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Tonight's program opens & closes with a replay of the
explosion that allegedly killed WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
at the end of Raw. A closer examination of the roster backstage
shows that Armando Alejandro Estrada, who hasn't been used
much lately, was standing behind Dan Rodman, perhaps a hint
of things to come. Joey Styles & Tazz are standing in
front of the ring to queue up the footage at the top of
the show, after a clip of the WWE flag flying at half-mast
earlier in the day. The matches on tonight's show, and presumably
also on Smackdown, will be dedicated to the "memory
of Mr. McMahon". There's also a 10-bell salute.
Tommy Dreamer vs. Balls Mahoney. Two old
friends hook it up to open the action. It's under extreme
rules, so we're going old school. Trash cans, chairs, tables,
and even a plastic kitchen sink come into play. Too bad
the match was so short, although it was nice to see Mahoney
rebound after getting squashed in under a minute by Umaga
last night. Dreamer sets up a table about halfway. Mahoney
puts Dreamer's head on the table, but misses a legdrop and
goes through the wood himself. Dreamer with the Evenflow
DDT. Winner: Tommy Dreamer.
Boogeyman vs. Matt Striker. Striker gets
no entrance. He keeps pointing to the sky to sell the theme
of the night. It's Boogey's ECW debut, and Striker is stuck
as the welcoming committee. Near the end of the match, Boogey
starts "hulking up", if you will, doing his funky
dance as he goes. One chokebomb later, and Striker is done.
Boogey serves up some regurgitated worms post-match.Winner:
Boogeyman.
Footage is shown of firefighters putting out the limo fire.
Took them 10 minutes and a bazillion gallons of water pressure
to extinguish the flames.
New Breed (Marcus Cor Van & Elijah Burke) vs.
CM Punk & Chris Benoit. In commentary, Joey
& Tazz stress how the ECW title has been vacated thanks
to Bobby Lashley being stripped of the title via the draft,
the last spiteful act of Mr. McMahon. All four men in this
match will be players for the title if they ever get around
to a tournament. Punk was the face in peril, appropriately,
considering the issues he's had with the Breed. The finish
seemed to come out of nowhere, as Cor Van ignored the 5-count,
and ref Scott Armstrong called for the bell. He had to shout
his instruction to the timekeeper, who apparently wasn't
aware. 2nd time in the last month that Cor Van has cost
his team a match this way. Punk & Benoit ran off the
Breed post-match after Burke was given the rolling Germans
and an Air Canada headbutt. Winners: CM Punk & Chris
Benoit via DQ.
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