WWE Could Add Third ECW-Type Brand

[Guest glennsoe]

WWE Could Add Third ECW-Type Brand

 

Could WWE be planning a third brand?

 

There are a lot of rumors going around that WWE may introduce a third brand, one that would be more "hardcore" and have an ECW-like formula. WWE owns the ECW name so they could use that name if they wanted. The thinking is that they could air shows for the new brand late at night. This was actually the idea that WWE had back with Shotgun Saturday Night, but that never panned out.

 

Of course, doing this would contradict the new "safer mat wrestling" formula that management is trying to establish with RAW and Smackdown. At the same time, WWE has more timeslots at their fingertips if needed and they basically have to do something very different for any new show to work.

 

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

 

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This would rule only if they allow the cruiserweights to fight eachother, and not be squashed by ATrain/Morgan/Show and the big boys !

 

What do you fellows think ??

[Zack Malibu 0]

If it's ECW-like, it's not going to be strictly cruisers, bro.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

So would their attempt to make ECW be similar to their attempt to make a football promotion or their attempt to be a wrestling company?

[Guest Ghettoman]

I just want this to happen already, Vince has said a couple times he wants to do this, at this point it's just do it already or shut up.

[Guest Goodear]

Big mistake. What killed ECW in the end was that they had a whole card full of the same sort of stuff over and over again. Any promotion that is going to be strictly one style of match ups (all brawls, flying, power ... blah, blah) is going to be a failure. No one is going to care about a sunset flip powerbomb if they see a whole show full of them.

[JJMc 0]

Fine, but there should be NO references to Raw, Smackdown or anything outside of itself. I can't stand it when we see Raw clips on SD, like last week w/ GB & Lesnar.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

What caused ECW to die was bad business and financial decisions. At their demise, they were getting upwards of 5000 people at a show so I don't think the product was the source of it's demise as the fan enjoyment was there. However, if the WWE is hoping to tap into another wrestling market, they will fail miserably just by the nature of what they're doing. ECW under the WWE brand is still the WWE.

[k thx 0]

Fine, but there should be NO references to Raw, Smackdown or anything outside of itself. I can't stand it when we see Raw clips on SD, like last week w/ GB & Lesnar.

Yeah, but that was done in context. It's not like they were hyping up something completely unrelated on that show, just showing that Goldberg's talkiing trash about an SD superstar.

[1234-5678 0]

Who would you pick to be the first Champion of this "new" ECW? I gotta go with RVD.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Shane McMahon

[1234-5678 0]

Of course this "promotion" would have to run it's own buildings, and not just be taped prior to Raw or Smackdown. All this shit should've went down during the Invasion anyways. Raw=WCW, Smackdown=WWE, Heat=ECW. Once again, I gotta say it........DUH.

[JJMc 0]

Fine, but there should be NO references to Raw, Smackdown or anything outside of itself. I can't stand it when we see Raw clips on SD, like last week w/ GB & Lesnar.

Yeah, but that was done in context. It's not like they were hyping up something completely unrelated on that show, just showing that Goldberg's talkiing trash about an SD superstar.

Yeah, that's true. I just hate it because it takes away from the two seperate brands thing.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

Shane McMahon

Stephanie McMahon, because she was the last owner of ECW.

[DerangedHermit 0]

Shane McMahon

Nuh uh, Shane does not embody the spirit of ECW. I know someone better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Stephanie McMahon!

[Slingshot Suplex 0]

I hate the idea.

 

I loved ECW. They aren't going to recreate the electricity that ECW had in it's prime. Just leave it's legacy in peace and don't try to bring it back as a watered down WWE product. Sell all the ECW DVDs you want to...use the footage for compilation DVDs......just don't try to revive it as a "third" promotion because it won't be.

[Downhome 0]

Have Vince get pissed at Paul Heyman and "fire" him as GM, maybe right after WrestleMania. Just have Heyman bring ECW back and have him be on that show, and have them totally seperate. Maybe have Vince do something so horrible to Heyman that it causes a bunch of the former ECW talent that is current on RAW/SD to walk out and just go with Heyman, and while they are at it maybe pick up a few more former ECW talents to join the bunch. It could work, but as they say, it's got to be done right.

 

Something WWE rarely does this day and age.

 

Speaking of Shotgun Saturday Night, do you guys remember the Tombstone on the escalator?

[Nevermortal 0]

Speaking of Shotgun Saturday Night, do you guys remember the Tombstone on the escalator?

Or D-Lo taking the Pearl River Plunge on the car?

[Superstring 0]

This was actually the idea that WWE had back with Shotgun Saturday Night, but that never panned out.

Never heard of this show before, what was it like?

[Human Fly 0]

I honestly think they could do this and it would work. They could run in old ECW areas (in the same arenas even) and they would only have to have TV tapings every 3 or 4 weeks. They would not need to have but a couple big names on the show, because it is not like they have big names on the their night shows now, and they would run the smaller arenas so it would be easier to sell out. They could even get Joey Styles as he has said he is willing to work for the WWE but only on a limited schedule.

 

For the roster I would have Mick Foley or Shane McMahon be the commisioner/GM. Val Venis, Lance Storm, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Rodney Mack (when he is healthy), Stevie Richards, Spike Dudley, Jon Heidenreich (if they are not going to fire him they might as well use him in a hardcore setting where his limitations would be disguised somewhat), Nova, Nick Dinsmore, Kanyon, Hardcore Holly, Sean O'Haire, Zach Gowen (paying him might as well use him), Guido, Palumbo, and Stamboli would be guys they could use on the current roster. Realistically they could bring in guys like Steve Blackman (who says he wants to come back and would do well in the hardcore setting), Danny Doring, Roadkill, Jeff Hardy (they are already talking about bringing him back. Using him in this setting where he could work with props and not have to work as often would be beneficial for both parties.) among others.

 

The biggest problem would be who was booking it. If Vince and crew have their hands all over this one it would be a mess and iIf Shane is booking then Test is Champ. In a perfect world a combo of Foley, Dreamer, and Heyman would probably work out pretty well.

[Human Fly 0]

This was actually the idea that WWE had back with Shotgun Saturday Night, but that never panned out.

Never heard of this show before, what was it like?

WWF events at Nightclubs and other weird locations. It was actually pretty cool until they changed it to just another arena show (but Brian Pillman on commentary was excellent).

[Guest Krazy Karter]

How much would it cost to rent out the arenas ECW used to frequent?

 

Manhattan Center is sitting vacant. Use that and Viking Hall (if it's available) and I'll watch.

 

It would cost WWE pennies, and they'd be using talent already under contract.

 

Worth a shot.

[NoCalMike 0]

this rumor seems to come up every 6 months or so. Only way it works is if Heyman has complete control, as far as writing and creative control, (besides financial decisions of course). Also, the "ecw brand" cannot be treated like a farm league. When they designate workers for the ecw brand Vince needs to show a commitment to making this work. Not just some 2 week experiment to spike the ratings for a bit only to pull the plug. Also, the wrestling style should be allowed to be ECW's not WWE with an ECW banner painted on the ring apron, which leads to, smaller ring, tighter ropes, ya know the way cruisers are SUPPOSED to do it!?! I am not getting my hopes up for this to happen though. If it did, I have a feeling Vince would make Heyman/ECW a heel group rather then it's "own entity"

[JoeDirt 0]

The question is, when they say "hardcore" what do they mean?

 

Do they mean ECW style hardcore? Do they mean WWE style hardcore, with lots of trash can lids and broomsticks?

 

I really think it could work if they do it right. I've always wondered why there wasn't a late night wrestling show by the WWE. Just one hour a week, I think it could work, especially if they don't overexpose or overhype it. I don't think it needs to be ECW again...they should create their own brand/name.

[jester 0]

  What killed ECW in the end was that they had a whole card full of the same sort of stuff over and over again.  Any promotion that is going to be strictly one style of match ups (all brawls, flying, power ... blah, blah) is going to be a failure.  No one is going to care about a sunset flip powerbomb if they see a whole show full of them.

<vince> That's not true. People will love a roster full of generic OVW Hosses. </vince>

[NYU 0]

For the roster I would have Mick Foley or Shane McMahon be the commisioner/GM. Val Venis, Lance Storm, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Rodney Mack (when he is healthy), Stevie Richards, Spike Dudley, Jon Heidenreich (if they are not going to fire him they might as well use him in a hardcore setting where his limitations would be disguised somewhat), Nova, Nick Dinsmore, Kanyon, Hardcore Holly, Sean O'Haire, Zach Gowen (paying him might as well use him), Guido, Palumbo, and Stamboli would be guys they could use on the current roster. Realistically they could bring in guys like Steve Blackman (who says he wants to come back and would do well in the hardcore setting), Danny Doring, Roadkill, Jeff Hardy (they are already talking about bringing him back.

I don't think that roster would work for the ECW brand. Besides RVD, you have absolutely no marquee wrestlers or wrestlers that people actually want to tune in and watch. Sure, eventually you'll get those - but if Vince is starting up the ECW brand, he needs a couple of more wrestlers that actually have a fan following.

 

They could use this roster, but personally, I would make sure they had more than 1 relatively popular and established superstar.

 

Taking 3 from RAW: Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Kane

 

Taking 2 from Smackdown: Edge, John Cena

 

And then adding the rest of that roster and building it up eventually until they became potential ECW Main-Eventers in the eyes of the fans.

 

At this point, having Val Venis or Steven Richards as ECW Champion just wouldn't work on a show that's definitely going to be watched by more WWE fans than ECW fans.

[Guest JMA]

The question is would Vince allow any of the "good" wrestlers to be under the ECW banner? I doubt he'd let any of the young guys work under Heyman either.

[haVoc 0]

I don't get why they just don't have a weekly OVW Saturday night show. It will give guys exposure for when they finally get called up to the big league. Plus, it will give them TV experience.

 

There is so many things they could do with it. Who ever wins between "X" wrestler & "Y" wrestler gets a WWE contract. Some of the WWE guys who aren't doing much on TV could go down there and work some angles with the younger/newer talent.

 

The show doesn't have to be as clean and polished as WWE either. Less production to save money.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

They could use this roster, but personally, I would make sure they had more than 1 relatively popular and established superstar.

 

Taking 3 from RAW: Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Kane

 

Taking 2 from Smackdown: Edge, John Cena

But there's the problem - the average fan isn't going to tune in to watch wrestling late on a Sat. night, no matter who is on the roster. You'd be taking some of the biggest fan favorites and putting them in a bad situation, esp. Cena, arguably the hottest face in the company right now, that will more than likely end up losing them their heat. Plus, you end up hurting Raw & SD by taking away some of their biggest names.

 

I can't see how they could make this work without making it seem like a C-level show.

[Guest Coffey]

I'll believe it when I see it. We've all heard this tidbit several times over the past couple of years. It's just more shit being thrown at us like the promise of cruisers getting pushed.

 

It is cool to speculate on though. Would this new show have it's own titles? Would Paul Heyman be moved to this new show? Assuming they did have their own title, who would they let have it? Tommy Dreamer?

[Slingshot Suplex 0]

This screams "a step above OVW" to me.

 

Somewhere between developmental league and the big league.