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TV Reports
ECW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 11/3: Caldwell, Mayer, Parks rate and review Nov 4, 2009 - 3:42:52 PM
A nice, progressive episode of ECW TV. Nothing fancy. Nothing must-see. Just solid, fundamental storytelling setting up next week's ECW Title match, continuing to associate Yoshi Tatsu in the ECW Title picture, and bringing in Lance Hoyt under a new name with a completely new gimmick that was quite refreshing compared to the end of his TNA run.
The one logic flaw of the entire show, though, was how William Regal received his ECW Title shot for next week's show. Unless Tiffany is turning heel as the ECW authority figure, it made little sense that Tiffany would find it ethical to give Regal a sniff of the title picture after he disobeyed her authority and beat up the champion the previous week. A lesson for the kids at home: if the teacher says you can't have a candy bar for lunch, then beat up the kid that does and the teacher will be forced to give you the candy bar. Great lesson. Class dismissed.
Goldust, Zack Ryder, Shelton Benjamin, and Vance "don't call me Lance" Archer received solid exposure in the ring during the show. Goldust was competitive with Regal, Ryder and Shelton did some stuff with Rosa Mendes to keep themselves on TV in a meaningful program, and Vance was smooth with his squash match performance. There's a different vibe to Mr. Vance, and suddenly became marketable.
Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)
Pretty good installment of ECW this week. It was more a build to new things than an advancement. First off, I'm really glad to see Lance Hoyt. I always liked his work in TNA, and he's shown himself able to get over even with terrible storylines under him, so hopefully he'll get a better draw in WWE. I also really liked the Burchill-Hurricane setup; yeah, the feud has overstayed its welcome a little bit, but they're building to a conclusion, and they've let it stretch long enough that there's legitimate importance on the blowoff match next week. Since I don't see them dropping the Hurricane character just yet, though, I wonder where Burchill will end up.
Shelton Benjamin looked okay in a pretty brief match, but I hope they keep building something for him soon; he looked really strong in his feud with Sheamus until the latter was moved over to Raw. And where the main event is concerned, I like that Tatsu is being kept a visible part of the equation weekly. The tag match was just kind of there for me, but I'm hoping this is building to something big, namely a Survivor Series tag match. This show could really use the exposure of featuring, say, Regal, Kozlov, Jackson, Ryder and maybe Vance Archer (if they go heel with him) vs. Christian, Tatsu, Shelton, Hurricane and maybe the return of Tommy Dreamer. Or, go 4x4 and eliminate the last off each of those lists.
Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)
ECW is quickly developing a viable mid-card. Hurricane vs. Paul Burchill should be interesting; Burchill is just starting to find his groove, so if he loses, hopefully he can move on to greener pastures, preferably on Smackdown. I don't see them having Hurricane lose, but I will have no problem with it if they do. Zack Ryder's backstage segment was stupid, and I don't see great upside in him being smitten with Rosa Mendes. Shelton Benjamin is back to treading water, I see.
Regal vs. Christian should be good next week. I was very happy with the main event, as the quality of the match really surprised me. Vladimir Kozlov no longer looks awkward selling, which is a good sign. I'm not as sold on Vance Archer yet as James is- his facial expression was different, but not much else stands out really. Yeah, he's tall, but what else is new?
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