WWE ECW 116

August 26, 2008 – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Teddy Long announces that he’ll be ripping off Raw and Smackdown for the championship match at Unforgiven. Mark Henry will defend his title in a Championship Scramble on the PPV. Tonight, four wrestlers will qualify for spots in that match. 

Matt Hardy def. John Morrison {Championship Scramble Qualifying Match}
Hardy and Morrison’s pants juxtaposed against each other are giving me a headache the same way Magic Eye posters would give me a headhache. This was pretty solid, and while I think they have a better match in them this was certainly as good as it needed to be in the opening match on a random Tuesday night. Hardy won in 9:16 (shown) with the Twist of Fate. ***¼ 

Mark Henry is pissed at Teddy Long that he doesn’t have to get pinned at Unforgiven to lose his title. Long isn’t sympathetic, especially because the other brand’s titles are on the line in the same kind of match. 

The Miz def. Evan Bourne{Championship Scramble Qualifying Match}
The Miz’s singles matches are death. I’m also not pleased that Bourne’s Dragon Gate tights are gone. The finish was kind of cool, as the Miz sent Bourne crotch-first onto the turnbuckle in a way I’ve never seen before and then hit the Reality Check for the win at 7:03. A good finish does not give me that seven minutes of my life back. *½ 

Chavo Guerrero def. Tommy Dreamer {Championship Scramble Qualifying Match}
Basically nothing happened in this match. The crowd couldn’t be bothered to react, and my mind wandered away for pretty much all of this. Guerrero won in 3:49 with the Frog Splash. *

Josh Matthews is at the DNC with Candice Michelle and Batista (and Shelton Benjamin in b-roll footage). Given Batista’s twitter since Trump got elected, this tracks. Michelle could show up on Fox News as a replacement for Kimberly Guilfoyle and I don’t think anyone would notice, so it’s kind of surprising she leans left (presumably). Looks are deceiving. 

Finlay def. Mike Knox {Championship Scramble Qualifying Match}
Matt Striker takes shots at Barack Obama on commentary, so the streak of Striker’s thankfully ignorable commentary ends at three episodes. After an intense start this devolved into a rest hold nightmare. Finlay won at 8:14 with a shillelagh shot. They should have cut half of this and just had them beat each other up until Knox got tired. **