ECW renewed on Sci-Fi

[dh86 0]

None of their current booking is gonna help in the long run. What they're doing is commonly referred to as "hot-shotting the territory". In the old days, that meant either an energetic new booker (or a desperate old one) moved towards a more crash-TV style of booking in order to bring up the houses. It meant bringing in new wrestlers, having fast-paced storylines wherein feuds started and ended quickly, and a whole shitload of matches with special gimmicks or stipulations. It can work wonders in the short term (see the ratings for that first Nitro where Russo took over), but it never holds up in the long term, because it doesn't think about the long term.

 

ECW is much like that. They book week to week, constantly changing storylines (sometimes even BEFORE the storyline happens), they haven't really had a single feud that's lasted more than a month, they go bizarrely back and forth in an arbitrary manner over which matches are "extreme rulz" and which aren't, and of course (the clearest sign of creative bankruptcy) they bring in constant guest stars. Great for the short term, sure. The core WWE audience will tune in en masse to see what swerve happens this week, what Flair or Batista or DX is gonna do on this show.

 

Problem is, you can't keep doing that forever. There are only so many guest stars in the company you can use before you've exhausted all the important ones. Constant plot twists and swerves only keep the audience's attention for a finite period of time. Eventually, they always get tired of the "oh-my-god I can't believe what just happened this is thegreatestnightinthehistoryofoursport!"shennanigans and just tune out.

 

great post...also where is this Heyman vs ECW Originals feud going to lead to? the good guys winning, the "extreme rules" thing is forgotten, and test,mike knox,big show disappears??...not likely

[Jingus 0]

Exactly.

 

And does anyone think that the WWE has any idea what the card of the December to Dismember show is gonna be? Hell, does anyone think they know what next week's card is gonna be?

[tominator89 0]

Another problem is that they are using the ECW name but presenting a product completely different than what ECW was. It reminds me of the time this guy I knew put a Triton V12 emblem on his Ford Tempo.

[razazteca 0]

Exactly.

 

And does anyone think that the WWE has any idea what the card of the December to Dismember show is gonna be? Hell, does anyone think they know what next week's card is gonna be?

I dont think they know what to put on tv week to week other than WWE Films movie commercials and highlights from Raw/Smackdown.

[dubq 0]

Another problem is that they are using the ECW name but presenting a product completely different than what ECW was. It reminds me of the time this guy I knew put a Triton V12 emblem on his Ford Tempo.

 

It's not really a problem but more of an annoyance. They've said a million times that this ECW is not supposed to be the same as the original ECW. So you're not going to see Justin Credible winning any World Titles in this incarnation.

 

I'm not defending their decision, but it's seriously ridiculous that people haven't realized this after 12 weeks of programming.

[chaosrage 0]

Another problem is that they are using the ECW name but presenting a product completely different than what ECW was. It reminds me of the time this guy I knew put a Triton V12 emblem on his Ford Tempo.

 

It's not really a problem but more of an annoyance. They've said a million times that this ECW is not supposed to be the same as the original ECW. So you're not going to see Justin Credible winning any World Titles in this incarnation.

 

I'm not defending their decision, but it's seriously ridiculous that people haven't realized this after 12 weeks of programming.

 

It's a gigantic problem since ECW fans (you know, the people that watch the show, the people that bought that Rise and Fall DVD, the people that Vince should be targetting) don't want and won't accept anything that isn't the original ECW. They're either going to have to attempt to be like the original ECW or the fans at every ECW only event are going to keep booing the majority of the show.

 

To say "Hey look, there appears to be an audience for this product, I have an idea, let's bring back the product but get this, let's not give them what they want, let's change it completely." is the height of stupidity. It really does not get any dumber than that.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Another problem is that they are using the ECW name but presenting a product completely different than what ECW was. It reminds me of the time this guy I knew put a Triton V12 emblem on his Ford Tempo.

 

It's not really a problem but more of an annoyance. They've said a million times that this ECW is not supposed to be the same as the original ECW. So you're not going to see Justin Credible winning any World Titles in this incarnation.

 

I'm not defending their decision, but it's seriously ridiculous that people haven't realized this after 12 weeks of programming.

 

It's a gigantic problem since ECW fans (you know, the people that watch the show, the people that bought that Rise and Fall DVD, the people that Vince should be targetting) don't want and won't accept anything that isn't the original ECW. They're either going to have to attempt to be like the original ECW or the fans at every ECW only event are going to keep booing the majority of the show.

 

To say "Hey look, there appears to be an audience for this product, I have an idea, let's bring back the product but get this, let's not give them what they want, let's change it completely." is the height of stupidity. It really does not get any dumber than that.

And yet, ratings are double what the network expected. Couldn't be that stupid, now, could it?

[EricMM 0]

And these amazing ratings seem to be falling weekly, so...

[chaosrage 0]

And yet, ratings are double what the network expected. Couldn't be that stupid, now, could it?

 

The first week had a 2.7 or a 2.8. Last Tuesday pulled a 1.9. Yeah, it's pretty damn stupid.

[pochorenella 0]

And these amazing ratings seem to be falling weekly, so...

 

No, they're not. They've been pretty much steady during the whole run. The first week did the biggest rating yet but every other week has scored in the 2.2 - 2.4 range. This week's decline was expected as it's been explained in previous posts. I don't know where you're getting this week-to-week decline from.

[Superfly Snuka 0]

Honestly, one hour only works if it's not live, like ECW on TNN. What they should do is tape the show (1 or 2 hr), and keep it in small venues, as opposed to in front of the smackdown crowd. I know, its been said a billion times before, but its true. It doesn;t need to be the same old ECW as before in regards to content (old ecw wrestlers/storylines) but it does need the same type of atmosphere (small, rabid crowds with the focus not on lighting/production, etc.) Seriously, the 7/4 Philadelphia + Batista/Big Show hammerstein event show wasn't even good, but i was psyched to watch next week because how rabid the crowd appeared on the TV, even though they were chanting essentially against the product. My theory is the old ECW fans (like me) will still come and allow the product to improve overtime if the feel of being at an event/watching on TV and ECW style event can be made.

 

I don't know in terms of dollars how much this costs Vince and WWE by having ECW only TV shows, but if you tape (not live) with poor lighting/camera production such as ECW on TNN at venues they're already running for house shows (like Glens Falls, Poughkeepsie, whatever) it WOULD WORK. And if you only have an hour, it would be much easier to fit stuff into 1hr if taped, and still get everything you need into it without seeming rushed. Heck, take tapings from house shows during the week and splice it into a 1hr show every week. (Better with 2 hrs though).

[NoCalMike 0]

I am sure Paul Heyman has a perfectly acceptable plan and card for the December PPV......of course I am also sure, Gertwitz, Stephanie and Vince will do everything in their power to foil his plans and go with their own LAME ideas.

[justcoz 0]

From TorontoSun.com:

 

Paul Heyman's future vision of ECW doesn't so much include thumbtacks, folding chairs and burning tables.

 

That would be way too simplified for a guy who has proven he's somewhat of a visionary. And on this day over the phone, he's bursting with enthusiasm.

 

"Look at the hottest stars of (mixed marshal arts). The hottest college wrestling stars. Muay Thai. Jui jitsu. That's what I'd like to see as part of ECW. Wrestling is not just bodybuilders and ex-football stars anymore," Heyman said.

 

There is nothing wrong with moving away slightly from the original violence factor of ECW and having the guys work safer matches. I just don't think they have to be so obvious about it by doing the whole 'Extreme Rules' thing. To me it was more about creative not knowing what to do without being able to do DQ and countout finishes. They could have easily just toned down the number of people getting hit with chairs, going through tables, etc. saving those things for the big matches without announcing that you aren't going to see them in every other match. RVD and Sabu could still use chairs for spring boards for offensive maneuvers. There could still be brawls into the crowd and teasing big spots, making them that much more cooler when they actually happened.

 

That said... I think the direction that Paul Heyman seems to want to move towards is almost ROH'ish. Therefore I've always said that Heyman should push for Vince to help ROH in a similar fashion to how he helped Heyman's original ECW. It would cut off TNA having access to ROH wrestlers - where they've pulled 90% of their talent from. ROH would lose access to guys like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Austin Aries, etc. but I'm sure WWE could even the deal by loaning people like James Gibson, Paul London, CM Punk, Matt Hardy, Kid Kash and the occasional loan of a name talent like Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, William Regal, etc. for big ROH shows. Maybe even add ROH to the Territories on WWE 24-7, letting them push their video sales, etc.

 

Heyman's apparent vision of ECW needs guys like Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, the Briscoes and other talent from ROH to follow in the footsteps of CM Punk. They also need to shift guys like Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Gregory Helms, Super Crazy, Charlie Haas and maybe someone like Shelton Benjamin over to ECW.

 

And, yes, they need their own tapings. I'd like to think that with this long term commitment from Sci-Fi, we'll be seeing that but Kevin Dunn is pretty adament about being against it due to the work load it would put on the production team. I still say they could tape once a month which would at least give it an old school long term feel with the booking by not being able to hotshot from week to week. Or tape every other week, the one hour of ECW on Sci-Fi and then another hour for an internet only show on ECW.com

 

They didn't like the Manhattan Center crowd - so much that they changed the location of the December PPV. I personally felt it's very shortsighted, especially for Vince who always measured things by New York's crowd reaction.

 

It also takes the fun away from 'WWE Superstar' appearances. For instance, think of how entertaining DX showing up on ECW would be if they were actually in an ECW setting? Think of how much fun HHH and HBK would have taunting a negative crowd.

 

They could pretty much have the original concept of Monday Night Raw but apparently aren't interested. So run ECW only tapings in some small venues across the country - maybe push a monthly New York or Philadelphia show for internet streaming PPV since ECW will have limited PPV's.

 

And oh yeah, remove all WWE creative influence from the project and just let Heyman and Lagana run the show.