By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

ECW HITS

Opening Segment: This was a minor Hit for me. I liked the set up with Josh Mathews talking in the ring about the ladder match for TLC between ECW Champion Christian and Shelton Benjamin. The interruption with Vladimir Kozlov challenging Ezekiel Jackson to a fight was ok. William Regal was ok in begging for them to stick together. Some of the verbal exchanges between the Ruthless Roundtable and Christian and Benjamin were good, some were just ok. Some of the mic work was strong, some was decent. There was nothing bad about it, it just wasn't that good. I did like how Tiffany left it up to the Roundtable to vote on what match they wanted. It was a different route to take.

The Ripper: I assumed when Paul Burchill lost to the Hurricane a few weeks back so that he and Katie Lea had to leave ECW that he was Smackdown bound. I don't mind that I was wrong as there is some potential to his new masked "character." I like the tongue-in-cheek attitude that WWE is presenting this angle. They aren't insulting our intelligence by pretending that they don't know who The Ripper really is. Also, Katie Lea's "disguise" was just hilarious. As far as fake masks go, it isn't Mr. America, but it is pretty good.

Christian - Benjamin Tease: WWE has not built expectations that this match will be anything but a crazy ladder spot fest. By that I mean that they haven't built a personal issue between Christian and Shelton Benjamin. They haven't put on much of a focus on the ECW Title (although they did a better job this week than the previous weeks). They have really just focused on the "steal the show" aspect that this match has. But, they've done a good job doing that. The video package showcasing some of the crazy and cool spots that these two have been involved in in past ladder matches was very well done. The end of the show was strong, as Christian tried to symbolically climb the ladder to show what he will do on Sunday, only to have Benjamin do his sick springboard leap on to the ladder to get in his face. That was well done after a rather lackluster (but ok) main event.

ECW MISSES

Archer vs. Dreamer: This was just sort of boring. I was glad to see Vance Archer in a match against an established ECW Superstar. I would have expected Tyler Reks to be the first, partly because I had forgotten about Tommy Dreamer. But as I said, it was a boring match. Archer has some skill, but he isn't exactly dynamic or exciting in the ring. Dreamer certainly isn't either. They seemed to play to each other's weaknesses here. But, it was good to see Archer pick up a win against someone the caliber of Dreamer, and it also seems to be the start of some program for Dreamer as he had the backstage scene with Zack Ryder later in the show which has some potential.

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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