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WWE vs. ECW: Head to Head Review

Posted in In My Head by Jack at 10:17, Jun 09 2006

By Slartibardfast

Christmas comes early this year as the WWE has seen fit to give us a sneak peek, of the sneak peek, of the return of ECW. Four days before the ECW PPV, the ECW roster will square off against the WWE?s finest, in what must have been the longest running PPV commercial in history. This was a two hour show, and as such I wonder if the WWE may be giving a little too much of ECW away for free. Of course if the show is a huge hit, it?s sure to drive up PPV sales, but if it?s lackluster, it could be the cause of a very rocky start for ECW. But now it?s show time; the Sci-Fi channel has put their 4400 aliens away, and the X-Files won?t start not explaining things for two hours. The WWE intro clip rolls, and the show starts.

We open up with a little pep talk being given to team Raw/Smackdown by Mick Foley. We then go to the ECW locker room where Paul Heyman is firing his troops up as well. From the locker room shots, it looks like Tatanka, Foley, Benjamin, Lashley, Carlito, Mysterio, Finley, Hardy, Henry, Edge and Big Show will comprise team Raw/Smackdown while Sabu, RVD, Sandman, Snow, Richards, Dreamer, Funk, Angle, Guido, Balls, and Credible will make up team ECW. Next up is the traditional WWE pyro display and the introduction of the dual announce teams: King & J.R. and Styles & Taz. After a little Taz vs. Lawler bickering and upcoming PPV hyping, we go to the ring for the first match of the night.

Match 1 - Rey Mysterio vs. RVD
In what was worked as a face vs. face match, both Rey and RVD put on an entertaining show. They started countering each others signature moves right out of the gate, and maintained a fairly fast paced match throughout the bout. RVD even went old school and made use of a steel chair several times throughout the night. This match seemed to be a RVD spotlight piece, and so it came as no surprise when he won the match via 5 Start Frog Splash. The show has started out well, and I?m hoping for more.

Next Curt Angle hits the ring to give a promo. He gives a typical ?I?m going to destroy my opponent at the next PPV?, (in this case Randy Orton) speech. This of course brings out Orton, mic in hand, to give a rebuttal, which he does a very good job of, albeit a little long winded.

Match 2 ? Micky James vs. Jazz
Its a rare occasion when the WWE puts two women in the ring that can actually wrestle, so when it happens the mach tends to stand out. This was the case here, as both women put on a very solid outing. Unfortunately, women who can wrestle is not what the WWE is about and as a result, the match was insultingly short and ended when Micky hit her Impaler DDT. I?m still happy at this point, but oh my kingdom for 5 minutes more of this match.

Next we go backstage for an interview with John Cena, who gives a surprisingly good, although some what goofy promo. Then its back to the ring where Paul Heyman gives a live real time commercial for the upcoming PPV complete with video clips from last years show. We then go backstage once more, where Angle and Big Show give pep talks to their respective teams.

Match 3 ? Team Raw/Smackdown vs. Team ECW Battle Royal
While this wasn?t anywhere near the best battle royal I have seen, it was an acceptable one. The match was somewhat hindered by the fact that the story behind the match meant that certain key players had to be there at the end. This combined with a little bit of ?who?s that ECW guy again?, may have hindered things as well. To their credit, the WWE did use the match to reveal the latest member of ECW, in what was an nice twist to the end of the match. I won?t give away the twist, but I will say that the mach was won by The Big Show.

Match 4 ? Tommy Dreamer w/ Terry Funk vs. Edge w/ Lita and Foley Hardcore Match
Before the match starts we are treated to a little Edge mic time, and an old Foley ECW clip. Then it happened, mediocrity reared it?s ugly head. Though both men keep the match moving fairly well, it did seem as if they were just going through the motions. That combined with blown spot that was pivotal to the match left me feeling rather indifferent when Edge managed to win with an assist from Lita. Things did pick up a bit after the match, when Funk began laying in some obviously legit shots on the face of Foley but even that was too little to late.

We are then given a long commercial for Kane?s movie before, in the words of J.R. , business picks back up. We return from a commercial break to the image of Foley sitting in the center of a darkened ring, illuminated by a single spotlight. What followed was one of the best promos you could ever hope for. Filled with emotion and barely contained rage, Foley cuts a promo that made me want to buy the PPV twice just incase I missed something during the first airing. I won?t even try to duplicate what he said here, instead I will say that it behooves you to hit the internet and try to find a copy of it and see it for yourself.

Following Foley?s promo, King and Taz finally have enough of the bickering they?ve been doing all night and get into a brawl of their own. While the initial punches thrown looked very good, what followed was some pathetic rolling around on the floor.

Mach 5 John Cena vs. Sabu
I?m usually not very entertained when Cena is in the ring, but this paring just goes to show what the right combination of styles can do. Both men stuck to their usual styles with Cena brawling and Sabu using a chair in every possible way, at every possible opportunity. Things moved at a crisp pace, and Sabu was allowed to show off several of the tricks in his arsenal. However before a winner could be decided, Cena?s STFU was broken up by outside interference, leading to another WWE vs. ECW brawl, as both locker rooms emptied out.

I must say I liked this show. Foley?s promo may go down as legendary, and thanks to the magic of Tivo, I was there to see it. The performances of Sabu and RVD may draw some fans to the PPV in order to see more of the two in the freedom of the ECW environment. I don?t know if any of the other performances will draw fans to the PPV, but the purpose of this event was to put a spotlight on ECW, and in that the WWE succeeded.

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