WWE
ECW
March 25, 2008 – recap by Sassy
Last week on ECW –
The Big Red Machine defeated Elijah Burke
Kofi Kingston defeated James Curtis
In a six man tag team match, Jesse, Festus & CM Punk
defeated John Morrison, The
Miz & The Gold Standard Shelton
Benjamin
Chavo Guerrero, ECW Champion, defeated Colin Delaney in a
non-title match. Delaney had to win the match in order to get a WWE contract.
WWE’s
ECW is being broadcast from Fayetteville, NC
On
the Sci-Fi Channel
Ringside announcers: Joey Styles & Tazz
Ring announcer: Tony Chimel
WRESTLEMANIA XXIV IS THIS SUNDAY
ON
PAY PER VIEW!
Reminder: The WWE Class of 2008 Hall of Fame Induction
Ceremony will be on the USA Network the night before Wrestlemania XXIV.
Twelve
Man Battle Royal
Everyone but the following are already in the ring as the
show opens
Cody Rhodes
&
Hardcore Holly
At a combined weight of 463 lbs.
WWE World Tag Team Champions
Vs
Kofi Kingston from Jamaica, weighing 217 lbs.
Vs.
Kane, weighing 323 lbs.
The others in the ring are Jesse & Festus, The Great
Khali, Deuce & Domino, The World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry, Snitsky,
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch,, Brian Kendrick, Jamie Noble, Hacksaw Jim
Duggan, Val Venis, Chuck Palumbo, Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore, Tommy
Dreamer, The Miz, Elijah Burke, Matt Stryker.
Team One: Mark Henry, Snitsky, Lance Cade & Trevor
Murdoch, Brian Kendrick, Chuck Palumbo, The Miz, Elijah Burke, Deuce &
Domino, Khali
Team Two: Jesse & Festus, Jamie Noble, Jim Duggan, Val
Venus, Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore, Tommy Dreamer, Kofi Kingston, Cody
Rhodes & Hardcore Holly
The match begins with Cody Rhodes and Brian Kendrick. Cody
goes for an immediate roll up, Kendrick kicks out. Kendrick goes for the roll
up, Cody kicks out. The two go back and forth with roll ups and switches. Cody
tags in Jamie Noble. A little less wrestling and Kendrick backs up, allowing
Palumbo to tag himself into the match. Not good for Noble as Palumbo does what
he has been doing to Noble, but Noble rolls out of the way of getting a leg on
his chest and tags in Yang. Palumbo delivers a big clothesline and then an
overhead suplex but as Palumbo charges at Yang in the corner, Yang brings up his
boots and stops Palumbo. A flying head scissors sends Palumbo through the ropes
and out to the floor on the wrong side of the ring. Yang springboards over the
top rope and takes out Palumbo on the floor but Kendrick enters the ring and
delivers a suicide dive through the ropes that takes out Yang. Moore follows
Kendrick with a dive that takes Kendrick out. Trevor Murdoch does everyone one
better by climbing up on the top turnbuckle and taking out everyone who is on
the floor. I don’t think I’ve seen Trevor do that very often. As Trevor
yells at the crowd, Noble comes off the ring apron and takes out Trevor. I have
seen Noble do that before.
COMMERCIAL
BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH!
THAT’S
ONE!
Snitsky and Tommy Dreamer are now in the ring. Dreamer goes
for the cover but The Miz is in the ring to break it up. Venis comes in to take
care of Miz and suddenly everyone is in the ring and then out on the floor
battling. Deuce & Domino appear in the ring with Dreamer but Kofi comes out
in a highflying cross body block to take out everyone in the ring. Burke comes
in to take out Kofi and Holly comes in to take out Burke with an Alabama slam,
Miz charges back into the ring and Holly takes him down with a hard chop. It now
appears to be Miz and Holly in the ring until Palumbo comes in to attack Holly.
Holly goes out to the floor and Lance is waiting for him. Festus appears in the
ring to deliver a splash to Miz who is still down on the mat. Khali enters the
ring to take out Festus with a chop
to the skull. Venis comes after Khali, he gets taken out with a chop to the
skull. Kane appears and delivers an uppercut that staggers Khali. Stryker enters
the ring and is met with Kane and a choke slam. Henry enters the ring and comes
at Kane but Kane drops him with a boot to the face. Snitsky is back in the ring
and when Kane turns around, Snitsky gives Kane a boot to the face, sending Kane
crashing to the canvas. Snitsky and the referee are the only two people on their
feet in the ring. Dreamer pulls himself up using the ropes and Snitsky goes for
a squash but Dreamer gets out of the way and Snitsky meets the ring post. Henry
has Dreamer and he begins to send him across the ring but Snitsky meets Dreamer
with a boot to the face. Snitsky goes for the cover and gets the win.
Winner
Snitsky
& his team
As soon as I figure out why this match was ever scheduled, I
let you know my opinion of the match. The way the match began indicated it might
have been a last minute “let’s throw in everyone from the locker room and
see what happens”. It looked haphazard and not really worth watching.
As soon as the match is over, everyone is in the ring again
and the two sides are facing off. It looked like a lot of lip but there was no
contact between the men in the ring.
The audience sees a very long promo for the match between
Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Big Show.
Chavo Guerrero, ECW Champion, Colin Delaney and Tommy Dreamer
are backstage. Chavo gives Tommy some lip but Dreamer says that on Sunday there
will be 23 other guys in the ring for the battle royal but since Dreamer isn’t
sure he will win the battle royal, so Dreamer is challenging Chavo for the ECW
title tonight. Chavo agrees with a match against Dreamer but tells him that this
is the closest Dreamer will get to the ECW championship ever again.
I read an article on the Internet that indicates the Battle
Royal scheduled for Wrestlemania has been removed from the card and will be
shown on www.wwe.com.
And if the build up for the Battle Royal that will no longer
happen isn’t enough, we have seen all of the qualifying matches for the Money
in the Bank Ladder Match and now we have Preview Matches?
That’s the best WWE can do?
Money
in the Bank Preview Match
Carlito from The Caribbean, weighing 232 lbs.
Vs.
The Gold Standard Shelton Benjamin, from Orangeburg, SC,
weighing 248 lbs.
The two wrestlers stand in
the middle of the ring looking up at the briefcase hanging over the ring and try
a bad mouthing of each other before Carlito delivers a right hand that drops
Benjamin. Carlito goes to work with stomps and then slams Benjamin head first
into the top turnbuckle. Carlito continues to pound on Benjamin until the
referee makes him stop. Carlito flips Benjamin over into the middle of the ring.
Benjamin lands on his feet and delivers a boot to Carlito’s midsection before
pounding away on Carlito’s back with forearms. Now Carlito is in the corner
and Benjamin sends him into the ropes and takes him down with a hip toss but
Carlito lands on his feet and it’s back to Carlito being in charge of the
match. Benjamin comes off the ropes and Carlito takes him down with a dropkick.
Carlito sends Benjamin into the ropes, Benjamin comes off the ropes and ducks
Carlito’s waiting clothesline. Benjamin comes off the opposite ropes and
Carlito sends him over the top rope but Benjamin grabs the top rope and brings
himself back over. Carlito sees him and delivers a blow to Benjamin’s back as
his feet come down on the mat. Carlito has Benjamin on the ring apron and is
trying to get him back to a standing position. Benjamin nails Carlito in the
midsection then delivers a shoulder block through the ropes. As Benjamin
attempts to leap over the top rope Carlito catches him in a neck breaker (?) and
Benjamin goes down to the floor. The ref starts the count but Benjamin makes it
back up to the ring apron before the ref gets to ten. Carlito charges at
Benjamin and Benjamin brings Carlito out on the ring apron. Carlito slams
Benjamin’s face onto the ring apron and then goes back in the ring for the
cover. Carlito gets a two count before Benjamin gets a shoulder off the mat.
Carlito now has Benjamin down on the match working on the neck area. Benjamin
fights to get back to his feet and he does. Carlito uses the tights to bring
Benjamin back down to the canvas. Carlito delivers a stomp to Benjamin’s head
and again goes for the cover. Carlito gets a one count. Carlito goes back down
on the mat to work on Benjamin. Benjamin makes it back to his feet and delivers
an elbow to Carlito’s gut before sending Carlito into the ropes. Carlito
springboards off the middle rope and delivers a backward elbow to Benjamin and
again goes for the pin. Carlito still can’t get the three count. The two men
exchange punches in the ring before Carlito delivers a suplex and goes for the
cover. He gets a two count. Carlito goes back to work on Benjamin’s neck.
Benjamin pulls Carlito’s hair but the ref catches him and makes him let go.
Benjamin manages to work his way under Carlito, picks Carlito up on his
shoulders and drops him backward onto the mat – Tazz calls it the electric
chair. Both men are down and the ref begins a count. He gets to six and Benjamin
goes for the cover. Benjamin gets a two count. Carlito rolls out on the apron
and the two men fight with the ropes in between them. Carlito springboards off
the top rope and sends Benjamin to the mat with a dropkick and goes for the
cover and he again gets a two count. Carlito is doing a lot of yelling in the
ring as he goes after Benjamin with closed fists to the face and head. Carlito
picks Benjamin up and delivers a neck breaker, goes for the pin and gets a two
count. Again Carlito goes to work on Benjamin’s neck and yells at Benjamin to
give up. The audience is clapping for Benjamin to get back to his feet and he
does. Carlito tries to send Benjamin across the ring and into the ropes but
Benjamin counters with a high kick to the back of Carlito’s head. Nice kick.
Both men again down on the mat. Benjamin uses the ropes to get back to his feet
and Benjamin tackles him. Benjamin delivers a back breaker and goes for the
cover but only gets a two count. Benjamin sends Carlito into the ropes; Carlito
comes off the ropes and nails Benjamin with a boot to the chest. Benjamin takes
Carlito down with a t-bone suplex and goes for the cover. He gets a two count.
Benjamin tries to deliver a kick, Carlito blocks it. Benjamin uses the other leg
to kick and Carlito ducks under the kick. Carlito tries to take Benjamin over
his head with a suplex but Benjamin manages to get his feet on the mat. Benjamin
tries for a neck breaker but Carlito grabs the top rope and hangs on. Carlito
delivers a neck breaker and goes for the pin and only gets a two count. Even the
audience is having trouble believing Benjamin managed to kick out. Carlito goes
after Benjamin, Benjamin picks Carlito up and slams him back first into the ring
post. Benjamin backs up and comes across the ring at Carlito, Carlito delivers a
back breaker and goes for the pin. Carlito gets a two count. Carlito goes out to
the ring apron, climbs up to the top turnbuckle and Benjamin makes it back to
his feet in time to charge up the ropes and bring Carlito down to the mat with a
face plant. Benjamin goes for the cover and gets the three count.
Winner
The
Gold Standard Shelton Benjamin
Nice match between these
two talents. I am still at a loss as to why these two wrestlers aren’t working
main events on Raw or Smackdown. This match made up for the first match of the
night.
It appears that this one
hour WWE ECW show is a very long Wrestlemania XXIV commercial. We can be
thankful for the match that we just saw between Carlito and Shelton Benjamin.
Everything else has been a replay of what has been shown on Friday Night
Smackdown and Monday Night Raw.
Along with all of the
wrestlers chosen to be in the 2008 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame,
tonight Gordon Solie has been added as the final inductee.
Cole tells the audience
that Stevie Richards and Kelly Kelly will face Mike Knox and Layla next.
Commercial break.
Mixed Tag
Team Match
Layla
&
Mike Knox
from Phoenix, AZ, weighing 270 lbs.
Vs.
Stevie
Richards from Philadelphia, PA, weighing 219 lbs.
&
Kelly
Kelly
The girls start off in the
ring with a shoving contest. Knox tries to enter the ring, Stevie comes in and
delivers a shot that sends Knox to the floor. The ref makes Stevie go back to
his own corner and Knox trips Kelly up in the ring. Layla goes for the cover and
gets a two count. Layla gives up on wrestling and uses Kelly’s hair. Stevie
works the audience, Layla misses a leg drop, Kelly delivers a kick to Layla’s
head and Stevie and Knox are tagged in. Stevie manages to take Knox down, Layla
enters the ring, Kelly enters the ring and takes down Layla all the way out to
the floor. Stevie gets taken down with a corkscrew face plant, Knox goes for the
pin and gets the three count.
Winners
Mike Knox
&
Layla
Extremely short match and
not worth watching.
I watched this from a DRV
recording. There was no match between Tommy Dreamer and Chavo Guerrero and it
was a full hour show.
WWE ECW LIVE !! / MARCH 18
Wrestling Bodyslam .Com