Hurricane thinks everyone is safe when he's in charge of the WWE Universe. Burchill and Katie Lea came to the ring as they cut to a shot of Lauren, the new ring announcer.

2 -- THE HURRICANE vs. PAUL BURCHILL (w/Katie Lea)

Mathews gave us a reason for the match: Burchill can't move on with his career until he gets to the bottom of the Hurricane/Helms mystery. Hurricane had some early offense, but Burchill predictably cut him off and methodically went to work on Cane. Burch kept working the left arm/elbow, then Hurricane made a one-arm comeback including a Thesz Press. He then went to the second rope and nailed a huracanrana for a two count.

[Q3] Burchill went back to work on the shoulder with a single arm DDT. The action moved to the corner turnbuckles as the crowd came to life. Hurricane was positioned in a precarious position, but he fought Burchill off and planted him on the mat. Cane then came off the top with a crossbody splash for a close two coun. Katie Lea breathed a deep sigh of relief. Crowd was fully into the match with an increasing clap as they set up the finish. Burchill blocked a top rope huracanrana by dumping Hurricane on the back of his neck on the mat. That set up the Goldberg jackhammer suplex on the neck for the pin and the win. Striker congratulated Burchill on picking up a measure of revenge on Hurricane, who gritted his teeth and sold injuries in the ring after taking the loss.

WINNER: Burchill in 8:00. Solid, solid singles TV match. Crowd really got into the final two minutes of the match after good build-up, which was a good sign for the "warm-up" show at an ECW/SD TV taping. Hurricane has delivered some very solid matches since returning to in-ring action. Credit Burchill as well. (**)

Next Smackdown: Teddy Long has been pressured into booking Rey Mysterio vs. Batista since they will be in the four-way World Title match at the PPV.

[Commercial Break]

Raw Rebound: They took us back through the John Cena vs. Randy Orton feud leading to their Iron Man match at the PPV. ... ECW announcers broke down the Bragging Rights PPV. Still no ECW match thus far.

Backstage: Yoshi was doing some deep knee bends to warm up for the main event. ECW champion Christian walked in and Yoshi sold intense focus that he didn't hear him coming. Yoshi said he's nervous and focused. Yoshi spoke Japanese, which responded with a "That's what she said." Yoshi didn't catch The Office reference, so Christian laughed and got to the point that Yoshi has nothing to worry about because he knows Yoshi is the rightful #1 contender. Yoshi did his "thank you" bow. Christian said he's not going to fall for this thank you / thank you exchange non-sense. He tried to get in the last word, but Yoshi did a "thank you" as Christian walked off. Yoshi made some motions with his upper body moving out of synch with his lower body. Just looked silly they would have him do that. Christian then slowly walked back into the shot and said let's go. Yoshi did another "thank you" bow.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

WrestleMania video: They showed a video package on WrestleMania 25 with shots of Reliant Stadium and the highpoints of this year's Mania to promote WM26 tickets on-sale next month.

In-ring: William Regal came out first and alone for the main event tag match. Zack Ryder came out second with fewer cocky mannerisms to show he's more serious now that he's an ECW main eventer. Crowd itching for a chance to cheer him, but not it's there yet.

3 -- WILLIAM REGAL & ZACK RYDER vs. ECW champion CHRISTIAN & YOSHI TATSU

Plenty of time for our TV main event tonight. Yoshi and Ryder started things off in a battle of future stars. Striker and Mathews debated who should be the next contender to Christian's ECW Title. They talked about the other three men in the match having their reasons for deserving a future title shot against Christian. The match action broke down on the floor two minutes in with Christian taking out both Regal and Ryder on the floor with a plancha. Meanwhile, Yoshi stuck the rules and held onto his tag rope in the corner awaiting a tag as they cut to break.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Regal and Christian were battling center ring. Christian broke free of Regal and made a tag to Yoshi, who cleaned house on Ryder, who also took a tag. Yoshi landed some offense on Ryder for a two count, then Ryder landed an elbow strike to the gut. Yoshi absorbed the blow, then rolled through a snapmare into a kick strike. Sweet move.

[Q5 -- over-run] At the top of the hour, the action broke down momentarily, which allowed Ryder to take down Yoshi and tag in Regal for a legal attack on Yoshi. Regal landed signature knee strikes to the gut in the corner. He followed with an elbow strike off the ropes for a one count. Ryder then tagged back in and worked over Yoshi. He landed a Samoa Joe face wash kick in the corner. (Striker even called it the face wash.) Action slowed down, the crowd became involved, and Yoshi fired off a roaring elbow to tag in Christian.

Christian went to work on Ryder with palm thrusts before landing a spin kick and a running elbow strike on a seated Ryder. Christian knocked Regal off the apron, then hit a springboard sunset flip on Ryder for a two count. Ryder then blocked the Killswitch and hit his semi-finisher leg sweep drop for a two count. The action broke down at this point with bodies flying everywhere. Regal then smashed Yoshi into the ring steps on the floor. Christian went up top back in the ring, but Regal ran interference. Regal then tagged in for Ryder, who didn't appreciate the tag. Ryder said he had it won. Ryder then turned on Regal out of frustration and Regal stumbled into the Killswitch from Christian for the pin and the win.

Post-match: Ryder slowly walked away from the ring with a self-satisfied look on his face as Christian celebrated with Yoshi in the ring. Christian and Yoshi stood tall over Regal to close out the show.

WINNERS: Christian & Yoshi in 14:00. I smell a six-man tag with Christian & Yoshi & Ryder vs. Regal & the Roundtable. This was a good, solid, competitive tag match main event that continued to put emphasis on Ryder and Yoshi as two future stars for WWE. Good use of everyone in the match to conclude a solid episode of the show. (**1/2)

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