ECW World Champion Johnny Nitro couldn’t stop smiling as he emerged from the locker room. His long brown locks were still drenched in sweat from his hard-fought victory earlier that night over legendary ECW Original Tommy Dreamer – an opponent that his chief rival, CM Punk, had chosen for him in a “Pick Your Poison”-themed ECW on Sci Fi. In turn, Nitro’s handpicked “poison” for Punk was Kevin Thorn – and he had just watched the Straightedge Superstar impale the powerful vampire.
Nitro seemed impressed, but his smile slowly faded as his eyes locked on Punk. The No. 1 contender to the ECW World Title did not take his eyes off the champion either, and challenged Nitro to get into the ring. But Punk was then blindsided by Thorn, and would have been double-teamed by him and Nitro if he hadn’t fought off the powerhouse.
Nitro backed away from a likely attack on his challenger as Punk invited him to duke it out. As our fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas chanted “CM Punk! CM Punk!” Nitro stuck his nose up and held his – and he would stress his – ECW World Title for Punk and the whole world to see. “You may have won your match, Punk, but I’m still the champ,” he seemed to say. “I’m the ECW World Champion, and you’re not.”