OAO ECW TV Thread - June 13th 2006

[Guest The Spike]

The original plan last night was to have Sandman come out and cane an alien, but Sci-Fi was fearful that this may turn away their (sci-fi) fanbase by having Sandman beat up on an alien, so a zombie was inserted instead.

Sweet Zombie Jesus. Somehow this makes me yearn for the days of ECW on TNN. At least back then we got Cyrus pimping Rock N Bowl and RollerJam.

[AmazingRen 0]

From WrestlingObserver:

 

 

Writing change at WWE

 

David Lagana has been replaced as lead writer on Smackdown by Alex Greenfield. Lagana will move to being a writer on ECW.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I have one thing to say...

 

 

FERTIG~!

[Angle-plex 0]

David Lagana has been replaced as lead writer on Smackdown by Alex Greenfield. Lagana will move to being a writer on ECW.

 

wrestlingobserver.com

[justcoz 0]

From WrestlingObserver:

 

 

Writing change at WWE

 

David Lagana has been replaced as lead writer on Smackdown by Alex Greenfield. Lagana will move to being a writer on ECW.

 

This may not be a bad idea. Lagana was an ECW Arena fan and was also Heyman's right hand man when Paul was in charge of Smackdown's creative team. I think there needs to be a middle man between Paul Heyman and the McMahon/Kevin Dunn duo. From what I've read Lagana is well-liked enough within the company that he could possibly fill that role while Heyman can still get something resembling his vision of ECW into the picture. I don't know. I'm still sickened from last night. Paul did great in OVW and I really thought they'd just let him be as head of ECW's creative but McMahon and WWE creative's finger prints were all over last night's show. I'd be satisfied with a happy medium and if Lagana is the answer and it keeps Gerwitz, Steph and Vince out of the picture somewhat, it's a good move.

[dubq 0]

How the fuck Gerwirtz (or HOWEVER his name is spelled) still has ANY kind of job is beyond me.

[tominator89 0]

Extremely Tepid

First things first: if you have visited a website either run by (or featuring reader "feedback" from) idiots declaring last night's ECW Debut "the worst hour of wrestling ever broadcast," then please promise me you'll never go back there again. OO will have plenty more on that issue tomorrow, though. For now, our business is to fill you in on the results of ECW's first night back as a full-time promotion. You had sex and violence. You had solid promo work (albeit by WWE's Edge). You had a pleasantly surprising finish when Sabu (instead of Big Show) won a main event Battle Royale. Then again, you also had a bit too much of a focus on WWE/RAW guys, you had vampires and Zombies, and you had a total lack of significant in-ring action. The Cubs Fan has details in the ECW Recap.

 

From: http://onlineonslaught.com/

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't think anyone understood what I meant earlier about the show needing to be 2 hours. There was no time to do anything last night. The opening segment would be ok for the average Raw but on a 1 hour show it was excessive. It felt pretty much like the 1st hour of a mediocre Raw, without something like an RVD title defense to close the show. It's like the first hour of a 2 hour show without the 2nd hour to redeem it.

 

I've been watching these old ECW episodes on the 24/7 deal. Those shows were very hit or miss as well.

[Angle-plex 0]

Why not just do the second hour as a one hour show and eliminate whatever the hell that was?

[AlaskanHero 0]

I honestly want to say that I liked the show, just because everyone else said they didn't like it, but in all good conscience, I can't. Seriously, in the 10 or so years that I've been watching wrestling, this is the first show that I ever disliked. Ever.

 

I'll keep watching though. I mean, it is just the first week and it could improve exponentially between now and when their Sci-Fi contract is up. Also, it's not like there's anything else I feel like watching on Tuesday nights. They better get their shit together though. And after seeing the entrance twice, Sandman really does need Enter Sandman. I thought he'd be ok without it, but he won't. He really won't.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

People should have seen this coming. At least after the disasterous finish of the PPV on Sunday, if not when the whole project was announced. This was always going to be Vince's version of ECW, which is essentially WWE with a new name.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I'm thinking of ECW like an expansion team in sports. Kinda like the Cleveland Browns in 1999. Sure they sucked, but we (Clevelanders) loved them anyway and were/are always optimistic for improvement. Now, it's 2006, and well . . . . ummm, nevermind.*

 

*Granted, the Browns are having a nice offseason.

 

-------------------------

 

What does everyone want out of this show anyway? Just curious. I mean if I see 1-2 nice matches per week w/ a little violence and some basic, logical feuds, I'll be a happy camper.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

That was WCW Thunder-level terrible. Just the absolute worst possible start to the 'new' ECW.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

People should have seen this coming.

I don't think people expected something so incredibly awful and without merit.

[Guest Coffey]

What does everyone want out of this show anyway? Just curious. I mean if I see 1-2 nice matches per week w/ a little violence and some basic, logical feuds, I'll be a happy camper.

I want it to "feel" like it's not a WWE show. I don't want to constantly be reminded that it's Vince's idea of ECW. Apparently my expectations with that are WAY too high.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

 

The original plan last night was to have Sandman come out and cane an alien, but Sci-Fi was fearful that this may turn away their (sci-fi) fanbase by having Sandman beat up on an alien, so a zombie was inserted instead.

Sweet Zombie Jesus. Somehow this makes me yearn for the days of ECW on TNN. At least back then we got Cyrus pimping Rock N Bowl and RollerJam.

 

Hell, ECW on TNN was awesome. Granted, I couldn't see it when it aired due to work, but looking back on tapes in the past year or two, a lot of it was incredible (although, some of it was repitious but that's beside the point).

 

If there was ever a show that needed Cyrus's "Excuse me! Excuse . . . me!" line, last night was definitely it.

 

However, like an idiot, I still have a grain or two of hope that we'll get a quality wrestling show when Vengeance is over. I am NOT expecting ECW: Hardcore TV 2006, just some quality and/or violent wrestling with a decent angle or two. The presentation (ppv ads, arena shots, clean production) doesn't bother me in the least if the product ends up being pretty good.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

My thoughts (since I'm finally able to post after problems earlier today):

 

I didn't think the show was _that_ bad. Definitely below the quality it should have been, but I'm HOPING that they're going to work out the kinks and give us a true alternative, not RAW-Lite like we saw last night.

 

- So sue me, the Zombie had me laughing. I thought it was hillarious. There's nothing wrong with gimmicky jobbers, and that's what the Zombie is. At least they used him to put Sandman over. I'm not a huge Sandman fan, but they do need to get the old guys over again, too.

 

- Kurt Angle's match was definitely the best wrestling on the show, by far. I'm hoping they keep tweaking his character...the new choke-out finisher is a good start. Can we get new music next?

 

- Kelly seemed like just another bimbo we would've seen on RAW or Smackdown. I wish WWE would realize that we have the internet if we want to see half-naked chicks. Sadly, I bet her segment was the highest rated on the show. Yeah, she's hot, but she doesn't look any different to me than the countless other "divas" we've seen.

 

- I enjoyed the battle royal for what it was. There were enough decent spots to keep me entertained. I was glad to see Sabu go over, but I don't really get the point of him wrestling Cena.

 

- Cena and Edge shouldn't have been on the show. The whole RAW vs ECW angle is getting asinine. The whole opening segment made ECW look like a bunch of losers. It wouldn't have been so bad if the whole locker room had come out and beat the crap out of Cena and Edge after Paul E. got punked, rather than looking like pussies until Heyman was rallying them during the next segment.

 

So yeah...overall a bad show, but it had enough decent stuff to keep me watching, if that makes sense. I really hope that all of Vince and Co. realize how bad the show was, and let Heyman do things his way. We need to see a totally different presentation to the show, as well. No more having Styles and Tazz sit at the same table as Lawler and JR do.

[NoCalMike 0]

I think ECW should just stop being a live show, and instead just send camera men to their house shows, to tape everything that happens, then on Sundays, package together 60mins of stuff and air it on Tuesdays. Just like the way ECW TV used to be made. This way also it makes ECW unique because the house shows then become more special as anything could go down at any show.

 

I think it sucks that they are asking ECW fans to pay for a ticket to see less then an hours worth of wrestling at a tv taping.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

What does everyone want out of this show anyway? Just curious. I mean if I see 1-2 nice matches per week w/ a little violence and some basic, logical feuds, I'll be a happy camper.

I want it to "feel" like it's not a WWE show. I don't want to constantly be reminded that it's Vince's idea of ECW. Apparently my expectations with that are WAY too high.

 

See, and that's what everyone is definitely craving. WWE needs to wise up and realize they can own both the "hardcore" and "mark" wrestling fans, if they want to. They just can't try to get both kinds of fans while presenting a "WWE" type product.

[NoCalMike 0]

EDIT: Oops double post.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

...but I'm HOPING that they're going to work out the kinks and give us a true alternative, not RAW-Lite like we saw last night.

Any hopes like that weren't just dashed last night, they were skull-fucked to death.

[SuperJerk 0]

It could've been worse.

[dh86 0]

there better be an RVD title defense next week or something to keep our interest..if not...by that 3rd week the ratings may be what TNA gets and slide from there

[Downhome 0]

I think ECW should just stop being a live show,...

 

Well, they went ahead and did that for the very first show.

[SuperJerk 0]

People should have seen this coming. At least after the disasterous finish of the PPV on Sunday, if not when the whole project was announced. This was always going to be Vince's version of ECW, which is essentially WWE with a new name.

 

That name should be WWECW.

[Guest Coffey]

Wrong.

[NoCalMike 0]

What does everyone want out of this show anyway? Just curious. I mean if I see 1-2 nice matches per week w/ a little violence and some basic, logical feuds, I'll be a happy camper.

I want it to "feel" like it's not a WWE show. I don't want to constantly be reminded that it's Vince's idea of ECW. Apparently my expectations with that are WAY too high.

 

See, and that's what everyone is definitely craving. WWE needs to wise up and realize they can own both the "hardcore" and "mark" wrestling fans, if they want to. They just can't try to get both kinds of fans while presenting a "WWE" type product.

 

 

Yeah I definately think Vince is too concerned with making another "Show for everyone" when that shouldn't be the point. The first and foremost goal of the new ECW, should be to bring back all the ECW fans that don't like Raw or Smackdown. There are a certain percent of WWE fans that just aren't going to watch it and Vince needs to get over that. Just like during the monday night wars a lot of marks would refuse to watch Nitro no matter how good it got, and vice versa with Raw. Some people just don't like certain things, so you book and base the show around the people who WANT TO WATCH IT.

[SuperJerk 0]

Did the Zombie go over Sandman?

Did John Cena win the title back?

Was Jerry Lawler announcing?

Was Stephanie McMahon presented as the owner of ECW?

Did they promise Sting only to deliver 20 minutes of Jeff Jarrett promos?

 

Yes, it could've been worse.

[Guest Coffey]

Wrong.

[SuperJerk 0]

Please consult my avatar.