You know, for the first time in quite a long while, ECW was good last night. I enjoyed it. In fact, I liked it better than this week's Monday Night Raw.
but... (with me, there's always a 'but'. What can I say? I'm critical) I thought there were bad points too. Here we go...
We opened with an in-ring promo by Ric Flair. I expected this. Ric Flair was noticeably absent from Monday Night Raw after his win over Ken Kennedy at No Way Out... then there was a blurb on Raw about Ric Flair making a 'special appearance' on ECW. Tazz joins Ric Flair and leads things off by discussing Ric Flair's induction to the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame.
Ric Flair took over and his dialogue was predictable, until he said, '...I'm honored to be a part, of ECW'. I think to myself, 'Self, Ric Flair just flubbed his lines. Surely what he meant to say was WWE'. Tazz would say later in the broadcast the Flair was a guest. If Flair has been moved to ECW, that sure blows the whole Flair vs. HBK at Wrestlemania theory. Anyway...
After a cheap San Diego, CA pop, Ric Flair is interrupted/joined by Elijah Burke, who in turn is interrupted/joined by Shelton Benjamin. I think to myself, 'Self, this is excellent. ECW is finally showing talent on the roster other than just Kofi Kingston, John Morrison & Mike Miz, CM Punk and Chavo Guerrero (sorry Chavo, but I can't say that I missed seeing you last night). As expected, Shelton 'the new gold standard' Benjamin, exchanged words with Flair, resulting in Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke beating down Flair, who was saved by a run-in by CM Punk, thus setting up the Main Event.
The good: An excellent in-ring promo foreshadowing an exciting main event.
The bad: Not necessarily related to the promo. I'm am most certainly not making any insinuations, implications or allegations here, but this promo made me realize that, here in the middle of Black History Month, there is no African-American talent on Raw. I'm sure that there isn't any intentional segregation going on here, but it's segregation nonetheless. (Please don't sue me Vince. It's only an observation. Heh)
We return to find a promo with Elijah, Shelton and General Manager Armando Estrada, announcing the Main Event. Shelton Benjamin was much better talking this week, both on the mic and in this promo. I've been down on you the past couple of weeks Shelton. Kudos. The good: Shelton's improvement on the mic. The bad: Armando Estrada as GM
The first match of the night was Kofi Kington vs. Jason Riggs. I'm not sure why it took nearly 20 minutes to get to the first match (sarcasm), but oh well. The good: I am not sure why Kofi is back to wrestling jobbers when he pinned Mike Knox, a legit roster member, last week. At least Jason Riggs (formaerly of OVW) made Kofi look good. Kofi has talent, but Jason Riggs sold Kofi's moves well and made him look even better. Gladly, this week we didn't have to see another 'turnbuckle teabag'. The bad: Joey Stiles did an interview with Kofi after the match, and he was good on the mic, but I was sick of the 'bo! bo! bo!' two weeks ago.
The following match was Mike Miz (with John Morrison) vs. Colin Delaney (with Tommy Dreamer). I thought to myself, 'Self, good... We'll finally get to see Colin Delaney wrestle instead of just being the human ragdoll.' I mean, seriously, Zack Gowan got to do more stuff than this kid.
The bad: They let him land two punches. That's it...
The good: On the flipside, I was very impressed with Mike Miz as a singles wrestler, and more specifically, a single heel. Mocking Tommy Dreamer by giving Delaney advice while kicking his ass was priceless. I liked him much better alone, than in a tag with Morrisson. His jumping clothesline into the turnbuckle that left him perched on the second rope was awesome, as was the springboard off of Delaney's back, over the rope to hang him up on the second rope. Maybe I've been wrong about you this whole time, Miz...
This led to a promo with Kelly Kelly. Honestly, Joey Stiles, I don't care what Kelly thinks about Maria posing in Playboy... and Kelly Kelly, I don't care if posing in Playboy is something that you've always wanted to do. I also don't care if you think that it's (does best valley girl impression) 'so glamourous' and 'so prestigious'. As for your question, what do I think? I think your idea of what sexy is supposed to look like, your posing, your doe eyes and hair stroking make you look like a whore. If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question. Oh, by the way, learn to wrestle. The good: not much. The bad: More WWE T&A garbage
Stevie Richards vs. James Curtis. I'm not sure if Stevie Richards had new entrance music, or if they just cut out the 'I'll show you! You'll see!' intro. Not much to remark on here. I'd just restate what I said in my ECW 2/12/2008 rant. Richards looked okay. Curtis looked okay I guess. The bad: Seemed to be pretty much the same match as Richards' match last week. The Good: Hey, at least we don't have to see him stalk Victoria in drag anymore. Heh.
(You know Vince, no matter how much you try to force feed us this crap, Mayweather is not getting over as a face, especially since he threw legit blows and broke Show's nose the night he returned.)
We now see Ric Flair and CM Punk walking to the gorilla position. Flair and Punk trading whooo!'s was classic. Made me smile.
Main Event. Flair/Punk vs. Burke/Benjamin. This was a great match with lots of action. Even Ric Flair entertained me, which is saying a lot. I think that it was remarkable how quick-paced it was, as matches involving Flair seem to crawl. I had to laugh when Elijah Burke stole Ric Flair's material. The eye gouge to climb the turnbuckle, just to be tossed down by Flair was funny (Batista was using Flair's moves on the 2/15/2008 episode of Smackdown. Is this a trend?). It was even funnier when Flair then climbed the turnbuckle and actually got the attack off on not one, but both of his opponents. The black eye on this match was the botched spot with Shelton Benjamin and CM Punk. It wasn't so much the botched spot, but the fact that they re-did the spot on a live episode. They re-did the move, that wasn't even a pivotal part of the match. (Benjamin picks up Punk into the powerbomb position and runs to the turnbuckle, Punk is supposed to hop off of Benjamin's shoulders but instead falls over the ropes to the floor. It was unclear if Punk didn't make the hop, or Benjamin didn't give him the lift. Flair checks on Punk, picks him up and puts him back in the ring. When they re-did the move, Punk makes the hop and lands a running enzuigiri). Ultimately, Flair gets Burke in a figure four and Burke taps. Shelton Benjamin, Elijah Burke and CM Punk are to be commended. They made Ric Flair look like he was in his prime again. (The good and bad are obvious here)
So what's the moral of this story? This was a good show... but it could have been a great show. I understand the need for recaps to 'catch-up' the viewers that didn't see what happened... and coming from a marketing background, I understand the need to build hype, as well as cross-brand marketing strategies. I know that this has been a part of WWE's marketing strategy formula for decades, and I'm not suggesting that they go away. (Here comes the 'but')
but...
When a show has a hour long timeslot, after commercials there's usually around 40 minutes of 'actual' airtime. Over 12 minutes of 'actual airtime' (over 30%) was eaten up by video packages. Like I said, I don't expect them to go away, but on shorter show, there either needs to be less of them, or shorter ones.
As Queen Gertrude said to Polonius in Hamlet, "More matter, with less art". Or as Lance Storm said, (paraphrasing) "I like a little more sports in my entertainment"
No comments:
Post a Comment