CM Punk vs. Big Daddy V (w/ Matt Striker) for the ECW Championship
As we continue through the fall of 2007, the company was having a lot of issues between the Signature Pharmacy controversy and a couple of big names falling to injury, and things were not looking good for them as the year was nearing the end. However, one man that has been constant for most of the year was CM Punk as he was finally the top dog of ECW and looking to be the steadying force the brand really needed after 2006 ended. On the flip side, the man formerly known as Viscera, now known as Big Daddy V was having a resurgence since moving away from the Love Machine gimmick and becoming a monster heel with Striker serving as his mouthpiece. Given the push he was getting, you figured he at some point would be Punk’s next challenger and now he gets the chance to shine here as Punk gets a very different opponent from who he has been facing for most of the year.
On the 9/18 ECW, Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Tommy Dreamer, and Stevie Richards all wanted to stake their claim as the next Number One Contender and Armando Estrada announced an Elimination Chase between those four to determine the Number One Contender. The first match took place that night with Richards being eliminated from the Chase, and on the 9/25 ECW the remaining three men fought in a Triple Threat match with Thorn being eliminated and Punk defeated Striker that same night only for V to attack him afterwards. On the 10/2 ECW, Punk defeated Mike Knox in a non-title match and V and Striker cut a promo on him, and later that night Dreamer defeated Burke to seemingly win the Chase only for Estrada to announce V as a surprise entrant and V defeated Dreamer to become Number One Contender. It was a bit weird the way they did the Chase and didn’t have V involved until the end, but it almost showed Estrada showing favoritism and trying to stack the deck against Punk.
Punk gets a huge pop from his hometown crowd while V had solid heat as a heel. The two men lock up to start with V backing Punk into the corner and he tosses him to the mat, and Punk rolls outside to regroup before returning to the ring as he goes for the leg and V pounds on him. He takes Punk to the mat and rides him as he pounds on him and spins around him until Punk escapes and kicks at him repeatedly, and he gets a knee in as V shoves him away and he hits an enzurgiri to V before pounding on him. V shoves him away and backs him into the corner as he pounds on him only to miss a charge, and Punk goes up top and hits a missile dropkick on V as Striker gets in the ring and nails Punk from behind which draws the DQ and Punk retains the title. After the match, V hits a Samoan drop on Punk and drops a trio of elbows on him before holding the title up over him and he heads to the back with Striker, and officials come out and help Punk to the back as he is spitting up blood.
The match itself ended up being nothing as it just barely went over 90 seconds and ended with a very weak DQ. Punk has been doing a good job in making himself into a credible champion and I will say that V has been built up fairly well as a monster heel, but this match ended up doing no favors for either guy as Striker ended up screwing his man over in such a short time. This match did nothing for Punk either as he looked like a bit of a putz which sucks especially since he was in his hometown, and they were put in a corner as they didn’t want V to lose clean while they obviously didn’t want to take the belt off Punk in his hometown. I think what they should’ve done was just drop that 6-man before this match, have Dreamer challenge Punk here and they have a good 10 minute match with Dreamer putting Punk over strong and you continue building V on TV to a future match. The crowd was obviously red hot for the match and Punk, but are not happy with the ending at all. Punk retains the title by DQ over V and both men move on.
Final Grade: DUD
