Wednesday, November 15, 2006
ECW - November 14, 2006
Holy crap, I can't believe that it is already the middle of November. This month is flying by; hell, so is this year. And also quickly flying by is any interest that I might have in wrestling in general, and ECW in particular. Whether this is caused by a dip in the quality of the product or a change in my personal tastes, I don't know. But really, I don't care. The fact of the matter is that wrestling is becoming less and less entertaining for me. And considering that I am one of the core wrestling audience - one who sticks by and watches the product no matter how bad it gets - that is saying something. Maybe I am truly getting too old for this; wrestling is mainly geared for the 18-35 year old age group. Maybe it's just that, after years and years putting crap on the tv screen, it is possible to drive away the core audience. Whatever it is, I think that the WWE needs to pay attention. Unless they decide that sub-3.0 ratings are pretty darned good after all.
I was trying to decide whether it was this blase feeling I have towards the show in general that led me to dislike the Mike Knox -vs- CM Punk match from last week's episode of ECW. On paper, I shoulda been digging it. Punk won cleanly. And Knox was exposed as the no-talent hack that he is. Those are good things, right? But I was still down on the match in general. Whyso?
One of the trademarks of the original ECW was the idea that everyone was willing to do anything to make their opponent look good. It was an unselfish way to make sure that everyone helped everyone else out. Sorta the "a rising tide raises all ships" philosophy. And as a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, I am totally down with that. In the original ECW's case, this meant that when one person looked good, everyone else would look good too. A perfect example of this is Tommy Dreamer. As Dreamer worked his ass off to make his opponents look like a million dollars, he ended up looking like one tough badass in the fans eyes. This led to the Innovator of Violence gimmick which served Tommy well throughout the final run of ECW.
So isn't that what happened when Punk went over Knox cleanly? I am pretty sure that is what they were going for; trying to make Knox look better by having him lose to the very legit-looking CM Punk. But it seemed wrong to me, somehow. Mostly how quickly the match ended, how easy Punk's victory ended up being. It seemed too much, too fast, too quickly. A rising tide is slow and steady; a tide that rises too fast and too quickly is no longer a tide, but a flood, which can cause drastic damage. And that is what could've happened here. There's nothing to gain if Knox is jobbed out too quickly. He will just end up seeming overrated, someone who shouldn't have been in the ring with Punk to begin with. Punk doesn't get any elevation, and Knox doesn't get any rub. In the end, we end up with a match with a foregone conclusion that only exists to get Punk into the Elimination Chamber.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing things again. I'm old; I'm prone to do such things. :)
Let's get to this week's show!
Ah, to hell with this. I'm not recapping a show I can't even see! 'til next week! ¶ 8:13 PM
I was trying to decide whether it was this blase feeling I have towards the show in general that led me to dislike the Mike Knox -vs- CM Punk match from last week's episode of ECW. On paper, I shoulda been digging it. Punk won cleanly. And Knox was exposed as the no-talent hack that he is. Those are good things, right? But I was still down on the match in general. Whyso?
One of the trademarks of the original ECW was the idea that everyone was willing to do anything to make their opponent look good. It was an unselfish way to make sure that everyone helped everyone else out. Sorta the "a rising tide raises all ships" philosophy. And as a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, I am totally down with that. In the original ECW's case, this meant that when one person looked good, everyone else would look good too. A perfect example of this is Tommy Dreamer. As Dreamer worked his ass off to make his opponents look like a million dollars, he ended up looking like one tough badass in the fans eyes. This led to the Innovator of Violence gimmick which served Tommy well throughout the final run of ECW.
So isn't that what happened when Punk went over Knox cleanly? I am pretty sure that is what they were going for; trying to make Knox look better by having him lose to the very legit-looking CM Punk. But it seemed wrong to me, somehow. Mostly how quickly the match ended, how easy Punk's victory ended up being. It seemed too much, too fast, too quickly. A rising tide is slow and steady; a tide that rises too fast and too quickly is no longer a tide, but a flood, which can cause drastic damage. And that is what could've happened here. There's nothing to gain if Knox is jobbed out too quickly. He will just end up seeming overrated, someone who shouldn't have been in the ring with Punk to begin with. Punk doesn't get any elevation, and Knox doesn't get any rub. In the end, we end up with a match with a foregone conclusion that only exists to get Punk into the Elimination Chamber.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing things again. I'm old; I'm prone to do such things. :)
Let's get to this week's show!
- Recap of last week's show is up. Oh, and my Comcast DVR was nice enough to put up an almost-full-screen-sized message warning that it is out of recording space. Instead of making a smaller warning message, or having the warning go away after XX seconds, it is leaving that message stay on the screen. Obscuring most of the screen. This is NOT a good omen for tonight's show.
- Filling in for Taz on color commentary this week is Elijah Burke. Apparently, the "E" in ECW now stands for Elijah Burke Productions. That's cool.
- Friggin' Comcast! I swear, they can't do a single fucking thing right. Now my screen went completely dark. [sigh] Officially the Wost PVR ever. My TiVo did pick up the audio from the show; if only Comcast's PVR were running software a tenth as well written as TiVo's.
- There was apparently a desk set up in the ring for Paul Heyman. Heyman informs the crowd that Rob Van Dam didn't make the trip to the UK. Trigger a massive RVD chant. The ECW Champion Big Show IS here, however. For some reason, the crowd isn't down with that. Paul tells us we are about to find out who #6 in the Elimination Chamber will be. Bob Holly is heading down to the ring, but Bobby Lashley comes in from out of nowhere and puts a beatdown on Holly. Apparently. I can't see crap.
Ah, to hell with this. I'm not recapping a show I can't even see! 'til next week! ¶ 8:13 PM
