WWECW

[Devon Malcolm]

So I've been watching some of the shows from just after the relaunch of ECW and it really was weird for a while. To the point where I'm not sure what some of the stuff that happened was supposed to achieve.

 

For instance, The Big Show started doing a bunch of new moves presumably to try and humour ECW smarks who just thought he was a lumbering bag of shit. They did that ECW at the Hammerstein Ballroom for a bit of a nostalgia kick for the old fans and then put Batista v Big Show in the main event but while debuting CM Punk in front of some fans who knew who he was.

 

There was probably a whole load of other stuff that was weird and pointless as well, but not necessarily shit. WWECW memories? Was it better when it became WWE's C-show or when it was trying to be a bit like the old ECW at the start and we were supposed to know who CW Anderson was?

 

The Zombie goes without saying, obviously.

[PowerButchi]

From 2008 ECW was the best wrestling programme on TV. Brilliantly paced, simple and good feuds, and consistently high quality matches. As soon as they god rid of every bit of the old original ECW stink about it, then it became a truly magnificent show. Fuck, even Tommy Dreamer was putting on great matches. Christian, William Regal and Goldust were fucking colossal on it quality wise!

[The Dart]

I loved it. When it was like ECW it was great, it just should have been recorded in front of its own audience.

 

When it turned into the stopgap between FCW and Raw/Smackdown it was still great, it just suffered from being called ECW.

[Devon Malcolm]

It did suffer at times from being taped with Smackdown because the crowds didn't really turn up for it especially at the start.

 

What was really weird, though, that they did separate ECW house shows for a while, didn't they?

[Daaaaaad!]

They ran 'em for six months according to Online World of Wrestling. I think they really did plan to make it a relatively separate entity - their first house show at The Arena in Philidelphia had CM Punk debuting and featured a main event of RVD vs. Kurt Angle. Of course, by the fourth one ECW was pretty much dead as the original incarnation taken from the second One Night Stand, as RVD had been suspended and guys like Ryan O'Reilly (now Conor O'Brian in FCW, I gather) and Derrick Neikirk were regularly beating the FBI on the house show circuit.

[Devon Malcolm]

Really odd that they ran those considering they wouldn't do a separate ECW taping most of the time. I remember reading some really odd results from those house shows at the start, though, like a house feud between CW Anderson and Stevie Richards.

[PowerButchi]

Brad Armstrong, Rodney Mack and Marty Jannetty were on the ECW house shows as well, I think.

[Killjoy_Gee]

I think the ECW championship had really bad luck when it came to PPV - which does make me laugh. Wrestlemania 23 - not defended and established as a truly mid card title, 8 seconds at Wrestlemania 24 and even less at Summerslam (Christian vs Regal - though I loved that)

 

I remember when Undertaker won the Rumble and was staring down Batista, Cena and Lashley to determine who he'd face at 'Mania 23... Lashley looked so out of place, just because you knew he wouldn't be picked. Though I personally would have loved to see the Wrestlemania 23 main event contested for the ECW Championship and all built on WWECW programming.

[Devon Malcolm]

Brad Armstrong, Rodney Mack and Marty Jannetty were on the ECW house shows as well, I think.

 

I remember your excitement on TWCF about Brad Armstrong popping up in ECW. He helped a lot of the younger guys on there in a short space of time, didn't he?

[PowerButchi]

Yeah. I think that's the whole reason they were hired to be honest (I don't see how Mack falls into that category though), great vets for the rookies to work with and learn from. A role Finlay did very well on WWECW as well

[jakeamania]

I thought WWECW was gash, it was on par with Heat and Velocity, particulary when Chavo got the strap.

 

In fairness to it, it suffered a lot of bad luck, Angle fucked off at the inception, RVD got suspended meaning Show got the strap and had to fued with Sabu, Heymans head went down after that jarg PPV in the December and the preverbial final nail in the coffin for me was Benoit as i feel he would of beat Punk at fhe Vengeance PPV with Punk finally beating Benoit down the road.

 

From 2008 onwards it was shit... DJ Gabriel, The Abraham Washington Show Tiffany as GM, Zack Ryders wrestling attire, awful.

[Devon Malcolm]

the preverbial final nail in the coffin for me was Benoit as i feel he would of beat Punk at fhe Vengeance PPV with Punk finally beating Benoit down the road.

 

Cobblers. They took the opportunity to establish someone else in Morrison and he had a great run in ECW thereafter. The resulting feud with Punk was really well built for a long time. They did a superb repair job afterwards.

 

Also, what the fuck was wrong with Heat and Velocity?

[PowerButchi]

From 2008 onwards it was shit... DJ Gabriel, The Abraham Washington Show Tiffany as GM, Zack Ryders wrestling attire, awful.

 

It really, really wasn't. Christian had loads of crackers with Swagger and Regal. Regal was really superb during this spell, and there was the fantastic renaissance of Goldust. After 2008 it the was best weekly wrestling TV show in the US!

[Arch Stanton]

I was always a fan, doubt I missed more than a couple of episodes during it's entire run. All those people that were going 'Whoa, when did Mark Henry get so good?!' in the summer of 2011 obviously weren't watching ECW two years earlier. Henry had a super run as a heel champion on that show, with Tony Atlas at his side.

[jakeamania]

the preverbial final nail in the coffin for me was Benoit as i feel he would of beat Punk at fhe Vengeance PPV with Punk finally beating Benoit down the road.

 

Cobblers. They took the opportunity to establish someone else in Morrison and he had a great run in ECW thereafter. The resulting feud with Punk was really well built for a long time. They did a superb repair job afterwards.

 

Also, what the fuck was wrong with Heat and Velocity?

 

I would have preferred a Benoyt Punk fued than Punk Morrison, the reference to Heat and Velocity was because it was an obvious C show, there was no attempt to get it even close to Raw and Smackdown, a Smackdown show which at the time was only watchable due to a entertaining Matt v MVP fued

 

 

From 2008 onwards it was shit... DJ Gabriel, The Abraham Washington Show Tiffany as GM, Zack Ryders wrestling attire, awful.

 

It really, really wasn't. Christian had loads of crackers with Swagger and Regal. Regal was really superb during this spell, and there was the fantastic renaissance of Goldust. After 2008 it the was best weekly wrestling TV show in the US!

 

Yeah you can keep your "Goldust renaissance" and your Chrsitian Swaggers matches, it did fuck all for me, the threads title sums it up prefectly. Start a "How Many Boxes of Kleenex i went thru watchin WWECW" if you want and you wont find me posting on it.

 

 

IMO it was gash.