On September 23rd, 2006 Mike Steele wrote an article called Why You Should Watch Extreme Championship Wrestling. It really took me off guard seeing such an article on Associated Content. It was surprising to see an article even about any wrestling show much less the worst of the wrestling shows. So let me tell you why you shouldn’t watch ECW and why should watch the other wrestling shows instead.
It’s not ECW
Mike Steele does a pretty good job of describing the original ECW. ECW was originally called Eastern Championship Wrestling but was taken over by Paul Heyman and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. Behind Heyman ECW gained a huge cult following. ECW had hardcore wrestling that hadn’t been seen before in North America. Every match was no disqualification and there were an abundance of weapons; often fans would bring items from home like cheese graters. brooms or even the kitchen sink then an ECW wrestler would go to the crowd, take one of their weapons and use it. The fan participation was another reason ECW was so popular. The fans in ECW were unlike any other. When the fans watched a good match they didn’t just cheer for their favorite wrestler, they chanted for the entire company to show their appreciation for the product. When a wrestler screwed up the crowds would do a chant letting the wrestler know how much he messed up. It wasn’t all about hardcore matches though. ECW introduced the United States to Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero three of the best all around wrestlers of the past twenty years. ECW also introduced the US to lucha libre and Rey Mysterio Jr. One thing Mike didn’t mention though was the storylines. Paul Heyman was writing storylines that other companies had never done before and Heyman was a master at telling a good story. While WWE was writing stories you might see on One Tree Hill, Paul Heyman was writing grittier stuff that you might see on a HBO television show.
A lot of this stuff Mike points out but he spends more time explaining those things than he actually says what the new ECW has. Mike even admits that the new ECW doesn’t have hardcore wrestling, lucha libre, or technical wrestling like the old ECW. So basically they just slapped the ECW name on it, even though it is completely not like the old ECW. They did away with the no DQ in every match that the old ECW did. They no longer have weapons that are creative and actually look like they could damage. Instead they are hitting each other with garbage can lids and cookie sheets that are made out of tin. They might as well be hitting each other with pillows. There is no lucha libre whatsoever and there isn’t any good technical wrestling. Mike also admits that there isn’t much storyline due to the lack of time they have. That was what was so great about the ECW! I love the wrestling aspect of wrestling but ECW was all about storylines and feuds. Some of the best feuds in wrestling history came from ECW and those feuds were great because of the stories behind them. So to reiterate; the old ECW had great hardcore action, great lucha libre, great technical wrestling, and great storylines. The new ECW has no good hardcore action, no lucha libre, no great technical wrestling, and no storylines. This isn’t ECW.
Roster
Another great thing about Paul Heyman was his ability to accumulate talent and use them in a way that they would succeed. Heyman could take an awful wrestler and make him look good by hiding his weaknesses. The new ECW has plenty of awful wrestlers, but whoever is booking it isn’t hiding their weaknesses. The roster of the new ECW pales in comparison to the old ECW. First of all let’s start at the top. The old ECW had Shane Douglas and Raven two of the best talkers in the past twenty years. There is not a single guy on the ECW roster that is even half as good as Shane Douglas and Raven at cutting promos. The Old ECW had technical wrestlers like Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Lance Storm. The new ECW only has one wrestler, CM Punk, that’s even half as good as those guys but the WWE barely even lets CM Punk do his thing. The Old ECW had women who would actually get in cat fights with each other like Francine and Beulah. The New ECW has dumb blonde chicks that skip around in skimpy outfits competing in lame contests like pillow fights and strip poker. The Old ECW had a long list of hardcore wrestlers like Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, The Dudleys, Rhino, Sandman, New Jack, Justin Credible, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Stevie Richards and Mikey Whipwreck. The New ECW has Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and Tommy Dreamer…ten years older.
Booking
The old ECW was always anti-establishment; the fans of ECW despised WWE and WCW so what does WWE do with the new ECW? They book a WWE wrestler, and not even a good one, as the ECW Champion. As soon as the Big Show, a giant who is over seven feet, won the title ECW fans everywhere turned it off and never watched it again. It’s bad enough that they booked a WWE guy as champion but he’s not anything like what ECW used to be. The Big Show can’t talk, the Big Show can’t wrestler great matches, the Big Show can’t even brawl that well. Also when the new ECW started fans of the show tuned in and saw the old ECW wrestlers job to the WWE guys. Vince McMahon can’t stand to see stars created by other people succeeding; he prefers to put guys who he “made” on top. So Tommy Dreamer jobbed in his first match, so did Al Snow, Justin Credible didn’t even get a single offensive move in his first match. They all jobbed to nobodies that Vince McMahon had brought in. I understand that Vince wants to make new stars but why bring in old ECW wrestlers that the ECW fans will recognize and then just job them to nobodies infuriating the fans of the old ECW because wrestlers they used to like are being treated like crap and are being made to look bad? Also the ECW now has Diva segments. Diva segments are fluffy pieces where attractive women come out and dance around to please Vince McMahon the biggest pervert who ever walked the Earth. This kind of crap was never done in the old ECW because it’s a waste of time and because a wrestling show should have wrestling, not bikini contests.
The Bottom line is ECW is a complete waste. ECW is exactly like their other two shows Monday Night Raw and Smackdown. So what’s the point really? If you’re going to revitalize what was once a very popular company then that could work; if you want to give the fans an alternative to WWE programming then that’s great too. But this show doesn’t do either of these things. ECW is exactly the same as Raw and Smackdown, and those shows aren’t even that good to begin with.
What you should watch
If you like the Diva segments and you like the boring style of wrestling the WWE has then that’s your prerogative. But don’t waste your time with ECW. If you’re going to watch the WWE style you should just watch Raw or Smackdown. Like I said before ECW is exactly the same as Raw and Smackdown, but Raw and Smackdown have better rosters so if you like that style then you should watch Triple H, HBK, Edge, Cena, Shelton Benjamin, Johnny Nitro, Carlito, and Charlie Haas on Raw or Chris Benoit, Booker T, Brian Kendrick Paul London, Gregory Helms, William Regal, and Fit Finlay on Smackdown.
If you don’t like the WWE style and want an alternative then you should watch TNA on Spike TV. First of all TNA now has some of the guys who were stars in the old ECW like Raven, Shane Douglas, Rhino, and the Dudleys. In fact they actually have more wrestlers from the old ECW doing significant things than the new ECW does. Second TNA has the better wrestling matches. TNA has good all around wrestlers like Christian, Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, and Jeff Jarrett. TNA has stiff brawlers like Samoa Joe, Low Ki and Homicide. TNA has high flying action with AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley and Austin Starr. TNA also has hardcore brawlers like Abyss, Rhino, and Raven. Basically TNA has wrestlers for every single style of wrestling while ECW has about three good wrestlers. TNA also does a better job of pushing their talent. The WWE signed CM Punk and kept him in their minor league for over a year just wasting away. They’ve finally brought him up to the big leagues but barely given him anything to do. About the same time that WWE signed CM Punk TNA signed Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe was put on television immediately and had beaten the most popular wrestler in the company, AJ Styles, just a few months in. They continued to push him by giving him the X Division Title and an undefeated streak that has lasted over a year. That’s how you push new talent. The storylines in TNA right now might not be masterpieces but you won’t see perverted things like men’s bare bottoms like you do on WWE and you won’t see ridiculous, stupid and disgusting storylines like bestiality and necrophilia like on WWE.
You might be able to tell I’m not a big fan of the WWE product right now. It’s very frustrating because WWE was once an excellent company. The one and only thing they do well now is produce great compilation DVDs. So there’s another alternative for you. If you specifically like the old ECW then the Rise and Fall of ECW is an excellent DVD with a documentary about ECW as well as plenty of great matches. Another good DVD for your hardcore needs is Mick Foley’s Greatest Hits & Misses. If you like technical wrestling then you can’t go wrong with WWE’s Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be, Hard Knocks – the Chris Benoit Story, or Cheating Death, Stealing Life – The Eddie Guerrero Story. If you like old school wrestling then there’s nobody better than the Nature Boy Ric Flair so pick up his DVD the Ultimate Ric Flair Collection. You can also get every Wrestlemania on DVD as well as The History of the WWE Championship which has some of the greatest WWE Championship matches of all time going back as far as Ivan Koloff vs. Pedro Morales and as recent as Vengeance 2005. In between those two you’ll see matches of Bruno Sammartino Bob Backlund, Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Triple H, and Kurt Angle. There are also DVDs featuring The Rock, Stone Cold, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Dusty Rhodes, the Ultimate Warrior, the Legion of Doom and Brian Pillman
