William Regal's Second Chance; Shelton Benjamin turns Face?

The ECW Title match at SummerSlam was tragically cut short in a record-breaking 8 seconds, because WWE were running out of time and needed to free up for the final two World Title Matches. It was a disgrace to have a squash match for the brand's title, but that's how the WWE handles things. In all honesty, WWE could have done without the Khali-Kane match and have put on a decent ECW match.

At the start of the program, William Regal entered the ring with Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. He went on about how the WWE Universe could not fathom the idea of Kozlov and Jackson joining forces seeing as they have been one-uping each other for months. Well... if you would kindly take a look at this previous article (WWE Should Develop II) I mention how the dynamic that Kozlov and Jackson share is an inevitable formation. What I will admit to, is that I did not know it would be William Regal that would lead them. It's not like William Regal is stronger. If Kozlov and Jackson wanted to, they could obliterate Regal from existence.

Christian entered the ring, still the ECW Champion, and started belittling Regal by calling him Bill. Is this really the best that Christian can do? He even got inside Regal's head by repeating 8-seconds! - The time it took to beat William Regal to retain his ECW Title. In all reality, Christian struck Regal before taking off his robe, so he cheated for the split second win.

Before Christian could say good-bye to Regal as a challenger, the vivacious ECW GM Tiffany declared that Christian did take the easy way out, but if Regal wants another title shot he would have to earn it by defeating Christian in a non-title match.

The ECW main event after a pay-per-view is usually better than the previous one - Don't believe me? Then compare Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer at Night of Champions against Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer (Extreme Rules Match) the following ECW. You know I'm right.

The referee had his hands full trying to keep Kozlov and Jackson from interfering while calling the match. The two did manage to protect Regal from any outside high flying maneuver on the part of Christian. But it was not until Christian took a cheap shot and slapped Kozlov - who was doing nothing - that things turned ugly.

The referee's back was turned, occupied with Jackson, when Christian went for the Killswitch. Yet, Regal managed to shove Christian to the ropes where he met a nasty headbutt on the part of The Moscow Mauler. Thus, allowing Regal to go for the Knee Trembler and ending the match as the #1 Contender for the ECW Championship.

Side Note: The Knee Trembler seems like a diluted version to Orton's punt to the head.

In other ECW news, Shelton Benjamin is once again in ECW finally going through a face turn. Apparently, WWE thinks they can accomplish the turn with Shelton singing. In a vignette, Shelton Benjamin is seen imitating Louis Armstrong, requested by the Bella Twins. He was actually dead on in the impression. But is Benjamin's new gimmick going to be a Karaoke Superstar?

The segment was interrupted by Zack Ryder, who the Bellas cannot stand, and got in Benjamin's face. Shelton, a few weeks back, embarrassed Ryder by beating him in a match; however, this week, Tiffany teamed Benjamin with Ryder against the team of Yoshi Tatsu and Tyler Reks.

Benjamin started the match going toe-to-toe with Surfer Tyler Reks. Reks is really not impressive, his gimmick is bland and his most impressive maneuver is a missile drop kick.

As Benjamin tried to tag in his tag team partner, Ryder was busy adjusting his knee pad. Reks tried to get the roll-up but Shelton powered out.

Ryder tried to capitalize on the opportunity when Reks was down, with a blind tag. But Reks able to kick out of quick covers, Ryder tagged Benjamin back in.

It wasn't until Yoshi Tatsu tagged in, that Ryder also wanted in. If you recall, Ryder pinned Tatsu in one-on-one action, hoping to have the same result he rushed into the ring. But his biggest mistake was sending Tatsu into Benjamin before he could get out. This distraction allowed Tatsu to pick his spot and countered the Zack Attack and struck with the Roundhouse Kick to pick up the win.

Benjamin, still upset at what Ryder did, entered the ring over a defeated Zack Ryder and executed Paydirt.

Is Shelton Benjamin really turning Face, or is the feud with Zack Ryder just a collision of egos?

More ECW News: Tonight on WWE Superstars - The Hurricane goes up against Paul Burchill. Will the masked crusader foil Burchill again, or will Burchill do away with the green vigilante?