There is a youth movement in ECW as Teddy Long’s superstar initiative continues. Tonight episode featured plenty of new faces as the roster tries to add more talent since it was depleted after the draft. We saw matches tonight featuring new comers Evan Bourne and Braden Walker along with a name change for Atlas Ortiz, call him Rickie from now on folks. And so far the kids are alright as they have not done much to hurt the brand.
Walker would face Estrada on Armando’s quest to get a contract now. It looks like they are using Armando as the new Colin Delaney as he keeps losing each week. The match was not bad, but also not good either. Let’s say the jury is still out on Walker, but I’m sure we’ll see more of him. I will say he did remind me of Rhino with his size and ring attire. Not a bad thing on the talent front if Walker can match Rhino’s ring prowess, just stay away from the spousal abuse Branden.
Bourne showed some more great moves tonight in his win over Nunzio. If they ever feel the need to resurrect the light heavy weight title this guy would be a top contender. But as the past has shown us in the WWE these types of wrestlers rarely go anywhere. Other than the Hardy’s and Mysterio most of the other high flyer’s just fade away. Will see if Bourne can use his marketing degree to stick around.
It was not all fun for just the new guys tonight as we saw the Finlay, Hornswoggle, Miz and Morrison rivalry continue. It was just singles action with Miz and Finlay tonight and again if you take out the slap stick of Hornswoggle the match was good. Finlay was brought over as a coach for all the young guys and he showed why tonight. There was nothing fancy about the match but it still had good moves and flowed smoothly. I’m still looking for the belts to switch in this rivalry as it’s time for the Miz and Morrison to make some noise on their own. Look for Morrison to take the US title from Matt Hardy soon so Hardy can become ECW champ.
Tonight also saw the the current champ Mark Henry take on Tommy Dreamer with Tony Atlas as special ring announcer. Lets hope Henry loses the belt soon, and I really don’t care who takes it from him. tonights match was another unimpressive display and the turn by Atlas can get filed away in the who cares file. I know Dreamer really isn’t much of anything these days, but I rather see him as champ as he would give a way better match. Heck I would rather see Colin Delaney as champ over Mark Henry any day. Hopefully this title reign comes to a halt in the near future as it does nothing to enhance the brand.
