Live from Tulsa, Okla.

Your hosts are Joey Styles and Taz.

Jim Ross is ECW’s special guest this week, and he mentions Mid-South! Matt Striker struts out and says Ross lacks education. He berates JR for a while until Sandman comes out and lets JR give Striker a caneshot.

Eric Bischoff has some commercial time to talk about how his book is controversial and, therefore, creates cash.

Extreme Rules: Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly.
Van Dam dominates with his educated feet. He stops to play to the crowd, so Holly yanks him to the floor so they can brawl extreme style. Van Dam hits the stretch-across-the-barrier legdrop and gets a table, but Bobcore stops him from using it. Back in, Van Dam charges right into a boot. Holly beats on him for a while and then suplexes him off the apron through the table! OH MY GOD! We come back to find Holly with a sickening gash on his back. Holly won’t be stopped, though. He drops Van Dam’s throat on the edge of a chair. Van Dam is crazy to sell that. Holly sets the chair on Van Dam’s face and then drops an Alabama Jam on it. This actually is hardcore! Van Dam reverses a suplex and suplexes Holly on a chair. Van Dam follows up with a thrust kick and the skateboard dropkick to the face. ROLLING THUNDER! It only gets two, though. Van Dam goes for a monkey flip, but Holly counters to a powerbomb on the chair! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Van Dam tries to come back with the Five-Star, but Holly tosses the chair at his face! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Holly grabs the chair, but Van Dam kicks it back into his face and hits the Five-Star Frogsplash. ONE, TWO, THREE! Van Dam picks up the pin at 17:07! Spiffy little match. Holly gets a nice round of applause in the loss. ***1/2

CM Punk explains that he’s addicted to competition. Kelly Kelly interrupts to remind Punk that she’s going to be in the Diva strip poker game, but she can’t get into a casino to practice because she’s only 19. Mike Knox threatens to straighten Punk out once he’s done with Kelly.

Extreme Catfight: Ariel (w/Kevin Thorne) vs. Francine.
I like how the ring announcer has adopted Sting’s old entrance announcement. “This is…Ariel.” Ariel makes fun of Francine for being a fat hog or something and not having a manly man like Kevin Thorne. Francine jumps her, strips her, and tosses her around, prompting Thorne to get involved. Balls Mahoney runs down and brains Thorne with a chairshot. Ariel and Thorne run to the back. Nice body on the stripped down Ariel (and yes, I’ve seen her naked, and it is somewhat disappointing). [NR]

In the back, Rene Dupree checks out his own package in the shower. Oddly enough, Taz’s very next words are “That’s a genuine monster. That’s a giant!” But it’s just in reference to the Big Show…or is it?

ECW World Title: Big Show vs. The Sandman
We’re JIP to Sandman caning the everloving hell out of the Big Show. The cane, btw, is legal. Show finally disarms Sandman and slaps him around. Sandman tries to explode but runs right into a lariat. Sandman fires back but gets caught in the chokeslam. Sandy counters to a DDT and grabs the cane. Big Show gets beaten like a proverbial stepchild. I don’t actually remember a beaten stepchild in Proverbs, but I guess there was one. Oh, but Matt Striker comes out and steals the cane, allowing Show to finish with the shinno no make backbreaker and hog log at 5:42. Hardly a great match, but some good psychology with the cane. *

Final Thoughts: It started out really well with the Holly/Van Dam match. The rest of the segments were either rushed or didn’t have much substance to begin with. I was impressed with the Punk/Knox segment because it looked like they were actually arguing instead of cutting promos on one another. One good match is enough for a thumbs up this week.