After careful consideration, I have chosen Ric Flair as this week's MEP. Yes, I know the 16-time World Champion did not take number 17 from the massive hands of Big Show this week. However, despite the fact that the “Nature Boy” has repeatedly expressed his disgust with ECW during his three-year war of words with ECW alumnus Mick Foley, Ric proved himself to be quite adept with a barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat, trash can and thumbtacks. The fact that the future Hall of Famer was unable to take the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Big Show was not the main story; Ric's bravery and blood were the final images burned into wrestling (not sports-entertainment) history as ECW went off the air.
 
Other extreme observations:
 
-Paul Heyman's explanation for screwing Rob Van Dam out of his first ECW Championship does not hold water. So what if RVD lost his WWE Championship on the night prior to the South Philly Screwjob because he insisted on turning away no challengers for either championship? It is better to be a fighting champion and enjoy a shorter championship reign than simply hold on a little longer because your defenses are few and far between. Besides, with the weight of having to defend that silly spinning WWE Championship (would Bruno Sammartino have worn that ugly thing?) lifted from his shoulders, Rob was on his way to defeating Big Show when Paul, in his words, "crucified his ten-year friendship with Rob Van Dam."
 
-Speaking of which, I thought Heyman's declaration of himself as ECW's "martyr, savior and messiah," sans stigmata, was too religious for my good taste. Besides, the Backlash pay-per-view buy rate proved once again that religion and wrestling will not fill the collection plates at the box office window. Of course, I am not allowed to say something like that on television. Actually, you fans would be shocked to find out what I am not allowed to say on television these days.
 
Until next week, I am Joey Styles, unedited, uncensored and unafraid.