by Thomas Keister

ECW on Syfy originated from Richmond, Virginia as Night of Champions quickly approaches. With only one championship to defend on the annual event, the focus hung on Tommy Dreamer's ECW Championship match with Christian.

New Superstar Initiative Pays Dividends

ECW newcomer Yoshi Tatsu had perhaps his biggest challenge to date since joining the roster under the New Superstar Initiative, facing the time-tested veteran William Regal in the evening's opening match-up. Tatsu used his impressive speed, agility, and flexibility to match Regal move for move in the early goings.

A stiff clothesline from Regal put him in the driver's seat, as he employed ground holds and multiple pin attempts to grind Tatsu down. Battling back with his Japanese strong style arsenal, Tatsu survived an ill-fated top rope attempts to snag the pin for unarguably the biggest win of his young ECW career.

Jackson and Benjamin Shine in mid-card Action

Ezekiel Jackson made his way to ringside to square off with Mike Williams, making his second appearance on ECW. In the time it took for you to read that sentence, the erstwhile bodyguard for The Brian Kendrick had already dismantled and pinned Williams. In an intriguing twist, Vladimir Koslov hit the ring, stared down the equally massive Jackson, then destroyed Williams himself. I can not say I know where they are going with this, but I hope it results in a one-on-one match between the big men!

Goldust looked to continue his recent success as a new member of the ECW roster with a win over "The Gold Standard" Sheldon Benjamin. As the bell sounded, Benjamin came out swinging, looking to climb the ladder towards a possible ECW title shot.

Quickly evening the odds, the wiley veteran relied on vintage offense, but Benjamin was not to be denied, hitting Paydirt for the victory in a competitive, fast-paced encounter.

Tyson Reks Makes successful ECW in-ring Debut

Paul Burchill is a wrestler lost in the shuffle, and while a win would certainly help Burchill, a loss could very well prove devastating for the Brit. Opposing him in the evening's marquee match was the debuting Tyson Reks. Joining Burchill at ringside was his sister, Katie Lea, which never makes wrestling the "Ripper" a walk in the park.

Firing up right from the opening bell, Reks overwhelmed Burchill, but distraction from the outside quickly reversed course for the exciting rookie. There's nothing pretty about Burchill's offense, but it is effective, and Burchill kept the pressure steady throughout the latter half of the match. Rallying back into contention with an impressive springboard dropkick, Reks hit a schoolboy roll-up to make his in-ring ECW debut a notable success!

ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer Collides with Christian

ECW's newest interview segment, The Abraham Washington Show, returned this week to close out this week's episode. Washington attempted to stir the pot between the two good friends in advance of their title match, mostly with pointed remarks towards Dreamer's weight and C-grade humor. As Christian started to get under the skin of the defending ECW Champion, the tension suddenly hit critical mass as Dreamer took a hard slap across the face from his Night of Champions challenger.

Retaliating in kind, Dreamer got his point across that no one, not Abraham Washington, and not Christian, were going to get over on him in this setting. Decorum ended up winning out in the end, but one can only speculate as to the subtext this adds to the ECW Championship match coming up on pay-per-view this Sunday night!