After the intro video plays, we’re in the Land of Extreme of Roanoke, Virginia. Josh Matthews and Matt Striker plug the Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger main event. Then a Hart Attack sounds as we shoot to the ring for our first match.

David Hart Smith w/ Natalya and Tyson Kidd vs. Christian

Clips from last week’s main event are shown, with Josh saying that this match is a result of what happened then. After a four week streak, the Hart Dynasty is not main eventing ECW tonight. Damn. Good back and forth action take place before they make it out onto the ropes. Christian is in control until Smith hits him with an ura-nage on the edge of the apron. DANGEROOOUS!!! Smith works over the back until Christian manages to pull the ropes down and cause him to fall out onto the floor. Christian follows with a Silver King dive before we cut to commercial.

We return with Smith keeping Christian grounded. Christian starts to fight back after being mounted on the top rope at one point. He completes the comeback with not one, but two Pendulum Kicks and a flying European uppercut. He momentarily distracts himself by chasing Kidd on the outside to prevent any sort of interference, but it’s enough for Smith to recover and blast him with a lariat. The continue to go back and forth, hitting one another with signature moves, before Natalya distracts the referee while Kidd pushes Christian off the top rope. Smith nails the Saito suplex for the win to a really damn good match. As I said before, Christian knows how to work with the Hart Dynasty, thereby managing to make them look really good.

The Dynasty prepare to follow up with a Hart Attack, only for Finlay to hit the ring and chase them out. After the Dynasty retreats, Finlay turns around and blasts Christian with the shillelagh. It looked like he was about to do some more, but decided one was enough and leaves. Everyone in the building is utterly bewildered. Josh and Matt expressing theirs in an exaggerated manner.

They show clips from last week of Evan Bourne beating Tony Atlas before getting nailed with the World’s Strongest Slam from Mark Henry. Split screen shows the two making their way to the ring separately for their third match, Evan having had his ribs bandaged up. We then cut to commercial.

Returning from the back, they replay the clip of Finlay’s return before shooting to the back where Gregory Helms interviews the Irishman. Finlay explains that he hit Christian in retaliation for Chrisitian and Dreamer’s fight that he tried to break up causing him with a damaged eye. “An eye for an eye…” he notes.

Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas vs. Evan Bourne

Evan immediately goes for rapid kicks and strikes, which would force Henry to push him away. This tactic prevents Henry from causing any serious damage, resulting in Evan getting a breather before going after him again. A boot to the face finally gives Henry a chance to strike down Bourne, but misses a seated senton. Evan connects with rapid strikes, but is soon cut down by Henry’s massive body. Henry attempts a splash, but Evan moves out of the away again. Evan returns to the rapid, quick strikes and attempts a crucifix roll, but Henry tosses him over for the World’s Strongest Slam and finally the win. Henry then hits another World’s Strongest Slam, Matt figuring to even the two loses he suffered. Match could have been worse.

They do a Raw Rebound, which I quite honestly don’t want given the chaotic mess that happened. After all that is cleared up, we shoot to the back. Helms arrives late for his interview with an impatient Jack Swagger. Hmmm… Swagger ends up asking what’s a bigger joke: that he has to earn an ECW title shot or that Dreamer is the champion? He immediately answers with the latter and puts down Dreamer somemore before stating that he will beat him, get his title shot, and reclaim the title. All of this before we go to commercial once again.

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Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer

The match opens with a little bit of back and forth action. Swagger tries to ground Dreamer with some amatuer wrestling while Dreamer fights back with strikes and cruiserweight moves. At Dreamer’s speed, it isn’t all that quick. They continue to go back and forth until Dreamer knocks Swagger onto the floor. Dreamer then attempts a cannonball roll, but Swagger catches him and counters with a powerslam on the floor before we cut to commercial.

We return from the break with Swagger still in control. A clip is shown of his further dominance on Dreamer during the break. Dreamer attempts a comeback, but is cut short when Swagger gets him to keep running and then swiftly locks him into the abdominal stretch. Swagger holds the ropes for more leverage, but is caught by the referee and then suddenly finds himself hip tossed by Dreamer. Dreamer follows with a sunset flip for a pin attempt, but Swagger grounds him back down with a belly-to-belly suplex. Swagger stays on top of Dreamer until the latter mounts his comeback. They end up going into a very heated back and forth finishing series that was actually pretty good. Each counters the other’s finisher over the course before the finish, where Dreamer misses a frog splash and Swagger hooks him in an Oklahoma Roll for the win. Good match.

Swagger’s victory celebration is cut short when Finlay hits the ring. Swagger bails out of the ring while Dreamer gets blasted with the shillelagh. Christian then hits the ring and goes after Finlay in response to what happened earlier. Swagger slips in to attack Christian and throw him out, but then turns around to receive a shillelagh shot to the head from Finlay. Finlay looks over the three bodies laying about before leaving as ECW this week comes to an end. Later afterward, Swagger’s title shot gets restructured into a Scramble match that includes Christian, Finlay, and Mark Henry.

Overview: Another really good show this week with the emphasis on the wrestling back in swing. The Christian vs. David Hart Smith match was great and Dreamer actually had a good match with Jack Swagger in the main event. The Mark Henry vs. Evan Bourne match was what it was, but we can excuse that. Finlay’s return is done in a way for his character to work without requiring Hornswoggle. Not much else is advanced, unless you read into Helms showing up late for his interview with Swagger. Hmmm… A hearty thumbs up for ECW this week.

Dan Short
dan@ifight365.com