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ECW HITS

Bourne vs. Kidd: I had a few problems with this match, but on the whole it was a Hit. Evan Bourne and Tyson Kidd are two young exciting talented wrestlers. The match had good, crisp, high energy action. I liked that the rest of the Hart Dynasty was booted from ring side early in the match as I had been expecting interference and was glad that it would likely be a clean finish. The wrestlers did their part. I was disappointed in the length only being 5 minutes. It would have been nice to see the match go twice as long. While I was happy to see Bourne get back on track after being squashed last week, Kidd is still not being given a lot of time to show why he can be special in the ring. I also would have liked to see a run in after the show to set up some type of program. This is the problem with having one tag team on the brand. Who are they to feud with? There is a chance to introduce a new wrestler if someone is waiting in the wings as Bourne's partner against the Hart Dynasty in a prolonged feud.

Finlay vs. Ryder: I have been impressed lately with Zack Ryder in the ring. I'm not sure about the gimmick, but he has shown more ability than he did (perhaps than he had a chance to show) as part of the Major Brothers / Edge Heads on Smackdown. This was a good mat based match. It told a story as Ryder tried to capitalize on Finlay re-injuring his eye and Finlay trying to survive, ultimately cheating to win. It wasn't great, but both men performed well and at 7 minutes it felt the right length for this particular match.

Swagger & Henry vs. Dreamer & Christian: This was a good tag team main event. There was a mix of styles in the ring, with Christian and Jack Swagger bringing the athleticism. The announcers did a nice job talking up the Championship Scramble, dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the five competitors. I liked the passion the wrestlers showed trying to get the win, like when Tommy Dreamer jumped Tony Atlas on the outside after his interference cost them the win. I liked Mark Henry's facial reaction to when Swagger tagged himself in, showing that he didn't need any help. The post match World's Strongest Slams were good too.

ECW MISSES

Finlay's Excuse: While I liked the match that followed, I wasn't thrilled with Finlay's promo. Part of the problem is that WWE appears to be casting Finlay as a tweener, which is fine, but it can be hard to execute. He bashed both Christian and Dreamer making him a heel, but bashed Swagger too making him a face. I think Ryder is a heel so he was more of a face in this match. However, he came across as whiny in his promo making him a heel. A tweener role is fine. But, it has to be well written and keeping a character in the middle can mean his motivations are watered down and that seems to be the case here. Boo hoo, they only sent you a text. He was upset about that, but then didn't really care about an apology because he was worried about his career and providing for his family. The eye injury wasn't that bad, was it? How long was he gone, a few weeks? That caused that much concern? Isn't he like 50? I hope he has some money saved, because he should be near the end of his wrestling career. A strong tweener motivation like "I want to be ECW Champion and I don't care who I have to beat up to get it" where he beats up babyfaces and heels makes for a stronger character than this motivation where he is sort of upset that they only sent him a text and sort of upset that a minor injury might end his career.

Hurricane's Appearance: I was a big fan of the Hurricane back in the day. I am looking forward to his return as he can be a very fun character backed up by a very talented worker in Gregory Helms. I have very fond memories of his feud with the Rock. I also found this scene to be amusing. Mark Henry did a good job of acting confused by the whole situation (I like the fact that even though he could have easily walked over and picked up the large box that had fallen on the stage hand, probably with one hand, he just stood there watching). However, after just a few subtle hints at a possible return, to fully show Hurricane this soon seems to me to be too soon. Maybe they are worried that newer fans won't get the subtler references and want to get more anticipation this way? In the end, I will just call this a minor Miss.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars 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.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

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