ECW

I have to say that the debut of ECW on Sci-Fi was more than a bit underwhelming. Do you really want the first match you air to be Sandman vs. The Zombie? Really? This is a good idea?

Comedy I understand. There is a fine tradition of that in ECW.

Is Sci-Fi making demands on the WWE to have elements that they think the Sci-Fi viewers want? Is that what the random Matt-Hardy-Looking-Vampire guy was for? If so, Sci-Fi needs to stop making demands. The movie that lead into it "Immortal" looked like a graphic novel adaptation. I only caught the last few minutes, but it seemed pretty but vacant.

Was that the best lead in?

I like the decision to go with Hellraiser after the show, but Sci-Fi needs to program around ECW just as much as ECW needs to make nods to Sci-Fi.

Also, the tapings from WWE shows must end as soon as possible. My wife was commenting on the fact that it looked like a WWE show. It looked like Raw. ECW must be different to survive. One Night Stand worked because of the Hammerstein Ballroom and the rabid ass-world cup style crowd.

One Night Stand was almost a WWE pay-per-view, but they pulled it off because of the atmosphere.

The atmosphere on Sci-Fi is the wrong one. Cena can not be cheered on an ECW show. They need to stop with the crossovers as soon as possible.

I know there is also a tradition of the pointless TNA on ECW, but the half-assed strip-tease had no place on the show. Give me wrestling on my wrestling show. If there is TNA make it involved in a story somehow. Couldn't Trinity or Francine come out and decimate the chick? Or Jazz?

Did Justin Credible evaporate half his body weight since the last time he was on TV? He looked like Dwayne Gill impersonating Justin Credible.

It is not good when the best match on a show that should be determined by great matches is Kurt Angle squashing Justin Credible, and your second best match is a re-play from the PPV of Taz choking out Jerry Lawler.

Not good.

The battle royal should have been about twenty minutes. The show should have been taped and edited in ECW style. Next week should be a taped show from the first few ECW house shows where there will be paying ECW fans, with no little kids in Chain Gang shirts leaning in behind the announce crew.

And for Godssake WWE pay for the rights to Enter Sandman, or just use the damn version that Motorhead recorded for ECW. Sandman was weakened in TNA with the generic music and he is weakened here. The intro is the character.

I felt that the PPV was 85% in the good, but this show was a major step backward.

The PPV had strong outings from all except Balls and Masato. (If they wanted to keep the WWE v. ECW vibe they should have had Tanaka v. Tatanka, that is a money feud right there) I even like the Angle/Orton match. I thought it showcased intense Kurt well and jobbed the hell out of Orton. The only thing I would have dropped from ONS was the Bradshaw segment, unless he was going to get laid out by say, New Jack.

ECW doesn't need to invade Raw, they need to strengthen their own borders first and lay down a legitimate foundation that doesn't make them look second tier. The PPV did that, but the first episode on Sci-Fi came off as WWE circa five or six years ago, not ECW.