By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Reks vs. Burchill: This is a minor Hit. Normally this quality of a match would not be on the list. It would normally not be good enough for a Hit, but it was better than a Miss. However, last week's match between Tyler Reks and Paul Burchill was very poor and was met by a silent crowd. This was a good improvement over last week and was met by a more enthusiastic crowd (and it wasn't just that this was a better crowd). Therefore, I am giving them a Hit for improving over last week. I was really not looking forward to this match, but was reasonably impressed.

Ryder vs. Christian: Zack Ryder has made a believer out of me. I'm not sure his corny gimmick is going to allow him to be as good as he could be. He has really shown a good ability in the ring. His character has allowed him to show his personality and allowed him to stand out, but will he be able to advance any further with it? Time will tell. For now, I will say that this main event match against ECW Champion Christian was very good. It was Ryder's best match to date. He and Christian worked really well together. It went back and forth and had some very entertaining moments. There was a lot of energetic offense, but also some power moves and big spots. I liked seeing Ryder go for back-to-back superplexes which I don't recall seeing before. Ryder was elevated by hanging with the Champion like that, while Christian looked strong for getting the win.

ECW MISSES

Benjamin's Aspirations: After a few good weeks of rebuilding since his loss to Yoshi Tatsu, I was hoping to see Shelton Benjamin trying to get himself into the ECW Title picture. With Vladimir Kozlov going into a storyline with Ezekiel Jackson, Benjamin should be the top heel on the brand. I was intrigued when he first came into Tiffany's office asking her if she got his email as I thought that he was going to ask for a Title shot. Before I could complete that thought, he asked about appearing on the Abraham Washington Show. That is what Benjamin aspired to this week? To appear on that lame show? And now he has to go into a program of trying to prove that he is entertaining enough. How is he going to do that, make more early 1990s references and fat jokes? Are they going to stretch Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian out longer than next week? If not, then who gets the Title shot at SummerSlam?

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.

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