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Was ECW all it was cracked up to be?


Liam O'Rourke

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So for this weeks podcast, we're going to look at ECW, and discuss the merits of the product throughout its history, and talk about how much of the stuff was genuine quality, and how much of it was the Heyman illusion. I think it's a pretty interesting topic, given the loyalty amongst hardcores it seemed to have, given the microscope that was always given to the Big Two, and is still given to WWE and TNA today.

 

I'll be reading feedback on the show and crediting you accordingly, so I want to get a bit of a gauge on opinions here - did you like the ECW product during the time? How do you feel it looks retrospectively? What did you like, what didn't you like? How important do you believe it was, and most of all, does it deserve the reputation it had and has to this day?

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Hugely innovative and influential. For better and for worse. Spawned a ton of copycat stuff, some of which is still ongoing today and thus misses the point of why ECW was edgy and taboo and groundbreaking... because it was different to what was out there. Changed the business, for sure. At least for a while. There might be an argument that the long-term influence has lessened, as the industry has largely reverted to its family-friendly gloss. What interests me is the thought of ECW existing in a world where there was no Monday Night Wars. Would the WWF have adopted so many of their successful elements if not driven by the necessity of beating WCW? Would a promotion with the fresh attributes offered back then by ECW have such influence today, with the WWE's near-monopoly in the States? I guess the comparison these days would be an ROH; whose style has somewhat influenced WWE's, but nowhere near to the extent ECW's did in the late 1990s.

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I never liked the ECW product. I always thought that was due to the horror/embarrassment of my dear old Gran and Grandad staying up with me to watch "the wrestling", only to turn over and see Dawn Marie flash her tits and make some shit innuendo about sucking a willy or 50. However, revisiting some shows on the Network, it wasn't only the memory of my loving Gran and Grandad thinking their grandchild is a depraved soul.

 

The production isn't up to it (which always puts me off wrestling TV shows) and it seems like every match somebody blows a spot or two, but they try the same spot a moment later. It's not for me, or my grandparents.

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ECW was what it was cracked up to be when no-one was watching it, but it peaked and steadily declined from 1995, they didn't get PPV clearance 'til 97 and 1998 ECW is one of the worst years of any promotion I've ever seen other than Heat Wave. The Douglas vs Snow match from Wrestlepalooza is a fucking abomination and them doing all the shit like it was a classic just made it even worse and made me angry as it was so fucking bad. In fact, from about 97 the mid-card with people like the FBI were normally more interesting and better than same old shit one top. Shane Douglas from his return in 96 was the shits. Any edge he had before he went to New York was just replaced with swearing a lot, going "HA HA HA" about three times every bloody sentence, and a fucking massive gut.

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ECW was what it was cracked up to be when no-one was watching it, but it peaked and steadily declined from 1995, they didn't get PPV clearance 'til 97 and 1998 ECW is one of the worst years of any promotion I've ever seen other than Heat Wave. The Douglas vs Snow match from Wrestlepalooza is a fucking abomination and them doing all the shit like it was a classic just made it even worse and made me angry as it was so fucking bad. In fact, from about 97 the mid-card with people like the FBI were normally more interesting and better than same old shit one top. Shane Douglas from his return in 96 was the shits. Any edge he had before he went to New York was just replaced with swearing a lot, going "HA HA HA" about three times every bloody sentence, and a fucking massive gut.

 

A bit harsh on Douglas. He was a fun prick during all that stuff with the Pitbulls where he was gleefully re-breaking the fellow's neck & twisting his horns, and also when he was getting into spats with Rick Rude. Wasn't he also meant to have been a real physical wreck around that time of the Al Snow match, to the extent that most insiders were impressed that he managed to tough it out at all? It doesn't make the match good or anything, but it would certainly qualify as genuine extenuating circumstances. He's never been a favourite of mine, but Douglas gets a far harsher time of it on here than he deserves imo

 

I never really got into ECW, although I did watch it religiously for the first couple of months when it came on Bravo every night for half an hour in late '98, until the repeats started. It's faults are well documented and valid, and there was a lot of shite to wade through - and not just in the obvious places like The Rottens, Justin Credible etc; Much of the fapped over stuff was utter bollocks too - the RVD/Lynn series, that big 3 hour long 3 way in '94 they all love, Sabu/RVD v Can Ams etc - even Eddie/Malenko. But for all of that, it was still a fun little alternative promotion whose influence can't be denied, and which unlike modern, insipid indie workrate feds, at least had a bit of charm, vibrancy and soul to it.

 

Heyman really was a creative genius in how he marketed it, in the characters he developed and how he could get so much out of such limited talent by way of perfect gimmicks and styles to make folk appealing whilst hiding their weaknesses. The production, although cheapish looking, was also perfect for what they were trying to be, and they almost always hit the spot with their skits, montages, choice of music etc. it was just a really happening little fed, at least up until around 97/98, and despite the fact there was very little in the way of traditional 'big-league' good wrestling coming out of it.

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I started reading PowerSlam in 1996, and loved ECW from the descriptions and the photos. Then ECW started on Bravo a couple of years after that (but the episodes would've been from around the time I started reading PS), and what a load of shit it actually was when you finally get to actually see it in motion. I don't think I've ever been as disappointed by anything in wrestling as I was by seeing an ECW broadcast for the first time.

 

I'd take One Night Stand 2005, the Rise and Fall documentary, and loads of WWE's ECW over any actual ECW shows.

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Of course it was all it was cracked up to be. It couldn't possibly have caught on to the extent it did without being absolutely the perfect product for that place and time. Judging it in retrospect is absolutely pointless because it was never about the quality of the wrestling, production or whatever.

 

What they achieved, getting onto national TV & PPV and growing to the point where some houses would sell upwards of 3,000 tickets from an independent at a time where there was no internet and the competition was tough is pretty remarkable really.

 

The first time I saw ECW as an impressionable teen in the last 90's, I thought it was astonishingly good. I can completely understand why all of those people bought into it in such a huge way. Even at that point, long past it's best, it felt fresh, edgy and real. Even though it wasn't. In hindsight, it's not as good but as I said, that's a pointless judgment to make.

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Nobody is arguing that Heyman didn't create a great brand. However, it seems I'm not alone in watching it at the time and thinking it wasn't very good. For me, part of that is down to the low budget production and the inferior wrestlers. Watching it back only refreshed and solidified this point of view. 

 

Granted, I didn't see the supposed two/three years when it wasn't dross.

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ECW possibly had some of the best Tag Team wrestling of the 90s though to be fair. FBI (Guido/Smothers), Furnas and Lafon, Eliminators (although they've aged poorly), Dudleys, Benoit and Malenko, Tajiri/Whipwreck, Candido and Storm, Guido and Smothers again as they were that fucking excellent, even the amazing PG13 turned up for a bit having strong matches on TV. ECW's tag teams were strong.

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I used to buy the ECW VHS tapes, which I generally enjoyed until they started overdubbing the theme songs with that dreadful techno music. There was usually a healthy mixture of good and bad on these shows. Douglas was crap as someone correctly pointed out. I enjoyed Sabu for the most part, Rhino was pretty good for a while and, of course Sandman being pissed through most of it.

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the time and place things plays a big part, for people looking back without having seen at the time i can imagine them not getting it, but at the time (i followed from like 99-01 but religiously caught up on everything during that time) it was just awesome.

 

My favorite time as a proper fan of the wrestling business was following ECW and the Attitude Era of the WWF by far, great times, great memories.

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