ECW: 10th February 2009

The Christian return episode. If you didn't want to know that Christian returned in this episode (maybe, for instance, you haven't yet watched this episode, featuring the return of Christian) then please avoid this paragraph and move on to the next.

The show opens with the return of Christian, interrupting Jack Swagger and challenging him for the ECW title. Matt Striker taunts TNA with the line "this moment has become instantly classic", which is funny on a number of levels, especially if you consider the copyright battles the WWE instigated when Christian moved to TNA over the use of the trademarked "Captain Charisma". He does some mocking of Swagger's lisp, which is, you know, the pinnacle of comedy, and knocks him down with the mic.

There's a quick match between Miz and Dreamer, following on from last week, which was exactly to the point. Then there was an even shorter match between the debuting Tyson Kidd (who is also TJ Wilson) and a local jobber. The best part of this match is Striker on commentary, hyping Kidd by talking about his Hart Dungeon past. And the jumping kick to the job guy's face. That was some quality jumping kick to the job guy's face. I'm excited about Tyson Kidd because I love high flying junior versus striking and ground based juniors matches, and I imagine there is at least one good Kidd versus Bourne match when the other returns. Or a series of matches.

Main event is Christian vs. Swagger. I thought this was a notch or two below the other Swagger singles matches from this year. Christian is a fun guy to watch, but his singles matches, especially as a face, are usually good rather than great. He certainly doesn't do as good a job as Finlay at selling the ribs. There's a three minute stretch near the end when they find a grooves of nearfalls are reversals, which makes me think there is a much better match between these two in the future. The momentum is gone by the finish, though once again they allow Swagger to lose without him looking weak after a run-in attack by Finlay. Finlay, best wrestler in WWE he might be, brings nothing to the commentary. You've got to play to your strengths.

OK show this week. Looking forward to Finlay/Swagger part three at the PPV.