Professional Wrestling's ECW on SciFi featured the Hardcore Holly vs. Balls Mahoney, RVD vs. Elijah Burke, a new WrestleMania Match, and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Less than 24 hours removed from the biggest announcement regarding WrestleMania thus far, Mr. McMahon opens the ECW on SciFi episode. The aforementioned announcement is of course the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee for the Battle of the Billionaires at WrestleMania. Despite the not so pleasant history between Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon, the chairman seemed confident. Vince goes on to remind the crowd that Monday will be the contract signing for the Battle of the Billionaires between Donald Trump and Mr. McMahon. Moving on, Vince McMahon then goes on to tell the crowd that Bobby Lashley has humbly apologized to him for his actions on Smackdown last Friday. Despite this fact, Vince wants a public apology and invites Lashley to the ring. Lashley comes out to the ring and tells everyone that he does apologize, but he is apologizing for not beating up Mr. McMahon.
In a quick, but fairly entertaining contest the ECW Original, Balls Mahoney, took on a 14 year veteran of the WWE in Hardcore Holly. The early part of the match showcased Holly’s sincere intensity, but eventually Balls Mahoney gained the upper hand. With victory nearing, Balls Mahoney climbed the ropes and attempted a flying leg drop. After Holly moved out of the line of contact and Balls crashed and burned, Holly was able to apply the Alabama Slam and defeat the ECW Original. Unfortunately for Holly, the giant Snitsky rushed the ring and rained on his parade. Snitsky kicked Holly straight in the face and stood in the middle of the ring with a vicious smile on his face. WWE fans get this every week from both the Great Khali on Raw and Snitsky on ECW, so doesn’t it make sense to put these two men in the ring? Will Snitsky ever actually compete in a match or do WWE fans have to continuously watch him pick his spots taking advantage of wrestlers that have already competed in full matches?
One of the consistent stories on ECW is the competition between the ECW Originals and the New Breed. One wrestler that has yet to take a stand on this subject is CM Punk, but Elijah Burke interrupted Punk’s that it is time for him to make a decision. After Punk reminds Burke that they are not friends by any means, Rob Van Dam told Punk not to listen to Burke. Van Dam went on to say that “Burke can’t even spell ECW.” This set up the next contest between Rob Van Dam and Elijah Burke.
In the much anticipated show down between ECW Original, Rob Van Dam, and New Breed member, Elijah Burke, these men showed why they have assumed the leadership role in each of their representative groups. In an exciting match with all the New Breed Members and ECW Originals at ringside, wrestling fans witnessed some innovative and energetic offensive maneuvers. Elijah Burke performed a combination suplex and angle slam, while Van Dam answered with all his normal high flying kicks and jumps. Burke hit an impressive dropkick that looked like it might end the match, but Van Dam stuck with it and eventually finished Burke off with the Five Star Frog Splash. Directly following the match, the ECW Originals stood in the middle of the ring and challenged the New Breed to a four on four match at WrestleMania. WWE later announced that this match will take place!
Waving his middle finger and drinking a large amount of Miller Light, Stone Cold Steve Austin closed the show by making an appearance and revealing where his alliances lie as the Special Guest Referee for the Battle of the Billionaires. Stone Cold claimed that he will call the match right down the middle despite the history he’s had with Mr. McMahon.
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