RAW IS ECW

Before I get to this week's ECW MEP, I would like to name an additional unofficial MEP for SummerSlam as well. "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair earns the honors for fighting through barbed wire and thumb tacks and even threatening to brain Melina with a barbed wire baseball bat en route to defeating Mick Foley in the ECW "I Quit" Match.

Yes, I know it was officially contested as a WWE RAW match called by Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. However, it was ECW (not WWE) that brought wrestling with barbed wire and thumbtacks to the United States ten years ago. As far as I am concerned, Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley was an ECW match and should have been the second match that Tazz and I called at SummerSlam.

ECW MEP

On to this week's official ECW MEP. How can I not choose Sabu? Big Show thought he was in for an easy night because his ECW World Title defense against Sabu was not under Extreme Rules.

Newsflash...EVERY MATCH SABU COMPETES IN IS EXTREME RULES BECAUSE SABU IS INSANE AND DOES NOT CARE IF HE GETS DISQUALIFIED! All ECW Extremists would do well to remember that going forward. Big Show may have officially won the match and may still have the ECW World Title (for now), but he is also is short a pint of blood and has a skull full of stitches. This may be the new ECW, but that is the old Sabu that beat Big Show bloody.

OTHER EXTREME THOUGHTS:

It is always wonderful to see Torrie Wilson for any reason whatsoever. However, after having recently judged an Extreme bikini contest between Kelly and Francine, I would have liked if Francine was given the opportunity to show a worldwide television audience how she defies gravity while my jaw falls victim to it.

In addition, it would have been great to see Francine teamed with fellow ECW Originals, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman who scored a huge win. Francine may not be as polished as Kelly and Torrie but I'll bet a paycheck that she could kick both of their asses in an ECW "CATFIGHT!"

My transition from pro wrestling play-by-play to sports entertainment storyteller was made very public at WrestleMania 22. I think that I have completed the transition and (as I hope you fans can tell) I am having as much fun with storytelling as I used to with play-by-play.

I want to publicly thank Jim Ross who has continued to give me much appreciated critiques and advice every week. JR is not only the best at performing storytelling, he is also the best at teaching it. Boomer Sooners! (What the hell does that mean anyway!?)

Joey Styles