Sorry I missed last week, dear readers. I didn’t have time to catch up due to my being my folks who were in town for the week.

The intro video plays and we’re in the Land of Extreme in Memphis, Tennessee. Josh Matthews makes a quick plug of this Sunday’s “Extreme Rules” pay-per-view before we shoot straight to the ring for the opening match.

Evan Bourne vs. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas

This is a rematch from last week when Evan beat Henry by count-out. Evan tries to the hit and run tactic, but is eventually struck down by Henry’s overpowering mass. Henry then slowly and methodically works over Evan’s back. After a few minutes of this, Evan rolls out of the way of a splash and returns to the hit and run tactic while selling the back. Henry manages to knock Evan out on the floor and gets held up by the referee. Evan swiftly jumps up to the top turnbuckle, only to be caught by Atlas. However, the referee sees this and immediately disqualifies Henry. Henry charges after Evan in frustration, who pulls the top rope down to send the big man spilling onto the floor. Henry then gets into Atlas’ face about what just happened. Looks like they both building tension between Henry and Atlas as well as building up to an eventual final confrontation between Evan and Henry.

Josh and Matt Striker then recap the final moments of last week’s main event of Christian and Tommy Dreamer in a handicap match against Jack Swagger, David Hart Smith, and Tyson Kidd. They then announce the main event tonight of Christian in a non-title match against Tyson before going to commercial.

Zack Ryder vs. Dustin Carwile

They play a backstage promo Ryder cut, saying that while he’s the “Woo Woo Woo” guy, he also has an instense side. Striker tries to spin a little backstory into an otherwise squash by stating that this match came about because Carwile has a clothing line and Ryder was denied access to a place the other night for wearing one of Carwile’s clothing. Josh and Matt make hair jokes before Ryder hits an impressive missile dropkick that wakes up the crowd and then hits his finisher for the win.

Gregory Helms quickly interviews Finlay in the back, the latter sporting a pretty bad black eye. Finlay states that Jack Swagger will be getting what’s coming to him going by the “tooth for a tooth, and an eye for an eye” motto. No doubt building up the future encounter between the two.

Tommy Dreamer makes his way to the ring before we cut to commercial.

Upon return, Katie Lea has the mic to insult Dreamer before her brother Paul faces him. Didn’t catch exactly what she said.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Paul Burchill w/ Katie Lea Burchill

Burchill is all over Dreamer pretty much from the get-go and through the majority of the match. Dreamer eventually starts making a comeback, which includes hitting a nice reverse DDT. Burchill then catches him with a dangerous looking brainbuster for a near-fall. Dreamer side-steps a charge in the corner and hits the Evenflow DDT for the win. So-so match, nothing too special. Just used in an attempt to build momentum for Dreamer going into Sunday’s pay-per-view.

The night’s main event is plugged before going to commercial, which starts with a look at the awesome Randy Savage DVD coming out next week. Can’t wait to get that one.

Back from the back is a shot of B.B. King’s before returning to the ring, where Dreamer still stands. He takes the mic to say thanks to the fans should he not succeed on Sunday until Jack Swagger interrupts him. Swagger puts Dreamer down, calling him washed up, and claiming he will win on Sunday to reclaim his belt and end Dreamer’s career. Dreamer answers back with a renewed sense of confidence and says he will be the one to return next week as ECW Champion.

Josh and Matt rundown the rest of the card for Sunday. Rey Mysterio defending the Intercontinental Championship against Chris Jericho in a No Holds Barred Match, Big Show against John Cena in a Submission Match, Edge defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match, and Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship against Batista in a Steel Cage Match. The Ladder Match got the biggest pop.

A Hart Attack sounds and The Hart Dynasty make their way to the ring for the main event before cutting to commercial.

The Did You Know this week states that ECW last week has more male viewers that Major League Baseball on ESPN. I bet there was another sport that had more viewers.

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

There is a very brief dueling “Let’s go Christian!” and “Let’s go Tyson!” chants. The two engage in a pretty good back and forth action that flows together pretty well. At one point, Tyson attempts a move from the top rope only for Christian to reverse it into a flapjack. The action spills out on the floor, where Christian for just one second takes his eyes off of Tyson to make David back off. This is enough of an opening for Tyson to ram Christian into the steel steps before cutting to commercial.

Back from the break and Tyson is working over Christian’s back, which has a small cut that goes completely unnoticed by Josh and Matt. Tyson continues to beat down Christian until the latter starts making a comeback. And it leads into a great series of back and forth action that the fans were getting into. After hitting the Pendulum Kick, he goes to the top only to spot Swagger making his way to the ring. It’s enough of a distraction for Tyson to leap up and back drop him and then hit a super legdrop for a near fall. Swagger starts getting closer to the ring when Dreamer makes his way down and shoves him into David. Dreamer follows up by getting onto the apron and hitting a cannonball roll on both. Tyson takes him down with a baseball slide to the back of the head and then slides into Christian’s leg to trip. He attempts to ram Christian into the post, but Christian reverses and hits the Killswitch to win a really good match. Rating: *** 1/2

Dreamer hits the ring to congratulate Christian. They shake hands… and then Dreamer kicks him before nailing the DDT. I guess he’s really serious about winning on Sunday.

Overview: The show was pretty much all about building programs. The Sunday pay-per-view match between Chrsitian, Swagger, and Dreamer for the ECW Championship. Evan Bourne and Mark Henry possibly having more matches along with Henry’s relationship with Tony Atlas potentially dissolving. The matches, with the exception of the main event, played second fiddle to the advancement of storylines. The main event was really good and definitely one that both Christian and Tyson will surely benefit from. So an alright show from start to finish, though the finish was pretty strong.

Dan Short
dan@ifight365.com