The ECW Digest - 26th January 2010
26/01/2010
Hello and welcome the all new ECW Digest.
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On with the show!
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Opening Segment: The NEXT ECW Champion
Match 1: Regal & Jackson Vs. Kane & Christian
Segment 3: Shelton on The Rumble
Main Event: Ryder, Barretta & Croft Vs. The Hurricane, Goldust & Tatsu
The ECW Digest
Segment 1
The NEXT ECW Champion
William Regal is the first person in the ring tonight, sporting his rather fetching dressing gown.
He introduces ‘The Next ECW Champion’ Ezekiel Jackson, who then makes his way down the ramp while clips of his brutal attack on Christian from last week play.
Jackson says what practically every #1 contender says, that he’s going to win the title, before Christian’s music hits and the current champ appears at the top of the ramp.
Christian says that Jackson isn’t the only person who likes biblical quotes, after all, look at his name.
He recites a passage from the book of Ezekiel, slightly modifying it to meet his requirements.
Jackson says that Christian has never faced anyone like him, but Christian counters by saying he’s defended his title against All American Americans, ECW Originals and creepy pale British dudes, and one way or another he’s beaten them all.
He says he’s looking forward to their match at the Rumble, but seeing as the attack last week was 2 on 1, he’s ‘evened the score’ tonight.
Cue Kane’s pyros. It looks like we’re ready for the first match of the night.
Match 1
Tag Team Match
William Regal & Ezekiel Jackson
Vs.
Kane & Christian
Ok, so it’s a pretty random inter-promotional partnership, but I like it.
Kane, just like Christian, would be a wasted commodity on ECW, but I guess being a big fish in a small pond is better than being a water molecule in a huge one.
Interestingly, the commentators spent a lot of time focusing on Kane’s Royal Rumble experience during his time in the ring.
Apparently he’s been in more Rumble’s than anyone else (this year will be his 12th) and he also holds the record for most eliminations in a single Rumble (11).
Jackson showed what he is capable of against Kane, isolating The Big Red Machine for a long period of the match, until he brought Christian into the ring.
Christian took out both members of the opposing team, but Jackson took back the advantage with authority a little while later, steamrollering Christian on the outside after a distraction from Regal.
This time it was the champs turn to be isolated, with both Regal and Jackson hitting some serious offence just days before The Rumble.
Kane eventually got the tag and dished out some damage, before tagging Christian back in and using him as a kind of missile.
Christian looked to be closing in on a win over Regal, but unbeknownst to him Jackson made a blind tag.
The #1 contender jumped into the ring after incapacitating Kane and hit his modified Eurinagi to pick up the victory in this very solid match.
I think this is one of the best matches I’ve seen on ECW in a long while, and why it wasn’t main event is beyond me.
William Regal & Ezekiel Jackson win by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Rumble Numbers
Ok, so this isn’t technically speaking a segment, but it’s an overview of a pretty cool promo video WWE have been playing, going over the ‘numbers’ of the Royal Rumble.
30
Men in a Rumble Match.
01
Winner.
23
Previous Winners.
627
People eliminated since the Rumbles inception in 1988.
36
The overall record for competitors eliminated held by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
11
Kane’s record for number of people eliminated in a single Rumble.
12
This year will be Kane’s 12th Rumble match, another record.
2002
The last time The Rumble took place at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
62:12
Rey Mysterio’s record breaking appearance in the Rumble.
00:02
The shortest run in The Rumble, a record held by The Warlord until…
00:01
Santino broke it last year.
3
Record number of wins, held by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
#1
A disadvantageous entry number, that has produced as many winners as…
#30
The most coveted spot.
70%
Of Rumble winners go on to take the title at ‘Mania.
Segment 3
Shelton on The Rumble
Backstage Shelton Benjamin talks a little about the Royal Rumble.
He says that numbers don’t matter, because at the end of the day the only thing that does matter is who is left standing at the end of the match, because that person’s career is totally changed forever.
Just as Shelton begins to talk about his ‘hopes and dreams’ Vance Archer jumped him from behind.
ECW’s newest heel then said that all Benjamin has is hopes and dreams, because the attack was a dose of reality.
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Main Event Match
6 Man Tag Team Match
Zack Ryder, Trent Barretta & Caylen Croft (w/Rosa Mendes)
Vs.
The Hurricane, Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu
If this match had been opening the show I’d have probably thought ‘meh’.
However, to have it main eventing when we had such a good opener kind of killed the buzz a bit for me.
Guess how Barretta and Croft warmed up for this match. Go on, take a guess…
Well thankfully we didn’t get told this week, but I expect they played Guitar Hero or something.
I’m actually warming to them a little bit, Barretta in particular seems to have the whole being cocky thing down to an art.
In fact, Ryder works really well with them both in the ring and personality-wise, and should ECW ever require a good faction (I’m not classing Regal’s short lived Round Table as a faction) these three guys would be a very good base.
As for the match; it wasn’t as bad as I expected but certainly got overshadowed by the earlier match.
Tatsu eventually picked up the pinfall after the match broke down, leaving the losers arguing on the outside.
So much for the faction idea then.
The Hurricane, Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu win by Pinfall.
