After watching ECW tonight you have to wonder have the Hardy’s crossed someone at the WWE the wrong way. Yes, Jeff is getting his title chance and Matt is ECW champion, but their recent matches lead you to believe they are in the dog house. After Jeff became the number one contender he was attacked By Vladimir Kozlov, a underachieving wrestler who the WWE wants to push. I have already wrote how I think he will fade to nothingness and it’s sad to see them use Jeff to spring board his polulairty. The tonigth we saw Matt take on Mike Knox. You have to be kidding me, as Knox showed nothing in his short program with Finlay. So I guess now he can take on the champ. The match itself spoke volumes how bad Knox is as he actually made Hardy look bad. The match was so slow paced due to Knox’s lack of skill other than being a brawler. It was the worst match of the show and that should not be when it features your champ.
The match of the night would have to go to Miz and Evan Bourne. This display mirrored the styling of the Hardy match with Bourne the obvious comparision to Hardy’s athletic high tempo style and the Miz a more traditional wrestler like Knox. But unlike the aforementioned match Miz and Bourne were able to establish a good pace and work their strenghts. First Bourne has firmly established himself as having a great future, and if he sticks around this brand he will be champ. The same can be said for the Miz. He defiantly has been overshadowed by his partner, John Morrsion, but give this guy some credit. He has worked very hard to show he is more than a reality star and can hold his own in the ring. This match was also highlighted by Morrison and Ricky Ortiz adding some outside interference. Ortiz was there to help Bourne due to the Miz and Morrison taking shots at both men on the Dirt Sheet. This should give Ortiz the chance to show what he can really do as Miz and Morrison are the top level competition he has yet to face.
The Mark Henry and Finlay match was also a bit dull due to the dominance of Henry in the match. Henry is similar to Knox as they both have very limited ability in the ring. The overly physical style tends to get boring as there is little action in the ring and arm bars and bear hugs don’t bring the crowd out of their seats on any night. Also this match lacked much action from Finlay. As one of the great brawlers in the WWE I would have at least liked to see him go toe to toe with Henry. Instead nowadays Finaly seems to need the shillelagh and assitance from Hornswoggle to get a win. The man has more talent than that and should not be limited to gimmicky wins.
Jack Swagger continues to make a name for himself as he defeated Chase Stevens. But in my opinion this was a nice preview of two future jobbers as I really don’t see Swagger making it. First, he is too gangly for my taste. When I see him I’m thinking Peter Crouch of English soccer prominence. Just a tall, lanky fellow who really is more a product of his size, not his ability. Second, we already have plenty of guys in the WWE who are using the cocky attitude angle, so he really isn’t filling a need. He calls himself the “The All-American American” but really hasn’t established what that is. If he can make that into his thing he may stick around, if not we’ll be seeing more of Elijah Burke on ECW than Swaggger.
