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By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

Extreme Championship Wrestling
May 13, 2008
Upcoming PPV: Judgment Day (last episode before PPV)

ECW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the thirty-fifth edition of ECW Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)


ECW Champion KANE & CM PUNK vs. WWE Tag Team Champions JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ (2 weeks)

This feud was separated into two different matches this week on ECW. In the first match, CM Punk took on The Miz one-on-one. Before the match had begun, Miz sent his tag team partner to the back, confident that he could handle the job himself. The match ended when CM Punk attempted the Go 2 Sleep, but Miz countered with a neckbreaker for the surprising upset. In the second match—the main event of the night—Kane faced John Morrison in singles competition. Unlike the first match, Morrison decided to keep Miz at ringside.

At one point during the match, Miz grabbed Kane's leg, prompting Punk to arrive to even the odds. The match ended when Miz and Punk's fighting distracted the referee enough for Morrison to crack Kane in the head with the title. Morrison followed up with a springboard kick to Kane's face for the three count. After the match, the WWE Tag Team Champions felled both Kane and Punk to end the show standing tall as the babyfaces lay hurt on the mat.

An intriguing budding rivalry between ECW's top talent. We not only have the WWE Tag Team Champions involved, but also the ECW Champion and the owner of the Money in the Bank briefcase. And unlike the last main event feud (Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero), this one can result in the heels gaining believable advantages. Miz and Morrison have been the champions for months, and Morrison has been ECW Champion before. Kane and Punk, although unlikely tag team partners, form a nice team against two heels with some credibility behind them. A match is scheduled to take place at Judgment Day for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but hopefully this rivalry continues beyond Sunday's PPV. Perhaps a future match can raise the stakes so that much more is on the line. Remember, with each person carrying some type of title—in Punk's case, a title opportunity—there is plenty to fight over.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6

Previous Feuds
Kane: Finlay, Big Daddy V, Shelton Benjamin, Chuck Palumbo, Chavo Guerrero
CM Punk: Elijah Burke, John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero
John Morrison & The Miz: Jesse & Festus, Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney

COLIN DELANEY vs. ECW General Manager ARMANDO ESTRADA (8 weeks w/ 2 weeks hiatus)

ECW began backstage where ECW GM Armando Estrada expressed prolonged disbelief about Colin's win over him last week. He told Colin that if he thought he was a target before, he's not going to believe how targeted he will be as a member of the ECW roster. Colin signed the ECW contract to become an official member of the roster before Estrada noted that his opponent for the night was going to be Mike Knox. Later in the show, they showed Colin preparing by taping his wrists before playing a video package recapping Colin's journey up to this point. This was the second video highlight package on Delaney since the show began.

The match between Knox and Colin ended pretty quickly when Knox spiked Delaney with his corkscrew faceplant for the emphatic victory. After the match, Armando Estrada's music hit, and he made his way to the ring with mic in hand. Estrada claimed that Colin would have to compete in a second match, this time against the newest member of the ECW roster: Estrada himself. The ECW GM said that he just signed himself up as an active wrestler in addition to his position as General Manager. He told the referee to ring the bell to get the match underway. After a few kicks, Estrada landed a lifting reverse DDT maneuver for the easy win over Colin.

There are two points worthy of note here. First, this storyline, despite not being the technical main event of the show, is really driving ECW right now. They began the show with a reminder of Colin's big win last week, and they provided multiple segments hyping Colin Delaney as a character. WWE is truly raising this particular storyline as one of their top selling points for Tuesday nights. The other point involves Estrada as GM. WWE has now created three unique General Managers for its three brands. They used to all be pretty similar heels, but now more distinctions have been drawn.

Of course, William Regal became King of WWE after winning the King of the Ring tournament a few weeks ago on Raw. He claims to be the most powerful entity in WWE, despite only wielding power on Raw. But unlike the other GMs, he's really throwing his weight around by making small, yet annoying decisions meant to bug viewers (placing Mike Adamle on the mic for a match, turning out the lights, and forcing Lilian to praise England in song).

Over on Smackdown, Vickie Guerrero uses her power in different ways. Every decision she makes is meant to help a particular person: her fiancé, Edge. While Regal is out to reign supreme as the ruler of the brand, Vickie just wants Edge to be on top with the World Heavyweight Championship. There isn't even much of an imbalance when it comes to babyface/heel positions. She isn't out to help the heels of Smackdown; she's out to help Edge.

Now, we have yet another General Manager distinction. What makes ECW's GM different is that he's signed himself as an active wrestler on his own brand, which probably puts him in positions that could make him vulnerable in the future. Regal certainly can wrestle too, but Estrada specifically refers to himself as GM and wrestler, at least this week. It's an odd combination that probably won't end well for him. For example, if "the entire ECW roster" is involved in a single match again, will he have to participate? On the other hand, this new role will likely allow him to exact punishment both physically and administratively.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6.5 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Colin Delaney: John Morrison & The Miz
Armando Estrada: n/a

KOFI KINGSTON vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN (4 weeks)

Lena Yada interviewed Shelton Benjamin backstage about Kofi Kingston. Benjamin said that the next time he faces Kofi in the ring, he will beat him. Kofi entered the frame to be the first man to wish Shelton luck, but The Gold Standard wasn't interested. He aggressively pushed Kofi backward while yelling about how Kofi was taking up his interview time. Kofi tackled him quickly and rammed him back into a wall. As he left, Shelton stared back angry while propped on the floor.

Well, next week will be pretty important to this feud. Shelton will once again try to beat the undefeated Kofi Kingston one-on-one. If Benjamin loses, it will be hard to tell where this thing goes from here. If he wins, Kofi may lose a little of his edge. It's nice to see WWE bring in a few non-wrestling elements to this feud. They gave Shelton a little bit of talking time, but the real benefit is the interaction Benjamin and Kofi had. The short fight between the two was good, but Shelton's not looking too strong; every time he meets up with this guy, he's on the losing end of things.

Perhaps Shelton needs to have yet another transformation of sorts. His stint as The Gold Standard seemed good in the beginning, but he's lost a lot of steam after weeks of losing, particularly to Kane, now to Kofi Kingston. Again, these two make a great match, and they can probably put on an entertaining, nontraditional style of wrestling, but the storyline can't get too far when the babyface has no trouble beating the heel over and over.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Kofi Kinston: n/a
Shelton Benjamin: Kane, CM Punk, Money in the Bank

TOMMY DREAMER vs. MIKE KNOX (5 weeks)

No sign of Dreamer this week, but Knox was busy taking care of Colin Delaney for ECW GM Armando Estrada. This one might be over, but you can't really tell just by what hasn't happened this week.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5 [down 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Tommy Dreamer: John Morrison & The Miz
Mike Knox: n/a

KELLY KELLY vs. LAYLA (2 weeks)

This week, Kelly Kelly teamed with Smackdown divas Michelle McCool and Cherry to face the team of Layla, Victoria, and Natalya. The match saw Victoria work over Cherry for most of the match, but when Victoria tried to take shots at Kelly and Michelle in the corner, Cherry capitalized by rolling up Victoria for the win. The babyfaces celebrated in the ring as the heels angrily argued on the outside.

Of course, this was a combination of two feuds: Layla vs. Kelly on ECW and McCool/Cherry vs. Victoria/Natalya on Smackdown. There isn't much to say about this one. The only partially interesting note is that Kelly faced Natalya on Smackdown last week, which may lead to something. Beyond that, everybody is tired of the Kelly-Layla feud simply because it has stretched such a long time with an on-again-off-again formula. Plus, it never contains much substance or meaning, and the endings each time the feud reaches another temporary conclusion never deliver.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [down 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Kelly Kelly: Miz, Layla, Victoria
Layla: Kelly Kelly


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero
(2) John Morrison & The Miz vs. Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore
(3) CM Punk vs. Chuck Palumbo?
(4) Tommy Dreamer vs. Mike Knox?


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) CM Punk vs. Chuck Palumbo
(2) CM Punk & Kane vs. John Morrison & The Miz


Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate all the feedback that I receive, and I will respond to every email. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Nunzio" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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