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What is the New Vision Of ECW?
Monday December 4, 2006 joined the ever-expanding list of dark days for what remains of ECW. Paul Heyman, arguably the main driving force of everything ECW since 1994, was released from ECW for “being stuck in the past†and “not keeping up with the new vision of ECWâ€ÂÂÂ. From what we’ve seen so far, the McMahon Family does not want the New ECW to really be anything like the Original ECW. Piece by piece, they’ve destroyed most of the remaining parts of the Original ECW. In the six months since the relaunching of ECW, have any of the McMahon’s actually said what this new vision is supposed to be?
For those not up to speed on the situation, the release of the Rise And Fall of ECW DVD in late 2004 kick started renewed interest in everything ECW. A successful One Night Stand PPV in on June 12, 2005 continued the trend. Some believe the show should have been the final chapter for ECW, giving it a real sense of closure. Others felt that the renewed interest could actually bring the company back from the dead. A second One Night Stand PPV and growing interest from the fans opened the door for the McMahons to give ECW a chance.
The announcement came that they’d be given a new television show on the Sci-Fi Channel, Paul Heyman would be back in charge of booking the show, and many Original ECW stars were contacted and/or hired back/switched brands to be the stars of the show. The future looked bright and ECW seemed to be revived. Then WWE Creative, led by Vince & Stephanie McMahon and Kevin Dunn, stepped in and lended their almighty expertise to the product, believing it couldn’t truly succeed without their guidance. After all, Vince knows what you, the fans, want better than you do.
With the addition of moronic characters like The Zombie and Macho Libre, a never-ending list of RAW & Smackdown superstars, and no real storyline direction, the product began to quickly suffer. The show was quite obviously much more McMahon heavy than Heyman influenced, and Heyman was quickly bumped down as head booker for the show. Many of the Original ECW stars were nothing but fodder for established or establishing WWE and New ECW stars.
Over the course of the next several months, Axl Rotten, Justin Credible, Francine were released and replaced by new, un-established talent like Matt Striker, Kevin Thorn, and Mike Knox. Terry Funk was used only for One Night Stand 2 and not seen again (but still used prominently on the website). Tommy Dreamer, Stevie Richards, Balls Mahoney, & The FBI were pretty much used as enhancement talent. WWE stars like The Big Show, The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Kane, etc. were used for main event matches. That’s right, guys who have absolutely nothing to do with ECW were headlining their TV show.
However, there were a few potential bright spots. Kurt Angle was intended to be the new Taz, Rob Van Dam was now (finally) the heavyweight champion, Sabu returned to a position of prominence, and CM Punk debuted.
At most, only one of those has actually worked out. Angle is gone, RVD will most likely never hold the title again after his summertime drug bust, Sabu has been relegated to being squashed (if he’s even on the card), and even Punk looks poised to be the next RVD (huge fan interest but potentially no payoff).
Through the ups and downs, a PPV was greenlit for December. A $40 PPV that: had only two advertised matches (one of which contained not one ECW star), used a bait and switch tactic to change the participants in the other advertised match after the show had already begun, featured an “extremist†on the poster who didn’t even wrestle on the show, and ended the show roughly 45 minutes early. The PPV had the quality of a bad episode of Velocity or WCW Thunder
This week, we’ve seen monumental changes. Paul Heyman, one of ECW’s Founding Fathers is gone. Fired from his own product. It’s like a stepfather beating up his stepson’s real dad. Heyman’s spirit was visibly broken after the abysmal PPV. He appears to have had it with the micro managing, the lies, and not delivering a quality product. Sure, letting Heyman book the show could be considered a risky move. His booking is cutting edge, risqué, and dangerous but he’s always had the fans eating out of the palm of his hand. The ratings most likely would have delivered in the long run under his watch and without the scrutiny of the McMahons. But why take a chance like that? They’d rather give us a Dean Douglas remake, a vampire and his hot girlfriend, The Great Kahli, and…..Test!!!
Gone, too, is The Big Show, the man who they forced to pick up the ball that RVD fumbled this summer. The Big Show may not be everyone’s favorite wrestler but he put in solid performances with everyone he was paired up with and busted his ass on ECW TV, RAW’s and Smackdown’s. He’s been a good soldier and had a decent run as champion. However, time has caught up with him and not only is he taking time off for injuries, he’s gone from ECW.
So here’s what we have learned about the New Vision Of ECW:
1- Original ECW talent is inferior to RAW, Smackdown, and other home grown WWE talent.
2- We cannot actually believe that the matches advertised to us will be the matches that actually occur.
3- Rob Van Dam will never be champion again
4 - Test and Bob Holly are indeed main-eventers. The fans who have booed them from the beginning are wrong.
5 - The Sandman is not capable of more than cameo caning appearance.
6 - Terry Funk must still be a part of the roster (being he’s advertised on the website).
7- ECW shows will prominently feature talent from other brands
8 - There will be no house shows
9 - Talent that does get a serious push could very well disappear at any moment
10 - The talent are not wrestlers, they are extremists
11- Tommy Dreamer, whose body has gone to hell and back from 1994-2001, could never possibly beat a lethal weapon like Daivari
With all of this in mind, I beg the question what actually makes this ECW? I’ve got it! If you just add the word “extreme†to everything, it becomes ECW. That way they can take control after guys like Raven, Sabu, Shane Douglas, Taz, Terry Funk, and Tommy Dreamer have done all the hard work. What airs on the Sci-Fi Channel bears no resemblance to the Philadelphia-based organization.
I want the definition of the New Vision of ECW. If it has nothing to do with the old ECW why even call it that? Sadly, I know the answer. Yet again, the McMahons have screwed the fans. They know the diehard fans will keep coming back no matter what crap he serves us. Maybe we shouldn’t keep coming back. Maybe that’s the only way to teach Vince a lesson about what the audience wants. They have lied to us since the beginning. There is no New Vision of ECW. In fact, ECW is still dead. It died in January 2001 (Shane Douglas, are you available for a eulogy?). I don’t know what that thing is that airs Tuesdays on the Sci Fi Channel.
Paul Heyman said it best earlier this summer. If you want more of a product, support it and let it grow. So it work the opposite way, too. If you don’t like the product, don’t watch. Stopping the revenue stream that flows into the pockets of the McMahon family is the only way to get your point across and to get the situation to change. It’s time to let ECW die the death it should have had nearly six years ago.
