Welcome one and all to the place where we put the ‘Flashback Friday‘ into Flashback Friday as we leap through the WWE Network in a seemingly random order covering show by show and pay per view by pay per view.

Last week we went Extreme when we covered an ECW pay per view. Ths week the voting public, 36% of it anyway, has sent me back to the land of Extreme.

Sort of.

In 2001, the version of ECW that we covered went bankrupt. Through various business buzzwords WWE purchased the assets of ECW in 2003. In 2006 WWE launched their version of ECW. The gritty graphics of the old ECW was replaced by WWE’s shiny HD. The bad language and the blood soaked violence was gone too.

What remained was an early version of what NXT is today. The roster was a mix of low ranked established WWE roster members and upcoming graduates of the developmental system.

But was it any good?

To find out we have to watch and review it. Which leads us to……

WWECW #163
July 21, 2009

Following the opening titles, we start with a match.

William Regal vs Yoshi Tatsu

Regal has a mike. Regal tells Yoshi that he despises all foreigners. (Yes a guy from the UK said that to a guy from Japan in the US in 2009) Tatsu fires a Roundhouse Kick at Regal but he narrowly avoids it. Regal turns a Collar and Elbow Tie-up into an Arm Wringer but Tatsu backflips his way into reversing it into one of his own. Regal forward rolls a reversal as does Tatsu. Regal turns another Collar And Elbow into a knee to the gut and an Uppercut. Tatsu fires back with a Chop and a Headlock that Regal sends off the ropes. Both men Shoulder Block each other but nobody moves. A Second Shoulder Bock attempt by Tatsu ends in a Left Hand from Regal. Regal continues with knees to the chest sending Tatsu to the corner where Tatsu tries to fight his way out but a Series of Forearms keeps Tatsu in the corner before a Kick and an Uppercut knock Tatsu down. Regal applies a Full Nelson but Tatsu quickly breaks out of it and hits Regal with a Knee but Regal catches Tatsu with a huge Exploder Suplex that gets a Two. Regal applies and wrenches on a Catch Hold. Tatsu eventually powers his way out of it but is caught by a Butterfly Suplex for a two. Regal wears down Tatsu with a Chinlock/Tazmission hybrid while we watch a replay of the Butterfly Suplex. Tatsu fights out with elbows and a jumping Roundhouse Kick to the temple. They have an Uppercutt vs Chop fight and Chop/Tatsu wins before a series of Roundhouse Kicks and a sort of Forward Roll into a Kick to the shoulders kind of move that I should know the name of. Tatsu climbs to the top turnbuckle but a nudge by Regal knocks Tatsu down to the canvas. Regal pulls down his knee pad and goes for the Knee Trembler (running exposed knee to the skull) Tatsu avoids it and hits a Roundhouse Kick to Regal’s head for the three count.

Winner: Yoshi Tatsu

Commentary tell us that opponents at this Sunday’s Night Of Champions, Tommy Dreamer and Christian, will be on the Abraham Washington Show later.

Ezekiel Jackson vs Mike Williams

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I talking about enhancement talent? It’s infrequent but it still happens. Here’s one now with Mike Williams. Guess who wins?

Zeke starts with a Big Boot that nearly wipes out Williams and follows that with a Clothesline that does the same. A standing Rock Bottom and we’re done. Well, Williams is. Post match, Vladimir Kozlov walks to the ring, stares at Zeke hits a Spinebuster to poor Williams and leaves.

Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

In a segment called ‘Ask The Divas‘ Eve Torres tells us that she works with muscular men every day so she looks for a man who is more normal looking, but he needs to be athletic. Maria says it’s not about looks but how a man treats her.

Shelton Benjamin vs Goldust

Shelton knees his way out of a Collar And Elbow and slams a forearm into the back of Goldust and jabs a Forearm in his face. Shelton shoots Goldust off the ropes but he Goldust reverses it. Goldust ducks for a Back Drop but Shelton leaps over him and pushes Goldust off the ropes only to be Clotheslined by the rebounding Goldust. After a couple of jabs, Goldust sends Shelton off the ropes and catches him with a Rear View. Goldust then Irish Whips Shelton into the corner and catches him with a running shoulder to the gut and a series of rights. Shelton catches a charging Goldust with a Snake Eyes and a Neckbreaker for a two count before unloading with punches and knees. A short arm Clothesline gets a two count for Shelton before he applies a Neck Crank in an attempt to wear down Goldust. Goldust fights out of it with punches and an Irish Whip but again a charging Goldust is thwarted this time with an Elbow. Shelton charges at a groggy Goldust but is caught with a snap Powerslam. Shelton reverses an Irish Whip off the ropes but bends too far and is kicked in the face by Goldust who follows up this assault with an Inverted Atomic Drop and a Bulldog that gets him a two. Goldust gets the same result from a Legdrop. Shelton then eats some punches from Goldust before catching Goldust with a modified Neckbreaker for a two. Goldust catches a flying Shelton with an Uppercutt for another two count. Shelton catches Goldust and leaps over the top rope dropping Goldust throat first on the rope before sliding back into the ring and catching a dazed Goldust with the match winning Paydirt.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin

We see Sheamus. He says that ECW maybe used to an Irishman (Finlay) running around with a Leprechaun (Hornswoggle) but those days are gone. He tells us the children he sees dancing in the crowd will see their heroes fall to The Celtic Warrior

We get a plug for Night Of Champions which is happening this weekend. It features Randy Orton vs Triple H vs John Cena in a Triple Threat Match, CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy and Ted Dibiase Jnr & Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho & A Mystery Partner. Should be good.

Gregory Helms is backstage with Paul Burchill and his sister Katie. Paul says that his opponent tonight doesn’t concern him. He gets distracted by then noise of a passing Goldust’s tourettes. He tells Goldust he’s sick of people like Goldust coming to ECW and thinking they can do what they want. Goldust has a twitch that ends in Goldust accidentally slapping Paul in the face. Paul goes after him but Katie stops him and tells him to focus on his match. Paul heads to the ring, Katie watches him go.

Tyler Reks vs Paul Burchill

This is Tyler’s ECW debut apparently. Burchill turns a Collar and Elbow Tie-up into a Chinlock briefly before Clotheslining Tyler in the face. Burchill catches Tyler’s foot to block a kick to the face but Tyler ducks a Clothesline and hits Burchill with a Flying Clothesline before ramming Burchill’s face into the turbuckle. Burchill catches a charging Tyler with a Back Elbow but Tyler catches him with a Back Drop. Katie distracts Tyler by pulling on his ankle allowing Burchill to knee him in the back sending him into the corner before hitting a Short Arm Clothesline. Burchill slows things down with a Chinlock. Tyler fights out of it but gets Irish Whipped into the corner but he catches a charging Burchill with a Back Elbow of his own.

A second rope Cross Body gets Tyler a two but Burchill catches him with a Samoan Drop that gets him a two of his own. Burchill hits some Crossface Clotheslines before going back to the Chinlock. Tyler tries fighting out of it but Burchill slams him to the mat and catches him with a Kick to the chest, a Snapmare and a Knee Drop which gets a two. Back to the Chinlock. Tyler powers his way out of it and he and Burchill exchange punches. Tyler wins that and Irish Whips Burchill off the ropes, Burchill reverses it but the rebounding Tyler strikes with a Right Hand to the gut and hits Burchill with a Flapjack and a Springboard Dropkick that gets him a two. As both men get to their feet, Burchill heaves Tyler up and over with a huge Side Suplex which gets a two count. Burchill then charges at Tyler with a sort of Shoulder Block/Spear but Tyler rolls him up with a School Boy and gets the three.

Winner: Tyler Reks

Abraham Washington is out to host The Abraham Washington Show. This is a sort of spoof/Rip off from all the Late Shows on TV with Jay Leno, Conan O’Brian, David Letterman and a ton of others. WCW tried this years ago too with Eric Bischoff as host.

He says that he was not on last week’s show and got emails. So tonight he’s back with a bigger and better show with not one but TWO main event level superstars on the show. First he brings out ‘My Dawg‘ Christian. Following Christian is a man that has been on before but Abraham suspects keeps coming back for the buffet in the green room. Abraham says he may not be back on the show as Abraham can’t afford the man’s eating habits: The ECW Champion, Tommy Dreamer.

Abraham calls Dreamer fat and tells Christian he has a face for radio so Christian tells him that his jokes haven’t been original since 1991. Christian says he and Dreamer are friends and sometimes tag team partners. He says that when he first came to ECW he wanted to win the ECW Title and he did just that, this Sunday he’ll win it again.

Dreamer reminds Christian that the reason he’s a former ECW Champion is because Dreamer beat him. Abraham suggests to Dreamer that the reason Dreamer is looking forward to going to Philadelphia not because of his ECW roots but because he wants to stuff his big fat face with cheese steaks.

Dreamer says he’s had enough of Abraham’s jokes. He has great pride about returning to Philadelphia as ECW Champion. Christian tells Dreamer that if Dreamer wins, don’t cry. Dreamer tells Christian that to joke like that to him is a slap in the face, which is what Christian then does. Dreamer then slaps Christian in the face. Abraham tells them to save it for Sunday while Dreamer and Christian exchange words off mike as we fade out.

Post Show: This was an odd show. There was nothing that was ‘go out of your way to see it’ good or ‘avoid like plague’ bad. It was a show that reminds you that when someone like WWE is putting out 52 episodes of Raw, 52 of Smackdown and 52 of ECW, not every show is a classic. This was a very meh show.

Match Of The Night: Shelton Benjamin vs Goldust. Like the show there was nothing that stood out on this show as being amazing. I’ve picked the Goldust one but it could have been Regal’s match or Paul Burchill’s. None stood out.

MVP: Abraham Washington. He’s like Byron Saxon filled with charisma. OK so his material was mainly fat jokes but the charisma was off the charts.

Rating: 5/10 Middle.

With that, I’m done. I’m off now to have some minor surgery done so I won’t be here next week but I shall return the following week. In the meantime I can be found on Twitter @Callaweasy2220 where I live tweet Raw, Smackdown, NXT and, when applicable, PPV and post random screenshotted pictures of whatever show I’m reviewing.

As always there is a vote going for upcoming episodes over @theCHAIRSHOTcom so go there and vote.. A recent one was so close that next time around YOU could be the deciding vote.

A blue hue is surrounding me which usually means my next leap is imminent so all that’s left is to say #UseYourHead and ALWAYS have an Angle!

“Pick A Winner, I’ll buy you dinner’.

Oh Boy.