ECW Progress Report: changes..or lack thereof

This is supposed to be a progress report to analyze how much ECW has changed. However, it seems as if the changes that have occurred in ECW are too similar to what already has been going on or has happened in and out of ECW. Top stars disappear, rising stars are re-focused, and nothing really benefits from it. Hmm...

The biggest piece of news I want to convey concerns Christian being champion and William Regal's contendership for said title. Quite honestly, Regal didn't really do or win any matches to secure this (except one match vs. Dreamer), but he received the title shot at SummerSlam, regardless, and lost the match in 8 seconds. He then regained another shot at the ECW title two nights after, but not before handing Christian a third straight beating courtesy of himself and his two new associates, Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. The trick here was that they were initially at odds with each other for one reason or another, and then, just like that, Regal brings them together. Now, why is this big news? The word around town is that both Christian and Regal are being looked at as wrestlers who can work with anyone and have great matches with them. This is to help the new stars get over and the stars-in-the-making get further made. So, it is fitting to have them run the show as the top stars for the most part. But, this leaves two stars out in the cold when you look at it: Tommy Dreamer and Shelton Benjamin.

Dreamer had just finished proving his worth with his ultimatum. He won the ECW title and was living it up. Then, Christian beats him at Night of Champions and on an ECW show where it was an Extreme Rules match. After that, he lost a match to Regal and was literally dropped off the face of the earth. Why? Well, after he received his contract extension, he might have gotten the big singles push he would have liked, but since we all should know the WWE by now, he wasn't going to get anything. Now, he's back to square one, jobbing to others to put them over, and not even close to regaining that top spot again. Sorry, Tommy, but at least you have that well-paying job for your family. As for Shelton, where do I start? He was promoted, demoted, promoted, demoted, etc. until, he's back on ECW, looking to be a big fish in a small pond. He hasn't legitimately lost a match since the second night of his ECW return, and what does he get for his credit? He gets further criticism about his complacency, even if it might not be that evident, and doesn't receive a single push for the ECW title. Now, he's stuck in a feud with Zack Ryder where they are competing in sad singing competitions, makeshift tag matches that put them at odds with each other, or singles matches that might very well lead up to the worst for Shelton: a string of losses to Ryder as it is showing that they are looking to elevate him. That could be damaging to Shelton in the worst way.

Knowing all this, there has to be some other bright spots on ECW, right? Sheamus is involved in a feud with Goldust. That would have made sense or held my attention if I didn't remember all the failed attempts to get Goldust over. It's just like with Big Daddy V. You've seen them lose so much, so why buy into them winning now? This can only be attributed to the sparse ECW roster. There really isn't a fleshed out roster of people to go to anymore either due to makeshift factions being formed, a general lack of star power, or just a lack of quality wrestlers. Remember Yoshi Tatsu and Tyler Reks? Someone thought it would be pertinent to have them team up instead of making them stars on the singles' circuit. Kind of like killing two birds with one stone when getting these guys over. Trouble is, there are literally no teams on ECW to fight against. So, what's the point? The point is to keep these faces fresh in the minds of many while not subjecting them to matches where they would most likely lose since, sadly, they might not look the most effective in the ring against others. Lastly, the Hurricane returns to pretty much feud with Paul Burchill. Both sides have won a match against the other. Let's hope this ends soon so they can go on to better things. Or better yet, let's see more matches from them on ECW and judge for ourselves to see if its worth watching. Throw in the rather useless Bella Twins, the annoyingly replaceable interim G.M. Tiffany and that's ECW in a nutshell. Oh, I forgot. There's Abraham Washington. But, public opinion about that show has already rung true: it stinks. A change in format is needed.

There's ECW's progress on the whole. It seems that the more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same. We can only hope that things will turn around creatively for some wrestlers. On the plus side, the match quality has been much better than what we've seen on Raw. The same can be said about the show quality as well. However, as days go by, ECW is generating more clips of Raw and other shows onto its time slot. Thankfully, that's not completely the case as much, but the trends still remain. Lastly, the ratings are what they are: low and comparable to TNA, but that won't change for a while, so we have to deal with it. Let's just hope ECW can break free of this rut and rise above its mediocrity. I don't think I can stomach another singing session with Shelton Benjamin...