hockeybeat said:
Claws for Concern said:
Mystery Meat said:
I assume Punk will pin Knox again, then get a decent back-and-forth with Orton or Edge before losing. Maybe Kelly Kelly will be a distraction or something, who knows. This could be the bellweather for the ECW PPV -- if Punk looks respectable and gets good pop in the SS match, he might go over in the Elimination Chamber for the ECW title.
Speaking of the ECW PPV, the card with a week to go is this:
Elimination Chamber
Hardy Boyz vs. ???
Way to develop the undercard, Heyman/Stephanie/whoever runs ECW!
Agreed. WWECW's PPV sounds like a throwaway show right now, but I expect a few angles to be done tonight at SS. I do wonder how many more Raw or Smackdown guys will be added to the card.
Actually, this is very true to the history of ECW. During its heyday, Heyman never announced a full card before a PPV. They'd announce the two biggest matches beforehand--Taz vs. Sabu and the winner of Stevie Richards vs. Sandman vs. Terry fork three-way-dance against Raven for the ECW World Heavyweight Title at the first Barely Legal--and then surprise the crowd with the remainder of the card.
Yes, I'm a loser for knowing all of that. I'm an even bigger loser for actually posting it. I'm now going to feel shame for a long period of time.
Old ECW could do that. New ECW doesn't have the improvisational skills or wrestling talent to make it look like anything other than a grade-A clusterfork. The Hardyz will probably end up wrestling Johnny Nitro and Gregory Helms despite none of them being ECW guys, and I'm sure other non-ECW wrestlers will be there too, continuing the watering-down of the brand splits.
The Elimination Chamber is the wrong match to headline an ECW PPV for two reasons: 1. It's too gimmicky and WWE-ish for ECW (though I guess the last point isn't even worth raising anymore with Test, Matt Striker and Sylveter Terkay on the roster). 2. It burns up all their upper-card talent in one match. The rest of the card will be comprised of guys nobody cares about, "originals" thrust into matches against said nobodies with no backstory or reason to care and the aforementioned Raw/SD invaders.
Off-the-cuff card as I'd do it, staying with the current roster (outside one minor surprise roster switch):
No. 1 contender's mini-tournament semifinals: C.M. Punk d. Hardcore Holly, Test d. Sabu
Balls Mahoney d. Mike Knox after Knox gets distracted by Kelly Kelly accidentally yelling "go C.M.!" towards the end of the match. Knox breaks up with her in the middle of the ring, making her cry, and teases hitting her before C.M. Punk runs in to save her from a beatdown. Kelly and Punk embrace as Knox fumes.
Super Crazy d. Little Guido (they're doing nothing with Crazy on Raw, move him over and let him have some fun with an old rival). Crazy gets attacked by Davari and Great Khali afterwards.
Sabu/Sandman/Tommy Dreamer d. Matt Stryker/Heyman's Security Force. Setup -- Heyman tells the faces that Stryker and the Bashams (or Doug Basham and whoever's filling in for the injured Danny) that they do a better job of representing the new breed of ECW than the used up old names.
No. 1 contender tournament final: Test d. Punk when Kelly Kelly turns on Punk
ECW title: Rob Van darn d. Big Show (c), Extreme Rules
I wouldn't have moved Lashley over, at least not for this. Ditto the Hardyz, because unless they have an incredible angle set up for tonight to lead us into an ECW match (Lita loses final match, Edge chews her out, Hardyz make the save, Lita postpones her WWE departure by rejoining the Hardyz to wrestle Rated RKO in an Extreme Rules match), it's not going to fit well in the card.