One of the most common complaints that we get is about ECW and
WWE's perception of ECW. Please allow me to bold on a few truths here.
For starters, a vast majority of the fan base ECW had is gone
and no longer watching the product. This has nothing to do with the Vince
McMahon's "Vision". The die hard ECW fans have left the sport a long time ago.
The new found fascination with ECW came on the heels of the the success of "The
Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD. The hardest truth to swallow is the fact that a
majority of those who purchased the DVD did so out of curiosity and because it
was a WWE DVD. WWE fans had an opportunity to get the history and better
understanding of ECW as they had just been exposed to the company during the
Invasion/Alliance angle.
One of the most alarming trends seen now is those that only
have the memories of ECW that were fed to you via that DVD. When ECW was run by
Stephanie McMahon, fans didn't care less about ECW. Why? Perhaps they were too
distracted on how WWE was dropping the ball with the WCW acquisition story line.
At that time there was not a public out cry, there wasn't a glimmer of
complaints coming from the fans talking about tarnishing ECW. The only gripe the
fans had with the ECW end of things in that angle was that Stephanie was
involved with it and even that was tame given the presence of Paul Heyman.
I dare challenge any of the so called "Die Hard" ECW fans to
bring to me any examples of how ECW is not legit to the previous ECW. There
isn't any because there isn't any true die hard fans left out there. RVD himself
said hit was his idea to approach Vince about doing the One Night Stand PPV.
Vince, after seeing the overwhelming sales of the DVD felt that it would be
worth giving it a shot. For that one night only, they did bring in a lot of the
old ECW flare. But there is one catch however, it still wasn't "ECW".
Shane Douglas decided that he too would capitalize on the ECW
popularity and booked a show with talent that were a part of ECW but were not
actively members of the WWE Roster. The show did well, it was run in the right
place and it offered a feeling of Nostalgia to those who had spent time in the
old ECW arena.
What people tend to forget is that the next year, Shane
Douglas attempted not only to run another ECW type show but this time he was
going to travel with it. He along side Todd Gordon decided it would be a great
idea to take ECW to all the main stay cities where they had a strong following.
The only problem was that they soon found out that the fan base was no longer
there and subsequently dissolved the promotion. On a side note to this section,
Shane Douglas admitted in a Gerweck.net Exclusive interview that he did run his
show to get to Vince and that what followed in terms of the other shows fell
squarely on the shoulders of Todd Gordon.
Back to ECW of Today. RVD in his media junket has openly
discussed the reformation of ECW. In his own words, he stated that Vince had
never had the intentions on bringing ECW back from the dead. He didn't want the
same style and feel as the old ECW rather he had a different vision entirely.
When you look at the facts of the situation, the logic is
there. The DVD was called "The Rise and Fall of ECW". They fell for many reasons
and the fan base strongly dictated that. They were a company that was based in
the North East and had a very limited broadcast range so not many people saw the
product weekly unless they had the MSG channel via satellite. Vince McMahon was
now taking a recognizable name and branding it his own way.
To prevent the would be responses as to Vince tarnishing the
companies name and legacy, please take into account the following. ECW's stars
at the time of it's closing were not the guys that were responsible for building
the company. Those that help get the company off the ground were quickly
defecting to either the then WWF or the WCW. Had ECW outlasted that of WCW or
even survived on it's own with or without competition, ECW would have been
forced to evolve. The WWE is constantly evolving and it's through this method
that we have seamless transitions when superstars come and go. Had ECW survived
over the last 5 years, the show would have been forced to create new stars. The
stars that people associate with ECW were either gone or near dead and couldn't
keep up with that style of wrestling much longer.
As for present day ECW, it's a work in progress. As of this
writing it does serve a significant role in the WWE structure. I am sure that
there are several people scratching their heads right now completely confused.
Despite ECW's lower ratings, it does play a major role to up
and coming WWE Superstars. To elaborate, the only exposure that a young wrestler
gets these days is via Indie shows that air on Public Access TV or through the
developmental system and even still have a very limited TV base.
All to often, WWE has been guilty of pulling people from the
developmental territories and getting them on TV way to soon. This has caused a
dramatic effect on both the business and those that work in it. How many guys
came to TV via Raw or Smackdown straight out of the system only to be released
less than 3 months later? The problem is that WWE needs to help these wrestlers
hone their craft but also need to prepare them for a broader audience. Through
the implementation of ECW, wrestlers now get a chance to get on TV and test the
waters with a live crowd. Many guys have come and gone from ECW television and
that's fine because it's a proving ground for most of these talents. Sometimes
the reality is that they are not ready for TV so they go back into the system
and are not burdened with the feeling of failure because WWE built them into a
gimmick that didn't work and now they were being let go because WWE jumped the
gun. Expect to see more and more younger talent cutting their teeth in the ECW
Ring.
When looking at in in retrospect, the audience watching ECW
now is far greater than those that saw it the show at it's peak of success.
There is also one other purpose that ECW provides to the WWE
fans and to most of you it goes unnoticed. ECW serves as the "after dinner" mint
to RAW. If something major happened at the conclusion of RAW, fans would tune
into to ECW to see how the story developed. ECW is a live show and live shows
equal unpredictability so who knows what's going to leak into the ECW program.
It was on ECW that Vince McMahon made his public apology with respects to the
previous nights RAW Benoit memorial show.
Source: Nick Nailer
I think he nailed it right on the head there (no pun intended).
