Location: San Jose, CA
Back story: This is the PPV after Vengeance 2007 where John Morrison (Nitro) became ECW Champion. He substituted for Chris Benoit who killed himself that weekend. CM Punk was ECW's defacto top face, and while it's a lower tier title, it still is usually good for a mid card PPV spot every match. This is the first time the ECW title is defended at the Great American Bash, but it's not really a big deal since it's not like the WWE can't do whatever they want. Nevertheless Tazz and Joey Styles try their best to treat this match like a main event.
In Ring Analysis:
CM Punk comes to the ring last and both men start off with the standard elbow and collar tie-up. Morrison takes Punk down first, but Punk reverses out to a hammerlock. Morrison fights back up, and comes back to a side headlock. Punk throws to the ropes but eats a shoulder block. Punk recovers and takes Morrison down with a trip and gets back on advantage. Both men back up and Punk works his kicks and hits a sloppy slingshot suplex. You really need a lot of strength to pull that off well.
Morrison gets thrown into the turnbuckle and Punk comes off with a monkey flip with Morrison does a 360 on and falls on his stomach as opposed to his back. Good stuff. Morrison rolls outside but baits Punk into going up the ringside steps where he gets tripped on his face. Morrison then throws Punk back in the ring and tries a quick pinfall. Morrison then works the shoulder with kicks until Punk catches his leg and goes for a GTS. Morrison elbows out and slams his head to the mat.
Morrison then gets Punk in a rear chin lock with this legs locking down his lower body. Punk fights out quickly as Tazz does a good job of pointing out that Morrison wasn't able to get a good grip on Punk which let him escape. Morrison then comes back with a face first atomic drop. Morrison then gets on top of Punk and rains down with punches.
Morrison puts Punk on the top rope, but has his superplex reversed, then Punk comes off the top for a cross body block. Both men are back up and Punk is on offense with kicks, punches, and a nice flapjack. Punk then hits a hard roundhouse kick to the sternum which gets a nearfall. Punk then has a vertical suplex reversed which Punk reverses again into a rollup, which Morrison reverses into a rollup that he almost gets but the referee notices he is using the ropes for leverage. Nice sequence to show that Morrison is an opportunist.
Morrison argues with the ref that allows Punk to get a rollup for two. Punk then comes back with an ensiguri for a two count. Punk now hits some knees, and throw Morrison into the turnbuckle. Morrison takes a hard flying knee from Punk, and Morrison rolls out and tries to leave the ring to protect his title. Punk rolls him back in and goes up top. He goes for another cross body, but Morrison has it ready and gives Punk a hard kick to the gut on the way down. Morrison pins Punk and gets a clean three-count.
Winner by Pinfall in 7:50- John Morrison **1/2
Kind of short, but it's a mid card match. Right before Morrison became ECW champion he was a midcard performer on Raw, so I am sure the company thought he needed a clean win to prove that he was on par with other title holders in the company especially since the ECW title was previously held by Bobby Lashley who was heavily pushed.
Good effort by both guys and they showed good athleticism with stiff looking kicks. Like I said, it was too short to be much, but it was nice and easy to follow.
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