By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

None: This was not a good episode of ECW. The opening with William Regal announcing himself as the guest GM filling in for Tiffany was ok. The Abraham Washington Show was better than usual with John Morrison (although I don't like Smackdown superstars appearing on ECW). I have to admit to a few laughs like when Tony Atlas said "I am awesome" like The Miz. I also laughed when Washington was surprised that Morrison likes his show. But, the Mr. Ziggles thing is so lame it is a detriment to Morrison's character. It is hard to get involved in the Intercontinental Championship feud when the point of contention between the wrestlers is that one of them makes fun of the other's name in a childish way. The exchange between Regal and Zack Ryder was strong afterwards when it cut back to them. That whole opening segment was the closest thing to a Hit on the show, but it wasn't quite good enough, and unfortunately the rest of the show went downhill from there.

ECW MISSES

Burchill Loses: Shelton Benjamin vs. Paul Burchill was actually looking like it would land itself in the Hit column early on. I loved how Shaemus came out to attack Benjamin from behind before the match. I loved how Benjamin demanded that the match start despite his injury. I saw this as an opportunity to elevate both Burchill and Benjamin. Benjamin needed a gutsy performance to get the crowd behind him. He could keep kicking out and refusing to give up despite the punishment dished out from Burchill. That would elevate him as a babyface in the eyes of the fans. Burchill would be elevated as a bully who took advantage of the situation. That is what happened for awhile, so that was good. But, I was disapointed that Benjamin got the win. He didn't need the win, just the gutsy performance. He had the excuse of the Shaemus beating. Burchill needed the win. This was a chance to help him look more credible, but WWE blew it. It also made Shaemus look bad since his pre-match beating didn't accomplish its goal. WWE could learn from the classics. Rocky didn't beat Apollo Creed the first time, but he became the fan favorite for going the distance. There is a great scene in "Cool Hand Luke" where Luke fights the much bigger Dragline (George Kennedy) and gets the crap beat out of him. He never lands a punch, but refuses to stay down. He earns the other prisoners' respect by continuing to get up, despite getting beat down. Those are just a few movie examples off the top of my head. But, I've spent way too much time on this.

8 Man Tag: I enjoyed the opening few minutes of the ECW main event, but it got bad in the second half. With Christian, Yoshi Tatsu, William Regal, Zack Ryder, and even Goldust, there were five good to very good workers in the match. So, can someone explain to me why the majority of the match was dominated by Ezekiel Jackson, Vladimir Kozlov and Tommy Dreamer? It got boring watching the heels beat down Dreamer, especially when the big men were in the ring. You thought things would pick up with Christian finally getting the hot tag, but he barely had any offense before the heels settled in on a prolonged beating of the ECW Champ. Things picked up nicely at the end with Tatsu cleaning house and ultimately getting the win. I like the big win for Tatsu, but the actual finishing kick on Regal was missed by the director as they were showing a shot of the aftermath of Christian's suicide dive onto the heels on the outside. So, that was disapointing, as was the match on the whole.

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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