9/23 Powell's ECW Live Coverage: John Morrison faces The Miz, Michelle McCool vs. Maryse, Finlay vs. Bam Neely
Sep 23, 2008 - 09:00 PM |
ECW on The Sci-Fi Channel
Taped in Columbus, Oh.
[Q1] The opening montage aired. For some reason, Boogeyman is still featured in the montage... Jim Ross introduced the show... John Morrison and The Miz walked to the ring together. Meanwhile, Matt Striker told Ross that he was honored to be sitting next to him. "Let's have some fun tonight," Ross said.
In the ring, Miz and Morrison delivered a promo. Miz said the only reason Evan Bourne beat him last week was because Ricky Ortiz distracted him. Highlights of the match aired. "That nappy hair is disgusting," Morrison said. The complained about Teddy Long's new talent initiative.
Teddy walked onto the stage with a mic in his hand and reminded them that Bourne and Ortiz are members of the new talent initiative. Teddy said the new talent initiative has brought in some promising young talent. "Good call on that Braden Walker," Morrison said. He noted that he's sure Walker is doing well pursuing his future endeavors after working just two matches.
Long said they can't all be home runs, but ECW will continue to feature young talent. Morrison and Miz challenged Bourne and Ortiz to a match. Teddy said they knew Bourne wasn't in the building. Ortiz walked onto the stage and said he'd take them on. Instead, Teddy booked Miz vs. Morrison in a singles match. He said the winner would face Ricky Ortiz immediately after their match... [C]
Powell's POV: Good segment to set up the show. The three main players were solid on the mic and the announcement of Miz vs. Morrison gives regular viewers something out of the ordinary to stay tuned for.
Highlights from Raw aired of Kane defeating Evan Bourne and then beating up Rey Mysterio...
Powell's POV: WWE was kind enough to show the Kane vs. Bourne footage just in case any ECW viewers missed the hottest act on the brand lose to the Raw mid-card guy last night.
Backstage, Teddy talked to Ricky about his match later in the show. He pulled a rally towel out of his pocket and gave it to Tiffany. "I like it," she said. She said it felt good as she rubbed the towel against her neck...
Powell's POV: They just won't give it up with that stupid rally towel gimmick.
[Q2] 1. Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) vs. Bam Neely in 3:50. A brawling style match. Finlay hit a swinging neckbreaker at 3:00. He wet up to the second rope for some reason, but Neely caught him and locked him in the Boston Crab. Horny entered the ring and distracted Neely. Meanwhile, Finlay picked up the shillelagh used it as a weapon behind the ref's back and got the pin... [C]
Powell's POV: They really need to come up with a new finish for Finlay matches.
The WWE 24/7 classic segment featured Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair and Sid Justice... J.R. reminded viewers that ECW is moving to 8 p.m. CT permanently beginning next week...
[Q3] 2. Maryse defeated Michelle McCool in a non-title match in 3:30. Striker said young women everywhere can look up to McCool because she knows grappling moves. No, really. He forgot to tell us that she knows Undertaker and everything. She's like a female Triple H or something. Late in the match, Maryse caught Michelle up top and then played to the crowd before DDT'ing her for the win...
Powell's POV: Don't get me wrong, I dig Michelle and I'm impressed by how quickly she's improved, but Striker was laying it on really thick. By the way, the announcers did a nice job of pointing out that Maryse was wasting too much time before she hit her finisher. I'm sure she heard about that backstage.
The announcers hyped the pay-per-view and ran through the matches... Mark Henry and Teddy Long walked onto the stage. Henry complained that Hardy never pinned him to win the ECW Title. "Because he can't pin me and he'll never pin me," Henry hollered. Henry vowed to leave Hardy laying at the pay-per-view and said proclaimed that he is still the World's Strongest Champion... The announcers hyped the main event...
3. Mike Knox squashed Chase Stevens in 1:40. After Knox plowed through Stevens and headed toward the back, Jack Swagger's music played and he past Knox on the stage with a smile on his face. Swagger attacked Stevens. Tommy Dreamer ran out for the save. Knox came back to the ring and distracted Dreamer. Swagger hit his finisher on Dreamer and then smiled for the camera...
Powell's POV: Typical squash match to get Knox back on track after some of this recent losses. The live crowd responded to Knox's power moves and counted along with the three count.
Split-screen shots aired of John Morrison and The Miz...
[Q4] [C] 4. The Miz fought John Morrison to a double in-ring countout in 11:30. Striker wondered aloud whether Miz or Morrison would become the Art Garfunkel of their team. After some back and forth action, Morrison dove at Miz near the ropes and they tumbled to ringside. [C] Highlights aired from during the break of Morrison taking a big tumble to ringside.
[Overrun] Back live, the back and forth battle continued as the program reminder told viewers about the time change next week. Striker said the fans wouldn't let either wrestler forget if they lost to their tag team partner. The tension between the two teammates grew more intense as the match went on and they exchanged more punches and kicks down the stretch.
At 10:45, both men were on the top rope in one of the corners. Miz hooked Morrison's head with his legs and jumped. The both tumbled awkwardly to the mat and neither wrestler made it to his feet before the referee's 10 count.
After the match, Ricky Ortiz ran out and splashed Miz. Morrison tried to attack him, but Ortiz fought off with a shoulder block and hit that big dorky splash of his. Ricky waved the silly rally towel at ringside and gave one of his stupid rags to a blond woman at ringside...
Powell's POV: It had to be obvious to everyone when the top of the hour rolled around that they weren't going to see a legitimate match between Ortiz and the winner of Miz vs. Morrison. The team members worked a good match and traded offense. The live crowd didn't really choose sides, nor did the wrestlers seem to be interested in leading them one way or the other. I'll have more to say about the show in tomorrow's ECW Hitlist.
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