WWE ECW Review - November 3, 2009

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ECW General Manager Tiffany Interrupted ECW Champion Christian

Following his successful title defense against Yoshi Tatsu the week prior, Christian was viciously attacked by William Regal, Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. Regal and Christian had been feuding for months by this point and Christian wanted to get his hands on Regal so he could put their rivalry to rest once and for all. Regal agreed to the title match but wanted it on "his terms" in his native England the next week on ECW. This was a solid segment that set up the rematch between Christian and Regal and segued nicely into Regal's outing against Goldust.

William Regal def. Goldust

With Regal challenging for the ECW Championship the subsequent week, it was only logical for him to score a win here so he could continue building momentum. No one was expecting an instant classic from Regal and Goldust in 2009, but it was perfectly serviceable for as long as it lasted with both men holding their own and Regal picking up the clean victory as he should have. I appreciated that there was no interference from Kozlov and Jackson.

Shelton Benjamin def. Zack Ryder

During a backstage segment before this bout, Rosa Mendes introduced herself to Ryder, but Ryder was way too distracted by her beauty to listen to her. That factored into the finish of this match as well with Mendes serving as the ring announcer and sitting ringside, which resulted in Ryder once again getting distracted and losing to Benjamin. The match itself was decent yet nothing special.

The Hurricane and Paul Burchill Agreed to Face Each Other

For months, Burchill had been accusing The Hurricane and Gregory Helms of being the same person (which they were, obviously), but Hurricane never admitted to it. Burchill finally had enough and challenged Hurricane to a match where if Hurricane lost, he'd had to reveal his true identity, but if Burchill lost, he and his sister Katie Lea would have to leave ECW. This was a good verbal exchange and a fine way to further their feud.

Vance Archer def. Logan Jones

This was Archer's WWE debut. He had the size and look of a future star, but oddly enough, he never really got off the ground. Perhaps that was because he was never given much of a chance to showcase his personality, because from a character standpoint, he was a total bore. Of course, everything worked out for him in the end, as he's now killing it over in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This was a quick squash win for Archer, though the crowd didn't seem to care.

ECW Champion Christian and Yoshi Tatsu def. Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson

​Christian and Tatsu showed no signs of dissension despite facing off one week earlier. Meanwhile, Kozlov and Jackson were on offense for a majority of the match, so they didn't lose much in defeat. This was a well-wrestled albeit fairly formulaic main event that the crowd was into. Despite the babyfaces picking up the victory, Regal and his cronies were the last men standing afterward to give viewers the impression that Regal could potentially become the new ECW Champion.

Overall Show

This was the first-ever WWE show I attended. To be honest, I was really just going for the SmackDown TV taping later in the night, but I was happy to see some of my favorites such as Regal and Christian in person. They packed a lot into the hour, but all of it was largely solid. None of the matches lit the world on fire, but I liked that there was a debut as well as plenty of storyline advancement and build for the next few weeks of TV between Christian vs. Regal and Hurricane vs. Burchill.