OAO ECW TV Thread - June 13th 2006

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Yeah its not like the people tuning in went in thinking it would turn out like that. They tuned in because they incorrectly thought it'd be like a real ECW. Next week and beyond will be the true gauge.

[justcoz 0]

Shane McMahan is the fucking heart of the WWE- he called it from DAY one despite the ratings they got from this bad show. This man has the pulse his father lacks. He should have been President MONTHS no years ago...

 

I agree with what you have to say about Shane having the pulse that his father lacks. What does the rest of the statement mean though? I was under the impression that Vince was originally going to let Shane be heavily involved with the ECW project before he got over-zealous and took it from under him. I know that Shane wanted to run the show on the internet but Vince saw dollar signs. Was there something I missed?

[humanoid92 0]

My take on the ECW thing: they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. There was never any room for a positive result here. They had two choices:

 

1) Throw a bunch of WWE guys on there like Angle, Big Show, Cena, Edge, etc. The problem with this option is that we're just watching WWE guys under the insulting assertion that it's "ECW." The result is a homoginized product that's stale right off the bat. This makes the whole ordeal no different than the Alliance disaster, and we all know why that failed.

 

2) Separate it entirely and rely only on the ECW name and RVD, Sabu, Sandman, and old ECW guys to draw. The problem with this option is that... well, it's ECW. There's a reason it was a third-rate regional promotion that went bankrupt in the first place. As passionate as their fans were, there simply weren't enough of them for it to be profitable and survive in the long run.

 

I like Heyman and all, but this concept was doomed from the start.

 

Not to mention everything that's being documented about how the whole thing was rushed and there are a million logistical problems they weren't prepared to deal with (the taping schedule with Smackdown, SciFi's interference, the lack of a clear direction, too many WWE writers involved, etc.)

 

The bottom line is that even though it's called ECW, it's still a WWE funded show featuring WWE wrestlers, written by WWE writers, produced by WWE producers. It's no different than Raw or Smackdown. RVD, Sabu, Justin Credible, Balls Mahoney, etc. are WWE employees. Vince McMahon signs their checks. There is no ECW. There's no new (or returning) promotion. It's nothing more than a third brand. And given the state of the other two brands, combined with the obvious reasons I mentioned above and the obvious problems the rest of you have been pointing out, why should anyone expect this brand to be any different and actually succeed?

[Downhome 0]

At what point was this? All I recall is one of the last shots of the announcers being one or two 8 year old Cena fans in Chain Gang apparel throwing up Cena hand gestures. I have it taped so I'd love to see this.

 

It was right after Kelly's strip tease, also the point when Tazz and Joey made complete asses out of themselves and shilled for that terrible stuff.

 

NOTE: I had to cut this down to get it a decent size. Also, at the point he puts his head down he actually kept it there longer, but I cut it a bit there to get to the end. Anyway, here is what this fan thought of the debut of ECW:

 

[SuperJerk 0]

--'ECW' on SCI FI is the best performance for any program on the network this year on P18-49s and the best P25-54 performance since the season premiere of 'Battlestar Galactica' on 1/6/06.

 

I'm waiting for someone to say "E-C-frakking-W" on the air.

[NoCalMike 0]

I'm going to try to be optimistic just because I'm tired of still being pissed off about last night's show. This thing can still be saved. I'm really hoping that this mess of a debut was just a case of 'too many cooks in the kitchen' wanting to mix different ingredients and now that they see what works vs. what doesn't it will result in a better product. I remember actually wanting them to debut as an internet only show as I anticipated things being a mess in the beginning.

 

But this is WWE of course and who is to say that anyone in that company outside of those behind the original ECW, regardless of the internet backlash, actually recognize how f'd up this show was.

 

My suggestions:

 

Do next week's ECW from the SD tapings in Albany, NY. Pretty much the same formula as this past week but at least try to add some ECW elements back to the product. For one, let Heyman produce Tazz and Styles on the headset and not feed them the insincere bullshit they were being fed on Tuesday to say. Tazz lost all credibility whenever he said the new ECW was going to be better than the old ECW after the embarrassing Kelly stiptease skit. Hearing Joey Styles try to get over John Cena's punch. Um, no.

 

Allow them to express displeasure when WWE elements are pushed, like Kelly appearances for instance. Let Mr. McMahon appear and add some questionable stipulations to the Edge vs. RVD and Cena vs. Sabu Vengeance matches and remind Paul Heyman that this is Mr. McMahon's ECW, not his anymore. Have at least one competetive match, perhaps RVD vs. Sabu or something with the predictible Edge/Cena involvement. Let the Vengeance hype run it's course and have this be the end of the WWE vs. ECW shit. This is where that nasty Alliance vibe is coming from and as long as they are pushing ECW guys appearing on Raw and this PPV, they won't be able to really start the third brand as they intend to.

 

The weekend of Vengeance, tape some matches from the ECW house shows at ECW Arena. Super Crazy vs. Sabu, CM Punk vs. Stevie Richards and Kurt Angle vs. CW Anderson. Have Cyrus return as The Network debuting a stable of Trekkies, The Zombie and The Mummy. Let Paul Heyman cut a promo about Vince McMahon not "getting ECW" and welcoming him to appear at the ECW Arena for the July 4 tv show taping.

 

The following night, the live PPV broadcast of Vengeance is interrupted by an ECW feed from their house show in Belle Vernon, PA. Paul Heyman is standing in the ring with RVD and Sabu - who of course are supposed to be at Vengeance. RVD states that he'd rather be wrestling in front of his ECW fans than be set up for failure on a WWE PPV. He throws down the WWE championship, holds up the ECW championship and states that he welcomes all disgruntled "WWE Superstars" to come on to ECW's turf and challenge him. The WWE announcers rip apart Sabu and RVD for no showing their PPV appearance and Paul Heyman for condoning it.

 

Mr. McMahon hurridly changes the Vengeance main event to a hardcore match between John Cena and Edge with the winner being declared new champion.

 

That Tuesday's ECW telecast consist of matches taped from ECW Arena, Heyman's promo asking for Vince McMahon to sit front row at the 7/4 ECW Arena show, the debut of Cyrus and the Sci-Fi Squad and footage of RVD throwing down the WWE championship from Sunday night.

 

The next tapings are 7/4 from ECW Arena. Vince McMahon sits front row. It's broadcast tape delay and three weeks of television are taped. The ECW open door policy is initiated and some Raw and SD superstars take it. Matches include: FBI vs. The Trekkies, Balls Mahoney vs. Fit Finley, CM Punk vs. Tajiri, Jamie Noble vs. Kid Kash, RVD vs. Matt Hardy, RVD vs. Paul London, Sabu vs. Sandman, the debut of Joey Mercury and Justin Credible as a tag team, Sandman vs. Eugene (with Eugene turning heel), Evil Doink The Clown vs. The Zombie, Big Show vs. King Kong Bundy (haha, I know, tell me it wouldn't be cool though).

 

In my dreams...

 

 

Not bad, but if Vince was going to sit in the front row of ECW Arena, he might not make it out without being injured, seriously. I could see him coming out to cut a promo, but sitting in the crowd? I don't think so.

 

Also, your idea for Sabu/RVD no-showing Vengeance is good, but I doubt McMahon would allow an angle that fucked up his PPV card, even though you'd think WWE fans would be just as happy with Edge vs. Cena anyway.

 

If Heyman could convince Vince TONIGHT, RIGHT NOW, to use the ECW Arena show as a tapings for 2-3 weeks worth of ECW TV, then I think it would easily produce a few weeks of better wrestling tv then Raw or Smackdown.

 

However one thing I would tinker from the old way ECW did TV is that some guys need to appear every week, since they are trying to get people over to new fans. In the old days, ECW might have Raven one week and then he wouldn't be on tv for another two weeks, now this was fine for an ECW audience because they were already emotionally invested in Raven, but for a new audience you probably need your ME guys to be on TV on a weekly basis, if not wrestling, then cutting a promo.

 

The ECW TV idea is really simple when you think about it, All they have to do is Book the ECW Arena or Hammerstein Ballroom once a month, and then use that show for their tv tapings, and then the other dates could be the house shows. At each ECW Arena/Hammerstein Ballroom show they tape 2-3 weeks worth of Television. There you go, ECW TV Tapings. Anyone have Heyman's email address? LOL.

[justcoz 0]

The bottom line is that even though it's called ECW, it's still a WWE funded show featuring WWE wrestlers, written by WWE writers, produced by WWE producers. It's no different than Raw or Smackdown. RVD, Sabu, Justin Credible, Balls Mahoney, etc. are WWE employees. Vince McMahon signs their checks. There is no ECW. There's no new (or returning) promotion. It's nothing more than a third brand. And given the state of the other two brands, combined with the obvious reasons I mentioned above and the obvious problems the rest of you have been pointing out, why should anyone expect this brand to be any different and actually succeed?

 

Because while it's not the old ECW, there was still an opportunity to produce an alternative, based on ECW traditions with ECW style booking. Heyman proved in OVW that he can still create interesting characters and book good angles. The point of this third brand should be to create another set of marketable wrestlers and characters. Something that hasn't necessarily been WWE creative's strong point. Because there is a corporate power behind it they may never win back every old ECW fan but for the sake of good business there should have been an attempt to win some of them back. A debut like this alienated a ton of old fans I'm sure and I don't look for the rating to hold up at all. I still feel very strongly that they could have made it work. This was the debut. The whole concept has been rushed. I still think it's too early to know for sure if it can work or not. It certainly got off to a poor start. The things that I'm hoping they take from this poor debut:

 

1) they need an ECW audience

2) they can't be 'live' because of Sci-Fi's worries so like someone posted, just give them their own tapings or tape house shows in front of 'their' audience

3) it can't be produced and paced like a WWE show, it's one hour, you can't have a ten minute promo, stupid backstage vignettes, pointless T&A (and why the hell wasn't Kelly's bra trauma edited?), 'earlier tonight' video packages and outside arena shots that make it look like Raw and SD.

4) let Joey Styles and Tazz be true to themselves, when they were given that freedom, their commentary stood out on the WWE-ECW special and the ECW PPV

5) it's ok to have this current tie-in with Raw and using guys like Cena (who's actually gained some of his edge back thanks to working ECW) and Edge (who would have fit into the old ECW anyway) but it MUST END and they must debut new faces, create new stars and salvage the careers of those in ECW who are salvageable (Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Stevie Richards and FBI)

[2GOLD 0]

If you watch the show from start to finish, the ECW fans in attendance go from excited, to hopeful, to bored, to obviously pissed the fuck off.

 

Excited at the start

Hopeful after the promo and zombie

Bored after the strip tease

Obviously pissed the fuck off by the end of the night

[NoCalMike 0]

My take on the ECW thing: they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. There was never any room for a positive result here. They had two choices:

 

1) Throw a bunch of WWE guys on there like Angle, Big Show, Cena, Edge, etc. The problem with this option is that we're just watching WWE guys under the insulting assertion that it's "ECW." The result is a homoginized product that's stale right off the bat. This makes the whole ordeal no different than the Alliance disaster, and we all know why that failed.

 

2) Separate it entirely and rely only on the ECW name and RVD, Sabu, Sandman, and old ECW guys to draw. The problem with this option is that... well, it's ECW. There's a reason it was a third-rate regional promotion that went bankrupt in the first place. As passionate as their fans were, there simply weren't enough of them for it to be profitable and survive in the long run.

 

I like Heyman and all, but this concept was doomed from the start.

 

Not to mention everything that's being documented about how the whole thing was rushed and there are a million logistical problems they weren't prepared to deal with (the taping schedule with Smackdown, SciFi's interference, the lack of a clear direction, too many WWE writers involved, etc.)

 

The bottom line is that even though it's called ECW, it's still a WWE funded show featuring WWE wrestlers, written by WWE writers, produced by WWE producers. It's no different than Raw or Smackdown. RVD, Sabu, Justin Credible, Balls Mahoney, etc. are WWE employees. Vince McMahon signs their checks. There is no ECW. There's no new (or returning) promotion. It's nothing more than a third brand. And given the state of the other two brands, combined with the obvious reasons I mentioned above and the obvious problems the rest of you have been pointing out, why should anyone expect this brand to be any different and actually succeed?

 

 

Well the thing is, the tools are in place to make this new ECW work. I mean as bad as it was last night, Vince McMahon has the resources to make this work. The problem is that his vision of ECW was what we saw Tuesday Night.

 

With Vince McMahon's resources there really is no reason ECW shouldn't have it's own tapings, really, you could do it at a fraction of what Smackdown costs because ECW fans don't even give a flying fuck about Pyro or a titan tron.

 

If Vince would just swallow his pride, ego, and crazy idea that he knows what ECW fans want, and listen to Heyman, this could work. Several people on here have laid out a multitude of plans that are easy enough to follow through with, which would produce a better and more compelling ECW product.

[SuperJerk 0]

Because while it's not the old ECW, there was still an opportunity to produce an alternative, based on ECW traditions with ECW style booking. Heyman proved in OVW that he can still create interesting characters and book good angles. The point of this third brand should be to create another set of marketable wrestlers and characters. Something that hasn't necessarily been WWE creative's strong point. Because there is a corporate power behind it they may never win back every old ECW fan but for the sake of good business there should have been an attempt to win some of them back. A debut like this alienated a ton of old fans I'm sure and I don't look for the rating to hold up at all. I still feel very strongly that they could have made it work. This was the debut. The whole concept has been rushed. I still think it's too early to know for sure if it can work or not. It certainly got off to a poor start. The things that I'm hoping they take from this poor debut:

 

1) they need an ECW audience

2) they can't be 'live' because of Sci-Fi's worries so like someone posted, just give them their own tapings or tape house shows in front of 'their' audience

3) it can't be produced and paced like a WWE show, it's one hour, you can't have a ten minute promo, stupid backstage vignettes, pointless T&A (and why the hell wasn't Kelly's bra trauma edited?), 'earlier tonight' video packages and outside arena shots that make it look like Raw and SD.

4) let Joey Styles and Tazz be true to themselves, when they were given that freedom, their commentary stood out on the WWE-ECW special and the ECW PPV

5) it's ok to have this current tie-in with Raw and using guys like Cena (who's actually gained some of his edge back thanks to working ECW) and Edge (who would have fit into the old ECW anyway) but it MUST END and they must debut new faces, create new stars and salvage the careers of those in ECW who are salvageable (Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Stevie Richards and FBI)

 

LOL and the term "bra trauma." I *will* find a way to use that in an everyday conversation.

[2GOLD 0]

The trouble I'm seeing is ECW hasn't gotten the upper hand once on a RAW superstar. It took six of them to try to slow down Cena and when the number was reduced to three, they were destroyed.

 

They can have Raw "superstars" show up on ECW every once and a while, it would be good if you use it to set up a feud but the purpose HAS to be to GET the ECW wrestler OVER and not the other way around. Edge is already over, Cena is already over, but the ECW roster is getting to where it has no one who is over.

 

Plus now they have Angle, Sabu and RVD all in situations where they are going to lose at the PPV. This isn't how to start a brand, it's a good way to kill one. You can't have the first matches on ECW TV be Sandman beats up a Zombie and Angle choking out Justin Credible (a former ECW world champion) for a grand total of two minutes. You can't do a battle royal that any fan can look at and go "this isn't impressive at all".

 

That has been my problem with ALL of this. So far, they haven't built up anyone except Kurt Angle and he didn't NEED build up. Sabu is sorta getting build up but that doesn't make sense since his body really isn't going to hold up long. RVD has been going the wrong way for a month.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Why was a seperate thread made for this?

All the ECW Threads are now merging to form Voltron.

Please do not sully the name of Voltron by associating it with this show.

[justcoz 0]

Not bad, but if Vince was going to sit in the front row of ECW Arena, he might not make it out without being injured, seriously. I could see him coming out to cut a promo, but sitting in the crowd? I don't think so.

 

But it would be pretty funny. I'm sure no matter how rabid the fans are they would know not to get physical with him. I'm sure he could handle some obscenities and beer drenching. He could ham the asshole character up and probably have a good time. Sit Shane with him and have Shane 'become' one of the fans, do all the chants, drink beer as his father sits there business like.

 

You're right, a promo alone with him standing in front of those fans would be good as well.

 

Also, your idea for Sabu/RVD no-showing Vengeance is good, but I doubt McMahon would allow an angle that fucked up his PPV card, even though you'd think WWE fans would be just as happy with Edge vs. Cena anyway.

 

Yeah, I'm sure they wouldn't be into the false advertising thing but it would be a way to get the ECW rebellion vibe back to it. Yeah, you sign our checks but we play by our own rules and make you money, what are you going to do? Plus, by showing RVD and Sabu at the ECW house show, even if it's on tape delay, they are still technically appearing on the show.

 

If Heyman could convince Vince TONIGHT, RIGHT NOW, to use the ECW Arena show as a tapings for 2-3 weeks worth of ECW TV, then I think it would easily produce a few weeks of better wrestling tv then Raw or Smackdown.

 

One Night Stand was not a great show. You saw bits of the direction that they went into on the debut start to creep into the product. Those fans made the show however and it was that vibe alone that still made it feel like old ECW despite the in-ring product and finishes not necessarily being ECW-like. Look, even something as ridiculous as The Zombie would have worked ten times better in front of an ECW crowd. Most of them are smart and would 'get' the fact that they were playing into Sci-Fi's ridiculous demands. The SD audience had no idea what they were doing with the character.

 

However one thing I would tinker from the old way ECW did TV is that some guys need to appear every week, since they are trying to get people over to new fans. In the old days, ECW might have Raven one week and then he wouldn't be on tv for another two weeks, now this was fine for an ECW audience because they were already emotionally invested in Raven, but for a new audience you probably need your ME guys to be on TV on a weekly basis, if not wrestling, then cutting a promo.

 

Agreed. I also like the 'open door policy' where certain underused Raw and Smackdown fans can wrestle in front of the ECW crowd. It would be harmless for Paul London to come in and wrestle a competetive (but doing the job) match against someone ECW are trying to build up as a star. Fit Finley would lose nothing by doing a job on an ECW show against Balls Mahoney. It would make ECW feel all the more unpredictible and still allow 'WWE Superstars' to appear on the show for ratings boost without it necessarily being main event tier talent.

 

If ECW taped several weeks of television and you read spoilers that contained RVD vs. Matt Hardy, Paul London vs. CM Punk or Kurt Angle vs. Jamie Noble, would you want to tune in?

 

The ECW TV idea is really simple when you think about it, All they have to do is Book the ECW Arena or Hammerstein Ballroom once a month, and then use that show for their tv tapings, and then the other dates could be the house shows. At each ECW Arena/Hammerstein Ballroom show they tape 2-3 weeks worth of Television. There you go, ECW TV Tapings. Anyone have Heyman's email address? LOL.

 

The whole thing about not wanting to exhaust the tv crew and budget an additional night's worth of tapings never seemed right. More and more black curtains are going up at Raw and SD tv tapings. Doing super show tapings would likely sell out arenas and would save money. Taping ECW in three week intervals would actually save money and manpower. ECW needs their own taping. Their audience is different. SD and Raw audiences are the same.

 

And with Vince no longer running the Garden with any regularity - you'd think he'd be into the idea of monthly show from a New York venue like Hammerstein Ballroom (which looks cool as hell on television) to have his finger on the pulse of the New York audience he built his company around. And besides the concept of ECW tapings at an intimate venue like Hammerstein Ballroom is pretty much the original concept of Monday Night Raw.

[Scroby 0]

I'm hoping that next week we actually get a ECW type of match. The biggest issue with the show for me was that we got NO ECW type matches. I mean the only two matches we got was Angle squshing Justin Credible and the battle royal that had WWE hardcore style all over it, espically with the trash can and shopping cart full of weapons.

 

Plus I'm also hoping that ECW starts getting storylines and angles pretty soon. I mean basically the whole purpose of last night's show was to just help promote Vengence (sp?) and book one more match for the card....well two if you want to count Angle vs Orton. Hopefully in the weeks to come, we start getting ECW type of matches and storylines. If WWE keeps showing stuff like last night, as much as I hate to say it, the new ECW will be screwed.

 

Oh as for the stripper thing from last night, I was hoping Francine would come out and just beat the hell out of that girl.

[Scroby 0]

Why was a seperate thread made for this?

All the ECW Threads are now merging to form Voltron.

Please do not sully the name of Voltron by associating it with this show.

 

Oh come on man, ECW Threads are like voltron. The more you put together, the higher are hopes get about ECW.

 

[humanoid92 0]

The point of this third brand should be to create another set of marketable wrestlers and characters.

 

1) they need an ECW audience

2) they can't be 'live' because of Sci-Fi's worries so like someone posted, just give them their own tapings or tape house shows in front of 'their' audience

3) it can't be produced and paced like a WWE show, it's one hour, you can't have a ten minute promo, stupid backstage vignettes, pointless T&A (and why the hell wasn't Kelly's bra trauma edited?), 'earlier tonight' video packages and outside arena shots that make it look like Raw and SD.

4) let Joey Styles and Tazz be true to themselves, when they were given that freedom, their commentary stood out on the WWE-ECW special and the ECW PPV

5) it's ok to have this current tie-in with Raw and using guys like Cena (who's actually gained some of his edge back thanks to working ECW) and Edge (who would have fit into the old ECW anyway) but it MUST END and they must debut new faces, create new stars and salvage the careers of those in ECW who are salvageable (Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Stevie Richards and FBI)

 

I agree with all of that.

 

As for creating another set of marketable stars, I'm with you: that should be a main objective. The thing is, it's clear as day that they're way more interested in rehashing ECW characters from 5-10 years ago. Sandman, Dreamer, Balls, Sabu, etc. They didn't draw any money then. Why should anyone think they will now? This thing is nothing more than a rehash of something that's already failed. Except now it's no longer original, no longer edgy, and has a million internal obstacles to overcome, as has already been discussed.

 

Like I said, I agree with your 5 points. But my opinion is that even if there's a best case scneario and by some miracle they actually stick to all five of those points and get it right... the result is still what I highlighted in my option #2 earlier. It's still just ECW. It was a regional promotion that didn't make money and has been dead and completely irrelevant for 6 years. And this is a rehash of that. It's like remaking a B-movie but doing it with B-actors all over again.

 

I especially like your point #5. People are overreacting with the crossover. They had to launch the thing somehow. I don't think the Cena, Edge, Rey stuff has been done perfectly (or even that well), but it's a pretty logical idea as far as trying to get ECW off the ground. As long as it resolves itself, that's fine.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Why was a seperate thread made for this?

All the ECW Threads are now merging to form Voltron.

Please do not sully the name of Voltron by associating it with this show.

 

Oh come on man, ECW Threads are like voltron. The more you put together, the higher are hopes get about ECW.

I don't think that even the Blazing Sword could have saved this show.

[randomguy 0]

I only saw the second half of the show and I thought it was ok. But now I understand that when I tuned in at 10:35 for the start of Angle/Credible that was the first actual match? Yeah that's weak.

[Guest The Great Muta]

The trouble I'm seeing is ECW hasn't gotten the upper hand once on a RAW superstar. It took six of them to try to slow down Cena and when the number was reduced to three, they were destroyed.

 

They can have Raw "superstars" show up on ECW every once and a while, it would be good if you use it to set up a feud but the purpose HAS to be to GET the ECW wrestler OVER and not the other way around. Edge is already over, Cena is already over, but the ECW roster is getting to where it has no one who is over.

 

Plus now they have Angle, Sabu and RVD all in situations where they are going to lose at the PPV. This isn't how to start a brand, it's a good way to kill one. You can't have the first matches on ECW TV be Sandman beats up a Zombie and Angle choking out Justin Credible (a former ECW world champion) for a grand total of two minutes. You can't do a battle royal that any fan can look at and go "this isn't impressive at all".

 

That has been my problem with ALL of this. So far, they haven't built up anyone except Kurt Angle and he didn't NEED build up. Sabu is sorta getting build up but that doesn't make sense since his body really isn't going to hold up long. RVD has been going the wrong way for a month.

The message has been quite clear for the past few weeks and it was even more obvious last night. If you noticed, two wrestlers (established wwe stars) who never worked for ecw before absolutely dominated that night. Kurt Angle DESTROYED Justin Credible (a former ecw world champion) in a very embarrassing way. The Big Show eliminated every single person in the battle royal except Sabu, who won it.

 

What it seems they are trying to do is imply that WWE wrestlers are superior to ECW "nobodies" in every way. I mean, come on, the push of Kurt Angle in ECW makes me feel like they are using an established WWE wrestler as a way to "save" ECW. Instead of being the "new face of ECW", they should just say "ECW's only saving grace." The beginning of the show was another indication by having Cena and Edge get involved in that "WWE-esque" promo. Not only was their presence proof that the WWE feels that ECW is nothing without them, they completely made fools out of Heyman and RVD...

 

You could put this "new" ECW in the same pile with the "new" WCW, the XFL, and the WBF...one big pile of bullshit failures.

[humanoid92 0]

Well the thing is, the tools are in place to make this new ECW work. I mean as bad as it was last night, Vince McMahon has the resources to make this work. The problem is that his vision of ECW was what we saw Tuesday Night.

 

With Vince McMahon's resources there really is no reason ECW shouldn't have it's own tapings, really, you could do it at a fraction of what Smackdown costs because ECW fans don't even give a flying fuck about Pyro or a titan tron.

 

If Vince would just swallow his pride, ego, and crazy idea that he knows what ECW fans want, and listen to Heyman, this could work. Several people on here have laid out a multitude of plans that are easy enough to follow through with, which would produce a better and more compelling ECW product.

 

Everything you mentioned there is a big part of the problem. The way they're going about it is terrible. The thing is, I happen to think that they shouldn't be going about it all. It's an unnecessary problem they've created for themselves because the concept is so flawed to begin with.

 

Enough with this weird new self-referential, history-obsessed style of booking. Edge and Foley feuding over "Wrestlemania moments" and who was the better "transitional champion." Cena and HHH arguing about stroke. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and all the "legends" on TV. DX reuniting. Flair and Foley feuding over WCW booking disagreements from 15 years ago. "Dream matches." To me, this ECW revival is just another ugly extention of that type of booking.

 

The way things are booked now it's as if message board posters from the early days of the internet are writing the show with all these cute nods to wrestling history and rehashing things from past eras (regardless of their degree of orginal success) instead of actually booking a wrestling show.

[justcoz 0]

As for creating another set of marketable stars, I'm with you: that should be a main objective. The thing is, it's clear as day that they're way more interested in rehashing ECW characters from 5-10 years ago. Sandman, Dreamer, Balls, Sabu, etc. They didn't draw any money then. Why should anyone think they will now? This thing is nothing more than a rehash of something that's already failed. Except now it's no longer original, no longer edgy, and has a million internal obstacles to overcome, as has already been discussed.

 

Like I said, I agree with your 5 points. But my opinion is that even if there's a best case scneario and by some miracle they actually stick to all five of those points and get it right... the result is still what I highlighted in my option #2 earlier. It's still just ECW. It was a regional promotion that didn't make money and has been dead and completely irrelevant for 6 years. And this is a rehash of that. It's like remaking a B-movie but doing it with B-actors all over again.

 

And I totally agree with where you are coming from. You can't build a company around those old characters. I'm one of those people who weren't bothered at all by Kurt Angle destroying Justin Credible. They could have had a more interesting match with some time but Justin Credible didn't deserve to be ECW Champion and main event 8 years ago and he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the top of the card now.

 

Sandman, Dreamer and Balls are easy characters to book. They just beat people up. You don't have to center the show around them. Their roles are as ECW legends. Let them destroy some indie guy or stupid gimmick wrestler one week and put over someone you are trying to build a company around the next week. Sabu is similar but I liken him to a Mick Foley type where they can just harp on how he's sacrificed his body over the years and give him moment of celebration.

 

Stevie Richards on the other hand has been underutilized ever since ECW and I think could amount to something if pushed to some degree and managing to stay injury free.

 

I especially like your point #5. People are overreacting with the crossover. They had to launch the thing somehow. I don't think the Cena, Edge, Rey stuff has been done perfectly (or even that well), but it's a pretty logical idea as far as trying to get ECW off the ground. As long as it resolves itself, that's fine.

 

I'm glad you get that because I was arguing with a friend of mine about this today too. Like you said, promising a show with Sandman, Sabu Tommy Dreamer and RVD wouldn't mean much to people who didn't follow ECW ten years ago but John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Edge showing up does generate an audience. And each of those guys have had some of their better performances of the year due to the ECW environment. The storylines have been a mess because WWE Creative just completely suck but Edge and Cena have played the characters they've had to play to an ECW crowd perfectly. Edge got a pop at ONS for spearing Cena because I actually think a good bit of the audience thought he jumped to ECW... and they would have accepted him.

 

But the whole thing is reeking of the Alliance and really needs to end so we can judge what they really want to do with their version of ECW.

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't think RVD, Angle, and Sabu will all job at the PPV. It'd be suicide for ECW. Now Sabu? He will obviously job, but hopefully after doing something insane to wipe himself out. I actually think Angle will win, since it makes no sense to put Orton over ANYONE at this point. That leaves RVD. This one is tricky. I mean shouldn't he have some sort of successful WWE title defense before losing it? I'd almost make his match with Edge a 2 falls match. First fall is ECW, 2nd WWE (vice versa). Thus Edge can win the WWE, RVD retains the ECW.

 

The main problem with that match is that I have no idea what we're supposed to want out of it. Are we supposed to want RVD to hold the WWE hostage on another show? Are we supposed to want the evil Edge to reclaim the WWE title? I've wanted to see this match for a while, mind you, but I think the crowd is liable to be dead for it since they have no idea what to think.

[tigeraid 0]

I'm fine with Big Show and Angle in the mix, as Heyman knows how to book them in somewhat fresh directions. It's this crap where Cena and Edge are dominating the storyline that pisses me off.

 

Guys like Sandman, Dreamer et all should be there, they're the heart of ECW. But they should be there to put over the new talent like CM Punk, and Heyman knows how to book that kind of feud (see: Dreamer's first push in ECW.)

 

The problem is that this is modern Television, and Vince's priority is to see big, heavy consistent ratings. A show like ECW, booked the way Heyman should be running it, should start with SEVERAL nobodies and eventually build them into stars. The ratings might be dismal to begin with, but eventually it'd be great. Unfortunately, that method of building up a promotion seems to be unacceptable in McMahon's world.

 

I fear ECW on Sci-Fi is just gonna be another weekly WWE show with WWE footage, plugging WWE PPVs, and doing retarded WWE "entertainment" angles, with the occasional "extreme" match thrown in to validate the title. I'm really, really worried.

[SuperJerk 0]

Why was a seperate thread made for this?

All the ECW Threads are now merging to form Voltron.

Please do not sully the name of Voltron by associating it with this show.

 

Oh come on man, ECW Threads are like voltron. The more you put together, the higher are hopes get about ECW.

I don't think that even the Blazing Sword could have saved this show.

This thread needs to get its ass kicked by the Robeast for a few more pages before making its babyface comeback.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

 

Behold the Pale Rider!

[tigeraid 0]

 

Behold the Pale Rider!

 

I like how they held the camera on him ENTIRELY too long, so he sorta started to repeat his hissing/teeth baring routine, and kinda looked around a bit... It reminded me of the scene in Austin Powers where Doctor Evil forces everyone around him to do evil maniacal laughs

[2GOLD 0]

 

AND DON'T FORGET ECW FANS, TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR THE FOREVER KNIGHT MARATHON!

FOREVER KNIGHT, only on SCI-FI!

[Ravenbomb 0]

And I agree that the show needed Cyrus. I'd love for them to reprise the Network and have him plugging Sci-Fi Original Movies or something

Tonight, after ECW, stay tuned for the network television debut of...BATS!

 

Actually, the lame striptease thing would've been the perfect time for it. Right as she's about to take her top of, we hear "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!" and out comes Cyrus. CM Punk could play the Steve Corino role. The Zombie and that vampire bloke could be the Dupps

[justcoz 0]

Actually, the lame striptease thing would've been the perfect time for it. Right as she's about to take her top of, we hear "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!" and out comes Cyrus. CM Punk could play the Steve Corino role. The Zombie and that vampire bloke could be the Dupps

 

I WANT TREKKIES!!!!! Including Sign Guy Trekkie.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Re: The Kelly segment, after she said she was going to strip for the world, I half expected her to come out, and after getting her clothes off (down to her undies), CM Punk would come out and prevent her from doing so, and go "You all have been PUNK'D!".

 

I was expecting a Jazz beatdown for some reason...