LAST WEEK ON ECW:  Armando Estrada flew Lashley-Air back to the US, Burke realised he boo-booed and CM Punk apologised, although that was probably for the execution of his finisher…

THIS WEEK…

When you're injured, all you have left is your promo ability.  Now...please welcome Bobby Lashley...

After a freeze-frame recap of Vince McMahon's ECW Title win at Backlash, and the opening credits, this week's show kicked off with the former champion, Bobby Lashley, who while belt-less, was wearing a new piece of merchandise.  Styles & Taz(z) put across that Lashley's rotator cuff was hurt.  Bobby didn't look happy.  Bobby said that Vince got his revenge, but that outside the McMahon family, no-one was happy about it.  Lashley said he would make it better.  He'd give Vince a big ol' beating.  He said he didn't care that he was injured, he wanted his rematch there and then.

This brought out Armando Estrada, who was confined to a wheelchair (although he had to wheel himself out, poor sod...).  Arrrrrrmando said that Bobby wasn't going to be allowed to ruin Vince's special night, and that while he would get his rematch, it wouldn't be now or any time during the night.  And indeed, it had been decreed that Lashley couldn't touch Umaga, Shane or Vince unless physically provoked.  Lashley got out of the ring, and asked Armando to repeat that list.  Armando began to hit his "My name is..." bit when he realised that he had been set up, and his name wasn't on the list.  And indeed, Lashley had figured it out before him, as he took Estrada and rolled him into the ring steps.  Maybe not the beating Armando could have taken, but you get to a point where you're beating up a guy in a neck brace and a wheelchair...  Not a bad bit here, as it established the delaying tactic while Lashley's shoulder healed up, and brought some interest, because you know that Lashley's going to come damn close, if not actually touch one of those three guys.

Captaining a sinking ship...

Backstage, Elijah Burke was with the New Breed.  He talked about how Punk had set them all up, turning his back on the group.  However, the others didn't seem overly invested, as Marcus Cor Von was more interested in warming up, while Thorn just started and Striker looked at the others.

CM Punk def. Kevin Thorn in a "Part one of a great plan comes to pass..." match

Punk came out first, accompanied by a replay of what happened at the end of last week.  The New Breed came out en masse, headed y Burke.  Elijah said that Punk used Burke & The New Breed, so tonight, he would be fighting...Kevin Thorn.  Thorn walked towards the ring.  See, Burke's picking them, and he's picking himself last, despite the bluster of wanting Punk.

Thorn got the best of the early offence, by being all over CM Punk in the corner., before pounding away on Punk's chest before locking in a chinlock.  Punk got out of it though, but Thorn caught a crossbody, slamming Punk on the mat.  However, Thorn missed Punk in the corner.  Punk hit his slaps & Kick combo, with the kick bouncing Thorn off the ropes.  As Thorn came back, Punk picked him up and hit the GTS/Go To Sleep (I'll pick one when they pick one)  for the quick win!

Burke held back the other two and ordered them to the back without Thorn.

Thoughts - 4/10 - Erm...Not much to this.  It wasn't badly done though.  Suffice to say, Burke is putting his troops before him as I prophesised, ahead of One Night Stand at the top of June.

All that hard work wwe.com does to get exclusives...only to have them stolen and put on TV.

Joey & Taz(z) sent it to a compilation of the videos promos that the Originals did in the wake of Vince McMahon's ECW Title win.  Sandman said it made him want to puke.  RVD said it was Vince's way of saying "I won".  Won what?  the battle for survival against ECW?  Maybe he shouldn't have put in a ton of money.  He'd have won quicker and been richer at the same time...  Tommy said that he broke various parts of his body and met his wife (and had her kids) because of ECW, and now it was dead.  If it was truly dead, you'd think that Dreamer wouldn't be at the ECW show...

First, they ruined Timbaland.  Now they try to ruin food for me as well...

Damn it.  Why couldn't ECW stay in Europe, since it meant no Extreme Expose?  Suffice to say, they danced to "Cherry Pie" by Warrant.  Suffice to say, they tried using Whipped cream for added sexiness.  It didn't work.  Next!

You know it's bad when the vampire of the group quits.  There's a sentence I didn't think I'd ever write again...

Burke, Striker & Cor Von were in discussion when Kevin Thorn joined them.  He wanted to know where they were for his match against Punk.  Burke rounded on Thorn saying it was his fault for losing and that Ariel could have beaten him.  Thorn then quit on the spot.  Joey & Taz(z) pondered if the New Breed was falling apart.

And the thievery continues...

Joey & Taz(z) then gave us more of the wwe.com promos from the Originals.  Sandman said he was a five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time champion (well, he only said it once, but I couldn't resist) and that it was touch to win it, it was harder to keep it.  Not for Vince, me thinks.  Sabu cut the best promo of his career by saying nothing and throwing stuff around.  Tommy said he didn't know what to believe in any more, while RVD said it was a day of loss of the old ECW spirit.

The Major Brothers def. Matt Striker & Marcus Cor Von in an "A Major upset...What a pun!  Words are my bitch!" match

After a Snitsky video, and the promise that he wasn't on the show, Matt Striker's music played as he and  Marcus Cor Von came out.  The Major Brothers (Brett & Brian) were already in the ring.  And boy, if and when they turn heel, switching around is going to work brilliantly for them.  They would also be the first people to benefit from the DSW closure with a call up.  And I suppose this means we are starting the road to an ECW tag division.

Striker & one of the Majors worked each other's arms to start with, but Striker got the better of it before the Major got an arm drag on Striker before tagging in the other brother.  I can't give you names, because as with any supposed jobber team, Joey & Taz(z) didn't bother to tell us which was which (although that's going to be just as much a bitch for them as for me).

Striker came back and tagged in Cor Von.  and while the Majors brother got a shot on Marcus, he was pulled out the ring before he was pounded on.  Back in the ring, Cor Von hit a lovely press slam-into-a fall away slam for 2.  Cor Von hit a nice bodyslam before locking in a chinlock.  Cor Von missed a big corner charge, allowing the hot tag between the brothers.  Striker also got the tag, but found himself on the wrong end of the fresh brother's offence, as he was knocked down a few times before taking a flapjack for 2.  Cor Von dumped one of them, but Striker was almost caught by a near fall from a sunset flip.  But then, Striker was caught by a turnaround cross body out of the corner for the three count!

Burke's eyes almost popped out of his head.  As Striker left the ring, Burke screamed at him.  Striker tried to say it was a fast count, but Burke told Striker that he was disgusted with him.  However, unless Kevin Thorn, Matt Striker seemingly had no balls, so he stood there and took the stream of abuse.  He walked back with his head hung low.

Thoughts - 5.5/10 - Not a bad match at all.  Nice stuff.  Personally, I liked how the announcers treated the Major Brothers as if they were the usual "$500 a night" jobbers, but not talking them up, and thus not giving away that they are going to be part of the roster from now on (assuming that they are, of course), and thus making the win more of a shock. 

For some a party.  For the closed minded, a funeral.

After another Condemned promo, Vince came out and walked to the ring.  And bizarrely, the "rod up the ass" style of gait was out and the "My left leg's gone to sleep" look was in.  Meanwhile, he was still wearing the doo-rag that he callously stole from Gregory Helms's bag.  Vince said that there weren't many things he regretted but what he was about to do might be something he'd regret  At this point, I would do a whole joke about Vince should be regretting, but due to the fact they had the advantage of being live, the good people of the WWI forums got to be WAY ahead of me in that regard, so I bow to them.

Anyway, he said, he said that he was going to expose himself.  Don't worry, Big Vince didn't drop trou and whip out Lil' Vince.  No, he simply unbuttoned his jacket to reveal the ECW belt.  He asked what the crowd thought of the new ECW Champ.  He said that Bobby Lashley said some nasty things about him, and that while he would defend the title, he'd choose where and when.  He then brought up the ECW Originals, calling them out to the ring, if they had the guts...

The Originals came out and lined up in front of Vince.  He started with RVD.  He asked what he had to say.  RVD said that he killed ECW and was making a mockery of it.  He also said that Vince had no idea what it was like to be ECW Champion.  Sabu continued his great streak of promos by once again saying bugger all.  He moved onto Sandman, asking him what the smell was.  Sandman held up three fingers and told him to read between the lines?  Duh?  Is he referring to the 2 gaps between his three fingers?  Did Sandman go twosies in his pants again?  Weird.  Last but not least was former (and probably future) assistant WWE talent relations guy, Tommy Dreamer.  Tommy said that the fans wanted ECW back, not Vince, and that while Vince's name might be on his pay check, it's the fans who put the money into those coffers.  Tommy said the fans knew what the spirit of EC-Dub was all about.

Vince wondered which one had the guts to take him on.  They all wanted a shot.  He teased giving each one a shot, before seemingly settling on RVD.  But he said he had an idea.  He said that who ever wanted to compete with him next week could battle it out there and then in a match between the four of them.  He called for a referee.  But before the bell was rung, Vince said that in his own vision, it would be Extreme Rules match, calling for "the crap" to be brought out, as stage hands brought out tables and all kinds of stuff, including a cement mixer.  Do you think that was a shot at TNA pointlessly will up their Street fights with themed props?

You know, after that segment, I think I'd rather see Tommy Dreamer get the final shot at Vince, rather than RVD...

Rob Van Dam def. The Sandman, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer in a "That match isn't happening" Extreme Rules match to become Number One Contender

After a break, the bell sounded as Vince sat at ringside.  Sabu went for a quick roll-up but it didn't work.  Sandman tried a backslide on Sabu, but that didn't work either.  Sabu got a sunset flip, but RVD pulled Sabu away.  RVD & Sabu went outside as Dreamer came off the ropes with a diving clothesline.  RVD started loading up the plunder in the ring before hitting Dreamer with a chair  RVD & Sabu hit a Rolling Thunder/leg-drop on Dreamer.  RVD set himself to help Sabu hit Air Sabu, but Sabu instead chose to legdrop RVD!  Dreamer hit Sandman with a trash can before clotheslining him over the top to the floor.  On the outside, Sandman blocked a suplex and positioned Dreamer across the guard rail.  RVD baseball slid Sandman from the side of the ring, and while RVD posed, possibly going to drop the leg on the prone Dreamer, Sabu hit a double jump crossbody to RVD's back, knocking him from the apron!

Back in the ring, Sandman hit a running bulldog onto a trash can for 2.  Sandman went up top, but Dreamer hit him in the back with the same can.  Dreamer went for a chair, which Vince gave him.  Sandman was tied in the Tree Of Woe, where Dreamer placed the chair in front of his face and hit the dropkick to it.  However, he turned right around into a chairshot from Sabu, who followed up with an Arabian Facebuster.  Sabu then thought RVD was going to help him hit the elevated leg drop onto Dreamer, but RVD, in payback for earlier, instead gave Sabu a backdrop suplex for 2.

RVD hit the skateboard slide on Sabu, but ran into Dreamer who hit a lovely piledriver.  RVD takes good piledriver.  However, Sandman whacked Dreamer with the Singapore Cane.  Sabu threw a chair in Sandman's face, before hitting the Triple Jump Moonsault for 2.  Sabu went outside and got himself a table.  He put Sandman on the table and went up top, but Dreamer caught him and hit superplex through Sandman through the table, drawing an "Oh My God!" from Joey.  This let in RVD, who went up top and hit the Five Star on Sandman for the win.

Joey said that he would pay money for his seat to see RVD vs. Vince next week.  Something tells me that you’ll end up having to Joey.  RVD & Vince stared at each other from afar as the show ended.

Thoughts - 7/10 - this was a fun match, with excellent drama.  It was nice that they didn't ask any quarter and none was given, although they didn't even hint at turning on each other permanently.  Good stuff all round here.

OVERALL - 6.5/10 (- 1 on last week) - A pretty good show this week, although maybe a notch down on previous efforts.  I don't know about anyone else, but while I fully expect that Vince & RVD will have some sort of bait & switch involved (and it's just occurred to me that Vince never said next week's match would be for the title) which will save the match for PPV, if this is to end with an Original winning the title and redeeming the old ECW spirit, based on tonight's showing, I'd rather it were Tommy Dreamer who ended up with it, not RVD.  Not that I don't like RVD or think that they'd be wasting their time on a guy likely to leave in a few months, but simply because I now think/realise Tommy winning it would make for the far superior story.

As for the CM Punk/New Breed thing, obviously an element of what I had in mind last week has come to pass, since Burke was all piss and vinegar about getting revenge on Punk, but when it came to it, he tossed a lamb to the slaughter.  I suspect it'll happen again next week (probably with Striker on tonight's evidence) and then the following week with Cor Von, leaving Burke on his own when the match with CM Punk finally happens.  Very interesting development there, although I would have held off on the Striker baiting for a week or so.  Firstly because we've got a full month before ONS happens and also, to sell the idea that Thorn is a big loss, as it telegraphed that the next guy was going to go.  But all in all, another fine example of episodic wrestling television, in my opinion.

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.