WWE ECW Review - June 30, 2009

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Yoshi Tatsu def. Shelton Benjamin

This was Tatsu's official debut on WWE TV as well as Benjamin's first bout back on ECW in over a year. Tatsu was one of the few wrestlers that was introduced on the ECW brand as part of then-general manager Tiffany's New Superstar Initiative and he made an immediate impact by beating Benjamin in his debut. This wasn't much of a match at all, as Benjamin spent most of it mocking Tatsu's Japanese mannerisms, but it was a big win for Tatsu, nonetheless.

Abraham Washington Hosted The Abraham Washington Show with The Bella Twins

Good lord, I vividly remember The Abraham Washington Show and how horrible it was. Props to Washington for attempting to make the most of what he was given, but he was incredibly annoying more often than not and I can't recall a single installment that got anyone over. Hell, look no farther than this segment for proof. Washington interrogated Brie and Nikki the entire time about who was the smarter one of the two as well as who had their first kiss first and nonsense like that. In other words, it was a complete waste of time.

Sheamus def. Oliver John

Similar to Tatsu, Washington and Tyler Reks (who appeared in a backstage segment with Zack Ryder), this was also Sheamus' first night on ECW. He took on a local athlete and decimated him with ease. This might have been the only time that he used the Irish Curse backbreaker as his finisher and the Brogue Kick as a set-up move. That ended up being switched around fairly quickly. I can't say I'm surprised WWE had him cut a promo in Irish beforehand just to generate heat, but once the bell rang, he looked like a total star.

Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal def. ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer and Christian

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bored for a majority of this match. They picked up the pace down the stretch, but the early goings were dull as hell. I fully expected Dreamer and Christian to go over because I remember that they faced off for the title for the ECW Championship at Night of Champions for a few weeks later, so Kozlov pinning Dreamer for the win here was a pleasant surprise. Granted, Kozlov never ended up getting over as the monster heel WWE desperately wanted him to be, but at least the effort was there. Plus, Regal teasing tension with Kozlov afterward was interesting.

Overall Show

ECW lost a lot of its top names at the time to Raw and SmackDown from the grand talent trade that took place the night prior, so it was only necessary that new names were called up from FCW and other underutilized wrestlers were brought in from Raw and SmackDown. The hard reset for ECW wasn't enough to save, mind you (it was too late for that), but I liked how many fresh faces were shown on this episode. Tatsu picked up a huge win on his first night, Sheamus arrived with a bang, and the main event was solid. Only The Abraham Washington Show I thought was downright deplorable.