ECW is working!

Lately ECW guys has been featuring more and more on RAW and I must say its been a breath of fresh air, firstly John Morrison and The Miz have added much needed quality to a tedious tag team division, and while its unlikely they will win the titles they have at least given CrymeTyme some much needed air time without over doing the obvious feud that looked like was brewing with Priceless.

Even Bourne has taken to the WWE like a duck to water and there is an obvious reason why, they have allowed him to be pretty much himself with his style and the character he is portraying, for far to long many who have looked and sounded good in the indies have came to Titan Towers and simply been made to change the style that got them promoted to the WWE in the first place, Scotty Goldman being the obvious current wrestler who is nowhere near as entertaining as he could be with his Cabana character.

Morrison Miz and Bourne have given RAW a much needed boost in terms of enjoyability to matches they have also given other guys who share the ring with them a much needed kick up the backside and I thought JTG performed very well the other night against Miz which can only be good for the all round flow of the show.

ECW for a long time was getting heat a plenty from many within the IWC and while I could agree with most of it with having Big Daddy V v Boogyman as main event some weeks it was never a project that could simply turn into gold overnight.

Looking back in the past year, I thought they played a masterclass with giving Chavo the title, he played a good old fashioned heel champ an 80s champ you could say, it allowed the younger guys in the business to see how it could still be done if done properly and while the WWE may not use that style again I do feel it was a rout well worth exploring, I found it enjoyable, also this push that Kane has found himself in and doing well in, in my opinion, all started when he was given the chance to win the battle royal then win the ECW title at WrestleMania, and I believe that since then Kane has produced his best spell in the business in four years.

CM Punk is a guy I was never really over on, I never got the fuss, however I did manage to get round to watching his Ring Of Honour stuff and the entire 'Summer Of Punk' which he did in 2005 and it showed me the great potential he has, I thought he was starting to fulfill that potential as World Heavyweight Champion until his shoddy ending in that role, while I have no problem with him dropping the title there was a better way of doing so and one that could have made his title reign be remembered for all the right reasons.

Kofi Kingston is another who hasn't been in the WWE scene long yet has already made it to RAW from ECW, and while he has kinda stalled I believe that has more to do with the lack of any real interest in story progression in the mid card division than anything he has done, I find his in ring work enjoyable and he is also very competent with his promo skills.

On the whole I think Vinny Mac has once again been proven right and his decision to completely change ECW from the format it became famous for and use it to give guys a proper chance has been successful, again while not exactly swimming in glory I do believe that while it has taken time it has now been proven to be a successful formula

Part of the problem when ECW was revived was that it was called 'ECW'. Everyone was exepcting the original ECW, with a bigger budget, good TV deal. Then Vince brought in the likes of Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Sabu and the other originals, switched RVD, made him the ECW Champion with a victory over Cena (which was a big deal at the time, as Cena was still in his Superman phase), and everyone expected ECW to be as it was before.

It took a while for everyone to realise that the ECW Vince had in mind was much, much different to the one Paul Heyman created that changed professional wrestling in America. Then giving the title to Big Show, then Lashley, then Vince himself really pissed off the originals, Heyman had long quit, and it was always going to be a bit of a struggle for ECW to get a 'new' identity. Ratings were down and occasionally being beaten by Impact, the December to Dismember PPV was a disaster, both in buy-rate and creatively...

Dusty Rhodes took over ECW when Heyman walked / got fired (depending on what you read). His masterstroke was giving the strap to the revamped John Morrison; Morrison had been in WWE in a couple of guises for a few years, had come through the system via Tough Enough, had had a run as IC champ. The feud between Morrison and Punk really brought the brand to life, the match in which Punk took the title was an excellent match, the pop he got at the end was huge - but who knows what would have happened if Morrison hadn't been caught buying steroids off the internet... Chris Benoit had just been drafted to ECW too, I think he was slated for the Chavo role before Chavo got it, I still think he was due a heel turn and a feud with Punk before he went all murderous...

Giving the title to Kane gave the belt back some prestige, a recognised upper mid-carder who has never been afraid to put over the new talent made the belt worth something again, MArk Henry as title holder was a political move (in the event of a lawsuit after the racism row with Michael Hayes, putting a strap on Henry for the first time in years was a bit too obvious), but I'm glad Matt Hardy is being given a run - he's a good enogh worker to show the likes of Evan Bourne, Ricky Ortiz (who I'm really starting to rate), Miz, even Morrison how to work a match, WWE style.

I wonder whether the brand would have established itself quicker if it had been WCW that was reborn, rather than ECW...

I agree with pretty much everything you have said. Although RAW has been a little boring in terms of storylines since Unforgiven, most of the matches have been great especially the ones including the ECW superstars.

Miz and Morrison vs Rey and Bourne is the match of the month for me so far. I wouldn't go as far to say it is a contender for match of the year, but it is certainly one of if not the best tag team match of the year along with the surprisingly entertaining Cryme Tyme vs Priceless match at Unforgiven.

Miz and Morrison have really impressed me this year. Miz has improved immensley this year on the mic and in the ring. His finisher looks really good and he has perfected all the moves he performs. Morrison has always shown great potential and although he has hasn't done much this year apart from winning the WWE Tag Team titles, his in ring skills has also improved and he has added a few more moves to his arsenal.

Evan Bourne for me has to be in contention for Newcomer of The Year. His moveset is great and his Shooting Star Press is awesome. His Flying Hurricarana is also very impressive. With the help of Mysterio, he has managed to get over on the supposedly flagship show RAW and although his mic skills aren't the best, there is still plenty of time to improve.

Kofi Kingston has also been great this year. I'm glad WWE gave him a few wins when he first started and I enjoyed his mini feud with Shelton on ECW earlier this year. His mic skills are better than average and his in ring skills are also great. His IC title reign was too short for my liking but he had some good matches while he was holding the strap. I can see him moving to Smackdown next year and winning the US title.

CM Punk has been the most impressive ECW man this year, in my opinion. Although his moveset needs to be improved a little (it is mainly knees and kicks, along with the occasional bulldog), it is still more exciting than most superstar's. His mic skills are up there with the best of them and like Kofi, his title reign was too short for me, although it was a refreshing change to see a smaller and relatively less known guy win the world title and I hope to see him wear the belt again soon.
Punk and Bourne have also made me decide to give other indy promotions a chance. I have already started to watch a little bit of ROH and from what I've seen, the matches there are great!

morrison and miz should be given the tag titles AND be allowed to make a memorable reign.

they wer SD tag champs for 8 months and can anyone remember a feud they had with anyone? didnt think so. they were massivly under used.

if they cant use morrison in the tag division well, they NEED to bump him up to mid-main event level because he can pull it off more than capably

wow ...the point about ecw been reborn as wcw is a good one. it would have made more sense as the word ECW doesnt really apply anymore. but then again....wcw was pretty huge...so it might be belittling what was once a massive product!