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ECW: Crackin' open a two-four
By
MATT BISHOP - SLAM! Wrestling
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Tonight on ECW on Sci-Fi: It's a ridiculous 24-man tag team match, as all
the competitors in the No. 1 contender battle royal meet for some hot
12-on-12 action. Should be a good one!
And we are LIVE! from Fayetteville, N.C. Joey Styles and Tazz are our
hosts and this show is presented in WWEHD (TV-14DLSV).
Match #1 - 12-on-12 Tag Team Match
You know what, I'm just going to leave that as "12-on-12 Tag Team Match"
because, yeah going any farther than that would be pointless. All 24 of
these men will be involved in the battle royal to determine who will be the
No. 1 contender for Chavo Guerrero's ECW Championship. Both will take place
at WrestleMania, live on pay-per-view this Sunday!
All I know is that one of my favorites, HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN is going
Extreme tonight, baby! HOOOOOOOO!
Cody Rhodes and Brian Kendrick start out and trade some mat
wrestling.
For the entire match, Festus is stirring on the outside after hearing the
bell ring.
The best part of the match so far is when all the crusierweights do
flippy stuff over the top rope onto each other. Of course, when there's
about five of them out there, the one and only Trevor Murdoch goes to the
top rope and hits a splash on all of them. He gets up and yells out, "that's
what I'm talking about!" Classic.
(Ads)
We're back and Tommy Dreamer is taking it to Snitsky but then it just
turns into an all-out brawl.
With a majority of the competitors on the outside, Festus starts taking
over until he runs into a big chop by The Great Khali. Khali takes out a few
men before being taken out by Kane. Kane takes out Khali, Matt Striker and
Mark Henry before being relieved by Snitsky.
Snitsky hits a big boot on Kane and Mark Henry gets Tommy Dreamer in a
bear hug. Dreamer is sent over to Snitsky and Snitsky finishes the job.
Winners via pinfall: "Snitsky and his team"
(Ads)
Backstage, Chavo Guerrero is talking down to Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer
challenges Guerrero to a non-title match tonight. After some baiting,
Dreamer gets Guerrero to accept the match. Now this is a rare one. We get to
see Dreamer lose twice in one night!
Match #2 - Money in the Bank Preview Match - Carlito (The Caribbean)
vs. Shelton Benjamin (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Well, this has promise.
The two go back-and-forth for much of the early going.
So I think I just realized, despite the fact the briefcase is hanging
above the ring, that this is not a ladder match. Color me disappointed.
Carlito starts to grind down Shelton with some mat-based offense. Styles
and Tazz note how this type of offense will be ineffective come Sunday.
Despite a few short comebacks attempts by Benjamin, Carlito continues to
control. Shelton is getting almost zero offense.
The crowd starts to get behind Benjamin and it works, as Shelton powers
out of a chinlock and hits a big kick to the back of the head. Benjamin
lands a takedown and starts to pummel Carlito.
This leads to the T-Bone Suplex, but Carlito kicks out.
After a series of counters, Carlito hits a nasty neckbreaker for a long
two. Upset, Carlito goes for the Backstabber, but Shelton counters out and
goes for the Inverted Bulldog but Carlito counters that into a backbreaker
for two.
Carlito heads to the top but Shelton, out of nowhere, leaps to the top
turnbuckle and hits the Inverted Bulldog from the top rope for the win.
Winner via pinfall: Shelton Benjamin
(Ads -- Red Wings take 2-1 lead over St. Louis!)
Instead of taking place on the broadcast, the 24-man battle royal to
determine who will face Chavo Guerrero later in the night will be broadcast
on WWE.com starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Now, it's time to announce the next candidate for the WWE Hall of Fame
Class of 2008 -- Gordon Solie!
(Ads)
Match #3 - Layla (Miami, Fla.) & Mike Knox (Phoenix, Ariz.) vs. Stevie
Richards (Philadelphia, Pa.) & Kelly Kelly (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Well, good to see Mike Knox is earning his paycheck with his bi-monthly
match.
The ladies start this one out, as Layla gets the upper hand when Knox
trips Kelly on the outside. Kelly gets an opening and tags in Richards as
Layla gets to Knox.
It degenerates shortly after that, as Knox hits Richards with a corkscrew
and that's all she wrote.
Winners via pinfall: Mike Knox & Layla
Thanks for coming.
(Ads -- Red Wings win, 2-1!)
Match #4 - Chavo Guerrero (El Paso, Texas) vs. Tommy Dreamer (Yonkers,
N.Y.)
The 23 remaining men in Sunday's battle royal surround the ring to "scout
the champ" according to Styles.
Judging by the time this match is starting (11:03), I don't think we're
in for anything longer than 45 seconds (match-wise) here.
The two start by exchanging punches and Chavo ends up on the outside but
is quickly thrown back into the ring.
Dreamer hits the Tree of Woe and a neckbreaker and goes to the top but is
thrown off. Chavo sets him up and hits the Frog Splash for the win.
Winner via pinfall: Chavo Guerrero
Chavo celebrates and then it hits the fan, as everyone on the outside
jumps in and starts attacking him. Ha!
Send Matt e-mail about ECW, wrestling, MMA or hockey at bishop20@msu.edu. Please include your
name and hometown. And if you're interested in mixed martial arts, check out
Matt's weekly podcast -- Lights Out Radio. Should
be a good one!.
