Mark Henry: It is too bad that Mark Henry isn’t capable of having better matches, because he does have a personality and he can deliver on the mic. I have liked some of his promo work in the past, and this week on ECW I enjoyed his backstage encounters with Tony Atlas. He played his part very well. I like how in the first encounter he went from seemingly being respectful to Atlas in talking about his weight lifting abilities to totally disrespectful when brushing off his attempt at a hand shake. His quick line in their brief second encounter about Atlas carrying his bags after the show was good as well. With the Atlas turn in the end, it will be interesting to see where their relationship goes from here. It definitely has some possibilities.
Even Bourne: Bourne is showing the type of excitement in the ring that ECW could have on a much more consistent basis. His match vs. Nunzio was very good for a 3 minute match. He does moves that nobody else on national t.v. does at the moment. At one point, it looked like he was going for an enziguri, but instead he somehow turned it into a head-scissors take down. That was incredible! And his shooting star press is a joy to watch. It is amazing how he is already connecting with the fans with no real introduction, no character, and no mic time. Hopefully those will come and he will have a chance to become a star on ECW. Featuring him in longer matches (as opposed to say Finlay) would be a good idea too.
ECW MISSES
Opening Segment: I am a fan of Miz & Morrison. I highly recommend “The Dirt Sheet” on wwe.com. I appreciate the fact that at the start of ECW they started to channel a bit of the magic of their online show in the way they introduced themselves. More of that would definitely be appreciated. However, the opening segment still left me cold. Part of it was the lame hurricane jokes. I know that they are heels, but there isn’t a reason to try to make a joke about such a tragedy. They also seemed to talk over themselves a little. It just wasn’t smooth. The real problem was that their plea for more competition was interrupted by Finlay. I was really hoping that the feud between them and Finlay & Hornswoggle was over. I don’t look forward to seeing this feud continue. It also set up Finlay vs. Miz which wasn’t very good. It was nice to see a match go 10 minutes, but this is one time I would have preferred a shorter match (it was good enough to escape the Miss column but really dragged at that length) to give some of the other matches (particularly Bourne vs. Nunzio) more time.
Braden Walker’s Debut: This was a less than impressive debut for the man formally known as Chris Harris. WWE loves to give guys new names, particularly former ROH and TNA competitors who debut on ECW. Unfortunately, the new name is seldom as good as the other (sometimes real) name. Marcus Cor Von was the first that I recall. Matt Sydal sounds better than Evan Borne. And Chris Harris sounds better than Braden Walker. It is a generic sounding name and Walker had a generic looking look. Is that really the outfit he wants to wear on national t.v.? He wrestled in front of t.v. audiences almost as big as ECW is getting right now. He should have a better idea of what a wrestling star should look like. Introducing him with no build up, the week after they introduced Ricky Ortiz with no build up isn’t doing him any favors. His match vs. Armando Estrada seemed to put the live crowd to sleep. Harris, I mean Walker showed plenty of potential in TNA, so hopefully his debut is not a sign of things to come.
Too Much Happening: There was way too much happening on a one hour show on ECW this week. It reminded me of watching the old one hour Impacts. The problem didn’t start until after the second commercial break. The opening segment wasn’t good, but it was self contained. The second segment had the long Finlay vs. Miz match followed by the short scene in the back in Teddy Long’s office. No problems yet, but then the problems started. After the second commercial, before the third, there was a Raw Rebound, Estrada vs. Walker, and the first scene in the back with Tony Atlas. After the next commercial, there was Leena Yada’s interview with Ricky Ortiz, a video on Matt Hardy, and another scene with Atlas. WWE was trying to do too much at one time. They were in week 2 of introducing Ricky Ortiz, including a new name. They were in week 1 of introducing Braden Walker. They wanted to introduce Tony Atlas to a new generation of fans, in the same night that he turned heel. That was a bit rushed it seems. They were also trying to further establish Evan Bourne, Estrada’s attempt at earning a contract, Tiffany as Long’s assistant GM, and apparently remind the audience that Matt Hardy is on the ECW roster. Really? With everything else going on, why did we need to see a video on Hardy who is extremely well established at this point? There was too much going on, and nothing feels important when such little time is given to everything (other than Finlay vs. Miz).
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.
LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1039 (17 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller who attended Brock Lesnar's first UFC victory on Saturday night in the semi-main event in front of a record-setting crowd in his hometown. Keller's BBL looks at Lesnar's place in MMA and in what ways he seems more comfortable than ever... Bruce Mitchell's Memo examines the dilemma of Chris Benoit and the Hall of Fame... Sean Radican reviews the two latest TNA DVD releases... In-depth coverage of the TNA Hard Justice PPV including Keller's match report with star ratings and the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews... Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" with scoops and insider analysis... WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire with insider news, big story analysis, and notebook tidbits... Plus Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week, and more....
