WWE - ECW on SyFy TV Report
January 19, 2010 - Year 4, Week 33 (Week 189 overall)
Taped in Greenville, S.C.
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with a video package recapping the ECW Homecoming battle royal last week that resulted in Ezekiel Jackson becoming #1 contender to Christian's ECW Title. ... Announcers: Josh Mathews plugged tonight's main event of Christian vs. William Regal with Regal looking to make a statement for Jackson at the Rumble.

Abe Show: Tony Atlas was shown on-camera introducing fill-in Santino Marella replacing Abraham Washington tonight. Atlas apparently intentionally botched Santino's name and his guest host, Vladimir Kozlov's name. Santino came out on stage sporting a fine suit combo. Santino said Abe has unfortunately come down with a case of the um...er... "Gastro-Lauriniatis-intestines." Atlas laughed, then Santino asked Atlas to repeat some Italian words and phrases. He then brought out Kozlov, who was sporting jeans and a t-shirt. Crowd hasn't been informed Kozlov turned babyface.

Kozlov "sat like an American" with a casual pose, then Santino said he wanted to bring out someone who the people don't like so he looks good. Kozlov said something indecipherable. Crickets. He was with a biker gang for "three beautiful ears." Santino asked Kozlov why people don't like him. He said people still ask him if he's Ivan Drago from the Rocky movies. Crickets. Not exactly reaching the target demo here. Kozlov said he likes cheese fries, Hannah Montana, and "24 hours of Walmart." Santino said where else can you go at 4:00 in the morning and buy some boots and lettuce. Crickets. Santino had a revelation: they should become a tag team. Kozlov didn't buy it. The crowd didn't buy it either. "You punch them, I pin them, we win," Santino said. Kozlov screamed, "no." Crickets. Atlas finally signed them off to close the segment. Didn't the audience know they were castmembers who were supposed to react to poorly-written material? This bombed hard.

Backstage: Yoshi Tatsu pumped himself up while walking down the hallway with Goldust for a tag match up next.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

In-ring: Yoshi Tatsu's music hit to bring out Yoshi with Goldust. Crowd was into Yoshi here. Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft then came out for a feature tag match. Josh Mathews informed us that Croft and Barreta prepare for their matches by playing Guitar Hero for mental preparation. WWE trying to be relevant here. Now all they need are dynamic skateboards.

1 -- YOSHI TATSU & GOLDUST vs. TRENT BARRETA & CAYLEN CROFT

B&C doubled up on Yoshi early on with Goldust sitting on the sidelines for a while. The new tandem tagged in and out working over Yoshi, who teased a Ricky Steamboat comeback at 6:00, but Barreta cut him off, only to have Yoshi smash him in the face with a spinkick. The crowd rallied behind Yoshi leading to Goldust taking a hot tag and fired up the crowd before nailing a powerslam on Croft for a two count. Barreta then dumped Yoshi to the outside, but they had a TNA ref moment with the ref distracted for no reason allowing Barreta to hit a double-team move allowing Croft to pin Goldust for the win.

WINNERS: Barreta & Croft in 7:00. Fine tag match with B&C continuing to develop their heel personas. They have a little something working right now. (*1/4)

Backstage: Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes were shown walking down the hallway. Mathews said in a voice-over that Ryder has a "major announcement" coming up next.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Zack Ryder's music hit to bring out Ryder with Rosa. Mathews called them the Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag of WWE. So, they're not relevant anymore? Just sayin'. Ryder took the mic and referenced ending Tommy Dreamer's ECW career. He said The Hurricane apparently had a problem with him sticking his nose in Dreamer's business, but Hurricane needs to recognize he's the new Heart & Soul Superhero of ECW. Rosa looked on approvingly, then Ryder called "ring announcer girl" Savannah into the ring. Savannah then introduced Ryder as the new "heart and soul superhero of ECW." Ryder said that wasn't any good. She then did a bigger smile and added more emphasis for the line. Rosa didn't think it was any good, so she cut a comical promo on her in Spanish.

Hurricane suddenly stormed the ring sans music and dropped Ryder with a cross-body splash that sent Ryder to the floor. Rosa then chased down Ryder on the floor to console him. "Are you serious, bro?" Ryder shouted. Hurricane then went to the outside and kissed Savannah on the hand. "Oh, come on," Byron Saxton said, not appreciating the gesture. Mathews defended Hurricane, then Saxton plugged Christian vs. Regal still to come.

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

Raw 2009 DVD plug: They aired a commercial for the 2009 Raw DVD plug with focus on the Boom Drop, Orton in January, craziness, rising stars (The Miz), guest hosts, home invasion, Randy Orton, John Cena, and DX. Just to name a few.

Rumble plug: Back to the broadcast, Mathews and Saxton broke down the Royal Rumble PPV line-up with Sheamus vs. Orton, Taker vs. Rey, Christian vs. Jackson, and the Rumble match.

Announcers: Mathews and Saxton were shown on-camera to plug the current feud between Shelton Benjamin and Vance Archer. Three weeks ago, Archer was DQ'ed against Shelton and as a result, they have a singles match on Superstars. No focus on last week when they eliminated each other in the Homecoming battle royal, though. Odd.

In-ring: ECW champion Christian came out first for the ECW main event. Plenty of focus on Christian posing for the audience. Main event is up next.

[Commercial Break]

Haiti plug: Mathews read a voice-over on WWE teaming with Americares to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti.

In-ring: William Regal slowly walked to the ring flanked by #1 contender Ezekiel Jackson. Regal had a big smile on his face as Jackson entered the ring first to stare down Christian hungry for the title belt. Christian met his stare and turned his attention to Regal.

[Q4]

2 -- ECW champion CHRISTIAN vs. WILLIAM REGAL (w/Ezekiel Jackson) -- non-title match

Regal and Christian locked up and drove each other to the corner as Jackson watched intently. Mathews talked about Regal and Jackson going back to the film room to break down tape on Christian for the Rumble after this match. Put that on TV! Regal engaged Christian in chain wrestling that Christian ended with a palm thrust to the face and a high back-body drop. Regal then rolled to the outside for a breather and Christian warmed up the crowd for a running baseball slide kick through the ropes to knock Regal into the guardrail. Christian then threw Regal back into the ring as Jackson walked over to share a few words. Christian shared a few words back and pointed to himself to remind Jackson he's the champ. They cut to break mid-discussion after five solid minutes of televised wrestling to start the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Christian and Regal were pretzeled on the mat with Christian in control. Christian then accepted multiple forearm blows and a punt to the gut for a two count from Regal, who locked in a mat-based submission hold. Christian tried to counter into the Killswitch from his feet, but Regal kicked him in the leg and went back to the submission repertoire. Christian fired back, but Regal cut him off again. Christian then teased the Killswitch again, but Regal shoved him off and hit an Exploder suplex. Christian rolled to the corner and Regal went for a kick strike to the face inside the ringpost that Christian sold like a pro. Regal then went back to the mat with a nervehold as Christian rallied the fans. Christian reached his feet and Regal teased a butterfly suplex, but Christian countered with an inside cradle for a two count only. Christian then hit slaps to the face before making a comeback at the top of the hour.

[Q5 -- over-run]

Christian hit a Tornado DDT out of the corner and approached Regal for a cover, but Regal kicked out. Christian then got the crowd into it and he came off the second rope with a dropkick. He tried another dropkick, but Regal moved out of the way and teased the Knee Trembler, but Christian countered with a pin for a two count. Christian then tried a sunset flip pin, but Regal rolled through and hit a knee to the nose for a two count. Regal then took Christian to the corner and landed successive blows. Christian caught Regal with a European Uppercut, though. He teased the Killswitch again, but Regal blocked, only to have Christian toss him over the top rope to the floor. Suddenly, Jackson stormed the ring and attacked Christian from behind for a DQ.

Post-match: Jackson picked up Christian to allow Jackson to nail the knee trembler to the face. Jackson then scooped up Christian and delivered a uranage center ring. Jackson stood tall, then Regal raised his arm as Christian remained lifeless on the mat. Cue up Jackson's music as Regal talked trash to Christian. WWE rolled credits, but Jackson got in one last exclamation point with a second uranage for good measure to close the show.

WINNER: Christian via DQ in 17:00. Awesome match between Christian and Regal. They started with great chain wrestling in the beginning, Regal delivered solid offense in the middle and there wasn't an extended isolation on Christian that kept things interesting, and they built to a good exchange at the end without over-doing the counter/reversal/counter pattern. The non-finish was expected and effectively set up the Rumble match. It also set up Christian vs. Regal for another run post-Rumble if they go that route. This was good and worth a DVR replay. (***1/4)

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