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WWE to respond to the pressure from ECW?

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Dames aka The Donzalez. Donzalez allows the One-Five Squad to hold it down proper and occasionally dispenses some sage advice of his own.

 

Brian aka Cerebellum Maximus. Max and The Chef battle it out all the time to see who can out-wit the other one but in the end it's all love. Max is known for his utmost patience in threads, waiting until that perfect moment to take somebody down.

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Guest JMA

How exactly would WWE respond to "the pressure from the success of the ECW PPV"? Will they make some small mention of how good it did on their website? Will an announcer casually mention how many people watched it? Will they bring back the ECW invasion due to the success of One Night Stand? Honestly, these sites reporting that WWE will "respond" aren't very specific about things like this. We need to know HOW they'll respond (if they even will).

 

I have to admit, a lot of the excitement that I had after ONS was over has faded (due to WWE not capitalizing on it), which is such a shame. The PPV was supposed to NOT exist in a vaccum, but it seems like it did just that. Think about how much money WWE could make by hiring the Blue Meaning and sticking him with Stevie and Nova (the Simon Dean gimmick is pretty much dead), reforming the bWo in the process. They could get Joey Styles and have him rejuvenate the painfully stale announcing team on Raw. They could hire Mike Awesome and have him be JBL's bodyguard (after JBL is brutalized by a gang of ECW wrestlers). They could have the Dudley Boyz (including Spike), led by Heyman, just randomly start attacking wrestlers (both heels and faces) on both shows. They don't even have to use those scenarios, there are literally dozens of things they could do with the excitement level from the PPV.

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The Donzalez...I'm feelin it.

 

Didn't think The Don would be in the One Five.

 

Much props given.

 

Dames, err...

 

Donzalez

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At first the idea of Smackdown becoming an ECW-style show seemed possible to me, but as soon as they drafted Orton, which pretty much guaranteed Taker was staying on SD as well, it just seems like that won't be the case. I guess they could do ECW vs. WWE loyalists, but that would pair up faces and heels on Smackdown, and would not be good TV in my opinion.

 

I think the best we can shoot for is for ECW to be given it's own show, separate from Raw and SD, possibly around the time of the release of the DVD.

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I have my doubts about a true ECW revival, because week-to-week interest in it would never be sustained, even with Heyman at the helm. First off, it would be given the shittiest timeslot. Second, Vince still wouldn't want his wrestlers to go balls-out and risk injury week by week, which is what ECW was built on. Third, hardcore wrestling is such a niche (and deservedly so) and would never get as popular as it once was, especially under the WW_ auspices.

 

If anything, Vince will assume he knows what made the ECW PPV so successful, water it down, and sprinkle it like fertilizer over RAW and SD! in the hopes of growing something successful.

 

Too bad fertilizer is just a fancy word for shit.

 

As for the brand split, having tired of HHH long ago, and having no hopes of ever liking RAW like I did long ago, I'm actually happy with SD!'s progress, lumps like Heidenreich and this "Smackdown Championship" bullshit notwithstanding. If they really can distinguish themselves through focusing on the wrestling, maybe we'll truly see if the cream can rise to the top.

 

But I'm not holding my breath.

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All I want to see from the WWE is something different, something new, unique.

 

If they're going to do that, I'd rather they actually did something that IS new. ECW isn't new. It's a company that died 4 years ago. You can't have a weekly nostalgia TV show and expect it to become more and more successful.

 

So, what if they have ECW every week. Every week, Joey Styles' voice becomes less of a markout, the matches seem less unique, the wrestler sightings become less special, the authenticity lapses (one show, sure, great...a weekly TV show can't be authentic ECW. And guaranteed, when the TV show isn't authentic, it won't take long for everyone to piss and moan about it), the markouts will finally stop and people will realise that ECW was far from perfection.

 

I mean, as an example...the BWO works great as a nostalgia act. Weekly? What's the point of having an NWO parody turn up every week when there's no NWO to even parody anymore?

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So, what if they have ECW every week. Every week, Joey Styles' voice becomes less of a markout, the matches seem less unique, the wrestler sightings become less special, the authenticity lapses (one show, sure, great...a weekly TV show can't be authentic ECW. And guaranteed, when the TV show isn't authentic, it won't take long for everyone to piss and moan about it), the markouts will finally stop and people will realise that ECW was far from perfection.

 

I mean, as an example...the BWO works great as a nostalgia act. Weekly? What's the point of having an NWO parody turn up every week when there's no NWO to even parody anymore?

 

It can't be based on nostalgia alone, that's the key. There would have to be new talent thrown into the mix. The key focus of a reborn ECW would be the more intimate setting, keeping the show in a venue like the Manhatten Center/Hammerstein Ballroom, a smarter more adult influenced style of booking, the brand name, Joey Styles and Paul Heyman involved with the creative process. Perhaps a stiffer style, offense that allows the use of chairs, in an RVD or Sabu way, but isn't people getting cracked over the skull a dozen times a night with a chair.

 

Yes, you would have guys like Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, The Dudleys, Sabu, RVD, Stevie and other past ECW names like Tajiri, Little Guido, Rhyno, Super Crazy, etc. but I think the whole focus of bringing back this brand of wrestling is for Heyman influenced booking to take guys like Paul London, CM Punk, Akio, Jamie Noble, Juvi, Bryan Danielson, Lo Ki, maybe even a Shane Helms or Shannon Moore etc. - guys that you know would get over with an ECW crowd - and make them stars, showcase their strengths, minimize their weaknesses and do those little things that WWE creative fail to do on a routine basis.

 

It's like NoCalMike said, their is no point to a brand extension with two products that are formatted exactly the same, with the same creative teams, etc. Even this years draft is flat because wrestler A that gets drafted to Smackdown or Raw is just going to be booked the same as they were on the other show. It's the same people writing the shows. The name ECW doesn't necessarily have to be brought back just to create an alternative looking product but judging from the DVD sales and the PPV buy estimates, the name obviously doesn't hurt and still holds some sort of attachment with fans from the last boom period of wrestling.

 

Ultimately, I think Vince is faced with this when it comes to responding to One Night Stand. Creative Paul Heyman vs. creative Stephanie and Brian Gerwitz. Steph and Gerwitz hate Heyman while others on WWE creative like Dava Lagana and Ed Koskie were fans of ECW. Heyman has been demoted twice at the urging of Steph and Gerwtiz. If Vince was a good business man and wanted to do what's right for the business, he would put Heyman back in a creative position, ECW or not, with no restraints and an open mind, just like he had for this PPV, and let the audience determine who produces the better product. Heyman's contract is up at the end of the year and I'm sure any potential competitor would welcome his input.

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I think the best we can shoot for is for ECW to be given it's own show, separate from Raw and SD,  possibly around the time of the release of the DVD.

 

Doesn't the DVD of ONS come out on Tuesday?

 

 

If so, forget I ever mentioned that idea. :D

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The ECW show (if there is one) would at first be about marking out and nostalgia, that's true. Thing is, several of these guys are old and would likely be around for maybe a year or so before they start having to put over some new talent. The main problem Heyman had with this strategy initially is that he had newer talent that people didn't accept in that role (Justin Credible, Rhino, even Corino to some extent). I mean hell Justin at various points went over Sandman, Dreamer, Sabu, etc. and instead of getting him over it just pissed people off.

 

This is the only main problem I think ECW would have, the segue from the original stars to the newer guys.

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