I almost forgot ECW was on when I remembered, so I missed the first six minutes. Fortunately, I didn’t miss too much. The Land of Extreme is in Columbus, Ohio and Tiffany opens the show saying that there would be serious consequences if either Christian and Jack Swagger touched during The Peep Show so as not to endanger their match at Judgment Day. Similar to the previous Monday night on Raw, I know, but this time there was no compromise.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas

I came in while Henry is clearly working over Dreamer for a moment. Then Dreamer starts mounting his comeback, hitting low and keeping Henry from getting up before nailing him with the Evenflow DDT. However, Henry manages to get his foot on the rope before the three count. Dreamer attempts a school boy, but Henry counters by leg dropping Dreamer’s arm and then following up with the World’s Strongest Slam for the win. Not a bad match, actually.

Gregory Helms is in the back to interview Tyson Kidd and Natalya. Natalya is barred from ringside during Kidd’s match against Finlay tonight, but both express no worries. Tyson says that Finlay may love to fight, but in the Hart Family Dungeon he learned how to fight. After Tyson leaves, Helms tries to hit on Natalya who leaves him hanging. “What’s up wit dat?!” cries Helms.

Finlay vs. Tyson Kidd

They recap the events from last week in the closing moments of Tyson against Evan Bourne, leading up to tonight’s match. Finlay overpowers Tyson early, grounding him with hard hits and strong holds. Tyson manages to trip Finlay and apply standing left locks momentarily. Finlay gets back control and hits a unique rolling backcracker. They head out onto the floor where they go back and forth until Tyson nails him with a couple of drop kicks, one of which knocks Finlay shoulder first into the steps. Tyson works over the now injured arm before cutting to commercial.

We return with Tyson continuing to work over the left arm. After being locked in an arm hold for a good while, Finlay starts mounting his comeback primarily using his right arm. After throwing Tyson about, he gets him set up for the Celtic Cross until he eats a big boot from a big man.

That big man is none other than David Hart Smith, son of the late Davey Boy Smith.

Smith unloads on Finlay, with Striker pointing out how no one has manhandled Finlay in such a manner before. Tyson uses the shillelagh to keep Finlay from mounting a comeback. Smith throws Finlay out onto the floor and rams him into the steps. Finlay is rolled back in to receive a shillelagh shot to the gut before Smith and Tyson hit The Hart Attack. Natalya arrives to raise the hands of Smith and Tyson, completing what Striker calls “The Hart Trilogy.” Perhaps that’ll be their team name?

Return from commercial break, Striker and Josh recap Smith’s debut and the formation of “The Hart Trilogy.” I love how they’re making a big deal out of this. They then shoot to the Raw Rebound, which I found not to be a big deal. They then run down the four major matches for Judgment Day, with the World Heavyweight Championship getting the bigger pop followed by the ECW Championship. That should tell you something. Striker throws in that the ECW Championship could steal the show. Probably won’t, but it might be the sleeper match.

In the back, Tiffany grants Zack Ryder to go to the gym many so he could stop annoying her. The Burchills arrives with Paul complaining that he hasn’t been used on the show for the second week in a row. Tiffany says that not everyone can compete on ECW all the time. Paul walks off and Katie Lea warns Tiffany that when her brother has too much time on his hands he tends to get into trouble. Another good vingette of Vladimir Kozlov training plays before cutting to commercial.

Vladimir Kozlov vs. Chad Collyer

Not quite a squash given that the match runs roughly a minute and Collyer actually gets in some offense. Kozlov doesn’t get to show off any suplexes, but he does a nice headlock takedown and puts over his dangerous headbutts before putting Collyer away with the Iron Curtin Descending. Josh gets into the ring to interview Kozlov. Kozlov speaks about how Russia has dominated international competition for fifty years and he will continue to do so in ECW. I have to admit, I like the way they’re trying to get him over as a major threat. It’s his in-ring abilities that will be tested when the time comes.

It’s time for the return of The Peep Show! As Christian makes his way to the ring, Josh notes that Christian will take on Mark Henry in a non-title match this Thursday on Superstars. Christian welcomes everyone to the show and then introduces Jack Swagger. Swagger is not happy to be there, saying the whole thing is stupid. Christian asks him why he’s got to be like that, as it makes him come off as a sore loser as opposed to being just a loser.

Swagger then shows a clip from Backlash, cutting to the point where he runs into the exposed corner for Christian to win. Christian counters first by stating how he outsmarted Swagger to win, then by showing a compilation clip that pokes fun at Swagger’s lisp. “What the hell is that supposed to prove?” Swagger screams. “Nothing,” Christian laugh. “I just like making you look stupid.” I like it too.

Swagger then rambles of how he will take his title back and there would be nothing for Christian to do. And Christian can’t make a witty comeback since Tiffany made it clear they couldn’t touch each other during the Peep Show. Christian then says how one of the benefits of having his own show is he gets to decide when the show is over. And the show ends with him jamming the mic into Swagger’s face, causing him to retreat in frustration at being outsmarted again.

Overview: Good show, with the attention centered on the Christian vs. Jack Swagger program building as well as the debut of David Hart Smith to form “The Hart Trilogy” with Tyson Kidd and Natalya at Finlay’s expense. As the rest of the guys here can tell you, I was really excited when Smith drafted to ECW because it meant the formation of the trio and I was not disappointed.

The Peep Show was a fun way to push the ECW Championship match at Judgment Day and continues to do things that are simple, yet effective. Something they haven’t been doing on Raw. Everything else on the show was fine, so a thumbs up this week.

Dan Short
dan@ifight365.com