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MORNING THOUGHTS: EXTREMELY BORING ECW, ONE SMART HURRICANE & MORE

ONE SMART HURRICANE

News broke yesterday afternoon that WWE star Gregory Helms, currently recovering from neck fusion surgery, had an early morning altercation with 29 year-old Dustin Curtis Narron, who slapped the former WWE Cruiserweight champion in a North Carolina sports bar.  Helms went to the local authorities and pressed assault charges, leading to Narron's arrest.

In some of the most ridiculous fan response I can ever recall, some readers scoffed at the idea of a big, bad WWE wrestler hiding behind the long arm of the law.  If anything, the response should be the exact opposite in my opinion. 

I have no idea of the circumstances beyond the incident, but when something of this nature happens and a professional wrestler returns the favor by smacking around the cretin in question, you can be guaranteed of the following results - the wrestler being arrested and/or, most likely, the wrestler being sued.

Helms has been suffering from nerve damage in the wake of his neck fusion surgery.  Getting into a physical scuffle could delay his recovery, indeed his career, even if he annihilated Narron physically. 

In my mind, Helms took the high road and did the mature thing.  He'll also have the last laugh in the end.  In a world where we all hear 1,000 stories of a pro wrestler pulling an idiotic stunt, Helms' actions are something that should be praised, not mocked. 

ECW: EXTREMELY BORING

With the exception of Stevie Richards, who at one point, was considered to be one of the best talkers in the business (and if you don't believe me, get some tapes of clueless putz Stevie from 1995-1996)  getting the chance to do some commentary last night, ECW on Sci Fi, for the much ballyhooed 100th episode celebration, was extreme all right...extremely boring.

I wrote last week in my AM THOUGHTS that nothing ever happens on the show and indeed, again, nothing did.  Mike Adamle's walk-out led to Adamle kissing the rear end of everyone inside the ring and then proceeding to going back to his usual terrible job.  So, what did that angle accomplish?  Nothing.  Was it entertaining? No.

The main event was the sterotypical "Throw four names into a tag and/or handicap match" bout.  Sure the wrestling was solid when Punk and Chavo Guerrero were in the ring, but it was the same old, been there-done that feeling.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Mike Knox in Extreme Rules?  Been there-done that, and that's with the strange booking of this match after Knox squashed Dreamer a week ago and then worked side by side with him the night before on Raw.  Now, we are supposed to believe these two hate each other enough to wield weapons?  No, the reality is WWE threw this match out there because that's what "ECW is about."  I call bullsh**.   That's not what ECW was about then and it's especially not what it's about now. 

Kelly Kelly dancing?  Alone?  Been there-done that.  Layla outdancing Kelly?  Been there-done that.

Kofi Kingston getting another win?  Been-there, done that.  Give me something else.  Explain to me what Kofi's goals are.  Give him something to work towards.  Give him something to get angry about.  He's been around a few months and we know nothing about him except that he's Jamaican, has some cool moves and smiles A LOT. 

Oddly enough, with the exception of a few fun clips featuring characters that are long gone and never returning, the lone saving grace of the episode was Colin Delaney vs. Armando "Amigo, let me show the world I actually have a physique and hopefully will get a push" Estrada, which was fine for what it was.  Still, now that Delaney has his contract, where do we go with the character?  Given the history of New Breed-era ECW performers being forgotten for weeks, months at a time before getting released, I can't help but worry about Delaney's long-term tenure.

What WWE has done to the ECW brand is criminal and it has nothing to do with what ECW used to be.  There is a crop of decent to good young talent on this brand and they do not deserve to be treated like the Million Jobber March when they pop up on Raw out of nowhere and they certainly deserve to have more tossed to them creatively than variations of the same episode every week.    The current crew can do better and deserve better - but they can only do what they are allowed to do by WWE.

The original ECW was considered ground breaking for its weekly TV.  The new ECW doesn't need to be ground breaking, but it certainly needs to go somewhere.  It never does.  It's always been there-done that, and extremely boring

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

 

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