LAST WEEK ON ECW:  Punk got his hands on the only greased up chair in Italy, Joey explained who the new Intercontinental Champion was and Extreme Expose missed the plane!

THIS WEEK…

No, he really IS messing with him...

After a recap of CM Punk's whiff on helping out Elijah Burke last week in Italy, we cold opened into Punk making another marvellous face watching the recap on TV.  He turned around, where the rest of the New Breed were sitting.  He apologised for screwing up at the end of last week, but he wasn't apologising for much else.  He said that it was in the past as they had their match later, and that everyone would remember them and talk about them by the end of the night.  Punk shook hands with everyone, except Elijah Burke before heading off.  He came back laughing though, telling Burke he was just messing around with him.

Bobby Lashley def. Umaga by DQ in a "Not exactly the Cena/HBK rematch…" match

Umaga came out first, as we saw the set was full of English stuff, such as a Double Decker bus, black taxi cab and telephone box.  We saw a recap of what happened on RAW with Lashley's opponents beating of Robbie Brookside.  Nice to see him get some WWE screen time.

Umaga bitchslapped Lashley, but Lashley came back with rights.  Lashley was sent over the top rope, and knocked to the floor by Umaga while Lashley was kicking Armando Estrada off.  Umaga took Lashley around the ring, running him into the steel steps before doing a spot of spring cleaning on the announce table.  Lashley made a comeback, but Umaga ran him into the apron.  Lashley hung Umaga off the top rope and went up top.  However, he was caught coming off the ropes, with Umaga following up with the drop of his people.

Umaga went up top himself and went for a diving headbutt, but Lashley rolled out the way.  The slugged it out, which Lashley got the better off until he came off the ropes to be met with an uppercut.  However  Lashley dumped Umaga to ringside himself before Estrada ran in and gave Lashley a belt shot to the head.  Lashley didn't feel it though and began to decimate Armando.  Vince came out and held Umaga back as Estrada was speared out of his shoes (LITERALLY!) before press slamming him to the floor.

Thoughts - 4/10 - What they did wasn't at all bad, it's just that there wasn't much of there.  A nice taste for this Sunday though.

That's a true leader...admitting you made a mistake...

After a Condemned promo, we went backstage, where Elijah was talking to his original New Breed gang.  He said that they may have made a mistake to bring in Punk.  Marcus Cor Von said that THEY didn't make any mistakes as it was Burke's call to do it.  Burke admitted that it was his shout, and took responsibility.  He wondered about the strength of Punk's chair passing.  Striker suggested they don't over-analyse the situation, and that he is just trying to motivate them.  Burke said he did the motivating and that he would lead the team to a win later.  Punk snuck in and asked Burke how things were going.

Snitsky def. Balls Mahoney in a "fireman718239 - "Snitsky vs Balls Mahoney in a "two ugliest guys in history" match" - Hey, who says I don't do requests?" match

Snitsky came out first, as we recapped Snitsky's stalking of Extreme Expose a couple of weeks ago, and Balls Mahoney's saving of Leyla, setting up tonight.  The hairless (non)wonder downed Balls before picking up Mahoney and flinging him stomach first into the corner.  He then put Mahoney in double underhook position and rammed him back first into the corner this time. After Mahoney escaped, Snitsky gave him a clothesline and then the big boot to the face for the quick win.

Thoughts - 2/10 - Nothing to this.  Balls got no offence.  The rams into the corner were pretty cool though.

Getting ready to go...

Punk said that this match was revenge for Wrestlemania and that tonight would be the night that changed the face of the New Breed. Burke came in.  Punk wondered where he had been.  Burke said he was getting ready mentally for the match.  Punk told them to go and get it done.  Nice stalling on giving away the team to this point, by the way.

The Originals def. the New Breed in an "'Atta Boy!" elimination match

After a recap of the 3 main title matches due to take place at Backlash, the Originals music (a.k.a. the ECW theme) kicked in as they came in through the crowd.  Sabu still had a neck brace on, while Sandman & Tommy Dreamer experienced what British beer tasted like.  The New Breed came out with Burke front and centre and Punk distinctly last.

Back from break, each side consulted amongst themselves.  Burke got on a microphone and told Punk that Burke said he wanted a fair fight, so he sent Punk to take a seat at ringside.  Now you may wonder why the arrogant heel would say that he wanted a fair fight, but given how he didn't trust Punk, it made sense.

Burke & Dreamer started it out.  Dreamer got a nice takedown, but Burke elbowed out of it and knocked him down.  Dreamer came back with a couple of scoop slams before tagging in Sabu.  Sabu was then scoop slammed by Dreamer onto Burke.  Sabu quickly tagged in Sandman who hit a leg drop off the top turnbuckle onto Burke, who was propped up in the ropes.  Sandman got a flapjack and went up top once more.  However, he missed the Rolling Rock, Burke rolling him up for the three and the elimination.  As Sandman left, he shouted "Next Week" at someone for some reason...

Sabu and Striker went at it, with Sabu hitting a very nice spike DDT.  RVD took his first tag of the night and monkey-flipped Striker across the ring before going up top.  RVD was distracted by Cor Von, giving Striker the chance to crotch him. RVD quickly recovered with a split-legged moonsault for a cover and an equalling elimination.  Man, it must have been ages since RVD pinned someone with that...

Cor Von jumped RVD from behind right away, but after a couple of minutes of fighting and a crossbody, RVD managed to tag Sabu, who took Cor Von to the mat with drop-toehold followed by a Camel Clutch.  Sabu and Cor Von battled it out, with Cor Von targeting the neck.  Burke came in, for a pin attempt, but tagged right back out to Cor Von.  Marcus hit a nice swinging neckbreaker for 2, but Sabu came back with a springboard leg lariat.  Cor Von caught Sabu off the ropes with The Pounce (and by jiminy cricket, they actually called it "The Pounce"!), sending Sabu crashing into the ropes. Sabu takes good Pounce. Cor Von then picked up the scraps and made a cover for the third elimination.

Dreamer came in as they went to a break.  Back live, Burke was in control of Tommy Dreamer on the floor, although they soon headed back into the ring.  Thorn and Cor Von took turns working on Dreamer's back before Dreamer rolled to the outside for some separation.  Cor Von followed him out and crotched Dreamer across the guardrail. The ref called for the DQ, eliminating the Alpha Male.

The New Breed continued to work Dreamer's back, but Dreamer surprised Thorn with the DDT, for the quick elimination.  However, Elijah picked up the scraps of the work on Dreamer's back, delivering the Elijah Express to Dreamer for the third elimination in three minutes, and bringing things down to the captains of each side.

Burke was dropped with a dropkick, but Burke pulled RVD into the ring post, before doing it again more forcefully. He went for a cover with his feet on the ropes, but the ref caught him, stopping the count.  Burke went to work with a hold targeting RVD's shoulder, before taking him down.  RVD made a comeback with a back drop and a couple of thrust kicks, but Burke raked RVD's eyes.  Burke and RVD battled near the ropes, with Burke kicking RVD while rolling over the ropes to the apron.  However, as the was going for a springboard move, RVD kicked him down to the floor.  RVD then went to jump plancha over the ropes to the floor, but the ref blocked him.  While distracted, Punk stood up from his chair and kicked Burke square in the back.  He then sat back down in his chair like he didn't do anything.  RVD took advantage and nailed Burke with the Five Star to get the win for the Originals.

After the match, Punk got in the ring and stood over Burke.  Punk then picked Burke up and gave him the GTS/Go To Sleep.  Well, that was the idea.  It wasn't a very good one.  But hey, why let that spoil our night?  We got the idea...  Anyway, Punk sarcastically told Burke he was sorry before he left the ring with a grin on his face.

Thoughts - 7.5/10 - Good match here, with everyone getting their turns to do stuff before the main angle of the match happened at the end.  And then, when you contemplated this feud, did you think that in 8-man matches, the Originals would be up 2 to 1?  Not so bad for a bunch of guys due to get fired and/or leave...

OVERALL - 7.5/10 (+/- 0 on last week) - A good show overall tonight, with the focus, once again, being Punk.  What I really like is the delicious way that everything is left rather ambiguous.  We didn't know until the match who would represent the New Breed.  That made things exciting to see how it would go down.  And now, we don't exactly know what the fall out from this will be.  Has Punk left the New Breed again, showing he doesn't need anyone?  Has Burke been "Ortoned" out of the group with Punk taking over as the dastardly leader?  What is the relationship, if any, with the Originals now?  Was it a plan all along to go in, create dissention with the "free thinker" talk and leave again.  Is it a "Long Con" and this is a plan by Punk & Burke to sucker the Originals into a sense of comfort only to devastate them later?  All these unanswered question is why you should want to tune in every week.  And right now, you should be tuning in every week.

Me personally?  I think it’s very much the former, with Punk showing he doesn’t need anyone.  There is now an immediate rumour of them doing Punk vs. Burke at Backlash.  FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON’T DO THE MATCH!!!  They shouldn’t have Punk & Burke face each other one on one until One Night Stand.  Until then, Punk should be put up against the other members of the New Breed, with Burke using them as road-blocks while pretending he does want to face Punk.  Please lord, let it happen that way.  Don’t let them throw away a potentially great match without extensive build!

That’s all I got for now, but if you have something to say about this week’s ECW, you can e-mail me at dedicated e-mail address, or come hunt me down on the WWI Forums!

OR, you can find me along with the rest of the dribbling masses on MY OWN MYSPACE PAGE!

Well, I’ll be back on Friday for Smackdown, but for now, I believe I’ve fulfilled my contractual obligations.  For reading this, and continuing to support World Wrestling Insanity, you’re cooler than the other side of the pillow…

I’m out.