WWE - ECW on SyFy TV Report
January 5, 2010 - Year 4, Week 31 (Week 187 overall)
Taped in Louisville, Ky.
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with a video package on C.M. Punk's rise to prominence, followed by a look at Mark Henry returning to ECW tonight. Punk vs. Henry is the focal point for the ECW Homecoming.

Arena: Josh Mathews welcomed us to the show with two slots remaining in the Homecoming challenge. Out came ECW champ Christian dressed in street clothes with the title belt over his shoulder to start the show. Christian hit the ring and waited out a strong reaction before giving a shout-out to Louisville because they're headed down the homestretch to Homecoming. Winner faces him for the title at the Royal Rumble. Before Christian could continue, C.M. Punk's music interrupted.

Out came Punk with an ever-growing dark black heel beard along with Luke Gallows. Punk had possession of his Slammy award with him. Oh yeah, the Slammy's. Punk stood on stage and said no one has anything more important to say than what he has to say. "You suck," chant interrupted. Punk asked Christian what's so funny as he sits there with a big smile on his face. Christian said last night, he saw something he never thought he would see: Shawn Michaels hugging it out with Bret Hart on Raw. Right now, he's seeing something he never wanted to see: C.M. Punk back on ECW. Punk retorted that Christian needs to get used to seeing him back on ECW because he's back on the show for a shot at the title. This is a great tease for a potential Christian vs. Punk match at the Rumble. Punk said the ECW Title is the first of many titles he intends to collect to prove straight-edge means he's better than you. Yeah, you. Punk said Christian can joke all he wants because the reality is he will be the good shepherd for the young talent on ECW - be a role model to show them the way.

Christian asked if the straight-edge way means you have to look like you haven't taken a shower in two weeks. Christian then ran down the list of Homecoming qualifiers, including Shelton vs. Chavo up next. He asked Punk about who he's facing tonight. "Mark Henry," Punk said quietly. Christian said Punk's shown up to run his mouth and get squashed by the World's Strongest Man. Christian with another cheap pop for Lousiville before closing that Punk doesn't smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn't do drugs, and won't be facing him for the ECW Title at the Royal Rumble. Cue up Christian's theme music. They cut to a shot of an upset Punk standing on the stage. "He's the only straight-edge superstar in WWE," Mathews said. So, everyone else is on the roster is an alcoholic, a chain-smoker, or a drug addict?

Raw plug: They aired a strong video package on Mike Tyson guest-hosting WWE Raw on Monday. No matches or anything else plugged.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Shelton Benjamin came to the ring first flashing the "belt around my waist" signal for his ECW Homecoming match. Mathews plugged next week's "Over the top rope" challenge to determine the #1 contender. Apparently "battle royal" is too 'rasslin. Chavo Guerrero came out next for a return match on ECW TV.

[Q2]

1 -- SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. CHAVO GUERRERO -- ECW Homecoming qualifying match

Chavo took it to Shelton early on, then Shelton fired back with right hand blows. Ref Armstrong kept getting involved, which gave Chavo an opening for two out of three Amigos suplexes, but Shelton countered numero tres with a German Suplex (with bridge) for a two count. Chavo then took out Shelton's left knee and went to work with various holds targeting the knee. Shelton made a comeback with a spin kick to the face as the camera took us pretty close inside the ring. Shelton with a nearfall, then Chavo took Shelton down with a Half-Crab submission hold. They broke free and came to their feet with Chavo hitting a big multiple-revolutions head scissors. It's 1999 and we're re-living the WCW Cruiserweight division here. Chavo then went up top for a Frog Splash, but Shelton came to his feet and ducked the finisher. Shelton immediately followed up with Pay Dirt for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Shelton in 5:00 to qualify for ECW Homecoming. Solid five-minute TV match. I don't know if it's because Chavo has been limited to comedy matches with Hornswoggle for six months, but Chavo looked great being able to work a regular match. (*1/2)

Main event later: C.M. Punk vs. Mark Henry. Already qualified for the Homecoming: Yoshi, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourne, Zeke, Kane, Shelton, and Vance Archer.

[Commercial Break]

Video package: They went back to last week when Zack Ryder retired Tommy Dreamer from WWE. They showed highlights of Dreamer's farewell speech and him leaving ECW with his daughters in his arms.

Arena: Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes came out on stage and Ryder said Dreamer is yesterday's news. Ryder said he did something bigger than win ECW Homecoming or the ECW Title when he destroyed the heart and soul of ECW. He said as far as he's concerned, ECW is all about one man - Zack Ryder. Boos from the crowd, then Ryder's music hit. The announcers focused on people not liking Ryder, whether it's because of the half-pants or having a beautiful girlfriend. Byron Saxton said people might be jealous of Ryder being on the way to legendary status.

[Q3]

Video package: They went back to Raw last night for a video recap of Bret Hart's return. "Well, hell froze over," was the quote they used from Hart's opening promo. They spliced together clips of Shawn Michaels's promo in the opening segment with Survivor Series 1997 moments. After the Hart-Michaels bit aired, they showed highlights of Hart and McMahon's slow-closing interaction. The feel-good moment turned dark and dim when McMahon landed the kick to the groin. They spliced together clips of McMahon's "Bret screwed Bret" promo and having no regret over what he did in 1997.

Backstage: They showed Ezekiel Jackson and Kozlov on a split-screen for a one-on-one match up next. Shows how little they think of this with no pre-match hype.

[Commercial Break]

Smackdown plug: Rey Mysterio vs. Batista in another #1 contender match on Smackdown this Friday.

In-ring: Ezekiel Jackson came out with William Regal first. Kozlov then came out to an equally light crowd reaction. The audience needs someone to root for here after each man has played the heel over the past month and neither character has been developed.

2 -- EZEKIEL JACKSON (w/William Regal) vs. KOZLOV

The bell sounded and they went to a stand-still. Kozlov then knocked Jackson to the floor and Jackson regrouped with Regal's aid. Back in the ring, Jackson went after Kozlov's knee and continued to work over the body part. And he wrenched and wrenched on it trying to build sympathy for a Kozlov comeback. It's one of those things where the audience isn't buying into any of the action potentially leading to the finish because they've been trained to sit on their hands and wait for the finish. Kozlov then made a comeback and landed a clothesline. He shook out the knee, but Jackson mercifully put an end to this match with a uranage for the pin and the win. This here is domination, said the lyrics. Post-match, Regal pulled up Kozlov and told him he's a disgrace. Jackson shoved Kozlov down to the mat and sneered at the audience while Regal checked under his nails to ensure he didn't get any dirt. That was the most entertaining aspect of the entire segment.

WINNER: Jackson in 6:00. This wasn't interesting at all with zero character development, a lack of motivations explained for the wrestlers when wins and losses in non-title matches don't seem to have much value in WWE, and the audience being trained to sit on their hands and not buy into any the action taking place before the finish. (1/2*)

Backstage: Mark Henry was shown warming himself up. Tony Atlas then walked in and they shook hands. Didn't Henry dump Atlas to the curb? Atlas said maybe he could walk him to the ring tonight. They talked about old times and Atlas did his Abraham Washington Show laugh, which turned Henry's big smile upside down. Henry left, leaving Atlas to laugh it up some more.

[Q4]

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Savannah announced an ECW Homecoming qualifier, which brought out C.M. Punk with Luke Gallows. Punk, looking awesome with his heel facial expressions and swagger, marched out to the ring and posed with Gallows. Cue up Mark Henry's music to bring out Henry for the TV main event. Saxton said Henry is the favorite based on size alone here.

3 -- C.M. PUNK (w/Luke Gallows) vs. MARK HENRY -- ECW Homecoming qualifying match

Punk played heel early on by running to the corner to avoid Henry. Punk then tried to chop down the tree with kick strikes, but Henry lifted him up in the air to toss him over the top rope. Punk, flustered, circled around the ring huffing and puffing before Luke tried to calm him down going to break.

[Commercial Break. Next Monday - Mike Tyson hosts Raw.]

Back from break, Punk was knocked to the floor where Luke checked on him. Henry, frustrated, slowly approached Punk on the floor and Punk surprised him with a drop toehold into the ring steps. Punk tried to run into the ring for a count-out, but Henry rolled back into the ring and Punk quickly targeted his upper body with knee stomps. Punk then mounted Henry for right hand blows before Punk continued to keep Henry on the mat with a body scissors hold. Punk heelishly smiled and talked trash at Henry while keeping the hold locked in.

[Q5 -- over-run]

At the top of the hour, Punk kicked Henry in the head multiple times from a seated position before making a cover for a two count. Punk then landed a series of kick strikes to the chest, which Henry started to no-sell, but Punk cut him down to the mat with an emphatic kick strike for another two count. Punk then landed consecutive knee blows, but Henry no-sold. Henry then Hulked Up and headbutted Punk multiple times across the ring before landing a huge clothesline. Henry followed with a running corner splash before running clear across the ring for another splash, but Punk moved and hit a running knee strike. Luke then suddenly smashed Henry in the head from the apron behind the ref's back to stun Henry. Punk capitalized with a standing enziguiri kick to the head for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Punk in 12:00 to qualify for the ECW Homecoming. Fundamentally-sound, well-executed big man vs. dastardly heel match. It's not realistic in the context of a kayfabe fight for Punk to be taking it to Henry left and right, so he had to find ways to maneuver around Henry and use trickeration to win matches. They stretched out the formula well with Punk in control to set up Henry for a very strong comeback before ultimately pulling out the win. Solid finish to the show. (*3/4)

Post-match: They flash-carded individual graphics for Punk, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, "the undefeated" Vance Archer, Ezekiel Jackson, Yoshi Tatsu, Shelton Benjamin, and Kane to round out the field of eight in the #1 contender battle royal on next week's show. Winner faces Christian at the Rumble. They closed with a shot of Punk and Gallows celebrating the escapist victory ringside with Gallows rubbing Punk's shoulders to close the show.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "ECW TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on ECW TV, email to pwtorch@gmail.com using our Feedback form.

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