Ryding From the Heels: Is It Time to Face the Standard?

I tuned into ECW this week as I do regularly and it was quite the show. The show began with the Abraham Washington show. Usually the show takes place half way into ECW, but opening the show was a bit weird to me.

I'm sure many weren't happy with the AW show starting of ECW, as he's not the toast of town, though I think he's decent.

Abe played the crowd and did the usual plugging of his show as he always does before praising and insulting the city, which was Long Island, N.Y.

Before he could waste anymore of ECW's limited hour, Zack Ryder came out to the show, which was on the stage once again. It seems as if the big boys are scheduling Abe's show every two weeks, but that appears to be for the greater good.

The Long Island native made himself comfortable by sitting on the couch mic in hand as well as placing his feet on the coffee table. Washington didn't seem to take it lightly and asked Ryder what the hell he was thinking.

"Are you out of your damn mind?!"

Washington wanted to know why Ryder interrupted his show. The woo woo woo guy went on to shout out his girlfriend and stated that he's the best thing about Long Island.

The back and forth interaction between Abe and Ryder was interesting as Washington played both hands as a face and as a heel during his show tonight.

He went on to insult Ryder comparing him to Grimace, a fictional McDonald's character. Ryder quickly lost control in the conversation as Washington began to cut him off and firmly stamped that Shelton Benjamin was supposed to be the guest on the show. The annoying Washington then shifted back into a heel after Ryder downplayed Benjamin.

Ryder was surprised that Benjamin was still around and claimed he was may more entertaining than him anyway.

Abe Washington followed up with agreeing with Ryder's claims and said he didn't even want Benjamin on his show, but GM Tiffany ordered him to.

Shelton Benjamin took finally appeared after Abe took a shot at the gold standard mocking his theme song. I fixed my eyes on the television as I realized this was a vital moment.

Last week when Benjamin told Tiffany he'll show her entertaining I had a feeling in my gut and that feeling had returned. With Abe playing the tweener to heel and Ryder playing the heel, I assumed it was safe to declare Shelton Benjamin as a face. 

Could it be?

How long as it been?

Benjamin hasn't played a face since 2004 when he received his first Intercontinental title on RAW and feuded with the then dominating heel faction Evolution.

The gold standard proceeded to take on both Ryder and Washington as he retaliated with a PG vibe. Instead of everyone's favorite four letter F-word we were treated with Smurf as a substitute.

Everyone remembers the Smurfs right?

You know, the little blue fellas.

Just in case we forgot or never knew who or what they were in the first place Benjamin painted the picture. He spoke of the environment including mushrooms, which he claimed Ryder had too many of.

I really didn't know what to gather from all this, I wondered if this was a temporary thing or if Benjamin is in the inception of face turn. Dreamer and Christian are pretty much the only faces on the brand as Yoshi Tatsu has mysteriously disappeared despite the fact that he was over.

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