[Fire-Babe]

Happy Tax Day...not.

Preview: Brothers band together
April 15, 2008

For the first time ever in the Land of the Extreme, ECW Champion Kane and World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker will reunite as the Brothers of Destruction get set to take on WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison.

Unfortunately, their match will not be the only thing on their minds, as still bitter about losing their respective titles, Chavo Guerrero and Edge are determined to exact revenge and return to championship status. They have combined their efforts and enlisted the help of Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder and recently, the best bodyguard money can buy - Bam Neely - to the mix.

Will the brothers of gold be a destructive force on ECW? Or will the Ultimate Opportunist and the Mexican Warrior take this chance and use the strength in numbers to get the upper hand on the champions?

After a loss to Tommy Dreamer last week, Colin Delaney still does not have a coveted ECW contract. But the youngster is persistent and won’t shy away from his goal. Will Delaney ever be able to earn a legitimate spot on the ECW roster?

Also on Tuesday night, Kofi Kingston’s winning streak continued as he was victorious over Domino. It seems no one can stop the Jamaican Superstar, who has been taking care of all the trouble that’s come to the Land of the Extreme. Will anyone be able to wipe the grin off Kingston’s face or will he continue to dominate the ECW ring?

Find out the answers to these questions and more on next week's ECW on Sci Fi, Tuesday at 10/9 CT.

[Fire-Babe]

Okay, not a good hockey day. So ECW better kick it up a notch from last week, especially since I'm skipping the first part of the MIN/COL game.

Opening montage, Live (ha!) in HD on Sci Fi from London, England. Styles and Tazz are announcing, and Tazz congratulates Styles on his 'promotion' to WWE.com. Styles promises to give us, the fans, more of what we want on WWE.com, specifically canceling Tazz's column. Then they introduce Mike Adamle, and I die a little inside.

Match 1: CM Punk/Briefcase/Jimmy Wang Yang/Shannon Moore/Kofi Kingston v. Elijah Burke/Deuce/Domino/Shelton Benjamin

Not going to comment on the lack of people coming down as a team and making me try and figure out who is partnered with who.

Punk and Domino (thanks LZ) start up. Some arm drags, some arm locks, then Punk backs in to his corner, and Moore tags him, and flips over him into the ring. He keeps working the arm, and then tags in Jimmy Yang, and he continues with the arm based offense. He tags in Punk who ax handle chops the arm. They finally get to the other corner, and Benjamin tags in. Back and forth with them, and then Benjamin throws Punk out of the ring. The eight men come face to face to face to... oh never mind, as the referee tries to keep them separate we go to commercial.

We are miraculously back in the ring with Punk and Burke. They do the test of strength, apparently until they get the signal that the commercial is over. Punk tags in Kingston. Okay, some nice exchanges. Kofi tags in Shannon more, and it's more arm work? He tags in Yang and they both hit flips on Burke. Yang gets Burke into the corner for some punches, but Burke gets out and lays Yang out with an "uppercut." He picks him up and strangles him on the ropes. Benjamin tags in and covers, but Yang kicks out. We get our first rest holds, Shelton on Yang. Yang gets out but eats a big boot from Shelton. Shelton tags in Deuce who stomps Yang all over the mat. Deuce goes for the pin, but nothing. More rest holds, and I take the opportunity to do some spell checking. Yang gets into the Heel's corner, and they take turns punching him while the ref is distracted by Punk, et al. In all this, Burke has tagged in and continues the assault. Tags in Deuce who goes back to the offense, then tags in Domino. Domino body slaps and then hits a leg drop. Pin, and Yang kicks out. Domino tags Deuce back in as Yang does the mat-crawl to his corner and tags in Kingston who FLIES in to a cross body. Lot of Hi kicks, then the double leg drop. Kofi goes for the pin, but it is broken up by Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin's break up is broken up by Punk. He battles Benjamin out of the ring, and Moore leaps off the top rope onto both of them, to help Punk out. Back to the ring with Kofi and Deuce. Kofi hits his really high kick on Deuce, pins and we're done. Winners: Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, and Moore/Wang

Kane is INTENSE~! about Chavo Guerrero and his 'minions.' The Monster Within is AWAKE~! and is naturally going after Miz and Morrison. Not... Chavo.... Undertaker is spooky.

Match 2: Tommy Dreamer (w/Colin Delaney) v. Mike Knox

So, Colin is apparently a valet now. Okay. Dreamer and Knox begin to square off when they are interrupted by Arrrrmando Alejandrrrro Estrrrrada. He announces a change. Mike Knox will be wrestling Delaney, not Dreamer. Dreamer is sent to the locker room.

And the match is the squash you would imagine it to be. Winner: Mike Knox

Morrison and Miz are facing the Brothers of Destruction!!!

Match 3: Miz/Morrison-and-his-abs v. Kane/Undertaker

NO ONE comes down the ramp with their partners...Kane's ring post pyro goes off. Undertaker's entrance knocks 5 minutes off the show.

We start of with Kane and Miz. Miz seems a bit apprehensive at first, but then gets some punches and kicks. The crowd boos. He's not in charge for long, as Kane whips him into ring posts. He tags in Undertaker, who continue the brutalization. Undertaker goes Old school on Miz to the delight of the crowd. Morrison tries to interfere, but gets Undertaker's boot. UT throws Miz out of the ring, and then back in it so he can set up the leg drop on the apron. Mid jump, Morrison knocks UT out of the way, so he misses and hits the floor. We hit a commercial.

Back and Miz and Morrison have UT in the corner. Not for long, as UT gets out, and returns the sentiment to Morrison, as the ref gets Miz out of the ring. UT tags in Kane who tosses Morrison around for a bit. He throws him in to the ropes but instead of bouncing off, Morrison catches them and then throws himself towards Miz to tag him in. Miz is not going for that, so Kane helps him by tossing him over the rope into the ring. Kane keeps up the offense, and does a sidewalk slam on Miz. Kane goes up to the top, but Morrison pushes him off. Not enough though, as Kane nails Morrison in the back with a kick. But enough distraction that Miz is able to hit the back of Kane's knee, and tries to get a leg lock on Kane. Morrison tags in and and works the leg. Miz is back in and also targets the leg with some punches thrown in for good measure. Morrison now back in to continue the beatdown. They switch back and forth about 800 times. Kane does get some nice the-taste-right-out-of-your-mouth on Miz. Finally one is enough to allow Kane to break free. They mat crawl to their respective corners and TAG!!! It's UT and Morrison, with UT clearly dominating. Snake eyes, big boot, elbow drop, cover, but only for 2. He sets up the choke slam on Morrison, and Miz comes in for his own, but M and M kick UT in the gut, breaking the hold.

Someone at WWE is watching way too much synchronized swimming. Because we get UT and Kane with M and M in simultaneous choke slam. Kane goes out, UT hits the Tombstone. One, two, three, and we are done. Winners: Brothers of Destruction Kane and Undertaker

Okay, not as bad as last week. I guess that's the best I can say about it.

[jetskid48]

I really like the main event and Miz and Morrison have been getting better time recently too, so that's cool, but I'd be stupid if I didn't realize they weren't going to wind up getting a fair shake out of tonights events.

[Lucky]

HAHA! His name really IS Bam Neely! WWE is so weird with re-naming its new guys.

That Kofi and Delaney are the only two things hyped underneath the main event looks like a warning not to hope for anything more than a potentially enjoyable main event that ends in a massive beat down.

[bdbdbd]

If Irwin R. Shyster doesn't show up I'm going to be sad.

[Demko]

Okay, so help me to understand this... Colin Delaney doesn't have an ECW contract, but he seems to have a match to get one every week. Couldn't he technically do this indefinitely and be CONSIDERED a part of the ECW roster? :-)

[Lucky]

THIS STORY IS AWESOME! DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION IT! IT IS BOTH LOGICAL THAT AN UNTRAINED WRESTLER WITH NO CONTRACT WOULD BE ABLE TO WRESTLE WEEKLY ON A LIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM FOR THE LARGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD BUT IT IS ALSO SMART BUSINESS SENSE TO CONSTANTLY HAVE AN UNCONTRACTED KID WITH NO DISCERNIBLE TALENT CONSTANTLY COMPETING WITH YOUR CONTRACTED WRESTLERS IN YOUR LIMITED TV TIME!

[Tommy]

I get the sense this bothers you...

[Jack Quinn]

Wait till Colin wins the ECW title and joins the New Hart Foundation

[Mr. Dashbee]

Colin is listed on the roster page. I guess you don't need a contract to be on the roster? Can I be on the roster?

[bdbdbd]

Apr 15, 2008 17:49:25 GMT -5 Demko said:

Colin Delaney doesn't have an ECW contract, but he seems to have a match to get one every week. Couldn't he technically do this indefinitely and be CONSIDERED a part of the ECW roster?

It's part of Armando Alejandro Estrada's new budget plan. It's a twofold measure; first he's only paying Colin Delaney like $50-100 bucks a night* depending on the match ($50 for a singles match, 70 for that handicap match, 100 for extreme rules, or thereabouts anyway), secondly he's showing the other wrestlers on the roster, especially the ones with contracts coming up for renewal, that they can and will be replaced by just about anyone with a pair of tights.

Next round of contracts, the overall talent budget goes down, and Armando gets a bonus for being the only GM in the company who actually pays attention to the books.

*This does not include travel, hotel, or medical expenses.

[Lucky]

I would forgive all the Colin stuff if it was revealed that Estrada was just embezzling all the money he was saving featuring SD wrestlers, rookies, jobbers, and uncontracted people.

I mean the guy's got like Punk, Miz, Morrisson, Benjamin, Dreamer, Richards, and Kofi on his regular payroll. He's gotta be working with a limited budget.

[jetskid48]

at least one less person will have to lose a job once ecw is finally cancelled.

[Lucky]

I presume you're talking about Joey but Colin won't either... because he doesn't have a job!

Yet he accompanies the ECW roster to England despite not having a match or even wanting one. Because who doesn't travel all around the country to hang out at a job that you don't have and that you clearly have no ability to do and have failed in at least 10 attempts to get? And just get on a plane and go to England to hang out with your buddy! And wear your uniform for the job you don't have and don't expect to do today!

It was nice that Burke and Knox got work today. Considering that quite often they don't get to work but the uncontracted work without an ounce of ability who has proven time and time again that he doesn't deserve another chance keeps getting matches. Here's hoping they luck out again next week! Stevie Richards, Nunzio, Kevin Thorne, and Balls Mahoney will be waiting otherwise!

Is it two early to vote for 2008 awards? Rookie of the Year? Story of the Year? Isn't it awesome? Loser without an ounce of ability gets destroyed week in and week out without ever showing any chance of competing. The heel GM isn't putting him into impossible situations, just matching him up with WWE roster members he'd have to face anyway if he got the contract he so coveted. He's not getting screwed and he's not a kid with ability who is just waiting for his break. He's been given opportunity after opportunity and failed every single time in the most complete way possible. And who doesn't love this classic story of futility and worthlessness and hope that one day all of his dreams come true by pure chance or cheating after he failed legitimately time and time again?

There's nothing more inspiring than an unqualified and talentless young man wasting his and our time because he lacks the basic self-awareness to realize that he should give up and because his would-be employers revel in his volunteer service in uncompetitive matches while their contracted performers sit on the sidelines instead of taking part in matches and stories that might do them good and improve the product.

[punk/core]

I really thought Delaney was going to get the fluke win over Knox tonight... what with the whole steroid story breaking last week.

One of my favorite parts of the night was during the main event, when Adamle said that Miz was working on a figure-four on the Undertaker, and Tazz said something to the effect, "NO, actually that's just a leg lock." Adamle was pretty bad tonight, but really, I can't put too much blame on him. The Styles news just broke this afternoon, so I assume putting Adamle in as the play-by-play guy was a last minute decision that even caught him by surprise. I'm at least willing to wait a couple weeks before being too harsh to judge him.

[bdbdbd]

I guess WWE isn't going to punish him for past sins, which I'm actually OK with.

I would actually put ECW in the overall good show column if it wasn't for the extended Diva Dance segment and...and what they've done to Tazz. My god, it makes me want to cry to see the Path of Rage act like a tool.

[madiq]

Between beedee's and Lucky's posts, I'm now officially okay with the Colin Delaney storyline, as (a) AAE is embezzling the money, and (b) Colin Delaney is a heel, because not only is he uncontracted "scab" talent taking spots from other more deserving guys, but I think that he's been colluding with AAE hold down ECW salaries all along.

I have to say, though, the storyline would work better if they outsourced the commentator job that Joey Styles just lost to the Great Khali...

[iamdoug]

Colin bothers me because they want him so desperately to be the next mikey whipwreck. That is impossible because Whipwreck was a right place/right time to work storyline. It isn't something that this current ECW can replicate, they just don't have the environment for it.

[Fire-Babe]

Apr 16, 2008 7:11:15 GMT -5 bdbdbd said:

the extended Diva Dance segment and....

What? I see nothing of that in the recap. Didn't happen.