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theone86
joined wrestlingmarks.com on 11/9/07
ECW Review-4/22/08
by theone86 on 4/23/08 8:54 PM
Wow, a review that's being posted on time, imagine that.
So about eleven minutes into the broadcast I realized Mike Adamle was still calling matches. No shit, eleven minutes before he opens his mouth. I don't know if I should be thankful or wish he could keep it shut the whole episode.
I'm sure that if Flair was still competing he'd have been in action last night. I think it would be a bad idea to lose all that hype they get from Greensboro fans. Instead they should try working one or both of the Hardyz into their Greensboro shows.
Watching Kelly and Layla is almost as bad as watching grade schoolers bounce around on a trampoline. I do have to say that Kelly is looking like she's improving more than certain Divas, but then again tag matches aren't always the best gauge.
Mike Knox is also looking impressive. He's wrestling a very fast, tight style, which is getting more and more rare in WWE these days. He's got an interesting finisher, too. It was a fairly short showing, but it was impressive.
Tommy Dreamer is someone i would like to see featured more prominently. I know he's probably going to end up jobbing to Knox, but if WWE knows what they're doing they'll drag the fued out and let Dreamer stay over for a while. Simply lining up jobs for veterans is one of the worst moves you could do, in my opinion.
I can never really get a good gauge on Miz's improvement, if there is any, because every time he's in action he's in a tag match. Last time I saw him in singles action I wasn't impressed, and it's clear who the star of his team is.
I do like the shots Miz took at Mike Adamle. I have a feeling he might get his ass chewed out for it, but it was definitely worth it. "Is he JAMAICAN you crazy?" He's never going to live that one down.
I'm not sure who was more painful to listen to, Miz or Adamle. I know Miz is trying to be cocky, but saying you're on the same level as the World Champion when you're still on ECW's mid-card just makes you look stupid.
I take that back, Adamle is worse. "He's in the ring, now he's out of the ring, now he's at the 50, the 40, he COULD GO ALL THE WAAAAAYYYY!!! I'm sorry, what? We're back from commercial?"
Miz is not a great announcer, but between Taz picking up Adamle's play-by-play duties and Miz doing a better job at color than Adamle was doing at PBP, well, maybe we have a new ECW announce team in the works. Even Taz took at a shot at Adamle, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.
As for Morrison's matchagainst Jimmy Yang, I tought it could've been better. Morrison got some good working in, Yang hit some cool spots, but the way the match was worked was just real simple. Pretty avergae, which is disappointing from these two.
So WWE is moving their mics closer to the ring, and I think it's a bad idea. You just get to hear all the senseless banter that goes on to make it look like they're having a real conversation. It's like hearing a conversation between movie extras, just not real fun to listen to.
So in addition to repeating his new cathphrase over and over to no avail, Adamle called Kofi "Cobra" Kingston. C'mon, the jokes up, who's the new ECW announcer? Come on out of hiding Joey, you had me going for a week there.
Kofi Kingston is impressive. He's athletic, and he can work a match. I actually didn't even see him hit his finisher at the end of the match. Taz called it and I had to go back to catch it.
Still, Shelton Benjamin is main event material, plain and simple. The fact that he's pulling jobs on ECW is ridiculous. If anyone deserved to be pushed up the card, it's this man.
He and Kofi put on one hell of a match, with Shelton working him almost the whole time. Even then, Kofi was able to get some brief spurts of offense in, and he built the match well enough to make it very interesting. Kudos to the two of them.
So last week on Smackdown Mark Henry had an impressive showing against the Big Show, and this week on ECW he was in a match with a credible main event opponent. Oh wait, I think I just temporarily warped to an alternate reality where ECW's bookers know what they're doing. Henry was in, can yoiu guess? C'mon, take one stab at it, I dare ya. That's right, a squash match against Nunzio. Not only does Nunzio deserve to be in some better matchups, not only can Henry put on a good showing when put up against someone who's built right, but no one wants to see Henry squashing 180 lbs men.
Mike Adamle gets the honors of being one of WWE's biggest mistakes, and that's saying something, and also of having the most tasteless comment of the week in all of televised wrestling, which is also saying something. Congratulations, Mike, for comparing Henry's squash of Nunzio to Euthanaisa. Hope you're happy with yourself, you jerk.
Finally, I do like the angle between Edge's camp and the Kane/Taker camp, but I do think it could've come at a better time. One show before Backlash they start putting Edge into Kane's fued and Batista into Taker's fued. I would think you would want to get the side stories out of the way early in the month, then have the main fueds build closer to Backlash, but that's just me.
I do think the builds are great. Kane and Edge cut a great segment early on in the show, playing up a lot of their convulted histories. They also hinted at the real reason behind Edge's relationship with Vicki, and I REALLY hope they run with that angle soon.
Overall, it was a decent show. Some filler, a little too much for my tastes, but not that bad. The only match that really stood out was Kofi vs. Shelton, but the others were solid. Just above average.


Comments
(8 total)
From JamesP on 4/23/08 9:27 PM
Wait a minute, Adamle put Mark Henry squashing Nunzio at the same level as medically-assisted suicide? WOW.
From willierko on 4/24/08 12:23 AM
I'm sorry Mark Henry cant even put on good matches with Undertaker , IMO I hate him along with Khali and Mareela when it comes to wrestling skills
From jeff on 4/24/08 12:54 AM
I agree Mark Henry sucks period. His match with the Undertaker last year at Unforgiven was one of the worst main events ever.
From theone86 on 4/24/08 1:28 AM
Didn't see it, But I did like his match on Smackdown with Show and I have seen him put on good matches in the past. I could dig some out, but I'm not going to do it right now. Leave a message if you want me to and I'll find them next time I check the site.
From 92tombstone92 on 4/24/08 12:47 PM
did u just say Shelton Benjamin is main event material hes deffinentaly not
From jeff on 4/24/08 12:56 PM
I disagree. Shelton Benjamin deserves to be in the main event. Go look at his matches with Shawn Michaels and Triple H and you'll see why.
From jeff on 4/25/08 10:16 AM
And I think you're wrong about Kelly Kelly and Layla they are improving in the ring. Compared to the first time they wrestled to now and that shows they have improved alot.
From theone86 on 4/29/08 2:38 AM
I wouldn't say a lot. I will agree that Kelly is one of the most improved Divas, but Layla still looks pretty bad in there. Like I said, tag matches also are not the best gauge as the pacing usually isn't too demanding. It's basically some combination of a spotfest and a time-killer with tags inserted to keep the match from getting too repetitive. I think their biggest problem is still working a match, and just because they add a bulldog here or a hip toss there does not mean they've improved. It means that they're now at a level where 10 years ago you'd still have to improve if you wanted to be a full-time jobber. I did like the small spurt I saw out of Kelly, and if she can turn that into a well-worked singles match then I will say she has come a long way, but until then the last time I saw her wrestle a singles match it was a piss-poor work the face over for the duration and then the face pulls out some generic spots match. I STILL can't stand Candice Michelle after all this time because she STILL can't work for crap, and I'm not going to say she's improved just because she learned a couple spots, same as I'm not going to say Cena's improved by adding a couple spots, same as I'm not going to praise anyone for learning a couple spots. You get praise for coming up with a really unique spot, or for working a spot in a unique way, or for always keeping your matches fresh by changing the work from week to week, but not for working a decent tag match with a couple of new spots.