The show started off with ECW GM Tiffany congratulating Christian and Shelton Benjamin for putting on an amazing ladder match at TLC, and for making ECW proud. Shelton Benjamin took the opportunity to ask for a rematch for the ECW Title. Christian never got a chance to respond due to the interruption by The Ruthless Roundtable – mostly William Regal, upset of being overlooked for another title shot. And did anyone notice that Kane appeared at the opening of the program, “I’m baaaack…” Well, Tiffany explains why Kane is on ECW: Each week, for four weeks, she will be inviting a former ECW Champion to compete in an ECW Homecoming Tournament. On the fifth week, the winners of these qualifying matches will compete in an eight-man, over the top, showdown to determine Christian’s opponent at The Royal Rumble. The purpose of these matches is for former ECW superstars and current ECW superstars can clash.ECW Contract Match: The Hurricane vs. The Ripper w/The Beautiful Nightmare. Two weeks ago on WWE Superstars, Paul Burchil, or The Ripper, interfered with Hurricane’s match against Zack Ryder. Tiffany issued this contract match to allow Burchill a shot at returning to ECW. The announcers stated that the Hurricane is the fearless protector of ECW, so naturally The Ripper is his arch nemesis. Yet, since returning, Hurricane has feuded with one guy –it’s annoying. For all that is good in this world, let him fight someone else, Batman has more than one foe. The last time Helms-Burchill fought was in a Mask vs. Career match, similar to Jericho-Mysterio’s Mask vs. Title match at The Bash. I mentioned last time that Hurricane resembled more like the villain than Burchill, and this match reinforces my allegations. Hurricane ripped Burchill’s mask off, and used the distraction to go for the pin. Not only was that a dastardly thing to do, but Chris Jericho used that same tactic against Mysterio to retain his title at Extreme Rules 2009. Paul Burchill not only lost the match, but he still remains without a contract. Afterwards, Gregory Helms tried to get a word in edge-wise on Burchill's reaction to losing to the Hurricane, in which he just screamed and walked away. And Helms walked away, the audience can see that he was still wearing the Hurricane costume underneath his sports coat.
ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Vladimir Kozlov. Neither Kozlov nor Jackson are former ECW Champions, so why are they in a qualifying match? I don’t know why people were anticipating this match, because it was terrible. Thankfully, William Regal tripped Kozlov, allowing Jackson to execute the Ura-nage and advance to the finals the week before the Royal Rumble. Looks like Regal has abandoned Kozlov.
Abraham Washington Show: Guest, Maria. Here she comes again with legs that go on for miles, Maria is your Diva of the Year as voted by the fans. Maria is a bit more spunky and assertive, which is what she's been missing since starting in 2004. She cracked jokes at Abe's expense - as everyone does. Not much can be said about it, Maria didn't reveal any plans of becoming a better competitor or pursuit of the Women's Title.
Third Match: Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft vs. Julio Cruz and Jorge Arias. Trent and Caylen were playing the SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 video game, using the Create-a-Character to generate themselves into the video game to face off against DX. Trent and Caylen defeated the simulated DX and then fought Cruz and Arias in the ring. Baretta and Croft finished the match with an inverted atomic drop - looks like a stolen move from Team 3D. The two gamers announced that by next year they will receive a Slammy for Tag Team of the Year. Well, I beg to differ.
ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match: Zack Ryder w/Rosa Mendes vs. Kane. The Big Red Monster Kane knows what it is to be the ECW Champion; and his return to the Land of Extreme is shades of 2007 when ECW's ratings were borderline. Well guess what, the ratings are flat lining again, and here comes Kane to the rescue. It's amazing how on SmackDown, Kane is just another superstar, but on ECW... on ECW he's a real big deal. Zack Ryder had a title match a few months ago, but came up short; and he would like nothing more than to become the ECW Champion with Rosa Mendes by his side. Unfortunately, Ryder didn't win, but fell to Kane's chokeslam.ECW Homecoming Qualified: Ezekiel Jackson and Kane.
Next Week's Guest of Honor: Jack Swagger to take on Yoshi Tatsu.
Other ECW News: Savannah is currently acting as in-ring announcer.
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