Weekly ECW Review: October 27, 2009

What hurts Christian more: The dropkick, or the fact that no one watches ECW?

* “The Abraham Washington Show” featuring Tony Atlas. Tonight’s guest is ECW GM Tiffany. He mentions recent criticism of her job performance, and that ECW had zero impact at Bragging Rights. She says that, if you don’t want to be here, she doesn’t want you here. She announces Sheamus’ farewell ECW match for tonight, against Shelton Benjamin. Out comes William Regal. He is flanked by Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. He implores her to make him #1 contender for the ECW title. She refuses him yet again. She says it’s possible that he’ll never receive another one, and thanks the crowd for coming out. She makes an exit. Regal, enraged, destroys Washington’s set.
Quick take: Boring. Tiffany’s new song is offensive to my ears. Washington sucks, and always has. I am a Regal fan, but his act is beyond stale already. That’s the problem with ECW; it’s not like he can just move on. There’s nowhere to go.

* Sheamus d. Shelton Benjamin by pinfall
- Before the match, Savannah interviews Shelton. Shelton’s mad about how Sheamus claims that he’s wasting everyone’s time with his mediocre career. Before Sheamus goes to Raw, he’s got a parting gift for him.
- The two open the match by trading punches. Shelton hits a moonsault plancha to the outside to gain momentum. Shelton wraps Sheamus’ arm around the post, and goes to work. Sheamus retaliates by using the post to destroy Shelton’s back. Sheamus continues to dominate a weakened Shelton. Suddenly, Shelton counters into an overhead belly-to-belly to buy himself some time. He begins to gain momentum by utilizing his speed and athleticism. Sheamus hotshots Shelton on the ropes, and follows it up with a bicycle kick to finish Shelton off, and gain the victory.
Quick take: Good match. Surprised to see Sheamus win. Like I said, he’ll be a monster jobber within 3 months, though. No room on Raw at the top thanks to the faces. Sorry, kid.

* Backstage, Rosa Mendes is talking to Gregory Helms about how excited she is to be on ECW. Paul Burchill and Katie Lea come up, they tell her to leave. Paul has a proposition for Helms. He wants to meet Hurricane in the ring next week.
Quick take: Burchill needs to move on, too. Beyond boring is his feud with Hurricane Helms. Rosa and Katie looked awesome. Let ‘em wrestle.

* Savannah is backstage with ECW Champion Christian. She asks about his opponent tonight, Yoshi Tatsu. Christian reiterates that Yoshi is deserving of the shot because he earned it by winning. Yoshi is a champion of the future, but tonight, he intends to retain his title and teach Yoshi how to cope with defeat.
Quick take: Christian is about as solid on the mic as they come.

* Christian d. Yoshi Tatsu by pinfall to retain the ECW Championship
- The two seem wary of each other from the outset, moving slowly, and attempting to feel each other out a little bit. Christian gains an early advantage with a flapjack and sunset flip, but falls victim to some nifty little maneuvers from Yoshi. The pair trade headlocks in the center of the ring. The two trade some high flying moves. Christian hits some signature moves, but can’t keep Yoshi down for a 3 count. Yoshi fires back with some big moves of his own, but likewise, cannot keep Christian pinned to the mat long enough. Yoshi reverses a Killswitch attempt, but can’t avoid a missile dropkick. He counters a second attempt with a jackknife, and barely misses winning the match. They have another exchange of signature moves that all end in hot nearfalls. The crowd’s really into this one. Christian ducks a roundhouse kick, but can’t hit the Killswitch. He recovers to hit a pendulum kick, diving elbow, and Killswitch to pin Yoshi, and retain his ECW Championship.
- After the match, Christian checks on Yoshi, but is ambushed by Regal and his henchmen. Yoshi is far too weakened from his match to help, and Christian can’t put up much of a fight.
Quick take: Picked up at the end, and the crowd really got into it. Shows how talented and awesome Christian is. I almost cared about Yoshi. Regal, on the other hand, blehhhhh.

Bottom line: 6.5/10. They need to find something else for Regal. I wouldn’t mind him as ECW Champion, but they need to pull the trigger sooner rather than later if it’s going to happen.