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3.04.2008

Tuesday Night Turmoil: Chavo/Punk IV

On a night with two championships being defended ECW looked to have a pretty stacked lineup again this week. They didn’t disappoint as far as matches go. Aside from Punk/Chavo IV and M’n’M 2.0/Dreamer and Delaney they had Big Stevie Cool and Tha Gold Standard. Three matches that include solid workers, and/or good storylines that could go farther.

They also had Kane booked against James Curtis. Chuck Palumbo made a cameo that made me say, “Huh?” I’m not a big fan of Chuck Palumbo, and his appearance to build towards “SmackDown!” was completely unnecessary.

The Palumbo thing bothered me for two reasons. There was a match booked, but nothing else, so you try and establish a feud, either large or small by having him ride out on his motorcycle and distract Kane for 3 seconds? That was unnecessary and the second reason was that it completely buried James Curtis. Was the squash not enough?

Onto the portions of the show that mattered and made sense in ways other than E-logic, like the tag title match. To open the show we got this gem. M’n’M 2.0 defending the tag straps against Delaney and Dreamer a match that shockingly enough I enjoyed. Nothing against anyone except Miz, but I wasn’t expecting much.

The match itself wasn’t overly long, but it established its point, and dammit I O’d for Delaney snapping and taking out the Dirt Sheet boys with the chair. I hated Taz saying, “Maybe Tommy Dreamer drug the extreme out of Colin.” Taz should hide his weaknesses, and ad-libbing is one of them.

This has become a feud, and I’m fine with that, but this week on “SmackDown!” continue it, don’t have the champs feuding with Jesse and Festus. Give Jesse and Festus someone else, and keep the fire hot with M’n’M and Dreamer and Delaney.

Shelton Benjamin taking on Stevie Richards was a matched that I was leery of, but I knew I’d like it. I wasn’t too high on the concept because the mark in me doesn’t want Stevie to lose yet, but I do know a victory over Stevie will help elevate Shelton a little because of the push Stevie got upon his return.

I’m an unabashed supporter/mark of both workers and would love to see both of them getting some good shine in ECW, and while they are, I’d like to see a feud build between them. The comments were made on Tha O Show that Benjamin should have started saying, “Aint no stopping me now,” months ago, but I think it still works.

Benjamin will likely never be a guy who is praised for his mic skills, but I don’t think at this point he should be criticized for it either. He’s improved by leaps and bounds, and while he’s not a top mic guy, he’s better than a lot of the E’s workers. Think Randy Orton a year ago.

The main event of the evening is the fourth match in the series that has become interesting. The matches are solid, but the finishes have been less than stellar in all four. The first was the schmoz and the title change. The second was the GTS into the Gulf of Mexico, the third the clean pin at No Way Out, and this one, yet another clean win on Chavo’s part.

The tally now reads Chavito three, Punk one. I’m honestly not sure what’s going on with it. I’m thinking it’s a solid push of Chavo on the part of the E, and not a burial of Punk, but it can honestly be taken either way. If this doesn’t solidify that Punk is leaving ECW and going somewhere else then the writers in the E are complete idiots.

I have no problem whatsoever with Chavo being the champ on ECW unlike some people. I do think they need to bring back Pepe, but that won’t happen, so I’ll just enjoy his run. I think Chavo is solid, and if they’d continue to push the “Familia” gimmick Chavo and Edge had going then it’d be better, but they aren’t and that’s ok too.

What is absolutely not ok is Taz. He said, “If you’ve got one wheel it’s hard to ride a bike.” How, in the name of God does that man have a job? I know I have a weekly hate on Taz rant, and I hate to do it, but he’s just bad. Could you imagine the ratings suicide that would be committed by putting Taz and Don West on the same announce team?

On a side note, this appears to be the 1000th post on Tha O Show, so yet another milestone has been reached. Congrats O Show.

Tha Results…
*Miz & Morrison def. Delaney & Dreamer via DQ to retain the Tag titles
*Shelton Benjamin def. Stevie Richards
*Kane def. James Curtis
*Chavo Guerrero def. CM Punk to retain the ECW Champion


3 comments: on "Tuesday Night Turmoil: Chavo/Punk IV"

Anonymous said...

I was just re-reading the ECW preview, and wasn't the tag match supposed to be "Extreme Rules?" Why the hell then was Delaney disqualified for using the chair?

D.J.B. said...

The ECW preview that talks about "Extreme Rulz" is next weeks show. The Extreme Rulz match is set for next week becasue of the chair shot. The E must have them in the wrong sections.

Anonymous said...

I thought the Benjamin / Richards match was completely flat, Steves work with Mordechai or whatever was far better I thought. Benjamin looked good though.
I didn't buy Colin's 'snap', it just wasn't quite where it should have been. I like the direction though.
I loved the Chavo / Punk match. Cringed a little at CM's promo. Maybe shoulda been something along the lines of 'There have been a lot of Guerrero's who embody the word warrior... You aint one of them!'

Great article!