[Fire-Babe]

Preview: Fierce Forum

Tonight on ECW, ECW Champion Kane will meet with his Night of Champions opponent, Big Show, in an open forum. What will the giants say as they stand face-to-face?

WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison continue to emerge victorious. They managed to retain their gold on Tuesday night against ECW Champion Kane and Mr. Money in the Bank, CM Punk. Is there a team on the SmackDown or ECW rosters that can defeat the duo? Will Finlay & Hornswoggle be up to their tricks in the weeks leading up to their title match at Night of Champions?

Former ECW General Manager Armando Estrada received three chances on Tuesday from newly-appointed GM Theodore Long to earn an ECW contract. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, leaving him to wonder if future chances will yield better results.

Also on Tuesday night, Victoria prevailed over Kelly Kelly in a fierce bout as all of the ECW and SmackDown Divas look forward to more details about the new WWE Divas Championship.

Evan Bourne made a powerful debut on ECW by pinning Mike Knox for the win. The Tag Team Match – Shelton Benjamin & Mike Knox vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne – certainly brought the rivalry between the Jamaican Superstar and the Golden Standard to the forefront. Will Bourne continue his winning ways? And what will happen between Benjamin and Kingston this coming Tuesday?

[Fire-Babe]

From San Jose, CA--

Match 1: Hornswaggle v. Arrrrmando Alejandrrrrro Estrrrrada

AAE gives HW a cigar which HW breaks in half and throws to his chest. AAE chases HW out of the ring....HW grabs a bucket of marbles from under the ring (of course!) and dumps them onto the floor, where AAE with perfect timing slides on them and falls flat on his back. HW gets back in the ring, with a blow up mini-sledge and a water gun. He uses both, then powders out and goes under the ring. AAE follows and reaches under the apron to try and get him. While he's looking, HW gets back into the ring. AAE doesn't notice and thinks he's got something. He pulls ... and it's Finlay. With a super soaker. HW tadpole splashes AAE onto the floor, and gets back in the ring, playing with his water gun. Finlay tosses AAE back into the ring. HW goes to the top of the turnbuckle, another tadpole splash, and .... Winner: Hornswaggle.

Match 2: Matt Striker v. Evan Bourne

It's my duty to point out that 12 minutes into the show and we've already had waaaay more wrestling than they had on RAW last night.

Matt Striker continues to eschew appropriate ring protection. Evan counters everything Matt tries with lots of flippy stuff. Bourne tries to leap over the top rope, but Striker catches him then an spinning neck-breaker. Striker gets Bourne into a choke hold, and yells "He's not making a name for himself on me." Bourne gets out of it flips around and does a high knee to Striker's jaw. He leaps from the mat to a hurricanrana. He gets Striker down, and then sets up a standing moonsault, but Striker gets a boot up. Bourne recovers, gets to the turnbuckle, and then a shooting star press that hits this time. Winner Evan Bourne

Okay, in retrospect, having both a Matt Sydal and a Matt Striker on the roster could get confusing. You'd think they could have caught that before his debut, though.

Evan's celebration is short-lived, however, as my favorite wrestler Mike Knox runs in and attacks him.

Match 3: Kofi Kingston v. Mike Knox

I guess since he's down there....

Knox starts off with his, uh, power offense of brawling. Kofi manages to get out of it and hits some of his kicks. He gets Knox into the corner and tries for the monkey flip, but Knox catches him by the face. He carries him over to the adjacent turnbuckle and tosses him so that the back of his head hits the top pad. Ouch. Knox goes back to his manhandling. Knox gets a knee to Kofi's back and stretches his arms back. Kofi gets out, kicks Knox to the jaw. While Knox is recovering, Kofi leaps up to the top of the ring post and frogsplashes Knox. He goes for the pin but Knox kicks out. High drop kick lays Knox out. Double leg drop, and he starts to go for the pin but...

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' ME NOW! Shelton Benjamin's music hits and he comes into the ring. The ref calls for the bell as Kofi and Shelton brawl. Shelton hits a suplex on Kofi, but largely this is devoid of actual wrestling. Shelton tries to do a spinning kick but hits Knox instead of Kofi. Winner by DQ: Kofi Kingston

Backstage and HW is flirting with Teddy's Assistant GM, whose name escapes me. Teddy gives Finlay and Hornswaggle a contract to meet Miz and Morrison for the Tag Team titles at Night of Champions. Assistant GM Tiffany reminds them that after the draft, Fit and "Horny" could end up on different shows. HW kisses Tiffany's hand just a bit to aggressively. They get that all settled down and Miz comes in complaining about the match at NoC. Finlay hits him with the shillelagh.

Match 4: Punk v. Morrison, and his abs

Morrison actually came down on his own for a singles match. WWE, you're messing with my expectations.

Punk gets Morrison in the corner first, and the ref has to break it up. Both men are selling the hatred (and looking mighty hot doing it, I must say). They go back and forth, with plenty of bitch slaps and kicks. Punk gets the first pin for two. First pretty cool spot had Punk on apron outside the ropes, and Morrison did a leg sweep that landed Punk somewhat awkwardly on the side of the ring. While he was laying there checking his ribs, Morrison baseball slides and kicks him right out of the ring. He goes out after Punk and kicks him into the guardrail. Morrison is in control. He gets a pin for 1. Morrison does a modified abdominal stretch, wherein he places his knee on the ribs Punk may have injured in the first cool spot. Punk gets out, but then runs Punk into the ring post, shoulder block to the ribs. Another pin on Punk for two. And we go back to the same hold, but on the other side. Punk rolls and ends up pinning him with an inside cradle, but only for 1. Morrison continues to assault the ribs with just about every possible thing he can. Punk gets out of a regular abdominal stretch, and actually manages to get Morrison set up for the GTS, but Morrison wiggles (yes, wiggles) out of it, and counters with a knee to the ribs. Morrison gets several near falls in a row, then locks in the body scissors, squeezing at the ribs. Finally, Punk manages to turn around. He punches Morrison a few times, stands with Morrison's legs still around him, and turns in place several times before flinging Morrison off him and to the mat. Morrison recovers in his corner, and Punk waits for his moment, then runs across the ring for a flying knee to Morrison's face. Punk snap-power slams Morrison and gets a 2-count. It's now apparently Punk's turn. He looks like he's trying to get Morrison in a pedigree, but Morrison counters to a fireman's carry (on his knees, no less) and slaps Punk to the mat. He bounces of the rings and drives a knee into Punk's face. Morrison goes for the pin, but again, only a two-count. Morrison is out of the ring on the apron, tries to launch himself over the rope but Punk catches him! From out of nowhere its the GTS. Winner: CM Punk

At the top of the ramp where Morrison is laying, Miz announces him as Still One Half of the WWE Tag Team Champions. They hit Morrison's music. Just cause.

Teddy Long is in the ring to announce the Night of Champions match between Big Show and Kane. Show's eye is healing nicely. And they are apparently not going to wrestle. Tonight? This will be a war of words my friends.

Show sells their history as opponents, friends, and partners, and says despite all that, he's taking his ECW Championship back.

Kane disagrees. Just because Show is the world's largest athlete and one of the most dominant superstars, doesn't mean he's going to be ECW champion. And since Show knows Kane, and can see what he is capable of, he still has no idea what Kane is willing to do to keep the belt.

Show agrees. He does know Kane, and he's a sick bastard. But Show went through hell to get this match, and he will put Kane through hell to win it. Kane says hell is standing right in front of you.

They go nose to nose and Teddy tries to calm things down, when... Mark Henry? comes down to the ring. He tells them both to calm down and save their strength. He enters the ring. Henry says if he's not drafter Monday night, after NoC, whoever has the belt will be the one he is coming after. Show and Kane both grab Henry by the throat and CHOKESLAM~! Okay, that was worth it then. Fade out on Show and Kane going back to jawing with each other.

[DevSop]

.... ZOMBIES!!! ......

[Byrntrigan]

Zombie words? The humanity!

[bdbdbd]

Jun 17, 2008 19:37:42 GMT -5 Fire-Babe said:

Okay, in retrospect, having both a Matt Sydal and a Matt Striker on the roster could get confusing. You'd think they could have caught that before his debut, though.

Really? Two people with the same first name is confusing? I've never understood this particular instance of WWE think.

[Lucky]

Well... considering Lillian Garcia, JR, and Mike Adamle have all shown a basic difficulty in keeping two guys with similar names straight and not fucking up and calling them the wrong people on air? It would seem that WWE seeks to try and eliminate the number of mistakes their mediocre talent can make.

[Fire-Babe]

What Lucky said...

Plus, it's not like it's just the same first name. We have Matt Hardy, after all, and Matt Striker. It's probably the fact they also have the same first letter of the last name.

It's also not the first time they've done that. Remember when they changed Alpha Male Monty Brown's first name for his mercifully short run, to avoid confusion with MVP?

[Lucky]

Well they changed his whole name to Marcus Cor Von. But yeah. It goes back further. Shane Helms became Gregory Helms because Shane McMahon was around. Lance Cade was originally Garrison Cade because Lance Storm was around. Victoria Crawford just became Alicia Fox and its highly possible Victoria is the reason. They've been doing this for quite some time.

Striker probably kept his name because his name was actually what got him hired. I remember him coming out for the Angle Invitational and giving another name but Angle recognizing him as the teacher who made news for being fired for missing work due to wrestling. So changing his name would have been counter productive because it was one of the rare times WWE wanted us to know the guy existed before WWE.

Strangely enough checking Wiki I discover that Striker debuted the same night that Hardy returned to RAW. Poor JR.

[Batman]

Evan Bourne continues to impress. He's the reason I bother to tune in to this show.

Although the rest of the show was pretty decent for once. The Hornswoggle nonsense was fun, Kofi and Shelton brawling was good, and the Punk v Nitro match was pretty excellent. I liked Miz's little promo at the top of the ramp afterward. He looked really pissed. Not sure if that was acting, or if Finlay popped him a little harder than he might have liked....

[bdbdbd]

Jim Ross is a confused Oklahoman. He gets peoples names wrong just because they were once in the same room. Watch old tapes, he just picks a name and says it.

[salmonjunkie]

Jun 17, 2008 19:37:42 GMT -5 Fire-Babe said:

Bourne recovers, gets to the turnbuckle, and then a shooting star press that hits this time. Winner Evan Bourne

Did I just read that right? Paul London and his fans have got to be pissed...

[jetskid48]

Shelton/Kofi is actually a feud that sorta excites me for ECW. It's actually clicking as a secondary ECW feud, and it makes it a shame once again that they ended brand ppvs, because this would be an excellent feud for an opening match, and its actually got some real heat for a midcard feud that doesn't involve Ric Flair. It's a shame the IC title doesn't exist anymore, because if they were fighting over that, that would really put this feud over.

[Andy]

Jun 18, 2008 9:35:11 GMT -5 Lucky said:

Shane Helms became Gregory Helms because Shane McMahon was around.

That, and his name is actually Gregory Helms.

Jun 18, 2008 7:39:30 GMT -5 bdbdbd said:

Really? Two people with the same first name is confusing? I've never understood this particular instance of WWE think.

That's why they had Chris Benoit and his family killed before Jericho's re-debut.

[salmonjunkie]

BWAHAHAA! EXALT!

[Lucky]

Yeah, its his real name but at the time it was done the newz sights were all saying that the "Shane" thing was the reason they felt compelled to do it. He had momentum as Shane Helms as he was becoming a star in WCW when it shut down, and his "Sugar" Shane Helms persona worked. Going with his actual name worked but its not like its some kind of common practice for WWE.

[jetskid48]

Hurricane is a much cooler name than Shane anyway.

[Eric O'Mac]

Just another example of changing names, William Regal was brought back as that name and NOT Steve or Steven Regal due to the fact that the roster already had Steve Austin, Steve Blackman, and Steven Richards.

[Andy]

Also, WWE seems to think that no one will know who Matt Sydal is (which probably 75-85% of the WWE fans don't) so they can call him Evan Bourne and trademark it in case he ever leaves.

Just like how Diesel was finished without that name and how Marcus Cor Von will never find another job not being able to call himself Marcus Cor Von.

[Attitude Adjuster]

Jun 18, 2008 14:09:18 GMT -5 jetskid48 said:

Shelton/Kofi is actually a feud that sorta excites me for ECW... It's a shame the IC title doesn't exist anymore, because if they were fighting over that, that would really put this feud over.

That's a great point, and that's probably the biggest reason I have not got into this "feud." They just wrestle each week. There's no real animosity, and there's no reason to win.

With that, I didn't even know the IC title no longer exists. When did that happen and how?

[Lucky]

I believe Jericho pawned it for some hair product and a bedazzler.

Jun 20, 2008 13:55:00 GMT -5 Attitude Adjuster said:

They just wrestle each week. There's no real animosity, and there's no reason to win.

You just described ECW.

[Byrntrigan]

Jun 18, 2008 11:19:13 GMT -5 salmonjunkie said:

Jun 17, 2008 19:37:42 GMT -5 Fire-Babe said:

Bourne recovers, gets to the turnbuckle, and then a shooting star press that hits this time. Winner Evan Bourne

Did I just read that right? Paul London and his fans have got to be pissed...

I liked how he did a Falcon Arrow during the flip.

Which was badass. We need people to do more moves from Haybusa...

[jetskid48]

Like the "Break Your Own Neck" move?

[Batman]

Jun 20, 2008 13:55:00 GMT -5 Attitude Adjuster said:

That's a great point, and that's probably the biggest reason I have not got into this "feud." They just wrestle each week. There's no real animosity, and there's no reason to win.

I disagree. New-guy-looking-to-make-a-name-for-himself vs. not-at-my-expense-veteran is a classic feud and there isn't a thing wrong with that.

If you think that a feud needs a belt in order to have any heat, the natural conclusion is to create a belt to go with each feud. If there are too many belts, none of them have any meaning.

[Lucky]

I agree with you in theory but in this case I agree with AA. Its not Burke or Kofi's fault, its just ECW. Sure, their story is natural. Kofi was making a splash and Shelton wanted to show him up. Kofi won so Shelton had it out for him. Shelton beat him for his first loss. But their characters are so underdeveloped and the story is so undeveloped that it just falls flat. Which is how EVERYTHING works in ECW. The show just gives off the message "Noone gives a fuck about this and we're not even trying, so why should you care?"

I don't think the feud needs a title. I just think it needs writers who give a fuck and a company willing to actually respond to it. But ECW is just Velocity.

Part of me thinks Sydal got away with the SSP because WWE isn't watching ECW anymore like they used to not watch Heat and Velocity and you can tell guys like Richards, Kendrick, Raven, and Josh Matthews were just getting themselves over doing stuff so far outside of WWE's SOP.

[salmonjunkie]

The IC Title does still exist. It sits around Chris Jericho's waist. but he's feuding with Shawn Michaels, who seems (on TV, at least) to have absolutely no intrest in that belt, since their encounters have all been non-title, and they don't even mention the belt.

Ok, maybe it doesn't exist right now...