by James Coyle

This weeks edition of ECW eminates from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Tiffany came to the ring and said that the WWE Universe is buzzing about Breaking Point and she was proud of the ECW Title match that took place on Sunday night.

She was then interupted by William Regal who was joined by Jackson and Kozlov. Regal insisted that Tiffany looked absolutely lovely tonight, and every night for that matter. I second that. He then went onto say that Tiffany is doing a wonderful job as general manager but wanted to know why Tiffany banned his associates Jackson and Kozlov from ringside this past Sunday.

Her decision to make the match a one-on-one without any outside interference was in the interests of fair play. Regal claimed the decision caused him significant grief in his preparation for the match and then went onto demand another rematch. Tiffany opposed that idea and insisted that the other superstars on the brand deserved a chance against the champion so Regal wouldn’t have another chance at the title.

A Battle Royal was then announced with the winner being given number one contender status for the ECW Title. Tiffany then reitterated to Regal that he would not receive another shot at the ECW Title, but would face The Hurricane in a match immediately.

The Hurricane vs William Regal

A frustrated Regal left the ring half way through this encounter as he appeared to have had enough, but The Hurricane stopped Regal from making his escape and brought him back to the ring, only for Regal to then strike with a running knee trembler for the three count.

After the match, Paul Burchill attacked The Hurricane from behind and executed a perfect jackhammer. As Hurricane lay motionless in the ring, Burchill made no attempts to remove the mask.

Backstage, Goldust is giving Yoshi Tatsu an English lesson. Ryder appears and comments on the said English lesson, to which Tatsu calls Ryder a ‘loser’. The two would be wrestling next on the show.

The special ring announcers for this match were the gorgeous Bella Twins.

Yoshi Tatsu vs Zack Ryder

This was a decent match up, and in the end it was Yoshi who got the boot up for a charging Ryder, then struck a forearm and both men were down. Yoshi hit with an Irish whip then connected with the running knees into the corner. Yoshi missed a spin kick but Ryder hit a leg lariat for another near two count. Yoshi then struck with a pinpoint kick to the back of the head for the cover.

Main Event Ten-Man Battle Royal

The Number One Contender Battle Royal featured Vladimir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, Shelton Benjamin, Sheamus, Paul Burchill, Tyler Reks, Zack Ryder, and Yoshi Tatsu.

The match kicked off and it was mayhem in the ring as they paired off into five separate contests. Of the ten involved it was Paul Burchill who was eliminated first by Shelton Benjamin via an Exploder Suplex. Kozlov eliminated Tyler Reks, and Jackson got rid of Tatsu.

Shelton then clotheslined Sheamus to the floor, Jackson then went onto dump Shelton, but he hung on and head scissored Jackson to the floor. Sheamus then pulled Shelton down to the floor.

This match went on for a good fifteen minutes and was eventually narrowed down to four superstars, ECW original Dreamer, Goldust, Kozlov and Ryder.

Dreamer hit with a cross body to Ryder but Kozlov struck with a headbutt to Goldust’s chest and Goldust went down. Kozlov then persisited to work on Dreamer’s back. Goldust punched Ryder who then hit Goldust with not one but two clotheslines.

Goldust then went for the drop down uppercut and a reverse atomic drop but when he went to throw Ryder over the top rope, Ryder countered by holding on at the apron. Ryder then dropped Goldust on the top rope. Goldust clotheslined Ryder again but Ryder remained on the apron. Goldust then charged at Ryder who dropped down which led to Goldust eliminating himself.

Kozlov looked the favourite of the three remaining and struck with his pattented headbutts to the chest of Dreamer followed by a belly-to-belly suplex. Kozlov charged at Dreamer but Dreamer managed to counter pulling the top rope down to eliminate the oncoming russian. Ryder then went onto eliminate Dreamer while his back was turned to win the match.

The Winner and New Number One Contender to Christian’s ECW Championship is Zack Ryder.

Personally I don’t see Ryder getting a run with the belt, but the matches he will have with Christian in the near future should be very good hopefully. Ryder will learn alot from Captain Charisma. It’s a pity that Regal now appears to be out of title contention after having such a fine match against the champion at Breaking Point. Be interesting to see what’s next instore for him.