Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (5.0): Best: Cutting Edge. Worst: Replays and more replays. WWE took Earth Day to heart and did a lot of recycling, which really hurt the show. The Cutting Edge did an outstanding job to explain why Edge was there (lots of history there), tying the whole quadrangle that is Undetraker-Kane-Edge-Chavo very nicely. It also set up for the Chavo-Kane match story for Backlash. But getting there required wading through the recycled material, the blah opening match, a promising opening salvo between Kofi and Shelton, another chapter of the Miz/Morrison-Yang/Moore story, and the very crappy Henry-Nunzio squash. Looks like a tongue-in-cheek approach is being taken in regards to Mike Adamle: acknowledge the errors, find the humor in them, and move on as if last week is a case of first-week jitters. There were still some slips and awkwardness, but already signs of improvement are there. Time will tell.

Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (6.5): Best Match: Cutting Edge. Worst Match: Jimmy Yang Wang vs. Miz. I think Mike Adalme had only nine lines tonight. He can do introductions just fine, but as far as contributing to the psychology of the match, forget it. He takes away from it. People hate them some Coach, but at least Coach knows about timing, about finishing statements, and not letting them hang in the air like a question (example: Will Ferrell in Anchorman: "Stay Classy, San Diego?") Either Joey Styles leaving ECW suprised WWE and they had to rush to find another announcer, or they believe that it's okay for ECW to be Mike's "announcing training." It was interesting because Tazz pretty much called the entire show. We're just used to two announcers "feeding" off on each other, so it's weird to have Tazz call a match and then have Mike interject an obvious statement. I have been "trained" to listen to two or three guys, so listening to just one guy feels awkard. Mike feels very much like a special guest annoucner and certainly not the new voice of ECW. His timing is way off. That Jimmy vs. Miz match was too much with Miz announcing. I couldn't focus on the action. I actually do like "Jamican me crazy." It's better than "Ain't no stopping me now." Announcing skills aside, you had some decent action. I loved the psychology of "The Cutting Edge" and that was the best part of the night. I think that Doc Hendrix and Eric Bishoff were the worst announcers that I heard while growing up. They say that Mike has been a announcer for over 20 years. That's all well and dandy, but he's not a wrestling announcer. There's a huge difference in annoucing sports and announcing wrestling (or "sports-entertainment"). Much like a new prospect wrestler, ECW fans will have to see if this Mike Adalme experiment works. I'm guessing that "Bad Mic" Mike Adalame has one month to prove that he belongs on the show. He's like a lump of clay right now, and hopefully he will get better. Jesse Ventura isn't walking through that door, nor Vince (who I thought was a great announcer).

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "ECW Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on ECW, click 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.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.