Could Paul Heyman Bring ECW Back to the WWE?
The best manager working in the WWE right now is Paul Heyman. He currently is having success accompanying both Brock Lesnar and CM Punk to the ring.
But Heyman's biggest career accomplishment is ECW. He was the creative force behind the promotion.
ECW was founded in 1992 and Heyman took over as owner in 1996. It was known for its extreme style of wrestling and rowdy crowds. It changed many things about professional wrestling as a product.
In 1999, ECW was nationally televised on TNN and was the highest-rated show on the network. But after WWF signed on with TNN, ECW was cancelled from the network. After being unable to land another national television deal, ECW eventually went bankrupt.
The WWE purchased the assets to ECW and still owns the rights to the promotion. The WWE relaunched ECW in 2006 to act as a third brand in the company, the others being Raw and SmackDown. Heyman was brought back to run the ECW brand.
This actually had some success and saw some of the top Superstars in the company have success as apart of the ECW brand. Big Superstars like Big Show, Kane, CM Punk, Bobby Lashley and even Vince McMahon had reigns as ECW champion.
The three brand rivalry was very entertaining and gave another platform for new superstars to emerge and old superstars to stay fresh. My favorite moments of having the ECW brand in the WWE was the invasion of the ECW into the company and the "Champion of Champion's" feud.
The three champions of each brand feuded to see which brand was No. 1. John Cena was the WWE champion at the time, King Booker was the World Heavyweight champion and Big Show was the ECW champion.
This, along with the invasion, brought some nice attention and hype for ECW, and it was close to being on the same level as SmackDown and Raw.
The relaunch lasted until 2010. But now with Heyman back as being a top figure in the WWE, could the company use him to relaunch ECW in the WWE again?
The upcoming pay-per-view in the WWE is Extreme Rules. This could be the perfect platform for the beginning of the return of ECW.
One way I believe this could work and be an interesting storyline is if it is billed as WWE versus ECW. The division between the two brands would be entertaining television each week and give the WWE some fresh angles.
If the WWE were to decide to go in this direction, it would need top Superstars to anchor the brand. We could see Heyman try and convince Superstars to join him and sign with ECW.
This will bring out the best in Heyman's character because it will show his cunningness and show him as a true businessman.
The two Superstars who could help make this work are CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. Both of them are already "Heyman guys."
Punk could become the ECW champion and go in the direction of declaring the title as being greater than any title in the WWE.
Lesnar's return to the WWE has yet to result in gold being around his waste. Having Lesnar as the first ECW champion would give the title credibility right away. The angle Heyman could push could be that there is no Superstar in the WWE as dominant as his champion.
The Shield and guys like Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesario could also have a big impact with ECW.
What this could also do is give some of the midcard talent a chance to get some nice pushes, give Superstars who are in a bit of a limbo some direction and help make face and heel turns happen in a more interesting way.
Having Heyman bring back ECW could open doors for the WWE and its superstars. Invasions and rivalries between brands in the WWE has been a successful formula in the past and could be very successful right now.
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